Sinulog 2013

Sinulog is the biggest festival here in Cebu. Biggest in terms of activities, revelry and crowd. While it's merrymaking aspect has earned attention from tourists, local and international, it is primarily a religious celebration in honor of Sr. Sto. Nino.

After completing the 9-day novena and joining the foot procession, I'm all set to party! This year's Sinulog is quite different. For the first time in many years, I was not able to see the parade. Nope, not even a glimpse of it. No celebrity-sighting either. Haha. In fact, my husband and I tried to avoid the crowd (as if it can be avoided! Lol). And that's because we brought Joaquim with us. Quite risky, but he survived! Yeah, it's his first Sinulog experience-- the youngest attendee so far!

I'm guessing he enjoyed it because he was awake most of the time. He didn't mind the crowd and the noise. Hopefully next year, we can let him watch the parade, if the weather permits. 

Mommy Diaries: Joaquim's 2nd

01.11.13

The moment a child is born

the mother is also born.

She never existed before.

The woman existed, but

the mother, never.

A mother is absolutely

something new.

- Rajneesh

Mommy Diaries: Baby Shower

This is a super duper belated post, but when I was cleaning my album in my office PC, I saw these pics. I just had to share them.

A friend advised me not to buy stuffs for the baby until after the baby shower. In that way, we would buy only those that we or the baby needs. True enough, we got almost all that we needed and more! After the baby shower came our son's baptism, then Christmas! Imagine the tons of gifts that we opened. 

Happy. Giddy. Parents.

Speaking of gifts, we have yet to buy Joaquim a Christmas gift! Tsk, tsk. 

We held the baby shower at Cafe Sarree located in Escario Central. It's named after the owner/chef, Sarita aka Sarree. I loved everything that she served that night. I will definitely go back. I have yet to taste her lamb adobo-- a best-seller I heard.

Mommy Diaries: Manual vs. Electric

I am talking about breast pumps.

via                                                                                                              via

Any new mommy will have the problem of deciding on what to get, a manual or electric breast pump. I had the luxury of using both. My cousin lent me her manual pump. A few weeks after giving birth, I bought an electric one. So, which one is better? It depends on your needs, comfort and tolerance for pain (physically and financially. Lol.)

MANUAL vs. ELECTRIC

The manual pump is convenient in a sense that you need not look for a socket to plug in the pump. You can do it anywhere, unlike the electric pump where you are constrained to pump in areas where a socket is near. There are some electric pumps that also run in batteries, hence convenience is not much of a problem.

The manual pump is takes a lot of effort compared to an electric pump. Your effort and time is cut down by half or more! My almost one-hour manual pump can be achieved  by the electric pump in less than 15 minutes! For working moms or mommies on-the-go like me, the electric pump scores a higher point on this aspect.

The manual pump is less painful as you can control the frequency of your pumping. It is harder to control the pressure of the pump in an electric one, although there are some brands where you can choose the strength of the pressure. For me, it doesn't matter that much as I have a high tolerance for pain. The higher the strength of the pressure, the faster it can pump my milk.

Depending on the brand, the manual pump is, of course, cheaper than the electric pump. But as I've said, it depends on your needs and comfort. If you can't spare a chunk of your time just pumping or if you need to go back to work, then investing on an electric pump might be a good idea. If, however, you have the luxury of time or you cannot take the pain, going manual is the way to go. Either way, the important thing is, you can express milk for your little one, especially when you are out of the house or when you want to catch some (much needed) sleep.  

P.S. Did you know there is a more manual way of pumping breast milk, like using-your-hands-kind-of-manual? It's free. It's not painful. And it can pump milk. Want to know how? Haha.