Brave Bela

I still haven’t selected and resized our pictures yet from our last out of town vacation. But here are some pictures that hubby sent me today.

Bela is really so adventurous. She is not scared of anything. Like when we went to the beach last weekend, she will not let us hold her while she swims in the kiddie pool. She would even tell us to get out of the pool and just sit down because she can do it by herself. (Oh so independent).

Then when we hit the beach, she is still not scared too. She will even imitate what Cody (the penguin from Surf’s Up) is doing. She will ride her kick board and pretends that it is a surf board and she will not be scared to face the big waves. She even went under the water a couple of times and she even swallowed the salt water but as soon as she gets up, there is even a smile on her face and she will say “That’s cool. Let’s do it again.”

I am so glad that she is growing up as brave and adventurous as her dad. If she were like me (who is scared of almost everything), I guess she will not have fun like this.

She even had her henna tattoo. She saw us having one and she kept on saying “I want a tattoo, I want a tattoo.” She was even so behave while she is having her tattoo. Hay, buti na lang di nagmana sa akin.

Rain, Rain go away

Bela was so excited for his sponge bath last night. You want to know why? It is because our hot and cold shower was installed yesterday afternoon.

We used to have a shower in our bathroom before but ever since it stopped working, we were not able to find the time to fix or replace it. Last Monday, we went to Robinson’s Place as I need to buy gifts for Bela’s teaches and yaya. After I am done with my gift shopping, we dropped by at Ace Hardware since we need to buy the fluorescent lamp for our second room as it is no longer working. We are already on our way to the cashier when I saw the section where they have displays for hot and cold shower system. There is an on going promo where we can charge it to our credit card account and pay for it at 3 monthly installments at 0% interest. The sale staff already gave us a demo on how it works and the difference between each of the models. I really wanted to think about it and check for faucets online first so at least we can compare different brands and models, but the sales staff offered us an additional 10% discount so Howell immediately said yes.

We are really a sucker for sales. LOL. But we really need this shower faucet. It is a need and not a luxury (OK, I am being defensive already.) But I am sure Bela will enjoy her bath more with the installation of our new shower faucet. Just like last night, it was very difficult to convince her to get out of the bathroom but it was really easy to convince her to take a bath. She was even singing “Rain, Rain go away” the entire time that she is taking a bath. So I guess that purchase is all worth it.

Moving Up Day @ TU

Last March 24 was Bela’s Moving Up Day at school. The program was held at the Social Hall of Sanctuario de San Antonio Parish. The program was held in the morning (assembly time was 10 AM and program will start at 10:30 AM). Bela slept late the night before so by 8 AM she is still sleeping and so we have to wake her up so we can make it in time for the program. Because of this, she was really cranky. I was so worried that she will not even go up on the stage. But as soon as she sees her classmates and especially when Teacher Maica gave them their fruit shaker (as props for the performance), she immediately warmed up and she started playing with her classmates.

They are the first one to perform this time. As soon as she heard the music, she started jumping and dancing (I guess those are the steps for their dance number. LOL.) But in the middle of the music, Bela stopped as she saw the stage decorations and she started playing with it. LOL.

But I am one proud mom. Look at how cute Bela is.

They were asked to wear something hip hop or funky and this is the costume that we were able to come up with. Good thing my sister helped us shop for Bela’s outfit (I don’t know anything about hip hop. And so does Howell. Maybe if you ask Howell about tuxedos or barongs, maybe he can help us up. LOL).

I will post more pictures soon. I am still feel so tired (and lazy) this week that I haven’t find the time to sort through the pictures.

Moving Up Day Preps

It will be Bela’s Moving up Day tomorrow. I received a letter last week and Bela has to wear something hip hop or funky since they will be doing the popcorn dance (although I have no idea what this dance is.)

When I read the letter, my initial reaction was, “Hip Hop?!! So what should I let her wear?” I am so out of the hip hop world already that I have no idea on what should Bela wear. All I remember about hip hop is MC Hammer and I am not sure if MC Hammer’s outfit will go well with Bela.

So last Wednesday after Bela’s class, we went to Midtown Plaza (since my mom needs to look for office furniture too) to get Bela her hip hop costume. We went to Osh Kosh, Guess, Kids of Bayo, Gingersnaps, Twilo and we even checked out the stores inside the mall but we were only able to buy a suspender and bandana (as suggested by my sister).

The next day, I asked my sister to try the khaki pants and the razor back blouse of Bela (old clothes from her closet) to see if it looks hip hop already but my sister did not give her approval. So that same day, we went to Mall of Asia with my sister so she can help us look for Bela’s outfit for the program.

We went to Gingersnaps and Osh Kosh and we checked out Periwinkle. We saw a cargo shorts for boys from Periwinkle and we let Bela try it. It is really meant for 6 years old boy but it fits Bela (since it has an adjustable waistline) and it really gives a hip hop look. Then we went inside the mall to check out blouses but we did not find any. Then we checked Baby Mossimo and good thing we found a sleeveless blouse with hood which my sister approved also.

So after two days of searching and with the help of my sister, Bela will be ready for her Moving Up Day program. (Thanks sis!)

Bela and her Worksheets

When we enrolled her to the Galileo program at Toddlers Unlimited, we had a hard time in trying to make her do her homework. She attends Galileo Program three times a week and at the end of every session, she brings home an assignment that we have to do with her.

I asked my mom how we can make her do it as I know how stubborn (like me) Bela is. You cannot force her to do a thing if she doesn’t want to even if you try to bribe her or try every diplomatic way possible to convince her.

My mom is a former preschool teacher and when I asked her if she can make Bela do her assignments, this is her answer:

Mom: “Ako pa. Eh kung pipi nga napag salita ko.”

But then after three hours, my mom gave up and told us that if Bela doesn’t want to, then just let it be. LOL.

But things are different now. Maybe she got used to the routine and she got really inspired as her teacher is always giving her cute stars at school every time she finish her worksheet and she is just so proud to show us her star every time she goes home. So now, if we tell her that it is time to do her assignments (of course with a little pambobola), she will comply and sit on her chair to do her homework. And there are even times when she will ask for more activities as she can finish her worksheets in less than 5 minutes. Good thing I bought lots of activity books for her.

Just sharing some of the pictures that we took one night while we are doing worksheets with Bela.

My Baby

My baby is arriving tomorrow. Do you want to meet her? Her name is Holga. I have been drooling to buy this camera for days now ever since I saw my colleague using one. Last week, I promised myself that I will buy one if I have an overtime schedule this week so I will get the money that I will use to buy my Holga camera from my OT pay. Every Monday we will be notified if we have an overtime schedule and since I did not receive any notice last Monday, I gave up on my desire to buy my Holga this week.

We will be going on an out of town vacation this weekend that is why I want to get hold of my Holga camera this week so I can take it to our out of town vacation. So when my colleague asked me this afternoon if I want to take her schedule for the overtime since she has to attend to some important matters, I quickly said yes without even thinking if I already have prior engagements or not (bad me.) And as soon as I got a confirmation that I will be working overtime tomorrow, I immediately call the Lomo camera supplier that I got from the Urban Bazaar last weekend at Rockwell and before I knew it, I already agreed to meet with her tomorrow and she will deliver my Multicolored Holga in my office together with a 35 mm adapter.

And since I will just be supervising the contractors tomorrow while they do their job, I will have a lot of time tomorrow to read the manual so I can learn about my Holga camera before our out of town this weekend.

I am so excited. I am not really the artistic type and I know that lomo cameras is a hit or miss thing so I am wondering how I will do with a lomo camera. Let’s wait and see. I won’t get a hold of my camera not until after lunch tomorrow so I better look for Dallas Texas hotels first while I still have time as I know I will be very busy studying my new toy when it arrives tomorrow.

For Her Future

I always believe that we should work to earn money and then we should enjoy the fruits of our labor. And that is what I have been doing ever since I started working. But now that Bela is growing up so fast, I realized that I have been working for more than a decade now but I still don’t have that much saved for Bela’s future.

My parents never fail to remind us the value of learning how to save specially for the future of our dear daughter. And now that we are planning for our second baby this year, I think it is just right that we should start saving up for our future kids so no matter what happens to me and Howell, we will definitely be sure that our kids will be okay.

I have been doing some readings about investments and that is when I discovered the site of Monex. I read from their site that investing in precious metals and rare coins is a good investment because its value appreciates in time. And since Monex has been in the business for 40 years now, they have the experience and the knowledge to give me the best investment portfolio.

I know we should have done this a long time ago. We have already enjoyed the fruits of our labor and now is the time to start saving for the future of Bela and our future kids.

Are they really strict or I am just OA?

I know Ballet is a much disciplined art but should teachers be really that strict to their students even if they are only 3 years old? We decided to enroll Bela to the Baby Ballet Class because we have seen her interest in Ballet and I believe that we as parents should help our kids discover and nurture whatever interests and talents they have. We brought her to the ballet studio of Halili Cruz just to see if she really likes it and when we saw how much she is eager to go inside the room and join the class we didn’t hesitate to sign her up for the class. But our goal is to develop in her a love for ballet. I don’t care if she will really participate or not, I don’t care if she will not have a perfect form, I don’t care if she will learn to tip toe or do the split. All I am after for is she is having fun.

I am just bothered because I noticed that the teachers are really strict with their students and doesn’t even show a bit of affection. Sometimes kse if Bela doesn’t know how to do the task, she will leave her line and approach her teacher and ask her teacher to teach her (and she is used to doing this because that is how they do it in Toddlers), but the teacher will just say “Bela, go back to your line”, or “Bela you’re not following teacher, I will not give you stickers.” During her second day of class, she even sat down with me after her teacher told her that she is not listening and kept on whispering “Mommy, I am not following teacher” and she was really disappointed. Good thing I was able to convince her to go back to her line.

And then last Sunday, the teacher even made “sutsot” to Bela like Bela did something really bad and Bela was just being playful while waiting for her turn to be called by teacher.

Bela is still enjoying it even if the teachers are strict so I don’t want to pull her out of the class. Ako lang talaga ang nag re-react ng ganito. And I am happy also that at least Bela will be disciplined a little because she is so used to being treated in a nice way (kse super lambing talaga her teachers at TU) and as I observed naman, she is learning to follow her teachers like last Sunday, she really tried hard to stay in line talaga. I am just worried lang talaga that they might be a little too strict already for her age and all I want for Bela rigth now is to have fun and learn to love ballet more.I don’t know if I am just OA. I just got really pissed because I feel that they should at least be appreciative or a little affectionate to their students, because they are still kids and they don’t need to make “sutsot” because they can address Bela by her name. Ganon ba talaga sa ballet, mahigpit talaga or I am just being so over protective of may daughter (in short OA ang reaction ko). LOL

Bela Updates

Snagged this picture from Hubby’s blog. (He made a post about our weekend and some stories about Bela on his blog.)

I am still very busy with all the tasks that I have to finish plus it’s been very busy in the office lately so I just want to make a bulleted entry about what Bela has been busy with:

1. Howell was finally able to clean Bela’s fish tank (after almost two months of not cleaning it). We also bought 2 more Clown Fish for Bela and one big fish like Dory during our last trip at Cartimar. Look at how happy Bela is after they finished cleaning the fish tank.

2. Bela attended her third session of the Baby Ballet Class at Halili Cruz School of Ballet. She is still enjoying it and last Sunday (her make up class), we were able to leave her inside the ballet studio alone while we just watch her from outside. I am just a little bothered though because the teachers are really strict and they are not malambing to their students (and Bela is used to this because her teachers at Toddlers are so sweet and affectionate). – I will make a separate post about this.

3. When Bela started her Galileo program last month, I was really worried because it is really very difficult to make her sit down and do her assignments. But we noticed that she loves writing now (or should I say tracing) and we always finished her assignments in a breeze and she would even ask us to look for more things to trace and draw. Just like last Sunday, Howell and I took turns in helping Bela finish her assignment.

My Flower Girl

Isn’t she a princess?


This was taken when Bela is just two years old and she was one of the flower girls for the wedding of her dad’s colleague, Noemi. The wedding was held in Tagaytay and this is the second time that Bela was part of the entourage as a flower girl.

Just look at the stage mother. Good thing I was dressed properly as I was really expecting that I have to walk with her down the aisle. She was running around outside the chapel before the ceremony begins and I was even convinced that there is no way that she will walk during the wedding march. But as soon as she saw the other flower girls lining up and marching, she excitedly joined them especially when she was greeted by the watchful eyes of the guests.

Oh I can’t wait for the next time that she will be a flower girl. That is why I am so looking forward for the wedding of my brother with her long time girlfriend in 2010. Bela is one of the flower girls again. (And this reminds me that I better start looking for suppliers of wedding flowers as I promised my brother and her fiancée that I will help them with this. I will surely suggest that they get a supplier that sells wholesale and will ship the flowers express overnight. By doing this, they will save a great deal of money instead of buying it from a local florist and our cousin, who is an event stylist, will do the flower set up.)

As early as now, I am already imaging how cute my daughter will be on my brother’s wedding.

Havaianas children's flip-flops being recalled

I was not able to catch the early evening news but my aunt told me that there was breaking news today about the recall of Havaianas flip flops.

Around 210,000 Havaianas children's flip-flops is being recalled because the decorative paint that they use for the sole of the flip flops is suspected to have lead that is in excess of what is declared as the safe level by federal standard.

Those flips flops without decorative paint are not being recalled.

The styles of the Havaianas for kids and babies that are being recalled includes: Baby Estampas, Baby Pets, Kids Apple, Kids Fairy, Kids Flores, Kids Lighthouse, Kids Monsters, Kids Surf, Baby Letrinhas, Kids Sports, Kids Candies, Kids Fun, Kids Love, Kids Sereias, Kids Speed, Kids Lucky Bug, Kids Pets, Kids Rock, Kids Slim, Kids Wonder Woman, Kids Small Flowers, and Kids Tropical w/Kit.

Bela loves her Havaianas flip flops as it is really comfortable and so she has quite a few pairs in her collection. So I immediately check if the pair that she has is included in the styles that is being recalled, and unfortunately it is.


This is Bela's current favorite flip flops.I have to do a research now about lead as I am now praning.

Marketing Network

I have a cousin and a very best friend who is now happily living in America together with her husband and three beautiful kids. We were that closed to each other dating back our childhood days before she left and joined her parents in the state. Throughout the long years that passed, the distance that separate between us never became a factor to continue communicating with each other and be updated of the good and bad things that goes around.

Aside from having her own family, becoming a successful business woman was the quantum achievement she got on her belt. Although she really has gone a milestone in her business, she still maintained her low-profile character and never forget to look back to thank and praise the people that brought her to her present pedestal, like the way she did to iPROMO, which is one of the fastest custom promotional product companies in the U.S., that has became the perfect window that gave stellar appeal and space for her products. With iPromo’s strong marketing pitch network it has became the best propagator, an information network that bears terse messages that laid down a shining pathways that captured the tedium that lived and gave a positive lasting impression in the public consciousness, giving excellent future not just on cousin’s products but to all nearly half a million promotional products the company is endorsing. iPromo’s effective advertising strategies guarantees the products to march to much productive beat as it carefully made it through and open the awareness of the volatile and highly competitive market eyes and ears.

As I turned the pages of cousin’s e-mails, it seems her admiration and gratitude to iPromo is never ending. But knowing her that well, it was but her normal trait. She loves to give credence where credence is due.

The professionals

Some decades of years ago, my uncle was the pioneering member of our closest relatives who packed his bag, migrated and tried his luck in the U.S.A., land where opulent golden opportunities comes in abundance. Armed only with his knacks, guts and his strong will of determination, being a stranger to the place did not matter at all for him to became successful in his career and became our first relative to be granted of U.S. citizenship. Then years after through the help of Root Law Group, a full service law firm that is comprises of teeming seasoned professional men and women immigration lawyers who represented and assisted him for his family-based-petition be finally approved by the U.S. government, that resulted for the exodus of his family starting from my aunty down to my nieces and nephews.

The management team of root law group which offer a free in office consultation thru (1-888-Root Law) is recognized on letterheads and business cards not only for its 95% average approval rating on visa’s applications, but more so on its highly competent and top caliber lawyers who shared a common passion, understanding and knowledge to adopt the U.S. immigration laws ( old and new ) that suits and won its client’s cases when they represent them individually to any immigration offices or any court of laws in order to secure the immigration certificate that declares legal stay status on their client’s name, which is a feather in the cap to every U.S. immigrants and makes RLG the symbol of status and achievements. Its line of law services encompasses the firm cycle to make it the ideal network that creates the most vibrant immigration community network dedicated to serve, assist and resolve any immigration related problems. And taking advantage of RLG’s descent track record were some of our relatives who became part of the exodus as they were lured by the tremendous success of our uncle, who despite of today age of economic turbulence stood strong just like RLG. And who knows in the near future, I and my family may also be one of them!!!

Her Second Trip To Cartimar Pet Center

Last Friday, after Bela’s class at Toddlers Unlimited, we decided to drop by at Cartimar’s Pet Center to buy salt water for Bela’s Nemo.

It has been a routine every time Bela has a class that they will fetch me first, and then we will fetch Howell before going home. So when Bela noticed that her lolo is not taking the usual route that they always take on their way to Howell’s office, Bela reacted right away and she reminded her lolo that we have to fetch her dad. But as soon as I told her that we are going to the pet shop to buy the salt water for her Nemo, she instantly forgot about her dad.

As soon as she saw the dogs and the birds inside the store, she hurriedly asked me to get out of the car so she can see the dogs closely. Bela and her lola went around the store while I looked for a store that sells salt water. When we went to Cartimar last December, we had a hard time looking for a clown fish and we found a store that sold a clown fish at P60 per piece. But last Friday, I found a store that sells the clown fish at only P20 per piece. I went gaga and I initially bought 8 different kinds of salt water fish. But then I remembered that our fish tank can only hold maximum of 8 fish and we already have 3 fish at home so I just decided to buy 3 more.

Bela was so happy when I showed her the two clown fish that I bought and one fish that looks like Dory. Howell was not able to take a picture of it yet (and he still has to clean the tank) but I promise to post a picture of it soon.

Job Search

One of Bela’s God mother (and my very good friend) now lives in the US with her husband and two children. Since she needs to take care of her two kids, she decided to be a stay at home mom. But because of the though times, she wanted to help her husband with their daily household expenses.

My friend is a very talented makeup artist and hair stylist when she was still here in Manila. And so I feel that she can use her talent to get a good job to earn good money to help her husband.

So I gave her the site of BeautyJobs. It is an online job search engine site where she can easily look for hair stylist jobs or jobs as makeup artists for free. She can simply do a search by zip code and the site will instantly connect her to all salons and spas that have a job position to fill. She can even create a resume from the site without a fuss.

I am sure this site will help my friend easily look for a job that will help her earn money for her family.

Bela's New Toys

Last Tuesday, Howell went home with these:


These ponies are the Happy Meal from Mc Donalds in Florida. Yes you read it right they came all the way from Florida and it is from her Ninong Alex, Ninang Lyn and Ate Alyanna.

Howell showed it to Bela as soon as he got home and when Bela saw it, her reaction was:

Bela: “Oh, nice. Let’s open all of them!”

She asked us to remove all the ponies from their plastic wrapper and she immediately line them up together with her other Little Pony toys. She was so excited and she was so happy playing with it. (You know how much Bela loves her animal toys).

This is now her current favorite collection that she brings it with her every where she goes. And she will even asked us to bring it up in her room and line them up one by one before she goes to bed.

Thank you Ninong Alex, Ninang Lyn and Ate Alyanna for remembering Bela even if you are already a thousand miles away from us. Bela really, really loved your gift for her.

Fire Drill at TU

I was watching the news last night and they featured the Fire and Earthquake drill that was conducted at all the public and private schools this week. It is a project of the Department of National Defense to prepare students in case of these emergencies. They even have real fire coming out of the building and I even saw some teachers carrying emergency lights and there was even a real rescue scenario and an ambulance even came in to do an actual simulation.

Toddlers Unlimited had their Fire Drill also a couple of weeks ago. I was not at school that time but my mom was telling me that it was a good practice. They gave all the nannies orientation on what to do during an emergency and they even had an actual simulation also. They asked all the nannies to line up with their respective kids and they all calmly went down the building using the stairs. The teachers are even singing nursery rhymes with all the kids so the kids will not panic and will exit the building in a fun and organize manner.

It is good that Bela’s school also conducted a fire drill so at least the nannies and the kids will know what to do in case there is an emergency.