I Choose Wellness Expo 2010

A friend sent me this invite and I want to attend.

20 Weeks: Halfway through my Pregnancy

I started to feel my baby's movement while lying in bed last night. I asked Thea to feel it too, and then she said Mama, my little sister is stretching (with matching hand gestures). She's confident that she's gonna be an Ate to a Baby Girl, haha. 

Making it through midpoint of this pregnancy without serious problems or whatsoever is really a big blessing from God. 

Anyway, here's the detailed information of the 20 weeks fetal development I got from http://www.baby2see.com:

• Baby now weighes about 11 ounces and is roughly 7 inches long.
• Baby is 17cm long crown to rump, and weighs about 310 grams.
• The baby can hear and recognize the mother's voice.
• The mother will probably start feeling the first fetal movements.
• The toenails and fingernails are growing.
• The growth of hair on the rest of the body has started.
• The skin is getting thicker.
• The heart can now be heard with a stethoscope.

Your baby may react to loud sounds. Baby can actually hear noises outside of the womb. Familiar voices, music, and sounds that baby becomes accustomed to during their development stages often are calming after birth. This is an important time for sensory development since nerve cells serving each of the senses; taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch are now developing into their specialized area of the brain. 


Your baby now weighes about 11 ounces and at roughly 7 inches long they are filling up more and more of the womb. Though still small and fragile, the baby is growing rapidly and could possibly survive if born at this stage.


Now that my baby is starting to react to sounds from the outside world, I will start collecting classical music. Ate Thea and I am also talking to him/her from time to time. We say "I love yous" too. My OB might ask me to undergo Ultrasound next month. I am so excited to know the sex of my little baby. I will also start buying newborn basics next month. 

International Singing Sensation Charice Joins "Glee"

Last month, rumors regarding Charice joining Glee spread out on the Internet. But now, it's official.

"It's official, I'm on Glee", Charice announced via her Twitter account.

photo courtesy of: http://abs-cbnnews.com

Charice is the second Filipino (excluding Filipino-Americans) to make it in the US entertainment scene after Lea Salonga. After making it successfully in the Glee audition, she will join the next season of Glee, an Americal musical comedy-drama TV series that airs on Fox in the US. She will play a foreign exchange student with vocal chops that will give Rachel (played by Lea Michele) some serious competition, according to Entertainment Weekly who first shared the news. 

Now, this is something to look forward to...All the best, Charice. Wish you all the luck!

Teaching Preschoolers to be Responsible

Yesterday, we received a package from my husband through his nephew who arrived from a month-long stay in Qatar. The little girl was so ecstatic upon receiving the package which include a backpack, a set of crayon, pencils and a colorful tumbler. She really wanted to open the crayon set and try it with her activity books. I told her to reserve them for future school projects/homeworks, and use her own crayons instead. You know what she said? Pangit na 'to, ayoko na nito while throwing each crayon under the bed. I got angry and told her that it's not good to throw away old things when we received something new. 

I have to train her to be responsible enough to take care of her personal stuffs. Therefore, those time-tested tips on how to raise responsible children will help me address this challenge. 

Thanks Nuffnang Philippines!

Thank you so much, Nuffnang Philippines. An ad has finally launched here in my blog.

By the way, nuffnang.com is Asia-Pacific's first blog advertising community. Nuffang's online platform allows advertisers to serve graphic or video-based advertisements onto more than 100,000 blogs hosted on different platforms.  At present, Nuffnang has offices in four (4) countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Australia. 

Likewise, I would like to thank the helpful Nuffnang staff (sorry I forgot her name) I met in one of Nuffnang-sponsored bloggers event, who taught me and one of my blogger friends on how to place ad widgets on our blogs. She also gave us few tips and reminders on how to earn from ads displayed in our blogs. 

First Day of School

Today's the first day of School Year 2010-2011 at Thea's new school. This week is gonna be more on orientation and getting-to-know phase. Kinder-A where Thea belongs is scheduled at 11:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m. (this week only). Their regular schedule would be from 3:00-4:30p.m. It is my little one's nap time. But, I can't complain anymore, all we have to do is adjust her lunch and nap time a little bit earlier than the usual. 

The little girl is very excited to go to school this morning. She even woke up at 5:30 a.m. Yeah, she's up as early as that, no matter how I tried to convince her to go back to bed. 

I'll post some photos later....

18 Weeks: My Baby Begins to Hear

Today marks the 18th Week of my pregnancy.

• The fetus is now 6 inches long and weighs 7 ounces.
• The fetus measures about 15cm and weighs almost 200 grams.
• They can hear sounds and may be startled by loud noises.
• Recognizable active and rest periods.
• The skin is building a protective wax layer (vernix).

Vernix (a white cheese like protective material) forms on baby's skin with the lanugo, a soft lightly pigmented hair covering the body and limbs, both help to protect my baby's skin during the months in water. My baby may hear my heart beating, my stomach rumbling or blood moving through the umbilical cord. He or she may even be startled by loud noises.

Tiny air sacs called alveoli begin to form in lungs and the vocal chords are formed. Baby goes through the motions of crying but without air doesn't make a sound; yet. 

My baby may have the same awake and sleep patterns of a newborn. Baby will have a favorite position for sleep and recognizable active and rest periods.

My baby measures about 6 inches (15cm) crown to rump and weighs 7 ounces  or about 200gm.

(Source: http://www.baby2see.com/development/week18.html)

I will visit the maternity clinic tomorrow for my 3rd pre-natal check-up... Hope that everything will be fine. I am so thankful that after a quite difficult stage (that is, during the first trimester), I haven't felt anything unusual. 

In Choosing Baby Names

As early as now my husband and I is listing our choices for our baby's name. Since I haven't done with the ultrasound yet, we still don't know if baby#2 would be a boy or a girl. We want his/her initials to be Y.A. same as our eldest - Yasmin Althea. Some of my friends even helped me in listing down names. I also consulted several baby names dictionaries online for the meaning of my chosen names. 

Here's some of names on my list:

Baby Boy:

1. Ysmael Arthur
2. Yohan Arthur
3. Yohan Allen
4. Yancy Allen
5. Yñigo Aidan
6. Yohan Andrei
7. Yohan Alwyn

Baby Girl:

1. Yonah Arwen
2. Yessamine Alaine
3. Yelena Arielle
4. Yonah Anikka
5. Yohan Arwen
6. Yvonne Alyssa
7. Yvonne Anikka
8. Ysabel Alyssa

More names might be added on our list. We still have 5 more months to finally decide for the name of our second little bundle of joy. 

Dear readers, please feel free to suggest names by leaving a comment here on my post. Thanks!!!

My Makeover Experience

Honestly speaking, I know little about make-up and beauty products. I can go to the office with just a light touch of either pressed or loose powder (in natural shade) and a little lip gloss. For me real make-up happens only during special occasions like weddings, office functions, etc.

My make-over experience during the Team Earthlingorgeous Nestle Fitnesse official photoshoot is one of the best and memorable beauty experience ever. I really liked Omar Ermita's work, our make-up artist, especially the smokey effect he's done to my eyes that truly matched my Rhett Eala gown as well as the yellow Jun Escario top. My make-up was light enough to make me feel comfortable during the entire photo shoot. How I wish I have the skill to do the same all by myself. But I need to fill up my make-up loot first with more beauty  products which are dermatological tested for sensitive skin like mine.

Here are some of my photos:

Beauty by Elianto

Earth of Earthlingorgeous.com is hosting a contest wherein she'll be giving away Php1,500 worth of Elianto   beauty products.  As much as I want to learn more about make-up, I think it's time for me to try these products. I decided to join the contest because I was inspired by Earth's Beauty by Elianto Experience. 

So, friends, please wish me luck and support me by being a fan of Elianto Philippines and Earthlingorgeous.com on Facebook. 

Here Comes the Rain

Goodbye summer, hello rainy days. I think the gloomy weather today signals the start of rainy season. There was  quite a heavy downpour at 5:30am this morning. It's chillin' cold here in the office, too.

But with the school opening fast approaching, I really need to buy new umbrella, rain coat and probably a pair of rain boots for my little one. While it was fun dipping the pool or beach during summer, it is more comfortable to stay at home during rainy season. I just hope that no excessive flooding will occur because I know, most Filipinos were traumatized especially those living in areas hardly hit by Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in September 2009. I've heard from the news that the government is doing some preparations for the upcoming rainy season. I am also reminding all parents out there to make all the necessary precautions to protect our families from Dengue and other illnesses prevalent during this time of the year.