The one with the superstitions

My parents aren't superstitious at all. My entire family isn't, my siblings and I just didn't grow up believing in old wives' tales and folklore. My mom does say "pwera buyag" which is the Bisaya version of "pwera usog" every now and then, but I think it's more of a habit than actually shooing away "usog" (I don't even really know what "usog" is). And there was that time when they didn't let me go out with my friends two nights before my wedding. That's about it.

Pregnancy, however, can bring out the paranoia in you. Something unusual happened one night a few weeks ago when I was over at my parents' house, and let's just say that my mom scared me so much that I seriously considered sleeping with a pair of scissors on my bedside table. Crazy, right? I told Abet all about it, and even he has become paranoid, he now double-checks all our windows before we go to sleep to make sure they're shut tight.

Now, I would have been okay with sleeping with scissors (I don't) and I don't mind the tightly-shut windows. What I do mind is the fact that my mother now refuses to cook her squid in black ink dish, which is one of my favorite dishes in the whole wide world, because my baby might turn dark. No use trying to explain that food intake has nothing to do with melanin production. (I did eat the singkamas that my brother Joe's classmate gave me 'para pumuti ang anak mo, 'te', but that's just because I love singkamas.)When I'm at my parents' house, I get everything--and I mean EVERYTHING--I ask for when it comes to food, EXCEPT the black squid dish. And not being able to eat it makes me crave for it even more. It's so frustrating.

I guess it's the probinsyana in her that's making my mom believe all these things, as probinsyanas are wont to do. You can take the girl out of Bacuag, Surigao del Norte, but you can't take Bacuag, Surigao del Norte out of the girl.

The one with the missing boobies

 I posted this picture on Instagram last night:

there are 3 girls in this picture

I was looking at my feed this morning, and my reaction to this picture was "WHERE ARE MY BOOBS??? Why is my chest flat as a board???"

I'm so OA, I swear. Abet says we're probably going to have an OA kid. I think so, too. My boobies are fine.

If you've seen me in person, you've probably noticed that I'm well endowed. An increase in cup size is supposed to be noticeable in the first trimester of pregnancy, but it took a while before I noticed any changes that I honestly thought at first that my chest would no longer grow because 'quota na talaga.'

At 22 weeks, my breasts are crazy big, the biggest they've ever been--and they'll probably just get even larger in the months to come. I'm trying to fight gravity as best as I can so I've resorted to wearing sports bras that work like binders every day for the least jiggling possible. They're a bit uncomfortable, but ganun talaga, tiis-ganda muna. So there. My boobs look flatter and practically don't show up in photos when I'm lying down.

I love my bosom (and so does my husband, he's a total boob man), but what I really want is for my breasts to do what they're supposed to do: nourish my baby. I'm really praying that all goes well breastfeeding-wise once the baby arrives.

The one with the pregnancy advice from my dad

"Don't scratch your tummy if it itches, you'll get stretchmarks."

So says my father.

He's seen my mother go through five pregnancies (six if you include the fetus floating around in formalin in my parents' cabinet), I guess this makes my dad more than qualified to give me pregnancy advice.

My mom has ZERO stretchmarks, so my dad probably knows what he's talking about.

I hear ya, Papi. I hear ya. No scratching my tummy, it is.

*image from here

The one with the 20th week check-up

I am 20 weeks into my pregnancy today, which means I'm already halfway there! On one hand, I'm feeling a bit sad that I only have another 20 weeks of being pregnant left to go, but on the other, I just wish that the next 20 weeks will fly by so I can finally hold my baby.

I went for one of my monthly check-ups today, and all's good. Audrey's measurements and heart rate are all fine, and at my halfway point, I have gained back all the weight I lost since the beginning of my pregnancy. I am now at my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm aiming for a weight gain of just around 20-25 lbs. (maybe even just 15 lbs. if I can help it), so I just need to be really careful and try to stick to the 1-pound-a-week guideline.

I have a bunch of lab tests to do before my next doctor's appointment in a month, including the Oral Glucose Challenge Test to determine if I have gestational diabetes. I've been dreading this one. I'm overweight, which means that I'm already at risk. Also, I live for sweets, I'm surprised that all my blood tests so far showed a normal blood sugar level. I'm afraid that I might not be so lucky this time. I'm worried because while I've been doing a good job of limiting my soda and chocolate intake (a big feat for me), I can't stop eating fruits. Fruit is the one thing I want to eat during my pregnancy so far. I still have a month to go before I take the test, I just need to make sure that I watch what I put in my mouth until then (and all throughout the rest of my pregnancy for the rest of my life). I'll also keep taking my chia seeds and hope that it helps.

So, there you go. So far, so good. We're fervently praying that everything keeps going well.

*image from here

The one with the father-in-law

Abet, together with my in-laws, visited his dad today. I stayed behind for health reasons.

I've been thinking about my father-in-law a lot in the last few days, with the holidays and all. He died when Abet was 1 year and 3 months old, Abet's brother Obet was still in their mother's tummy. He died at 28 years old--both his sons have outlived him.

I often wonder how different Abet's and his family's lives would have been if his father didn't die so young. Things probably wouldn't have been as difficult for them; his mother would not have struggled to raise two boys all by herself. But then again, they probably won't be as strong as they are right now. Abet, my mother-in-law, and my brother-in-law are some of the most resilient people I know. One thing's for sure: if Abet's dad had lived, Abet probably won't be a musician now, which means that we probably wouldn't have met. Ah, the twists and turns of life.

With our pogi nephew Ycko, who will be the best kuya in the world

Hi Daddy,

You're going to have a granddaughter soon. Please watch over her from heaven, okay?

Love,

Your daughter-in-law

*pictures grabbed from my brother-in-law

The one with the Joker

My brother Joe joined a Halloween costume fun run earlier, and he went as the Joker from Batman. Naturally, he asked me to do his makeup. He didn't give me enough notice so I didn't have the time to get the necessary supplies, I had to make do with what I already have:

I didn't have any white face paint, so I just used my lightest foundation with white eyeshadow to whiten his face. The lips were MAC Russian Red (but of course!), the cheek scars were made of tissue paper and spirit gum, and the eyes were painted with black Maybelline Lasting Drama gel eyeliner.

I used the shade Polyester Bride from the Urban Decay Ammo palette (one of the best eyeshadow palettes in the world!). It was a bit shimmery and wasn't as opaque as I would have liked, but it was the best I could do.

Here's the end result:

Why so serious???

We're both pretty satisfied with the outcome. Joker's makeup is very crude, it doesn't really take major makeup skills to pull it off.

I'm now considering learning prosthetic makeup, there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube on this matter. The skills should come in handy during Halloween.

The one with the Petunia Pickle Bottom bags

Before I got pregnant, I told myself that I'll get a Kate Spade Stevie diaper bag once I have a baby. I once said that I'll get Kate Spade shoes for my wedding, and hey, it happened. Kate Spade is my favorite brand, but I don't own any of her bags, so I told myself that I could reward myself with this once I become a mother.

It's gorgeous, isn't it? It even comes with a cute changing pad! The price? $400. Kate Spade isn't a luxury brand like Louis Vuitton or Prada, but it's still too much for my middle-class income. It's not something I can buy before months of saving up and without much thought, and all this thinking makes me realize that P16,000+ (if I had it) is not something I'm willing to spend on a bag at this point. That amount can already pay for so many baby stuff, so... no. No Kate Spade diaper bag for me.

I was window-shopping virtually for less expensive stylish baby bags earlier when I came across the brand Petunia Pickle Bottom on the Nordstrom and Zappos website. Petunia Pickle Bottom! I want to buy a bag just because it sounds like someone from Hogwarts. It doesn't hurt that I find their designs so cute:

Their bags cost $130-$180, so they're still a no-go. Abet is probably relieved that we can't afford these because the floral designs are too girly, and he'll probably be carrying most of the baby stuff when we go out.

That means I'm still on the hunt for a stylish, non-girly, non-pa-cute, and affordable diaper bag. We've been to the Baby Couture shop in Glorietta, and we like their items the most so far, but suggestions are most welcome.

The one with the first sonogram

Our anniversary celebration was pretty much low-key. Abet said that we can have dinner wherever I want, but I only wanted to eat two things: lettuce and a Twix bar. For my lettuce fix, we had dinner at Cyma so I can have the Roka Salata (which I didn't enjoy as much because the sight of my husband devouring a very bloody filet mignon made me want to throw up), and he bought the Twix from a 7-11.

Despite the uneventful dinner, it was still a day I will never forget. As a gift to ourselves, we scheduled our first ultrasound that day so we can meet our baby for the very first time. Oh, it was wonderful to see our baby! The best gift of all was knowing that all the measurements are good. I've been worrying the last few weeks because I lost weight during the first trimester and I still haven't gained the pounds back, plus I got sick during the last week of September. It was such a relief to know that the baby's size is good. And that the baby is so malikot!

Abet and I even got a nice bonus. We found out right then what the sex of our baby is:

IT'S A GIRL!!!

A little princess! Abet and I are beyond thrilled! (I covered her 'flower' with a flower because it's so clearly a vajayjay.)

We weren't expecting to know this early, I'm just 17 weeks along, but it seemed that our baby already wanted us to find out. The OB-sonologist was very thorough, and it's a girl, alright. I guess my child didn't want us to call her Peanut anymore. We can now call her by name: Audrey. Our dear Audrey.

Unlike some of my mommy friends, I had no hunch, not even a little bit, on what the sex of my baby is, but Abet knew all along that it was a girl. He keeps saying 'she' and 'her' when referring to our baby. As first-time parents, we have no preference, we would have been happy either way, but Abet just knew that our baby is a girl.

My mother-in-law is the happiest of all to know that Abet and I are having a daughter. She has been fervently praying for a female grandchild because she has two sons and she already has a grandson from Abet's brother. Even the help, Aling Baby, has been praying novenas to the Nazareno for us to have a girl.

We already bought Audrey her first pair of shoes (that was how we announced to my mother-in-law that she's having a granddaughter). Looking at baby stuff is more fun now that we know what gender we're shopping for. The future seems even clearer, as well. I barely slept last night, I was imagining what our life would be like with our little girl. I thought of what her baptismal party and first birthday will be like, how to decorate her nursery, what activities we'll be doing, etc.

Knowing our baby's sex just makes me more excited than ever for her to come out. I'm already counting the days (155, according to the tracker on my sidebar). In the meantime, I'll keep praying that Audrey keeps growing healthy inside me, and that I have a safe delivery. 

The one with the wedding memories

Yesterday, on our anniversary, I couldn't help but reminisce about our wedding day. I can't believe it's already been a year since the most magical day of my life. My wedding was everything I hoped for and so much more. The only criteria I have for a beautiful wedding are a memorable ceremony, live music, lots of great food, lots of love, and lots of tears (yep, I like waterworks at weddings). I don't really care about the outfits, the flowers, the car, the decor, etc. My wedding met all of my criteria--enough for me to consider it a success--but I got so much more than what I asked for. I have enough wonderful memories of that special day to make me smile whenever I reminisce about it in the years to come.

Waking up that morning knowing that the love of my life will finally be my husband by day's end. Having the most fun with my siblings before my suppliers arrived. Lots of laughing and singing and goofing around. Seeing my dream wedding photographers arrive to cover my wedding. Lots of cats at the prep site. Kate Spade shoes. Personalized Bible from my best friend. Lacquer box with coins from the countries we visited as arrhae. Perfect makeup. Efficient coordinators. Ceramic ring holder from Paloma's Nest with our "motto." Gorgeous bouquets. Beautiful beaded wedding cord lovingly made by my mother-in-law. My mama zipping me up. My sister putting on my shoes. Friendly suppliers making me feel at ease. Family pictorials at the gazebo.

Arriving at my dream church. Realizing that our prayers for perfect weather on our wedding day was granted. The coordinator telling me that "It's time." Standing in front of closed chapel doors. Doors opening in front of me. A. Barrios-Mangore's Julia Florida, the very first song Abet serenaded me with, on solo guitar as my bridal march. Everyone looking at me. Walking down the aisle. Seeing my groom waiting for me at the altar. My parents giving me away to my love. Fr. Allen, the best priest ever (who used an iPad). Metallic purple misallettes. The most beautiful and personalized ceremony ever (complete with pictures Fr. Allen grabbed from our FB accounts flashed on the iPad). Fr. Allen playing up the UP vs. UST rivalry. Lots of tears. Lots of laughter. Vows. Forgetting the vows I had memorized the week before. Lovely live church music thanks to Abet's friends. Rings. Being pronounced man and wife. Contract signing. Pictorials. Seeing my dearest friends. Seeing guests from Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Surigao, Davao, US, and even faraway Germany. Picture taking all over the Caleruega grounds with my brand-new husband. Kissing. Lots and lots and lots of kissing.

Arriving at the reception venue and finding out that the caterer made the very simple hall we rented more beautiful than we could have ever imagined. Elegant table settings. Kit-Kat escort cards. Purple M&Ms as favors. A wishing tree instead of a guestbook. Live jazz music. A double bass, something I've always wanted for my wedding. Being served food by the waiters before we went out to meet our guests. A purple signature alcoholic drink named "Purple Sonata." The best food I ever ate at a wedding. Guests coming up to our table for pictorials. Photo booth fun. A very simple cake from Becky's Kitchen. My brother Momon's speech. My sister's maid-of-honor speech. My brother-in-law's best man toast. Playing a cello+guitar duet instead of having a first dance. My sister playing Beatles on the guitar. My brother playing Bach on cello. My dad singing "Time After Time," a song he taught me when I was a child. My mother-in-law's speech. My dad's speech, the BEST father-of-the-bride speech of all time. Seeing Abet cry for the very first time, thanks to my dad's speech. Thanking our guests. More tears. More kissing. Lots of hugs and well-wishes.

Sigh.

Yes, it's already been a year, but I can still remember everything like it was just yesterday. I'll probably forget the details as the years go by, but I'll never, ever forget how happy and loved I felt that day.

The one with the first wedding anniversary

"If I get married, I want to be very married."
 - Audrey Hepburn

It's been a wonderful year of being very married to the love of my life. I'm looking forward to many, many more years of very married-ness to come.

The one with the non-Bridal Book feature

With our first wedding anniversary (and 6th overall) coming up in a few days, I was suddenly reminded of this email I received many months ago:

Ah, BridalBook with the beautiful featured weddings. How many brides would have loved to get an email like this? I was so giddy that they considered our wedding to be worthy of a feature on their site along with the big-budget weddings with top-notch suppliers. They only feature special and unique weddings, and getting that email made me feel that all our efforts to make our wedding special and unique despite our limited budget paid off.

So, where's the link the to the feature? Sad to say, there's none. I received that email back in April, which was a very bad time for Abet and me. He was being stretched to the brink of snapping with grad school requirements, he was exhausted, we fought a lot, we didn't have enough money to pay for his school expenses, blah blah blah. We were so stressed at that time, and we were struggling to keep our heads above the water. The website feature was the furthest thing from my mind. I never got to submit the required pictures at all. Sorry, Kristy from BridalBook.ph.

It's okay. Featured or not, I know that our wedding was beautiful. Abet and I worked hard for it to make sure that it reflected our style and personalities, and we got the best suppliers our budget would allow. I like to think that it was Abet's and my ideas and efforts that got recognized--not our photographers', not our coordinators--not anyone else's, but ours (which our photographers, Mimi+Karl, beautifully captured). We had elements that were so uniquely Abet and Dea. We might not have gotten that feature, but I'm still very much honored. Thank you, BridalBook.

The one with the buko juice overload

I got a bit of bad news this week: I have a urinary tract infection.

It was a bit disturbing to know that I have a bacterial infection when I’m supposed to be at my healthiest. I felt guilty upon finding out the results of my urinalysis, and I kept wondering if I did not take care of myself well enough. Was it not enough water? Too much sex? I constantly suffer from UTI so I’m extra cautious now that I’m pregnant, knowing that the chances of getting one increases during pregnancy. It was disappointing that I still got infected despite my best efforts.

Fortunately, American Pregnancy had this to say:

You may do everything right and still experience a urinary tract infection.

Ah, thank you. That makes me feel so much better. This one, as well:

If your doctor treats a urinary tract infection early and properly, the UTI will not cause harm to your baby.

You'll be okay, Peanut. I promise.

I'm scheduled to see my OB tomorrow to get prescribed antibiotics. Until then, I'm drinking an awful lot of fresh buko juice. Cranberry juice is supposed to be better, but it's very acidic and I have bad acid reflux.

To make my buko-chugging experience more enjoyable, I make myself this beverage:

Chocolate buko shake made with fresh buko juice and chocolate-flavored Anmum. Calcium, folate, and other good stuff for my growing baby plus the natural bacteria-fighting goodness of buko. Perfect, eh?

The one with my favorite teachers

Dr. Papa and Dr. Mama, college professors, my heroes, my inspiration. I cannot even begin to say just how proud I am of these two. They inspire not only me and my siblings, but also the students who have had the good fortune of being in their classes. Up until last year, they both taught college at Bilibid Prison for P35 an hour.

Sir Abet, guitar teacher, my beloved husband. He had dreamed of  teaching in his conservatory since he was in college, and it makes me so happy to see him living that dream. I'm so proud to see him work on being a good teacher to his students.

To the three teachers in my life, keep inspiring. I love you.
To all the teachers I've had, thank you.

To all the teachers out there, I salute you.

Happy Teachers' Day!

The one with the anniversary wishlist

October will always be one of my favorite months of the year simply because it's Abet's and my anniversary month. It's extra special because we have only one anniversary--we got married exactly five years after we got together as boyfriend and girlfriend. It's even more special than ever this year because not only is it our very first as a married couple, but also because we're now soon-to-be parents.

I already know what Abet wants as a present: a MacBook Pro. Alas, I cannot afford it in time for our anniversary. It will take me a few more months of saving (and overtime work) before I can get it for him. Good thing he's--to borrow a bit of fast food terminology--"willing to wait." As for me, I want nothing but gadgets, and I don't mean the latest iPhone or iPad. I want kitchen gadgets. While other women will probably ask for something fancy, I want kitchen stuff. Yes, I have turned into a domestic diva.

Here are some of the things I want:

plum KitchenAid mixer (I've wanted one for the looongest time)

Oster blender (it has to be Oster)

ice cream/gelato maker

panini press (that opens all the way so it's also a grill)

Ah, to dream. Libre lang naman mangarap. I don't think I'll be getting any of the items above this month because we're seriously saving up for Peanut's arrival, but that's okay. The baby is our priority right now. We'll probably get these as Peanut grows older, I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of bakin' and (fruit and milk) shakin' and ice cream and sandwich makin' once we have a kid.

For now, we have the best anniversary present we could ever give each other: the precious baby in my tummy. And more than any kitchen appliance (or any material thing, for that matter), what I really, really want is a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery and a healthy baby.

The one with the 100 bathroom trips a day

The story of my life.