Annoying Gatecrashers and Other Stories

Every muscle in my body is aching! It's 6:20 am here, I only have 40 minutes until work starts (my work starts at 7am and ends at 3pm), and I'm still here in bed with Yuri. At least I can still work with me in bed. #perksofaWAHM

The reason why I'm so tired (as well as everybody in the household - actually, almost everybody active in this village) is that we came from the beach yesterday. We had fun, yes, but sadly, because of some reason, our day also quickly turned sour. Let me rant a little and share with you what happened.

Annoying Gatecrashers

The activity at the beach yesterday was planned as an R&R slash team building activity for everyone who worked hard to make last week's fiesta (our village's first fiesta slash foundation day ever). It was planned among the village officers as a treat to themselves and the youth who laboured really hard for days and even went home at dawn just to finish everything that needed to be finished. 

Obviously, the event should be just for the officers and the youth who call themselves "Cecilia Boys." We cooked our own food and paid for our own entrance fees etcetera. The boys used their prize money from the basketball game they played in during the fiesta. And we had fun.

Including this kiddo

Until the gatecrashers came in.

Emergency Rooms, Preschools, My New Hair Color and Other Stories

Hi guys! It's 3:30 am here and I cannot sleep. It has been an hour since my mother and I came back from the hospital. Yes, I was in the hospital again! I feel exhausted, but I can't fall asleep so I decided to blog. After all, I have so much to tell you as I wasn't able to blog as often as I used to in the past months.

Emergency Rooms

Earlier, at 12 midnight, I woke up to very terrible stomach pains, diarrhea, and nausea. The works. It's also very similar to the symptoms I experienced during our vacation (which I have yet to write about).

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Mar 25, 2015 at 2:16am PDT

"My view earlier at 2 in the morning while lying down on a bed in a run-down hospital in Vigan."

I already learned my lesson (I delayed going to the hospital last time), so this time, after the first "bathroom session," we immediately headed off to the emergency room right away. I was prescribed medicines, but because I was not able to "go" inside the hospital, we decided to go through lab tests tomorrow, err, later today.

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Apr 12, 2015 at 11:50am PDT

For someone like me who rarely gets a fever, being in emergency rooms twice within the span of three weeks is an alien feeling. However, I've always had a weak stomach - when I was 10, pabalik-balik kami sa ospital for almost a month because of acute gastroenteritis. LBM is not a stranger to me so I've learned to self-medicate, but for this case tonight and the diarrhea-nausea that happened to me in Vigan three weeks ago, I was in a lot of pain - akin to labor pains actually! - thus the need to go to the emergency room. I'll be having lab tests later, and I hope it's nothing serious!

Preschools

Yuri Turned 3, I Graduated, and Other Stories

Hi everyone! Happy Monday! As what is becoming usual for me nowadays, I don't have a proper post prepared again. I'm just so busy, and while I'm thankful, I don't want to neglect responsibilities!

I actually just came back from a vacation, which turned quite ugly for me midway because I had food poisoning. I know, right? And all I ate were the same with what the rest of our group ate. I will surely write about our adventures and misadventures in Baguio, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, Manila, and Cavite soon.

(For my friends in Manila, I only set foot there for hours and most of them were spent inside a car.)

Oh I will write about the trip and every important thing that I need to write about. Just as soon as I get to finish everything I need to do today! Reality surely didn't waste its time making its presence felt.

You see, the week before our vacation, I didn't receive important emails and didn't even receive a single email from my regular client. So I wasn't very productive that week.

However, during the trip, a barrage of important emails came crashing in. My client emailed me about a change in our strategy, I got several blog invitations and offers, and I even got a job inquiry and an invitation for interview. I had no choice but to respond and say I will be available to handle their concerns as soon as I'm back in good ole Davao. (My client knows I'm on vacation though.)

But really, I was like, where were you when I was bored and idle? Where were you?! Just kidding.

Yuri's Booboo, Victoria Osteen, and Other Stories

Unlike many other girls I know, I really can't say I grew up a tomboy. I would be a disgrace to them if I call myself a tomboy. I don't even know how to play patintero!

I was the kind of child who preferred reading books, going to my friends' houses to "bond" and "talk." You can say that I was (and am) pretty much a sissy.

Which comes as a major disadvantage, I learned, if one becomes a mom to a toddler boy. That's my first story. Here it goes.

1. Yuri's Booboo

I already grew accustomed to my 2-year old's daily antics which came with regular bumps and falls. I've gotten over those already. What I may never get over, though, is blood and broken skin!

Especially when it's mere millimeters from the eyes! Lord, thank you!

They were playing on Friday afternoon in the living room when I heard a bump and a scream. Turns out Honey wasn't looking and Yuri hit the sharp corner of a cabinet. Poor boy! And he was so mabait that after crying a bit and nursing, he just went back to his happy self.

I actually placed a corner cushion there, but it was such an eyesore that we took it off again. Anyway, Yuri knows how to avoid it. How wrong was I? Right after the accident, I had Honey put it back again.

Lesson learned: an eyesore is better than a black eye!

2. Yaya Update: Honey's Still Here

False-Alarm Kidnapping, Firing Yaya, and Other Stories

The past weekend was Kadayawan weekend and we originally planned it to be a weekend of mindless mall-hopping and (window) shopping. But more things happened that made a supposed uneventful weekend, well, eventful!

I'll start with the regular, steady stuff before I tell you about the juicy stories, ah-key?

1. My Only Kadayawan Find

There must be something wrong with me because I am no longer excited by sales. Mas excited pa ako for book sales and garage sales hehe. So despite the many sales all over the city, unsurprisingly, this was the only thing I bought:

Montessori Letter Work

I first discovered this book in my internerd-blackhole, bookdepository.com (you're welcome), and it's unique because it uses the Montessori concepts of textured letters (Google sandpaper letters) and teaching children not letter names but letter sounds. I subscribe to these philosophies so I knew I had to get it.

In the website, it costs $11, free shipping, or around P473. It's quite pricey for a board book, and while I'm willing to invest in it, I just had to shop around. That led me to local bookstore chain, Fully Booked, that sells it for only P398! Almost P100 less! Yay!

So yesterday, first thing we did was go to Fully Booked in Abreeza and when I finally found it, I never let go. Haha!

But the best thing was that when I was paying for it, the cashier told me it was on sale, so it was now just P318! Perfect! Based on the original $11 price, I saved... do the math!

2. The "Stores" I've Been Waiting for are Finally Here!

Turning 24: A New Haircut, A New Bike, and Other Stories

Photo: http://omgeemag.com/

Ever since my 20th birthday, which was after my college graduation, which was spent drinking from night until morning with many of my fraternity brods and sorority sisses, I've learned to celebrate my birthday in a more subtle and God-glorifying manner.

To clarify, during that birthday of mine, I wasn't a Christian yet. That was the very last time I drank, though I still smoked a couple of weeks after that. A couple of weeks because after that, I finally encountered Jesus.

I don't want to post a photo of myself during that night because I'm sure you wouldn't recognize me. Also, it would taint my goody-two-shoes image. Hahaha!

Okay I'm so far from the point of this post so let's go back. Anyway, while I always consider my birthday special, I guess it's special on its own ordinary way. Here ate some of the "special ordinary" stories when I turned 24.

A New Haircut - After 2 Years

The last time I had a haircut was May 2012, a few months after Yuri was born. More than 2 years ago! I went from having mermaid hair to short, short, short (!) hair:

A couple of months after giving birth

It wasn't surprising since I always go through that route. Long then suddenly short. That hair was too short, though. I think the person who cut my hair was kinda deaf or something. But it's okay. I learned to love it. Job loved it, too!

2 years after, I finally made the time to have my hair cut. I couldn't afford to keep my hair long because it's too thick and the hair strands always get tangled. Here it is!

What do you think? I'm loving my hair now! The funny thing is that I can't comb it at all because my hair horrifyingly "flies away"! (I hope you understand what the slang means!)

I Cut His Hair and Other Stories

1. I cut his hair.

Yuri's hair is getting too long. In fact, when his friend, Scotty, came to visit, his American dad told me, "Do you like to keep his hair long?" Not at all! But the problem is that I dread cutting his hair. It always turns out to be such a struggle, and our house would sound like a slaughter house - no kidding. That's why his hair is always cut at home with me, my mom, and his yaya. I could never dare to bring him to a proper barber shop for kids for fear na masayang ang pera.

Observe:

Polo from SM, H&M jeans, Pitter Pat sandals

But yesterday, I saw a chance. You see, I'm the one looking after Yuri when he sleeps now. I try to get some work while he sleeps. Yesterday, the connection was lost for maybe 40 minutes, and I had nothing better to do and I spotted a pair of scissors nearby, and you know what happened next.

Snip, snip.

Tah dah!

2. Goodbye, high-chair. Hello, crayons!