on a lighter note...

dipdip and dad's hand

Dipdip is now three months old! Wowww, look at how time flies. She used to be too small and fragile to hold, now she's grown taller and bigger each time. Thankfully, she's safe from sore eyes. Before she even turned 3 months, she's already squealing and giggling, and makes a lot of noises as if trying to speak out. I'm one happy and amused mother.


Dipdip's usually in a happy mood but I guess, in this picture, this is not one of those usual times. And oh, Sorry, I haven't lost that much weight yet :)

More updates soon. I've written thrice in a row already and it's almost twelve midnight, Cinderella would be mad if I would also leave my glass slipper behind. LOL.

Tomorrow, I'd definitely go blog hopping. Promise.

the man in the mirror has left

a lot of fans were saddened by the death of MJ. when i first read about it, i was surprised. what?? michael jackson is dead at 50? who wouldn't know michael jackson? i didn't bother to post a picture of him in this post not only because of copyright issues but primarily because i know almost everyone knows michael jackson. anyhow, i also knew pictures of him are only a Google away.

i don't usually write so much about celebrities. but MJ's songs have a great impact on me growing up. he's contributed so much to the music industry and there is no question about his talent as a composer, singer and dancer. i really don't know him personally and whatever negative writeups about him as a person, that is not for me to judge.

if there's only one song to choose from his many great hits, that would be "Man In The Mirror". I really love the message and the melody of this song.

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

To the King of Pop, thanks for the great music you have shared to the world. may you rest in peace...

father's day 2009

i know i shouldn't miss a post about father's day. i have planned to write a wonderful article about my husband in celebration of this special day but like i mentioned in my previous post, we were so caught up with worries about little pauline and the possibility of her getting the sore eyes from her nanny and so we had to make immediate plan of action and decided to take dipdip to my inlaws.

honestly, parenting would be a difficult task without him. just like motherhood, fatherhood is also a full-time job. and it does not only take a day to appreciate what a wonderful father he is to our daughter.

i'm sure hubby would be sneaking in to this blog when he's not busy. i'd like to dedicate this post for all the times that he would put off buying something new for himself just so we could prioritize our daughter's needs; for all those nights of staying awake for our daughter; for putting off getting a haircut just so we could be home the earliest possible time for our daughter; and for being like a father to me in my childish times. i could flood this post with a lot of reasons why. i'll always be forever grateful to God for sending me such a wonderful husband.

of course, i didn't forget our fathers. i greeted my father-in-law and my dad. we are grateful for being wonderful parents to us and our siblings.

ultimately, we are grateful to God our Father for the many blessings that have come our way.

to all great fathers out there, husbands and fathers of my friends, we salute you! happy father's day...

you'll never know how things turn up...

last week was kind of hectic. or stressful if i may say. dipdip's nanny had sore eyes and i was torn between sending the nanny home and taking over. it would mean being absent from work for days which is not a good option considering that work is expecting that motherhood will not be in conflict with my being an employee. fortunately, problem got solved when my in-laws were kind enough to take care of dipdip for a few days while her nanny tries to recover from conjunctivitis. and so we sent dipdip to stephen's parents. we had to make that sacrifice so that the infection would not be passed on to dipdip. dipdip's now home though. nanny has already recovered. whewww... well, it only took 3 days of maxitrol and she's off the hook. by the way, this is not a paid advertisement and it's really best to get a prescription for sore eyes.

dipdip's progress report

At 2 months+, dipdip has found a new habit of feeding on her fist. She’s like eating fried chicken. She started to do that from the time that she no longer wore any mittens. I don’t know if all babies do this at a certain stage but it’s a habit that I don’t want to tolerate. I know that it wouldn’t be long until she would find thumb sucking even more enjoyable than her fist. I sure hope though she’d skip this stage.

the son of my first cousin

I just have to write briefly about this photo. Dipdip is with her second cousin Luke in this picture. I was wondering how I am related to the son of my first cousin. Some say he can be called my "nephew" but when I googled for the answers, he is my "first cousin, once removed". Hmm, puzzles me, this is the first time I encountered the term "once removed". I'll leave that to the experts in genealogy. Anyhow, Luke is such a sweet little boy. This was the first time he met Dipdip but I think he already had a fondness for her. He even suggested that I wrap her on a blanket so she can sleep well. I'm also impressed with this little guy because he gave me lessons about how babies are formed (as if I didn't know!). He told me everything he learned from a certain educational channel on tv (sperm cell meeting the egg cell.. and I think I heard him say x and y chromosomes, etc.). I was amazed. This child has a future. His parents should be proud of him.

re-thinking our kitchen sink

Living in a low-cost housing has its advantages and disadvantages. The most obvious advantages are: low amortization and low tax rate. However, in our case, we have to live up to the quality and kind of materials that the contractor has provided to that housing. Naturally, because it's low-cost housing, we can't expect that the materials are of superb quality. Personally, I didn't quite like how our kitchen area is located but what with the limited space, we have to go with however it was constructed. All that's pretty much easier to do is to make some improvements to it. We just have to save up for it. Among other things, we are planning to invest on a sink that's made of stainless steel. It's only been two years since we have moved to the house but our sink pretty much needed to be replaced already. It's not stainless, so the rust forming around it is not a beautiful sight. I dream of getting one of those beautifully designed stainless steel kitchen sinks that are available in the market today. With a stainless steel kitchen sink, we don't have to worry about rust that would eat up the whole sink. Washing the dishes would then become a happy and pleasurable experience.

bring on the champagne

Bring on the champagne! Yes, there's a reason to celebrate. My BP has returned to normal. I now consistently have a BP of 120/80. So I guess it's goodbye to hypertension, huh! I hope it's for keeps. I'm staying on my diet which is mostly veggies (although sometimes I'm tempted to eat meat dishes LOL). And I intend to keep monitoring my blood pressure from this time on. Also, I'd like to share part of the rituals I made for keeping my BP down. Lemongrass! Yes, we grow lemongrass in our little garden. It's called "tanglad" in our dialect. I drink the water from the boiled lemongrass. I think it has really helped my BP go down and return to normal. Incidentally, with my BP going normal, I finally got a clearance to drink birth control pills. So now, IUD will be my second option, in case my body can't tolerate BC pills. This would be my first time to drink birth control pills. I was hesitant to take them because of the possible side effects but I guess I had no choice. I will leave it up to my ob gyne. I was also told that I will have to undergo Pap Smear every year. I guess that's already required for a lot of women my age, married or not.

I know alcohol is bad for me. So fyi, I didn't drink. :)

ethical hacking certification

What’s your impression about hackers? Although the term “hacker” has such a negative connotation attached to it, I imagine hackers to be extremely clever and powerful. I say clever and powerful because they are brilliant enough to crack or get into almost any system that’s usually thought to be secured.

Nowadays, hacking can be considered as a skill. I didn’t mean the illegal one. I’m talking about ethical hacking. Yes, I just learned about it. You can be trained and get handsomely paid to become a certified ethical hacker. An ethical hacker is a professional who will try to break into a system to test and improve its security. They’re like IT cops or detectives guarding the system. Or you can think of it as a legal hacker that could catch a criminal hacker. Because it’s ethical, it’s legal. With a lot of business transactions done globally and online, companies need to make sure that their systems have the tightest security possible.

How does one become an ethical hacker? Take a five-day certification course courtesy of EC-Council. They give in-depth knowledge on the following topics: Security Fundamentals, Ethical Hacking, Penetration Testing, Computer Forensics, Disaster Recovery and Secure Programming. In fact, they’re so confident with the courses that they offer that they are giving a free one-day class as some sort of a teaser.

So, to all IT professionals out there, now is your chance. Be trained. Get certified to become an ethical hacker and be an important part of the company’s IT Security force.

birth control after c-section

After reading Shanix's blog about birth control, I also thought of writing about it. At first, I thought that it's a little awkward to talk about it on my blog. Talking about sex and stuffs like that is quite uncomfortable for me. I only talk about it hush-hush with some female friends. Anyway, I realized that just like the celebrities, I needed to take on more mature roles. Hehehe. How did I get pregnant, anyway?

So there you go. After giving birth via c-section, I'm expected not to get pregnant within two to three years. Something to do with healthy pregnancy. My health, in general. Prior to giving birth, we've already agreed that we would only try the Billings method as our recourse for family planning. This is what the church had taught us during our pre-cana seminar. We were told that taking birth control pills, ligation and any other non-natural birth control methods are said to be "anti-life" and the church is against this. So that's my fear. Being tagged as "anti-life". However, just recently I had a discussion with my ob gyne and she said that we shouldn't try rhythm, withdrawal, condom or other natural methods as there's a higher risk of getting myself pregnant. I can't get pregnant again this early. That was her warning. In fact, right now I'm still battling my way to get rid of this postpartum hypertension. Sometimes I wonder, is it still postpartum hypertension? Or has it become chronic? So far, my blood pressure still hasn't gone above or below 130/90. They say it's borderline. Doctor said I cannot take birth control pills or opt for injectables if I'm hypertensive. My only choice would be ligation or IUD. Hmmm, Dipdip is my only child. Wouldn't I reconsider getting pregnant again someday? Ligation wasn't a better option. No, I don't want another incision, however small, this early. What about IUD? I think I might need to research more about this before I make my decision. But perhaps I'd get out of this hypertensive state so it couldn't get too complicated like this. Whoaaaaaa...

What about abstinence? :)

Las Vegas entertainment

They say whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Well, probably not at all times. I hear a lot of people bragging about being able to watch live all the boxing fights of Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. Watching his boxing fight live is a dream for many of the boxing enthusiasts that it would turn out to be something to brag about. Let's not limit entertainment to boxing though. There are more things to expect in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is one of the best places for good entertainment. It is where the most famous entertainers perform and the most spectacular shows can be seen. This post is for the benefit of those who are going to Vegas. You might want to include watching fabulous shows in your to-do list. I bet you would! It'd be fun to be a spectator of Las Vegas Shows like Phantom, Blue Man Group, or the Peepshow. I learned that you can get show tickets at competitive prices before you even get to Vegas. Check out ShowsLasVegas.com if you're not sure about the shows you want to watch. This website specializes in shows and events where you can conveniently order your tickets online.

dipdip's taking a dip

Take a look at Dipdip taking a dip. This was taken a few Saturdays back. Boy, is she mad at her father? I guess we need to buy a bathtub for her. LOL. She doesn't cry though when it's her nanny who gives her the bath.

monitoring bank rates

Stopping by for some thoughts on Economics. Investing some of your money may be the best way to fight economic recession. There are several ways to invest-- you can put up your own business, invest in stocks, bonds, real estate, or in products offered by banks. If you choose to invest in banks,it is better to do some research especially on the risks involved and the rates they are offering before handing over your hard earned money to them. If you're interested in investing on certificate of deposits, for instance, it is really wise to monitor and check on the best CD Rates offered by different banks.

my thoughts on may 31st

Yesterday we went over to Compostela to celebrate my late mom's birthday. We, minus my dad and brothers who are abroad, attended mass and got together for dinner. I don't know but I just felt bad that dad didn't try to make it to the celebration in memory of mom. He just chose to stay in Medellin because he said he's got work on Monday (that's today). Even though he also scheduled and attended mass in Medellin church for mom, I expected him to go out of his way to make it to Compostela. I thought maybe he's just not comfortable being around his in-laws because maybe (just maybe) he'd feel awkward because the in-laws are somewhat aware that he's dating someone. And maybe he wants to avoid any discussion with them about it. I know that he's already free to date (and I don't have any right to go against his decision or his happiness) when he became a widower but I don't know, maybe it just takes a lot of getting used to. Or perhaps I expected too much about love. I can't go on writing my thoughts. I'd better stop now. I just want to save this space in loving memory of my mom. Happy birthday mommy!