Beach Bums

Gavin's first time at the beach was at Alona, Beach in Bohol last August.

It was our Christmas trip gift to our parents, but due to scheduling conflicts, we had to schedule on an August weekend.  Glad to have stayed at the wonderful Amorita :)

     Short plane rides are the best!

    Someone is checking out the room.

    The beautiful parentals and beautiful Alona beach.

     With Ninang and Tito Erwin

    My one and only :)

    Maliit na bata * 

     Pagoda

I will always remember the little boy's laughter as he first touched the ocean with his bare hands and his wide eyed surprise when the waves hit his little body.

     Lolo's Sidekick

     Our little sweetie pie <3

Hope to be back soon!!!

16 Months Check up

We had his 16th month check up last August and it was the first time that Lolo went with us.

Dra. Carmela reminded us not to let Gavin have his way and to instill discipline by making the parent, the boss. It is never too early to instill discipline, so she says.

Gavin is now 31 inches, 22lbs.  He walks and walks and does not talk still.  He can say mom sometimes, he can say wow, car, ate sometimes, ba for bye sometimes and uh. Our homework is still to talk to him more often and not to watch tv (uh oh). 

His injections are now done while sitting down...biggie boy na talaga, huhuhuhu :(

3 women vs a little boy holding him down during injection.

Singapore Breastfeeding Station

With my past visits to Singapore, my days have been devoted to shopping and eating while traveling via their MRT.  As I am visiting Singapore with a toddler on a stroller, I initially planned on just taking the cab most of the time.  Glad to discover that Singapore is a baby friendly country for traveling with infants on public transportation. 

London was traumatic because it had a lot of old tube stations without escalators and elevators which are hard to find. Thus, we had to resort to carrying the stroller by hand through flights of stairs.

In Singapore, we never experienced that.  Almost all pavements have ramps for strollers.  The MRT stations had special entrances for strollers and the likes.  They also had elevators to each and every floor.  It was located usually as you enter the station.  Most had step free platforms too.

Also, almost all malls and shops had elevators because most escalators do not allow buggies. 

This feeding station was actually at the Gardens By The Bay, but pretty much all malls had very decent changing stations with feeding stations...most are just located beside or inside the toilet.

The End Of Being A Milk Mama

The past few months, I have been noticing that my milk supply has been decreasing steadily.

From pumping 4x a day mid year to just 3x a day (one in the morning before work, once at work and one before sleeping), to just expressing when I wake up and before I sleep.  That meant not bringing my extra Medela Bag at work and I can now wear straight up dresses without buttons.  

It went down to just once a day in the mornings, but I was still able to express 5 oz, them it went down to 4oz then 3 0z.  Afterwhich, I just pumped very other day and then the milk supply really became close to nothing.  

That's it, I guess, 17 months of being able to feed my son.  Ten of which exclusively and seven months mix feeding.  I'm grateful for having had a chance to do so.  Quite sad about stopping.

I will miss the complexities of expressing breastmilk as a working mom.

I will miss being his main source of nutrients.  I will miss that it's actually free :)

I still can't believe I managed to do it during work, during my travels, during important meetings, during shopping sprees and yes, even while driving. I will somewhat miss my breast friend Medela Freestyle who has been my constant daily companion aside from my son.  It has reached Tagaytay, Baguio, Bohol, Hongkong, Tokyo, Korea, Scotland, London and Singapore. 

Thank you God for enabling me to be able to feed the little boy.

Glad I sticked to my decision on providing him with the best :) 

Breastfeeding Room: Tagbilaran Airport

I was surprised to see a breastfeeding and kiddie room sign at Tagbilaran Airport.

I followed the sign which led me to the second floor waiting area.  

I was GLAD and excited when I peeked into the room and saw this.

There was a complete play area, with educational toys and books, with a television playing Frozen, with a hard drive containing lots of videos for kids, with a rubber matt where kids can freely play in and staying inside is free! It also has a sofa for nursing moms. 

I could not believe that a local airport can be this kid friendly.  If Tagbilaran can do it, all other airports, especially bigger ones can do it too.  It just proves that it's not a matter of government funds, but if there is a will, there is a way.  Doing a room like this is not expensive.  However, it needs priority as it is much more easier for a local government to convert a place as huge as this to be used by a food tenant instead.  It just goes to show how much Bohol puts importance to families traveling and the happiness of their children.  Happy Kids = Happy Parents = Happy Trips!

Officially A Toddler

Since the little man has grown very fast at 15 months, we have started to declutter and to let go of his baby items.  We let to of his wooden crib which I loved, but do not need anymore.  

     His last day on his crib before it was sent off.

We let go of his playpen where he slept when we brought him home from the hospital.  It was also one of the first things we bought him when I was still pregnant. He doesn't like staying and playing inside it anymore.

We also let go of his infant car seat.  He is now more comfortable sitting on my lap when we go off on a drive.  We have to switch to the toddler car seat soon.

     TB photo at 3 months.

We also let go of his first stroller.

Even if I love it to bits and Gavin loves it as well, we have a better, simpler, but 

smaller stroller which suits us now.

    Gavin at 1 month at Tagaytay, his first out of town trip. Hindi niya kamuka.

As they say, letting go is not an easy task.  However, I firmly believe that these are all but material things.  We had great memories using each and everyone of them, but we need room for items that we really need now.  Times have changed, his needs have changed as well.

I hope that when G grows up, he will learn not to be attached to material things.  I hope that like me, he will feel easy to let go even of his prized possessions, as material things are fleeting.  What matters most are people, time, memories :)

Walking on Sunshine

A walking toddler is really a game changer, but we can now walk hand in hand which makes it all the more sweeter.  Gavin hops when he is happy and excited.  He runs when there is a huge space he can run off to.  He dances his little tiny fat feet when he hears Elmo's Hug The One You Love song.