...tsugtsug's balloons are here

yeyyyyyyyyy thanks to Ate Ging and Chad for fedex-ing the mylar balloons I ordered. Plus a Coke T-shirt (coke smile tsugtsug! hehe), a 'Fun to be 1' candle, a prince hat and a totally awesome musical Master Yoda card. (tsugtsug said "Eh? eh?" upon opening the card)


beach ball mylar and the swimming girl.. look how big it is beside my slippers!


i also have a diver mylar (bottom right) and 2 sun mylars!


couldn't get a decent shot 'cause he's at this stage where he wants to hold the camera everytime he sees it. the prince hat doesn't fit him, (tsug's head is too big. lol) but the garter helps it to stay put. Yoda card plays the star wars theme once opened. Thanks Ate and Chad again!

i was refusing to make a birthday preps list thinking that i could handle everything on my mind, but i have finally conceded and made one today. (list was getting longer!)

1. deposit to partyboosters
2. ask about styro surfboards <--ooops, haven't mentioned this to pangs yet. (ok, pangs? now you know LOL)
3. finalize cake details
4. finalize invite layout <--- very minimal tweaking to be done, but otherwise finished
5. have invites printed
6. book nestle cart
7. book manong taho
8. finalize food carts
9. make tarp layout (was thinking of putting one near the swimming pool)

not too bad eh? should be able to do all these in 2 weeks. (ha! positive thinking)

anyway, have been receiving bad news this past week.. my aunt's sick and so was raymond's lolo..(oh, i mean our lolo)..'was' because i'm not sure if he's still in the hospital..ooh, which reminds me, haven't asked Akel how he is.. (arrgh, i'm a bad 'apo') i'm still in denial regarding my aunt's sickness.. its actually pretty bad, but i just can't let myself think about it too much, its depressing. then raymond's friend (one who's living with him in SG) who was just recently hired will be losing his job! every company is definitely cutting back on expenses. its just cruel to hire new people, make them leave their country and families then let them go within a couple of months. *sighs*

on a lighter note, we attended my cousin's wedding last Saturday. It was a hot afternoon, but tsug was relatively well behaved except during dinner time when it was dark and noisy and he didn't want to eat his food. We had fun on the photo booth, though! will definitely persuade ate chary to get one when she gets married. hehehe. it was very addicting and you get instant gratification seeing your photos in print just 20 seconds later. heck, i'll get one for tsugtsug if we had the budget for it haha! i'm sure my camera hungry cousins will have a blast with it.

sulit na sulit na stokke stroller hehe! with kuya jojit and family

that's it for now. bye guys! have a holy, holy week!

...birthday preps

whewwww. just got back from divi, and it was exhausting but infinitely exciting. i had to urge my whole family's cooperation.. our game plan was for ate chary (who had to take a leave!) and mommy to stay in Tutuban and take care of tsug.. me and daddy then went off to explore Divisoria Mall & 168.. it was super, super fun to buy wholesale! LOL! i have bought TONS of stuff for under 4k php. We picked a very easy theme for tsug's first birthday party.. SUMMER! here's just a few of my loot:

i bought red and yellow tote bags for 15 each which would contain goggles (10php), water guns (10php <-- these were even expensive because i bought these at Tutuban, wasn't able to look around much at Divi Mall and 168), beach balls (14php) and hand towels (9php). For prizes I bought kickboards, snorkel masks and a LOT of inflatables! swimvests, armbands, lifesavers..no photo of those yet,.. i'll inflate them on tsug's birthday week. but they were really cheap.. most expensive were 60 bucks, usually they were just under 30..

i'm pretty excited right? haha. i wasn't even able to stroll around, think we did the shopping under 2 hours! couldn't really leave tsugtsug that long. he can be quite a handful! maybe its because at 10 months, he's finally growing some teeth.. 2 at the same time! (up and down) poor kiddo, it probably hurts a lot. he has been able to inflict some damage on me though.. he has taken a piece of me, literally. lol. when i nurse him, i feel so weak on the knees, i'm afraid i might pass out from the pain. it reminds me of the (painful) memories when i nursed him during the first 2 weeks.. the scabbing, the bleeding.. my wincing.. hehe.. hope it heals fast..

from my ginormous loot, i still managed to forget a few things.. like rubberduckies for my baby guests (i found a lot but *arrrgghhh* kept putting it off till i forgot about it) and some party hats.. although i wasn't really able to find the ones i liked.. (are foam visors found in divisoria?) anyway, i wanted to go to divi early so i'll still have time to have unavailable items here shipped from US c/o my sister, Ate ging. (very very very few items pangs, promise hehe)

almost everything's set with the venue and food.. lunch will be served at the Victoria Hall

Adult Menu:
Arroz Valenciana
Lechon
Lengua with Mushroom Sauce
Chicken Relleno
Fish Fillet with Lemon Sauce
Carbonara
Russian Salad
Tossed Green Salad with TID
Rice
Frozen Fruit Salad
Tarts

Kids' Menu:
Spaghetti with meat sauce (sweet sauce)
Chicken Jolly with gravy
Rice
Tarts

Since the kids will swim after the party program, we decided to have the food carts during merienda time (while the kids are swimming)

Merienda:
Hamburger Sandwich
Jumbo Hotdog on Stick
French Fries
Nestle cart (twin popsies, drumsticks, that sorta thing.. which reminds me.. i haven't contacted them yet!)
Pearl shakes cart
Nachos with cheese and beef toppings food cart

With the binyag fiasco, i sure hope we have enough food this time!!! For the party decorations, I got Jacque of Partyboosters.. she's a fellow w@wie/n@wie whom i have complete faith on.. Photos will be by Ging Lorenzo and cake by Ms. Emily of Sugarbox. Invites are next on the list, Pangs is in charge of that.. here's a sneak peek:


surf's up!


I was first trying to take a picture of tsug in his inflatable tub.. but.. he won't have any of it.. evil mother that i am, i kept on shooting hehe:


"noooooo mommyyyyyyyyy"

i did manage to get some smiling shots, though:

"who do i look like?"

that's all for now. bye guys!

...back temporarily

so i'm back in Manila. or more accurately, in Antipolo. we left SG last feb 20th,.. we as in pangs, my mom, myself and tsugtsug. Tsug was his usual cheery self at the plane.. he really likes playing with whoever is seated behind us.. when i was finally able to nurse him to sleep, the friggin Cebu Pacific game started. damn forgot they do that. i should've waited for the game before nursing tsugtsug to sleep. unsurprisingly, he woke up with a start and cried ferociously. poor kiddo. was hard to settle him down after that. he became playful anyway a few minutes later and was awake the whole flight.

pangs went back to SG that sunday, but his HS kada and his gf were with him.. He got a job in SG and will be staying at our house until they find a place of their own.. its all pretty good timing, at least Pangs won't be living alone and hopefully won't get lonely.

so why am i here? i hate to admit it, but i really had a difficult time taking care of tsug on my own. when my parents visited, i felt so much relief, that i had to insist my mom to stay longer.. then the decision for me to go home earlier was made. It was not an easy decision to make believe me. I miss Pangs so much already. but he has agreed to let us go back to Antipolo until tsug's birthday.. the plan is after tsug's birthday, we'll bring a helper back to SG. now Pangs is busy preparing the documents necessary for the helper.. SG rules are pretty straightforward.. its our OWN government that has been extremely bothersome. first of all, our own EMBASSY in singapore doesn't know sh*t about the rules of direct-hiring a DH.. pangs has been quite frustrated with his calls to the embassy, only ending in more confusion. He also called 2 agencies that were referred to him by our Embassy and you know what advise he got? They told him to enter the DH illegally to singapore, meaning enter SG with a return ticket as a tourist. aRRRggggh. wtf? Its no wonder a lot of DH end up abused and unpaid. How can a supposedly accredited agency give advice like that? I just hope we eventually figure this out before May.

Anyway, on a lighter note.. have been meeting my HS classmates and kada.. and that has been a BLAST from the past LOL. been using facebook a lot, and thru facebook, got in touch with my HS friends and was able to finally meet them after i don't know... 12 years?? We definitely have to do it again before i leave.

Of course meeting my HS kada is always on the itinerary.. saw L's daughter and am sooo shocked at how quickly she's grown.. she'll be starting school soon! OMG ang tanda ko na talaga.. am still in denial.. i've started to dread birthdays (which is sooo unlike me) cause i can't bear to think that 30 and me go together.. (mygawd thirty?) i know i've said before that i wasn't afraid of getting old anymore (mostly because of my parents.. they're more than 60 but they hardly look it.. my dad friggin beats me in wii bowling and tennis) but its easy to say that when you're in your 20s! at 30 i'll have to start using those age-defiance moisturizers. haha eww. yun talaga naisip anu. lol. and i'd have to consistenly put on sunblock. double eww. LOL. or slather lotion. *sighs* .. am getting depressed by the minute.

also on top of my list to dos here in Pinas is tsugtsug's birthday preps. more of that on my next post after maybe my planned Divisoria trip to buy lootbags. But to make a long story short, i've booked the venue, the caterer, my awesome balloon decorator, the photographer, a host/magician and just recently, tsugtsug's cake. Next on my list is the Divi trip and the invites. think that sums it up.

I'm super excited for the divi trip. aside from lootbags i'm thinking of buying pinatas, party hats, a few more balloons (i'll ask Pangs and my sister and hopefully her bf to help decorate the swimming pool) and other party stuff. This is gonna be aweeeesome hehehe.

that's it for now. byers.