September and October haven’t really been very good months for my kids – health wise. As you all know, Sophia was hospitalized for a week but even before that, the two have been having on and off coughs and colds. Hay, every mom’s frustration, agree? I was thinking it was because of the weather at first but later on found out that maybe we need new furnace filters too to avoid allergy attacks. I hope this does the trick or else I’ll really go nuts already.

Anyway, on to the brighter side of things, updates on the kids …

Sophia
She has officially lost her baby fats (to the daddy’s delight!). Her legs are slender and her body is slimmer. Gawd, she is this.close to becoming a tweener already judging from the way she looks. And I am in denial! Hahaha. Jon and I can’t believe how fast she has grown, really. Five months away from being 5, she looks like an 8 year old when dressed. She’s also very picky with clothes now and even talks like an adult. She’s growing up to be looking a lot more like her dad and is very interested with singing and dancing. She aces her school exams – Math and Reading and gets very good reviews from her teachers. She still enjoys school and is a Hannah Montana fanatic.  A doting “achie” to “little Mateo” and a very loving daughter. She sent me to tears during her hospital stint when I said I’d rather be the one sick and not her. She replied with a resounding NO and said that she doesn’t want me to get sick, siya na lang daw.

Mateo
Fondly called “little Mateo” by his achie, he now is 11 months and one day old as of this writing. He still isn’t walking but has been trying to. He loves talking, eating solids and has almost given up on the bottle. He drinks his milk via his bottle’s cap and poops in the toilet already too. His hair has grown so LONG and I can’t wait to cut it. He weighs 10.6 kilos during his last check up and unlike his achi, he is “thin” as per my standards.  Not that I am bothered though, as long as he’s healthy, I’m all good. I hate that he’s still into thumbsucking but I guess I have to live with that. A month to go before his 1st birthday, he has four teeth now and is looking a lot like his angkong. A good friend though said he looks like me. I don’t know. What do you think?

While it was freaking hot as its summer there, we still had a blast. My eldest won’t stop talking about her last Disneyland Adventure while my boy, at nine months, of course, doesn’t have a single clue where he was and what he was up to. I’m sure though that the mere fact he was with daddy, mommy and achie, it was more than enough for him to be happy.

Honestly, I was hesitant to go on with the trip as it’ll be my first time to travel with two kids if ever. I was thinking of postponing it until Mateo is atleast one. But we went ahead since my in laws were HK bound too. We boarded on different flights though. So what can I say about the trip? It wasn’t as hard as i thought! Not at all. In short, sisiw. My eldest is turning out to be a very good traveler at 4 yo while my little boy was such an angel. Now we are all geared up for a long haul flight!

I’ve posted all the pics at my flickr account while selected shots are also at facebook. All in all, the trip was stress free (to my surprise) and it was truly a great bonding experience again for our little family as with every trip we took over the last four years. Here are some of the photos but before that let me share how we evolved through the years with our every visit to Disneyland.

Past photos …

Our latest photos at the very same spots …

***I was just pregnant with Mateo in the 2008 picture and look how big a boy he is now with the latest photo. Ang bilis talaga ng panahon!!!

Anyway, on to more photos …

Breakfast with the Disney Characters

Sophia with her faves …

The kids at the hotel lobby …

It was indeed a happy trip. Never mind that Mateo’s two bottom teeth chose to come out while we were there so he didn’t like drinking milk (but would eat a lot of solids thank gawd), Sophia came home darker than ever because of too much time under the sun and we didn’t get to shop much (but we did check out some bluray laptops), it was still worth it.

A friend noticed how I look thinner during our The Picture Company Photo Shoot the other day.  To my delight of course.

Anyway, speaking of the photo shoot, we had so much fun! Although Mateo didn’t want to smile and was so into his thumb sucking while his achi was very well in her element, pictures came out nice still IMO.  I love love them!  Already posted the pictures on my facebook and flickr account so I’ll just leave you with this family pic of ours where I looked really thin?!? Totoo??