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Jan 26, 2005

for the parents

September 13, 2003

10 things every new parent needs to know

By Laura Dolce
Times Herald-Record
ldolce@th-record.com

My baby brother and his wife are expecting their first child in December and like those of us who've traveled this slippery slope before, they're preparing for the blessed event by gobbling up every parenting/new baby book they can find, like they're working toward a master's degree in parenting, or need to pass a baby bar exam.
Trouble is, the books only tell you so much – they play by the rules. And as every experienced parent knows, chances are there's no chapters titled "What to do if your son eats a Matchbox car," or "Help, my daughter stuck a Barbie shoe up her nose." And plenty of times when you really need them.
That's why I put together – for my brother and his wife and all those parents-to-be out there – my "Top 10 things all new parents need to know but will never find out from a book."
So hang on to your baby booties, 'cause here we go:

1 You will watch him breathe. A lot. You will, in fact, spend hours in his dark room watching his little chest rise and fall. Your world will hang on each shuddering, stuttering breath. You will find yourself straining to hear the sound of his breathing on the monitor, and bolt out of bed in the middle of the night to rest your hand gently on his chest to feel it rise. And this need doesn't disappear over time. Just last week, my 13-year-old demanded, "Why were you staring at me while I was sleeping?"

2 Your baby's world isn't sterile. Deal with it. I was once at a social gathering with a friend, his wife and their several-month-old daughter where every time their daughter's cup/pacifier/toy touched the ground, my friend's wife would bounce up from her chair, grab the now-offensive item in two fingers like it carried the bubonic plague and hustle off to the kitchen to boil it. This went on for hours, as the little tyke soon realized chucking something on the floor caused mommy to bounce up like a jack-in-the-box and run away.

3 Beware of grandparents. They seem innocent enough, what with the gaggle of gifts they fill the nursery with and the offers of help they rain down on you. But beware. A new grandbaby can turn your seemingly normal parents (or in-laws) into zombie-like beings driven by only one thought: Get to THE GRANDCHILD. It starts out subtly. They "happen to be in the neighborhood" carrying four cases of Pampers and 14 little stretchies they "picked up on sale." Next thing you know they're trying to arm-wrestle you for who gets to give baby his next bottle. If your parents' offers to "give you a break" are getting increasingly strident and they've taken to beginning every sentence with "My grandchild ..." you've got trouble. Short of a restraining order, there's not a lot you can do to solve this, so try to catch it before it gets too late.

4 Your child will eat dirt. More if he's a boy; less if she's a girl. But believe me, dirt-eating will take place. And you know what? Let it happen. You can't stop it, and you'll only make yourself nuts if you try. Repeat after me: A little dirt doesn't hurt, a little dirt doesn't hurt ...

5 You will wake him up just to hold him. That's right, you will pluck a sleeping baby out of his bassinet or crib just to see him smile when he wakes up and sees it's you. That's 'cause there's no late-night TV show that can compare with a gurgling baby. Note to second-timers: The saddest thing I ever read was an article about repeat parents that contained this line: "No one ever wakes a second baby just to see her smile." Right then and there, I decided I wouldn't let that happen. When my second came around, I woke her up plenty. This may be while she's a night owl today ...

6 He will change the way you feel about body fluids. Poop never looked so good. And you'll spend hours discussing its myriad facets: texture, consistency, frequency. None of this will strike you as odd or inappropriate. In fact, getting to know your baby's poop comes in handy. When he's first born, his poop will tell you how he's handling your breast milk/formula. As a toddler, it will tell you whether or not he's eating pocket change and just exactly where Great Aunt Miranda's diamond stud went. Toddler poop will also spur you on to that other rite of passage: potty training.

7 He will scare the crap out of you. When my daughter Emily was about 18 months old, she took a tumble down the stairs in our house. She cried for exactly 30 seconds, then picked herself up and went on her merry way. My husband and I sat on the top step shaking for a solid hour. My little one, Sarah, hurled herself out of her crib and onto her head – and into the emergency room – at 10 months old. I slept beside her next to her crib for the next three days. Kids will do that to you. They think they can fly and don't give a hoot what that does to your nerves. Nothing, I mean nothing, will ever scare you more than the thought of your child being hurt. Embrace the fear. It ain't going anywhere.

8 He will stick things where they don't belong. Pennies, Cheerios, paper clips will end up in his mouth, up his nose or down his diaper. On the bright side, by the end of his second year you'll be a whiz with a Q-tip.

9 You will turn into Conan the Barbarian. There will be times when you'll become a cross between Xena, Warrior Princess and Al Capone if someone threatens him in any way, like, for example, the brat down the street who didn't invite him to his birthday party, or the kid next door who stole his favorite truck, or his rotten kindergarten teacher who always wanted him to color inside the lines or ... You get the picture.

10 He will make you wonder what you ever did before he showed up. Dinners out? Weekends away? Uninterrupted sex? A thing of the past. Yet, each time you hold him in your arms, you'll wonder why you ever thought life before him was worth living at all.


online source: http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2003/09/13/bz13.htm

Jan 25, 2005

Jan 24, 2005

i'm now a certified fax-machine savvy

a new work is added to my work which is faxing invoices. needless to say, i need to learn to use the fax machine. so now i'm congratulating my self for not making any troubles on my first try! for this day, i made a total of 13 pages being faxed!

now my problem is what will i do with these faxed printed copies! for sure there will be more to come...

Jan 20, 2005

byebye jonathan and victoria

if you're an amazing race follower, you surely know this couple. i know a lot of people hate this team and are praying that they be out of the race. i hate them too. i hate their team but i love them to be still in the race. admit it, their team surely added spice to the race. you can't wait for jonathan's next stunt.

i was hoping that aaron and his partner (is it hayden?), the actors couple, would be the one eliminated from the race yesterday.

except for lori and bolo, i find the other teams of AR6 unexciting and boring. they lack personality (whatever i want to mean by this). they pretty look the same. i can't even make out who's who in them.

i really miss chip & kim. i really miss chip's comments on the places they set foot on. AR5 was for me the best race!

Jan 18, 2005

100 Things About Me

i've read a lot 100 things about me on a lot of blogs. and, i feel like making one, for reasons i don't know. maybe, i feel like i'm some celebrity that everybody wants to know every nittygritty details about me. whatever! or maybe i could extend the list to 500...

here's the list...

1. my favorite color is ORANGE. no, make it, "I LOVE ORANGE!"

- so if you're having problem thinking of what to give me as a present or just for a surprise, just simply give me any orange stuff. rest assured, it will be greatly treasured!

2. i am an only child.

- and most of the people say i'm lucky. and i say, don't envy me! why the freak you think being alone equates to being lucky! i want siblings to share the scoldings and house chores and whatever things my mother wishes/requests me to do! and, on the positive side, i also want some siblings to share fun moments too!

3. i am chismosa to the nth power.

- ogie diaz is my idol. i eat showbiz balita for my breakfast, ogie diaz and niña corpuz. satuday tv watching is a switch between startalk and ek. and sunday afternoon are s-files and the buzz! for everyday sustainance are - showbiz balita on pilipinostarngayon, banat.com.ph, yehey tabloids.

4. my real first name is ROSE.

- a lot of people ask me what's my real name. blame it on my father for giving me such a "unique" name. my father gave me a short name because he was afraid that i would not pass grade 1 because i might not know how to spell my name correctly.

5. i graduated valedictorian in elementary.

- and, there's nothing special about it. i still end up as an average, sometimes/most of the time not-average, college student. i just post this as a reply to my father, refer to #4. i'm even ashamed of this fact.

6. i'm guilty of eavesdropping.

- this is in connection to #3.

7. of all the songs that came to be my favorite, "four seasons of loneliness" by boyz II men never exited the list. i simply do not get tired of this song.

8. i hate mondays and fridays except if payday falls on these days.

- can't we have 4-day weekend?!

9. i prefer shoes over clothes. i simply adore sneakers. but i definitely cannot afford them to have a shoe collection.

- currently, i only have 2 pairs of "wearable" shoes. poor me!!!

10. i prefer sappy mushy sometimes pathetic pinoy love-story movies over foreign love story movies.

- pinoy love stories do simply have a lot of kilig factors for me!

11. i go for "pansit" over spaghetti! siopao over burger!

- you think chinese food does not make me sick?

12. i hate my indecisiveness.
13. i am a hanky person.
14. i'm pro-gay union.

- and it's because of this couple here.

15. the first album i ever bought is "Dangerous" by michael jackson. i was big fan of him back then.
16. christmas is my most favorite holiday of the year!
17. i fear rejection!
18. i heart tiGGer!
19. egg yolks make me puke! even its smell...
20. i loooveee rain!!!

- it makes me want to snuggle and cuddle and dooze off!

21. one of my ultimate dream is to have a beautiful nice sexy pair of feet which does not make me curl my toes or hide them when wearing some sexy strappy sandals.

- my mother usually describe my feet as "mang-uuma's" feet. i'm not saying farmers have some ugly feet. owkei?

22. off all the high-tech gadgets that cam to be known this century, celphone does amaze me.

- and i can't live without one now. i don't know with others but i feel so isolated without this.

23. the name of my first pet dog is "punky". i was like 6 years old when i have it.
24. i am PRO-LIFE but i respect pro-choicers.
25. i am nearsighted since i was 12. eyeglasses became part of my life back then.
26. the first time i was confined in a hospital was when i gave birth to miguel.
27. i need to be sliced to get the baby out of my tummy.
28. blood is fear factor for me.

this is for now. 72 more to go...

"FOR DIRECTORS AND MANAGERS ONLY"

in our restrooms, one of the cubicles in it has the "FOR DIRECTORS AND MANAGERS ONLY" sign on its front door. i'm just wondering if this is common in other companies/offices too...

from the previous company i was in, the comfort rooms are for everybody. so when i got into this new company, this is one of the first things that caught my attention. my reaction was like, "really???"

to get a feel of being a director/manager, i used this "special" cubicle one time. oh well, there's no difference actually with the rest of the cubicles. it still is tissueless, no ass-wipers!!! and it's a manual flush. the only thing is you get to smooch your ass with the director's/managers' asses too. so now your ass is a beso2x amiga of the heads' asses. whatever!

Jan 17, 2005

this is a test if photobucket really works

miguel's soon-to-be-playmates



sara fatima is one month younger than miguel.



carlo jose is four months younger than miguel. he's actually miguel's younger uncle.

these pics are both taken on cj's baptismal day.

well, i see that photobucket really works... you can try this at www.photobucket.com for those who haven't heard about this.


Jan 14, 2005

sinulog is around the corner

these past few days, i can feel that sinulog is fast approaching with the heavy traffic!

i love sinulog but i hate the traffic!

i love fridays because it means weekend is coming but i hate it too because i usually feel drained on friday. it's like after 4 days with 10 hours each day working, it's just exhausting. can i just pass on friday, and go straight to weekend!?! i'm now here in the office with a heavy head. i'm sooo sleepy, God help!

i'm whining so muchhh!!!

by the way, it's payday but i'm not excited!

Jan 12, 2005

Personal Budget

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC062062791033.aspx?AxInstalled=1
i just also found this recommended by areyouinthemoodforsomedude.blogspot.com . well, i'm really going to try to use this because i'm pretty much desperate to try to save!!! freak, i got a baby who consumes 1kg of milk formula in just 10 days... God help me!

actually, you can access it directly on your microsoft excel software. just go to templates, then select "personal budget."

Jan 11, 2005

chow time




i can't wait for that day that we're going to enjoy those kiddie meals and happy meals. i can't wait for that day to watch your sheer delight seeing those jollibee/mcdo logos. (hey peeps, this is just a thought owkei, i'm not going to blow supersize my kid and i'm not an advocate of foods from fastfood chains. but don't you just love seeing the children's delight upon seeing a mcdo/jollibee this-way sign. =) it makes you buy all the kiddie/happy meals for him/her. =)) )

PRICELESS


my baby's toothless smiles - just priceless. i just love waking up every morning greeted by those toothless smiles. but i'm going to say goodbye to those toothless smiles, one tooth is showing up already.

let this be my farewell speech to his being toothless and my welcome speech to his one-front tooth!

=)

as i had my lunch
as i thought about leaving
an opportunity was presented
a door was opening --------------------> oy aha na diay ka? aha ka balhin, baye?

Jan 6, 2005

LOVE project

i was planning way back last year that i would make some postcard kinda thing of miguel which i could keep and give out to his ninangs and ninongs and friends and whoever wanted it for christmas. it's past christmas and new year and three kings, and still i have done nothing over it. well, i could not find time to do it and my little creative side does not perk up yet . owkei, i admit i'm plain lazy after miguel's birth.

hopefully, i could start on it this weekend. but this is not a promise. so, i'll start badgering Changkol (miguel's uncle) to get a nice cute picture of him which i could use. i don't like the studio kind of picture. i like it more being candid and colorful with a very kiddy atmosphere. mmmm, you think i sound too much?

my daily routine in office

1. greet the door keeper (guard)
2. log-in
3. boot the PC and log-in
4. roam around the office for some chika and food
5. back to my cubicle which is owned by honey
6. open the microsoft outlook
7. open 4 IE's
8. read the emails (which are usually broadcast emails) on my outlook
9. open the freshstart
10. open mail.yahoo.com, multiply.com, kinja.com
11. surf and roam around the information superhighway in between answering customers' emails (my work)
12. then think about food, the chines lumpia down in yumyum tree
13. then post some nonsense on multiply to divert my thoughts on food
14. because i'm too lazy to move, i discreetly eat my lunch in cubicle which is a no-no here in my office
15. then go to the restroom
16. stop by the water station
17. back to cubicle
18. repeat 11, 12, 13
19. then repeat 13 many times until i can't help my self but grab a chinese lumpia or any food
20. then reason out it's owkei, they're veggies anyway - they wont ruin your diet. yes, i'm on endless diet state which i think won't work unless i move my butt and do some real exercise.
21. after finishing some food, repeat 11, 12, 13
22. then wait for the time to go .

wowww!!! only 22 steps?? how exciting!

Jan 4, 2005

not yet baby


my baby, miguel, will be 5 months this january 10. one more month and he will be 6 months - it's like he's a half-year old already! oh no, i don't want my baby to grow up and older yet! i just want him to be stucked in his almost 5-month age. i can't seem to get enough of him yet -
his gibberish cooings,
his wake-up smiles,
his peaceful sleep,
his rolling over and over around the bed/crib,
his pitiful cries,
his cunning/devious cries,
his no-tears cries,
his whimpering,
his habit of putting every thing that gets into his hands inside his mouth,
his little antics of his own,
his habit of coughing to get your attention,
his reaching and pulling his "binitay" toys,
his sweaty head,
his shouts and chants early in the morning,
his weeweeing and pooing,
his milk-smell mouth,
his being hyper-active,
his being such a chismoso baby,
his smiles and excitement when being bath,
his enchantment and sparkling eyes every time he sees christmas trees with lights on,
his curiosity,
his love for fishes,
his smiles,
his tantrums,
his short attention span,
his interest on chewing books,
his losing interest on a toy,
his showing great interest on a new toy,
his morning battle against eating some solid foods,
his innocent eyes which pops,
his little interest on dora the explorer,
his chuckles, giggles, snickers, hoots, snorts, chortle
his way of expressing amusement,
his jumping up and down,
his onesies,
his rashes,
his sweaty smell,
his fresh-bath smell,
his unkempt hair,
his nails which needs constant trimming,
his small socks, small shoes,
his attention-seeking attitude,
his special attachment to his yaya,
his constant wailing when he's not being carried,
his trying hard to sleep on his own,
his sad face,
his sleepy face,
his drools,
his being hard-headed,
and just about any thing and every thing about him. i could go on and on.

i can't imagine him being a big boy and doing every thing on his own. i don't like for that day to arrive (not soon) that he'd no longer sleep beside me or needs me for his milk/titi. i don't like that day to arrive that he will not fit in onesies any more, when i can't dress him up with those pooh/disney-characters printed onesies, when he can trim his own nails already.




PIT SEÑOR!!!

i kinda feel excited for this coming sinulog!!! i can't wait to see what's in store for me this coming event! mmmm...

Jan 3, 2005

WEBLOG GUIDE

http://www.kinja.com
i really don't know the real purpose of this site.

however, i have fun using this site to save my favorite links/urls/sites/webpage. this has really came in good use to me as i cannot save on "Favorites" in our office computer. i guess you get what i mean if you work in an office with overly-restricted PC units.

myBIGFATself - HELP!!!!

pleeeaasseee somebody help me! i feel soooo super huge! i need a fast easy (meaning no exercise needed) cheap way to lose some weight. i'm pretty much desperate!

i'm always on the heavy side however this time is my heaviest. i just can't conceal it any more. it's all showing and i'm feeling it! and it's no gooodd! it's sooo bad that mirrors are now my number 1 enemy. i feel like every part of my body is bulging! oh, bulges, please get away!

how i wish i could just scrub off those fats! i better start reading that South Beach Diet.

i promised myself to control my food intake strating today! I'M NOT GONNA EAT TODAY, I'M NOT GONNA EAT TOMORROW COZ I'M GONNA BE A SUPERMODEL!!! yes, i'm going to starve my self to death. but with my supersize now, i feel like even if i starved my self to death, it won't help!

oh Lord, please help me. i don't care if i won't get a raise after six months, just please make me thin! a raise and a sexy body are also very welcome! also, Lord, please make my taste buds insensitive to foods though i'm quite scared if this would happen.

your negative remarks about my physical beauty are all very welcome! your remarks could be a great inspiration!

this is for the TECH SUPPORTS out there


http://www.xlibris.com/FearandLoathinginTechSupport.html
but i don't have a copy of this book. mmmm, wish i could find a way to get my hands on this one...

just read the excerpts, so funny!