Happy 2!

Prenup Shoot (2010)

December 2012

12.20.12

We certainly have gained in pounds.

So does my love for you (char! Lol.)

Happy two years Clove!

And on our 2nd year, we've become 3.

What's In A Name?

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;"

These are lines from one of Shakespeare's famous plays, Romeo and Juliet.

via

A person's name is his identity. He carries that to his grave. It is not easy to change (entirely) someone's first name under our laws. Thus, aside from 'change', a person's name is permanent.

Many have been asking us (my husband and I) if we have a name for our baby already. At this stage of my pregnancy--8 months, we should have at least a shortlist of the names we will give the baby.

Actually, we do have a name already.  

Choosing the baby's name is no easy task, I tell you. I have this old planner where I listed down the names I like. I was still in the elementary then. Yes, you can say I am that fascinated with names. Now that I can actually get to name my baby, that old planner is nowhere to be found. So, back to square one.

As I was mentally thinking of possible names for our baby (ok fine, I jotted them down and started a new list), I had a hard time choosing. It was daunting, really. I mean, among all the names in the world, you have to pick one and that will be attached to your child's identity forever. What if our child won't like it? What if he'll get teased by the name we gave him? What if he finds his name weird or embarrassing? So many what if's!

How then do we choose our child's name?

I remember the homily of the priest during the Feast of St. John the Baptist (yeah, I do listen to the homily sometimes) and he said that the old Jew tradition of picking out names for their offspring were either based on these two:

1. On the circumstances surrounding the child's birth;
2. On virtues that the parents would like their child to live up to;   

They also have the tradition of naming their child after a dead relative. Naming it after one that is still living was believed to bring bad luck.

There are tons of tips and suggestions that you can find in the internet in naming your baby. Just google it.

So, how did we choose our baby's name?

My husband and I are both lawyers. I can say the process of coming up with our baby's name was done in a legal fashion. There were rules to follow.

To save us from severe headache and possible sleepless nights, we decided to limit our search to names starting with particular letters. Each has to come up with a shortlist of three names within a specific period of time (yes, there was a deadline!) Then came the hardest part--- choosing one name-- THE name.

There was a deadlock (I couldn't think of a more appropriate term).

I like a particular name that he doesn't like. And he likes a name that I don't like. You can imagine the scenario.

What we did?

Compromise.

See, I told you it was so lawyer-ly. We had to let go of the rules we initially set and made a new rule. We picked out the name that we liked the most, combined the two and settled with it.

We're one happy couple.

Our baby's name will have be composed of the following letters:

P.S. We just hope that the ultrasound is 100% accurate as to our child's gender because we have no plan B.

It's a Boy!

Yes, we're having a baby boy (according to the ultrasound)!

Secretly, I have been wishing to have a boy as my eldest child.

I am the eldest child. There were times when I wondered how

it feels like to have a kuya (big brother).

Words can't contain the happiness we felt upon learning that the

baby's condition is normal, that so far, there are no apparent

complications in my pregnancy. Recently, I've felt more distinct

movements from the baby most especially during afternoon going

towards the evening. I guess he is not a morning person, like

his father. Haha. Joke. (peace clove!)

I miss blogging...

Yes, I do. I haven't posted a single blog post for months!

I've been through a lot-- both the good and the bad.

Mostly good though.

The best among all the good is this.

My first 'successful' pregnancy. Successful, yes because

last year, I had a miscarriage. Hopefully, this time around

we'll be blessed to have a normal (& safe) pregnancy.

So far, so good. Thank God!

This pic was taken last May.

I am now on my 19th week.

The adjustment period was something I was not prepared for.

My first trimester was a roller-coaster ride. 

My morning sickness happened at night. Talk about misnomer.

The second trimester is a whole lot better.

No more throwing up. No more panuhot. Haha.

We're looking forward to next month.

We'll know the gender by then.

I will take this opportunity to thank my husband

for the night massages, for buying me my happy food,
and for being the supportive husband that he is.

First Xmas Gift this Year

Day 10:

When I saw this ad on FB, I immediately contacted my friends in SG.

Why oh why can't we have something like this here?

My other-half (aside from Jerome. haha), best friend (for life),

and sisterette, went all the way to Tai Senk Link, patiently lined up

and got me these Lady Gaga-ish booties:

I love you to death Des. Can you feel my happiness spilling over there? Lol.

P.S. (to Des) How can I make your Christmas this year extra special?

Addicted!

I'm currently addicted to the photo grid app. Why haven't I discovered this before?

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H&M

I'm happy to have discovered an H&M app on android market. Hope other labels would come up with an app too on the latest in fashion.

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I Gotta Feeling!

This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. After I saw this,

I vowed to myself not to expose myself to another

round of embarrassment. See what love can do? Lol.

ENJOY!!! 

OUTFIT: Layering

I am a bit wary of experimenting on layering of accessories, for fear of being a fashion faux pas. I always chose to be safe. But since my dress was waaaay too boring, I took the risk. And here it is:

Celebrations!

The birthday girl-- Alexa

The other birthday girl-- moi!

Cakes galore! thank you to our dear friends.

Our fave people in the world!

Since we move around basically the same circle of friends, Alexa and I decided to have a joint birthday celebration. Our birthdays are one week apart, but our age is ----- okay, I am older by a year (no point of denying. Haha).

Incidentally, one of our closest friends celebrates her wedding anniversary on Alexa's birthday (Happy First Mai and Jarred!). Hence, the title-- Celebrations!

Cheers to life, friendship and love!

Pocketbac

I have been searching for this in the malls but I wasn't able to find one. Thank God our ninang bought one for me. She bought it in parkmall. This shall replace my ever reliable alcohol spray. :)

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His galaxy, My galaxy

My husband is no expert in pulling off surprises (succesfully). Whenever he attempts to pull off one, an argument or misunderstanding usually precedes it.

The first time happened in april 2010. I was mad at him for taking a different schedule in oceanjet for our trip to bohol. He chose the time which was close to the time that I was supposed to deliver my speech during the Toastmasters district convention. I feared that he might not make it on time and true enough, he missed my speech. So i did not talk to him that night. I really wanted him to be there, more than anything else. When we were about to call it a night, i told him how disappointed and mad i was. I must have been nagging too much that he handed over to me a box. Inside it was the engagement ring. And he explained that the reason why he was not able to make it to my speech was that the ring was still shipped from the manila branch of the jewelry store on that very same day.

The second time was during our first valentines as husband and wife. We initially agreed to give each other gifts that we wanted. I have been drooling over a particular bag i saw at rustan's while he has been bugging me to buy him crocs. I dont know what hit me, but i told him that we'll not push through with it because 'sayang ang money'. Plus, we dont really need those things at the moment. I told him we need to save for more important things. He told me that i am really a wife already (although i know he meant that i was starting to sound like my mother). So we just spent some quality time together at Harold's on the 13th since i have a hearing at Danao on the 14th.

I was expecting to receive a card from him since that has been our tradition every valentines. But to my surprise, i received none. I was hoping maybe when i get home from my hearing. I had rough day that day since my hearing lasted the whole day. I waited for a ride back to the city for over 30mins. I was really, really tired and hungry. I reached SM at past 6pm already. I wanted him to meet me at SM so that we can go home together. I waited for his reply but there was none. I called him but he was not picking up my calls. Then he later asked me to meet him at his office and that was when i lost my patience due to exhaustion and hunger. I hailed a cab and went home instead.

To my surprise, he was already in the house. I did not speak to him. When i went back inside our room, there was something in our bed wrapped in bondpapers. I purposely did not open it because i was mad at him. I took the gift and set it aside and took a quick nap. When he went inside the room, he was smiling. He thought that i opened it already. When he saw the gift unopened, his facial expression changed. Before he can say something, i told him how i felt. I told him i was not amused with him and that i was also a bit disappointed for almost letting valentines day end without giving me a card. U honestly thought that he was giving me a book since it looked and felt like a book. And he knows that I am not a book-lover.

I sensed that he was a bit sad when I did not open his gift. Out of guilt, I opened it when he stepped out of the room. And there it was, the Galaxy. I called him and asked him why he is giving me this. I told him that I was worried because he must not touch his savings as that would be used when he opens up his own firm this May. He told me that he has been wanting to give me that from the time I lost my Blackberry.

Despite the foiled surprise, I do appreciate my husband's efforts. I told him in consolation that may be next time, he can pull it off perfectly.

To my clovey, again thank you very much for the gift. I will treasure and take good care of it.

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Just say YES!

Our proposal pics got featured in today's issue of the Manila Bulletin. The team from Wedding Essentials saw our pics from the website of our official photographer Mark Cantalejo. And they decided to include our pics in their article.

We are so ecstatic when we knew about this! We got feedback from the kids who were part of this shoot and they were all happy and thrilled to see their faces on the newspaper! =)

Special thanks go to Sly Climaco, our videographer for coming up with this unique concept. Also, our heartfelt thanks to the kids and teachers of Dynamic Minds Learning House, Inc..

Our First Valentines

I am having a light-bulb moment now in the middle of my preparation for a lecture this friday. Today is Feb. 1-- the first day of the love month. And this will be our first valentines as husband & wife. I should make each day of this month special. And right in front of me is my collection of post-its! A post-it each day for hubby.

Pre-valentine wish

They're having a valentine concert at the Waterfront on Feb13. A ticket would be a perfect valentine's gift. (crossing my fingers)

chocolatier

Lindt moist chocolate cake

Jerome brought me pasalubong tonight!

Natural-born OC

I was cleaning my room when I found my old set of 64 crayons-- still intact, still complete. I had that set when I was in my early elementary years. My husband was amazed that not a single crayon is broken.

And get this: the crayons are arranged according to its "family of colors" (ie all shades of red are in one box, all shades of blue, etc)

I guess I was born an OC. LOL!

P.S. Jerome does not want me to throw or give this away. He wants to save it for our child-- to test if the child will be as OC as me. Haha.

all 64 crayons- complete!