9 Months Doctor's Visit

The little boy had a lollipop during his immunization to take his mind off the injection :)

It kinda worked, fast crying only, hehe!

Gained 600grams, grew longer by one inch!

He almost can't fit in the baby weighing scale anymore.

As they say, you can have a child for a lifetime but a baby for only a year.

We are close to a year and I already miss the small baby that I held on tightly in my arms.

Boys Will Be Boys

Last December, Gavin had a hard time crawling.  He will just move two or three paces and gets tired easily.  In just over a month's time, he has turned into a very active malikot baby.  He fell off the bed onto the wooden floor when he crawled face down while the yaya was sleeping.  Lo and behold two weeks after, I woke up to a loud sound and saw my baby face down on the floor too.  This happened with a bd rail in place already.

I had to say goodbye to any semblance of adult inhabiting our room since it is now more or less child proof.  We placed a mattress on the floor to cushion his future accidents from the bed, a bed rail is in place and the wooden crib is placed to the other edge of the bed.

    He is now cruising in the playpen, woohoo!!!

     Trying to walk everywhere with assistance.

   Photos are now always blurred with all the fast movements he is doing :)

Breastfeeding Stations 5

I visited Tokyo sometime not so long ago.  I was gone for a bit longer than usual and I had to come up with 40 packs of 3oz milk for Gavin.  I thought I couldn't do it, but I managed to complete it a day before I left.  I never ever world hard to achieve something like this my whole life and I don't think I have the powers to repeat his again.  So posterity's sake, here's what my body was able to produce as nourishment to Gavineee.

I was also amazed that in Tokyo, there is a nursery/breastfeeding room in every floor of each and every building.  How cool is that huh?  I was so happy never having to worry where I can pump quietly and clean the membranes of my Medela.

Narita Airport-Arrival Area

Upon landing I chanced upon this nursery before going through Immigration.

This has got to be the most efficient breastfeeding room with a functioning and clean crib, boiling water for milk, drying rack, etc.  they had two nursery/breastfeeding rooms per floor and hands down, this is the most well maintained nursery, even cleaner than Changi Airport's.

   Ang linis di ba?

Hotel in Tokyo

Even my hotel in Tokyo had a nursery on every floor in the areas that had retail establishments.

I really think this should be enacted in every country, that an area for breastfeeding be found in every floor.  In Manila, it's so hard to walk in Mall of Asia for example, to find the single breastfeeding room in the entire complex,  pagod at pawis ka na.

The toilets in Tokyo even had a baby seat on the wall where you can place your child while peeing.

I don't think any country can be more baby friendlier than Japan.  

Hats off to how much the Japanese give love and attention to moms and children :)

Narita Airport - Departure Wing

Again, found two nurseries per floor at each departure wing at Narita.

I used the ones before immigration! but he one near the gate has been the most fun and kid friendly nursery/breastfeeding area ever.

It had a play area similar to Gymboree outside and then a semi-private area where moms can breastfeed, change nappies, prepare milk, clean feeding items, etc.

Breastfeeding Stations Part 4

My new favorite mall is now SM Aura.  It's a small mall but has the basic needs that I want every week, the super market, Healthy Options, Baby & Co and of course, SM :)

Glad that they have a nice breastfeeding room.  They call it a family room but I hope that they put ample signs outside that there is such a thing.  All the times that I used it, no one else was inside, so it's safe to assume that not a lot of people know it exists.

I only knew about it after asking the guard of Baby & Co after a poopy emergency with Gavin.

They have private rooms for breastfeeding and a good amount of area for changing diapers.  It was also big enough to fit my mom, the yaya, the stroller, baby and me.  It also has a hot and cold water dispenser and enough bathroom supplies.

It has cute wash bins for the little ones.

Clean nappy = happy baby :)

Goodbye Yanna

Two weeks ago, Gavin's first yaya, Yanna, left us to go back to the province indefinitely.

She joined us after Gavin turned one month old.  We started on rocky ground when she had a bad cough the first two weeks and was always sleepy.  She then broke our diaper genie, but fixed it the same day after I got really mad for her not taking care of things.  

She started taking care of Gavin when he was this small.

After the first two months, I felt that she learned to love my son wholeheartedly.  She loves to sing and quickly memorized all the English songs we play in the ipad as well,as the songs of his toys.  She can sing the songs by herself even without the ipad eventually.  She also had the knack in making Gavin laugh :)

In spite of the short comings, we eventually all had a good relationship with her and my heart was put at ease when I leave home for work.

She was always happy when she sees Gavin do his milestones like crawling, cruising, laughing, etc.

Here are our other helpers, Emelie and Analyn who all love the bulilit dearly,

That's why when she told me she wanted to leave to go back to the province, I said yes wih a heavy heart.  I was praying that Hopefully, God gives us another kind soul who will look after Gavin with love and extra care every day.

This is her last week of giving him a bath :(

Thank you Yanna for taking care of my son and for assisting me in my first dibs in motherhood.

The first months wouldn't have been easier for all of us if not for your help. Xxx

   

    *last day with us! with our new yaya, Nimia, in red too :)

Happy 9 Months

Happy 9 months my love!!!

Spent the day with our last Kindermusik class for the first module then drove to Tagaytay with Ninang Aileen, Tito Paul, Ninang Babs, Isla and Carlyle.

Somebody learned to crawl and cruise while semi-walking this month.

Gavin also started to have a distinct memory, Nangingilala na...apart from this, he has learned to reach out and ask for us to hold him :)

Lunch with the kiddos xxx

We enjoyed our first Merry Go Round ride at Sky Park :)

It was also a bit more special because we celebrated good friends we consider family :)

Gavin was fascinated with his cake and blowing it!

Super happy and excited about his happy reaction, parang he knows it's his birthday talaga.

It was a fun day!  Hope to have more great days along the way with the little one :)

Can't believe it's nine months....as long as how he was like inside my tummy.

Shorter pa nga because he was just inside for 8 months. 

My baby is not a baby anymore....waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

Happy biggie boy darling!

Glad to see you grow every single day!

Huggie buggie!

BFFS in BF

Aileen is my oldest friend, meaning we have been friends for 28 years now, ever since we were five years old.  We studied in Assumption and lived all the way in Paranaque when Paranaque seemed as far as Nuvali.  Both our parents were working so we were whisked off the school bus.  I can still remember how I chatted with her when I first rode the bus.  I offered to exchange stationaries with her and my whole folder of scented paper flew at the South Super Highway.  

Our friendship stood the test of time, from being in separate sections through the years, going to another school for a year, being in different universities and finally when she migrated to the US.

We always find a way to catch up regularly through phone calls, emails, face book, whatsapp and fiber now.  It's like she still lives five minuts from my house.

It has always been a treat to spend time whenever she visits Manila or whenever I visit the States. 

We can see each other every single day and not run out of things to laugh about.  

Merienda at Larcy's

Our other best friend is Babits who transferred to AC around Grade Four from Zobel :)

She was also our bus mate and lived few blocks away.

Babits and I, on the other hand were classmates the whole of gradeschool, high school and even for some classes in college.  All three of us practically grew up together, got married a few years apart and have always made ways to spend time with each other in spite of life's surprises.

      Dinner at The Girl + The Bull

They were intrigued on why there is a ramen craze in hot Manila so a visit to Ukkokei was a must.

Capped off the week long visit with a short trip to Tagaytay to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.

Here is our day documented by sweet Isla's camera shots :)

Here's to more years of friendship and hoping our kids become good friends too.

How lucky they will be to meet life long friends as early as five, just like us :)

Kindermusik Cockadoodlemoo

Our first Kindermusik module came to a close last week.

Gavin and I had a great time learning about animals, their sounds, the idea of high and low/up and down, movements, infant massage, and many others.

Kindermusik is a great tool for parents whilst giving them ideas on creative play with the kiddos.

More active fun time vs passive tv/ipad time. 

It was also a good way to bond with each other,mans at the same time to give the babies a chance to see other babies and be more sociable.  I know they are still super tiny and might not seem to pay attention, but I feel that it helped Gavin to be at ease with different people.

Many thanks to Teacher Marah and teacher Pia of Mindbuilders.

See you again for the summer module :)

It was nice spending our Saturday mornings with out classmates- 

Bradley, Rafa, Liana, Cassidy, Leighton, Sophia and Armie 

Plus our constant supporters, Lola and Lolo!

This is Gavin after a class haha!