Happiness with...Bravery

Have you ever had the experience of expecting the worst in a situation, but it came out with the best results that you can ever pray for?  That's what happened to us this past weekend.

It started out with a "kuliti" in my eldest son's lower left eyelid a few weeks ago.  After a couple of visits to his pediatrician and ophthalmologist with applying only eye drops and warm compresses to the affected area to no avail, his ophthalmologist finally decided to do surgery to drain it.

Now my son is very prone to "kulitis".  Based on our doctor's records, we've been to her office at least once a year to have his eyes checked for various kulitis, but they all eventually resolved on their own with no further treatments.  Unfortunately this time, his kulitis (meaning two of them!) were more stubborn and didn't want to disappear.  They just got bigger and bigger and bigger that I became worried it might start affecting his vision. 

My son's condition is medically known as a chalazion.  You can read more about it here.  After deciding to go ahead with the surgery, we had to visit our pediatrician to get a clearance, since the procedure was going to be done under general anesthesia.  Just to be on the safe side, aside from doing a physical exam, the doctor also asked us to do a CBC.  And this was when I started to witness and realize how brave my little boy was.  Really!

When we went to visit the lab to have his blood test done, the cashier told me to go ahead and have his blood drawn first before paying for the test.  She said it was just to make sure that Joshua would have the test done on him, instead of him refusing and crying about it, and they would have to cancel the transaction.  This was his first time to get his blood drawn, and he didn't even flinch!  I told him not to look when the med tech was doing his thing, but he wasn't scared at all and watched the procedure being done.  He was more curious about what blood looked like and how it was being done!

After getting our results and was given the go signal by our pediatrician, I was next prepped by the anesthesiologist on what to expect and what to prepare for the next day's procedure.  Our procedure was scheduled for 7am the next morning and I was given last minute instructions with regards to fasting (no food and water after midnight), things to bring (toys and security blanket), etc. I was also told to prepare myself if ever my child becomes hysterical when he is wheeled into the operating room and also after he wakes up from the procedure when the anesthesia wears off.  So I was really mentally and emotionally preparing myself of what's to come the next day.  I also prepped Joshua of what to expect so he wouldn't be too scared about it.  I also told him that he was going to be a pirate the next day since he will be wearing an eye patch for 24 hours right after the procedure.

Well, when everything was said and done, all my worrying was for NOTHING.  My son took it like a trooper and he was even calmer than I was!  Not once did he cry from the time he was brought to the OR, where a mask was put over him so he could go to sleep during the procedure, and waking up from anesthesia with an eye-patch over his left eye.  All the doctors and nurses were praising Joshua on what a brave boy he was.  Mind you, the doctor told me that this was going to be painful after the anesthesia wears off since she will be doing an incision to take out all the yucky stuff inside.  But Joshua took it on with minimal tears and complaints.   

My brave little pirate and his partner in crime

His dad and I were so proud of him!  I can't thank God enough for blessing me with such a brave little boy!

PSY x Madonna x Gangnam Style

Even Madonna is riding the Gangnam Style phenomenon.  Love it! :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Kenji!

Happy 3rd birthday my little one!  You are a blessing and a joy to our lives.  We love you very much!!!

Happiness with long weekends

I love long weekends, coz it means I have more time to just laze around and do nothing.

This is what I usually see with my beauty stuff...toy soldiers, dinosaurs, cars and robots!  How ironic, but this is my reality and I love seeing reminders of my boys everywhere.

Finally had the guts to go for a digiperm with Mr. Shin at Beauty Brick.  I love my curls!  Hoping I can maintain them coz they're so easy.  Just twirl and air-dry.  No more blow drying for me in the morning.

Wake up boys, it's time for breakfast.  Dad's going to take you to see excavators again!

Happiness with....PSY!

I don't know where you've been hiding if you haven't heard of Psy from Korea yet and his phenomenal hit Gangnam Style.  I love his video!  It's so refreshing and so much fun!  No wonder he's a worldwide sensation...

Now I find out he's also the endorser of Samsung refrigerators in Korea!

Love you PSY!

A great way to start the day

Happiness...with "twins"!

My little ones love to dress up in similar clothes.  And I haven't really stopped them from doing so.  It's really easy to just buy two similar pieces of clothing in two different sizes and I don't have to think twice about what they will be wearing for that day!  Haha, I know it's lazy on my part, but they look quite adorable if I may say so myself.  I always get asked if they're twins too!  :P  Kenji looks up to his Ahiya so much that he wants to emulate him.  And I don't mind indulging them.  It's only a matter of time before they'd want to dress differently from each other anyway.  So I might as well take advantage of this opportunity.  Don't grow up too fast, boys!

Going to a party

Dinosaur pajamas

Going to Tai-kong's birthday party

Happiness...at home

My family caught a nasty bug last week.  Everyone had fevers and sore throats.  By the end of the week, their rashes broke out.  Good thing it wasn't dengue.  And thank God they're back to normal this week.

Watching TV with daddy

Horsing around

Have a good week ahead!

Happiness...on Sundays

My family celebrated my youngest brother's engagement to his soon to be wife last Sunday.  This is what the boys wore for the event.

So guwapo!  :)  Have a great day!

Happiness...with growing up

I love you daddy!

Today, we reach another milestone for our eldest son.  J had his entrance exam / interview with the school of our choice.  We have enrolled him for big school for the next school year of 2013 - 2014.  I was pretty anxious about the interview as I had no idea what the tests would entail.  I just knew from asking around that there was going to be a group test and an individual test.

Since the test was going to be quite early in the morning (7:45am) to be exact, I thought it'd be better to ask my husband to accompany our son.  I would be too anxious about the whole thing, me being the stage mom and all.  My husband is more relaxed about these things and I didn't really want to pass on this anxiety to J.  Thankfully, I think he did pretty well overall.  His teachers have pretty much assured us that he was ready for this.  We'll find out by Sept. 17th if he got in or not...so fingers crossed.

To J, no matter what happens, I'm very proud of you.  Any school would be lucky to have you as their student.  Not only will you learn from them, but I think you will also have a lot to offer in return.  Your dad and I will support you and guide you in this new endeavor.  We love you...unconditionally.

Happiness...with lazy weekends

We had  quite a relaxed weekend this past week.  Had the chance to take the boys with my mom to try out Cyma at Greenbelt 3 last Saturday night.  Glad they liked the pita bread with Tzatziki.  It's a good opportunity to introduce new cuisine to their young palettes.    

Bungisngis!

This face says it all...YUMMY!

Look at their clean plates :)

Also took them for a site visit yesterday morning, and they wanted a photo with the excavator in the background.

Happy Monday! :) 

Happiness at...Bonifacio High Street

Since it was the long weekend here in Manila this past week, our family decided to venture out to Bonifacio High Street in Taguig for our usual Sunday dinner.  The kids had fun playing at the new courtyard where there were new restaurants that opened.  We had dinner at Sariwon Korean Barbeque.  After dinner, they went out and ran and ran and ran...It was one of the more relaxing weekends we've had in a while since there was no school the next day.  We were also able to try Jamba Juice and find out what the fuss was all about.  

whew!  we're tired

With Cousin L

  

Smile!

It was a great long weekend, wish we can have more of these.

Happiness with....VMV Hypoallergenics

It's been a while since the last time I fiddled with my skin care regimen.  I noticed that I tend to get oily in some areas, but also dry in some patches of my skin.  Since my last flare up and visit to the dermatologist, I've been more careful in what I apply to my skin...be it skin care products or cosmetics.  I haven't really had any big problems so far, but I still need to rely on the steroids that my dermatologist prescribed to me when my skin gets really red and irritated from time to time.

I've basically switched most of my cosmetic products and I've become more conscious in reading the labels on the box.  I've also tried to minimize the number of products that I used daily so as not to exhaust my skin.  I think I've already figured out some of the products that do irritate and aggravate my skin.

And after several trials and errors, I think I've found my go to brand!  It's VMV Hypoallergenics.  I was quite surprised that this brand is actually made in the Philippines! Their packaging is top notch, the stores are well lit and well laid out and their products are even better!  I can't quite stop raving about their products to my relatives.  I'd recommend it to anyone who would listen.

So far I've used their Armada Face Cover SPF 45 (as daily suncreen),  Armada Baby 50+ (sunscreen for the kids), Creamy Rich Intensive Moisture Milk for Dry Skin (my daily moisturizer when my skin is feeling extra dry), and Red Better Daily Therapy Moisturizer (as my alternate moisturizer when my skin is getting red).  I love them all!

And to add to my skin care regimen, I got their newest BB Cream called Skintangible "Faint"ation Skin Refining Non-Makeup with SPF 30.  It gives a nice glow to my skin, and the coverage is quite light.  I have to set it with powder though coz I tried skipping this step once and this oxidized on my oily skin.  So I use this more as primer underneath my powder foundation.  It gives my skin a nice glow.

 Yesterday, while shopping at Powerplant Mall, I walked into their store with no intention of buying anything, but did some serious damage to my credit card again.  All their lipsticks and lipglosses were 50% off!  How could I resist?  I also had to get their Skin Bloom Blush, which recently won Best Blush for 2012 at Prevention Magazine.  I also wanted to get their liquid foundation to cover up my cheeks, which tend to get redder from irritation and rosacea, but they were out of stock.  Their skin specialist recommended me to try their care package instead for Rosacea.  This contained the following products (from their site):  

RED BETTER SPOT CORRECTOR 8G:

A uniquely non-drying acne balm made specifically for rosacea-related acne papules and pustules.

RED BETTER FLARE UP BALM 25G:

The star of our Red Better Redness + Inflammation Calming system, this steroid-free salve boasts some of the latest, gentlest and effective technology to soothe away—sans steroids—various inflammations. 25g

ARMADA POST-PROCEDURE BARRIER CREAM 50+ 10G:

Opaque, ultra-gentle barrier cream and physical sun + light screen for ultra-sensitive or recovering skin.

GRANDMA MINNIE'S THE BIG, BRAVE BOO-BOO BALM:

Monolaurin is a coconut-derived, gentle-yet- powerful disinfectant, antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral + antiprotozoal. Clinically proven as effective as 70% isopropyl alcohol + topical treatments at killing micro-organisms. Ouchlessly and lickety-split quickly helps treat infections that can occur in skin damaged by eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis, herpes, wounds, cuts, grazes, insect bites, minor burns etc.

They all look very promising to me.  The Barrier Cream alone covered up the redness from my cheeks this morning since it had a greenish tint to it.  No need for thick concealers to cover up!  Yey!

This seriously sounds like an advertisement from VMV...but NO!  All products were purchased by yours truly.  This is how happy I am with this brand.  It's truly world class.

All their products are also now available online through http://www.vmvhypoallergenics.com.ph/.

Have a good day!

A Repost: From Kahlil Gibran

From KAHLIL GIBRAN

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Happiness...at Home

Who wouldn't love waking up to the sight of these beauties and warm hugs from all my boys?  Got these for my early birthday celebration.  Thank you boys!  Mommy loves you very much!!!

My super long weekend...sort of

On my way home from work last Friday night, it started pouring hard.  Needless to say, traffic was a b**ch.  And when I got home, hubby told me to look at our laptop computer. Waaaahhh, this is what I came home to!  All the keys were piled up by the side of the laptop and there's only blank little white things on the computer itself!  My little munchkins were none too worried about what they did, but readily said sorry for this transgression.

my kawawang laptop

Saturday night came, and when hubby and I got home from work, yaya immediately told me what the two little devils did that day.  First, Kenji poured a half bottle of virgin coconut oil on our bed.  To clean up his mess,  he poured a full bottle of "green water" (rubbing alcohol) on top of it and used our blanket to dry it up.  Whaaaah!!!!  That's not all.  He found my stock of Ventolin nebules on the dresser drawer and opened them one by one.  By the time yaya found them, he's already emptied 10 tubes and was trying to wipe them off with tissue paper.  Imagine the mess they created.  And money down the drain.

I asked Joshua who the culprit was and he kept on pointing the finger at Kenji.  I asked him what he was doing.  He didn't want to say but I was sure he was laughing so hard that it egged on his little brother to do more.  So frustrating.  I asked Kenji what he did and he said "I was playing."  I couldn't spank them by then since it was already a couple of hours after the fact and I could only talk to them and repeat to them that the next time it happened, there will be consequences.

By Sunday morning, both my boys were sick.  Joshua had a cough and Kenji had a fever.  They were both so quiet and I had to quarantine one from the other.  Kenji wouldn't leave my side and just wanted me to carry him around the whole day.  It made me realize that all those things that were lost the previous days were nothing.  They were just material things and I can always replace them.  But my two boys are irreplaceable.  

Both are feeling much better today and are back to being their noisy selves.  Just hope our mattress won't smell too bad the next couple of days.  

Happiness with...Chupa Chups!

 I found these 2pop lollipops in the grocery store and thought the little munchkins would love them.  This variation is chocolate with strawberry on top.  Takes quite a while for them to finish the stick.  Guess who can suck 'em faster?  Haha.

Have a great day!

Happiness with...Boys?

This is what happens when I am surrounded by boys and they seem to be fascinated with all my girly-stuff.  Time to go to bed boys...stop playing with Mommy's things...And you're both getting haircuts with Daddy tomorrow :)

Happiness with...Tai-ma!

The boys were recently gifted with these cute caterpillar clogs by their great-grandma, who's incidentally 90 years old and just came home from a trip from Guangzhou with friends.

Aren't they just super adorable?!?  Thank you Tai-ma!

Happy 4th Birthday, Joshua!

My dearest Joshua,

Happy birthday to you!  It's been four years since I first held the miracle that is YOU in my arms.  I am so grateful that God has given me the opportunity to have you in my life and that I am able to nurture you and watch you grow.  You have taught me what it means to be patient, to be understanding and to be selfless.  I now know what unconditional love means.  I am so proud to call you "my son" and I thank you for loving us and being so protective of us.  Don't grow up too fast.  Daddy and Mommy love you so much.

so serious....

Happiness with...Angkong!

This was taken during our recent Holy Week vacation with my husband's family.  Love it!

Perfect Iced Coffee

Found this recipe for the perfect Iced Coffee...can't wait to try this soon!  Maybe this will help cut down on my monthly Starbucks bill  ;)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/

School Year 2011 - 2012

Here are my boys' school photos for the Year 2011 - 2012.  They're just too cute!  And they grow up so fast.  School was a blast for my boys.  They made new friends, learned new things and had great teachers who loved and cared for them for the past nine months.  Thank you TLC, we'll see you in June!

Happiness with...Just.Be.Enough

Wandered through this website called Just Be Enough and thought that it was worth sharing.


From their site ~
"Just.Be.Enough. will share the stories, the voices, the truths of many. Its mission is to empower, inspire, and remind women, parents, and children that that the time has come to celebrate ourselves. We must. We must carry the weight of confidence and empowerment on our shoulders instead of allowing the burden of our flaws and imperfections to push us down."


Enjoy!

Happiness is...Blue!

I thought it was cute that all my boys were wearing the same shade of blue a couple of days ago :)

I'll Miss You Cous...

Last week, my family lost a special girl.  It was so sudden, so unexpected, and I guess that's why it hurts more.  

Sheilah was my aunt's 2nd child.  We weren't as close as other cousins were, but I still remember her as the little girl playing with all of her siblings.  She was very quiet, very poised and very loving.  I only saw her during family gatherings like our grandma's party or Christmas parties.  And the last time we had a long talk was before she was planning to leave for Singapore and she wanted to ask for some tips about the place, as I worked there for a couple of years before, too.  But she was very mature and ready for the move, so I knew she would be fine.

She was  supposed to come home for her wedding last December 18th, and I was really looking forward to seeing her in her beautiful gown.  She even got my boy to be one of her ring bearers.  But a few weeks before she was about to come home, she got really sick, and never recovered. 

She was a good friend, a loyal fiance, but I knew her best as a loving sister and daughter.  From her friends, I also gather that she had a strong faith in God.  She definitely left a void in our hearts.   

We'll miss you Sheilah Marie.  Rest in peace and watch over us while you enjoy God's Heaven.  

Happiness with...my latest beauty finds

I seldom blog about my beauty discoveries as I'm fairly new with my love affair with make-up.  But these two items below are really amazing and are worth writing home about!

First is Body Shop's Extra Virgin Mineral Compact Foundation in Natural Vanilla (202).  I'm already on my second compact.  It comes with a synthetic brush for application.  It's very creamy in consistency, easy to apply and very natural in finish.  No chalky appearance here.  Coverage is sheer to medium, so I'm able to cover the redness (rosacea) in my skin.  Best of all, I didn't break out in this.  Package says it has SPF 15, but I still apply sunscreen below this to be sure.  Staying power is also good.  It can last the whole day for me, with just some application of pressed powder in the middle of the day.   

Body Shop's Compact Foundation

Now this second one is my latest find...and it's pure L-O-V-E.  I've never heard of this brand before, but while walking around Powerplant Mall, I passed by The Beauty Bar and saw their new window poster on Koh Gen Doh.  I'm a very curious person, so off I went to scour the internet and do a little research on the brand.  It's actually a Japanese brand and you can visit their website here. The science behind the foundation is the use of deep sea waters which include minerals and nutrients that are easily absorbed by the skin.  You can read more about it here.

Koh Gen Do Aqua Foundation

After reading all the glowing reviews on the Aqua Foundation, I took the plunge and splurged on this holy bottle.  It's Php 2750 at The Beauty Bar, which really sounds so indulgent, but I just couldn't resist.  There's only 4 shades available at the moment, and I picked BE-1 for my skin tone.  It comes in a beautiful glass pump bottle, which I really like.  Coverage for the Aqua Foundation is sheer to light.  But by golly, it's like my skin but sooo much better!  I get a dewy, glowy, but not oily finish when I wear this.  It also feels very lightweight on my skin.  Staying power is good, it can last me the whole day with very minimal touch ups/powdering.  Mind you, I have oily and sensitive skin.  Since I've only had this for a couple of week, I'm not sure yet if it will break me out.  But so far, so good.  


After this experience, I'm looking at trying out their Cleansing Water as a makeup remover as I've read some good reviews on it as well.  


Have a great weekend!