stormy tuesday

last night, it was announced that there won't be classes today because of the coming typhoon pedring (international name nesat).  i knew immediately that i won't be going to work as well.  i just don't want to risk going out because of the floods in the city.  and it's always a perfect cuddling day with the kids because we'll all be home together.

early in the morning, we were poised to watch PGT (pilipinas got talent -- yes the little family  are suckers for pgt) videos on youtube.  then the power went out.

so what to do?  no computer, no tv, no cellphone charger!

we PLAYED!  literally.  kids did 2-hour taekwondo training with the hubby.  and we hung around the house, laughing, telling jokes, hugging.  best part was, the kids put glue on their hands, waited for it to dry and peeled them off.  that, i say, was fun.  pointless, but fun.  wasteful, but still, fun.

i know it's sort of insensitive to be so happy today while some people out there are being whipped by the storm.  i really feel sorry for them and our family always prays for the less fortunate.  this is how our garden looked like today:

oh and by the way, the door going up our floor got wrecked.  my brother's mechanic left it open and since the winds of pedring were so strong, it banged itself until it dislodged itself from the hinges.  the hubby tried to temporarily fix it until my dad's carpenter comes but my dad went upstairs to visit us and couldn't put it back.  and as he came in to get help, the door banged itself one last time, and the glass broke together with the jalousies.

so much for a happy, stormy day.

grades

school grades for 1st quarter were received over the weekend.  little big man got an average of 86.3474. should've been enough to get him a 3rd honor but he had a pair of 82's.  the requisites for a 3rd honor is an average of 86 and no grade lower than 85.  sadly, he had 82 in reading so we're catching up on that now.   and 82 in character education which, according to his teacher, was due to his being talkative.

we promised each other, together, we'll get that honor come 2nd grading period.  aja!  

and there i was 9 years ago, wanting my kid to go into a progressive school and not a traditional school like this!

truth told

last tuesday, the hubby and little big man went for the weigh in at the central gym of the philippine taekwondo association.  this is in preparation for the Interschool Competition in NCR.

incidentally, since he's up for promotion to brown belt soon, the hubby inquired about the little big man's belt status as recorded in the central gym.  he found out that our former coach has never -- read that again -- NEVER submitted records of any of the promotions we have had with him.  which means, technically, the little big man is still... a blue belt?  or whatever belt he was before we joined this coach.


sucks, right?


two other teammates who "broke away" from this coach found the same problem.  one of them who started as a white belt with this coach does not -- read that again -- DOES NOT have a record at all.  which means, he was never submitted as a member of the PTA at all.  the other one who's supposed to be in brown now is only in red.  this only means that our records since more than a year ago were never submitted.

we wonder now what all the rest of his players' status are.  somebody told me it might be because coach is registered in the province.  but more than a year?  does it take that long to transfer records to central gym??  your guess is as good as mine.  

little girl's wish / little mom's wish

last night, before going to sleep, the little girl begged me again not to go to the office anymore.  she's been telling me this for the last couple of months already.  the last few times, including last night, she was in tears.

my heart so ached.  

yesterday, before this happened, i attended her Buwan ng Wika celebration at her pre-school where she participated in the Tagisan ng Pagbigkas ng Maikling Kwento in which she won 3rd Prize.  she related the story of Ang Kuneho at ang Pagong.  i made a cardboard turtle's shell and fixed on her left with a turtle nose and tail.  on her right was a rabbit ear on her head a nose and tail too.  and she presented her story b turning each side whenever each animal spoke.  it wasn't perfect yet because she fumbled on some statements and giggled when she made mistakes.  but it was a good start.  for all of you who know the little girl well, i know you're surprised by this.  it is her first time to actually participate in a school activity where she will have to perform by herself in front of parents, teachers and classmates.  hubby and i are so proud of her. 

i know though that she could've done better had i been consistently practicing her.  had i been always with her, and not at work everyday. 

one day soon, my child.  i promise.

turning a new leaf

last weekend, the little big man's taekwondo coach for more than 2 years literally disowned him.  

we assume he is infuriated by the fact that the hubby helped a co-parent put up his own taekwondo gym and got a different coach.  we actually understand how hurt he must be, considering he's already our coach but our co-parent got somebody else.  but it wasn't for the hubby and i to decide because it wasn't our business. 

i am writing this down to lay down our cards because many facts may have been misunderstood or some people may be saying things that are untrue and i would like the real circumstances not to be left unsaid.

first off, the little big man is enrolled in a school in NCR.  thus, we are letting him train with a NCR coach who, our now former coach endorsed to us last year.  we have informed this to him last year and he knows very well that this is the only way to go because he is based in mecauayan, bulacan and he will never be able to support our son in NCR. (on a side note, last summer, former coach tried to convince hubby and me to transfer the little big man to a school which he handles but we politely declined, believing our son is already placed well in his NCR school.)

coincidentally, our NCR coach's assistant is the one (they say) that former coach is not in good terms with.  and this particular not-in-good-terms coach is the one that our co-parent commissioned to train the students at his new gym.

we did not intentionally tell former coach of this because we knew, for sure, he would not approve of this association with the not-in-good-terms coach.  and basically, business is still business, and the co-parent who put up the gym is entitled to his own choice on who to get for his business.  and he did not want to get former coach.  we did introduce him (our co-parent) to the new coach, yes, because we are friends and friends help each other, right?

turns out, somebody told former coach some misguided information god-knows-what and it seems that he is very unhappy, angry and even hurt by these circumstances.  we understand he may be threatened by new competition.  he may be hurt that he was not the one commissioned by our co-parent.  or he probably thinks we betrayed him.  he may even think of us as ungrateful after everything he's done for our son.  but just as in any school, we pay the school to teach our children and if we decide to move on to a better school, we are not bound because of gratitude. 

for the record, we never intended to leave him because we still consistently trained with him and joined his competitions, supported his endeavors and have always had a high regard and respect for him.

but after what he did to us that fateful sunday, he has closed the door and we do not intend to open it again.   it is sad that he did not talk to us to clear everything and relied only on hearsay -- hearsay from people who probably want to suck-up to him to get on his good side, at our expense.  we can only guess what is going through his mind right now about us but we pretty much have the idea that it is not good.

we are moving on now. we are grateful to him for everything he has done for our son but we will not be controlled in our decisions on what we think will be best for him.  good luck and godspeed, sir.

lost phone

little big man lost his cellphone in the school gym yesterday.  guess it was bound to happen anyway.  somehow, the hubby and i sort of new something like this can happen.  the kid really has to learn things the hard way.

misadventures of a working mom

i'm a trying hard working mother.  this much i know.

last week, i convinced the powers that be at work to let me off early (for the rest of my working life at that company) for the reason that i get to the office earlier than necessary.  so officially, i'm off at 5pm instead of 6pm and i am on my merry way home before sunset.  eversince they removed our privilage of flexible time schedule, this is what i've always wanted and now i got it and i'm happy.  at least now, i can be with my kids early.

last night was a toink moment.  something i'm not very proud of.  

of course, i was home early and i immediately started workin tle computer on a project.  since i was early and the nanny still gets off at 7pm, i let her and the little girl play while i worked.  by 7pm, i let her go while the little girl stayed with me inside the bedroom while i continued working.

after a while, i heard the little girl sobbing and as i turned to look at her, she broke down in tears.  she then told me in between sobs that i shouldn't have let her nanny off coz she doesn't have anything to do and she was sad.  so i immediately bolted out of the revolving computer chair, wrapped my arms around her and told her we could play.  to which she replied, "eh mommy ka eh. di ka naman naglalaro eh!"

my heart literally broke.  how could she think that way?  i hugged her to me and told her, of course, i can play.  so what do you want us to play?  in my mind, i was hitting myself in the head with my fist.  what have i done?  i knew i should stop working at that moment and spend the rest of the evening with her, which i should've done the minute i got home in the first place.

we went to the living room and the little girl got 2 balls and she wanted us to alternately roll each ball at each other while slumped on the floor on opposite ends of the room.  i tried to sound happy and animated as we did this but after a few rolls, she started bawling again.  i am not happy at what we're doing!

i came over to her again to appease her.  i carried her to the bedroom, holding her close and asked her again what she wanted us to do.  she said she wanted to play or do something but she doesn't know what.  ok, so let's see....what do we do?  how about the computer? 

she settled with an online game where we played hosts in a virtual spa and tended to customers who wanted massages, facials and hair treatments.  we did this the rest of the evening until the hubby and little big man arrived from taekwondo practice.

looking back, and after telling this to the hubby, i realized that the reason why i requested for an early off from work is so i can "do my responsibilities as a mother" early.  i didn't do that.  instead, i worked some more.  i know now what to do.

see andre, i'm not perfect?

birthday boy

the little big man turned 9 years old last saturday.  

i can only look at him in awe as i watched him play milo little olympics yesterday.  he's grown so much is an understatement.  he's physically grown.  proven by the fact that whenever he sleeps beside me and he throws his legs and arms over me, i feel choked and helpless under his weight.  

his taekwondo skills have way improved and his level of maturity in the game has drastically upped over the last couple of weeks.  we saw how we beat his opponent in the first game through sudden death.  his shot was so clear and precise, no biased referee can discount it.  we saw how, in his second game, he fell two times and lost to that palarong pambansa champ and not shed a tear, his poker face undaunted, his will to win and pride in himself still in tact but maintaining humility in his stance.

emotionally, he still has a lot of growing to do.  as a kuya (older brother) to his sister, we still have a lot to work on.  we have a lot of time to do that.  bottomline, despite their frequent quarrels, at the end of the day, they still know they love each other more than anything.

in school, he's improved a lot too.  he's still talkative and all that, says what he wants and comments on everything.  but he's a fast learner and once challenged, always strives to better himself.

it's maybe been a year since he told me he wanted his own cellphone.  and eversince, the hubby and i always tell him that when he's responsible enough, by that we meant not losing his ballpens, his ID or getting dirt on his school uniform, that's the time when he gets that cellphone.  

well, within the few weeks before his 9th birthday, he still lost a pen or two but not as much as before. 

and that much coveted cellphone? 

random drawing

the little big man drew this 2 months ago.  thought i'd share it here for posterity.

the pains of nanny-less me

i'm so stressed.  and it's only 7:30 in the morning!!

and i am entirely blaming it on not having a nanny for over two weeks now.  she took a leave because her mother is ill and she has to take care of her and other responsibilities concerning her health benefits and documents.

this morning, the kids' uniforms were not dry yet.  blame it on the continuous rain for the last couple of days and yes, no nanny to regularly check if there is uniform ready for the next day.  the hubby had to spin dry them while i took care of getting the kids out of bed, bathing them, making them drink their milk, brush their teeth.  literally, step by step, i had to tell them what to do!  despite they've been doing the same routine everyday!

then when we brought the little girl to school, she didn't want to be left there because nobody was there yet since it was too early!  so we had to drag her and bring first the little big man to his school and then bring her back just in time to be at least 20 minutes late. and since this is the case, the hubby cannot drive me to work coz he has to bring her back asap.

spell stress.  now at work.  my day has just begun.  wish me luck.

mom "me"

i washed some of my kids' and hubby's clothes and underwear a little while ago.  two days of typhoon and a week's worth of laundry (due to the absence of my nanny/helper) summoned me to do it against my will.  i just did a few though to get the family through the weekend.  


i have a confession to make.  i can't believe i enjoyed it.  i'm not kidding.

it dawned on me as i was rinsing the suds off the little big man's P.E. t-shirt as i thought about how it should dry overnight cause he needed to wear it tomorrow.  (sorry we don't have a dryer.)  i wondered if our helper would thoroughly rinse our laundry or would she haphazardly do it just to get it over and done with.  as i thoroughly squished and squashed dirty socks, i imagined myself doing this everyday with only the thought that i'm doing it for my kids.  then it hit me:  i would rather do this than sit on my office chair right at this very moment.

then again, after finally saying it out loud (literally, with the larger fonts i used), it may be just because i don't do it everyday and maybe i felt the novelty of me washing clothes.  

earlier today, as i browsed the grocery for the stuff the little girl will be needing for tomorrow's school activities, i thought, what the heck, this is fun!  it gave me that sense of fulfillment that everything is taken cared of for my daughter and that i personally prepared everything for her.  thus,i am assured that she has everything she needs.  these things i couldn't have done, and the hubby wouldn't have done, had i didn't skip work today to take care of the little girl.

then again, maybe the hubby would've done it if i weren't around?  and i'm just using this as an alibi so i can resign from my job and be a stay-at-home-mom like i've always dreamed of?

whatever it is, i still think, as i've thought of for the last couple of months, that maybe i should really start thinking of a career that involves me staying with the family most of the time.  so there.  so shoot me, boss.

all about my life -- the blog

i have switched jobs again.  well not that i switch jobs often but being a working mom, you know what i mean.  from a nanny to a prod dev manager in a fashion company to a fetcher to a tutor to ass-washer to t-shirt designer and whatever else -- all in one day.  somehow you get the picture.  and this varies daily.

so as i was saying, i have a new job.  now i am officially an editor.  this was since last saturday when the little big man announced that he wanted to write a blog.  i got so worked up to hear this that i spot on made him his own email address, opened a blogger account for him and told him to type away. 

so to my dear readers, i know you're not plenty, please do find time to visit sharkboyslife.blogspot.com.  it's all about the little big man's life -- as seen through his eight-year old eyes and heart.  well, he's almost nine.  

his ambitions list so far:  taekwondo jin slash writer slash engineer slash chef.

ambition

took this pic today just so i would be able to look back someday and see if it came true.

the little big man has said some time ago that he wants to be a chef someday.  over the weekend, he was supposed to answer this application form for club membership in their school.  last schoolyear, he was in the math club and art club which were, as far as i know, really his inclinations.  this schoolyear, guess what he chose.  and check out his reason.

"My reason in Cretive Chef because I want to cook delicious foods to my wife when I grow up."

may gusto

last monday, the hubby and i fetched the little girl from kindergarten school.  as we were leaving, a classmate ran after her and shot his arms through the gate rails shouting:

julla, tandaan mo 'to, may gusto ako sa 'yo!  tandaan mo, may gusto ako sa 'yo ha!!  he shouted this towards us for like eight times!

{remember this, i like you!  remember this, i like you!}

to which the little girl shot back while laughing:

hindi ko tatandaan!!

{i won't remember!}

the hubby and i laughed with her.  later i asked her if she liked him too.  to which she replied:

hindi.

{no.}

for the record, his name is mark enzo t. tapoc.  the hubby and i have got our eyes on you, boy!  i looked up a picture from last year's christmas party.  you're marked, mark! :)

a trip down the aisle

i've been meaning to blog for like a hundred times this past month but i can never seem to be able to sit down and concentrate on writing.  lots of things have been happening and it would've been good to be able to record my thoughts on these events but i guess, it wasn't meant to be.  well, because most of it were negative thoughts about work.  like i said in one of my tweets, too many fml moments these past weeks.

on the upside, (which makes me believe sometimes that i just might be bipolar) a lot of good things happening as well.

well my thoughts since last friday are these.

it was the first of july.  the hubby and i went to get some work done for the b.  incidentally, it was in the area of the basilica of san lorenzo ruiz, otherwise known as binondo church, otherwise known to hubby and me as the church where we got married.

ten years ago this month, we wed here.

yes, i walked down that aisle to my teary-eyed groom. it was a day where nothing could possibly go wrong, everything seemed perfect and only happiness abound.  

last friday, we walked on this aisle, sat on a pew on the right halfway from the altar and said our prayer for the next ten plus years ahead.  we both have new dreams and goals from way back ten years ago.  we got our little family now to live for, not just each other.  and we're back here, vowing to make things work.

then we headed towards the left side to st. lorenzo ruiz.

this guy, he knows exactly what we want from him for he is our little big man's namesake.  

a lot of things have changed since our last trip down the aisle.  but our faith and hope and love remain.

about that soul dream

from that last blog entry about soul dream comes a very immediate development.

last night, the hubby told me the new coach told him that the little big man can get a high school scholarship in ateneo if he continues to do well in taekwondo.  well isn't that an answered prayer so soon?  (yes, he has a new coach but that's another story for another blog entry.)

anyways, i haven't read on with that e-book so i still have yet to find out what -- really -- is my soul dream.  but then again, i believe, the ultimate of it all is that i eventually find our little family successful in whatever dream we pursue.

soul dream

started reading an e-book by bo sanchez and chapter 3 urged me to write down my dreams on paper.  well, i decided to blog about it instead.  that way, years from now, i believe i can go back to this page and see if i fulfilled any of it or if i failed.

the purpose of this is to realize what actually my soul dream is.  it says that soul dreams are fuelled by super human passion.  a touch of the divine wakes up from within and we're transformed with heroic perseverance.

so randomly now, here's my list.


get the little big man into ateneo, if not next school year, in high school and college.
alongside that, the little girl in miriam.


succeed in the thing we're putting up (which i cannot publish about yet).  make it profitable while allowing me to be creative.  me and the hubby.


family trips.  beach, overseas, wherever we want.


become a stay-at-home mom while managing a family business.


little big man in the olympics.  taekwondo of course.

alongside that, the little girl shining in her own right. we haven't discovered yet what for now.

our own family home.  our dwelling.  quezon city preferable but valenzuela will always be home.

driving.  me, behind the wheel.  manual or automatic.


being able to help other families, children especially -- financially, emotionally, spiritually.


taking care of my mom and dad for the rest of their life.


growing old and healthy together.  hubby and me.  contented with our life. together.




so there.

fast cars

  i guess i'm one of the few people who appreciates fast cab drivers.  i like it when i'm on a cab that spotaneously whizzes by other cars along edsa.  i like it when we criss-cross lanes and get ahead of all the other vehicles, be it a commuter bus, an all-power SUV or a latest model high-end car.  it gives me an early morning high as i turn up the volume on my headphones and psyche myself up for another day at work.  yes, i succumbed to cabbing again today.

anyway, when i thought about it now, the reason why i like it is because the hubby drives in a laid back manner, always letting other vehicles get ahead of us.  he's not the type who would race with a fellow vehicle on the road.  he is never in a hurry to get to where we're going.  and i am so used to cars who whiz past ours.  

well, so maybe i like the occasional rush but then again, i will always be comfortable with the hubby's driving.  thank God he's a very cautious and defensive driver.  our little family should always be safe.

savings

 
today, i ditched cabbing and rode the bus (and jeep) to work.  it was not fun.  the bus, although airconditioned, was slightly old and rusty.  it stopped and picked up passengers in the most unlikely corners and the movie playing was that of sylvester stallone, jet li, dolph lundgren and that cute guy from the transporter.  (what's his name, google? uhh.. yeah, jason statham).  to get to my next stop took me about 40 minutes.  then took a 5-minute jeepney ride to the office. 

it wasn't the best morning of my life.  i couldn't bring out my samsung galaxy tab and tweet or listen to music.  i was cramped in the seat right above the bus' tire.  my seatmate had her arm on top of mine.  

this is what i had to endure fora savings of 130 bucks today.

(130 x 5 days = 650bucks a week!!)

the new baby b



http://www.achildbirth.com/birthing-options.html



last year, hubby and i decided on a new baby:  http://ceschami.blogspot.com/2010/07/baby-b-electricity-and-water.html

only this year, this month has it finally come to fruition.  well, just so that on the onset, everything is clear, i'm not talking about a human baby.  we got everything set up already and all it needs is the actual implementation and roll out.

well they said it was the rapture yesterday, if not the end of the world, but i say it's a new beginning for the hubby and me and our little family.  God spoke to me again last friday while we were preparing everything for the baby.  i saw a couple, the man was on crutches and the woman was on a wheelchair.  they were already doing the exact same thing hubby and i were planning to do!  and there i was, watching them in awe, teary-eyed as always, because God's ways of making me realize His blessings for me and my little family are simply awesome.

so wish me luck and by the grace of God, the patience, perseverance and will to carry this through.

Birthing a business is like birthing a baby.

You go through the gestation period as you begin to manifest your idea.

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/starting-a-business-is-like-having-a-baby