Monday, December 31, 2012

His first snow.

Living here in Montana wouldn't be complete if you don't have snow pictures, lol! So finally we succumbed to having Caleb have his first snow experience right in our own backyard. He had a blast! Hubby was going to make some snow balls but it was too powdery and dry, so we're gonna have to save the snow man experience until next time. Despite being cold and bundled up that he can barely walk, lol, I thought he loves playing in the snow. We didn't have him out there for very long though because we were afraid of him getting sick but the pictures said it all. He enjoyed his first snow encounter.





Thursday, December 27, 2012

There's always the next year.

It’s always a bad idea to start a diet program during the holidays. I mean with all the food, parties and stuff, one would definitely gain weight at these times. However, there are people who are disciplined enough not to pig out on holidays no matter how strong the temptation might be. Unfortunately, I am not one of them, lol! I was thinking of using those portion control plates for adults, but nah, I’ll just have to start my lose weight regimen next year. Hopefully I’ll have some progress this time around.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Caleb on Christmas Day.

My 2-year old pumpkin was the busiest person in the house on Christmas Day. He had fun opening his presents from Santa and from Mama and Dede, of course. This little fella loves all kinds of choo-choo trains so we made sure we got that one covered. He got a nice Chuggington train set and oh boy we had to literally pull him off the toy so he could open more presents. He just loves the train set so much he wouldn't stop playing with it, lol! I thought the Thomas ride on toy that we got for him was great, too. Though for now, he just loves to push that thing and would not ride on it, lol, but I'm sure eventually he'll figure it out. As a parent, when you see your child beaming with happiness once he sees his present, I think that's the most amazing Christmas gift one would ever received, to  see their children happy.








Tuesday, December 25, 2012

It's Christmas Day.

Today went by so fast. It was my first snowy white Christmas and though I didn’t really go out to enjoy the snow, I find it relaxing looking out the window, watching the snow falls from the sky. It’s Christmas after all. I shared a simple Christmas dinner with hubby and Caleb. I thought Caleb had fun opening up all his presents. I did get a nice little present from Santa this year, a GPS. I can’t wait to use it when I get on the road soon. I wished I had gotten hubby some warm toasty coat. I’ve seen some fur coats for men that were on sale at the stores but I already know what to get him for Christmas so I guess I’ll just have to buy them some other time. I did get him some warm long sleeved shirts for work which I think is practical and functional as well. Although our Christmas celebration was simple, I am still grateful that I have a wonderful family and that we’re all safe and healthy this year. Hope you all have a wonderful holidays my friends!

White Christmas.


In my 5 years of living here in the U.S., now is the first time that I have experienced a truly white Christmas. Taken on Christmas eve, this is the sight of our backyard covered with a thick blanket of snow. Pretty amazing! Great that I didn't wait on the last minute to do my shopping for Christmas though, because it would have been scary for me to get out on the road in this weather condition. Although, the city takes really good care of the major roads during a snowstorm, but I am a newbie when it comes to driving in the snow since we just moved from the south. So while it looks pretty out there, I'm not gonna get out and do stuff when it's snowing hard.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Daydreaming of summer.

Ever since I got back from the Philippines, I have not really seen our yard, lol! I mean the yard is there all right, but you couldn’t see the grass or whatever that’s left of it. It’s all been covered with snow. It doesn’t snow everyday though, thank God. But since the temps are so low, the snow from few weeks ago are still there and now new stuff has been added. We had a snowy Christmas. I think it’s pretty, you know everything is covered in white. But I miss the summer season sometimes. It’s nice to think about swimming pools and just wearing shirts and not covered in bulky outfits when I go out. Although summer is like ages away, I am sure plenty of stores already offer discount pool parts. That’s the way they can have a good head start as far as market competition is concerned. I am actually excited for next year’s summer season since we just bought a house and we’ve never really had a real backyard back then. I was thinking of getting like a cool pool for Caleb or probably one of those nice jump and slide inflatable bouncers, lol! We’ll see, I’m sure Caleb would be delighted.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Fancy Christmas present from in-law.


Who would give out flat screen TV sets these days as gifts? Well, my awesome father-in-law is one, and probably the only one in the circle of people that I have known who give gifts as pricey and extravagant as a TV set, lol! Surely, I'm such a lucky girl!

Hubby knew about it even before Thanksgiving that his Dad was going to give us a nice flat screen TV but he never mentioned it to me so I had the biggest shock of  my life when some guy came to the house and hauled this humongous TV set in our living room. I was like, Geez did you come to the right house? Because I'm sure we didn't order a TV recently. Hubby would mention it to me if we would have a big purchase like this but he didn't so I knew something was off. The guy looked at me funny and told me twice that it's my husband's name that was on the delivery receipt. So I thought Ok, alright, go ahead, let me sign that piece of paper and hubby and I were going to have a nice long talk later, lol!

When I glanced at the receipt, I saw his Dad's name on top and then a thought twinkled in my head. Could this be a gift? Oh my, if it is, then it's surely one of the most expensive gifts we have ever received, lol! As soon as the delivery guy was out of sight, I called hubby at work and he spilled the beans, lol! It was indeed a special gift from his Dad for us this Christmas, and that he knew about it sometime in November. Gosh I was so happy I couldn't say anything at first, lol! It was a perfect addition to our  new house. I couldn't thank my Father in law enough. He's such the sweetest and generous person I have known. We are so lucky!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Blessings come in many guises.

It all just started as a hobby. Something fun to do when I first got here in the U.S. Little did I know that my interest on simple blogging made way for a better opportunity to write and get paid at the same time. Amazing, isn’t it? Companies like triangle direct media are blessings in the blogging world. The link between advertisers and bloggers. One of the most constant paid blogging sites that give opportunities to old and new bloggers alike. Now blogging has never been more fun and gratifying.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Caleb with Lolo and Lola.

Now that we are about to leave for the U.S., my heart is filled with mixed emotions. I am excited, eager and happy to be with hubby after being away from him for the longest time since we got married. However,  my heart aches for my dear family because they will miss us, especially their grandson Caleb. But that's life I guess. I chose to be married to a foreigner and being away from my family was part of the package. Anyway, I did have a great time bonding with them for the past 3 months. All the great memories spent in those months will forever  be etched in my heart and memory. And I have good pictures to remind me of them when I get back. 

I'm grateful to have a husband as supportive and understanding as my Jeff. It wasn't easy for him to be away from us for a long time, yet he wanted Caleb to meet and bond with his grandparents even if it would sacrifice his own bonding time with his son. He had missed a lot of Caleb's developmental milestones so I know he would be pleasantly surprised to see how much Caleb has grown and developed in 3 months.
 
I'm sharing some photos of Caleb with his maternal grandparents. Going to miss my mama and papa and sister, but I am going to see you again in a few years time. That's something I look forward to.







Sunday, November 11, 2012

An expression of our lifestyle.

One of the things that I might get myself busy with when we get back from our long vacation here in the Philippines is house decorating. Not too long ago, we purchased our first house. But because of our planned vacation to my homeland, I didn’t get the chance to arrange our stuff in the way I want it to be. Although I must say that hubby did a terrific job in moving all our stuff from our previous apartment, taking them out of the boxes and making the house livable and in good condition. I have so many design ideas in mind and I would like to make good use of them when we get back home. We might need additional furniture like standsandmounts dvd cabinets to house all of our DVDs and games. We're also thinking of changing the wall colors in the living room and bedrooms. I am actually excited to make our house an expression of our taste and lifestyle. I hope that Caleb would enjoy our new place.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Pigging out!

I thought I would be able to lose some weight while on vacation. Well, I thought wrong, lol! I've missed Filipino food. And I am satisfying all of my cravings since I'm here. There are plenty of good restaurants in town. We've been to a few of them and I must say, they didn't disappoint.

The ambience in these fine dining places is just excellent. Good Filipino restaurants can get really crowded especially on weekends, but definitely the scrumptious food was worth the wait. Dieting will just have to wait, lol!
 






Friday, November 2, 2012

Micrometers: a must-have!

Having your own house keeps you busy. Pretty much. That is how hubby spent his alone time while me and Caleb are on vacation here in PI. He made some cool storage shelves for his garage knick knacks. He enjoyed wood and metal working so the job was more of a hobby to him more than anything else. He’d wished we have some micro meters to help make the task easier. Tools can be expensive so we try to pace ourselves when it comes to acquiring them. Hubby’s co-worker recently gave him his old table saw. With a little TLC, it worked just perfectly. Hubby couldn’t be any happier.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

My birthday pool party at Intosan Resort.

I never throw birthday parties for myself in the past. So the idea of having a simple birthday pool party this year was new, fun and exciting. My family and some close relatives celebrated with me at Intosan Resort in Danao, Cebu. We had so much fun. We went there early so we could get a nice spot for our cottage. I did get a room so I can lay Caleb down when he needs a nap. It worked out pretty good. However, I am not really impressed with the venue. They have several pools that are very kid-friendly but I find the staff unfriendly, lol! The pools could use some cleaning. They don't look like they are well-maintained which is sad really because the layout of the place was awesome. They don't charge corkage for the food which pretty much is the only thing going for them, really! Alcoholic beverages are not allowed though eventually they agreed with us bringing our beers inside their premises with the agreement that they would have to be consumed just in their restaurant area. Overall, we did have a blast. We didn't let the weird and unwelcoming staff ruin our idea of fun on my birthday,  lol!
 








Tuesday, October 16, 2012

BE Resorts: The place to be!

Another wonderful beach resort that we've been to for this vacation is BE Resorts. It's situated in Mactan island. The place is cute, clean, classy and of course refreshingly wonderful. We stayed overnight and we did actually went night swimming. It was fun. Can't help but wonder though why the place was filled with so many Koreans that day, hehe! Not that I mind, lol! It's funny how Caleb had been getting lots of "he's cute" comments from Korean girls, lol! He did seem to enjoy the flattery, lol!

Anyway, we had a great time at BE. The place isn't crowded which makes you enjoy the amenities and the view all the more. They have affordable room accommodations which start at Php4,500.00 pesos. Cebu indeed has lots of amazing beach resorts that caters to all kinds of guests, be it foreigners or locals.









Monday, October 8, 2012

Spruce up your garden with sculptures.

I’ve always wanted to have a good backyard space for our new house. I’m super glad that I have that in our newly bought house. Summer season may be over but next year promises to be a great garden year for me. I’m thinking of getting some beautiful garden sculptures and statues to complement a nice garden setting. I can already envision colorful flowers and probably a few basic vegetables. I am not sure how well those plants thrive in Montana weather though but I've seen some beautiful gardens in our area during the hot season. So it's something that I need to try next year.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

My baby was sick!

No matter how much careful we are to keep Caleb healthy while we're on vacation here in the Philippines, I guess the extreme weather change and environment has been too much for his little body to handle. He got sick and was hospitalized at Chong Hua Hospital for Acute Tonsillopharyngitis or simply called infection of the tonsils and lining of the throat. He was treated with antibiotics and antipyretic meds for his high fever. It breaks my heart to see him go through that. It makes me feel a little better to know that he's been taken good care by hospital nurses and doctors. If only I can shield him from all the bacteria and viruses so he won't get sick, I'd do it. But I understand being exposed to them is an inevitable part of life. I can only hope that he'll develop good immune system and that he'd less likely to get sick as he grows older. He is perfectly fine now though. He's back to his usual playful happy kid. Thank God for that!

Watching his favorite Thomas and Friends DVD

 
A nurse trying to remove his IV with my younger sister who's a newly
Registered Nurse herself
Finally feeling free without the IV hose on discharge day.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Proper sleepwear makes a difference.

I was viewing some old videos of Caleb and his Dad when he was still 4 months old. I can’t believe how much he has grown now. He’s almost 2 years old and is 37 inches tall. It seemed just like yesterday when I needed to be up for every 2 hours to nurse him in my Nursing Pajamas. It sure helped with the cold winter weather that time. The sleepwear was soft, comfy and functional. It had made the breastfeeding experience a bit comfortable. Even now that I'm no longer breastfeeding him, I still find myself wanting to wear those jammies as they are perfect to wear around the house.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Coco Palms Resort in Danao.

Truly the best way to beat the tropical heat is swimming in pools and beaches. Philippines being a tropical country is blessed to have countless beach resorts that people can enjoy during a hot and humid day. Coco Palms Resort in Danao is a fairly new resort located in Northern Cebu. We went there with my relatives and family to enjoy the blue waters and cool ocean breeze. The place is not that big but clean and beautifully landscaped. I love their infinity pool. You can actually get a feel of the ocean without having to swim in it. The view was awesome! It is a perfect way to unwind and de-stress from the city rush. They don't allow food brought in from the outside but they have a restaurant that serve good food with relatively fair price. Resort's entrance fee is Php150.00. They have 2 swimming pools, both equally clean and refreshing. So if you're looking for a perfect cheap getaway, try going to Coco Palms. It's definitely worth it.