I would say it was probably  the pregnancy that halted me from blogging. I was just  darn too lazy to even surf the net. This was the time when reunions were taking place here and there because it was the time when old friends and acquaintances started showing up in facebook.  All throughout my pregnancy, I only showed up at one reunion, that is with a few of my college classmates. I was 6 months pregnant at that time.  Most of them were surprised to see me in a maternity outfit and how big I had become. But mostly, I was even more surprised to find out that,  out of my 10 classmates who showed up, more than half of them were either unmarried or childless. I didn’t expect that too. I thought I’d be meeting  mommies whom I can share some mommyhood moments with. Oh well.

I gave birth this year and my baby is almost 7 months old. Time flies so fast indeed. Now looking back at the lost times when blogging kinda disinterested me, I am now asking myself what had occurred in me to stop blogging? hmmm… oh yeah, I was busy taking care of my baby, but often times I found myself just lazing in  bed with a remote control surfing the TV. And oh yeah, facebook made me a lot busier too. Like I said, more and more friends were showing up..and I hate to admit that it somehow gave me excitement. I sometimes find myself going through my friends’ photos and made comments only inside my mind. haha.

I’m thinking of making another blog and that would have to be about my sentiments of being a mother. This blog will be my “my thoughts” blog about anything under the sun.

No wonder I’ve been been feeling a bit different over the past few weeks. I ‘ve  always loved exercising…but then I would find myself taking naps…i felt lazy..and still is as of this writing. I am actually blogging right now on my bed where I am leaning  on my huge pillows propped against my headboard…and my laptop partly on my tummy and and my lap. Well, it looks as if I am lying down already.

Coming out of the bathroom, I hastily walked across our bedroom and woke up my husband. I was crying when I showed him the test strip. I cried because I was surprised…I had mixed feelings about the baby. Too many questions came into my mind.. like… am I too old to have this baby? am I fit to have this baby? and many others….It’s not that I didn’t want this baby…It’s just that we didn’t plan on having one more child. My husband and I have 2 children… both girls. My eldest just turned 10 while the other just turned 4.

I was quiet the whole day yesterday. I just couldn’t believe it. But today I woke up with the realization that I really am pregnant.  I have accepted the whole pregnancy thing quite easily. I believe that this is a blessing from God and that i should be thankful for it. We are hoping for a “boy” this time. But weather another baby girl comes out…it doesn’t matter. We will love and nourish this new baby no matter what..

For many of us moms here in the Philippines, maids are a big help especially for those who have 2 or more children. Some families may have more than 2 maids and we, the employers, don’t really do anything anymore to help them. For some, they had totally left the cooking, cleaning, and laundry washing to the maids. As for me, I still do some cooking but not with the cleaning, since I am asthmatic .

Honestly, it would be very hard for me not to have maids. If only I had normal lungs, probably one maid would be enough for me. Then I would probably just help around and at the same time it would cut down on my overhead expenses.

Yeah…..maids can be of great help…but sometimes they could also be pain in the a**!…….. I’ll tell why in my next blog…..

It had been raining for the past two weeks and that alone made exercising even harder for me. I felt lazy. I also had fever last week. So yesterday, along with two friends, I started to exercise again. I did boxing.

When I was doing  stretching, I felt that my bones had stiffened. I thought …I wouldn’t be able to do some jabs and straights with this. So my friends and I decided to take a 2 km walk  inside the cemetery just across Elorde gym where I box. Yes…a  cemetery……called Manila Memorial Park. It’s probably the biggest cemetery in the Philippines where a lot of famous Filipinos are buried….my dad, brother, and grandma were all buried here too. Anyway, it’s so huge that anybody can walk or jog inside.

So after the walk, we headed back to the gym.  We started doing the mitts exercises. I only did 6 rounds of punch mitts exercises instead of my usual . I felt tired easily….and mind you boxing is not an easy exercise. It requires strength, patience, and love for the sport in order to achieve results.

So today I should exercise again. Maybe I’ll do some brisk walking  later in the afternoon.

my old study table

This used to be my study table. My parents had this made for me in high school. It had been left sitting in my old room ( at my parent’s house) since I moved out and got married. I wanted to pass this on to my eldest daughter for her own use. Undoubtedly, this table should be painted pink so that my daughter can have more fun studying.

priming the table

First, the table was sanded by a medium grit sandpaper followed by a fine grit sandpaper. I filled in the  dents, dings, and holes with wood putty. It is important to remove sawdust after sanding by wiping with  a clean cloth. Then, the white primer was painted all over the table. Priming is essential so that the desired color adheres properly and to prevent stains from coming through.

start painting by turning the table upside down for those hard to reach surfaces..

I used latex paint instead of an oil based paint because it’s almost  odorless. I also used latex ( red ) tinting color… mixed it with the white paint…and voila!…pink!

I added some decorations on the table surface to give it a more girly look

Simple drawings can me made….like hearts…butterflies…or you can be more elaborate if want..

finally, I applied two coats of polyurethane varnish to protect my new project

It would be better to apply a topcoat finish on any project to give it protection. Surely, this table will be exposed to a lot beating from my daughter…like liquid spills…pen marks….occasional bumping…I chose polyurethane because it renders a glossy, hard protective finish.

The finished project!!!

I thought of how fast my kids were growing up….then thought how hungry I was…then thought of my brother….then thought of my mother, how was she doing with her dialysis….then suddenly thought of the book I was reading last night…then thought about my daughter’s wound…then thought about the news of the Ferry boat that sank the other day…then all of a sudden I thought about buying a new pressed powder….then thought how cute elmo was and more..

Gee, what had just happened to me. I only realized that when I got home.

I was definitely half asleep. My brain frequencies slowed down and perhaps I was at the Alpha level of mind.   As we know, night dreams are a collection of the day’s happenings. In my case, my daydreaming was a collection of yesterday’s events and thoughts.

Now that I’m enjoying my coffee, I thank the Lord that I was able to arrive home safe and sound.

this is me...braces on my lower teeth..

I am currently enjoying my cafe mocha at a local coffee shop here in Paranaque. I would love to chomp on my cookie but there is one problem….I just had my braces adjusted this morning  by my dentist and everything in my lower teeth feels very tight and sensitive..I only have braces in my lower teeth.

I really had problems with my teeth even as a young adult. In high school my dentist noticed that one  canine tooth is missing in my upper teeth. It was found out later on using an x-ray that my canine tooth was left inside my gum..it never got out by itself until it was surgically extracted before my eighteenth birthday.

Since I was missing some tooth in the upper part, my teeth looked like it had underbite. It means that my lower teeth had slightly protruded more than my upper. But that didn’t bother me that time. I only got concious when I reached College.

So, in my last year in college, two pre-molars were extracted from my lower teeth. Then braces were placed to close the gaps where the two pre molars were extracted.

After College, my teeth went fine. I had a job as a flight attendant and the Airline had asked me to have my braces removed. I willingly followed. So that was then the end of my braces.

Then two years ago I noticed that my lower teeth had gaps again. I  didn’t mind them at first but the gaps just grew wider and wider apart from each tooth. So I decided to have braces again.

Sure, I felt too old for braces. Many people think that braces are only for teens and young adults. But it’s the only way to close the gaps of my teeth. ….. I had lost self confidence because of my teeth gaps.

I noticed that there a lot of moms my age have braces too. The color of the elastics attatched to my braces depends on my mood. When I feel jovial at the time of my dental visit, I choose pink elastics. When I feel blue…I literally choose blue for my elastics…

After all the merry making, eating , drinking, and singing, all six of us women gathered around the living room at about 1:30 am.

Our topic was about the men in our lives. One friend talked about being a single parent and that the father of his child was amazingly supporting their child.

Then my other friend started having a dilemma on weather or not she should allow her hubby to go out with his high school friends….and yeah…I was referring to the birthday boy himself… I mean come on, he just turned 51 ….and this guy’s not getting any younger and not allowing someone to be with  friends at this age  sounds ridiculous ….

Then in another similar situation, this friend of mine ( on vacation here in the Philippines) said that her husband had some insecurities about my friend’s partying–thinking that she’d find someone while she was away from him. I  can attest to that. About a few weeks back  while we were yet at another party, her husband kept on calling  her mobile phone checking on her status. …..that’s why she loves it here than staying with her hubby in Europe…she says she has so much freedom.

Then, onto another girlfriend. This girl did not tag her hubby along ’cause aparrently her husband was almost in his sixties and socializing was not his thing.

What struck me that night was my friend’s statement that if  she could only turn back time , she would prefer being a single mother….and yet this girl was super married.

All women have different opinions about the way our spouses treat us. They all kept saying that I was lucky to have someone like my husband…first, he thinks of me as an individual whose views may sometimes differ from him. He also gives me my freedom to spend time with people other than my kids and him…

Hair  fall after childbirth normally occurs in most women I know due to hormonal imbalances. But having hair fall three to four years after childbirth is probably a different story.

Sometime last year as I got out of the shower, I immediately combed my hair as I was running late for a meeting. I usually don’t comb my hair while still wet. When I had been done combing, I was shocked to see a lot of hair on the floor, as if they had been plucked 0ut of my head that easily. They were probably around a hundred strands of hair.

Well then I thought to myself that my hair had fallen off because I combed through it while wet.  Then…….. it had been falling day after day ….after day….after day…My hair was really thinning. I could see my scalp shining through…

First I tried to remedy it by using over the counter hair tonics. It didn’t work. Then my dermatologist had suggested Minoxidil. It didn’t work again…

Finally, my good friend had suggested to try Aloe vera on my scalp. Apparently she had heaps of aloe Vera planted in her side garden.  My friend gave me one rosette of thick and fleshy Aloe vera.  I planted it in a pot and to this date , without really giving much attention to it ( except watering it daily), my Aloe vera had propagated by itself.  Little cute Aloe veras had grown around it and had been transferred to other pots as well.

So, there goes the beginning of my affection for Aloe vera. Treating hair fall with this medicinal plant was a re-discovery. Of course I grew up listening to ads on tv about shampoos with Aloe vera but never really paid attention to it. But using the plant itself was not easy in the beginning.

First, the flesh of  Aloe didn’t have  the best scent ever. Then, extracting the flesh out of the leaves wasn’t as effortless as I thought  it would be. I had to be very careful  in slicing the leaf and scrape out the flesh.  Then finally  applied the gooey flesh on my scalp, massaged  it a while, then left it on for about an hour before I washed my hair.

Surely, a week after my daily application of Aloe vera, my hair fall lessened. Then after another week, tiny hairs were growing visibly.

Now, though my hair fall had completely stopped, I still apply Aloe on my scalp about once a week. I also use  the flesh  as a facial moisturizer about three times a week. It’s great for skin rejuvenation especially after a very stressful day. How do I do it? I apply  the Aloe vera flesh on my face and massage it for at least 4 minutes then wash it off! My skin feels softer and smoother after…try it!

Did you have hair fall like mine? what did you do? did it work?