Happiness with My Boys

It's been a while since I last posted on my boys.  Life just became hectic and I didn't have the time to update here.  Here are some new photos I took of my boys playing with their action figures.  I keep on telling them they're call "dolls", but they insist that these aren't dolls!  Coz dolls are for girls and I'm not allowed to play with them if I am going to play with dolls.  Fine, I don't see the difference but I'll play along...  

Happy Monday!

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!

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 "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...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!

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 is...Blue!

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

Happiness is...at home

On a lazy Saturday morning...

Yes, I do let them watch cartoons on TV once in a while... :)