bossanovagirl

apres moi, le deluge.

this co-sleeping arrangement is SO not working for me anymore.  for me, particularly.

a queen-sized bed is just too small for the three of us now. especially as Anton kicks and flails his arms and thrashes about, until he turns a complete 360 degrees. iI don't know why he does that.  but i suspect, though, that it has to do with his dreams.

in his dreams Anton smiles, coos and laughs, "talks", reaches out his hands, turns his head repeatedly sideways, kicks excitedly.  do most babies do that?  i wonder. 

it must be a result of the stimulus overload he gets from people--especially my dad-- during the day.  daddy talks and plays with the baby even when the baby is already all ready for bed. but, how to tell him to take it easy at night with anton without hurting his feelings?  :P

anyway, A and i have been planning to get a crib for anton.  anton already has a graco playpen, the bassinet of which he used a few times when we were still in the apartment (he was still so tiny and he hardly moved--which is originally why i had wanted him to co-sleep with us), and which he uses now for his naps during the day.  the playpen now occupies a prime spot in my parents' living room. this is why we need a crib for him for our bedroom. 

at the very fast rate anton is growing (and developing), i was thinking of skipping the crib altogether, and investing on one of those toddler beds instead to be cost-efficient (the convertible cribs are simply too expensive at Php 18,000) about it, but with  anton's thrashing about during his sleep, it might not be such a good idea after all.

in the end, anton always wins in the battle for bedspace:  anton 1, mommy 0.

every day, anton manages to force me off the bed always a little earlier than the morning before. i get so worn out getting up and setting him straight that i just simply yield my space.

milestone

today, the 29th of december, anton rolled over to his side, then on to his tummy, and pushed his upper body with his arms for the very first time.  all by himself.

for his daily 'tummy time', we had laid a plastic banig (the foam mat i bought for the purpose apparently is toxic--good thing i'm kuripot and i didn't buy the expensive disney brand which was Php 400) and threw a quilt over it. and, surprise of surprises, he threw one leg over the other, and before we realized what was happening, the baby had already rolled over to his tummy and was pushing his head up 45 degrees.

i wanted to cry.

he held the pose for at least 30 seconds before he became flustered and so he had to drop his head face-down onto the quilt.

good thing i had the camera nearby (had been shooting pics of him early that morning wearing a beanie hat and his pooh sandals while he was still in his jammies) and so i was able to take a pic of the event. truly a kodak moment.

i ran to get my handycam, but it was useless, because anton refused to do it a second time.

Stuff for sale

These are the items we're selling. Scroll down the page to appreciate
how some of the stuff looked in our apartment before we moved. 
Everything is at least two years old, unless otherwise specified:
*  Entertainment center--inspired by an Ikea design.  We had this custom-built.  You can paint this to match your interiors and furnishing.  Can also be used as a divider. This cost us Php 4,500 total to construct but we're selling it for only Php 2,500 to partially recover the cost of materials and labor. Measures 6 ft x 5.75 ft x 2ft (height x  width x depth).
*  Sogo brand kitchen counter with tiled surface--almost like new, but has some oil stains upon closer inspection. Php 1,200. RESERVED
*  LG microwave oven--almost like new.  One of the newer items we're selling, because compared to the other items listed here, we only used this for a year and a half. Php 4,000.
*  Center table-like new!  Php 1,200. SOLD
*  Brown plaid sofa with two armchairs--has seen better times.  We got this for Php 10,950 (we still have the receipt) two years ago at SM but we're selling it for only Php 3,000.  Has 5 matching throw pillows which we never used (not the 3 shown in the pic) because i didn't like everything to be matchy-matchy. SOLD 
*  Corner accent lamp (Regalong Pambahay)--like new!  we got it on sale for Php 1,000 but we will sell it for only Php 500. SOLD
*  Wood and Iron chairs (x 4)--no scratches but varnish has dulled a bit.  originally Php 950 @ but will sell all four for Php 2,000 SOLD
*  Computer tables (x2)-both with wear and scratches on surface. a bit grimy (haha), but very serviceable.  one--the wide one--is in much better shape (mine) than the other--the tall one(A's ), hehe. both came from our old apartments, so they're both at least 4 years old.  individually, Php 500  SOLD  and Php 300. buy both for Php 700.
* Our Home brand kitchen counter--almost like new.  no oil stains, but has some minor scratches on top surface. we used it for our microwave oven.  originally bought  from Our Home for Php 2,400 but will sell for Php 1,500.  inquire about special price for this if you buy the microwave oven,  too  :-)
*  Panasonic 14" television set--4 years old, from my old condo. i have no idea how much these things sell for nowadays, but would gladly part with it for only Php 4,000 RESERVED

a most incredible year

it was an emotional roller-coaster of a year, for sure.

but when i was asked how i was by B whom i saw in mega mall two days ago (he was--i suppose, just like me--doing some last-minute shopping), it was just out of my mouth (embarassingly) so fast before i could even stop to really think about it,

"i had the most incredible year."

it really felt good saying that. 

later on hindsight, though, i thought it was just a bit of an obnoxious thing to say. but it was an honest thought; the first thing that came to mind--utter relief, after the first and very difficult phase of our moving to antipolo was finally over and done with last friday.

in creative writing, a character like B would serve as the foil, to enable the main character to have an epiphany on her condition. (oops, B, i know you read my blog.  please forgive me if i made you just a a secondary character--a foil at that, hahaha.)

it is still a week till the end of 2006.  but the events leading to our move had made me reflect a lot of the past two years i have been married to A.

the ups and downs.  the downs we will have to forget now.  it's the high points i'd rather think about.

for instance, i remember that we didn't learn that we were pregnant till the first week of january.  which means, this same time last year, we were still clueless that we were having a baby in a few months.

and now, what used to be just a dream is already a four-and-a-half month old funny and makulit baby. 

every night while i watch him sleeping i still have to pinch myself to see if he's real.  he's so beautiful. (but of course, what mother will not say that about her child?)

and when i see him and A sleeping side by side, i feel just a complete and utterly indescribable bliss.

which makes everything wrong that's happened so insignificant.

yup.  it was truly an incredible year, B.

travelling light

"tito A, will you be bringing your motorcycle?"  our neighbor Jeno asked A.

"yesss," hissed an exasperated A.  and i couldn't blame him. it was the 144th question today from the kid already.

"mm, i think you gotta check first," Jeran said, tapping a finger to his cheek.  'cause i don't think it'd fit."  he curled his lower lip and shook his head.

sage words from an eight-year-old..

to think that we're already leaving half an apartment behind at that.

(the other half, we're keeping in the apartment to sell, till the second week of january.)

"it's the whole house in the truck," exclaimed the younger Jeran--the other half of the Dynamic Pesky Duo.
.
.
.

this afternoon, A and i left the apartment we called home for a couple of years since we got married.  we would have stayed exactly 2 years this saturday, because we moved into that apartment on christmas eve.

but after much wracking of our brains and shedding of tears (mine), A and i finally decided to give it up and move to antipolo, because we had to prioritize anton's health. anton's hospitalization last month was a wake-up call.

health and quezon city are oxymorons.  quezon city is the most polluted city in the philippines.

for the meantime, we are shacking up at my parents' house, which is convenient for everybody because i need somebody to take care of anton while A and i at work and because my parents, on the other hand, are getting lonely with yet another one of my siblings flying the coop (my brother who works in intel in cavite and goes home to antipolo on weekends has finally migrated to new zealand).

there is nothing more difficult to sift through things one has accumulated through the years.  it's only been a couple of years, but it wasn't easy at all deciding which things to keep and which to let go.

going through each item, i remember the history of each.

but in the end you just focus on what needs to get done, and then let that be your guideline.

and in anton's flushed cheeks, happy smiles, wildly flailing arms and legs and little squeals of delight, A and i think we are doing right in moving.

a postscript: for two years it was a work in progress.  just a couple of
weeks after anton was born, finally i thought we were ready to receive
guests. and so we did. some friends dropped by to see me and anton. 
now i regret i've never even been able to at least host a party before we
moved out. and A had always wanted to entertain friends there--watch
the World Cup, host a Poker Night--but i always told him the house
wasn't ready yet  :(

extreme adventure

extreme adventure drivers, no need to go very far for a fix.

this is guaranteed to give you the ride of your life. it feels just like a heady, out-of-body experience.  plunge headlong into an adventure by merely driving down marcos highway at just 30 kph between 5:30 and 8:00 PM any day of the week and feel your adrenaline shoot up, pulse race, and head burst in all directions.

marcos highway, hands-down, has got to have the worst traffic in all of the philippines.  the maddest jeepney drivers.  the vilest bus drivers.  the wildest, most insane private vehicle owners.

the four lanes merge like crazy. 

with two giant mall complexes standing side by side (sta lucia and robinsons), the road traffic is pretty much dictated by the comings and goings of mallrats in cars travelling horizontally (i'm not exaggerating!) from the innermost to the outermost lane as soon they emerge from the U-turn slot directly in front of the mall (to make it to mall X, for instance, wouldn't it make more sense if you make a U-turn farther down so you can glide into your lane more safely and not have to swerve?  but of course not.  being careful takes a lot of precious mall time.)

case in point:  i was driving straight down marcos highway and as i neared a u-turn slot and slowed down, a van suddenly swerved into my lane and bumped my left side mirror.  to my relief, i saw that there was no damage to my vehicle--my side mirror was unscathed--but there was a deep dent on the van, though.

two days later, at the same spot, my dad's right side mirror gets hit by a van swerving from the right into his lane. he was travelling straight. no damage to his car, but a deep dent on the other vehicle. 

uncannily similar, huh? 

what were the chances?

but seriously, being a marcos highway motorist has made a convert out of me.  in the long stretch from major dizon to the U-turn slot just before CVC supermart, i pray the whole way to get through, and make it home safely to my baby.

(and i haven't yet even touched the subject of the infamous counterflow jeepney traffic.)

baby's day out

i've always had the idea that motherhood will be wonderful, but i'd never imagined it would be this much fun! 

anton's such a bright, happy baby.  sometimes he just seems too incredible to be real. 

he laughs a lot. he also 'talks' a lot, and by the sound of his baby gibber he really sounds like he's telling stories or recounting what happened to him during the day, if he's not griping about his wet nappy or his lola who didn't pick him up immediately. he is a natural mimic.  he still couldn't utter words but i think he copies the way we talk to him, that his gibberish sounds like real talk. sobrang convincing ang pag-fake niya (and i suppose he believes we really understand what he says and is very flattered by it), we guess what he wants about 90% of the time.

best of all, he has been sleeping through the night for at least three weeks now (more, if he wasn't hospitalized).  sobrang low maintenance.  and, to think he's only 4 months old. anton likes being taken on his stroller for a ride.  he likes spending time on his tummy (he can raise his head high now). 

he likes to sun bathe (he especially likes looking up at trees when we put out his mattress on the table in the garden).  we know, because he coos a lot in appreciation.

last sunday was a milestone. 

he started going to church (he cried, once--and only a little--because he was hungry.)  also, because it was a special day, the family lunched out.

anton loves riding in cars (for the first time, he was actively observing the scenery as we drove past. this was not his first car ride, though--he's taken car trips before, for his check-ups). for the very first time, too, he also went to a resto (wala nga pala akong yaya, fyi. carry naman.) kasi it was lolo ding's 70th bday.   

not once did anton cry! pero, sobra yata ang stimulus overload, pagdating namin sa bahay, plakda siya.  at ang himbing ng tulog niya nung gabi.

he had fun.  he 'told' me about it before nodding off to sleep (with matching chuckle, flailing of arms and kicking.)

"Ay, parang si Pooh..."

Sabi ni Lola, on hearing about Britney Spears romping around town sans underpants.

(Good thing si Eeyore ang favorite ni Anton.)

the girl who cried "rape!"

tanong ko lang...will you really get yourself so wasted one night and honestly believe that you won't regret it in the morning?  really!

nakakasawa na itong mga women's rights activists na ito.  lagi na lang nilang sinasabi na "how very typical to blame the rape victim..." eklat-eklat.  e bigyan na lang natin ng analogy:  kung ayaw mong imbitahin ang mga burglars sa bahay mo, iiwan mo bang nakabuyangyang ang pinto?  teka, medyo sobrang crude yata ang analogy.  a, basta.

o siya, wag na natin pag-usapan kung pokpok nga si "nicole" o hindi. o wag na natin paniwalaan ang mga sumusulat sa mga letters to the editor claiming they know nicole personally.  pero ang behavior niya rin on the night she was allegedly raped was not beyond reproach.  several people testified that she was by herself dancing with smith (and at one point i think, sitting on the lap of smith) at the club, and that she was clearly inebriated.

what was it that our mothers always warned us about--about men?

minsan na rin akong naka-inom hanggang magkanda-duling-duling ako at magmanhid ang nguso (happy-happy hour:  tipong 2 giant glasses ng margarita, 4 beers, 2 wine coolers, 4 shots na tequila, at saka 2 glasses na vodka) kaya alam ko ang sinasabi ko.  habang nalalasing ka, di ka naman tuluyan naiiwan ng katinuan.  unti-unting nawawalan ka siguro ng ulirat, oo. 

alala ko, may heady feeling ka pag lasing ka--pero walang point na hindi ka mapapatigil at mag-iisip, "carry ko ba ang consequences nito?"

kaya ang gusto kong malaman, e ano ang ginagawa ni nicole na nagpapalasing, kung hindi niya gusto mag-hang around smith?  oo nga, liking somebody doesn't give that person a license to take advantage of you, pero, in the first place, she didn't take care of herself. she willingly put herself in that situation.  she didn't even think much of herself with the way she behaved in that club. talagang hiningi niya na babuyin siya.

ok, women's rights activists--stop there.

eto ang realidad: ang hawak mo lang ang sarili mo--you cannot hope to control other people's actions. nasa iyo lamang ang kapangyarihang iwasan yung masamang mangyayari. sobrang copout na thinking na responsibilidad ng ibang tao ang mangyayari sa atin--kaya nga tayo lahat binigyan ng utak e. this doesn't make smith any less culpable of the crime. as in my analogy, hindi rin mapapawalang-sala yung mga burglars na manloloob ng bahay na nakabukas ang pinto. magnanakaw pa rin sila.  pero kahanga-hanga ba naman ang may-ari ng bahay?  also, this does make you wonder whether it's true-- smith's claim that  what happened was consensual sex and not rape. 

for me, if there is any crime smith committed, for sure it's the way he discards women when he's done with them.

at eto ang nakikita kong nangyari:  si nicole, type talaga si smith.  so she hung around smith and company at the bar, downing several alcoholic drinks in the process.  naglalambuchingan daw ang dalawa sa club, so when things got really hot and steamy, they continue to do it in the van.  now, malapit na ang curfew ng mga kano, and so they make a mad rush back to the ship in the rented van, and they unceremoniously drop nicole by the roadside. nicole, who is too inebriated to even realize what just happened to her, is found by witnesses dishevelled and in a state of partial undress.  remember that she didn't immediately make a complaint to the police, and there were accounts that she had told a person (i forget if it was her sister) that she had sex with a marine.  perhaps it was even the influence of this sister that made her cry rape.  why?  because she had everything to lose.  she had an American fiance who might leave her if he found out that she had been unfaithful, and with her family, she might have feared accounting for the disgraceful thing that had happened. crying rape covered it up neatly, and bought nicole and her family respectability. (and where her story flagged, her bulldog lawyer ursua always conveniently claimed, in her behalf, that she was suffering from bouts of amnesia.)

and let's not forget nicole has had to change lawyers in the course of the trials.  original lawyers niya sina katrina legarda.  what made them drop nicole?

hmm, curioser and curioser.

ang ganda ngang pelikula nito.

what the *&^$#@%^

what's with the unisilver sam milby pop-ups?

nakaka-irita!