The Extreme Comper in Me

For the next three months while I'm on parental leave, there will be an increase in competition posts on my FaceBook wall on top of the usual kids' photo posts especially dedicated for the grandparents and families in the Philippines. I am   hoping for my friends' tolerance or if it annoys you, please remove my posts from your wall.  On some occasions, I will be tagging you (especially if you're in NZ and if the competition prize will be shared with friends).  I've always been a comper and with the advent of FaceBook, the usual email comps are now ported into FB to increase chances of winnings.  So far, in terms of prizes, Aqui still has the most wins (her last one she won herself at ToyWorld and before that, Barbie Lego from The Warehouse) but Ia has the highest prize value (I won an Ipad while pregnant with her but she also won a Duplo Lego when she turned 2). The General is gaining momentum though with his recent Thermomix win and Oh Baby Win.

So how did I get to be a comper and what do I get out of it? (aside from the fabulous prizes of course!)

Aside from effort, there’s a lot of luck that goes with this “endeavor”.   My dad is the ultimate comper, with his overflowing luck accompanied by effort. I remember when I was a child, he’d bring home lots of appliances which he got as raffle prizes.  He won so much that there were lots of double ups so when Ronnel and I got married, we gave them away to our guests as a competition too and threw in some stuff we bought as well to give away in a hidden sticker game during the wedding dinner.   It was a wonderful surprise for our guests especially the winners who brought home a slow cooker, rice cooker and such.

And so even when I got married, I made sure I joined competitions when I had the opportunity.   I had some winnings in Malaysia too while I was with Standard Chartered Bank but it was when we moved to NZ that my comper-self was culminated.

My first win in NZ was with Griffin’s back in 2006, when I joined a raffle draw via The Warehouse.  It was our first month in NZ and to get drawn from out of hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of entries meant a lot to me as a comper.  We haven’t had our paychecks then so having not just one box but two boxes of Griffin cookies and other goodies was a really great win for us.  I had two boxes because Griffin mistakenly sent the prize for another winner to me and when I contacted them to advise them of their mistake, they said I can just have the box and they’ll send a different one to the other winner.  And so Ronnel and I enjoyed the first box and the second one was shared amongst my colleagues in BNZ. 

And I guess the rest is history.  I am always for the lookout for competitions when I have time and there is usually a surge in winnings every time I am on parental leave.  That’s because while bubba is sleeping, or breastfeeding, I go into ultimate multi-tasking comper mode.  I have drafts of emails with my details ready to send to a competition email.   I troll NZ Women’s Weekly, Mindfood, NZ Girl and other sites with regular competitions.   Of course not all prizes are really worth the effort, but what effort, really --- two minutes of filling out a competition form?  With the advent of Facebook, the art of comping has changed too.  Competitions now require you to like, share and comment, or even tag a friend.   I still have one rule that I try not to break – I don’t join competitions requiring votes to determine if I win.  I feel (I know) I won’t win those – especially with the limited number of friends I have on FB (quality vs quantity!).   So I just join competitions that rely on a bit of effort (such as this or this)  and a lot of luck – and that has been working well so far!

To be honest, this post was inspired by “Extreme Couponing”.  Ronnel and I were watching the series on Netflix and he told me that if we were in the US, I'd be one of those extreme couponers.  Ha, I was one step ahead of him.  I already googled if we had a similar coupon industry in NZ. Unfortunately, we don’t and here’s why -- http://frugalkiwi.co.nz/2011/07/beyond-extreme-couponing/ or http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31232.  And I totally agree with what’s posted in these sites.  The Extreme Couponing shows are inspiring especially when you see their grocery bill reduced from USD2K to a mere 40 cents!  I probably won’t go to that extent as it requires full dedication and couponing time equivalent to a full time job.  Plus I feel it's a bit unfair to hoard stuff you don't really need.  I won’t give up being a business analyst yet for the high of grocery savings.  Maybe when I win the lotto – if I ever buy a ticket. 

You might ask then --- so with this luck, why don’t I buy lotto tickets?   Same with my dad, the family luck doesn’t extend to gambling or when exchange of money is involved (i.e. buying a ticket to win).  I don’t think I’ve ever won in a raffle draw where I had to buy a ticket so I won’t go there.  As of now, I’m very happy with these winnings and even happier when I get to share it with my friends. So bear with me if you see a post in my wall of me joining yet another competition. Who knows, you might be a friend with whom I share my winnings!  Now, if only I can convince Ronnel to join on my behalf when it’s his turn to go on parental leave…

The General Chronicles - Part 2

We finally meet our little general!

Unlike his elder sisters, his delivery was drama-free. He stuck to the scheduled c-section plan and there were no complications.  Everyone was surprised at the hospital that I didn't have to take insulin this time around for the gestational diabetes. Usually, it would be the other way around, later pregnancies were likely to rely on insulin.  But hey, this is the General we are talking about. He is quite special.

So why "General", you might ask. It was Aqui who started calling him the general while he was still in my tummy. Out of the blue, she said "I think we should call him "General".  I asked why and she said she just wants to. So it got stuck.  Even Ia started calling him "baby general".  And so we thought of great generals for his real name, and ofcourse, there's no one greater than General Alexander the Great. And because Alex reminds me of the lion in the Madagascar movie (whom I am not fond of), I prefer to call him Axle.

The birthing experience

I had to go through emergency c-section for Aqui and Ia and so there was much drama and tension there. With Axle, it was calm and quiet. Sure, I still had some fears that things might go wrong - the anaesthesia might not work or something like that- but all of these we raised to God in our prayers.  Ronnel was with me in the operating theatre, armed with his DLSR so he can capture every second of that goo dripping from baby's skin.  I heard the surgeons talking about a cord around his neck so they had to act quickly and extract him and then there was a big cry resonating the theatre. He made his presence known.   They immediately cleaned him up, gave him to Ronnel for a quick cuddle and put him on my chest for the skin to skin experience. He stayed there for 25 minutes while the surgeons were sewing up.  According to the midwife, this skin to skin session helped a lot in calming him down. True enough, baby Axle is a really chilled out baby.  He latched on for breastfeeding quickly and while the other newborns in the neighbouring rooms cried all night, he just slept, ate and pooed. No dramas.

First Night

Aqui and Ia both had to spend their first night in NICU because of the gestational diabetes complications.  With Axle free from that, he spent his first night in the room with me.  Ronnel had to leave at around 8pm to pick up the girls as it was a school night and Aqui had to go to school the next day.  We are truly lucky to have our carer Racheal so helpful - the girls were all bathed and in their pyjamas when Ronnel picked them up.  Meanwhile, Axle and I are in the room and he was really cooperative.  The epidural was still working so I couldn't move my legs nor get up to cuddle him. I had to rely on the midwives to pick him up from his bassinet and give him to me for a feed.  Eventually, I just had him beside me the whole night so that it would be easier to feed him -- which meant I wasn't able to sleep at all.  But it's ok, sleep is overrated anyway.

Middle child blues

We did FaceTime with the girls to show them baby Axle and we noticed that while Aqui was enthusiastic and excited to see baby, Ia didn't share the same enthusiasm.  She wasn't saying anything and was frowning at baby during the whole FaceTime conversation.  When they eventually met, Aqui wanted to cuddle and hold him while Ia kept her distance.  It took an hour or so for Ia to warm up to him and eventually, she was stroking his hair and kissing him as well.

Extra bonus

On baby Axle's birthday, I got word from work that I was selected for an achievement award (Chief Executive Award) and that was a really happy news for me.  I was quite anxious at work because it hasn't been even a year since I left BNZ and joined the Ministry of Justice before I fell pregnant.  And so it came as a surprise that I was able to deliver even beyond the target.

Road to recovery

It's day 3 in the hospital  and hopefully, we will be discharged tomorrow. We've had visits from friends and it was great to see them enamoured by our little general.  We're also very grateful to our friends for being part of the child-minding roster, to take turns in looking after Aqui and Ia while I'm recovering and focusing on baby Axle.  That's life overseas,  our extended family is our friends and we have to rely on each other more and more.

And so we live day by day and look forward to our adventures as we are now complete and able to volt in, Voltes 5! 

The General Chronicles - Part 1

1 July 2014 D-Day minus 2

I have high tolerance for pain, physical pain, that is – probably because I come from a generation used to corporal punishment or maybe from the CAT physical training /pseudo hazing I had to go through in high school.  Either way, it takes a different level of pain to get the waterworks in my eyes.  And so the tears I'm shedding in the wee hours for the past nights for this little General describes how much physical pain I am experiencing with this third pregnancy.

With Aqui, I was induced at 38 weeks and although there was pain, it was only for a day and I had drugs as my crutch.  With Ia, my waters broke at 36 weeks and the labour also lasted for a day. Both were delivered via c-section, and for both, tears only came out of my eyes when I held them for the first time. 

I’m now into my 39^th week with the General, nearly full term and the pre-labour pains are creeping in day by day and worse at nights.  For those who don’t have an idea of this type of pain, imagine stubbing your toe on a sharp corner, multiply that by ten with a build up speed of 30 seconds, height of pain at 10 seconds and a slow down of another 30 seconds. Move that pain to your belly across the back.  To make it more fun, imagine a big boney lump inside you swimming leisurely at the expense of your internal organs.

The frustrating thing is that they're intermittent so I know it’s not labour yet. Even further frustrating is that I cannot take anything for it because I have to experience the pain to know if it was labour or not – and all of this started a few days/nights ago.  The only consolation I have is  that I only have 2D/2N to go before it’s all done… and then it’s a different kind of pain.

So how I do cope? I distract myself. I write. I pray. I stare at my sleeping girls beside me. I online window shop. I’m on Facebook. My TradeMe watchlist is full of nice things to look at. I feel bad for Ronnel because he is also losing sleep, asking me every now and then if I need to go to the hospital yet. I also feel his helplessness because really, there is nothing he can do. He is probably annoyed because all I talk about are the distractions that I use – FB posts, the viral videos, my TradeMe watch list etc.

But I hang in there, because I know that the General is healthy. He is oblivious to the pain he is inflicting and is swimming and just counting the days before his grand appearance… and maybe one day, when he is in his troubled teenage years and decides to inflict a different kind of pain to his parents – I will use this post as a guilt-extracting tool. Maybe. 

Twice the Fun!

Yup, I'm writing again -- and this time about the fun and folly of being a mum of two princesses.

Having two girls is not only economical since we get to "recycle" the gowns, party dresses and other girly stuff but it also gives us the chance as parents to correct our ways. As all first time parents were, Ronnel and I were OC with Aqui. We prepared well, we attended Ante-natal classes, read several prep books, registered in several baby websites and religiously researched ways to prepare for Aqui's coming. And so when she came, we thought we were equipped with the good techniques of parenthood. Most of the time, we were ok but there are times that we threw away those techniques and just let her get her way. This time around with Ia, we'll be wiser - or maybe, our resolve is much stronger because we know that's it would be for the best in the long run. So here's a rundown of the things we've done really well with Aqui that we'd continue with Ia and the Not-so-good things that we'd like to do better this time around.

TOP 3 THINGS THAT WORKED GREAT WITH AQUI (which we will do with Ia)
1. Self-sufficiency/ Independence. Aqui is quite independent for her age - she can go to the toilet herself and clean up (except for #2), turn the TV or iPad on, brush her teeth by herself and eat on her own. This independence didn't just happen overnight, it came with the price of soiled carpets, several trial and errors and a whole lot of grey hair (on our part). As early as six months, we had her explore food and eventually she put food in her mouth -- thanks to the encouragement of ante-natal classmate Angela Watson who's strongly into Baby-led weaning. Aqui had a lot of encouragement from us-- within reason and safe environment, of course. Every time she said she can't and sought help from us, we'd evaluate together if she really can't or if she's just lazy. More often than not, it's the latter so we'd push her to be able to do it herself. Eventually, she'd surprise us in showing us things she's able to do on her own! We even had to change the PIN on our iPad because she's started memorizing that too.

2. Bilinguality, bilingualism, bilingualisation? Whatever you call it, we'd still do it with Ia. At home, we speak Filipino with Aqui and we leave the English to her friends and childcare provider. At first, I got mixed reactions from family and friends, advising me that it will confuse Aqui or it will be too hard. Yes, it is hard and sometimes we catch ourselves responding to her in English as well. We don't beat ourselves if we miss but we still try to speak Filipino as much as we can. At Aqui's latest Plunket visit, the nurse lauded me for this because she said it's a really hard thing to do for parents. Most foreigners just give in to the children and speak the local language eventually. The nurse said speaking two (or more) languages increase the learning ability of the child as she gets to deal with more than one meaning of a single concept. We are still struggling now especially since most of the songs and rhymes are in English (although I teach her some Filipino songs too) but I think it will be better with Ia learning to speak Filipino as well so they can converse with each other.

3. Inter-action. Aqui grew up in a busy environment. We went to play dates, play centres, kids concerts, Couples for Christ activities and had music all the time at home. This resulted in a very friendly Aqui - sometimes even too friendly (or brave) for my taste that she'd challenge a six year old in a playground. I'd like to do this again with Ia and bring her up in a world of songs, games, dance, and friendship.

TOP 3 THINGS THAT WE'RE DOING / WE WILL DO BETTER WITH IA
1. Sleep Training. We've trained Aqui to sleep well at around three months and it was working quite well but then my dad came and the spoilage (!) began. My midwife told me once that there's no such thing as "the grandparent spoiling a baby" IF the grandparent stays and lives with us to take care of the kids forever. It only becomes a problem when the grandparent leaves and boy, did we have a problem with Aqui when Lolo left. It was just three weeks but she already knew that the cot was very different from a warm embrace. There were times she slept on top of me the whole night and I had difficulty breathing and the bane of co-sleeping began. But it wasn't all that bad, co-sleeping provided for lots of entertainment too. You'd always get a warm good morning and sometimes an I love you first thing in the morning - accompanied by a foot on your face or a slap on your ear. Ia, as of writing this, is fully sleep trained! She sleeps on her cot 8-9 hours straight and doesn't need to be lulled to sleep. You just put her down on the cot, turn on her favourite music mobile and she dozes on her own. Of course, she got there with a lot of hard work too and three weeks of back-aching sleep training regimen. This doesn't mean Ia will grow up lacking cuddles - she just has them when she's awake.

2. Bottle-Feeding. Don't get me wrong - Ia will still be fully breast-fed. Aqui was fully breast-fed up to 19 months as she had a dairy allergy which eventually went away. Breastfeeding worked really well with Aqui plus it doesn't cost much - well, aside from me being ravenous all the time. The only thing we were lax about was feeding her via bottle as feeding her directly from me was just more convenient than expressing. This became a problem especially since we started leaving her at child care at seven months. With Ia, we try to give her at least one bottle a day. She refuses and cries with all her might but eventually she gives in. I'd have Ronnel do the bottle feeding as I think the "milk" smell coming from me is too strong for her to settle for seconds - of course, Breast is best.

3. 1-2-3 Time Out! We've done this with Aqui but not consistently as usually, my temper would get the better of me and then the yelling starts. One time, I noticed Aqui lining up her Barbie and Dora dolls and she was pointing at them and started to yell at them to go to the Naughty Chair. I felt really guilty and I am going to try hard to keep my temper in check and do the 1-2-3 Time Out step by step as the book says.

4. Less e-Learning and more Old School. I know I said three but here's the last one, I promise.
Aqui lives and breathes technology just like Ronnel and me. Can you blame an apple not falling far from the tree? A typical Saturday for her is waking up with the iPad and turning the TV on after breakfast. She'd also log on and click the mouse on the PC (she doesn’t really do anything, just moves the mouse around). She would then play a few games on her dad's Nook. If we have a game on the Wii, she'd play that too. We'd go to the park and she'd make sure to have me take a video or photo of her. Then we'd go home and sometimes she would call her grandparents via Yahoo video on the iPad. Before going to sleep, we try to read her a book but she can't sit still and would prefer the Kid's channel on the iPad's YouTube. She would then say her prayers after a last peek on the iPad. I swear if she didn't go to Child Care, her days would be like this. There was one time, we hid the iPad from her and when she started looking for it and couldn't find it, she threw the biggest tantrum ever. She was running around and lying down on the carpet, screaming and crying "I want iPad!” Ronnel and I were quite surprised with the strong reaction and watched her for a few more minutes before eventually giving in. Ronnel said she resembled me when my phone got broken before. Ha Ha.

So there you go, hope this was a nice blog come-back :-)

Better Late than never....

It's been a while, hasn't it? My bestfriend from the Philippines has kindly reminded me of my commitment (or lack thereof) to blog...

Anyway, thanks to Facebook, I've been updating friends and families of Aqui's progress through photo uploads and status updates. But it's just not the same, I suppose. Work has been a time-eater as well but Ronnel and I have developed clockwork rhythm of juggling work, sleep (what sleep?), Aqui-feed/sleep/play/study time and still be able to catch up with the latest adventures of Jack Bauer.

So what's this clockwork rhythm all about?
Simple really, we have learned to adapt to Aqui's schedule. When she wakes up, we are up too. While one of us takes a shower, the other eats breakfast and then switch places while Aqui plays on the background. We learned what makes Aqui tick and (I) have given up pushing Hello Kitty and just gave in to the powers of Elmo and Dora. Now, Ronnel and I can sing the Elmo song and sing with the Map in Dora the Explorer. We learned that standards are relative - that no matter how we train Aqui to sleep in her cot or eat in her chair, nothing beats seeing her squealing happily because we have given in to her whims. And it pays off, she's active, she's happy and now, she's even walking! In the end, we are less stressed, we sleep more and we laugh more.


Here's Aqui with her first baby steps:

A REAR Christmas

Back to Work
After seven months of full-on full-time Aqui-entertainment, I'm whisked back to the reality of work. I was a bit surprised to find myself enjoying work. I feel a bit guilty for enjoying my time at work but I just don't think I'm cut out for full time motherhood -- and I have the utmost respect and awe to those who are. I miss Aqui every minute I'm at work but as Ronnel said, we are more motivated to work now - more than ever- because everything we do from hereon is for Aqui. Work means so much more now than just personal fulfillment. Nevertheless, the first days were a challenge not only for me but for Aqui too. She hasn't adapted quite yet to the fact that I'm no longer available 24/7 especially now that she's in the more-than-clingy-than-clingwrap stage. But after a few weeks, she got better.

First REAR* Christmas
We've prepared as much as we can for Aqui's first Christmas. We've had our family Christmas cards made (for free from Vistaprint - haha, they should pay me for this), had our Christmas tree up early, bought most gifts online to avoid the shopping rush and exposed Aqui to the Christmas spirit early. I'm sure she would have no recollection of this when she grows up but I'd like to think she enjoyed her first Christmas. We spent it with friends who we consider our family here in NZ.
*REAR - Ronnel, Einge, Aqui Rodriguez







Christmas Wishes
I posted my gratitude to Ronnel in Facebook - for making all my Christmas wishes come true. Of course, the first one (and most important one) is to have a little family Christmas. For the past five Christmases, it was just me and Ronnel with friends but nothing beats family of course. This year, we can say we spent it with our little family. God has a lot to do with us having little Aqui but Ronnel contributed too! :-) Another Christmas wish was for us to have childcare sorted. The first one didn't really work because Aqui was (and still is!) an attention-hogger which didn't do much for our carer's wee one so we had to find another carer who could give Aqui her undivided attention. Fortunately, we found one quite fast. Aqui is thriving and enjoying her time there. Our new carer has a 3-year old daughter who's so cute and makes Aqui laugh all the time. And Ronnel was very patient driving around the area child-care hunting with me. Third wish was for a robovacuum. Yep, you read it right. A robot vacuum. Before you call me lazy, let me tell my Time Consumption Theory. When you lose time, you'll never get it back. So make the most of it and spend your time on things that are most important to you. So, rather than spend my time vacuuming and cleaning the house, I'd spend it with Aqui and Ronnel, playing or just enjoying being with each other. Hence, I asked for a robovac. I've left subtle hints such as leaving the browser open with the a robovac on the page and not-so-subtle ones like telling him straight to his face that I'd like a robovac for Christmas. Ronnel was not really convinced that it's something worth spending money on so I stopped bugging him. One day, he asked me if I really wanted it for Christmas and I said yes, and so, he got me one. He's still not convinced that it's doing its job but he hasn't complained much. He still teases me that it's not really cleaning our home - but the dirt it collects in its bin shows otherwise. Plus, it sterilizes our carpet so I'm more confident to have Aqui roll and roll along our carpet. I named it "Vacki" and it has given me time to consume on things I prioritize more. So, thanks, dear hubby!

Here's Aqui and Vacki co-existing... Vacki cleans up after Aqui leaving a mess...


A New Year for REAR
We're looking forward to the new year. There's so much that we've planned for Aqui. We are hoping to have Aqui's 1st birthday in the Philippines so that she can spend time with her grandparents, cousins and other relatives. We're saving up for this big trip -- it's our first since we've been to NZ - and hopefully, we'll get a good deal in the Travel Fair (whenever that is).

Oh and before I forget, here are the latest Aqui updates....
Aqui has started eating "real food". She's past the "mashed everything" stage and has started to develop a liking for bread, rice and pasta. Truly a carbo baby!



She has also started "creeping"... crawling is not too far away!


Aqui Noises. She's been experimenting with her voice lately. Her favorite syllables are mamamamama and dadadadada amidst raspberry-blowing. This is cute but not at four in the morning when you're still in the middle of a relaxing sleep.



Eczema and Allergy. Aqui is suffering from mild eczema and she gets red blotches especially when it's really hot and humid. She gets itchy and grumpy too. So we've got lots of creams to put on her every time. I think this is the curse for most Filipino babies in NZ (some Kiwi babies have this too) but our doctor told us that it's because our skin is used to tropical weather. It could be the pollen here too. I got eczema on my arms when I got to NZ. Before this, my arms were ok both in Malaysia and the Philippines. I think it's just because it's so non-polluted here - I'm probably used to having the polluted air block out the UV rays from the sun. Another concern is Aqui's allergy towards dairy. It's sad because NZ has the best dairy in the world. We also get mixed advice on this. Our doctor told us to expose Aqui to dairy little by little for her to build up her immunities - i.e. me eating lots of cheese and milk so Aqui can have dairy second-hand. But the Eczema nurse told us to stop eating dairy as this attacks her immune system. This is not the first time we get mixed "expert" advice. I guess our job as parents is really to filter and decide which way to go.

She's now seven months old and it seems like it was yesterday when she did nothing but sleep all the time! Now, she's just so active and wants to go everywhere. She gets frustrated when she can't reach her current favorite toy and we try not to help her so that she can develop on her own. Whenever her temper flares, Ronnel and I point to each other on where she got her short fuse.

Anyway, that's all I have for the Aqui update this December. I'm off to sleep now. Oh yeah, we're co-sleeping - Aqui takes half the space in our bed while Ronnel and I squeeze in the other half. We decided to co-sleep because it's more convenient this way. Aqui sleeps through the night better between us and dream-feeding is a breeze. Plus nothing beats waking up to the sight of a laughing Aqui on top of you.

I'm 5 months old! Weee!

by Aquiwee

I'm nearing a milestone. 1 more month and I'm six months old! But before that, let me enjoy my 5 month old moment first. I celebrated my 5th month birthday with Mommy and Daddy. It's an intimate moment for our li'l family as our glass windows cried and fogged with the cold and rainy weather outside.



Look at my Hello Kitty Cake!

Starting Solids
Another milestone for me is I've started eating solids! Well, not that you can call pureed everything "solids". I love pears and pumpkins but absolutely hate carrots (like my daddy!). Mommy says my poo smells now (like my daddy too! haha)
Look at me eat!



And here's a video of me being fed by daddy!


Starting to Sing
I think I'm going to be a singer someday. I've started vocalizing early in the morning which drove my parents nuts. Here's a clip of me singing my fave song and some pics of me sleeping in my parents' bed.






Missing My Grannies...
I miss talking to my lolo and lola in the Philippines. They are incommunicado for a while now since the torrential downpour of rain and floods in the Philippines (especially where they live - San Mateo. My other Lolo is ok now as he's in Makati with my Uncle). Mommy and Daddy just talk to them over the phone but I bet they miss seeing me via the Webcam. :-(

PS Here's a video of me and a boy-friend discussing world peace...

100% Recovery from First Fever. Weee!!!

by Aquiwee

I have recovered from my very first fever and I'm back to my usual up and bouncy self.
Here I am with my fascination with our heatpump and my mom's phone....

3 months and Aquiweefied!

Aqui is now 3 months old! Weeee! Time does fly so fast, doesn't it? I still haven't fully internalized that I'm a mommy now. hehe. Sometimes, I feel this is all a dream, that I have been blessed with a little angel but whenever she starts to coo, smile and poo (!), yup, I know this is for real.

Immunisations Again

Aqui got her 3-month immunisation shots this afternoon and as expected, it pained me to see her undergo such pain. This time, Ronnel was there to experience it with me. I remember the first time when she got her sixth week shot and I broke down in tears as Aqui's cries were like glass shattering in my heart. This time I was more prepared and didn't shed a tear but it doesn't mean it was an experience we liked. Aqui seemed to have a sixth sense about it and started crying the moment we stepped in the clinic. She knew something was up. Her cries pierced through our ears (and the clinic doors!) the same time the needle pierced her chubby thighs (there were two shots). I suppose it was good that it didnt take much for her to recover. After a few minutes of feeding and a lot of cuddling, she was back to her normal smiling self. She was a bit grumpy in the afternoon but thankfully, she wasn't difficult at all (neither did she have fever... well, still 12 hours to go).

Too Sleep Trained
It turns out that there is such a thing as too much sleep training. The other night, Ronnel was on Aqui duty and Aqui started wailing. I was on the shower then so it was all up to Daddy to pacify Aqui. He heated up the milk, carried her, lulled her but still, the wailing didn't stop. After a while, he put Aqui down on her bassinet to get the heated milk and presto, silence was upon the room. Yup, all Aqui wanted was to sleep and be left alone on her bassinet. The same thing happened to me yesterday morning when she woke up at around 530 am (from sleeping at around 9pm last night). She was hungry so I fed her. We played a bit, she pooed, I changed her, she pooed again, I changed her again and at around 630, I knew it was time for her to sleep. I sang her lullaby (this is her cue to sleep) and she was actually a bit drowsy and then she started to cry. I thought she was hungry again, but she wasn't. Or she pooed again, but she didn't. After a while, my arms were getting numb (she was getting heavy!), I decided to put her down on her bassinet. Voila, she stopped crying, closed her eyes and sucked her thumb to sleep. The irony of Aqui! She cries because she is being cradled and lulled to sleep whence she just wants to be left alone! I can read her thoughts now.. "Mommy and Daddy, you were the ones who trained me to sleep on my own and now, you can't leave me alone? What The Fish!?@%" hahaha.

Happy 3 Months Aqui!
As usual, we celebrated her month-day with her (our) favorite cake. Ninang Laiz and Tito Rommil dropped by to help us finish the food. hehe. Here are some of her pictures to celebrate her 3rd month.