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.

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.

It is the hardest thing for every parent to accept that his or her child has a condition that's needed to be treated. Just like the phases of grief, parents go from denial to acceptance. When a child shows warning signs of delay in speech and language development, it is very important that parents make a move and consult specialists. 

My daughter's cousin who is just three months younger had a delay in speech. No one in the family, not even I had the strength to tell the child's parents about consulting a specialist. I just don't know how to say it in a way that I will not sound as a 'competitive parent' just because my daughter is developing far above their child, but because I care and I know the child needs a chance, I am torn between advising  or not that they visit this speech and language development site which gives assessment to children aged 3 months to 5 years. I know they are in a budget, but I don't think £19.95 a year per child isn't too much. What is that small amount if it's for the development of your child, right? It also gives a 20% discount when the voucher code BVT1015 is entered upon registration until 31 March 2010. After the registration and assessment, parents will be given fun activities to enable them to provide targeted therapy at home. The site guides parents of children with difficulties and indicators that mean referral to specialists and also videos are  provided to guide parents on using the site.  

The speech and language development delay may simply mean that he just needs more weeks or months to catch up or he may need physiotherapy to strengthen his muscles. But there are times when it also highlights adverse indicators of hearing impairment and autism. Whatever a child's condition is, it is important that parents give them proper treatment. The early the intervention, the better it is for the child and the parents. 

Oh! Let me introduce to you once again My One True Love who also happens to be My Valentine's Date for this year and for the last 5 years.

TADAH!!!

Of course, he's non-other than... DADDY MARK!!!

We don't really go out on a date on Valentine's day. We believe it's corny! LOL.. and it's too crowded. Lovers here and there are scattered on the day itself. We prefer to just stay home and give each other little somethings like flowers, cards, chocolates and some nice feast. I planned to prepare a candlelit dinner on Sunday and prepare a nice family movie to watch. Since there's no one who will take charge of our little girl, let me introduce my other Valentine's date...

Another TADAH!!!

 Our Little Princess, Alyssa...

Let's head to Mommy Niko's Girl's Talk by hitting the badge.

On this week's theme in MM, I'm still in the process of imagination. We are planning to have our second baby by June-August 2011 and hope to conceive by October/November this year. Our Alyssa is already 4 years old and by the time the baby arrives, she'll be 6 already. We've been conditioning her mind about having another baby and it seems that her responses are positive. 

For now, let's welcome baby Neera to the Saldua Family. =)

We always ask her if she wants a baby brother or a baby sister and her answer changes every time. I think it's good as her mind isn't fixed about the gender. We will not have a hard time explaining to her why the baby was not what she expected. Whenever she thought of her coming sibling, she always mention about how she wants to play with him/her. These are few of her statements; "Mum, if I have a baby brother OR baby sister, I will buy her (no more him) this toy so she can play with it."; "Mum, if I have a baby brother OR baby sister, I will help him (no more her) hold his milk bottle." The word OR is always there, but since she's still confused in using pronouns I just let her express how she feels no matter how she say it.

With this week's theme in MM, I'm sure I'm going to learn so much on how to prepare our eldest when her new sibling comes.

Happy Mommy Moments!

Join us too and let's share the joy of being a mom.

Ate Liza of This is My Life tagged me in this cute Eminent Eights. It's my first tag for my blog and since it came from my blogging mentor I am happy to do it. Thanks Ate Liz!

8 TV Shows We Like to Watch:
1. Dahil May Isang Ikaw (hubby and I - just ended)
2. Kung Tayo'y Magkakalayo (hubby and I - in exchange of the first)
3. X-Factor (hubby and I)
4. Britain's Got Talent (hubby and I)
5. The Buzz (me)
6. Milkshake (Alyssa)
7. CBeeBies (Alyssa)
8. Disney Channel (Alyssa)

8 Favorite Places to Eat & Drink:
1. Mr. Wu Chinese Buffet
2. Pizza Hut
3. T.G.I.F
4. McDonalds
5. KFC
6. Dominoes 
7. Nando's
8. Japanese Restaurants 


8 Things I Look Forward To:

1. Spend Christmas and New Year in the Philippines this coming December
2. Visit Disneyland (Paris or US) on summer
3. Making of the 2nd baby on September/October this year
4. Renewal of vows on our 5th Wedding Anniversary

5. Start-up a business early this year may it be catering or back to online selling

6. Success in my online jobs
7. Success in blogging, hopefully to be able to convert my 2 blogs to dotcom
8. Invest in something worth it this year


8 Things that Happened Yesterday:
1. I Got hired as an administrative officer online.
2. Did the grocery and strolled around mini shopping mall walking distance from our house.
3. Watched 3 movies with hubby and Alyssa.
4. Cried while watching My Sister's Keeper. I know hubby's tears wanted to fall too..LOL
5. Joined the I Blog, I Care Movement.
6. Ironed Alyssa's school uniforms and hubby's office shirts.
7. Grilled steak and had a lovely dinner with hubby and daughty.
8. Trimmed Alyssa's hair.



8 Things I Love About Winter:
1. Snow!
2. My skin's getting fairer. =)
3. Same as Ate Liza's - don't have to dress up really nice when going out
4. Same as Ate Liza's again - have reason of not taking a shower everyday, LOL!
5. I hate going out specially when it's very cold, so most of the time only Alyssa and hubby do the grocery - bad mommy!

6. I get to wear my boots. 
7. My cheeks turns pinkish.



8 Things I Am Passionate About:
1. Cooking and presenting my cooked foods nicely.
2. Baking and baking, but I'm only passionate not good. ;)
3. Day dreaming - business, jobs, car, house and lot. LOL
4. Taking good care of my family and making sure of always being available when they need me.
5. My current online job.
6. Friendster (before), Multiply (before), Facebook (now) and other social networking.
7. Reading and stuffing my mind with all the information I can get about parenting.
8. Reading books, blogs, articles and magazines about life, how to make it worth living.



8 Words/Phrases I Often Use:
1. Alyssa, tidy up time. 
2. I love you baby ko - and Alyssa answers "I Love You, Mommy ko"
3. Love you Dad, bye. (On the phone)
4. ID, Cellphone, Pera, Susi, Baon, Oyster - Checklist every morning before going out of the house.
5. Anong gusto mong ulam, Dad? (Every time the clock strikes at 5pm)
6. Come on, quick. We're late.
7. What did you have for lunch, anak?
8. Let's eat! 


8 Things I Learned from the Past:
1. Being a young mother doesn't mean being an immature one.
2. Family comes first, more than anyone or anything else.
3. Save, save, save - you'll never know when you'll be needing them.
4. Never let material things set your standards of being happy.
5. Live, Laugh, Love - enjoy life and make the most of it.
6. Always let others feel that they are special to you and that you mean so much to them.
7. Have faith and believe in destiny.
8. Being a mother and a wife is the most precious thing that ever happened to me.



8 Blog Friends We Want to Tag:
1. Mommy Iris 
2. Ate Beth 
3. Ate Eds 
4. Mommy Enchie 
5. Mommy Clang
6. Mommy Willa 
7. Mommy Gracy 
8. Mommy Mich

 
Hope you enjoy doing this too, pretty moms!

It's been awhile since I posted an entry for Mommy Moments. It's sad that I missed last week's topic "New Born Days", but I am happy to be able to join this week. 

As Alyssa grows she doesn't stick to just one thing that she likes unlike me when I was young, all I wanted then was anything Hello Kitty. She's been fascinated with Barney, Disney Princesses, Disney shows and when it comes to food and toys, it also varies.


Right now and for a couple of months already she's been so in love with dinosaurs. I think it started when she watched the movie, Dinosaur.

Dinosaur is a 2000 animated film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It shows good values and I can recommend this movie to others moms whose kids are also into dinosaurs. Now, she likes dinosaur toys and books and she loves learning how they lived, how they were vanished from earth and how their fossils are preserved in museums. That is one reason why she loves museums and doesn't get bored when in there. Apart from dinosaurs, she likes all animals and anything about them. 

This is just one of her many dinosaur toys. 

My dear friend, Joana who also took the dinosaur picture above), gave her My Little Pony DVD and since then she learned to like My Little Pony and even asked it from Santa last Christmas. Again, pony is an animal. =) 

And when bed time comes, she can't sleep without the songs We Are One and Love Will Find Away from the Lion King album. Alyssa's favorites change in a few months or so, but what she already liked before will always have a special place in her heart that she still smiles when recalling them on pictures and videos.

I am not gifted with crafty hands that's why I have to think of some other ways on how to present the cupcakes I am planning to give to Alyssa's teachers as a thank you present and a Christmas gift as well. Good thing I was able to get my hands on photoshop and learned to do digiscrapping. I'll just print them out and paste on a toothpick. (I'll post the finished product soon after I made them.)

I am planning to give 3 cupcakes each (she has 6 teacher!!! my golly!!!) with the words, "THANK YOU" "MS._____" "HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS". In addition, I am making (hope it finishes within the week) an Audi-Visual Pressentation (AVP) of Alyssa's whole year in Nursery in DVD format for the teachers to keep.

I decided to make them last night around 11pm, but untill 2am, I've done nothing. LOL So after walking Alyssa to school and doing the mommy errands, I hopped on to my bed and started working on it.

After 3 hours.. GOODNESS!!! I'm done!

For the 1st cupcake...

For the 2nd cupcake... Btw, Ms. Maria is Alyssa's favorite teacher. She no longer stays with them and is now in the big school, but she is always happy whenever Ms. Maria visits and help in Nursery.

And for the 3rd... Just wishing a Holly Jolly Christmas.

This design is ok for a Christmas cupcake, so if any of you would want to have it printed, please feel free to do so. If you happen to like the other designs as well, just leave me a message and I'll be happy to change the texts for you.

Now, my another problem is how to wrap those cupcakes. LOL... Must have to find it out very soon...

Credits:

"Happiest Season of All" Kit by Everyday Mom Ideas

Right after hearing the mass, we strolled around the mall and Alyssa spotted a very nice My Little Pony Theme Park and asked if it could be her Christmas gift instead of the Peppa Pig Play House she requested first. Then I said, maybe Santa will be kind enough to give it to her as his Christmas present because she's been a very good girl the whole year.

At night, while we were getting ready for dinner, she said "mum, dad, maybe I can write the letter for Father Christmas now".

Ever since the reading horror (forcing her to read and we both get upset), I stopped forcing her to read nor write and told myself that she'll soon learn in her own phase.

But then, I see to it that when she insists on doing so, I will always be there to support her. This is the first time she got interested in writing, and so I was amazed to see her sit still and write those words. It's her name that she only loves to write with the inverted "s" and nothing else. I didn't even think she can write the letters "e", "g", "p", "f" and the others not in her name as she's really been very lazy when it comes to writing.. LOL

Note: Please excuse my "WELL DONE". Kahit ako natuliri nung pinanood ko eh... hahaha

My second time in Mommy Moments and I really love doing it. You can join us too. Just click the Mommy Moments Badge.

Huge malls are not common in London and we were only able to visit 2 so far, one is called Bluewater Leisure and Shopping Centre and the other one is the Westfield London Shopping Centre.

It was my birthday last year when we experienced the best day ever and it was in Bluewater. So much FUN indeed!

Alyssa had the first face painting experience that day and it was FREE!

 TADAH!!! Isn't it nice? My litte blue butterfly.

And of course, the stage mum in me can't be set aside.

And for our last hurrah for summer this year, off we go to Westfield, a new-built huge shopping center.

We passed by the NEXT shop and saw this lovely coat, but knowing me, I won't buy it at it's actual price. So I said, "Alright, that's enough. Let's wait for it to go on sale." LOL

It was also lovely outside the mall. Refreshing.

Going out is indeed uncommon for our famiy, but the few makes it really special. And a day the the mall was something we enjoyed together as a family.

Written: 19 November 2007

My little pretty princess...ALYSSA...She looks so gurly... She likes smiling for the camera...She poses just like a lady... She wants to sit with crossed legs because according to her, it is how a girl should sit...
Alyssa has her official photographer..It's her Tito Jake! hehehe... Thanks Tito Jake!

Our family seldom have special trips. It's because we don't have a car and that we really are home bodies. We rarely go out and we just love to stay at home doing our usual family bonding - watching movies, board games, tickling, cuddling and yeah, most of all - SLEEPING! LOL

But there is one really special trip we had. Not a very usual trip, but I may say it's the first and most special trip we had so far. It was summer, it was Alyssa's 3rd birthday and it was Alyssa's special trip just before starting nursery. Good reasons to celebrate right? So off we go to United States of America...

Alyssa enjoys watching the airplanes take off minute after minute while waiting for our aircraft's turn.

As we fly, she draws and makes some doodles from the Sky Flyer Kit given to her by the very nice flight attendant.

Some kulitan moments in the Rockefeller Center with Dad...

Had fun in M&M's World...

And visited the president at the White House.

What a great trip for the whole family to explore new land and celebrate life together. This is one "Special Trip" to treasure.                       

Written: 18 November 2007

Alyssa, two years have past by so fast and I still can't forget the feeling of cuddling you and breastfeeding you. The 10 months of breastfeeding you is the most fulfilling part of being your Mom. I always feel the closeness between the two of us. And I am still looking forward to the coming years of bonding with you my dear.

~Mum

Baby, you made my life even more meaningful that I always want to go home early from the office to hug, cuddle and kiss you. You are Daddy's little princess. I am so proud to be your Dad. And I am so glad to hear from everyone that you really look like Daddy. As I always promise Mummy.. I will do everything to secure your future. I love our family and I am willing to sacrifice anything for you. Always be assured that you will have a happy and whole family forever. Daddy loves you so much.

~Dad

Alyssa, you are growing up so fast. We can still remember your angelic face on the very first day we saw you, the day when you completed our family. You never failed to make Mommy and Daddy's day. We are so proud of you. You are getting more beautiful each day. Thank you for being a good daughter. You always listen to Mummy and Daddy.

Anak, we cannot promise that the world will be so good and perfect. What we can promise is that however rough the road may seem, Mum and Dad will always be there to help you pass it through. We love you so much Alyssa. Words are not enough to explain how we feel for having you as our daughter.

Love,

Dad and Mum

Written: 17 November 2007

Our little angel..our princess..our pride..our joy..our LIFE! 

May - because Daddy said..if the baby is a girl, the name should start with "MAY" because it is the start of Mummy's name.. and if it is a boy.. the name should start with "MARK" of course because it is Dad's name.. and the full name should contain three names..just like Mummy's.

Alyssa - because her grandma's name (Daddy's Mum) is Alicia..

Kirstein - because Dad's cousin named Christine died the same day during Mom and Dad's wedding.

Combining them all, we got our pretty daughter's name - MAY ALYSSA KIRSTEIN AGBAYANI - SALDUA.