ENZO IS 5 MONTHS

Enzo is now 5 months old! Wow! February is almost gone. And my baby is growing!! Gosh... He can now roll over as fast as you can snap, and today is his second day of being 5 months and he fell off the bed TWICE. That must be a record huh. Good thing they were soft falls and after checking every millimeter on his chubby body, I am so grateful he's okay. Sigh. And now, the trouble begins, I know...

Enzo could also shriek. And when I say shriek, I mean, shriek. It's his "come to me NOW" call. And you'd be crazy not to go to him. He could outlast a banshee. This boy's gotta great set of lungs. Anyway, we did take some cute photos of him sleeping with creative backgrounds like what that mom in Finland did with her baby and it was fun! I want to do more in the next few days. Hopefully, we'll get more creative and fun shots!

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So I started working last Tuesday. Monday was spent reading the materials given to me so I would have an idea how to do my abstracts. They were quite informative. Anyway, the writing wasn't bad at all. I just spent some time reading the articles but after that, abstracting was easy. I just had to extract the essential points and put them together in 3 to 4 sentences. Categorizing the articles were tricky, though. There are almost a hundred categorizations from acknowledgement to reviews. I guess I need some time to familiarize myself with it all. So far, I am enjoying the work. It's easy, it's convenient and I don't have to feel guilty about not having to be with the boys. So yeah, I hope that I could continue with this work and do more abstracts so that I could really start earning.

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Ruther, my sis and I watched Burlesque last night and I absolutely loved it! Cristina Aguilera has been one of my fave singers and this movie simply cemented that belief. She was just gorgeous and the numbers and choreography and songs were wonderful. Oh yeah, Kristen Bell was another fave of mine in the movie. I loved her in Veronica Mars and she's another great actress. I could go on. I think I would not mind watching this movie another time. :D

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As early as now, I'm thinking of how we're going to celebrate Enzo's birthday. I know it's months from now but hey, its not easy to save. Who knows when I'll really start earning well with the abstracts. I'm on probation at this time and who knows how much abstracts I can do in a day. But I DO want to start saving for Enzo's birthday. I would want to spend half of the total cost just so I know I contributed something this time, for a change. Then I want to use the rest of the money for an out of town family trip. I think that would be a wonderful birthday celebration.

Okay, wake me up now.

A BIRTHDAY AND OTHER EVENTS

First things first. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL!! I hope that your day was a love-filled one. :)

Ruther and I just bought some dinner and ate it at home. I don't mind not celebrating Valentine's Day. As long as we're together, that's all that matters to me.

I love you, baby...

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It was Ruther's birthday last February 8. My sweetie is now 36 years old. Wow. In a few months, I'll be a year older as well. I feel like I've only begun to find my true calling. (Will talk more about this later.) Am I old? Feels so weird. Sometimes I feel like my bones are creaking, other times, I think that I'm only beginning to live...

We didn't get to celebrate Ruther's birthday. It was a Tuesday. But I got him a cake and he blew some candles. Nikki made him a birthday card which was cute. I didn't get him a present. Yet. I figured, if I get him something, I want it to be something bought using my own money this time. And that's what I plan to do. For sure, once I've saved enough, I'll get him something he'll like. Something he'll really like.

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Enzo is starting to eat more these days. Yesterday, he tried eating squash and he liked it. I can't say for sure if he loved it, but he didn't complain or put up a fuss so I'm taking that as a good sign. He's also come to love biscuits and I'm sure it's yummy for him, but it's just so messy! I suppose he'll have to eat them in the afternoons when we're out of the room. I wouldn't want to have to worry about ants while we're sleeping...

Yesterday, Enzo was vaccinated. My sis got the 6-in-1 vaccine so we could update his shots. It's a good thing my sis is here to give him the vaccine, otherwise, I'd be more worried about his shots. He'll be getting another shot next month and hopefully, he won't be getting any more late vaccinations.

I know. Bad mommy.

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And now, for good news.

I have a job! Yay! Some weeks ago, my sister gave me a clipping. It was an ad from a newspaper looking for English-proficient people to work from home. It sounded okay so I took an English test last Tuesday and was called for a training last Saturday. I'll basically be an abstractor. I'll be making abstracts of articles from US publications and get paid. From home. Isn't that great? I've been searching for an ideal job for the past months and I get this. Not only will I be working from home, I'll be able to do what I love doing: writing. I mean, even if I won't be composing anything, it would still be a good thing to do. And I'll be earning money! And I'll be with my boys! And I could breastfeed Enzo! Isn't that amazing? All thanks to my sister. I will start work this week once the company sends me my assignments and I am pretty excited already. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a good job, earn money and be able to spend my extra time with the boys.

Yay! Am SO happy! :D

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I've thought long and hard about it and I want to continue homeschooling the boys. I know it's going to be challenging because of Enzo and work, but I want to try. And I'm planning on enrolling Nikki in a US-based curriculum so that I won't have problems with the local accreditation problems and such. I just want him to love learning. And I want him to develop his character. Hopefully, this is the right move for us.

ANOTHER MILESTONE

Today, for the first time, Enzo rolled over on the bed! All on his own! Several times!! We were just so amazed. I know... All babies do that. But when it's your baby and when he's doing it for the first time, it's just amazing!! Ruther already posted the video on Facebook, the excited Dad. :D

It seems like Enzo's doing so many things at once, these days. Just when we're getting used to his latest encounters with solid food, here he does something new to surprise us. He's such a joy. I love him to bits! Am looking forward to more surprises before he turns 5 months.

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Ruther has a bad cough. It's keeping him awake at night and just makes his head buzz - in a bad way. He's been taking lozenges and cough medicine. Can't say if it's working because he still coughs. We'll see in a day or two. Hopefully he'll be all better on his birthday (Tuesday). :(

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Today, we went to Nuvali in Laguna and it was such a fun day. We've been to this place several times already and it's a place where families could stroll, eat at restaurants and enjoy a bit of nature. We met up with Ruther's friends (they are husband and wife) while there and we did a photo walk. We basically just walked around the place and took photos of anything that seemed interesting to us. I took lots of photos of Enzo, which seemed to be the best subject of all. It was a nice day to relax and just be with the family, including my sis and brother-in-law. Hopefully, we'll have more of these family days in the next months...

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And here's our bundle of joy:

EATING NOW

Enzo started eating mashed bananas today. He loved it! I didn't give him much though, because I was scared he might get a tummy ache. He seemed to enjoy the flavor a lot and ate a bit. I want him to start getting used to different tastes and textures. Hopefully he won't be like Nikki and Ethan who are so picky with their food. Ruther said that was our mistake, in not letting the boys experience a variety of food at an early age. I have to admit he's right. That's one thing I suppose, I'll always regret. I just hope that it's not too late to change my boys' eating habits.

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I've been thinking over and over about whether or not we should enrol Nikki in regular school. I think that he would have a difficult time adjusting, at the same time, I think the experience would do him some good. I'm just so conflicted right now. I've been searching for an online curriculum that would be good for him and so far, I think Progress Academy is the best so far. The homeschool providers here in the Philippines are too "school at home". I also want our curriculum to be secular and then we'd do Bible studies on the side. One homeschooler did blended homeschooling with her kid. In her case, she enrolled her son in a public school and continued homeschooling him. Turns out, it wasn't the perfect solution because according to her, her son started picking up bad words and got to liking music with lewd lyrics and she said that in school her son learns lessons in a short-term way and she'd have to integrate them once more with her son during homeschooling lessons. Sigh... I'm just so confused. I DO want to homeschool Nikki and I DO think he's not ready for regular school yet and I DO want him to continue with his once-a-week classes of Arts and Music. He likes them and finds them fun. Besides, it's also nice to see him interact with other kids and at the same time, discipline him when he gets too rowdy. As a parent, I can't do that in regular school. I was thinking of letting him join Home Economics and Dance class next school year but that's so uncertain now. I just know I'd be sad if Nikki starts wearing a uniform and goes to regular school and would find learning a chore. I really don't want that for him.

I just hope that Progress Academy is the right move for us. Because right now, I think that's the best option for everyone. Really, I do.

PLAYFUL

He loves his playgym. :D

FEBRUARY

It's February already. Gosh, how time flies...

The weather is still fortunately, cool although it's not doing a lot of good for the boys, who's had some stuffy noses the past few days. Enzo is certainly better with just a little bit of runny nose there and Nikki as well. Ethan, not too good because aside from the sniffles, he also has a bit of cough. I'm hoping it's not going to get any worse because it's so difficult to medicate him. Ruther was feeling under the weather this morning and stayed home but after lunch, he had to go to the office. I hope he won't be too stressed while there. It's a really good thing that aside from my headaches, allergies (which can be a pain!) and the occasional fever, cough and cold, I hardly ever get sick. It would be terrible having to care for sick kids when you're sick yourself! Ugh!

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Enzo is just growing so fast! Now, he has a bit of separation anxiety, especially when he sees me leaving the room. He also hates to be bored so I either have to play with him, give him something to play with, or put him on his tummy. He's just developing at a fast rate, it amazes me to no end.

His hair is also getting quite long. I'd be a bit sad to trim it but it's starting to get into his eyes and pretty soon it'll look so unkempt. I guess I'd have to do that in a week or so...

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My sister and I watched a ballet gala last Saturday. It was a lot of fun. We used to watch performances when we were in college but after getting married, I think I only watched a couple. So it's nice to watch a ballet once more and with my sister at that. I will surely miss our bonding moments when she'll be off to Canada... :(

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It's Ruther's birthday in a week and I don't know what to get him... :(