This is a super late post. It was supposed to be a summary of my 2014, but while I was finishing this article, I got the news that my mom passed away and all these were buried in my drafts section. Since it's mid year, might as well share it to the world, and hopefully things would be much brighter this remaining half of 2015. It's a long read but hopefully you learn something from it. Please read on: *** So it was a crazy roller coaster ride for 2014… a mix of super happy and ugly sad moments this year. In fact, it’s just now that I’m able to write again after my last article, considering there’s my wedding anniversary, Amanda’s great job on her school Christmas party and of course the long Christmas celebration (which by the way, I missed all of the major parties due to my chickenpox). Just would like to start my first blog this 2015 by remembering my top insights for the year: It all boils down to the essentials. When my good friend Bong passed away, I’m reminded that the important things in life are not things but people. When he worked, he didn’t just complete his tasks but rather created lasting relationships not only with the bosses but also with the clients and staff. As a rookie dad, last 2014 I realised that I spent 2/3 of my time in work and business and just left 1/3 to my family, service and health. I often read that we should give quality time to our family. But I believe that if my family is my essentials, then I should be giving both quality and quantity time. No one goes in his deathbed and asks about his work items. Rather, he looks for the one dearest to him… his family. Learn from your mistakes. I’m sure everyone read this in another book, article or blog, but too often when we’re busy, we forget this. I remember during Amanda’s UN Celebration, I was too excited in having her lines captured in video. When it was her turn, I focused the camera, pressed the record button and watched her say these lines “Konichiwa, I’m Amanda… from the land of the rising sun, Japan.” (complete with the hand gesture ala Miss Universe) then followed by these lines “Gu me na sai, that’s how you say sorry in Japanese. Thank you.” Why did I type all her lines, simply because I wasn’t able to record it :) I thought I pressed the red button but I didn’t. Big mistake. So on her Christmas party, since I think they saw her potential in public speaking, she was given a much longer line. And this time I made sure I’ll be able to capture it. So here it is: What I learned was not to be too excited and focus on what I’m doing.
Five years is a milestone Last December 2014 we celebrated our fifth year wedding anniversary. There was no big celebration. Just a simple breakfast at mini stop and a good lunch date in the weekend after. Sure both of us were hoping for a good and nice weekend escape out of town or even out of the country. But circumstances lead us to stay and make it simple. I believe it wasn’t an accident that we had a simple celebration. It was God’s way of reminding us as a couple that what is more important is the love we have for each other. I would just like to honour my wife for her great sacrifice of being a mom and a wife. Since we’re an advocate of exclusive breastfeeding, she wakes up more in the odd hours of the day to provide milk for Cassandra. When I was sick, she took the challenge of both being the dad and mom to the kids and always prepared my meals to speed up my recovery. Baby number two I noticed that when we ask couples about why are they not having another baby, they always say, “Naku, magastos!” (It’s expensive)… Well it’s true, but at the back of my mind, why are we so worried about the expenses but tend to forget how to think long term. Imagine a better nation if we duplicate ourselves for the future. There would be two, three or more of us who’ll continue our legacy. Being a part of a CFC household where all of their kids are grown up, I could see the beauty of having more children. Sure it’s about a decade or two to prepare them for life. The diapers and milk, tuition fees, toys, teen mood swings (which I have to prepare to about 10 years from now)… But isn’t this the mission we have embraced when we got married? Last February 22, we attended the first Robles family reunion. I would like to think that this was inspired by mommy's passing as our Tito Exie (mommy's first cousin), realized that the family has grown so much that even the closest relatives don't know each other. Btw, mommy's the eldest among the Robles cousins.
For me, the highlight of the celebration was the mass lead by Fr. Alex Balatbat. Where he stressed that families fall apart when they want to get from others, what they can only get from God. Three realizations I had during the reunion:
It was fun that even in a small amount of time, we're able to connect with each other. Hope this becomes a tradition so that even our great grand kids could still be connected to our roots. #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:
#latepost It's seven months for Cassandra! Last May 15, we had a simple lunch out to bring our baby Cassandra for a treat. Some changes we noticed on her:
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:
Last May 16 weekend, we were fortunate to attend the CFC Echo Conference. And this year's theme is Love More. Some insights I got were:
BLW stands for baby led weaning. Thanks to Ninang Check for helping Rookie Mom do this for Cassandra as she starts her journey in taking solid food. At first we were afraid as she might choke with the big portions of vegetables she needs to eat but by nature, she's able to handle it. Some benefits that my wife told me about BLW are:
I highly recommend this approach when introducing solid food to babies. It's healthy and fun.
Two lessons I learned from the MayPac fight:
Lesson One: Knowing what's important. Yes, the fight was boring, but Mayweather just simply played by what boxing rules can allow so he end up winning by a not so convincing unanimous fight. In corporate terms, I can relate it to KPIs. Key Performance Indicators… Knowing what our stakeholders give importance to is the key to adding value to our existence. In parenting, as a rookie dad, I kept on struggling how to balance my time and energy in order to be a better dad. But then I took a step back if all the efforts I'm doing is something that my kids appreciate. First, about working hard for the family… In the movies (specially in telenovelas) we kept on hearing dads saying "I have to do this and that… etc. FOR MY FAMILY" Well, we could also hear this from parents who chose to work abroad for the future of their own family… I'm not against it… but I must admit, that there should be mindfulness in the decision of being not around for the family in exchange of careers for monetary reasons. What is it that our kids or wife want? Is it the material things that money can buy? Or is it our time? Or even if we have time, do we have enough energy to talk to our spouse and be silly to play with our kids? IMHO, it's the conscious effort on making our family laugh at our corny jokes, creativity in turning our ordinary blankets into a wonderful gowns for our baby princesses or simply just exchanging silly stories maybe what's more essential to our family. I certainly agree that we need adequate money to make our family happy… In the TRC, I learned that there's a certain point that families can be happy with this amount of money… I browsed over an article that there was a study in the US where families need $75,000 to make a decent living. Beyond that, happiness is more than what money cannot buy. Lesson Two: Heart. Mayweather may have worked smart by just throwing punches that the judges can see so he can have the score but Pacquiao being the aggressor, has the real passion for the sport. Can you imagine if he opted to play defensively as well? It's going to be a dance off than a combat. In the end, even if Mayweather won, more people admired Pacquiao's fighting style and dedication to boxing. In parenting, it's all about heart. It's all about love. It's all about passion. As a dad, when I think it's too tiring to work or too sleepy to play with Amanda and Cassandra at night... or giving up rest days in the weekend for the whole family to enjoy, I have to refocus what all these things are all about. It's all about loving my family.
Just wanted to share our spotify music playlist for Cassandra. Enjoy!
It's just a summer ago when we enrolled Amanda in summer school so she can experience being with other kids. Last Thursday, Amanda made another milestone. It was her moving up day and she had the privilege of giving an introductory remark to present the advance casa candidates for graduation. On her first moving up day milestone, some realizations crossed my mind
We're just so blessed to have Amanda finish the school year despite all the things that happened in the family. So to Amanda, our Ate Honey Booboo, congratulations and good job for moving up to Senior Casa. We love you so much.
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AuthorI'm a technology geek, photographer, musician and a rookie dad trying out to speak my mind through writing my daily experiences as a young Pinoy dad. Archives
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