Baby's Gender (My 2nd Pregnancy)

When I've learned that I'm pregnant again with a baby boy I honestly felt sad. I was hoping and praying for a baby girl, because I know for sure that I could express myself more to a daughter. Having a son isn't bad, in fact my 1st child is very malambing (very sweet) and I love him so much for that. It's just that having another son isn't as exciting as before unless if it is a girl. There'll be not much of a preparation needed anymore besides the name and the new arrangement of the room to set up the crib again.

After a day or 2 I felt okay na and realized that God prioritizes our needs more than our wants (Psalms 4:19). I just cannot question His sovereignty. He knows what's really the best for us and maybe He saw the true desire of my heart (Psalms 20:4); which isn't really about wanting to have a daughter but to help us prepare with our finances. I'm not saying that having a daughter is magastos (although c'mon we all agree naman it's really magastos but it still depends on how we treat or spoil a child I think) but to have yet another son we won't be spending much anymore because good thing I kept all the old stuff that my 1st son had and they're all as good as new. Also the transition to a bigger family wouldn't be as easy as we think especially preparing our panganay (1st child) to school by next year.

Whatever the gender is, having yet another baby is still a blessing from the Lord. We're even blessed that the baby inside is normal with a complete limbs and facial features. I also thank the Lord that I'm now safe from placenta previa, meaning I will be having a normal delivery again.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11

Cupcake Making: A Fun Activity for Kids

Reunited with my eldest brother and his family after 3 months to celebrate his birthday at our parents house. So happy and was excited to see my 2 beautiful nieces. When they arrived I have already prepared an activity for the two girls...

Since it was their father's birthday I asked them to help me prepare their dad's cupcakes; The easiest one is my 'Carrot Walnut'. It was so fun and I did enjoy making cupcakes with them. So happy to see them got excited over pouring in oil, cracking eggs, sifting flour mixing them all together and so on. I even let them drop a batter on each liners. They were so happy and giggly over their cupcakes.

The super fun part was (and they were patiently waiting for this while the cupcakes were baking) the frosting... I prepared all the toppings and the icings; the icings were supposed to be white, green and orange for the carrot but my niece wanted it pink.

 

Only the eldest of my niece were able to frost some of the cupcakes because the other one got afraid of our golden retriever dog named Winnie when she passed by the dirty kitchen, so my niece went up to her grandma sobbing. Huhu =(

So these photos above are the finished products that my niece made for her dad. Two letter "F" for her dad's first letter name and two smileys represents her and her sister. It was a really fun day for me and I guess a fun day for my two nieces too. ^^

Josh's Natal Day

It's my dearest Josh's Birthday! God has blessed him with another year to live. I don't know what are the things he's thankful for, the only thing I know for sure is that he is (always) grateful for having his family around - Jabin his son, his parents, his nephews, his sister (though she's in FL with her husband), my family, specially my parents, and me, of course.

Having a family is such a blessing. Lalo na if the family is loving, supportive, and thoughtful.

With Josh and I, we're blessed to have God as the center of our marriage and family. Through prayers and bible studies we are always reminded to be grateful for all the things we have.

So today, we celebrated Josh's birthday through the help of our family.

First, we had lunch with my family. Josh wanted seafood, though he is allergic to it. He wanted sweet sour fish, kilawin tanigue, and garlic buttered shrimp. So Josh and I went to AANI Weekend Market at Taguig and enjoyed buying fresh organic vegetables. T'was crazy too, seeing fish and shrimps jumping around; we were on the wet side of the market scouting for Lapu Lapu and shrimps. We weren't able to buy tanigue for kilawin though, because we were in a hurry to get home for Jabin. 

My mom prepared Escabeche (sweet sour fish) while I prepared Garlic Buttered Shrimp.

We also had some Pork BBQ that we bought from AANI as additional viand, as well as Vegetable Salad in Caesar/Thousand Island Dressing and Fresh Mangoes for appetizer and dessert.

 

And of course... Birthday cake for the celebrant!

Double Chocolate Cake that I bought from S&R

Baked some Red Velvet Cupcakes too, some of which we brought to his parents.

 

At his parents, we celebrated his birthday during merienda time and it already served as our dinner because it was a heavy snack. We ordered pizza from Shakey's, fried chicken from KFC with coleslaw and macaroni salad, pancit bihon cooked by his mom for long life (Filipino you know!) and lumpia.

Jabin turned 9 months

My son turned 9 months yesterday. His Dad bought mocha cake for him. I made 9 chocolate coated mallows with sprinkles on top and some cake pops. The balloons, which I made 3 weeks ago - to sample a centerpiece to use on his birthday - coincidentally has 9 balloons; A perfect number of balloons to celebrate his 9 months of existence on Earth.

Happy 9 months Baby!  

Mocha Cake by Red Ribbon

Chocolate Coated Mallows

Choco Walnut Cake Pops