Defying Gravity

Below: Louie and I at Brian and Aimee's wedding at Tagaytay.

Rony and Andrei were there for the ride too!

The gals at Gerwin and Charlie's wedding

Rony and I at Gerwin and Charlie's wedding at the Highlands

I turned 32 last December and it was probably one of the most low-key birthdays I'd ever had. In a way, the bigger event was the fact that Cole turned 3 months old on the very same day. Now THAT merited pictures galore! Here's a sample...

And of course, Chloe enjoyed carousel rides all the live-long day!

Louie and Chloe at the carousel at the Mall of Asia

One of the more poignant days of December involved Rony and I visiting our dear old International School Manila (ISM) before they tear it down for good to build a cyberpark or something like that. It was really depressing, but I will forever love that school because it's as such a part of me and my life than any other place.

Angel at the old playground at ISM

Stressful holiday season that it was, it was great to see everyone and be in the overall holiday mood! (Rex and Mara, I especially adore you both for always taking the time to see us when you come back to Manila!)

So what else has been on my mind? Vain madonna that I am, it's unfortunately, my weight. I hate that I still have all this pregnancy weight on me and I'm not pregnant anymore! Argh!!! I hate that my old clothes don't fit and I absolutely refuse to buy new clothes because I'm not keeping this extra weight!!! Argh!!! (And no, I'm not posting pictures to illustrate!)

Nah really. It bugs me majorly. And honestly, before all this pregnancy weight, I was actually quite ok with how I looked. I don't find myself amazing beautiful nor have I ever been stick thin, but hey, in my book, I thought I was fairly acceptable. But now, it bugs me to look in the mirror and see all the extra poundage. It really really bugs me.

So I thought about dieting... but can't take it seriously because I'm breastpumping (read: I pump milk into a bottle often for little Cole to drink) and that whole process makes one ravenously hungry! I pump every couple of hours (and that's not even as consistent as it should be i.e. every 2-3 hours), but again, it takes alot of discipline to stick to a schedule. I relish the fact though that Cole is a fat little boy who is fed 99% of the time with breastmilk (there are days where he's a bottomless pit and I can't catch up) -- so he's invincible! Yahoo! So there's a tangible reward for you!

(Incidentally, this whole things works with me feeling like such a cow. Get it?!? Milk?!? Cow?!? Hahahaha. I am so sad!)

This breastfeeding/breastpumping thing is supposed to need extra 500 calories daily, so supposedly a mom would shed her pregnancy weight faster. It does not appear to be the case with me... well maybe because all the hunger makes me eat more than 500 calories extra? Haha, oh shit. Life does have a way of kicking you in the shin.

So I have resigned myself to the fact that it's going to take some work to lose the extra twenty pounds. Argh. Damn. I went to the gym once this week for boxing and liked it. Will try to have a little more discipline and do the gym thing more consistently.

I also told myself I would try to stop drinking soda and it's harder than I thought. You know, I wasn't even a heavy soda drinker before! I guess the key is to find alternatives. Louie is always pushing water on me, and well, I know that it's best, but sigh, it's so tasteless.

MUST EVERYTHING REQUIRE DISCIPLINE?!?

Haha, I must sound like such a primadonna. Oh well. It's the initial bitching before actually getting down to work. Hopefully, this year will bring all the amazing and exciting possibilities one can only dream of.

Our not-so-perfect picture with Santa (both kids were in a bad mood)

And there's lots to be excited about! Cole's growing and growing. Chloe's starting school. And for a parent like me, that's plenty to be ecstatic about!

Here's to a fabulous 2007!