The husband is off to attend a stag party so I am left here at home with the kids and my army. You wonder what army? My “personal army” as Jon and I fondly call them – Yaya Candy (Mateo’s Yaya), Yaya Lyn (Sophia’s Yaya), Manang Betsy (our cook and housegirl), Manang Babylyn (our laundrygirl) and Kuya Noel (our driver).

Running a house with five stay-in aids is no joke. Aside from it being expensive, sometimes they get to each other’s nerves too so I get to be their referee. I am thankful though that I have a good bunch as I know how hard it is to find people to trust. So I make sure they get what they deserve or even more because I badly need all of them. Seriously, no matter how hands on I am with my kids, I still need their yayas to lend me a hand every time. And as I have posted before, finding a good and reliable yaya to trust is a blessing and so far I’m truly blessed. I have two wonderful yayas who help me and keep me sane. Finding them through agencies was tough luck and as my mom and mom in law would put it – “parati naman daw akong nakakaswerte”. As we all know, there are a lot of horror stories about maids from agencies and I am just happy that I don’t have one to share, just yet. *crossfingers* I did however had an issue with one agency before but not with the maid they supplied me with so that doesn’t count.

So why am I writing this? I don’t know, I just felt the need to after being out today for the first time with my two kids in tow. The two yayas just made it easier for me. And for that, I’m very thankful. Even while at home, I get to have my me time which I value no matter how short as I can be in front of the computer just long enough to do stuff I enjoy – shop online, blog and chat. Just like now, I’m checking out stuff online as my sister in law is coming home on the 20th. I hope I get to score some great deals at RL again and get to grab a used cisco which I badly need.

Just to remind myself, these are the things I need to blog about :

~ MBAP Christmas / Shower Party
~ Sophia in her “surgeon” costume
~ My stroller hunt
~ My two day online shopping spree (I am so broke right now, promise!)
~ My search for unlocked cell phones to give to Sophia’s yaya and my new house help.

Looks like I have got a lot of writing to do so keep coming back for updates.

Gosh, I am extremely busy!

I have been running errands here and there for days now and I am tired!

If I haven’t told you, Jon’s starting on a new business. A sideline of some sort and he’s driving me crazy. And I’m driving people crazy too, LOL! We are all cramming as his new “biz” is opening this coming Tuesday. I have ordered the tarps, streamers and all but now he wants posters, ugh! And leaflets too! Yeah, with just three days to go?!?! Goodness!

On top of these, another event I am busy with is my mom’s upcoming 5oth Birthday Party tomorrow. Ordered her cake, had her give aways delivered, followed up on her other suppliers and even purchased a 42 inch plasma for her computer room! Apparently, she can’t find the same deal/package as the one where Jon and I got our TVs from so she asked me to buy for her from the store here. Haaaaay….

And then lets not forget Sophia. Since they are studying about community helpers, they went to a field trip last week at the Ayala Alabang Community Center to personally witness and see community helpers such as doctors, nurses and dentists in action. And just this morning, I was with her for her South Supermarket Field Trip. I took her to her pedia after for check up as she still has coughs and colds until now which is so depressing as it has been weeks! The doctor told me that there’s no need to worry though as its just a case of allergy rhinitis. Hay naku… Tomorrow, she needs to come to class in an office attire as Nursery classrooms will be transformed into offices of some sort. I swear, I almost got crazy looking for an outfit!!!

Now, as if these things aren’t enough to keep me so busy,  I still need to finish some tasks which are all expiring tomorrow, my mom’s party! On top of my list is to talk about Outer Banks rentals and I am going crazy thinking about it. I wish I couls stop time, just this time, please?

We celebrated our Mooncake Festival with friends last Saturday. Thanks to Jacqui for organizing it. And since it was Jon who won the grand prize last year, we were in charge of the food. Anyway, here are some photos I grabbed from a friend’s multiply account.

We finished really late and I wasn’t able to sleep after, ugh! I hope I won’t develop acne in time for my mom’s 50th birthday party this Friday.

It’s weekend once again. I hope you guys are so far enjoying yours. Ours, I bet we will.

Just some updates.

Yesterday, the little girl had no class as it was Teacher’s Day so we went to Lil Fun Runch at Westgate in the afternoon to meet her old classmates from Toddlers Unlimited. Too bad, Joaquin got sick so it was only Adie she met and played with at Active Fun. I had a blast catching up with Adie’s mom, Ria. We hope we can do the playdate again soon when the kids are complete. Sophia didn’t want to leave but I still needed to grab some grocery items so I made her to, only after having some nail art done. So kikay!

Was able to finish my grocery shopping a bit late so we got home late already. The dad was starving, haha. Wasn’t able to get the yaya acne solution again, ugh! Which reminds me, can you suggest the best acne treatment I can get for Sophia’s yaya? I have been really bothered with the acne she has been having on her face so I need to make her use some treatment already.

Today, we are expecting some friends over for our annual Mooncake Festival. Was able to order some food and I asked the husband to buy lechon from Elars later as he is on his way to Manila right now to have his Subaru serviced.

Our good friends (MArtin and Jacqui) are staying for the night so I am fixing my breakfast and lunch menu for tomorrow. The husband suggested to have Korean Beef Stew for lunch so I will oblige of course. After all, he only eats on weekends so I need to give in.

Sophia is so excited to see Marla. I bet she’ll be even delighted to find out that Marla is staying for the night. I hope their closeness continues to grow until they are older.

By Monday, Sophia will be back to school and I have got a TON of errands to run, mostly for other people, LOL.

Until then. Enjoy the weekend!

The husband is back from Macau. We picked him up from the airport last night. While he was away though, I had the scare of my life.

Read on.

Sophia was feverish when the husband left last Friday. I thought it was nothing serious as she was still active on our way to Pampanga after dropping the husband at the airport. Late afternoon though, the little girl’s temperature was 39.5 and she wasn’t her old self already whose very active and talkative. Although I give her tempra every 4 hours, her fever won’t go down so I called her pedia and told her that I am taking Sophia to the clinic the next day.

By 12 midnight, Sophia woke up and started crying. She was so hot!!! Her temperature was 40! She kept telling me her head is “ouchie” and she can’t breath. We gave her sponge bath and I was already in panic. This is the first time my daughter ever complained of something painful. You see, if you know my daugther, made of steel yun! She hardly complains of getting hurt etc so to hear her say that “ouchie” her head while crying, it is something. Knowing that the husband was not with us made me all the more emotional. I felt so alone even if we were in my mom’s house. I guess I’m really not used to not having Jon around. Its actually the first time he left the country without us with him which I doubt would happen again after this incident. We were ready to take Sophia to the hospital when suddenly her fever went down and she said that she feels a bit fine already and just take her in the hospital when its already morning. Wow, the beauty of a pre-schooler. She can really communicate well na unlike if baby pa, we have to guess what’s painful or not and bear with the non-stop crying without knowing whats wrong.

The next day, she was still not active while in the car and she even vomited as her fever went up to 39 again but I was a bit relaxed already as we were on the way to her pedia. When we arrived at the clinic, the pedia checked her and gave her medicines. She wasn’t advised to have a blood test yet though as it was just the second day of her fever. If her fever continues the next day, she will have to undergo blood test already. I was a bit relived though on the way home as she was suddenly active and was looking for sinigang! Hay, as soon as we got home, there she gobbled up on her pork sinigang and went to sleep. Hay, thank God.

Now, the husband while this was all happening was calling me on the cellphone non-stop. He was in panic like me. He can’t believe that his first ever attempt to have a short vacation with his friends abroad without us will turn to be a not so relaxed one. He wasn’t able to shop according to him and only got to buy an air conditioning compressor for a friend. So I doubt if it will ever happen again.

But guess what he got me.

I am attending a Baby Shower next week. No, not for me even if I am on the way too, but for a friend who is due to give birth next month. So now, I am busy looking for newborn baby gifts, specifically for a baby girl. I would want to veer away from the usual stuff almost everybody gives during a baby shower so I am surfing the net for unique personalized baby gifts I can give. I’m sure very mom to be will appreciate such as I would for sure! I am thinking of getting personalized mittens and booties but I chanced upon Personalized-Baby-Shoes.com so I changed my mind. I would rather get custom leather baby shoes from this site. Don’t you think that’s cool? It’s so hard to look for comfy shoes for babies and now I just know the right place where to get them. You see, Personalized-Baby-Shoes.com is devoted to providing the highest quality products and vast selection of personalized shoes and gifts all in one place. They use only safe, non-toxic materials in all of their personalized baby shoes and toys. So the next time you look for something different to give out for a friend’s baby shower or other kids birthdays, check them out. Now I can’t wait for my own baby shower!