Yummy Bora sand, come have a spoonful!

For those who aren't from the Philippines, or those who aren't familiar/heard of Boracay, click on the link and drool away. The Bora is reason enough why Filipinos should love this country. The feel of its sand moved me to tears and I can't understand why some people still throw their cigarette butts anywhere when there are receptacles especially for it around the beach.

Anyway, if the powdery white sand had me emotional, I never thought of it to be edible. Only Xofia can harbor thoughts like that. She tastes everything these days.

O.M.G.

OK, so evidently, I panicked. I sent the guilt-stricken husband running for bottled water... to down the sand with? I don't know, because I really don't know what I'd do that minute. Xofia seemed to be wondering, though, why her Mom and Dad panicked when she's having a grand time. I brushed off whatever I can from her mouth, which she refused (she bit me when I tried poking a finger inside her mouth). After a while, when we thought everything has been forgotten, her Daddy took a swim, and I was left with her. Then ever so calmly, she placed another handful of Bora sand into her mouth! My jaw dropped.

See, I told you it must be tasty, she's gotta have seconds.

But I was dead worried. What will happen to my baby now? Well, Haitian eat cookies made of clay, but maybe that's different. Will the sand go through the usual digestive process? Will it harm Xofia? The husband read somewhere that too much sand ingestion will cause diarrhea. We waited. She pooped good the next day (in her bikini, nonetheless).

See, Mom? Nothing to worry, really.

All's well, then. A piece of heaven right here. What more can I ask for?


Happy third anniversary to us, Langga!

A bit of Bora

The weather is not as sunny as one would wish when spending time in the beach, but it doesn't stop us from having loads of fun in Bora. After a heart-stopping, adrenaline-pumping plane landing, these greeted us:

this looks yummy!


grotto in the background... too far, we'll go near it next time.


enjoying the sunset. the little one fell asleep waiting.


even with the overcast, he can't be stopped. the glorious sun showed his famous exit


beachcoming in PJs the next morning


had to take a morning dip

On Bora, holiday buzz, and Xofia learning words

I am not the type who spends extra effort for the holidays. As long as I'm with my family, everyday is a special day. That's why I can't understand how I become so busy and caught up these days that I don't get the chance to do the things I love doing. I try to pace myself, though, and remind myself that it won't kill me if I fail my own expectation. Sometimes, you just have to let things be and find your peace in the fact that no matter how bad you'd feel about it, it won't change the thing that already happened. Might as well not feel bad about it. But knowing me, I just had to say something about it, even for just one time, then I'm done. I move on, I get over things quickly.

We're spending weekend in Bora next week. Yesterday, I learned that Xofia's swimsuit no longer fits her. That suit is for 1 year olds. Xofia is only 1 year and 5 months old. I expected that suit to at least last her until she's about this age. The good thing is, this shows that she is growing, normal, tall and strong.

Xofia has now learned a faculty of cute words. I never knew that the words I utter on a daily basis can be so irresistibly cute when uttered by 1 year olds. She's also singing-along to some of her favorite nursery rhymes. She has memorized the words and actions of itsy-bitsy spider. You just have to really spend a good amount of time with her to familiarize yourself with her words. The best thing so far that really had me to tears was when she said "Bah-bye Mamie. Mwah!" when I was about to leave for work. Tell me, how can you make yourself go away and work the whole day when you'd rather stay home and explore the world with the little one?

Remember how I told you we have to have her undergo surgery for her ASD? Well, we asked another pedia-cardio's professional opinion. We've been talking with this particular doctor on top of our regular visits with Xofie's doctor for quite some time now. Her opinion is that Xofia will not need the immediate intervention. She will need intervention, yes, but at a later time. Two other specialists share her opinion. It's 3 to 1 this time, and we're thinking of waiting and do the intervention later. So far, Xofia's growing well, gaining weight normally, is healthy and happy, and has never showed any symptom. We're hoping, praying and wishing it stayed that way until she's old enough to undergo the operation. No matter how late she'd have it, though, we'd still prefer the cardio-cath method over open heart surgery. I just pray that I'd have the strength to see my daughter go through the ordeal. I've never felt so helpless my entire life, never felt so vulnerable. Indeed, motherhood is no joke.

I don't really know how to close this, the same way that I have no idea when my next post will be. Here's hoping that there's wi-fi in Bora so I can upload pics as they come. If I can't, I'll be sure to put everything together after New Year's day. I guess I just want to let you guys know that I'm still here, breathing and very much blogging.

Enjoy your holidays!

Blogger's back!

It started one fine weekend. I opened my computer expecting to see my friendly neighborhood wi-fi greeting me a good day. I didn't get a single hi. To my dismay, this lasted the whole day. This seldom happened! That same day, the family living two doors from ours moved out. Putting two and two together, the family who just moved out was the friendly neighborhood wi-fi provider. They were gone so fast, I haven't got the chance to thank them of their kindness. Not that I'd explain the reason behind my gratitude, really, because I'm not quite sure if I can do that. But maybe I'd mask it in a false pretense of thanking them for being such nice neighbors... (because not all neighbors give you free internet!)

We waited for a week, hoping other neighbors are as kind. Of course nobody ever leave their internet unsecured anymore. What was I thinking!? While we had a good excuse (my sis-in-law is in town) for dilly-dallying, we cannot deny the fact that we miss the great Internet world--to generalize the downloading and blogging activities of this household. So I signed up for another year of lock-in period with Smart Bro. Here's hoping my experience with the Bro is the same as this faery's.

So anyway, I'm back! Thanks for visiting, will do my best to return the favor. See you!