For couples, it's common to have sweet and unique gestures. Sometime's it's a language only them can understand. Showing sweet gestures of the other half is a sense of comfort to the other. It can be visible to the public, but to most, these sweet gestures are best when done in private.

Personally, I like both public and private sweet gestures. But I believe, sweet gestures in private are the most intimate and meaningful. I've known some who's been very sweet, but it's only a way of "show-off" and the partners tend to change colours when others are not around, if you know what I mean. 

Well, in our case, we show sweet gestures both in public and private. When we're in public, we know that people like seeing us that way. Deep inside of me, I feel proud not because other people are commenting on it, but because I know for myself that even though we've been married for almost 5 years already, we are still able to keep the love in our relationship burning. If there's an audience who we want to witness those sweet gestures of ours, it would be our kid/s. They'll surely be the proudest of us. 

But those public sweet gestures are only a little of what we can show when it's only the two of us or when we're at home. 

To give you an idea of the sweet gestures that we exchange to each other, read on...

• When we're walking, most of the time, we do HHWW (Holding Hands While Walking).
• When we're sitting in a train, car, sofa, airplane, etc., we do HHWS (Holding Hands While Sitting)
• When hubby's having breakfast (I don't, but I join him on the table), he'll request for a hug. I'll go and hug him from behind.
• When I wash the dishes, he'll hug and kiss me. (Yeah... It's disturbing! But I love it! LOL)
• We will just hug tight when we are both standing at the kitchen.
• When I ask for a kiss, he will grant it. Then I ask again and bring my tongue out so it touches his lips (he hates it! LOL). When I ask for another, I will then have to use force to get it... =)
• I rarely give him massage, it's not sweet for me... LOL! It's tiring!!!
• He carries all the heavy bags when we do the grocery. (That's sweet, right?)
• I just say I love you with a kiss and he does the same, that happens any time. 
• He brings my drink inside the room when I don't feel like standing up. (Yeah... Lazy me!!!)

And there's a lot lot more!!! Reading back, I just realised, hubby's sweeter than me, huh? =)

Come and join us again for this week's Couple's Corner.

Yeah!!! It's his last year on the 20s roll and he isn't liking it! wahahaha!!!

Of course, the little girl is Dad's helper in candle blowing...

Friends came over to celebrate with us and it was much fun... as always...

(The boys are happy to have bought San Miguel Beer... They missed it! LOL)

Here's our menu... I managed to cook everything... except the cake! =)

Once again, Happy Happy Birthday My One and Only LOVE...

 I love you soooooo much, Dad!!! 

This is my share for this week's PBW. Join us... Click the badge!!!

This week's theme in Couple's Corner is about "Sacrifices for Loved Ones". I'll try my very best not to get too emotional about his post. =) *hope so*

Oh well, I believe sacrifices are my best friends since birth. LOL... I think I have sacrificed sooooooo much!!! as in SOOOOO MUCH!!! for my family (I'm talking about my being a daughter). I have to sacrifice not having a whole and happy family for the sake of my parents. I don't think they ever tried so hard to keep our family whole and happy. They just wanted to enjoy their lives (oh, that I know is true and they can't contest!). Being a mom and wife now, I know for myself that this responsibility has been given to me by God and I can't just let any circumstance break it up. I just hope my parents handled their responsibilities better then, but of course, everything happened for a good reason. But looking back, I just can't help but feel the pain on everything I've been through (dark childhood indeed) because I don't have my biological mom to guide me, but I was blessed by having all the love of my father, lola, aunts and uncles. 

Let's jump to my family now. I had my family even before I earn my degree, so I guess I'm lucky that I don't have a career to sacrifice. The only thing I have now is my degree which others would think is now going to waste, but is actually not. God has been so good that he opened new opportunities for me where I can use it and earn while still being a full-time mom and wife. 

Looking back and comparing all my sacrifices then and now, I believe what it did was to mold me and get me ready to who I should be now. I won't be where I am and I won't have what I have now if not for everything that had happened to me. All I can say now is "THANK YOU, LORD" because He blessed me with a very wonderful family that I can call "My Own". I may not have it before, but I already have it now. Though it's painful to think of the past, it's always much joy to think of the present and the future and I guess, that's how we learn.

I think my post is outside the couple's sacrifices part, but we haven't sacrificed so much for the sake of both of us aside from hubby being away from us for about 6 months so I can finish my studies and he can have a better career here. But since we were able to live together again after that, I guess it erases the fact that for once in our lives we actually lived a million miles away.

Click the badge and read different kinds of sacrifices on this week's Couple's Corner.

All right... This week's theme is very easy... Sexiest part of my body??? Well.. SIMPLE...

 WHOLE!!! WHOLE BODY!!

 wahahaha!!! JOKE TIME!!!

Oh, I always thought my legs are like pata-tim... but every time I see pictures of it, I say... "WOW!" hahaha!!!

I have nothing more to say... As Mommy Niko said... show!!!

Girls Talk is really FUN!!! Hop on, GIRLS!!!

Image the 4 of us (Mark, AC, Alyssa and Winnie the Pooh Bear) in bed, respectively - all in "spoon" position, but legs are always intertwining with each other - except Pooh's. That's basically how we really sleep. We're all facing right because Alyssa can't sleep without an arm wrapped around her and she really wakes up just to say, "hug". So Dad has no choice but to face right as well so he can hug me. When Alyssa's asleep as she sleeps first most of the time, it's Daddy's turn to be hugged - either in spoon position or my head under his arm, but again, the legs... LOL And all throughout the night, I am being squashed by the two and can barely move. =)

Before, I have this mannerism of scratching my feet in mosquito net... LOL! When at home, watching TV, reading, playing and most specially sleeping, my mosquito net (full or small portion) must be placed on my feet because without it, I can't really stay put. I had this mannerism since childhood and only got rid of it when we arrived here in London which was only last April 2008. =) And I don't know how it happened. I still brought it here, actually 2 small pieces, but instantly my feet were not looking for it anymore. So YES! Hubby was able to sleep with me for about 5 years with that little mosquito net. My Lola failed to stop me from that mannerism, so when I was in college, she was the one who's cutting the mosquito net for me and even sewing it on a small pillow so I can bring it anywhere I go. Oh, how I miss my Lola... =( I always keep in mind what she said to me before - never be used to sleeping with the kid in the middle, always make sure that when you sleep, you and Mark should always be beside each other because not being used to it will soon draw you away from each other. And yes, Alyssa sleeps either on my side or on Mark's side, she has to choose.

When it comes to snoring, hubby and Alyssa said I don't snore, so good for them! LOL... On the other hand, hubbster snores a little and not really loud. And because he doesn't believe that he now (yes, not before) snores, just last month Alyssa and I recorded it and we all burst into laughter the next morning. hahaha!!! Hubby asked about more than 5x, "Mum, totoo? Ako nga yun?" and laugh again...

So far, we don't have disturbing habits in bed. How about you? Do have some interesting bedtime habits? Come and share them with us on Mommy Liz's Couples Corner. Hit the badge!

I'm very new to this blogging world, so I haven't got the chance yet to personally know the people behind this "Biggest Contest of the Year". Have I known them all, I will surely kick my ass everyday to review all the sponsors. =)

Mommy Gene asked me if I can be her referral and with no second thought, I agreed. I would love to at least take part in this contest and know other bloggers by heart. I'm loving the blogosphere, and I believe I'm staying here for... ever! LOL

There are so much ways to win, just click the badge and you'll see for yourself why this has been called the "Biggest Contest of the Year". 

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Oh crap! I really failed to join last week. I think I'm in the outer space last Thursday??? Oh well, wether you like it or not, I'll post my vital stats here just for me to feel the intensity of last week's theme... LOL!

To start, I'm 24 years old, and according to my last check (about a decade ago, LOL) I'm 5'2" in height. I am now holding my tape measure and in front of my weighing scale and my tape measure says: 34 28 35 Nothing much really changed, but few years back, I can still achieve a waist line of 26 without breathing =). Then my weighing scale says: 51.8 kg. (Because I didn't eat lunch) and when I do, it'll jump up to 53 kg. (It means I really eat more than a kilo each time, LOL) I am used to being 50 kg. and all along I thought I am maintaining that weight until just recently when hubby bought me a weighing scale, oh golly! I WAS WRONG!!!

And for this week's theme "show some flesh", I really have to dig in my pandora box because I can't remember any picture of myself wearing swimsuit which I thought would perfectly match the theme, but I hope the following will suffice... =)

See that amazona arm??? Eeeewww!!!

And another one.. =) Oh, I really don't know why those fats keep on stocking up on my arms and why not on my boobies... LOL!

And lastly... =) Alyssa was posing like mine, but she was too eager to run around, so the camera didn't capture it.

Well, that's only how FLESH-y I can be. I just don't have the K to show some more... with all the stretchies all over my tummy, oh you'll never want to see it, I'm sure. =)

Come-on Girls, it's our time to SHINE!!! LOL... Share those flesh-y pics with us at Girls Talk and let's all have some FUN!!!

Taken April 2008 at Leeds Castle - 1st week of our arrival in London (see the difference "then" and "now"? LOL... Hubby must see this 'coz he can't accept the fact that he's gained so much now.)

Oh, cuddle, cuddle... This is one thing we will never get tired of doing. Hubby hugs me most often when I wash the dishes and surely there's tickling on the side, then right after I finished washing or cooking I will hug him back and there, we cuddle. We just embrace tight and exchange "I Love You's". Our daughter loves seeing us do so. 

At Trafalgar Square, April 2008 as well. PDA??? hehehe... sabi ko pakiss eh.. kaya pala deadma, pumose sa camera... LOL

Then as we sit on the sofa and watch movies, we squash each other and arms all wrapped up. Same goes when we sleep. So much cuddling first before really falling asleep. These are the precious moments I can never afford to lose. 

Not to mention the special cuddling times in bed, oh those are really extra steamy! LOL! Hey, don't let me spill this out. I better shut up and just stick with the wholesome cuddling moments. =)

There's so much cuddling stories at Couple's Corner. So hop on and share yours too.

During the weekend, hubby's officemates from PWC Philippines came by and slept over.

Ms. May (from Dublin, Ireland) and Alyssa's Ninang Lea (from New Jersey, USA) in London's famous Telephone Booth and London's Time Square, the Picadilly Circus.

Though this entry is for Pixel Bug Weekend, I'll also include the Thursday night event because it was also a day of meetup of auditors. Lovely couple, Ben and Coco (from Bristol UK), slept-over for the 3rd time around and was able to meet Lea (above). We had pasta over dinner and a lot of audit topics on the side. (Oh, I can't relate! LOL) But, too bad I wasn't able to capture even a single moment of that night so I'll just post pics of their 2nd visit.

Ben, Dad, Alyssa, Coco and their Christmas gift to Alyssa. 

We really love it when friends come over. We enjoy preparing for their visit because first, house will surely look clean and fresh (happens only when visitors are coming...LOL) and secondly, I can get other people taste the foods that I prepare for my family. 

Come and join us too at Mommy Salen's Pixel Bug Weekend and share the highlights of your weekends.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

Oh, how I love this new generation. We have almost everything we need and want right at our fingertips. I am not very strict when it comes to TV watching because ever since, I know that TV contributes much on my daughter's development. But because I'm a parent, I do make rules. I set the hours on when and up to how long can TV run.

Having Charter digital means having On Demand. This can be accessed for free and at any time we want. This is very helpful in setting up the TV schedule at home since my daughter's favorite shows are surely available. And because it has over 6000 movies and shows without waiting and schedule, it will not only benefit my daughter, but the whole family as well. My husband who's also into movies and different series can watch on free hours as shows like Heroes, 30 Rock, The Office and so much more gets available the day after they air on TV and it's for FREE. learn more at charter.net/ondemand

Since we have HD ready TV and there are hundred HD shows available, I can say that Charter is really worth visiting. get updates and fun extras on Charter’s Facebook page

Oh, I'm guilty!!! I'm sorry, but I am a good liar. I make people believe in my lies, most specially my Lola, Papa, Titos and Titas and I do it every time I don't want to get scolded.*BAD* But not my husband (DIFFERENT HIM - in Tagalog, IBAHIN NYO SYA!) LOL... I have tried to lie so many times to Mark when we weren't married yet, but there's NO single thing that he wasn't able to catch. I am bad, I know and I hate myself for it. For those of you who have been an avid supporter of Couple's Corner, I'm sure you already know what I mean, but if you're lost with what I'm talking about then my story's HERE. Hey, don't get me wrong... I've graduated from that way way back... I'm GOOD now! Promise! =)

About our marriage, I would say I have nothing more to hide. I already confessed everything to my hubby and I believe by doing so, I was again able to gain his trust. With regard to issues in marriage like money, physical features and most specially, FEELINGS, I would say that we've already mastered the art of it that those things no longer count as issues at all. 

Just like all the other SAHMs, in our family, only hubby brings home the bacon. Good thing he earns enough that I can afford not to work. I hope every family can just be like us - moms stay at home and dads work and earn enough for the family. Sending money to our loved ones back home is never an issue. He provides for my father's medicines and he supports his brother's education. No matter how much he gives to any of our families are all agreed by us and I believe nothing's wrong with helping or just giving.

Physical features? Oh well, basically we're honest, but on his part, I'm not so sure...LOL. I can say freely how big his tummy is and how much weight he's gained as compared to when I met him. Quite different though when it's about mine. I believe he still can't tell me directly if he noticed my belly fats, more so my amazona arms. Every time I ask him if i'm getting as fat as my family, he'll only say, "Hhhmmm, medyo?" hahaha!!! I think it's already in his character that if he knows he can hurt me or any person in any way, he better not tell it at all. You can seldom hear him complain or even comment even if he knows something's happened and it's my fault. And we're very opposite, because I tell what I want and I keep on nagging, "You see? I told you...la..la..la.." Oh how lucky I am to have such a loving and understanding husband.

I believe being honest with our feelings is really important. We have to say how we feel, but it's the manner of saying it that actually matters. Like if I am feeling cross about him not listening to me or anything, I say it, but I make sure I won't raise my voice. It's something I learned from my hubby. He never raised his voice on me, not even once so I think it's just right to do the same. And if he wants me to know how he feels, most of the time he jokes about it. I'm the one who's easily hurt even though nothing's really needed to get serious of (oh, I believe most girls are, right?), while as I said, my hubby's so understanding and that he's so good at controlling his temper, because if not, I'm sure no more glass things are left and everything in our house are all unbreakable. LOL!

If you think you have something to share about your married lives, may it be fun or not, please feel free to join us. We, at Couple's Corner, don't judge each other's lives. We share and we learn from each other's experiences and views. So what are you waiting for? Hop on and enjoy the fun. Our host, Ate Liz of This is My Life, is one great wifey who'll surely lend a helping hand if you think you need one or can just be a friend who's always willing to listen and talk. =) Love you Ate Liz! 

I believe we have chosen a good school for our daughter. The school and the teachers have been our helping hands in guiding our daughter in becoming a good person. She has learned so much since the Nursery days and now that she's already a level higher.

Just last 10 February, the school conducted a food tasting project open for all parents to share whatever they fancy for others to taste. It's basically the International Week so most parents shared popular dishes from their countries of origin. It's my first time in the event, so I don't have an idea how it's going to be. I just decided to bake chocolate crinkles where I shared the recipe in Come Dine In, because Filipino stores are not very near and I don't have the right ingredients to make any of my country's lovely foods. I planned to do it next year, though. 

Each has to pay £1 for every 5 desserts and another £1 for every 5 savouries. With the help of all the parents, teachers and students, the school was able to collect £200+ to be donated to Haiti. 

What a nice way to share LOVE during the "Love Month".

Career has always been the last thing on my list of priorities. When God has given me my own family earlier than usual, I still strived to attain my degree. I might have thought of being a working mom - wearing a nice corporate attire, working in a cosy office environment, struggling to climb the corporate ladder - but when I've already tried my best to have the job that I'm dying to have and failed many times, I started to accept the meaning that it wants to communicate with me. 

The first factor why I don't fit in any job that I'm applying for is TIME. I have a daughter whom I have to bring to school in the morning and pick up at around 3:30 in the afternoon. That alone won't let me work full time (9-5 job) and so I only apply for part-time positions, but because I'm new and don't have enough experience yet, it's so impossible that they give me the time most convenient to me.

Then I re-learned the blogging world. As I explore, a large community of moms staying at home and earning while blogging and doing some freelance works welcomed me. I tried and on my first month of trial, it seems like it's whispering to my ears, "THIS IS THE RIGHT THING FOR YOU."

I just got an interview invitation from the nearest hotel in our place, but the working pattern will hinder me from doing what I love - preparing my hubby and daughter in the morning and being unable to pick her up on time every Friday. I thought about it, but at the end, hubby and I realized that with all the opportunities coming my way at the start of 2010 I can earn the same while working at home. 

I'm already blessed with everything - having a husband who's always been a good provider and the time that I am able to dedicate to my family and these I really thank God for letting me to have. I no longer need a career that will bring me to the top while slowly forgetting that I am the light of my home. My family is my priority and if career is there, it's surely at the last.