1st Complete Family Pic and Monopod

Mack has been with us for more than two months already. But only during his baptism that I realized we haven't had any picture as a complete family yet even we have access to cameras all the time. Sometimes its Gabbie and Rafa and me, sometimes its Mack and Daddy and me and sometimes just the kids. I wonder why. Maybe because taking a selfie using the ipad or cellphone as a family is a bit difficult when there are five members already? 

So here is our first ever complete family picture, taken seven weeks after Mack was born

Take note that those pictures were grabbed pa from friends' fb posts.

And because of that, we got a monopod! Hehe. So it's not just because it's the "in" thing nowadays. 

We have a valid reason to use a selfie stick.

Happy 2nd month Mack!

Despite the hurdles and ordeal our baby boy had gone on his first six weeks of life (whole story on a separate post next time), he seems an active, thriving and a happy baby who is showered by his Ates with so much love and affection that sometimes they forget that he is a real baby, not a toy or a baby alive. Hehe.

 So on your second month, Baby Mack, we wish you'd gain back the lost pounds due to bacterial infection and that you'd be free of any H disease that the doctors are talking about and that you'll continue to dede more from mommy so you will grow healthy and strong so you can play already with Ate Gabbie and Ate Rafa and you can go biking with Daddy.

We love you our bunso Mikael. God knows the joy and happiness you have brought into our lives.

Some Photobooth Shots from Mack's Baptism

Another Ecobaby to Save the Mother Earth

Our Kulasa

And so after taking the qualifying exams in three different all-girl schools, we settled for St. Scholastica's Academy in Marikina.

PAREF was a nice school, in my opinion. But we felt that it wasn't really for us (or for her). First, the tuition fee is a little bit over our budget and it increases significantly every year. They offered us scholarship but we didn't qualify in terms of financial capability. Second, and most important deciding factor for us, is the distance and proximity. Travel time each school day is a total of three hours, at least, plus the waiting time if she would join the carpool (which is also pegged at four thousand pesos a month!). That would mean she'd be waking up three hours before the class starts and would be arriving home at least two hours after dismissal. That's five hours wasted every single day for one whole school year.

So we were left with two choices- Assumption Antipolo and SSAM. It was difficult for us to decide which one to choose. Distance from house to AA is not that much and so is the travel time. Tuition fee, I guess, is manageable. But Gabbie was set on St. Scho. It was like she fell in love with the school the moment she set foot on it months ago when we were still scouting for big schools for her. I never. Thought she would remember. She told me the chapel was awesome. She got excited with the huge playpark and the greens (which were never present in her pre-school). She got excited with the thought of having nuns in the campus. She got excited with the girly girly uniform. She got excited wih the idea of riding a school bus. And she got excited knowing some of her pre-school classmatea are also going to the same school as her.

But during the "deciding time", I would talk to her and lay the comparison between the two schools for her to think over. Both have spacious campus and play area, both are run by nuns, both are all-girls, both are nice schools and both offer school bus services.  But she was set on St. Scho. I even asked her for the last time, before I went to SSAM to pay for the tuition fee, if that was already her final choice. Her answer was a resounding "Yes!"

And so we went to the interview, orientation, uniform measurement and books and school supplies sale. And now, with four days left before the big day comes and four days left of her summer vacation, she told me (and her baby sister) that she is excited to go to St. Scho already.

(The books which I have labeled already)

(Fitting her uniform after it was sent to mananahi for some adjustments)

(Practicing her writing skills everyday for two weeks prior to school opening)

(And the bags that are packed and ready to go)

Summer Activities

With Mack being here and all, I planned some activities for Gabbie to prevent her from getting bored. Aside from the McDonald Kiddie Crew, we enrolled her in Modern Dance And Drawing Lessons in Teatro Marikenyo, on top of their usual morning and afternoon biking around the village and playing Filipino street games with the neighborhood kids.

McDonalds Kiddie Crew

Gabbie and cousing Ate Bengbeng as McDonalds Kiddie crews this summer

Hashtag 100 Happy Days

There's an ongoing trend in FB and Instagram where people post pictures that make them happy everyday for 100 days. A hashtag #100happydays must be included in the post, though, and the posts should be made publich so that the pictures can be easily tracked by whoever started it all (or created it) because at the end of 100 days, they are supposed to send us a photobook or a compilation of all the photos that we have uploaded and hashtagged.

Here are some photos I have shared so far. I don't know and I'm not sure of the authenticity of the makers of this program but for me, sharing these photos (as what we usually do in FB and IG on a daily basis with or without the hashtag) means sharing my happiness, too.

Im already on my 50-ish days and I'd say this is something I look forward to doing everyday, because each photo that I share has its own story to tell.

His first days