Friday, December 15, 2006 

Birthday Blues


It was my birthday yesterday. I'm ugh... 32. The sad thing is, I can actually remember my Mom was she was 32, so somehow it makes me feel really old.


It was rather low-key -- not that I ever have a huge bash or anything -- but I wonder if it comes with getting older. Or maybe it's just this December in particular where everything feels so blah. What is it about this year?!?


I ended the evening with dinner at Segafredo with Louie, Mirzi, Jon and Sheila, and Jacque who was in town from Singapore for a wedding. Great food, great company, awful awful traffic!!!


Reflections at 32:


  • That I'm lucky to have Louie - he's my best friend and a terrific dad to Chloe and Cole.

  • That I have a great family - both Fortich and Laparan. And I never saw it more than when I was hospitalized last October for some nasty virus.

  • That I have terrific friends - in all places in the world, apparently.

  • That I'm blessed to be who I am and where I am.

So while I may bitch alot about life, I really and truly am blessed. :-) I'm a little worried about getting older (vain person that I am), but hey, I hear the 40 is the new 30 (or whatever crap that was). So here's to aging gracefully!

5:48 PM | |

Monday, December 11, 2006 

The Ring

Louie bought me a beautiful ring for my upcoming birthday while he was in Singapore. I cried when he gave it to me, because it was such a sweet gesture (and you know honestly, when you're married, you don't really expect those kinds of things anymore).

The ring was too small for my ring finger -- or rather, my finger was too fat for the ring! I still have to lose some considerable pregnancy fat! Anyway, I was so excited about the ring, I decided to wear it on my pinky finger yesterday when we went to Mall of Asia with Rony, my parents and the kids. It wasn't as tight as it should be, but I figured the ring was snug enough on my finger. We spent the whole afternoon at the mall before dropping Rony off at the airport (he left for Hong Kong).

We then proceeded back to QC and dropped off my parents and then dropped off the kids at home because Louie and I were going to church. As we were about to park for church, I realized the ring wasn't on my finger and I started getting all hysterical. Louie was in the car, telling me to calm down and I was just so upset, I couldn't stop crying and saying sorry to Louie about me losing the ring. It was such an awful feeling...

We skipped mass and headed home, going over every inch of the car and the steps and the ground floor of the house. I told Louie I was fairly sure I had felt it on my finger on the way home. Still we couldn't find it. I lost hope and figured I lost it at the mall. I got mad at God a bit. I was saying things like, "Oh God must be getting back at me for not having gone to church for the past 2 weeks," and Louie was saying, "God isn't like that."

And of course, I was issuing nonstop apologies to Louie for being so careless. I felt bad that the charge for the ring would be coming out on his credit card bill, but with no more ring in sight.

Louie was so great about the whole thing... he swore he wasn't mad. I asked about how much the ring cost, and he said not to worry about it. And he just kept going on about how the ring was from him and he was still there. How it was replaceable (although we'd need to work a bit to get another one) and how we should just be thankful that God's blessed us with other great non-replaceable blessing like the kids' health. I couldn't believe he was taking it so well.

We watched the finale of Philippine Idol last night (it was 2 hours long!) and from time to time I would look at Louie and say "I'm sorry". Because I really really was. He kept saying it was ok. And he said that "you never know, there's still a 1% chance we might find it." And again he repeated the whole "just be glad it's something that can be replaced". And finally, realizing my own stupidity, I said sorry to God for being such a dork. Then I started saying, "I hope whoever found the ring needed money for a sick kid or something." It just helped me accept the loss a little better.

After Idol, we went upstairs and I went to the bathroom to check breast pads (need them because I breastfeed/breastpump for the baby). Imagine my utter shock, when there in my bra, I see... my ring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I started screaming and crying and looking for Louie. It was unbelievable. And then I remembered, I had breast pumped in the car. It must have slipped off when I was maneuvering pads and the pump!

After I calmed down a bit, I realized that it had happened after I'd said "sorry" to God. And it really got me thinking. Thinking about how I'd gotten mad at Him over such a small thing. Thinking about how after I'd come back and said sorry, He gave me back the ring. It was a strange thing.... Louie told me that I just gotta have a bit more faith. And you know, maybe that's true.

Thanks God. Sorry I was such a doofus. I'll really try not to get that way again.

2:26 PM | |

Wednesday, December 06, 2006 

Baby Talk

It's been about a month and a half since I last blogged. Alot has happened since then...
  • I've been giving breast milk to Cole on a pretty consistent basis (as in, it's all he drinks except for the occasional one bottle of infant formula!)
  • I had a rather nasty bout with some virus which landed me in the hospital for a week.
  • We had Cole's baptism last October 28 at the Filipinas Heritage Library and it was absolutely fabulous (thanks Charmaine and Ron!).
  • Both Chloe and Cole have gotten some really bad cold and cough which necessitated antibiotics, since it was apparently getting into their lungs.
  • Now I have the freakin' cough and cold that requires the antibiotics because it's also gone down into my lungs.
  • Rony's back in town, Louie's in Singapore for a trade show.

I thought I'd blog today because I found something total interesting which might enlighten some moms out there. This one lady in Australia researched baby language and identified five sets of sounds associated with a particular need. How is this remotely helpful? It helps moms identify why the baby is crying before the baby gets all hysterical!

I'm not sure how valid it is, but it sure made alot of sense. Maybe I can see how it works with Cole for those middle-of-the-night cries that I sometimes can't figure out.

Check it out on Oprah: http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200611/20061113/slide_20061113_350_101.jhtml

Hey, if it helps me understand my kid better and stop that crying, I'm all for it. Not that Cole really cries all that much. He's quite the calm baby.

I read in so many books and website about how you shouldn't compare your kids and I'm thinking, how could you not? Especially when they're so freakin' different! Chloe was such a handful (either that, or I was such a newbie). Cole is so much more laid-back.

By the way folks, my friend Charmaine (and her partner Rica) are in the bazaar scene this Christmas selling the most adorable (and reasonably priced) infant wear. Brussel Sprouts for fun, fabulous, and functional clothing for kids! Check out Cole's website to see him in some of their casual wear! (I can't believe my 2.5 month old son fits in these 6-12 months clothing! He's so batchoy!)

Happy Holidays folks!

6:47 PM | |

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