So this was last August 19 when Ate Amanda suggested she wanted to have another ate yaya friend. Her idea was to post this in our neighborhood so we can get someone to apply.

I know it's extra hard to hire an employee that can help us out at the house and be best friends with the kids. I know someday we may be able to find the right person but we're maximizing the learnings we had with just us doing everything. Heee are some of them:

• ​Discipline - we need to ensure we do our hoisehold chores otherwise our house would be a total mess. And with kids around this would pose health risks.
• Kids Training - some tasks are delegated to them such as fixing the bed and returning things to their proper places.
• Focus - we need more focus in our daily tasks as we would run out of time if we are not efficient
• Patience - it's a lot of work and to keep our sanities intact we need a lot of patience to endure missed tasks and opportunities even on business.

No we didn't go to the beach nor went out of the country... we just, well, spent the whole weekend together.  For me, going through the traffic and pressures of the work week means a lot of time away from the kids.  Having to spend the whole time on Saturday and Sunday with them means a lot to me as I get to invest little seeds of love with them.

The photo above was Amanda's hangover from the wedding of my good friends Jed and Mel during Saturday.  Under a normal weekend, we usually have either a photo coverage or a photobooth, both of which require me to spend time away from them.  However, it was good that we were able to bring them in our event to meet old friends and serve them through our photobooth (www.peeknclick.com)

The following we were able to finally serve the Caliuag Kids through Amanda's yearly giving back program coinciding her birthday.  It was surprising that the Kids for Christ who were serving before are now Youth for Christ.  Can't believe it's already five years since we started this activity.  And every year, we kept on reminding Amanda to always count her blessings and learn to share with others who need our help.

It was fun seeing Amanda already participating in the activities.  She even learned and taught a new song from Ate Lezley about family.

We also wanted to honor the Ates who took the time to serve and help prepare the activities.  We have a new set of kids in this batch and just realized that it's been five years since we started Amanda's Giving Back project.

After the tiring but fulfilling activity we went home.  I thought Ate was super tired, but when we parked, she saw her friend in the playground and got to have bonding time with her a bit.

I thought our day was over and we're ready to relax that night, when suddenly we heard a loud noise... followed by a loud cry.

Our little angel Cassandra fell on the floor while sleeping.  We applied ice compress immediately to prevent swelling on her forehead.  It was the longest cry ever, but fortunately it subsided and she's ok now.  Thank God!

It was a very long weekend, but it's all worth spending the time not just with the kids but with other people that our family wanted to help out.

At the back of my mind, spending quality time is ok, but it should also be accompanied by quantity time. Me and the rookie mom were discussing after Cassandra was ok that the same incident happened to Amanda when she was small.  Unfortunately, it was with her yaya and we were not at home when that happened.  We can't imagine the horror that she felt during that time.  Plus the fact that almost everyday, we both leave going to the office by 7am and go home by 9pm.  It was a lesson learned the hard way which help us decide that one of us should stay at home first.  The primary concern was financial and career.  But after three years, God never failed to provide for us and comfort rookie mom whenever she feels she's not doing well.  But I want to honor her for being a very amazing woman to juggle the mommy duties and the entrepreneur tasks everyday and for simply being the most beautiful mom for our family.

Last week, we celebrated Amanda's Fifth birthday.  Our first itinerary was her request long time ago during their field trip.  She wanted to go back to Kidzania.  So we took the morning session as we assume there will be lots of kids in the afternoon as this was a Sunday.  And true enough, there are only a few kids which means she doesn't need to line up that long when taking the make-believe jobs.

To start off her experience, she had a bonding time with mommy at the lounge to create bento boxes.  A creative way to entice kids to eat.  While they are busy preparing their lunch boxes, me and Cassandra went into the toddler rooms.  

After the bento making sessions, Amanda went to her first job at Cebu Pacific as a pilot.  Hello there Captain Amanda!

Then she went on to the hospital emergency room to become a paramedic.  Below is Doc Amanda to the rescue.

After the quick briefing, they hurriedly went to the ambulance as there was an emergency call.  Someone is in trouble.  Hope they could be there on time.

At the accident site, they found the patient.  Doc Amanda applied what she learned to help him out.

She then went to Holiday Inn to be a housekeeper.  I think this is the task she can readily do at home.

I found an article before about Navy Seals why they make sure they fix their beds at the start of the morning. It's the first accomplishment a person can achieve so she can complete bigger tasks throughout the day... a good way to jumpstart any day.

After the job hopping,  it was time to finally unwind and be kikay...

Can't believe that it's been five years.  There were a lot of unknowns when Amanda was in Mommy's tummy.  But God prepared us so we can overcome our fears and help raise a beautiful, smart, loving, talented and God fearing girl.

Happy Fifth birthday Amanda. Mommy, Daddy and Baby Cassandra love you so much!

They say that in school, you'll learn how to write, read, draw and other technical stuff.  Last weekend was full of new things to learn for me.

Man's Time vs. God's Time
Week after week, we're so good at filling up our schedule to the brim. There were cases were we put event coverage, photobooth service, attending birthday parties, family gathering and serving through CFC all in one day.  We're so addicted on being busy to the point that at the end of the day, when we look back at the things we've done, everything seemed to be mediocre. That things were done out of compliance and not aligned to what we were designed to do.

God took charge and made us stick to what is important.  Amanda got sick so we went to the Asian Hospital super early morning which is much earlier than the activity we're suppose to go to. Instead of going through a lot of activities for that day, we spent it with the kids.  That afternoon, we visited lola at the heritage to check out if our solar lamp really works, and then went to my cousin for Cassandra's shot.

God's Engineering
During our visit to Dr. Robles, my cousin and both of my kids' pedia, she told us on how a woman's body adapts to the needs of her baby.  Did you know that the breastmilk that moms produce contains the exact amount of vitamins and nutrients that her baby needs?  Like whey and casein proteins.  The right balance of these two substances make it easier for a baby to digest thus increasing her ability to resist infections. Formula milk tries to mimic these combination that's why you can see different types based on an infant's age.

Same Sex Marriage
This was also the same weekend were Same Sex Marriage was legalized in the US.  I would have to agree with Pope Francis' view that this is cohabitation rather than marriage and family life.  A family needs balance and by God's engineering, men and women although different, complement each other's existence.  And that these different roles are important to raise kids who will be the future of the society.

#latepost
Love more. 

They said that God surprises you when He wants to teach you something.  As this year's theme for CFC is to love more, there were numerous times already that I needed to go back to this teaching and really love more.

One of these is knowing if we're going to push through with Amanda's Giving Back project which we do every year on her birth month.  And true enough, God tested our character if we would be willing to love more.

Time, budget... and a lot of worries.

These were the things that brought our family to have doubts in doing Amanda's Giving Back birthday activity.  Cali and I were touched by God that there's no other greater assurance in this world except to hold on to His words.  And so we decided to cast all those worries and sponsor one of the kids' weekend.

So finally we're able to do it again this year on Champee's 4th birthday.  We were able to have a simple fun-filled activity with the Caliwag kids on May 3 with the help of our loving kuyas and ates from Singles for Christ.

Some things we learned during the activity:

1. Playtime.  Since she's a big baby now, she joined the activities already and learn how to play with the bigger boys and girls.
2. Gratitude. Before we left, the kids and the ates and kuyas said thank you.  But we replied, thank you instead of You're welcome.  Why? Not because we're Filipinos :) (do you notice how many of us respond thank you with a thank you also?) but because I believed they gave me more than what we've given them. They gave us the opportunity to serve and to learn life's simple pleasures.
3. Osmosis. That despite of all the challenges for the family, we chose to push through with it so that our babies could absorb the rationale behind helping others and loving more. We do hope that when they grow up, they'll always remember to share and love.

This is Amanda when she was about six months old.  Last April 17 we celebrated Ate Amanda's fourth birthday.  Time flies (I think I'll always say this for every birthday blog that I'll write for my kids)

#LatePost

To celebrate her birthday we planned on surprising her as soon as she wakes up in the morning.  So while she was sleeping last night (she was fully asleep as early as 6pm since she got too tired on her first taekwondo class), Cali fixed the balloons in the room, while I got the special cake we ordered from her Tita Sharon.

Four things that make me feel she's growing 
too fast:

1. Her English vocabulary is getting bigger. - Well it's not only English but she's able to talk straight in Filipino now.  Thanks to her cousin playmate Edan, as she was forced to talk in Filipino everytime they play at Mama's house.
   
2. Imagination is at an all time high - It's only now that I begin to appreciate that lego blocks really help in developing a child's imagination.  Although there were instructions in the box, she often builds a different structure after making the default one dictated by the instructions.
   
3. She chooses what to wear.  She has her own fashion already, and mommy cannot dictate her what to wear anymore :)
4. She composes music on the fly.  When she's playing pretend, as she acts, she makes her dialogues musical.  It's like watching a broadway play when she's playing.