Her Birthday Party Outfit

I am so excited when I opened my email this morning as I saw an email from Prim of Baby Fashionista. I asked her to make a sketch of the ballerina costume that Bela will be wearing for her Little Einsteins themed party. Bela said that she wants to be June, the ballerina, on her party so I immediately thought of asking Prim to design a Ballerina costume for her.

Look at what Prim was able to came up with:

I like the second design as it is so girlie. I asked Prim to color combine it with darker shade of pink for highlights. I am so excited to see the finish product of Prim’s creations. Now my problem is the ballet shoes that should go with this beautiful creation of Prim. Bela has a ballet shoes already which she used when she was having her Ballet Class. She was only able to use it for like 2 months but it looks so old now. If only I have use disposable shoe covers, I might have been able to preserve it and I don’t have to worry now in looking for a shoe that she can wear for the party.

By the way, in order to maximize this dress, I am thinking of having Bela wear it for her Halloween party at school too. Hope her teacher will let us choose the costume that they can wear for the party so at least, Bela can wear this beautiful dress twice.

By the way this is the lion costume that Prim made for Bela last year.

Isn’t it so cute? I asked her to do a sexy costume for Bela because all the costumes I saw are so boyish and Prim was able to execute all my request. I received a lot of compliments at how cute Bela’s costume is and they really got curious as to where I had the costume made. So I am really excited now and I can’t wait to see the final product of her ballerina costume.

A few of her favorite things

These are her current favorite at the moment.

She has a lot of animal toys – from the Puppy in my pocket to the jungle in my pocket, and even just the plastic animal toys that you can buy in SM. She always have a favorite for a particular time and this means that whoever is her favorite will be so lucky because she will take it with her every she goes.

But it also works for us as we really need a diversion for Bela every time we are dining out. We need to bring out any of her favorite toys so she can play while we feed her and we can eat too. This is the only way that we can think of to make her sit down otherwise we will be running around in the restaurant.

And did you know that she has names for each of her animals. And we should know the names by heart also as she always test us and ask for the name that she has given her animals, otherwise she won’t stop asking until we got the correct name.

Here are some of the names that she has given her animals:

Red – for her lady bug
Slow – for her snail
Bolt – her dog that looks like Bolt (from the movie bolt)
Octy – her Octopus
Blue – her blue bird
Racing Stripes – for her zebra

Bela, MSS, Dev Pedia, OT

We had our first Parent-Teacher’s Conference at Bela’s school last Monday. So far, Teacher Sarah said that Bela is really doing well in class. I posted the whole story here.

Since we have been consulting a Developmental Pedia and Occupational Therapist for Bela, I asked Teacher Sarah about Bela’s hyperactivity. Teacher Sarah said that she and her co-teachers noticed that Bela is only hyper when she is at the romp. Inside the class, she really follows the routines and actively participates in classroom discussions so I was really relieved upon hearing that from Teacher Sarah.

This is their Romp Area at school:


The toys inside the romp are really Bela’s favorites like the slide, and the small toy train which she calls her truck. She would even pretend that she is shopping for truck accessories for her truck every time we are at the mall.

She also loves playing in the slide, with their Kitchen Play set and she love shooting balls too in their small indoor basketball court. I guess Bela is just one playful child who really loves playing and having fun with her classmates.

Teacher's Day Gift Suggestion

Bela will have no class on September 28 as her teachers will have an outing to celebrate Teacher’s day. My mom reminded me that I need to buy gifts for Bela’s teachers.

I am running out of ideas actually on what presents to give for her teacher. Would you believe as early as now I am already looking online for nice gift items that I can give her teachers for Christmas. Luckily, there is a Spa just beside Bela’s school which gives me an idea to just give Spa Gift Certificate for her teachers for Teacher’ Day.

It was a perfect timing that I took a leave from work last Monday to attend Bela’s PTC so I was able to check out the spa beside Bela’s school. The name of the Spa is Quezon City Holiday Spa. They let me check their facilities and it looks well maintained. They have a separate spa area for the men and women. The women’s area is located at the first floor. They have locker rooms, lounge area, private massage room, spa filter, Jacuzzi, sauna and a gym.

The price for an hour of massage is reasonable and they sell GCs so I think this is the best gift that I can give for Bela’s teachers. I will try to look around first but if I can’t find anything, this will be my best option.

Bela's Wish List

To Bela’s mommy for the Kris Kringle, Bela will love any animal toys. But if you want more specific details, here is her wish list (LOL):

1. Littlest Petshop toys – this is her current favorite toy and we really bring it with us wherever we go. I will try to list those animals that she have already
- Horse, dog, giraffe, zebra, ladybug, snail, cat, bird, squirrel, armadillo, cat, iguana, fish, octopus, armadillo, lion, bunny.
- Or you can get the Littlest Petshop with the post card of the animal. For this, she already have the Giraffe and the Zebra
2. Jungle in My Pocket – she likes the Kangaroo family or Koala Bear family.
3. Schleich – I saw this at Hobbes & Landes. For this she already have the horse, giraffe, zebra, baby jaguar. You can get the dinosaur or penguin or panda bear.

Idea to Real Thing

Satiated with a powerful staffs that served to its customer’s purpose in bringing into existence eclectically designed invitations baby is a trademark of Birth-Cards that gave a sense of happiness and contentment among its numerous baby shower clientele just like me. Within 60 minutes after my order was finalized during the business day, the baby shower invitations model was sent thru e-mail and was subjected for my approval. As it spelled the style that match to my likings, baby invitations that started from an idea were printed and become a real thing ready for delivery right on the very same day!

Check out their site at http://www.birth-cards.com/ if you are looking for invitations like me.

Baby Talk Part 2

Like what I said in my previous post, hubby and I really wanted to get pregnant again. The gender for our second baby is really not important because all we want is for our second baby to be healthy. But of course, it would be nice if we will have a baby boy this time.

When I had Bela, I was so happy because I know that I can share my passion with her – passion for shopping, for bags, for “kikay” stuffs and the like and it was the most wonderful feeling of having to share what you love most with your daughter.

So I know Howell will be the happiest father on earth if he has a son to share his passion with. Like his passion for sports. I saw him one weekend looking at the site of Zephyr Airsoft for airsoft guns. This is his favorite site as they sell complete line of airsoft guns, pellets, paintball gears at a very affordable price. He told me that his wish is that one day, he will look at this site with his future son and they will shop together for airsoft and paintball gears and have fun enjoying the sports.

Hopefully God will grant our wish.

Baby Talk

Our little Bela will be turning four this coming November and we decided that it is really time for her to become an elder sister that is why we can’t wait to give out baby invitation as hubby and I decided that we should try to get pregnant again before the year ends.


I know hubby wanted to give out baby shower invitations for a long time now. I saw him checking out the site http://www.birth-cards.com for baby shower invitation. This is where we ordered our invites when we organized a baby shower for Bela. He loves the service of Birth-Cards because they even customized an invitation for us with my pictures while I was still pregnant.

We are really praying that we can give Bela a sibling because we know that she can’t wait too to be an elder sister.

Bela's Journal Report: July 27 - 31, 2009

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

We had the most wonderful time this week. We enjoyed the activities in class as we explored and experimented with the musical glass using the same sizes of glass but different amounts of water to produce a certain sound. We introduced the letters Nn and Gg and pictures that begins with them through board drills and had reinforcement activities through art. Like for letter Nn, we did a nest collage where the kids tries to design the nest using different dry goods (black beans, corn kernel, rice grains and colorful macaroni.) We also had noodle cooking after which the kids had fun eating the noodles. As for letter Gg, we planted our own Gumdrop Tree using gummy bears. They had fun drawing different kinds of feelings in the sand. We also read books about the different feelings like Happy, Sad, Scared, Angry and Surprised. We continued discussing the concept of is and are and rote counting from 1 – 40. We also introduced the concept of big and small and the concept beside and between.

Green Cocoon Teachers

Next Travel Wish: Miami

When hubby and I went to Europe last month, we decided to leave Bela behind because (1) the travel time is too much for her and (2) there is nothing much that she can see in Europe (except for Paris Disneyland) that she will really enjoy.

While we are on vacation, we really can’t stop thinking about her and so I told hubby that that is the last time that we will be traveling without Bela. Hubby agreed and he suggested that for our next vacation, we should go to the US.

We have a friend who lives in Miami and is inviting us over there. Bela will love the beaches in Miami and of course we will never miss going to Disneyworld in Florida. I am sure she will go crazy as they say it will take you a week to explore and enjoy all the theme parks there.

As for hubby, he is already checking out the site of Miami Dolphins Tickets as he wishes to watch a football game too. You know my husband, he is a sports enthusiast and an ultimate football fan. Good thing the site offers not just a way to purchase good tickets at good price but also serves as a portal for hubby to interact with the other Miami Dolphins fan.

I hope that we will be able to save for this trip because I know that this is one trip we will surely enjoy as a family.

Waiting for the Good News

Bela was born with a congenital heart disease that left a fear in my heart which is the reason why I have been delaying our plans for a second baby. But as years went by, I realized that God will never forsake us and so now I am already ready to look for Baby Shower Invitation at http://www.cards-411.com/ as I am ready for our baby # 2.


We are really hoping that we will soon be ordering invitations baby shower from Cards-411 to welcome our second baby. I love the service of Cards-411 as they can even make customize printable baby shower invitations. They can even print and ship it as soon as designs are approved. I am really hoping that in just a few days, we will receive the good news.

Do check out their site if you are also looking for invitations as they also offer free baby shower invitations.

Magician: Booked

I talked to the Administration office a few months back to inquire for parties being held in school and I was informed that they do allow consuming the 3 hours of class time for the party. I asked my mom to talked to Bela’s teacher and ask her permission if we can celebrate Bela’s birthday in school. The teacher said it is still too early to predict their schedule as they haven’t done their lesson plan yet for the month of August but because of my “pangungulit”, Teacher Sarah gave me her approval already. But she gave us 2 hours only and we can just extend after class and we just have to inform the parents that their kids will go home an hour late that day.

So I informed Angelette of Jelly Bellies right away and today I got a text message from her informing me that she already booked Wacky as my magician for Bela’s school party. I haven’t seen Wacky performed actually and most of my friends haven’t seen him perform too but according to Peachy, I should just trust Angelette’s suggestion as if it is recommended by Angelette, then he must be good. And besides his audience will just be 15 kids so I shouldn’t really be making a big fuss about it.

As I am typing this post, I already received the contract from Angelette and I will make the deposit tomorrow for the down payment. (I love her talaga. She is so efficient.) So I am really in party planning mode now!!

Our Precious Princess

This is Bela’s gallery in our house (though the picture is a little outdated).


She is indeed our precious little girl, our princess. Our world really revolves around her. I don’t want to think morbid thoughts but I can’t imagine what will happen to her without us. That is why my husband and I agreed that we should look at our social security disability just in case anything happen to us.

I remember when she started going to school, I even took a leave to search for schools where I will enroll her. I was so confuse as I want to ensure that Bela will get the best school. And she is only 2.5 years old then. What more if she is already going to college.

I guess all parents are like this. Of course who only want the best for our kids.

Bela's New Toys

These are some of the toys that we got for Bela from our recent trip.

We really feel sad and guilty for leaving Bela, and although these material things can’t bring back the time when we are away from her, we want to make it up to Bela by buying her things that she loves the most….toys.

Our initial plan was we will just bring her to Duty Free when we’re back since we can’t find any nice toy stores in the first three cities that we have been too. But luckily, we found a nice little store in Venice that sells animal toys (which is similar to the crab in the show Save-Ums) and we we’re also able to find Smurfs toys (well I think Howell likes this more than Bela. LOL).

In Paris, I found a Disney Store along Champs Elysees and bought toys and Disney shirts for her too. And since we got the 5-day metro pass in Paris, we were able to drop by at Disneyland also (but we did not go inside. We shop at Disney village where they have a big Disney store). We bought a lot of Disney toys here too. Howell was also eyeing to buy the Wall-e robot which was on sale (Euro 15) but we figured it will be too big for our luggage.

Bela was ecstatic upon seeing her new toys and she can’t wait to open them. She immediately played with it and she love it to bits.

Birthday Preparations for Bela's Tito Jego

Since it will be my cousin’s birthday this coming October 31, I and my sister thought of having a party but instead of an ordinary children’s party, we have decided to switch on a Halloween party since by that time, many people are celebrating the Halloween. So I immediately checked on some Photo Halloween Invitations that we can use for the party.

My sister checked on http://www.holiday-invitations.com/ for Photo Halloween Invitation because we thought that this would be great for we can put my cousin’s photo on their design which they will create as a special design. As of now, she’s still undecided for the design of the Photo Invitations Halloween and even the celebrant can’t decide for a specific design.

I just hope that we can soon finalize our Halloween Party Invitations so that we can finalize our order with Holiday-Invitations.

Conversations with Bela

Yesterday, I was looking at our Venice pictures and I did not notice that Bela was looking too:

Bela: “Oh mommy, that’s a Gondola.”

And then she saw a picture of me.

Bela: “Oh mommy that’s you”

After saying that, she turn to look at me to say, “Mommy you left me”

Argg. My heart melt after hearing that. I don’t know what to say.
===

Bela: “Mommy, yuck you have a big tummy.”

Of course I am hoping that the reason why I have a big tummy is because I am pregnant. It is still less than one month and I don’t want to do a test yet. But if I am not pregnant, I think I really need fat burner. Kids never lie and when she says I have a big tummy, it means that I really have a big tummy. LOL.

===
Bela: “I love you so much mommy.”
Me: “How much do you love me?”
Bela: “1,000. Did you know that 1000 means many, many 100?”

===
Me: “Look Bela, ants.”
Bela: “Not ants, mommy. Only ant because there is only one so there should be no “s”

Halloween Party Planning

I was looking at Bela’s pictures during Halloween last year and I can really see how she had so much fun. That is why I am looking at the site http://www.invitations-shoppe.com/ for Invitations Halloween Party as I am thinking of organizing a small party at our house. It will just be a simple party where Bela can invite her classmates. Of course I will still give out Halloween invites so the parents’ of her classmates will be informed.

I will specify in the kids Halloween invitation to wear their costume so the kids can really feel the spirit of Halloween. Good thing Invitations-Shoppe can customize the party invitations Halloween based on my specifications and they even promise to send it to me for proofreading within one hour after I place my order.

I am sure Bela and her classmates will have a blast in this party so I am really excited.

Bela's Sunday

Howell wanted to go to Subic this weekend and check out Ocean Adventure and Zoobic Safari. But then we changed our plans to just go to Ocean Park instead so we don’t have to wake up early for travel. But since it has been raining almost the whole day (bed weather), we got to lazy to go out and instead we just slept almost the whole day. LOL.

But we were able to do some activities with Bela today while we are at home like we watched her favorite shows on TV together, play with her and we were able to do some writing exercise. Below is a picture.

Tomorrow, we plan to go to the mall (hopefully we won’t feel lazy) and we will go to ALRES (Occupational Therapy Center in Quezon City) for Bela’s Evaluation. Maybe we can hit the mall after that.

Bela’s Consultation with a Dev Pedia

I made a post here a few months ago about my concern when we transferred Bela to MSS from Toddlers Unlimited. I got a bit concern because judging from the comments made by Bela’s teacher, Bela might have some problems with her attitude and with her inability to sit still (you can read about the teacher’s anecdotal report here and my reaction to the teacher’s report here).

Because of this, I searched the n@w archives to look for recommendations for a Developmental Pedia for consultation. I admit that Bela is really hyperactive and she can really be a handful at times (that is why hubby and I bought Dansko shoes so we will be comfortable while we run after Bela). So we figured consulting an expert will not hurt.

There are just a few Developmental Pedia here in the Philippines so it is difficult to schedule a consultation. I contacted Dr. Dimalanta’s office May 2009 and I was given a schedule for July. Unfortunately, Dr. Dimalanta attended a conference during our scheduled check up so they have to reschedule Bela’s evaluation to August 29.

We waited for two hours before we were called. As soon as Bela enters the room, she greeted Dr. Dimalanta and she answered Dr. Dimalanta when she was asked for her name and age. She immediately sits down to play with the educational toys that are lined up on the table in the middle of the room. Dr. Dimalanta gave her different educational toys (like puzzles, blocks, shape shorter, etc) one at a time and gave her instructions on what to do with it. Bela patiently listened to doctor’s instructions and was able to finish everything (even faster than what Dr. Dimalanta expected).

Dr. Dimalanta also asked me to fill up questionnaires about Bela’s development and answer them as honestly as I can.

Dr. Dimalanta’s evaluation: Bela is potentially gifted as she was able to do things that a normal three year old can’t do (base on the exercises that Dr. Dimalanta asked Bela to do). Base also on the questionnaires that I answered, her development is advance compared to other three years old. But it is also evident that Bela is really hyperactive. He doesn’t want to say that we should worry about ADHD as he doesn’t diagnose patients on first visit and ADHD is usually diagnosed at age 6. Also, he mentioned that since Bela waited for more than two hours already and seeing that she was able to sit still for 45 minutes doing what he asked her to do when ADHD patients would normally throw tantrums already, he said that there i no need to worry. He just gave us recommendations on what we can do at home to modify her behavior and he even recommended Bela to attend occupational therapy twice a week.

We will be visiting an Occupational Therapy Center next week and have Bela evaluated. OT is a behavioral modification therapy which will help lessen her hyperactivity.

I am glad that we consulted Dr. Dimalanta as I can have a peace of mind now.

Halloween Party @ Bela's School

Call me an over excited stage mother, but I already contacted Mrs. Prim to contract her to do the Halloween costume of Bela for their school party even though I haven’t received the Halloween Invitations from her school.

During the school orientation, it was mentioned that part of the school’s culminating activity is to organize a costume party for all the students of MSS. They will give out Halloween Party Invitations to all the students so the parents can prepare for their kids’ costume.


I can’t wait to receive the Halloween Invitation that they will be ordering from Holiday-Invitations which will be specially designed to contain pictures of MSS’ students. I checked out http://www.holiday-invitations.com/ to look for Invitations Halloween that I can show it to Bela so she will know what to expect for their upcoming Halloween party.

Bela’s Journal Report: July 20-24, 2009

What a wonderful week it was! We started off the week with an activity where the kids used their sense of touch. They wer able to differentiate the objects that are wet and dry, soft and hard, smooth and rough, hot and cold. They had fun doing the finger painting art where they are going to use their own finger instead of using the paint brush to make their own designs. We also made them design their own bottle by pasting paper of different colors (black, brown, pink and white). We also had a stencil activity using an empty tissue roll and paint, where the kid will roll the tissue with paint and a certain shape like diamond, crescent, star will appear. For Phonics as reinforcement for letter FF and Bb, they made their own alphabet scrapbook where they try to paste pictures that begin with the said letters. We continue discussing the use of is and are and also we rote count from 1 to 40. We also introduced the concept of in front and behind by letting the kids line up and doin a simple dance step during our music and movement.

During our tasting activity last week, Bela didn’t try any of the food she or her peers brought. Even the sweetest chocolate she refused to eat.

When asked to name things that begin with f and b she gave the examples bumblebee and fingers. She also said orange is orange when we let them name things that have different colors and shapes. During writing, we are very happy to note that she needs lesser help in tracing lines and she has a better grop of the pencil. She is also able to manipulate the pencil with added control in following the lines.

We are glad that the kids showed excitement in doing the activities for this week. Hopefully they would enjoy the activities more in the coming week.

Everybody is Excited

I remember, when I announced to my family and friends that I am pregnant, everybody got so busy looking for Shower Invitations and planning for a baby shower as they can’t wait for the coming of Bela. They got really excited that they ordered for baby shower invites from CardsShoppe right away. They want nothing but the best for the shower so they made sure that they got the best custom made invitations baby shower just to express how excited and happy they are for the coming of the new member of the family. The invitations are really adorable and it even has a picture of us together with Bela while she was still in my tummy.

Now, everybody is waiting to find out if Bela will be a big sister soon. I am sure they already check out http://www.cardsshoppe.com as early as now due to their excitement. Howell and I are just praying that God will shower us this year with another blessing.

Green Cocoon's Fashion Show

While Howell and I are on our vacation, Bela’s class had a Fashion Show instead of the usual Outdoor Play they have every Friday. The kids were asked to wear clothes worn for different weathers and Bela was asked to wear clothes for sunny day.

My mom doesn’t know how to operate her camera and they were not informed that parents can watch the fashion show. So when they arrived, the show is already finished. Good thing, one of my co-parent, Cherry (thank you so much Cherry), took a picture of Bela when it was her turn on the ramp.

Look at her. Will she pass for a model? LOL.

When we arrived from our vacation, I learned that they will have another Fashion Show and this time, the whole school including the teachers will participate. Too bad I have no more leaves left to watch it but Howell was able to take a day off and they were even able to take videos and pictures of the event. (I will just make a separate post about it as Howell hasn’t downloaded the pictures yet from our camera).

Thankful for my Friends

I was just looking at the pictures of Bela taken during their Fashion Show at school and it made me realized that I am ready to have our second child.

I can still remember, everybody was so excited when we announced that I am pregnant. All my set of friends have organized separate baby shower so each of my friends received quite a number of invitations baby shower a few months before I gave birth.

I was really touched as they really made sure that everything was in order for the shower – the food, the party games, the baby invitations (which they ordered from http://www.cardsshoppe.com), and the gifts. My favorite is the baby shower invitations from CardsShoppe since the design was specially customized and it even has a photo of me with my baby bump.

I am really thankful that I have friends like them who made my pregnancy extra special.