julla likes pop

my little girl julla, who turned 4 years old two weeks ago, has been into lady gaga and taylor swift for months now.  

lady gaganess.

she once told me that when she grew up, she wanted to be like lady gaga.  i told friends about it and asked them whether i should be glad or bothered about it.  my fashion-whore friend andre said i it's somthing i should be proud to know.  fashion icon kaya si lady gaga, to quote him verbatim.  on the other hand, my normal friends (read:  not into fashion, pop culture, more realistic) said i should steer my daughter clear of her bad romance and paparazzi videos a.s.a.p. 

which leads me to an interesting incident some time ago.  she was watching the bad romance video with her dad.  there were bodies wrapped in white spandex crawling out of synthetic shells.  she watched too intensely as everything was unfolding in front of her.  her jaws dropped in awe.  during the part where lady gaga was like being forced to drink water and it was being poured on her face and body, she asked her dad why they were doing that.  her dad's jaw dropped speechless.

girly taylor swift .

this i can tolerate somewhat.  taylor's songs are reminiscent of my teenage loves.  julla's voice, when she sings along with the lyrics, which by the way she invents, matches with the shrill of taylor's voice.  i also find it funny that julla recognizes her songs on the first few notes.  immediately, her eyes will light up and excitedly call her yaya, who i know, has influenced her in this regard for she is a fan herself.

did i write here before about julla wanting to be like that palmolive fashion girl commercial?  with long straight hair and all the cutesy stuff she can do with it?  well after that, her next peg is taylor swift's long blond wavy hair.  paglaki ko, gusto ko mahaba yung hair ko na kulot parang kay taylor swift.

and here's the latest.

last night, when i arrived home she came running to me from where she hid, (she usually hides when i get home, pretending she isn't there) and proudly announced, mommy alam mo yung kanta ni juatin bieber na baby?  then she started singing ♫ babeeeeeee ♪♫ in her strong shrilly voice.  then she goes, di ba mommy bieber parang booger...?  

i roll on the floor laughing.  i love my little girl to pieces.  ♥

i have to remind myself to expose her to julia fordham, her namesake, again soon.

forever young

this was my theme song on my 18th birthday....20 years ago...

Forever Young

originally sung by Alphaville, now sang by Beyonce and Jay-Z at Coachella 2010.

Deep sigh.

i got the power

 

yesterday i received our electricity bill for the month via email.  i nearly passed out in disbelief.  a friggin' 6,900 all-time high!

on the average, my monthly bill is from 4,500 to 5,000 and i simply cannot fathom how the effin hell did we reach this amount when i know for a fact that we have not consumed electricity any more than we did the previous month.

i logged on to meralco's website to check for announcements in increase of power rates but found none.  worse, i cannot log-in to view my bill to see my consumption.  everytime i type the user name and password, it only goes back to the homepage!  so what, i will be tortured waiting for the real bill, with all the morbid details, to arrive at my house now when the reason why i availed of the online thingy is for me to know everything in advance??  *&♣;^%$#@!!!

let me see...last month, i payed 5,800.  the month before 4,600.  and before that 3,300.

so what's up with that?

i protest!  i'm joining that facebook page NOW NA!

other electricity bill rants:
first wives club - crazy meralco bill
chuvaness - power corrupts
a filipina mom blogger - meralco bill doubles the past month

Seasons of Love

I started singing this song in my head last night, searched for it in youtube and played it like 6times.  Hubby said it's one of the good songs... Migo asked how many minutes is one day.  Julla just danced her ballet steps along with it.

I was humming this in my head on the ride to the office this morning.  Got here at 6:45!

Seasons of Love

Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundrend twenty five thousand moments so dear
Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year

In daylight, in sunsets, in midnights,
in cups of coffee, In inches, in miles
in laughter in strife,

In Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life

(chorus)
How about Love
how about love
how about love
measure in love
seasons of love
seasons of love

Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundrend twenty five thousand journeys to plan
Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
how do you measure the life of a woman or a man

In truth that she learned or in times that he cried
In the bridges he burned or the way that she died

Its time now to sing out though the story never ends
lets celebrate remember a year in the life of friends

overhaul/facelift/turning a new leaf

yes, i've decided to change the layout of this blog including all of the elements in it.  but it's not yet in the very near future.  i still have to plan it out and organize everything.  so i'll post a screen capture of the existing layout, for posterity's sake.

the underachiever

migo's interview at the new school was early this morning.

principal nora manuel was stern but smiling when she called him into her office.  i saw him through the glass window as he sat in front of her, knees together, hands clasped on his lap, just as i'd told him.  i wasn't sure if he was gonna breeze through it.  what with a 'failed' mark for his reading and language entrance exam the day before.  he had a high score in math though.  and his SAI is 113, above average. 

after about fifteen minutes, he was out the door telling hubby and me that the principal wanted us inside.  my heart skipped a beat. 

once inside, the principal asked migo to step outside. 

i was wondering why your son is an underachiever...  were her first words.  i was stunned but immediately got back my composure.  

what do you...?  how so?  why did you say that?  i don't understand.  i put my bag aside and put both my arms on top of her desk, crossed.  what EXACTLY do you mean by that?

she told us that migo had a high IQ but it only showed in his math exam (he got a high 3.8), but did not reflect in his reading (2.5) and language (1.8) exams.  it meant that he is above average in intelligence but doesn't seem able to use that academically.  i was literally crushed.  no, make that heart-broken.  i don't know if my voice broke or was just unsteady as i explained to her that my son does seem to lack interest in those subjects but excels in math, science and general information.  that he is also very good in taekwondo--a gold medalist even.  that he has a whole lot going for him and the reason why we are actually transferring him to this school is because we actually want him to be better at what he's not.  having said that, the principal was supportive.  she said they were admitting him to 3rd grade but on probationary status--meaning his grades have to be good on the 1st grading period.  if otherwise, we were asked to sign a 'contract' that he will attend remedial classes. 

my heart still aches as i type this.  but my heart knows that this is but a wake up call.  i have always been lauded by my friends for being such a great or cool mom.  the problem with that, i realized now, is i usually let my kids do only what makes them happy.  which is good, from another person's point of view.  case in point, migo's reading and language would've been better had i "forced" him to like those subjects instead of letting him study only those that he liked.  i know i've been really lax with him this past schoolyear, what with my nanny being the one assisting him with his homeworks.  i am so sorry that i've not been a good mom....


but today is a new beginning for him and me.  we'll prove to that new principal at that new school how lucky they have become to have acquired migo as their student.  aja!

of arabesques and birthday cakes

 
little girl julla turned 4 last monday.

coincidentally, it was her first day in summer ballet class.  the family was in full force to support her -- the dad, the mom, the brother AND the cousin.  all five of us trooped to nty children's camp to root for our little ballerina.

flashback to several weeks ago.

mom i want a birthday cake shaped like a heart.  color pink.

mom and little girl in front of the computer watching videos from youtube of ballet dancers, recitals, etc.  mom i want to dance like that.  

little girl at her moving up ceremonies.  my name is jullana ysbel c. dela cruz.  someday i want to be a teacher and dancer.  i believe that if i do my best, God will do the rest.

fast forward to three days before monday.

3 tulog na lang, magb-birthday na ko. 4 years old na ko.

two days before monday.

2 tulog na lang, magb-birthday na ko. 4 years old na ko.

one day before.

1 tulog na lang, magb-birthday na ko. 4 years old na ko.

on her birthday, her dad was first to inform her that, yes, today is already your birthday.  he nudged her, her eyes slowly opened, brightened then she squealed in glee.  

she did not get the heart-shaped cake.  and we did not get to watch her in class because we were asked to wait for them outside.  she didn't have a big event party, just her cake, spaghetti, fried chicken and biko.  but watch her do the arabesque and basic steps of ballet and you'll know that even if there wasn't any major celebration, her birthday was especially memorable for her.

that's her in ballet class with teacher april

the full weekend

friday we finally enrolled julla in ballet class at nty children's camp.  (she will start on april 5.)  then got her white dress for her moving up come sunday.

saturday we went to taekwondo practice with migo.  it was announced that the team will be moving to the new (high-tech great facility) gym next week.  migo was commended for getting the gold during the last tournament.  he and clarence are now called the tirador ng novice of the team.

after tkd, we went to trinoma with one objective: to get the kids new shoes.  lunch at sbarro.  finally got that brand new black adidas with transparent stripes for migo and cute white baby doll shoes for julla which she will wear too for the moving up.  afterwhich, they played for an hour at kidzone.  i took the chance to get some stuff for myself too at zara and shoebox.  hee-hee!! we got home around 8:30.  while facebooking later, i realized we completely forgot about Earth Hour which was scheduled from 8:30 to 9:30 pm.  

sunday was THE day.  my mom tagged along for julla's moving up ceremonies at the valenzuela convention center.  what a pleasant surprise for us to find out that she got the multi-intelligence award -- the highest lang naman in her class.  :)  of course, the little girl was oblivious to the joy and pride we, her parents and grandparent, felt.  the only prize she requested was lunch at mcdonald's.

later in the afternoon, we went kite-flying at the luneta grandstand.  there's something about the freedom of a flying kite that set off a wonderful feeling inside.  the kids loved running around the large open space.  i could tell hubby was enjoying too.  it was just unfortunate it wasn't as windy as the last time we were there.  after about two hours, we were off to fastfood dinner and mass at the adamson church (san vicente de paul parish)  oh, a calesa ride too...  migo and julla, although have already ridden a horse in baguio before, were squealing in excitement.

home by 9pm.  all's well.  it was a tiring weekend but happy and fulfilling as well.  we've created memories again for our kids.  it's all that really matters.

ok, so i'm back at work.  although only a 3-day workweek (it's holy week!) it still promises to be a lot in my hands, what with an impending announcement of some major changes in the company's corporate structure.  good luck to all of us.

what's in a name?

the little big man migo asked me at breakfast today what his name means. 

when we chose his name a few days before he was born, it was because we thought it was just right for our very pinoy last name. his first name lorenzo is from the basilica of saint lorenzo ruiz in binondo where hubby and i were married.  his second name miguel, is from archangel michael.

before he was born, i was in labor for thirty-plus hours until my o.b. decided to cut me open because he might already be stressed inside my tummy and might have gulped down his own poop for staying there too long.  it turned out that he already did and had an infection when he was born so he had to stay in the hospital for a week.  i only vaguely remember now (thanks to the general anesthesia) but the next few days after that, he was stuck with needles not less than ten times.  for blood tests, for the dextrose which had to be removed and re-inserted several times and for the different skin tests they made him undergo.  once, one stupid intern even forgot the rubber band tied around his bicep.  we wondered why his arm was turning bluish until we realized it's been there under his shirt's sleeve for a couple of hours already.  and then there's that other intern who couldn't seem to find the right vein to insert the iv.  he would stick it in, pull it out, stick it in again, out again... it went on several times until our little baby was screaming his lungs out in utter pain.  i remember hubby and i stepped out of the room and cried while holding hands.  we so pitied our newborn son!  (in hindsight, i think, we held hands to keep ourselves from strangling that intern to death.)

then was when we realized the relevance of his name.  lorenzo was a filipino martyr who endured torture, one of which was wherein needles were inserted in his fingernails, just to keep his faith.  miguel the brave archangel is the commander of the army of God who slayed sat*n.  our little son was already emulating his namesakes early on in his life.

fast-forward more than seven years later.  here he was, sitting beside me by the breakfast table, asking me why we call him migo.  he has become a brave and enduring taekwondo player.  he has become a strong-willed and assertive student.  he has become a protective, sometimes mischievous, kuya to his little sister.  he has become our sometimes sweet, sometimes annoying, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes hard-headed son.

he has become what lorenzo miguel meant.  and so much more.

photographs and memories

i've just recovered pictures from my old hard disk and transferred them in my laptop.  thanks to val, our IT person here in the office.  i'm so glad i got everything back.  i was worried for a while there because the pictures date back to 2007.  that's 3 years worth of memories lost if ever they were unrecovered!  

i remember the first time my computer crashed.  we couldn't retrieve the old files.  never mind the files, i was really more concerned about the pictures which dated back to when we first had a digital camera when migo was, what, 2 years old?  you can imagine how desperate i was.  baby pictures of my panganay were lost!  darn this technology, right?  

used to be that i had photo albums when i was a kid until i was a teen until hubby and i were going steady, eventually engaged and then got married.  our wedding album was 3lbs heavy.  up until migo was 2 years old, we kept real photgraphs in real photo albums.  none in cds, computers, usbs, external hard drives or photo-sharing websites which we have now.  now i can't imagine myself painstakingly inserting picture after picture in an adhesive-laiden book, just as i'd done more than seven years ago.

ahhh...memories... you can never have too much of them.  i realize now that people actually create activities for family and friends so we can have beautiful memories together.  these memories we put inside that little chip inside our brains, store there and retrieve every now and then, to make us feel happy and fulfilled.

i'm getting a dslr soon.  :)

the 4th gold

 

i could get used to this.  migo winning the gold, tournament after tournament.  even the silver may not make me that happy after today.  he has turned into a (cute little) monster on the taekwondo court.  he's become unstoppable.  his speed and accuracy has upped to a different level compared to those in his level.  that's my opinion.  i'm his mom.

he was promoted to blue belt two weeks ago.  last friday, i bought his blue belt in time for the tournament yesterday.  binyagan mo ng gold yang belt mo ha, was his dad's words to him before his first fight.

i'm so proud of what he's achieved so far, at seven years old.  i know he could do so much more once he sets his mind to it.  next schoolyear, we're targeting ... soccer!  :)

summer breezin'

summer has officially started for migo this past week.  julla still has classes this week until her 'moving up' on the 28th.  

just as i have done last summer, i've started giving them daily schedules which has different activities for the day which they have to follow so as to ensure that they don't just play the computer all day.  these activities include their morning bath,  reading a chapter of a certain book (for migo), answering pages i downloaded and printed  (for both of them) so as not to get rusty on academics. there's playtime (as in, play with toys or go to playground), naptime, eating time and their favorite, computer games (limited to 1 hour per kid.  i believe that it's important to regulate this, not deprive.)

their schedule looks like this:

they are supposed to check the boxes of those that they've finished doing.  at the end of the day, when i get home from work, i check each of their activities.  they get a reward come weekend.  

aside from this, migo still has taekwondo practice three times a week and we're enrolling julla in ballet class.  hmm... seems to me we're gonna have a busy summer.

what are your kids doing this hot season?

update on phlegmatic me & my choleric mom

we finally got the effin' documents!!  yey!

teacher S was apologetic albeit still trying to justify her hesitancy in giving out the documents.

drama

phlegmatic me and my choleric mom

so last monday, i was able to inquire at the new school and hubby and i have finally decided, most probably, that migo's going to transfer there next schoolyear.  

next on the agenda was to secure the requirements before migo could take the entrance exams.  i had to call the old school to ask them for a photocopy of migo's report card until the 3rd quarter and a certificate of good moral character.  

teacher S was the one who answered the phone and i told her about the situation.  she told me that i can have everything when they release the report card on april 12.  unfortunately, entrance exams at the new school is only till april 8.  so i had to call teacher S again to explain the predicament and request her kindly, if she could provide everything at least on april 5.  she kindly said yes, albeit reluctantly, because she said there were a lot of activities right now and everyone there is busy.  it turned out that SHE was the one who will prepare AND release the certificate.  which infuriated me a bit, coz it was only an effin' piece of paper which i was SO sure already has a template and only needs her effin' signature!  but i was calm.  kind even, to this soft-spoken teacher who has been the recipient of my complaints for the past schoolyear.  phlegmatic personality me.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/medicine/gallery.shtml?select=04

after i put down the phone, my first instinct was to call my choleric personality mother.  

mom, i need your super powers.  text me when you're back in the office so i can call you.  thanks.  nothing serious. text message sent.

as expected, she cannot -- would not accept the excuse of this teacher.  her solution was fairly simple:  write a letter to the principal and personally bring it to her and talk her into releasing the gawd-forsaken certificate!

the following day wasn't very eventful but a significant one.  she went to the old school, found that both the principal and teacher S were not around at nine a.m.  so she left the letter with another teacher there.  later, she called and, voila, teacher S answered.

same excuses were told to my mother, who was never the slightest bit discouraged.  she was not to be brushed aside by this woman.

her words, verbatim:  ganito na lang.  tatawag ako uli on thursday to remind you that i will pick up that document on friday afternoon.  ok?  she told this thrice to the equally unfazed teacher who kept saying that my mother has to wait.

until finally, alam mo kase teacher, kaya lilipat ang apo ko, kase gusto nya mag-soccer.  eh sa notre may soccer field.  e kayo wala kayong soccer field.   kaya tatawag ako uli sa thursday to remind you that i will pick up that certificate on friday afternoon.  okay?

sometimes, although i won't admit it, i really love my mom for being so choleric.  

which temperament are you?

 

1)  phlegmatic

2) choleric

3) sanguine

4) melancholic

summer heat

and so another weekend has come and gone.  summer is here.  we are definitely feeling the heat.  our electricity bill shot up to 5,800 bucks from 4,600 last month.  due to a lot of airconditioning plus electric fan plus the fact that the ice shaver for the snow cone machine downstairs may have been eating up a lot too.  i better start charging my brother for that soon. 

more expenses coming our way.  there's the taekwondo tournament this coming weekend.  then there's julla's moving up the next weekend.  ballet lessons for julla's summer activity too.  plans for a summer getaway.  migo transfering to a new school also entails more moolah needed a.s.a.p.  also there's the plans for a car and a new house.  wonder how we can get through the next 3 months...

the heat is on!

well the important thing is we're getting through this together.  and i know the kids are oblivious to all this but as long as they're happy, i don't mind.

my tkd kid

oh by the way, migo's promotion to blue belt was last sunday 07 march 2010.

he also won his fight and another gold medal.  he has 3 golds now, 2 silvers, and 2 bronzes.  he's 7 1/2 years old.  he started taekwondo at 6 1/2.  

do the math.

me.  proud momma.

kilig

it's been a long while since i received messages like this from hubby and it's worth putting on record (in a blog, for all to see!) so that when there will be bad days, i can look back, read this again and assure me that at one time, things like this DID happen.

hmmm...minsan pero knina hndi :-)

aba ang sweet nman. cguro msama napanaginipan mo no

pano mo nlaman kng natutulog ka. ibg sbhn nagtutulug tulugan ka lang

 speechlesssssssss ♥

smile for the camera

so the family was on a field trip organized by julla's teachers on a fine saturday in february.  everybody was in a good mood and excited to go.  we had tons of food and snacks in hand and two cameras so as not to miss a single kodak moment of our special day.

first destination was rizal park.  migo and julla loved the open air, lush greens and yes, the thomas the train roaming around. they couldn't wait to ride it!  and we were lucky enough to ride in front with the driver.

after getting off the train and walking around, we went to watch the lights and sounds presentation of dr. jose rizal's execution.  normally, according to the presenter, it's watched at night for us to appreciate the lights, but we had to  content ourselves with a "sounds" only presentation because it was daytime.

next was brunch at the chinese garden.  why do kids prefer to run instead of eat?  and feed their food to the floating ducks?  they were uncontrollable but i know they had a great time.  

museo pambata was next on the itenerary.  this literally became a playground.  the guides did not have time to explain each room as the kids scurried here and there, trying out all the different interactive stuff.  it was fun though.

then there's the oceanarium and mermaid show at the manila ocean park.

the funny thing about this day is that hubby and i tried our mighty best to capture everything digitally.  what with two cameras but it's ironic that while we wanted to do that, the kids wanted to enjoy the day and remember it in their own way.  here's what i mean:

scene: oceanarium, inside the tunnel while all the sea creatures swim around us.  dad wants to take a picture as the stingray goes by while the kids turn away from the camera so they can watch it go by.  dad gets frustrated coz he is unable to capture the scene, while the kids are frustrated as well coz they didn't get to see the stingray up close.

so i tell dad, let the kids do whatever they want instead of forcing them to smile at the camera and miss whatever awesome experience they might have. 

nightmare

the little big boy told me the other day he had a nightmare.  that he was in school.  that he went up to his classmate and asked where is my mommy?  that the classmate told him she's dead.  and he woke up after that.

to which i asked him if he cried.  to which he replied no.  to which i wondered how he knows it's a nightmare.

tomorrow he's attending another tkd tournament in mariveles , bataan.  good luck to my little big boy.