Aquila and the Cow

Aqi and I in one of our feeding sessions.

A Funny Sounding Name

Was surprised to learn the other name of a flowering plant that we have here at home.

I call this flower Lantana but the other name pala is KANTUTAY.

Its leaves and flowers can be used as an herbal medication for cough by boiling 1 cup of chopped fresh leaves and flowers in 2 glasses of water for 15minutes.

Aqi Turns 1-Month Old

Aqi turned 1-month old last saturday, November10. We had a simple celebration at home. I bought pancit malabon, puto and tried out the Banofee pie of Red Ribbon.

Actually had a hard time taking this shot. This was the most decent one that i could take. I had to prop the camera somewhere and use the timer mode and Aqi's hat kept on falling.
Good thing my mom, dad and brother were very cooperative kahit gutom na sila.

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Also, Aqi had his doctor's visit today. He now weighs 4.5 kgs and is now 53 cms long. He actually gained 1.6 kgs (or 3.5 lbs) in weight and 5 cm (1.9 inches) in height in a months time.
Pedia was happy with his progress. Yipee!!

The Old man and the Dog ???

Finally found the lyrics of a favorite nursery rhyme.
Don't ask me the meaning of this song coz I really have nooo idea. I just love singing it.

This Old Man

This old man, he played one;
He played knick-knack on my thumb.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played two;
He played knick-knack on my shoe.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played three;
He played knick-knack on my knee.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played four;
He played knick-knack on my door.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played five;
He played knick-knack on my hive.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played six;
He played knick-knack on my sticks.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played seven;
He played knick-knack up in heaven.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played eight;
He played knick-knack on my gate.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played nine;
He played knick-knack on my spine.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played ten;
He played knick-knack once again.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone;
This old man came rolling home.

The Day Aqi Came

Today was supposedly Aqi's birthday... instead he came 15 days earlier.

OCTOBER 9 ... I started feeling some stomach ache at around 10am. I thought I was having some kind of diarrhea. Humihilab ang tiyan ko. This went on the whole day with the pain fluctuating in intensity and with unpredictable interval of 2, 5 or 7 minutes apart.
My mom wanted me to go to the hospital already but I refused to do so. I thought I was just having some braxton hicks contraction because it still wasn't my due date. Also, I didn't have the signs of labor like a bloody show in my undies or water bag rupturing.
Finally at around 9pm I couldn't imagine myself enduring the pain all night, I decided to call my OB for enlightenment. Since the interval of my contractions were less than 10 minutes apart she suggested that I go to the hospital and have them hook me up to a fetal monitor to check if I was indeed in labor.

Bong and I arrived at the ER of Manila Doctors Hospital at around 12mn.
I was brought up to the delivery room and was hooked up to a fetal monitor. This time the contractions were really severe. They did an IE on me and true enough my cervix was already 8cm dilated! My bag of water was forcefully ruptured. I was indeed in labor.

In my mind I was hoping that they would inject the epidural right away. This was the most excruciating pain that I've ever felt in my whole life. This is from someone who has a high tolerance for pain.

I gave birth to Aqi at 2:50 am on October 10.
This date happens to be our 10th year anniversary as boyfriend/girlfriend.
Galing timing ni Aqi, dba?

My Two Boys

Daddy Bong competing with Aqi in a sleeping contest. Guess who won--- Daddy Bong.

AQUILA ISAIAH OLIMPO BERNAL

Born on October 10, 2007, 2:50am at Manila Doctors Hospital
Age of Gestation at 37 weeks and 6 days
Birth Weight at 6.7 1/2 lbs.
Birth length at 18.89 in.

Nawawala si Jennifer!

Nakakainis!
Nawawala si Jennifer, ang naampon namin pusa na umiiyak sa may tabi ng bahay namin a few months ago.
She's not a cute cat kahit nung kuting pa siya pero napamahal na rin sa amin kasi malambing. She's white with some black spots on her head and body with a long tail. Maliit lang ang face nya pero when you hold her naku sobrang taba. She's got a big belly. Takaw kasi.

Now ang nakakainis kasi ang ang suspecha namin kinuha ng dating may-ari si Jennifer. Hindi man lang nagpaalam. BASTOS talaga!
Sabi kasi ng helper namin nakatira daw yung may-ari a few blocks from us. Tinapon nila yung pusa kasi maingay daw. Nagulat na lang daw sila when they checked on the cat e inampon namin. Tapos every once in a while napapadaan sila sa street namin at nakikita nila si Jennifer e ang cute na raw at ang taba. Two days ago kinuha nila si Jennifer the whole afternoon ng walang paalam kaso di daw mapakali kaya nila sinaoli. I bet sila ulit ang kumuha kay Jennifer.

Bastos di ba? Itatapon nila tapos pag gumanda na babawiin na lang nila ng basta-basta.
Ok...ok... if they really want the cat back okay lang kasi madami na rin kaming naampon. Pero I need to give them some Pet Education. Kailangan i-educate ang mga taong ganyan. It really pisses me off. Remember Jennifer is a female cat at mabubuntis rin yan. So if ever mabuntis yan itatapon din nila yung mga kittens nya?!

Animals are also like humans they should be given proper food, shelter and love.

And Then They Were 4

Found the kitten that disappeared.

Oh no... how do you hide 4 noisy kittens?

3 Li'l Kitties

Found 3 abandoned kittens beside our house. Actually they were 4 but the other one disappeared.
As usual my heart broke and wanted to bring them home but my mom (who brought home Jennifer, a stray cat, a couple of months ago) didn't want to add to the 9 stray cats that we have here. She said the price of galunggong these days is so expensive. Our 9 ampons are so matakaw pa naman.
Don't know any animal shelter here in the south. I just know of PAWS which is in Q.C. pa.

For the meantime I tried to sneak them in. Since they are too young to feed for themselves (grrrrr....I hate the humans who threw them away. these kitties still need their mommy) I tried to feed them with evaporated milk using a medicine dropper. So far so good.

By the way one of our female cats here just gave birth and is nursing her kittens. I tried bringing her to the kitties but she's so sungit! Didn't want to go near them.

Hubby Goes to Sydney

Hubby is going to Sydney, Australia next week. He's a member of the Philippine team to be sent to the 8th World Dragon Boat Racing Championship.

Poor me. I'm staying at home.

I've been to Sydney a lot of times but it has always been my dream to explore the sights with Bong. It's a very beautiful city and everytime I'm there I always think about my hugsy. I know he'll love it there. He'll love the laid-back atmosphere and it being surrounded by nature.

The team will be staying there for a week. I hope they will have some time to do some sightseeing without burning their pockets. Tour packages are quite expensive. It's always cheaper ( and fun!) to explore the city by commute. I'm going to make an itinerary for him based from my must-see sights in Sydney.

On My 34th Week

I'm already on my 8th month or 34th week of pregnancy and I'm starting to feel the heaviness of my tummy. I've also started to feel the Braxton Hicks contraction, wherein I feel some strong tightening or hardening of my tummy. It's not really painful but it's really uncomfortable. Imagine your stomach becoming rigid or hard, as in naninigas.

It's funny when Baby Bear moves tumatabingi ang tyan ko. I can always feel or see his foot pushing (or protruding) thru my tummy. It's like having an alien inside me. But most of the time he kicks my ribs -- ang sakit!

I've got a small tummy for an 8th month pregnant mom but based from the ultrasound my baby's weight is very much normal. My belly is all baby.

One Busy Sunday

It was a busy day for me last Sunday and by the time hubby and I arrived home at around 9pm I was dead tired.
I've been been making kulit hubby about going to SM Makati, Landmark and that house in Bel-Air that sells export overruns Carters baby clothes to check out stuff to buy for our baby bear. I also wanted to go to the In My Womb Ultrasound Center to have a 4D ultrasound for baby bear. Bong finally had the time and decided we go to makati on a sunday after his rowing session.

My day started at 3:30am. I was still soooo sleepy! But I had to start getting ready or else he'll be late for their 5am call-time.
We arrived Manila Bay at 5:15am and it was still dark. Geez, most of his teammates were late and they started a couple of minutes later. I stayed in Starbucks while waiting for him alternating between reading a book and people watching. It was so nice seeing families out and enjoying the fresh(?) air and the morning sun. Also, it was fun to see the oldies and the youngsters moving their bodies and trying to cope up with the aerobics instructor.

After his rowing we went to McDonalds to grab some breakfast and went straight to makati. We arrived Park Square at 9am which was too early. We found an open Goldilocks and loitered there until the mall opened. Unfortunately, my uncooperative tummy started feeling queasy. No, it wasn't contractions it was the queasy feeling wherein you need to go to the restroom asap. As soon as the mall opened I went straight to the restroom and did my thing while Bong went to the ultrasound center nearby. After successfully(!) doing my thing I went to the ultrasound center and still found Bong outside. It was still closed. So I asked Bong to accompany me to the drugstore to buy some more tissue wipes. Naku, we came back after 30 minutes and guess what we were already 4th in line for the 4D ultrasound. Grrrrr.... this means my turn would probably be around 3pm.
We decided to go to Bel-Air for the baby clothes. It was easy looking for the house but getting in was kinda difficult. Nagkulang ang research ko dito. The gate was open but no one was answering the doorbell. We went inside the front lawn but saw no signs of baby clothes. Naku, I was already doubting if we were in the right house. Feeling namin tuloy parang kaming intruders. We were almost about to give up when a lady came in and asked for Manang Vicky (the one in-charged of the selling). She went to the side of the house leading to the back and called us. Suki na pala siya dito. Manang Vicky was having her lunch pala and the doorbell was broken talaga. The area was a small room with tambak-tambak na baby clothes. Some naka-hanger and others naka bundle together in plastic. Self-service. Kanya-kanyang dukot. Ang daming cute clothes especially for girls! But it's ok that I'm having a boy so as not to bust the budget. We bought a lot of stuff and the total cost us only one thousand pesos. yipee!!!


The lot consisted of 7 onesies, 1 jumpsuit, 1 hooded receiving blanket, 3 bonnets, 2 mittens, 1 LS jacket and 3 burp cloths ( i can do well without because i already bought lampins kaso Bong slipped it into our lot kaya tuloy napasama).

By this time it was already lunchtime. We decided to eat at Bacolod Chicken Inasal to taste the Ysabella's Chicken. It was good but nothing to rave about. I was taken away by the telenovela kaya I thought it was really to-die for.
Next, we went to SM baby section. There were a little bit more selections than in Southmall. We were able to buy 4 pajamas for baby bear since it was on sale.
By this time I was already tired. I wanted to sit down but there were so many people around. And we still haven't received a text message from the ultrasound center to tell us if it was our turn already. We headed to Glorietta because I was interested in buying a Baby Couture diaper bag. Too bad the design that I wanted to buy, either a Madeline or Daphne, was out of stock.
Since Bong and I were really tired already from walking around, we decided to go to the ultrasound center and wait for out turn. At least there madaming upuan.
We waited for an hour but it was all worth it when we saw the face of Baby Bear. The OB asked Bong to buy a liter of water because Baby Bear's face was staying too close to the placenta which makes it difficult to view the face clearly. Nahalata tuloy na mahina ako sa tubig! LOL. Grabe ngayon lang ako nakainom ng isang litrong tubig in just one sitting! Halos pumutok na ang tiyan ko. Anyhoo, parang kamukha ng family side namin si Baby Bear. Tangos kasi nose ni Bong e si Baby Bear hindi masyado. At one point he smiled, opened his eyes a little and opened his mouth that we saw his cute little gums! Ang cute talaga! The session lasted about an hour and we were able to get 5 black&white photos and the medical report of Baby Bear right away. The 2 copies in sepia and our DVD copy will be given to us next week.
We made a quick dash to the Landmark to check out their baby section. There were also a lot of selections to choose from. There were a lot of pambahays(tie-sides and sandos) and unbranded linens to choose from. Dami na rin sale. We made a quick note that we'll be back here next week to buy the pambahays.

We left Makati tired but fulfilled.
But it didn't end there. We were set to meet my family together with my lolo and aunt for dinner at Manong's in Filinvest.

We were caught in the rush hour traffic. After an hour in the traffic, as we were approaching the Filinvest exit, Bong made a wrong exit and later realized we were already going to Laguna. Grrrrr..... that was one hour added to our travel time. I was already cranky because I sleepy and needed to pee (for the nth time since the 1L water that I drank during the ultrasound).
We arrived Manong's just in time for the meal to be served. The food wasn't that good kaya hindi ako masyado na-energized. Since kasama namin ang lolo ko e puro fish ang inorder. Hindi pa naman kami fish eaters ng mga brothers ko. We feasted on the sisig which was unsatisfactory.

Haaayy... this was what happened last Sunday.
I felt like getting sick.
Super sedentary lifestyle kasi. hehehe....

My Harry Potter Alter Ego

You scored as Ginni, Ginni 100% Hermione 75% Dumbledore 50% Neville 50% Harry 50% Sirius 44% Ron 44% Tonks 38% Lupin 25% Malfoy 19% Voldemort 13% Snape 13% UR Harry Potter Alter Ego created with QuizFarm.com

Weight Gain Denial

i recently had my prenatal checkup and my doctor said that i already reached my weight gain limit. i couldn't believe it. i thought i had a couple of allowance left.
the allowable weight gain of a pregnant woman should be around 20-30lbs.
i'm blaming the hospital's weighing scale for this. my baseline was 120 lbs and now my weight (according to that *&$#@%!!! weighing scale) is 150lbs. NO...NO...NO....
i've been regularly weighing myself and the last time i checked, that was a week before my checkup, i was 136lbs. see, 14 lbs short from the maximun 30lbs limit.
i weighed myself again and again and again after the checkup and according to OUR ol' trusting weighing scale i weigh only 143lbs.
*gulp* 7 more pounds til my limit.

This is me at 26 weeks preggy!

Since yesterday baby bear's kicks have been getting stronger and stronger. nakakaaliw. i can see my tummy twitch everytime he kicks. baby boy nga talaga ito. ang likot eh.

3 Things I Didn't Know About My Husband

Bong and I were bf/gf for 9 years.
Pero madami pa pala akong hindi nalalaman tungkol sa kanya!

1. HE SNORES. he brainwashed me into thinking that he snores when he's dead tired.
2. HE HOARDS THE BED. he sleeps in the middle of the bed o di kaya pa-diagonal kaya sa isang tabi lang ako ng kama nakakahiga.
3. HE CRAVES FOR CHICHIRYA AFTER MEALS. alam kong mahilig siya sa chichirya pero di ko akalain na talagang nagc-crave siya after a meal. ika nga parang dessert nya yung chichirya. ang favorite nya ay yung Clover chips.

Looking forward in discovering for more!

It's a Boy!

happy news! happy news!
i had my ultrasound last thursday and found out that my Baby Bear is a boy!
the first picture shows how big my baby has grown. while the second pix, the one with the small arrow, shows that my baby is a boy. the small arrow is actually pointing at his penis. figure it out already? the doctor/sonologist said that my baby has quite a long penis. hehehe....

trivia: we still don't have a name yet for the baby so for the meantime we call our little one Baby Bear. it's a shortcut for Baby Bernal--->Baby Bear-nal...gets?

my second happy news is that my 2 myomas, i call them maymay, has reduced in size! thank God!
so far it has been a smooth 21 weeks(5months and 1 week) for me. maymay was really asymptomatic so i wasn't really bothered. there are just 2 things that bother me:

1. low back pain
2. unpredictable bowel movement
   

my back just really aches and aches and aches....
while my excretory system doesn't have a fixed time when to poop. i usually end up always having wet wipes in my bag for emergencies when i'm caught in the mall. or if i don't feel the urge to poop it becomes really bothersome because my tummy gets really heavy and distended and i suddenly will walk like a penguin. hay, to think i'm only in my 5th month!

My Forecast for the Month of May

my brother brought home this Psychic Horoscope magazine and found my forecast for the month of May so amusing. swak na swak!

KABUHAYAN: Matatanggap mo na ngayon ang matagal mo nang hinihintay. Pamana sa isang kamag-anak o bayad ng matagal nang may utang.

Grabe, sana magkatotoo!!!! suntok sa buwan.

someone owes me money and it's been a year already. when i was in the thick of doing my wedding preparations this person asked me if i could led them some money. this person assured me that they will pay me by the end of the month. since i won't be needing the money yet in 5 months, i willingly lent them the amount that they needed. grabe wrong move. they haven't paid a penny since then.
now i need all the savings that i could get. my husband doesn't earn much and we'll be using mostly all of my savings. if this person would pay their utang now then my baby things, like stroller, crib, baby bottles and sterilizer, pampers, baby clothes and beddings would already be covered. it' s a big amount 'no it's like buying a 3-day package trip to hkg with disneyland tour for 2 people and may pocket money pa.

Ginisang Kamatis at Sibuyas

this is my newfound craving right now.

grabe... ang sarap-sarap!!! kahit kanin lang ang katapat!

if kimchi is for the koreans then ginisang kamatis at sibuyas is for me.


by the way credit goes to bong for preparing this dish with love.

My US Visa in 75 Minutes

i just got my passport with my renewed US tourist visa today. just had to wait for 3 working days for the delivery which was quite fast.
was surprised to see that i got a 10-year multiple visa.

i had my interview last may18. my scheduled interview was for 10am. i got to the embassy grounds at around 8:45am and submitted my application form together with my passport. they gave me a number and told me to just wait for my number to be called. as expected, there were a lot of people in the un-airconditioned waiting area and readied myself for the long wait. i even brought my What to Expect When Your Expecting book with me to keep me busy. after around 20 minutes in my seat i was surprised to hear my number being called. apparently i was going to the next station which was the electronic fingerprinting. after that they instructed me to go inside the building and go to window #1. at that window there were around 7 people on queue and later realized that it was the window for the interview process already. it was quite different from what i remembered from my previous visa interviews wherein inside the building we would have to wait again for a long time for our number to be called.
in line i got to meet a lady who was also renewing her visa to visit her children and her apos. she initially thought i was a doctor and was surprised to learn that i was already married. she said she would've had introduced me to her son who was guwapo(of course love your own).
the consul didn't ask much question nor did he ask for any documents. i guess they're quite lenient these days not unlike before, post 9/11 when they gave me a 1-year multiple visa even if i was already employed as an airline employee for 3 years.
after paying the courier service i was out of the embassy at around 10am. i was done in an hour and fifteen minutes! it was a far cry from previous interviews wherein it would take you around 3 hours to get it over with.

ha! with that over with i just have to wait for june8 for my husband's interview and it's off to san francisco for us!

Visual DNA

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Meet my Husband

enough said.

Good for the economy but bad for me

aaaghh!!!!

the current peso-dollar exchange rate is now P46.310=USD1. it's good news for the country but bad news for me.
well you see since i'm on my maternity leave i won't be receiving any moolah already. all i have left are my dollar account savings which i will probably be using when the baby comes. i don't really have a peso account because all my salary that is in peso all goes to my bills.
haaay... i remember those days when the exchange rate was P57=$1.

nevertheless, if it's good for the country then everybody would benefit.
and if everybody will benefit then our country will still be a nice place to work and live in.

Go Philippines!!!

Chloe's Birthday Party

yesterday, bong and i attended Chloe's 1st birthday party. chloe's my inaanak daughter of cyril who is one of my dearest friends. chloe was so cute in her yellow dress. she's not a cry baby and she would easily obliged to be carried by anyone.

the day before, hubby and i were in festival mall shopping a gift for her. i was thinking of giving her an educational toy when we bumped into a shoe store(forgot the name already). i saw this cute havaianas for babies. i'm not a fan of havaianas but fell in love with these cute baby slippers. it came in different colors and designs but the sizes they have in stock were limited. we settled for a pink one in a size that would fit a standard 1 year old and crossed our fingers that it would fit chloe. then awhile ago cyril texted me and told me that we had the best gift because chloe didn't want to take the slippers off! shucks...it made me such a happy ninang.

My Celebrity Look-alike

i played with this celebrity look-alike thingy and most of the celebrities that came out were chinese or korean celebrities which i have never heard of. i was hoping catherine zeta-jones during her zorro days would pop out. geez...i thought i looked like her! nyahahaha....






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SHREK 3










hubby and i watched the premiere of Shrek 3 at glorietta yesterday. tickets were given by my brother, Juno, who works for Solar Entertainment. i was expecting to see puss in boots endearing paawa face but instead donkey did it. go watch Shrek 3!

A Freshman Blogger

After years of nosing around other people's blog i decided to make one for myself.

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Do you know what a Manggachupoy is? a mangga what? mangga ni cachupoy?
i myself don't know what a manggachupoy is but i guess since all of our neighboring streets here in our village are named after trees then i guess it's safe to say that a manggachupoy is a tree. probably a family of the mango tree?

don't even try to google it cause i've already tried it.