Happy 30th Month, Andie!

Our Dearest Andie,

taken a while ago at Brewing Point
we had a quick family snack date to celebrate Andie's 30th month!

enjoying her chocolate cake! she personally chose this one
she said, "mmm, it's my favorite!"

You are 2 1/2 years old now. Since you turned one last year, we stopped celebrating your monthly birthdays. But today is different . . . we believe we have a lot of extra reasons to celebrate. First, we are just so glad that you have recovered very well after your 3rd hospitalization last week. You suffered from acute urticaria (hives) that drove all of us crazy! I was crying buckets and buckets of tears because I can't stand to see you that irritated and bothered. You were itching all over! And you had high fever, at 39.9 degrees celsius. The sight of those "pantals" / rashes all over your body was scaring us to death. Grabe anak! Ayaw ko nang maalala yung paghihirap mo nung mga panahong iyon. Tulad nga ng sabi ng lahat ng magulang, mas mabuti pa sana kung kami na lang ang may sakit, wag lang kayong aming mga anak. I am more than willing to trade my life just so you get well.

Below are some of your pictures in the hospital.

(By the way, exactly a year ago, we celebrated your 1 1/2 years at the hospital where we got confined. See this.)

But now, we are just so glad it's over. You are still taking your medications and there are still some rashes appearing on some parts of your body, but that is nothing compared to what you went through last week. We are so proud of how you managed yourself in the hospital . . . offering your hand for IV insertion, and even helping the doctor wrap a blanket around yourself so that it would be easy for the doctor to insert the IV. Everytime the nurses and doctors check on you, you offer your hand (with IV) for them to check, your ears to get your temperature, your chest and back (for the stethoscope) to check your breathing, and practically your whole body for them to check on the improvement of your rashes. You are a brave little girl. We know you get bored in the hospital so we were always ready to play with you anytime. We also brought some of your favorite toys and the laptop so you can watch your favorite Letter Factory, Dora, and Little Einsteins!

So even if your Papa and I looked practically like walking zombies due to lack of sleep, (we take turns in not sleeping through the night) we didn't mind. Just as long as we know and we can see that you are okay, then we're more than okay.

Now that you are 6 months short of being a 3 year old, we can see how much you have grown physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. You are tall like your papa, standing a little over 3 feet. You weigh between 16 to 17 kilograms, which is not bad coz you're neither fat nor thin, just perfect. Your vocabulary and sentence construction are amazing! You, most of the time, speak like an adult. Your dancing skill is very promising. You now adore ballet and you're always pretending to be a ballerina with all the allongé, cambré, chaîné turns, chassé, and so on. You also adore tutus and "princess-y" clothes, especially those skits that twirl flawlessly when you turn. Your EQ is good . . your social skills are improving . . . and you are just simply growing in every sense of the word! Sometimes I am wishing that I can still cuddle you in my arms like when you were a baby . . and breastfeed you . . . and stare at you while you sleep the whole day. Now your Papa and I are seriously thinking of having another baby. :) We think you are ready to have a baby sister or brother . . . and we are ready.

We love you very much, anak! Happy 30th month birthday!

Our Big Baby!

Andie is currently enrolled in a playschool in our village. She enjoys it though, and day by day, Nap and I are amazed on Andie's growing vocabulary. She refers to the church of the Iglesia ni Cristo along Commonwealth Ave. as a "humongous castle", and her expressions such as "awesome", "I cannot believe it!", and more continue to astound us! She often asks me "what's the matter, mama?", when she hears me say, "ouch!". I would reply back and tell her that my back hurts and she would immediately massage my back and say, "are you feeling better now, mama?".

I was inspired to write down all her words and sentences as I hear them. I now maintain a book of Andie's vocabulary, which adds to her growing number of memorabilia. (Next time, I'll post about those memorabilia I am referring to).

Aside from her vocabulary, I would like to share some pictures of the things she enjoys doing:

she really loves building blocks

Andie and her creation

she also enjoys playing puzzles
(she can solve up to 10-pieces puzzles now)

posing like a model (or a princess)

doodling / writing/ drawing shapes, letters, etc.

playing pretend, which includes doing the grocery for the doll,
cooking, feeding, bathing the doll, etc.

creating faces out of anything

pretending to be an animal
(I am usually the reindeer, and she's the bunny - she would teach me how to act as such)

and applying make-up on me

Andie and I are really having so much fun! When Papa is not busy, he usually joins us too! We are the playing happy family! The sight of it makes me go "ooohhh" . . . these are the things that need to be stored in my memory bank . . . priceless memories.

We're Back!

Hi, everyone! We apologize for the lack of posts lately . . . Nap has been very busy with work while I have been busy with Andie. =P Like I told most people who asked me how I've been since I became a full-time mama . . . "I've never been busier!" It's really true though . . . you never ran out of things to do when you're with your child and you're at home. And I am truly loving it. Has it really been 3 months since I resigned from work? It feels that it was just yesterday. Like I said, time flies so fast when you're having fun!

Well, a lot has happened to the happy family lately. One of those was when Andie got hospitalized for the 2nd time (1st time was when she was 1 and 1/2 years old). This happened 3rd week of September. She was already running a fever for 3 days (38.5 and up), and it really scared us so much 'coz she hasn't had a fever that high eversince. Of course we were thinking of dengue and all, but we were in constant communication with our pedia since day 1. Andie was still in her usual happy and active self . . . so that lessened our worry. Then it eventually showed . . . she had swollen tonsils and "singaw" in her mouth. But we were not sure yet if these were really the reasons why she's having fever. Besides, she refused to take antibiotics . . . she just wanted CALPOL strawberry flavor (for fever). So we had to resort to admitting her in the hospital to make sure that she'll get proper medical attention and the clear diagnosis of why she's getting fever. Dengue was ruled out (thank, God!) and the diagnosis were really swollen tonsils and the fungal infection (singaw) in her mouth.

at home: she's having icy cold sponge bath at 2am, fever was 39.2!

in the hospital: brave little girl!

the little girl sleeping

eating dinner while doing the Laban sign

So were out in the hospital in no time . . . we just have to let Andie take her antibiotics and we're okay. BUT it wasn't easy! We tried a lot (as in a lot) but nothing worked . . . except for one - we injected the antibiotics in her chocolate milk drink (those in tetra paks) so she won't notice. Imagine, we're forcing her to drink her chocolate milk 3x a day! That's a lot! But we're glad it's over! She's okay now. :)

Here's how Papa Nap injects the antibiotics to Andie's chocolate milk:

step 1: mix the antibiotics with Hershey's choco syrup

step 2: mix the choco syrup and antibiotics, get with syringe

step 3: inject the mixed antibiotics & choco syrup in the choco milk

step 4: cover with a clear tape so your little one won't notice.
Andie wants her choco milk opened in front of her! nagsususpetya na samin ni nap!
she's too smart!

Okay, happy story . . . just last weekend, Andie had her 1st flowergirl stint during the wedding of Nap's cousin, Elaine. I was one nervous mama 'coz Andie might not walk down the aisle all by herself! Good thing her cousins where there and all the 8 (yes, 8!) flowergirls can walk in pairs. Below are some of her pics:



She did great! Except in the pictorials in the end where she refused to have her pictures taken with the whole wedding entourage! Now she has 2 more weddings in December. Wish us luck! :)

Alright, more posts in the coming days. I have to do some work while Andie is still asleep.