Our 4D ultrasound session at Face2Face

Dear Baby P,

I write to you now on my 31st week of pregnancy, and we’re now in the third trimester together. My prenatal checkup with Doc Meneses had increased in frequency from monthly to bi-weekly, starting from my 28th week, where Doc had already given me a referral slip for 4D ultrasound.




Travel flashback: The neighboring provinces of Bangkok during the Red-Shirt protests in 2010

This blog post covers Days 2 and 3 of our Thailand trip: our visit to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Samphran Elephant Ground & Zoo, and Ancient Siam, all found in Bangkok's neighboring provinces.

Travel flashback: Bangkok trip during the Red-Shirt protests in 2010

Ever since our first foreign travel in 2009, Pol and I agreed to have at least one foreign trip per year together. We then decided to head next to Bangkok for 2010. We booked as early as six months before our target date in May. I booked my mom too when a promo fare later presented itself. We were three happy summer travelers then.

Gifts from your Papa and our family in Bicol

Dear Baby P,

Just when I thought our Christmas and New Year celebrations were over, I was in for a surprise!

Your Papa, Mommy, Daddy and I just came home from our New Year celebration from Edsa Shangri-La when a neighbor handed us a package she received on our behalf since there was no one home on December 31. I opened the package and found two magazines, both back issues of Yummy and Good Housekeeping. Inserted in the package was a letter. The letter said I would be receiving two-year subscription of Smart Parenting as a gift from your Papa!

A 'preliminary' gift from Papa

Music scene flashback: Backstreet Boys in Manila (Feb 27, 2010)

Yes, I have a history of being Backstreet babe! My active days of being a fan was from their self-titled debut album release (in 1996) where I was just nine years old, up to their third album Millennium (1999 to 2000). When I say I have been musically inclined as early as childhood, pop was no exception. I still know by heart all the lyrics of the songs in their first three albums. But during the era from their fourth to their latest album to date, I had gone away from the pop scene and explored less mainstream kinds of music in my teenage years. But I still am a proud Backstreet girl because of all the boy groups that had come and gone, BSB still stands strong!

 

Backstreet Boys in Araneta Coliseum



The dragon baby and my first new year as an expectant momma at Edsa Shangri-La

Dear Baby P,

Your Mommy, Daddy, uncle Jake and I, together with occasional visitors, always celebrated our New Year’s Eve at home. Every year we decorate the dining tables with twelve kinds of round fruits, we scatter chocolate coins and real coins around the house, and we turn all the lights and appliances on at home. We only made loud noises and never used firecrackers, because we’re contented with watching our neighbors light up and display their colorful fireworks.





Music scene flashback: Arch Enemy in Manila (Oct 20, 2009)

Deciding whether or not to watch Arch Enemy was a debate in my head. If I went ahead, this would be my first ever foreign metal scene to witness live. There were actually a lot of pros. The tickets for concerts produced by Pulp are relatively cheap compared to other productions. The ticket purchase comes with a lot of freebies (Draven gift certificates worth PhP 500, free Arch Enemy CD, and free drinks). And there are a lot of homegrown metal bands as opening acts. 

Promotional poster by PULP



A blessed Christmas and birthday for your Mama

Dear Baby P,

I would just like to share with you my thoughts about my first Christmas and birthday celebration as an expectant mother.

Me on my 24th birthday at 22 weeks pregnant

Valentine's Day flashback: a home spa treatment

I wanted to show Pol how much I appreciated everything he did for me after more than a year of us being together, and I wanted to do it on Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day 2008 was our second V-day together. I am the kind who always preferred to create personalized gifts rather than buy something ready-made for anyone even if it were better. This time, I was inspired to surprise him with a personalized spa treatment for face, body and foot, courtesy of me only.

Preggers just wanna have fun!

Dear Baby P,

I write to you this post on my 29th week of pregnancy, where I have finally entered our third trimester together. I just wanted to recall the fun I’ve had during my second trimester, which I could say was my most comfortable period of our nine-month journey.

Travel flashback: Ilocandia Express 2009

Pol and I happened to go on an Ilocos escapade by chance when Pol’s colleague handed down to him a single round-trip ticket to Laoag that he had won but wasn’t interested in using. When Pol told me about this, we grabbed this opportunity to explore the beauty of the north and immediately booked ourselves by using the free ticket for Pol and we just had to pay for one person (me). Eventually, Pol was able to tag along his other former colleagues Imee and JP for a double date escapade at Ilocos.

My baby's congenital anomaly scan

Dear Baby P,

December 3, 2011. It was a Saturday, and despite the weekend, your Papa and I woke up early to head to NeoMedica and to undergo the congenital anomaly scan procedure. I was somewhat nervous because of the name of the procedure itself, but excited at the same time because your Papa and I would finally know if we were right to call you “Baby P” and “Pelikitot” as we always did, or if we should instead call you “Lady P” or “Pulinday”.

Music scene flashback: Nine Inch Nails in Manila (August 5, 2009)

I first learned about the news of NIN’s Manila concert from the Multiply post of Wolf Gemora. I had doubts at first that it would push through but Wolf said that contracts had been signed already. Yey! A few days later, Trent Reznor himself tweeted about it!



Promotional poster by Splintr.com

The Baby Name

Dear Baby P,


Your Papa had let me know early on during our first months together, that he wanted to name our future baby boy “Paulo”. My initial reaction was not too joyful, because the name was too common. But I did prefer “Paulo” over “Paolo”.  He wanted “Paulo” because your Papa Big’s name is Paulino. Your Papa wanted to honor your Papa Big, whom both you and I were unfortunately not able to meet. But because the name “Paulo” is too common, I thought of adding something that is of course not too common.

Travel flashback: Singapore 2009 (continuation of the Malaysia-Singapore trip)

Click here to see my previous post on our prior Kuala Lumpur trip. 


We arrived at the KTMB (Keratapi Tanah Melayu Berhad) Tanjong Pagar station in Singapore at around 7:30 am, where this was also our point of entry from Johor Bahru in Malaysia. From the KTMB station, we took a long walk to MRT Tanjong Pagar station, purchased EZ-Link adult tickets, and dropped off to Bugis station where the nearest MRT station from our hotel is. Just outside Bugis station is Bugis Junction, a lifestyle complex along Bugis Street. From there, we took one last short walk to Park View Hotel along Beach Road.

Border between Johor Bahru and Singapore

MRT Tanjong Pagar station



Mall beside Bugis Junction

Preggy care & things I've been doing

Dear Baby P,

I have been a very cheerful person (very seldom moody), but I was very serious about my first pregnancy. I wanted to do everything right for my body and for you, my first baby.

Travel flashback: Kuala Lumpur 2009

(Click here for our Singapore trip)


Pol and I wanted to celebrate our 3rd anniversary as a dating couple in an out-of-the-country escapade. We decided to go for a Malaysia-Singapore trip and this was our very first time to travel abroad together. Pol had been to Kuala Lumpur before for a business trip, but it was only for one night. Our travel plan was to book an AirAsia flight from Clark to Kuala Lumpur, a sleeper train ride via Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, and then a Cebu Pacific flight from Singapore to Manila. Our whole trip is proudly DIY.

View of Petronas Twin Towers & KL Tower

A preggers' thoughts, moods, pains, and joys

Dear Baby P,

You know, it is common for pregnant women to have various thoughts, feelings and moods that change very often for no reason. I had experienced sudden feelings of being scared, angry and easily amused. But I don’t remember being depressed. I admit being moody towards your very patient and understanding Papa, but I was often very cheerful and outgoing with everybody else. The very opposite of those positive moods that I had most was fear and being paranoid about what could happen to you if I encounter even the smallest unfortunate events.

Music scene flashback: Eraserheads in “The Final Set” concert

Nope, I never considered myself an Eraserheads fan in my youth (elementary schooling days), although because I’m a musically inclined person I have memorized all their hit singles as a child, along with the songs of Rivermaya and other OPM bands because of the songhits mania in the nineties. Up until now in my twenties, I know the lyrics of their hit singles by heart. It was only in my adolescent years when I realized that those OPM bands, particularly Eraserheads, were for me the best mainstream OPM bands who ever existed throughout my own lifetime and memory. And honestly, i don't know of any band who was better than them during and even after their reign. I’m a nineties kid.

The alphabet-down (countdown) from Z to E at the opening of the concert

Travel flashback: Pahiyas Festival 2009 in Lucban, Quezon

It is not enough for me to describe what the Pahiyas Festival is about, aside from being a feast every May 15 in honor of San Isidro Labrador with thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest, wherein the sights to behold are households with colorful agricultural ornaments. More than just the beautiful exteriors of each friendly competing house, tourists can go inside most of the houses too and see more of the residents' creativity. See more information here.

An image of San Isidro Labrador

One of the festively decorated houses

Travel and Valentine's day flashback: The 14th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (PIHABF) 2009 on the 14th of February!

It was a Saturday on the 14th of February in 2009, with that year as the 14th annual event! For me it was the perfect date and year to really celebrate Valentine's day at the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (PIHABF) in Clark, Pampanga.

Hot air balloon fly-in at 6 pm-ish

When your Papa heard your heartbeat for the first time

Dear Baby P,


It was time again for my monthly prenatal checkup with Doc Meneses for November, and I couldn’t wait to hear your heartbeat again. I, your Papa, Ate Gela, Ate Geli, Mama Myr and Ate Che just had a vacation from Hong Kong in October, so I wanted to make sure you did not have any fetal distress. I was excited too because my November visit to Doc was my first time as a Serrano!

Music scene flashback: Xaymaca nights

My college days were the active days of me being a party-goer. While I love listening to all types of music, I also love to dance. Xaymaca was one of those venues that offered substantial music, a chance to dance to the beats, plus a feeling of being free-spirited. It gave life to reggae as well as other related genres every night through live performances and not just through the 1-hour Thursday program “Dread at the Control” of now-defunct NU 107.

With Vic Facultad of Indio I

Your Mama and Papa's Honeymoon

Dear Baby P,

One ordinary day, your Papa got lucky as he was able to book four zero-fare seats to Hong Kong. Your Papa initially booked me, himself, your Ate Gela and Ate Geli. When I learned about this, I decided to book your Mama Myr, Ate Ding, Ate Che and Tita Vicky, also with the zero-fare seats. The date of the trip was October 17, and the booking was made months before you were conceived.

Travel flashback: Christmas 2008 in Macau

Our trip to Macau was very short. We initially planned to skip our half-day Hong Kong City tour so that we could spend one whole day in Macau. However, the tour operator insisted that it was compulsory, and assured us that we could still tour Macau in just half a day, and that they would drop us off at the New World First Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui after the HK city tour.

Music scene & Valentine week flashback: UP Fair 2008

The UP Fair for the year 2008 was the first and only UP fair that I (almost) completed. It was the most special I had because it doubled as a Valentine’s week celebration for me and hubby. <3

Another reason why UP Fair 2008 rocked is because of the backstage privileges we had!



Free flowing Cossack for the backstage people on Beta Epsilon's night



Your Papa and Mama's Christian Wedding

Dear Baby P,

Everything was going well with my early weeks of pregnancy and my situation at work, and I was free enough to help your Papa in preparing for our simple wedding. We were initially planning to have a civil wedding which required less time for preparation, compared to a church wedding. We wanted the wedding to push through in October 15 so that the visit of your Papa’s family from Bicol would conveniently be followed by the long planned Hong Kong trip starting October 17 with Mama Myr, Ate Che and the twins. We had a vision of having a church wedding when your Tito Wiwi comes home from Saudi a few years from now.

Travel flashback: Christmas 2008 in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is definitely an ideal travel destination all year round, with all its four seasons. My mom, my brother and I decided to celebrate the declared Philippine Christmas holidays in HK, where the winter season is said to last from November to January. We knew that it would be normally cold but we never really expected that we would be freezing hard! Baguio was nothing compared to it. The jackets we brought were too light for the weather, not to mention the locals wearing what you would literally call winter jackets.

Maternity Kit

Dear Baby P,

When I finally became free of unnecessary worries about being pregnant while just getting started with my new job, I asked advice from my employer’s HR department on how I can formally notify DKS about my pregnancy. The HR personnel promptly advised me to ask for a maternity kit from their reception, and all information and steps I needed to do would be written there. And so I did.

Music scene flashback: Para Sa ‘Yo, Isko! 2006

“Para Sa Iyo! Isko” or PSI is a free concert event dedicated to UP students, and is organized UP Sigma Delta Pi Sorority. This was my first PSI experience as a Diliman chapter resident, and I was in junior year. I was thrilled to see old PSI pictures where Eraserheads was one of the bands who used to play for PSI during the early nineties.

My sisses with Ira and Bamboo

.

Travel flashback: Bohol countryside tour and Cebu leisure day

This getaway was the reason for my first ever domestic flight, and my first ever tour outside Luzon, and could have been full of preserved memories if only I owned a digicam back then. But I had a trusty camera phone which had somehow acceptable quality and resolution during those times. Thanks to my Tito Boy for giving it to me as a gift, because I wouldn’t buy otherwise!