Refresh and Renew

So begins a new year of blogging for me.

I've been quite the busy bee so I fear this blog has gathered its share of cobwebs. So updates!


Motherhood

Little Peanut Pie turned out to be a girl. So her dad and I decided to name her Sophie Marie (Cinnamon). The Cinnamon is an unofficial name as her Nana (Caleb's mom) and her Mamina (Caleb's grandmother) both preferred Marie. So Marie she is!

So what's it like? It's like being on a roller coaster. A big chunk of the time, I feel crazy scared. I never really understood the phrase 'big, bad world' until the moment I held her in my arms. And speaking of fear, you don't know what the word means until you're faced with clipping teeny-tiny baby fingernails. I swear I still break out into cold sweat whenever I have to do it. On days when I feel I've hit a good groove, she throws a new thing into the loop. First, it was comfort nursing. Now, it's teething. Sometimes, it's like I'm underwater a lot of the time. Funny thing is, I love being underwater. At least, I'm in my natural element.

I've mostly been at home caring for her and at times, it can be pretty challenging. Long nights that are still disrupted when she has a bad dream. Early wake up calls too since she loves waking up with the dawn. Trying to figure out what she needs when she gets upset. It's not that hard, really. She's very easy to please. Just meet her needs and BAM! She's off flashing her gummy grins at you.

It's like playing Sims with no pause button, really.

Despite it all, I'm punch drunk in love with her. She can be quite the little doofus. She exhibits quite a strong will whenever she decides that she wants to do something. My heart just melts whenever I see father and daughter interacting with each other. She is such a daddy's girl! I don't mind in the least since I was one myself. I'm certainly thankful that my little girl is going to be swamped up to her eyeballs in love and affection.

Both mine and Caleb's families utterly adore her. One of my favorite memories to date would be my dad meeting Sophie for the first time. He wanted everything documented! During the Christmas lunch and dinner, he just hogged her to himself. Most of all, he wanted Sophie to call him with the name I used to call him when I was a little girl: Fudgee.

That tells me that my father loved that name as much as I did. There are no words to describe just how happy that makes me.

As I am Now

I'm a mombie (mom+zombie) mostly. My life revolves around sleeping, working, and caring for Sophie. It's tough but I love every moment of it. My friends visit me often and I really appreciate it. It's nice to know that when I'm unable to go and see my friends, they're more than willing to come to me.

Whenever Sophie sleeps and I have a moment to myself, I often think of my first daughter Magsie. I still mourn in my heart for her but I know she's in a better place. God always has a better plan for us no matter how bleak everything gets.

Anyway! I decided that after such a long hiatus, the blog could use some new things! So I got a little creative and made a new banner and a signature. Do you think it's okay? If any of you would like to know how I made it, feel free to leave a comment and I'll share the process.

So that's it for now!

Much love,

Hope

I suppose I can start with the usual I've-been-neglecting-this-blog line but that's already been the case since the previous posts. There's been too much going on, really. Sometimes, it seems way too much. Yet, what else can we expect out of life?

So really, what it boils down to is: where do I begin?

Name Switch

I decided to rename this blog since I don't really feel that 'anime-like-life' fits me quite as well as it used to. I have a lingering fondness for anime yet I no longer have the same need to view it or see it or know what's been going on. I'll leave that to Mattie (who seems to have gotten my old love for anime).

I used to look at my life based on it's sudden highs and just as sudden pitfalls. Pretty much like riding a roller-coaster. So all in all, it's just been constant transition for me. Hence the name (Yes, not particularly world-shattering. Better than nothing.)

Peanut Pie ♥

Prior to my vacation, my biggest worry was that I'd get -erm- lady troubles at the beach. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about--or did I? The vacation was stressful, the travel was tiring, and I may have had a bit more than a half a glass of Tequila Sunrise. April had started and still no monthly flux. So it was time to go visit a doctor.

It was weird, I wasn't showing any symptoms at all. Quick trip to Asian, saw a new doctor since my old one was as useful as a fart in a bottle. I liked the new doctor, she paid attention to my concerns and she had a sense of humor. According to her calculations, I should have been around 6 weeks along. She referred us to the Women's Health Center at the other wing of Asian for an ultrasound. I was certainly relieved. The previous doctor had me go all the way to Festival Mall and the cost was waaaaay too high.

End of it all, I was 7 weeks and 2 days along. Expected month of arrival: November. I called my dad almost immediately afterwards. He was happy about it (he actually said he approved). Methinks, he's particularly fond of Caleb. After the check-up, it was time for the weekly family lunch with beloved's lola and his aunts. We told them the news and I swear, tears sprang up with the outpouring of congratulations and hugs.

Beloved and I decided to call the baby Peanut while we weren't sure if it was a boy or a girl.

As Things Are

I'm heading to six months this week. Peanut is super active with the little kicks that pepper my belly throughout the day. Peanut is particularly attached to its father. I'm fine with it (regardless of how I complain about it). I'm just ecstatic about this pregnancy. I was confined for around 4 days early this month though. Same thing as the previous pregnancy: Hypokalemia. Thankfully, I recovered faster than before and the baby wasn't affected in the least. No reduced heart rate. No need to be confined in the ICU section of the maternity ward.

If anything, Peanut is one aggro baby. Peanut likes to kick the doppler wand whenever they chance upon his/her location in the belly and then squirms off to a different location. Lots of blood tests. Arm looked like a pincushion. But I'm just...thankful. Caleb's lola called me her granddaughter.

I'm really looking forward to meeting this baby. I know Peanut's dad really can't wait either. Beloved just loves talking to the baby bump and the baby immediately responds with little kicks.

Lagu

Of all the things I bought for the beach, I was proudest of my purchase of my Lagu beach blanket. According to their website, Lagu is:

"Lagu is the first beach-friendly beach blanket. Unlike ordinary towels, Lagu repels sand, allowing you to lay with ease while also conserving the beach. Its unique linen blend is allergen-free and has quick-dry properties, keeping it fresh for repeated use."

I particularly loved the fact that it was proudly made in the Philippines. I had convinced Lucia to purchase one as well. I went with Naranja, while she went with Celeste.

I have to say, it lived up to its 'sand repellent' claim. Given, that the sand at Laiya was mostly crushed corals, it still did its job when I wanted to lay by the shore and just chill. I particularly loved how quickly it dried so there wasn't any risk of lugging a moist towel in my travel bag. I also happen to have sensitive skin, so I was really glad about the allergen-free variable to the concept.


I actually wanted to get Violeta but she wasn't out in stores yet. Well perhaps, one day I'll purchase one for myself and hand Naranja over to someone.

I was also quite impressed with how large it was. Two people could sit quite comfortably without having to bang elbows (for this time though, I had my beach blanket all to myself hehe). So, in the end, my friend and I are totally happy customers!

I definitely recommend Lagu for beach lovers everywhere.

Vacation

So Lucia and I got together around January and decided to use some well-deserved leave credits. I must say, this is one of the most testing events I've ever had to endure. For one thing, Lucia could not make up her mind at the start of things. She wasn't sure where she wanted to go. Every suggestion was met with a 'I don't know'. I was honestly on edge most of the time I was discussing things with her. When I did have certain details set, she suddenly announces that she wishes to go to the beach but under the strict provision that it was to be cheap.

Of course I would aim for an affordable vacation, there's no sense to throw so much money in the wind all for a few days' diversion. I tried to contact Coral Beach Club but they were unreachable. Seriously, what was up with that? I tried to email them, call them, send them FB messages, all to no avail. On further research, I discovered that their beach was ill kept. The plot of shore they had was not private. So I turned my attention to Laiya, Batangas. Yes, I did all the research for this trip as apparently my companion was as useful as a toothache when it came to planning.

La Luz Beach Resort was the best looking resort I saw from the plethora of websites I accessed. It also seemed to be the most affordable. I particularly liked how they forbade the presence of karaoke machines on the premises. In order to make trip even more affordable, we added another person into our party: Andrea.

La Luz was rather confusing to contend with regarding a deposit. So, keep in mind that when finished with your 50% deposit, be ready to have the deposit slip scanned and emailed to La Luz management. They'll reply as soon as they can with a confirmation e-mail. Then, be prepared to nurse that deposit slip because it needs to be presented along with a hard copy of the confirmation e-mail upon check in.

So there was a lot of things to be done, details to be finalized, and of course: SHOPPING! I'll be discussing some of the finds I got in a later post. When you're waiting for something, time seems to just crawl. Thankfully, the crawling stopped and the day for my vacation had arrived.

Lucia and I will be coming from the Alabang area so we woke up extra early to catch a bus to San Juan, Batangas. As it turns out: THERE IS NO BUS FROM ALABANG TO SAN JUAN, BATANGAS. Don't be deceived as I was about the details listed on the ALPS website. They said they had a bus from Cubao that passes on through to Alabang then head to San Juan, Batangas and they didn't. So we had to take a regular Batangas bound bus that stopped at Tambo. The fare was 98 pesos. When we got to Tambo, the conductor directed us to this little green shed and said that a bus that goes directly to San Juan would be passing there. The manongs that were waiting there were very helpful and they were on the look-out for the bus that we needed.

We didn't wait too long, it was only around 15 minutes or so when the Alps bus passed by. The fare from Tambo to San Juan proper was 56 pesos. It was pretty smooth sailing. The bus was nearly empty and I was happily snacking on the sandwich that my boyfriend had lovingly made for me. Lucia was feeling a little queasy so I gave her some apple slices and that cured her right up!

When we got to San Juan, Batangas we were immediately accosted by a trike driver asking if we were headed to Laiya. Neither Lucia or myself had been there before so we said yes. He said he'd take us to our resort for 400 pesos. Can you believe that?! 400 bucks on a trike?! He says that was cheap since the original price was 600 and that the jeeps were on a strict schedule that wouldn't start until around 11 am. We were there around 9 am. So, unfortunately, I let our newness to the place overcome my sense of thrift and we agreed to let the man take us to the resort for a bartered price of 350 pesos. I still couldn't believe it. It certainly hit my wallet and it HURT.

In fairness, the trip to the resort was pretty far. When he dropped us off at La Luz, he was being pushy about picking us up when we were headed home. I just had to draw the line there and said NO. I was going to find another way home. The staff was very friendly. They helped carry our things up to the check-in area. I was rather upset at the time as the person who had the print out of the confirmation e-mail wasn't there yet despite promising that she'd be the earliest there since she was living relatively close. Good thing that I was the one with the deposit slip and all was good. The staff led us to one of the cabanas since the check-in time was at 1 pm. The view was enough to significantly lighten my disposition. The view was gorgeous!

The 2.5 days I spent there was well worth the hassle of planning and saving. The food was really good, I particularly enjoyed their 'make-your-own-omelette' thing at breakfast. If ever you're going to La Luz, be sure to pack aqua shoes. Their 'sand' is mostly rock and corals so they can be pretty painful to the feet. I know I'll be prepared the next time I visit this place.