Ohana means family

Family is love. :)

These are the days I am amazed at how much love a person is capable of. Love is not divided, it is multiplied. #overwhelmed

Anxiety of a second time Mom

I've got seven to eight weeks to go before I pop. It is quite interesting to note that I am more anxious now than I was with the first.  Maybe because we were already four years married when Alon came.  It felt the right time to have our first child.  Our coming soon was a surprise... unplanned and unexpected but definitely not unwelcome.

It has only been a little over two years ago but I'm acting like I was not pregnant before. I wonder if the hardening of my stomach is normal (yes, it is) or why I am always breathless (again, normal, but something I did not experience much with the first).  I'm trying to remember if I should bathe the newborn twice a day or once is enough. There are a lot of things about taking care of a newborn that I feel clueless about again.  We still have not started getting things the little one may need and I intend to cram every thing on my eighth month.  Small things that I paid extra attention to before, I have not been able to do now.

The main reason is I do have a toddler who is quite demanding of my attention now. As a working mother, I utilize my time at home playing and caring for my panganay. I could hardly do anything else until he is fast asleep. This may be part of my anxiety, I think. I sometimes worry if I prepared Alon enough for the arrival of a new person who will be as demanding as he is. I've bought books about new babies. I showed him his baby photos. I talk to him every night. I ask him to talk to my tummy.  Still, I know that when the baby is there, things will take its own shape.

I am also concerned if I have enough in me to care for two human beings? Three, counting the hubby. Hehe! I'm already exhausted just taking care of one toddler.  How will I fare once you throw in a newborn in the mix? I don't want either child feeling neglected by Nanay.  Right now, I'm trying to relegate more to Jan and the yaya but Alon seems to want me more than ever.  It might be he is sensing something big is coming and making the most of it.

I pray constantly that these two brothers would be friends, that they will care for each other.  I pray for guidance that we can foster that love between them. 

There is also my concern about finances.  Kids cost.  I've been lucky that I could sustain breastfeeding and that we use cloth nappies more than disposables.  These alone has helped manage extra expenses that come with having a child.  Right now, I'm uncertain how much further we can stretch our limited budget. We will need to move a bigger place, save up for hospital expenses (this is not where my taxes go, for sure), hire an additional yaya, and other small things he will need that eventually accumulates.

I do remind myself that finances should be the least of my worries because it will be the easiest to deal with. Jan and I are blessed with jobs.  So yes, while we have to stretch our financial capacities, we will not starve.  There will be a roof over our head, food on our plates and love in our hearts.  In other words, we will survive. We will even be happy. :)

I just have to remind myself to keep faith. In God, with Jan, with our kids, with people who love us.  All shall be well. :)

TV and gadgets

I have tried my best to not expose Alon to television and gadgets too young.  I was hoping to keep him screen-free until two years old but by the time he was one and a half, he was watching some television with us.  Mostly Masterchef Australia.  It was never interesting enough to keep him attentive for more than five minutes though.  So I'm still generally satisfied with his amount of exposure.

I'm not against gadgets and screens per se but I hope to raise him more interested in activities and people than screens.  Neither Jan or I are techies anyway.  It has been working so far.  He prefers playing with his friends over watching television.  He likes playing with his toys and still can be cajoled into reading books.

Lately, I have allowed him to watch some movies and play with the iPod/iPhone.  The main reason why this happened is because I've gotten so huge that I can no longer keep up in running after him.  He's also gotten a bit demanding, asking me to carry or play with him more.  I really wish I could but I'm a glutinous blob now and most of my movement is through waddling and rolling.  I need more breaks now and somehow gadgets and TV helps me have it.

He never watches or plays unsupervised though.  I make it a point that I explain what we see or ask him about what he's seen.  There are times he would be so engaged that he would not respond but I try as much as possible to make sure he doesn't get into such a deep stupor. 

He's seen quite a few movies already and it's interesting the things he's picked up from the shows.

Frozen. Olaf the Snowman is his favorite.  Because of Olaf, he started eating carrots (because of the carrot nose), so hurray for that!

Cars. He absolutely loves it.  He's known about Mater since Christmas since we gave him some small toy cars which included Mater and Lightning McQueen.  He learned about traffic lights from the movie.  Now, he likes waiting for traffic lights when we are on the road.

Despicable Me 2. Minions. Nuff said.
 
It was also only recently that I allowed him to watch or play educational games on the iPod/iPhone.  He likes watching songs and playing. He seemed to have lost interest in it lately though.  He hasn't asked to play "Puzzingo" in the past couple of days.

I got a new iPad mini.  I was looking through some videos and he wanted to watch with me.  I ended up showing him a video of a catterpillar transforming into a butterfly.  It was not a kiddie video, but I was doing a commentary during the transformation.  Much to my delight, when the video finished, he wanted to see it again.

Right now, I'm quite happy with our progress with the gadgets.  He still prefers physical play and that's what matters to me.  I put a time limit when he can watch and play with gadgets.  He'd put a bit of a tantrum when we end but he can be easily distracted to pay attention to something else.  At the same time, I get a chance to breathe for a while.

Let's see how it goes when I have a second baby to manage.  I wonder if I can keep the new one screen free for long.  Hah.

First haircut!

Alon's hair before the cut

Last Sunday, Alon had his first haircut. We were supposed to go to a kiddie barber shop but when we found out how much it cost, the kuripot in me just turned around and never looked back. Haha!

Lolo actually volunteered for the job when he found out that we were planning to have Alon's hair cut.  He seemd excited to have been finally granted the privelege.  He already had his razor ready when we visited Pasig.

We started but Alon did not like the sound of the razor and ended up crying. We decided to wait until he fell asleep first.

I actually missed the second attempt for the haircut since I fell asleep.  I got a bit annoyed at that but good thing my son woke up again because of the razor. I had the chance to experence his haircut with him.

Lolo ended up using the traditional scissors cutting Alon's hair. I wsd carrying Alon when he was having the haircut so I was all covered with hair.

It was not the best of haircuts. It was not even at all, especially at the back. Some parts had his scalp exposed, the parts that went through the razor. 

The crazy back of his head. :P

Howrver if you are facing him, you would not even notice anything wrong at the back.  Despite that, I'm still happy how it turned out. My little baby is now a boy.  A handsome one at that! 

Not bad from the front.

Moments with Alon: Post 1

Alon was nursing. I was gently touching him but bordering on a tickle (nursing moms would know this is a risk but hey, I live dangerously. :p). He was laughing (while on the breast). Probably found it fun so he kept leading my fingers to his ticklish areas. Even before I touch him, he wad already giggling. We were having much fun.

I watched a short segment on Top Chef. When I looked down, he was already asleep. 

I don't know but I found this really funny. :)