Poor Little Tot Is Sick

While I'm writing this post in the study room, my little tot is sleeping on the bean bag next to me. Finally I can rest my sore arm from practically carrying him all day. He's been really glued to me since last night, he's not feeling well. He's got cough and runny nose and his temperature was 101.3 F the last time I checked about 30 minutes ago. It just melts my heart seeing him this way, with no energy and appetite. I brought him to the doctor this morning and thank God he tested negative from flu virus. I was so worried considering the flu scare affecting the globe. The number of deaths from this swine flu in Mexico is just mind boggling and the news that there are about 50 people in US suspected to have the virus is also scary. Since the flu shot we've got won't do any good in fighting this flu, the most we could do is just to use common sense and practice preventive measures. Wash hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds after blowing nose, coughing, or sneezing; avoid touching eyes, mouth and nose; refrain from going out if not feeling well; always cover mouth when coughing and sneezing; and avoid contact with sick people. Hopefully my little tot feels better soon, he's missing out on the nice weather at the playground.

==> READ MORE

Food Shopping is a Breeze

When before my food shopping seemed to be a nightmare with a bored and screaming tot in the cart, nowadays it is always a breeze. I never really check out through cashiers anymore, unless I have to. It is always convenient for me to go through self-serve check outs. With a little tot in tow all the time, shop-and-go is a much preferred scenario for me.

But now I use an even better alternative that takes my food shopping chores in a fast lane. I use the electronic barcode scanner that the store provides. I can right away scan my items and put them in my reusable bags while I shop. The scanner gives me a running total on how much I 've spent and saved so far, plus the exclusive offers just for me. If I'm working on a budget, the running total will easily tells me if I'm going over or still on budget. I love this shopping tool because I can also conveniently check out. I'm all done by the time my little tot becomes cranky.

==> READ MORE

Up and About

My son has been sleeping with us in our bed since his granpa arrived and took over his room. So for over a week now, little tot's sleeping pattern is quite disrupted. On Tuesday night I put him in bed with dada, did the usual ritual - read and pray, then I went down to clean up. I was going to have a playdate in my place the following morning so I cleaned some and prepped some food already. But at around 10:15pm I heard pitter patter upstairs that seemed to be going down the stairs. And to my surprise little tot was all smiling greeted me "Hello mama!" He was up and about, without any trace that he might have just been rosen up from sleep. Since I was not done cleaning up yet, I carried him back to our bed and said goodnight again. And about 15 minutes later, he was down again and darted towards his toys and played. After several times of going back and forth, I gave up. At about 12 midnight, I just inflated the aerobed in the study room, laid down with him and read another story. And soon enough he dozed off finally. I didn't bother to move him back to our bed anymore, we both just slept for the night in the study room.

==> READ MORE

Chocolate Attack

Few more days and my life is hopefully back to normal again. Since my in-laws arrived last week, my household has been running like clockwork. It was pretty exhausting but it's all worth it. My little tot's nap time and bedtime are somewhat affected too, but he enjoyed the company of his aunt and still enjoying grandpa's tremendously. My SIL left yesterday leaving my FIL till this week. Little tot got a little attached with his aunt and he's missing her already.

As expected we got a lot of goodies from my in-laws - toys for the little tot and lots of chocolates and tea for hb and I. I have tried hard to cut on sweets but it's just too hard to resist them this time. I may need appetite suppressant to totally curb the urge.

==> READ MORE

Easter Egg Hunt at Home

The highlight of our Easter celebration was the egg hunt at home. Little tot had waited for it since waking up in the morning but we had it right after nap time. I scattered plastic eggs filled with chocolates in every room downstairs including the stairs. He was very excited as he went from room to room to look for eggs and screamed everytime he found one, it's really funny. Though he likes painting and coloring, I didn't do the dyeing of eggs as planned. I decided to just postpone it till next year. I got busy preparing for my in-laws' visit so I didn't have time to buy dyeing materials.

Anyway, egg hunting has been a fun activity for little tot and he keeps bugging me to do it again. So I decided to include it as part of his everyday activities, I just have to replace the goodies with something else to keep the excitement going. And I might do it too as part of his upcoming birthday party games, it will be fun. Actually egg hunting can be done in any other party activities, you just need to be creative. Like it can be done at baby shower parties. Just fill it up with some baby shower party supply and you have another fun baby shower game right there.

Here are some of the pictures of the Easter egg hunt at home.

Ready, get set, hunt!

Hmmm, this is fun!

Got two more by the breakfast nook!

Got two more by the oven!

Got a lot in the couch!

Yehey, look how much I got!

Hmmm, yummy!

Mom, open another one please.

==> READ MORE

Our Easter Celebration

Yesterday we started celebrating Easter by attending the morning mass. Next to Christmas, Easter mass is the most attended mass in our parish, so the church was really crowded. The parking was full so we just parked along the road. It took a while to walk from our car to the family room so we arrived a little bit late. We were not lucky to get a seat, but good thing my gf's hubby offered his seat to me and little tot, while hb just stood by the door. Little tot was behaved for few minutes and then started to shuttle back and forth from my seat to his dada. He kept excusing himself to the big guy beside me saying "cuse me, cuse me please". Good thing this poor guy was so patient moving his legs away to give way to my little tot. It got warm in the room so some kids got irritated and started whining and crying on the side.

After the mass, we attended my little tot's gf and my goddaughter Kristen's 2nd birthday lunch at Mandarin Buffet. It was a very a decent place with lots of choices in the buffet table. I feasted on sushi and avoided fried dishes. I am serious at taking charge of my health, so I fought the urge to eat too much, lol. Plus it was hard to concentrate on eating when you are also minding an active tot, who was very distracted by the resto's aquarium.

Little tot eating his share of the fortune cookie while we pose for a family pic.

Click for more pictures.

Little tot insisted on using chopsticks. His lap caught more food than his mouth.

The kids posed for a pic with the birthday girl, though she didn't really care ;-)

A happy birthday song for cute little Kristen.

Little tot was fascinated by the fish in the resto's aquarium,
so he couldn't seat still in his chair.

==> READ MORE

Organizing the Closets

I've started washing and putting away our winter gears and heavy jackets already. But from time to time I have to take out some of them because the weather has been see-sawing from warm to chilly again. So I just decided to hang the ones that we use often in the closet for when we need them again.

It's good that I also got the chance to organize our closets in the process. I sorted out through our clothes and separated the ones that we don't use anymore. They are mostly still in very good condition so I will have to donate them to our favorite charities again. I also have one drawer-full of lingerie that I haven't used in a while but I don't think I will give them away for sentimental reasons, lol. All of them were gifts and mostly were wedding gifts. I will have yet to sort through my little tot's clothes. He's grown like a weed and haven't really worn some of his clothes yet but sadly they don't fit him anymore. This is the downside to having four seasons, kids don't get to wear same type of clothes continuously before they grow out of them. But they won't go to waste anyway. I will hand them down to some of my gf's kids if not donate them too.

==> READ MORE

Some Outdoor Play

Being a stay-at-home mom to a very active toddler is not easy. My little tot gets me really exhausted each day. So to channel his energy to something productive, I plan an activity everyday. It has become a usual routine for me to take him to an open gym on Tuesdays and to the Library and playground at any day of the week.

On Wednesday last week, I took him to the library to do some puzzles and browse through books. An hour later we left but I was debating whether to go food shopping already or still take him to the playground. Well since it was still early I turned around for few minutes of outdoor play. Lo and behold I saw my little tot's classmate with her nanny also going to the playground. And surprisingly, my two gfs and little tot's buddies were also there. So the little people had a field day at the sand box. I was glad I detoured. Here are some photos I took at the sandbox with little tot's gf.

==> READ MORE

Taking Charge of Health

I am taking charge of my health this time and my plan is to go back to the gym. My girlfriend and I were talking about enrolling in a nearby gym. Not only is the monthly fee very affordable, it also offers baby sitting services for just two bucks an hour. What a great deal isn't it? It means that I can still work out on regular schedules even with my little tot in tow. I'm just excited about this and there's no excuse anymore for not keeping with the schedule. Also I may just ditch consulting with any slimming pills review for now, might not have any use for it really but will still keep it handy, lol. But hopefully my gym plan will have productive outcome - meaning more stamina, firmer muscles and flatter abs. Wish me luck!

==> READ MORE

Story Time, Arts and Plants

On Monday last week, I brought my little tot to a nearby Border Bookstore for some story telling time. The stories were about spring, bugs and gardens. The turn out was really big that we got seated way at the back so we mostly saw little heads going up and down or side to side. So what my little tot did was to just grab books in a nearby shelf and browse through them. He got a book about Clifford the Big Red Dog and loudly identified the pictures or the scene in the pages. Then he found a book about tractors and it has wheels on it, so he drove the book on the floor complete with vhroom-vhroom and beep-beep sounds.

So we're basically having our own story time at the back. And then it was over and the story teller counted the children in two's. All 'odd' numbers proceeded to a table where pots, soil and seeds were to be distributed. While the 'even' numbers stayed behind to color some pages with spring-themed drawings. Afterwards, when everybody has got their own pots of soil, they planted seeds of cosmos. Then I led my son to a corner and continued browsing and reading through some books. And then a snack of crackers were distributed. Little tot surely had a great time. We came home with a pot, art and surplus of snacks.

Here are some photos I took of the event.

==> READ MORE

EC Top Dropper Day - March

Another month has passed and it's time to acknowledge my top EC droppers once again. I really appreciate the time and effort that everybody is putting in, for consistently dropping their EC's here. But the following top ten droppers will get a special spot in my sidebar for a month with their links.

==> READ MORE