...manila, manila

it's been more than a month since we got back from Manila (and not really Manila, but Antipolo) .. spent christmas and new year's there. (i swore i'll never spend christmas in SG again. never everrrrr.. to friggin quiet.) nothing makes me feel at home than firecrackers and bloody "juan lost his finger again" news.

its always exciting to go back home.. first week my dad hit a motorcycle and a jeepney (TG my dad was okay.. TG the motorcycle driver is alive.. TG the jeepney is actually impounded so he couldn't claim money for the damage my dad has done to his jeep. lol.) .. 2nd week, my parents' mayna birds got stolen. demmit!! (goodbye muymuy and maimai the 3rd.. or are they the 4th? i've lost track) this robber climbed on my parents' balcony.. ignored everything else there and just stole the birds. they didn't even take the cages. wonder if they're still alive. huhuhu. just when maimai (or is it muymuy) was learning to speak hello.. guess his first word should've been 'help' or 'saklolo' or 'magnanakaw'.. much more useful.

i cried at the airport when it was time to leave. (must be this preggy hormones) i didn't want to go back.. i guess its because we got settled in at 2 weeks staying at our house.. we already had a routine.. ooh i miss pandesal. every morning, pangs would buy pandesal just 2 houses away and he'll cook bacon and hotdog for me. lunch time it would be out somewhere in a mall or jollibee!! hihihi. i love jollibee now. i love chowking too. waaah. i miss chowking wanton noodles. wanton noodles here taste,..chinese! lol. i dont like chinese tasting wanton noodles.. i want the fake chowking ones! bwahahah! and mangoes. huhuhu. i love our mangoes. hindi lasang gamot. dito lasang gamot! bwiset!.

christmas day was our houseblessing. we had sooooo much food. we had lechon, lengua, caldereta, pancit malabon, bbq, rellenong bangus, embutido, lumpiang ubod.. a lotttttt. i only spent like 10k(php) to feed 50 people. and we had sooo much leftovers we could feed another 30. that day was soooo tiring. never imagined entertaining could be verrry tiring. we'll have to think twice of doing that again. (but pangs loved it.. he said to make it a yearly thing) we also bought our bedframe and sofa just for the houseblessing. we didn't want our guests to see our older-than-me-double-deck-turned-king-size-bed and the safety-hazard-rattan-sofa. and ooohh so happy how the renovations turned out. my dad did an aweeeesome job. everyone got the mediterranean theme hehe. (i am so over modern-asian) and some said our lot looked more spacious than its 240 sqm.



house facade... see the rounded grill thingie? has our initials on it!


side gate.. love the brick! (just found ideas in magazines, internet)


had everyone at the back of the house..we have so much food! all of us except ate chary (she was at my parents house at this time)


my makulit cousins..look at tenten! teenager already!(right of kris, one with the headband)


tenten playing taboo.. (that's my dad's hand at the back hehe)


The chad on the mic.. yep,...there's always time for magic sing!


bryan and vian... tired after all that running.. (just watching them made me tired!)

new year's day we used our newly built brick grill.. though we discovered some design flaws (haha) but its easy enough to fix. we didn't have any fireworks but i've got some pretty rich neighbors cause they had these really awesome fireworks that i only see on TV hehe.

we also spent some 2 days in bulacan with my in-laws.. finally got some shopping done for maternity pants and stuff. everything was so hectic.. first the shopping of the bedframe and sofa (which i had no idea would be quite difficult..there was the problem with the delivery date, we had to have it before christmas and then everything we liked was already sold/reserved!) then grocery shopping for the houseblessing.. then shopping for office clothes (for me and pangs.. his new work entails longsleeves and a tie!) .. never imagined shopping could be so stressful. we bought a center table also and curtains and rods. (that's how bare our house is)

eiii.. tsugtsug received gifts already! (lucky guy!) chad (ate's fiance) gave us this really great looking diaper bag and this thingie we can use to record and hear tsugtsug's heartbeat! he got feeding bottles from pangs' cousin.. and shoes and clothes from jing and kate! (thanks guys!) i have a feeling this baby is going to get sooo spoiled with gifts. (first grandchild in both sides of the family!)

i got great christmas presents as well.. makeup from 2 sisters (laura mercier concealer from ate ging and prestige eye makeup palette from ate chary).. maternity pants from mom.. pangs got this gorilla tripod thingie and lots of shirts..

also celebrated our 2nd anniversary!!
pangs had flowers delivered at my office (so sweet, as usual!mwahhh).. L and M liked my flowers hehe.


of course, had to take picture of my present once we got home


had dinner at our new favorite japanese resto at Suntec. (had very nice pinay server too!)

there's big news for pangs.. he's gonna be deployed to tokyo for 3 months. he's leaving on sunday. totally mixed emotions for me. i'm excited for him and also sad that we'll be apart when i'm in my last trimester... (okay, more on the sad part haha) but we realized its time to grow a bit and prepare ourselves to make these kind of sacrifices.. it has its pros anyways.. we'll be able to save, (they're giving him per diem for that) save more (cause i'll have the baby at Pinas).. and I'll have help from my mom once tsugtsug is out..

mom and dad are going here in SG on Feb.. dad will stay a week, mom will stay the whole month, and then we'll go home together. so its not so bad for me. Hopefully, it'll be okay for Pangs too. we still have so much stuff to do.. packing (we're letting go of the condo), buying stuff (he never had winter clothes! skype phone!!) and difficult decisions made that led us to this point.. we've dealt with this before (being apart for 6 months when he first got here in SG) so i hope it'll be not as bad as the first time..i would like to think we've matured since that time...
anyway.. good luck to us. and to tsugtsug hihihi. (my baby should get a proper name)

speaking of tsugtsug.. i am so addicted to looking at baby stuff online.. and all these terms i'm learning.. bassinets, layettes, rompers, creepers.. LOL! never understood what these meant before (still vague on the 'creepers').. but we haven't bought anything yet! twice, pangs and i went to the baby section thinking of buying something but twice we have failed. (too much baby stuff confuses us, i think) i'll probably buy a few avent bottles here before i go(they say its cheaper here) but the rest i'll buy in Manila.. i still like looking at stuff online though.. all the pack and plays.. cribs.. strollers.. wahahah. i think its what's causing my 'baby dreams'. first i dreamt i was giving tsugtsug a bath (with his diaper still on!).. but he's caucasian! (perhaps from looking at all the baby models online?) and then i dreamt of ate lala's babies (she only has one in real life) and the second one looked like ziggy! (search for him online) and everyone was pretending he looked normal except for me! bwahahah. M tried to search for the meaning of my 'ziggy dreams' but even google had no answer. Also, my tummy isn't THAT big yet (still not getting seats in the MRT!!).. although tsugtsug is very active (kicks a LOT) i'm beginning to worry a bit.. my next checkup is on feb 2 so i'll ask my doctor again. (though she does measure every checkup during ultrasound.. so i guess i'm just being paranoid.. i think its everyone's 'you're tummy's so small!' or the 'there's no bump there' comments that are getting to me)

that's it for me.. (quite a long post) byeee for nowwwwwwwwwww.