Eggs Benedict, Flowers, Cheese, Lechon and Lots of Love!

I had an amazing birthday. We decided to just stay home since I wouldn't be able to dine anywhere. We also decided not to have visitors since I'm not vaccinated and have to be more careful. Nonetheless, I had a happy birthday even with the restrictions. 

I was overwhelmed with so much love and care from family and friends. I thought it was just going to be a normal day, but I got a lot of surprises from the time I woke up. I did not have to worry about food because it just kept coming! Breakfast from Jac, a cheese platter from Ms. Myna and lechon from Cathy and Mike! The food will last until tomorrow. Our tummies are super happy! 

The day was also made beautiful with lots of flowers! Oh my! I wish I could preserve them since they are all so beautiful! I love flowers because they remind me of my Mom and her beautiful garden. I hope I'll be able to have my own gorgeous garden in the future. Thank you my Westies family for making my day beautiful. Hope to see you soon once I complete the good news I shared with you guys last night!

I spent an hour on the phone with my Mom last night. I always celebrate my birthday with my Mom. The last we were able to do that was in 2019. We spent the whole day out together with Sweetie and Miggy. That was in 2019 and that year me and my Kuya gave her a surprise party for her 85th birthday. I told her that we'll get to celebrate her birthday this year together.

I'm so grateful for all the lovely greetings. I also got surprise video greetings from team QSR and close friends. I teared up when I saw the greetings from my teacher community. I miss all of them and it was a good reminder for me that I did some good in the past 15 years of my life. 

I thank God everyday for the gift of life. After having another PE and getting poked from tests often I thought I wouldn't make it. My Mom reminded me yesterday that she went through the similar issues when she was my age, but she's now 86 and strong. I got my strong will and positive outlook in life from her. So I told Sweetie yesterday, we'll have to go for gold*!

Thank you everyone for your well wishes. I wish I could comment back to each and everyone of you, but I might get blocked again from commenting! I'll have to do it slowly I guess haha. Love you all! Keep fighting!

*Gold - golden anniversary

Day 29 Minimalism challenge, Say no to something. It took me years to learn to say no. I realized though I got into this health mess because I allowed myself to be bullied into doing more than I could. My body and mind battled with each other for many months. They're good with each other now, but I have to be mindful that they continue to agree with each other haha. So no, no, no, no and bullies be gone! 

CB///*Yr2/140 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/163 #NewG307 #Home65 #StayHome #BeKind 

Happy, happy birthday to my Favorite Kuya

I technically just have one brother, my Kuya Jojo, and he's my favorite (no choice there haha). But I must say that I have the best brother in the whole wide world because he's always been there for me, through thick and thin, through no fats with so much fat, through alive and barely alive. I know I annoyed him a lot when I was a kid and I still do (it's my privilege because he's 13 years older than me!), but I know despite that he loves me.

My Kuya with his family the day we both renewed our wedding vows!

So, happy, happy birthday Kuya! Love you!

Eighteen

OMG, I just realized I haven't blogged for almost 2 months now! I've just been so terribly busy. :(

I definitely need to make this post though since it's a major milestone in my life. My son, Miguel, turned eighteen last week! Time flies so fast and it seems just like yesterday when I brought Miguel to this world on a rainy day. I remember classes were suspended due to a typhoon (I think Typhoon Gading) and I only had my relatives visit me at the hospital.

I labored for about 18 hours before my 5.6 kgs., 18 inch boy finally decided to come out. Doctors were already considering doing a cesarean procedure because Miguel was distressed, but alas just before 8 in the evening my toes wiggled and the doctors did a dance of joy. They said that it was a sign that the baby was ready to come out. It was really hard and the doctor had to help push him out by massaging my tummy (I had some black and blues after) and out he went and cried loudly. They counted his fingers and toes and said everything was alright and he was healthy. The big surprise though, the baby was a boy.

I didn't really want to know the gender of my baby, but during an ultrasound someone said that a baby girl was coming. Apparently they read it wrong so unfortunately the quilt blanket I worked on was pink and not blue (haha). I was just happy that despite all the stress that I went through during my pregnancy my baby was healthy and peaceful.

I don't really talk much about Miguel here in blog because I don't want to encroach on his privacy and so he could make a mark on this world on his own. I'm really lucky to have a very intelligent, loving, understanding, simple and dependable son. I just wish sometimes he wasn't so shy, but I guess he'll eventually outgrow it (just like I did) and be more confident with his abilities. I'm going to stop here before I start embarrassing my son (haha). Just wanted to say that I cannot imagine my life without him. He's been my rock and my inspiration to do well and as one of my former bosses said, "The best achievement one can have is the accomplishments of your child."

Happy birthday Miguel. Welcome to the adult world :)

Happy Birthday Miguel

14 years ago there was a typhoon when Miguel arrived at 8:07 in the evening. It was no easy feat since I labored for about 37 hours. I don't remember the pain at all, but I do remember fainting right after seeing that I had borne a boy and not a girl! And so came my angel, the 8th apo, the love of my life, Miguel.

A lot of people mistake us as siblings coz that's how we are. Sweet, malambing and we're buddies. We do have our moments too, but it's all done with love (I usually end up crying whenever I have to scold him).

I have so much to say about this kid of mine, but I don't want to end up embarrassing him with sweet lit'l-mommy-nothings. So I'm just going to say that I'm very, very proud of him especially since he has achieved a lot at his age. When I was just 13 I was still busy playing with my Barbie dolls and creating havoc on my Mom's floor creating Lego cities, but Miguel at 13 already won a robotics competition and did a public demo on robotics. To a lot of people he seems to be shy (I was like that too!), but he's very articulate, well-read, writes (by leaps and bounds) better than me (he likes writing stories better than blogging) and is a very loving person.

I could go on and on and on, but I'm going to stop here and just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY pero secret yun!>. Mommy loves you very, very much! =)

The J.S. Manila Tour

Thank God it wasn't so hot today since we brought around Manila our Davao blogger-friends, Andrew, Ria, Winston, Blogie and Migs. Here was our itinerary:

The Binondo Round - walked around Quintin Paredes, the Binondo Church, Ongpin, and then around Reina Regente (?) then back to Savory. We had an interesting lunch at the Estero.


Intramuros - drove around for a bit until we settled at the San Augustine Church (my patron saint!) where we witnessed 3 weddings in the 2 hours we were there. Went around the museum as well.


Manila Bay Cruise - who would've thought of taking a cruise at Manila Bay? Well we did and we had so much fun taking photos.


Mall of Asia - ended up having merienda at Razon's (yummy halo-halo!) and then we tried to look for the non-existent Giligan's at the San Miguel Bay Park. We ended up having dinner at Gerry's Grill (most of us wanted sisig!) and we were joined by AJ, Benj, Jeff and Fritz. (Uyyy... sino bagong love team sa blogosphere? meron ba?).

Juned Sonido was the official tour guide. (Thanks so much Juned!).

And here's a special message for someone...