Events We're Looking Forward to this Year!

As a new mommy and mommy blogger, I look forward to many exciting news and events that Baby Charley and I could be part of. Thanks to Mommy Bloggers Philippines for accepting me in their secret group (oooh!), I get to learn of such events and more. 

Two events that I'm particularly excited of are the Mommy Mundo Clearance Clearout Sale in Ortigas on Augsut 14 - 16. Imagine all the baby clothes and toys and almost everything for babies that are gonna 75% off! This is a shopper mommy's dream and a hubby's worst day since he's paying. 

Another event that I'm looking forward to is the Blogapalooza Seasons in Pasay on October 25 from 10am to 9pm. I haven't been to an actual event, but I heard it's pretty grand. It will also be amazing to meet other bloggers and businesses. In fact, I have taken blogging seriously this time as it has provided a venue to write on what I am really passionate on - mommy life! I'm not yet sure if Charley's Mommy will already be enough to go mainstream in blogging, but perhaps...in the near future. Anyway, still looking forward to Blogapalooza at least for the experience and for the freebies! Ohrayt! 

Our Wedding Story

Since it's the wedding month, my roommate (my husband, btw) and I reminisced our very own wedding two years ago (2013).

I tell my friends who are about to get married that they should prepare for whatever happens and simply just enjoy the day...because after all, the day will still end. I added that the success of the wedding, no matter what possible glitches that could occur, depends on how the couple sees it...yes, I'm Ms. Perspective now.

Our wedding was not perfect (although I did dream of having one), but it was beautiful...and hilarious....and crazy. It was sooo us. 

All the possible things that could possibly go wrong, well....went wrong. 

Let's start with the venue. Initially, we wanted San Augustin Church and Patio Victoria in Intramuros for a more intimate celebration. Besides, they're very accessible to many of my friends and classmates here in Manila. Everything was settled (dates, payment, coordinators), but lo and behold (!) my mother, the mother of all parties and such, wanted the celebration in Batangas. Period. 

We couldn't get our payments back from San Augustin and Patio Victoria anymore of course. Friends insisted that we continue with Intramuros because it was our wedding anyway; I was tempted, but we didn't. It wasn't just our wedding. It was a celebration of the union of two families, our families, and we simply couldn't celebrate if our families would not be there. It was my roommate's idea, btw; I was #TeamIntramuros. 

But we decided to move the celebration to Batangas. 

So yeah, you could say we made a HUGE donation to the church then. Lord, please remember I was generous once. :) 

Aisle ba kamo? 

Our aisle - 88.6 m long! 

Since I didn't get the church of my choice, I demanded a long aisle. I wanted to take my time going to the altar and get people to admire me and my wedding gown. To make sure, my roommate said, that the aisle would be long, he'd put the red carpet by the parking lot where I would start walking and I could just text him when I'm near already. Haha! Very mature.  >:(

But, he did get me a loooong aisle - 291 ft (88.6 m) long. It was long. I don't know how long, basta I know it was long. Basilica of St. Martin de Tours in Taal, Batangas is the largest church in the Philippines AND in Asia. Burgis! 

The long-ness (to emphasise that it was indeed long; I know it's "length") excited me, and I couldn't wait to walk down it. The church coordinators invited me to have a rehearsal so I could feel how long it would take me to walk down it. 

But, no, nope, I ain't gonna ruin that perfect exact moment of my wedding day of walking down the aisle the first and only time with our bridal song. 

Speaking of our bridal song

We have chosen "Panunumpa" by Fr. Jboy Gonzalez, SJ, as our bridal song. It was simple and truly spoke of our love story. Taal Basilica coordinators were pretty strict on their wedding regulations and wanted to impose that only their choir could play and sing in the wedding. However, I had my own wedding singer whose voice was just perfect for my song. So, after much pleading and begging and attempted suicide in front of them, they finally agreed - just one song. No more no less. 

Come wedding day, I was impatiently waiting outside the church door for my cue to walk when a vendor offered me candles. I nearly hit him with my bouquet because hello!! I was wearing a wedding gown, did he seriously think I needed candles then? 

"Uhm, sorry kuya medyo ikakasal po kasi ako ngayon," was all I could say, and then I was cued to enter the church. 

As I was walking, my mind was just focused on two things: the oh-me-god-super-long aisle and my wedding song sung by wedding singer. It was just perfect until my wedding coordinator asked me to stop because one of our ninongs and ninangs  had just arrived, and they had to walk first. So I waited until they finished (it was really a long aisle), but when I was cued back to walk, the singer was also finished with the song - with just one song we were allowed to! Aaaagghhh!! 

Yes, I walked down the aisle without any bridal song. Tissue please. 

People, meet Monsignor M - the priest who hates me

Okay, it was a little of an exaggeration, he didn't hate me. He couldn't hate me. Priest aren't suppose to hate people, but this priest probably did. We were looking forward to his homily as he is known to give lovely ones especially during weddings...but not on my wedding! 

We wanted a solemn simple wedding where everything could simply just go as planned. But, no! Not that day. Father didn't look serious at all. He was smiley and giving funny side comments once in a while. Father, nakadrugs ba tayo ngayon? Saya natin, ah. I remember his homily very clearly. 

He said to my groom, "Look at her face. Look at her. You think she's an angel? She's not! There's a devil inside of her!" He laughed. People laughed. I laughed. 

I was thinking he's just a funny priest (who was on drugs that day), and he would give me my moment of returning the joke, but he didn't! He said the joke twice. 

"Look at her! She's no angel!" He laughed. People laughed. My groom was uneasy. I was like, "Father, yung totoo. Anong problema mo sa kin?" 

Stop the wedding, my commentator was missing! 

For a good few seconds, there was a little commotion on who's gonna be my commentator. I did have my commentator; I had asked him few days before I went on leave. As I searched the sea of people (I didn't recognise many since they're my Mom's guests), I realised my commentator wasn't there. In fact, my friends from Assumption weren't there at all. I was panicking, but thank heavens the church coordinators volunteered. 

But where were they? 

They were lost. My Assumption friends were lost. My Grammar family and my commentator got lost. They came right after the ceremony and were just there during the photo op. 

Speaking of photo op

My Ninong Ronnie Lazaro almost stole
 my spotlight in mah wedding! 

Two things happened during the photo op. First, as we were fixing my wedding gown for that perfect kodak moment, one of my friends from Assumption grabbed the microphone and started calling people for pictures. Friends and wedding coordinator tried to get the mic from her, but (wait for it) no. *sigh* 

We were wondering, too, why not many guests would ask for pictures with us, and then we saw that they took the opportunity to have pictures with one of our ninongs, Ronnie Lazaro. He's a local actor and director and a good friend of ours. Uhm, guys, kami po yung kinasal here! 

I could literally count our guest with my fingers

What happened last January 2013 was not my wedding. It was my mommy's event. She's so happy that I was getting married that she seemed to have invited all of the residents in Batangas city! I had literally less than 20 guests of my own, yet the whole garden in the reception was filled with people. 

My roommate nearly fainted when he saw that the Assumptionistas were standing and didn't have any tables at all. We reserved tables for them, but they were already occupied by "the others". Good thing the hotel manager was able to give us more tables for free, and everyone got to enjoy the food. There were tons of food. In fact, a waiter approached us and asked if he could give Ronnie some chicken to which he did. 

Our cake took a bow

We had two cakes in our wedding: one was provided by the caterer and the other was especially made and beautifully designed so that guests would know who we are as a couple. It was a big brown luggage with stickers of the places we have been to (we love to travel). The toppers included a brown-eyed groom giving the bride with pony-tail a piggy back ride. She was holding a teddy bear (Hendree, our prized bear) and wearing a red converse sneakers. It was chocolate cake. It was lovely, and I was truly in-love with it. 

Me and my friends from Manila
figuring out how to get home 

My friends from Manila picked up the cake from Hearts and Bells, commuted with the cake on a bus from Manila to Batangas (2 hours), rode with the cake on Montero from Batangas to Taal (45 mins), slept with the cake (literally because it could not fit in the fridge), brought the cake to the reception, and marvel in awe with the beauty of it. 

During the reception ceremony, we were about to feast on the cake when (kapit, guys!) our helper lifted the gifts from the table creating an imbalance; thus, toppling the cake, my beautiful cake that had been to so many journeys, over. Destroyed. Inedible. Ruined.

She tried to explain, but sssshhh just leave before this hungry bride became a bridezilla. 

FortONER 

After the celebration, it was time for us and the guests to go home. It was a long day, and it was still a long drive to Batangas City. Also, we needed to make sure that our USTe friends and two of my AC friends (a total of 9 plus lots of bags!) had a ride to the bus stop, and we informed our friends with cars and our families about it. After several minutes, we were looking for the Montero, the green car, the red car, the black car, the jeep, the Adventure - anything at all that could bring us home, but the parking lot was empty! 

Except for the Owner type jeep. 

9 people fit in this crazy owner type jeep -
yup including the newly weds 

It took a while before anyone could react. We just stood there... trying to process the situation and making sure it was real. 

It was real. 

So that's our ride home? 

How could we all fit in? 

Who's gonna drive us? 

Yes, it was our ride home. 

Yes, we all fit in. 

Yes, my roommate, the groom, whom the celebration was for, was the driver. And no, he didn't have a valid driver's license then. It got lost. 

Guess who didn't have a change of clothes? 

After assessing the situation, we decided we would be okay. We would squeeze ourselves in the vehicle with the bags and some of the gifts. Okay lang yan, parang MRT lang! My roommate would just make sure that he would avoid any traffic violations, but we prepared our excuses just in case. 

Since it could take us an hour to get to the bus station in the city, we decided to at least have some decent clothes, but when we checked our bags, guess what? (kapit ulit, guys!) Our families brought our clothes home except for my backpack with my laptop. 

Yes, I had to carry my stuff, too.
No bride privileges for me!  

So, yes, I carried my backpack around with me. 

And yes, we drove to the city with our bridal gown and Barong Tagalog on. 

And yes, my roommate still drove the vehicle. 

We did fit it. 

And we got hungry 

I wasn't able to eat much at the reception. The food was delicious, but we were so busy talking to people and being restrained from running amok from the ruined bridal march, the crazy priest, the destroyed cake, and the lost cars that we had forgotten to eat. 

We all did forget to eat. And we all got hungry. I had three very close friends with me who should never get hungry, or it would be the death of all. So we decided to look for a McDonald's drive thru. We prepared our orders and our money (roommate and I would be "libre" since his bags were already in Batangas), and when we reached McDonald's...(hingang malalim!) there was no drive thru. The store was under renovation. 

We all sat in the car (not allowed to move a muscle because it was sooo sikip!) in disbelief.  

Ordering Siomai at SM Hypermarket 

God must have been bored up there and decided to play Sims on my wedding day. 

We were all hungry. We all needed to eat. 

We thought maybe we could all go to my roommate's house and just eat there. However, wouldn't it be awkward if the groom brought home 6 girls and 2 boys on the first night? 

Yeah, it was awkward. And we're hungry. 

Imagine our relief and our extreme joy when we saw SM Hypermarket where there were Hen Lin and Pao Tsin and Shawarma and Buko Juice. 

We were sooo happy, we all went down and ordered food. We forgot we were still on our wedding gown. 

There was a moment of embarrassment because people were staring at us already, and I was not wearing my heels anymore, but I was hungry so I didn't care. 

One customer said, "Ay JS Prom na pala." 

Yes, friends, on my wedding day, someone thought we were still in High School. 

And yes, the siomai satiated me. 

The End? 

After we drove my friends to the Bus Station, we went home to pay respect to his family and to get decent clothes. We went back to the hotel (using the Adventure, this time) for some time for us. 

God is a funny bored God during our wedding 

As we reflected on what a day is had been, I was already teary eyed because it was not perfect like many brides dreamt of their wedding to be. I thought it was a failure, but my roommate said, "God, that was fun!" 

And it was fun! Crazy and fun! We had a good laugh afterwards. It was indeed very, very fun. 

I realise now, that many things had gone wrong, but at the end of the day, it was still about me, my roommate, and our God (who was probably laughing out loud in Heavens as He was watching over us).ü

Ten Habits of a Happy Couple

I came across this beautiful article from FamilyShare that listed ten habits happy couples have. Here are the habits according to Dr. Mark Goulston, a psychiatrist, writer, and an international speaker.

1) Go to bed at the same time. 
I think going to bed at the same time is already part of our bedtime routine. After putting Baby Charley to sleep, we have dinner and long kwentuhans, then it's usually bedtime for us, which is usually around 8pm. Rarely, I need to sleep earlier than him since he has something else to accomplish.

2) Cultivate same interests. 
This is kind of tricky since we don't exactly share the same interests - he likes basketball and inspirational videos while i like cats, reading, and writing. He's an extrovert while I am otherwise; however, one thing we both love is travelling, which is something we're passing on to Baby Charley.

3) Walk hand in hand or side by side
If our baggages are not stopping us from doing so, it's automatic for us to HHWW - hold hands while walking (minsan pa-sway sway pa). We've been together for more than a decade as a couple, but we never get embarrassed to walk hand in hand. Personally, it's my safety blanket when we're together.

4) Make trust and forgiveness your default mode.
We're working on this one - I mean, I'm working on this one. I truly value trust, that's why I don't trust people right away, and I make sure I will never break their trust. Forgiveness has never been an issue, but it's a matter of forgetting and moving on from breaking the trust. That's why, we have completely forgiven ourselves from things that happened in the past, but we have yet to forget that .5. Actually, it has become a private joke already, and we get to laugh about it, but nope, not yet forgotten.

5) Focus more on what he/she does right rather than he/she does wrong
A speaker from a conference once shared that when you get 99/100 in a test, you will remember more that one item you got a mistake on rather than the 99 items you got correctly. I think, this is also true in any relationships. Sometimes, no matter how good your partner is for 300 consecutive days, once he/she commits a mistake, all those good deeds are forgotten.

Still, I'm working on this one, too. My roommate (my husband, btw) is not perfect, and there are times he forgets things he should have done. When that happens, (and after tons of apologies, sometimes), he'll patiently remind me that he has done more good than wrong, and that snaps me out of anger...because it's true.

6) Hug each other as soon as you get home from from work. 
This is very automatic to us already. No matter how busy we are at home from taking care of Charley or how exhausted we are from the traffic in EDSA, we make sure that once you're home, you're home. We give each other a tight hug, a quick peck on the cheek, and a "welcome home, boss" smile before we ask how each other's day are.

7) Say "I love you" and "have a great day" every morning.
My roommate lets me sleep longer during weekends, and I super love him for that. When we wake up, he's usually the one to greet me a good morning while I tell him what I dreamt of, or what I think about what we talked about last night. Yes, usually, it has a continuation in the morning.

This is us back in 2005! 

8) Say "good night" regardless of how you feel. 
They say, never go to sleep angry; settle what needs to be settled. We do follow this sometimes, but sometimes, it's better for us to just pause from an argument and just talk about it the following day. That way, we could discuss it like two mature adults we are. Of course, when I'm mad at him (he has never been mad at me, ever!), I would just go to bed and ignore him the whole night. He, on the hand, God bless his loving forgiving heart, would still make sure to kiss me goodnight even if I avoid him, even if it's really my fault, even if I've said things to him. It's a habit, and I love him for that.

2011

9) Do a weather check during the day. 
Thanks to technology and unlimited call and text from Smart, we're able to check on each other while we're at work. It could be a simple, don't forget to eat lunch, bring umbrella, or I think my boss is mad at me again.  It feels like we're boyfriend-girlfriend again.

10) Be proud to be seen with him/her. 
I've always been proud of him, and he knows it. I love being around him, and my heart swells in pride when my friends talk fondly of him. I do hope that he feels the same way, too.

However, two habits that we think the article lacks are the following:
11) Be grateful. 
We are a grateful couple. We may not be rich, but we're happy with what we have - a healthy, loving family. We thank each other for every small thing one has done for the other - opening doors, setting the table, preparing what to wear. And because of that, we're happy to be with each other.

12) Pray together and for each other. 

Our wedding - 2013 

A beautiful habit we have is praying the rosary every night...sometimes, together when he doesn't have the night shift. We also lift our own personal intentions before we pray, and they vary, too. Sometimes, we pray that we could win the lottery, or that Cavs would lose, or there'll be class suspensions the following day, but our usual intentions are health and blessings.

We're not a perfect couple, but we sure are a loving one that could make Baby Charley proud of us.ü

Three Questions to Answer with your Spouse Now

Just recently, my roommate and I have come across this beautiful article from familyshare. It challenges couples to ask their spouses three questions and see what happens next in their marriage. It's like reflecting together as a couple since many couples don't have the time to pause from each other's busy lives to connect with each other.

However, answering these three questions has really made a difference, and I challenge other couples to also take the time and answer these as well...honestly...without anyone getting "pikon".



What in our marriage do we need to stop?
The answers here could be numerous - my excessive OCness in our home and his drinking with friends, but we realised, seriously we can live with those. But what really got to stop, and we completely agreed on this one, is bringing up the past. Sometimes kasi when it happens (I'm sort of guilty of this one), we tend to argue more.so instead of just trying to resolve what's happening in the present, it becomes another topic of argument. And we agreed, this has to stop since its not healthy anymore - its slowly killing our relationship.

More so because my roommate has the tendency to forget those things he doesn't want me to remember while I, on the other hand, remember everything.

It's a challenge, but yes, we should stop bringing up the past.

What in our marriage do we need to start? 
Since my issues before (ooops! not bringing up the past!) was discovering some things I was not suppose to discover, we now agree that we have to start telling the truth all the time...no matter how small, even if it hurts, even if the other would go WTF because of the other's irrational, thoughtless, spur of the moment decisions, we should always CHOOSE to tell the truth.

I told my roommate before that if he doesn't want me to find out something, make sure that the universe conspires with him - no matter what happens, he better make sure that I will never, ever, find out because if I do, even if it happens 50++ years ago, I would still get mad.

Which brings us to not bringing up the past and simply, just tell the truth. And we know, life will be much simpler.

What in our marriage do we need to continue? 
Here, the list goes endless. He likes that we continue to pray the rosary every night, that we find time to be together despite our busy schedules, and other teamhernandez traditions that we love. We also wish to continue loving each other despite our own limitations and weaknesses and putting God in the centre of our relationship and our family. I feel that we should also continue (and improve on) consulting each other before making decisions that will affect all of us. We're still perfecting this one, but I truly love how we understand when to laugh at a situation and when to truly sit down and be serious with it.


I can say that the good 15 minutes we took the time to answer these questions was very fruitful and fun, too, since we got to be talking about the things we didn't know how, or probably afraid, to talk about. We're happy that we have taken the challenge, and again, I wish to encourage other couples to do the same thing, too. Perhaps you would also discover more in your marriage and in your relationship with your spouse.ü

Mini Vacations from Baby Charley

New mommies, you’ve got to admit, there were times you wish you were anywhere else but with your child. For someone whose independence and time for myself are a top priority, I need mini vacations from Baby Charley everyday. These are just 5 – 30 minute breaks from her so that I could recharge my energy or reset my mood.

Dates with my roommate

In fact, every time I come home from work, I would pause for 2 – 3 minutes by the doorstep. I would simply breathe and remind myself, “Hey, you’re at home now. Leave the tiredness here, the pressure from work, and the traffic stress coming here.” After this short meditation/mini vacation, I would be somewhat physically but very emotionally ready to face my loving roommate (my husband, btw) and Baby Charley.

Restroom breaks are such joy especially when Baby Charley is on exorcist-level. I would hand her to my roommate and use the “I gotta pee/poop/take a bath/check if I have period” excuse. It was a glorious 5-minute mini vacation.

Besides free food and Wi Fi, another thing I love about visiting relatives in Batangas is free yayas in persona of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They’re so excited to see Baby Charley (since we live in Makati) and couldn’t wait to hug, snuggle, and just terrorise her with love, which we very much appreciate of course. When that happens, my roommate and I can enjoy a cup of coffee and some (finally!) TV in peace.

escaping baby charley

Visiting Assumption College is also another joy for me because teachers and friends love to carry Baby Charley, too. Yes, when we’re surrounded with 10+ teachers who can’t wait to experience some Baby Charley cuteness, we could enjoy just sitting down and watching them adore her.

Of course, Baby Charley’s naptimes and afternoon power naps are excellent opportunities for mini vacations. Since her morning/noon nap usually lasts for 2 – 3 hours, my roommate and I use the opportunity to have some decent adult conversations, work on my blogs, and basically do whatever we’re supposed to do. Sometimes, I take the opportunity to catch some zzz’s, too. During her powernaps, however, we use the time to prepare for her 6pm habit and our dinner, too.

Finally, when Baby Charley is asleep by 7pm, I check some papers and prepare my lesson plans, read a book, sleep, while my roommate works on his reports, surfs the net, and just does whatever he needs to do.

New mommies, seriously, if you can find time to have your own mini vacations from your babies, please do so. It doesn’t make you less of a mother if you also find time for yourself.ü

One and Done. (We think)

We can't say that this is our final answer, but as of the moment, my room mate (my hubby, btw) and I are 99.9% certain that we're happy with just having Baby Charley.

Yup. that means having a sibling or siblings for her (as of the moment or any time soon) is totally out of the question.

We just want her. Just her.

Period.

Many (including my OB) have been surprised when we tell them that we just want to have an only child. One and done ika nga. This is a decision I am thankful that my room mate and I share.

Why give the river when she
can have the entire ocean? 

We wish to give Baby Charley the world.

Okay, so does this mean spoiling her and giving her her heart's desire? Absolutely not!

There is such a thing as responsible spoiling. It means you provide your child with almost everything, but not all the time. Only when she deserves it.

Okay, I kinda made this one up, but that's what I have in mind.

Give me good grades, and I will let you watch those hormonal boyband "sing" and "dance". Something to this effect.

Responsible spoiling. 

My roommate and I want Charley to experience the things we enjoy and also the things we weren't able to experience - traveling the world; not waiting for our birthdays to eat in a fancy restaurant that serves good food, really good food; being able to study in a really good school; going on a Disney Cruise (okay, maybe it's me who want it); watching Disney On Ice at Smart Araneta; and having her own car by her 18th birthday.

With just her, we'll be more financially stable. I hope.

Pregnancy is not a walk at the park. So is giving birth.

Since my roommate and I are both in our 30's already, we are really considering my health and our next baby's health since studies show that it is quite risky to give birth by the late 30s. This could be a case to case scenario though, but as much as possible, we don't want to take the risk.

Besides, we will have been 60 by the time Charley is 30! Gosh, I would have been so wrinklish by the time I will have gotten my first apo. Totally not cool.

Since we're seriously considering this "One and Done" option as of the moment, we have to make sure that we prepare Baby Charley to face the world with just her.

Bbbbbuuuuutttt, that's another topic for a different post. Right now, we're simply enjoying having just Charley and keeping up with her alien-ish antics.ü

Charley's Mommy Hack: Avoiding Becoming Mombies and Zomdads

For first time moms, actually for all mommies, sleep is very essential; especially if you have work the following day. Unfortunately though, "sleep" is a foreign word to most babies especially during the early months.

I remember how Baby Charley transformed my room mate (my hubby, btw) and me into Mombies and Zomdads (mommy and daddy zombies). We literally survive on caffeine since we barely got enough sleep. Heck, a straight 30 minutes is already a gift.

However, that was 3 months ago. Thankfully, Baby Charley's sleeping pattern has improved (a little) so we could actually (finally!) enjoy 6 hour straight of uninterrupted sleep. Sometimes.

There is a Mommy Hack though that we use to make sure I get enough sleep.

Charley's Mommy Hack # 1: Make the Baby and the Daddy fall in-love with each other 

Since Day 1, my roommate and our daughter already shared an inseparable special bond. Baby Charley would melt into her father's arms, and the sight is just lovely.

Don't get jealous, Mommies, when this happens because that means that Baby Charley prefers her Dad to rock her to sleep. When she cries at night, my roommate is the first one to get up to pick her up; Baby Charley wants it that way, anyway, so I'm not actually complaining here.

Yes, so that means I could sleep a little longer.

Okay, a LOT longer.

Okay, so maybe this is a selfish hack, but it did get me MY sleep which prevented me from killing people the following day. I teach, so imagine the number of possible casualties If I am sleep-deprived.

Yikes!

However, on a serious note....

Charley's Mommy Hack # 2: Delegation 

Sad to say, my roommate needs to sleep, too, so I could not be the only one enjoying some Zzz's. What works for my roommate and me is task delegation. We follow a certain routine of putting Baby Charley to sleep that usually starts at around 6pm.

My roommate gives Charley her evening bath while I dry and dress her. Anyway, I'm the one who is a little picky on what she wears. That also means I put on her diaper while he cleans the mess - dirty diapers and laundry, too.

I would then prepare her evening vitamins that my husband would give her. Afterwards,  I would breastfeed her until hopefully, she sleeps. However, on occasions that she does not sleep right away, my roommate would rock her to sleep. When she finally goes to sleep, we will then have our dinner. I'll set the table while he cleans up afterwards, unless BAby Charley suddenly wakes up.

When Baby Charley wakes up in the wee hours of the night, my roommate would get her and give her to me to be fed. He would then continue his sleep until I wake him up to put Charley to sleep.




I am very fortunate because I have a very supportive husband who is also very hands-on with raising Baby Charley; with him, life is a bliss.ü

Baby Gastos - Shots! Shots! Shots!

Shots! Shots! Shots!

Sorry, daddies, but I'm not talking about your favourite shots; I'm talking about babies' not-so-favourite shots -  Immunisation shots.

Yesterday, on my birthday (16 Mar 2015), we brought Baby Charley to Dra. Pamela Caedo in Makati Med for her monthly check-up and to catch up on her immunizations. You can check Dra. Caedo's Makati Med profile here.

Dra. Pam Caedo is love!

Baby Charley - facepalm! 

She's very accommodating and is no-nonsense in giving advices. She noticed that although very malikot and bibo (alien in Team Hernandez' terminology), Baby Charley is a little light for her age. She also needed to catch up on her immunizations since she wasn't given anything on her 2nd month by her old pedia. (rawr!)

Therefore, she recommended that Baby Charley take additional Ferlin drops with her Tiki Tiki and Ceelin drops @ 0.5ml. Ferlin contains Ferrous Sulfate (iron), Vit B1, B6, B12, and Folic acid; and this is prescribed for prevention and treatment of iron deficiency in infants and toddlers. She also recommended taking Heraclene which helps form and repair body tissues and stimulate appetite. We just mix the content of the capsule to a 5ml milk before giving it to Charley. We tried mixing it with water, but she hates it. :D

Charley needed to catch up on her Immunizations, and this is the sad part. She was supposed to have received her first shots when she was 2 months, and I don't know why her old pedia didn't require us to have it.

Rawr! Super rawr!

Anyway, Baby Charley received Rotarix orals first. This is a 2-dose immunization that protects babies against rotavirus that could cause feve

r, vomiting, and diarrhea. (NOTE: this does not protect babies from other viruses causing diarrhea; example, amoebiasis)

Afterwards, Baby Charley got her first dose of her 3 5-in-1 vaccine (Pentaxim). It is an active immunization against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, and infections caused by influenza. The shot was given on her right thigh.

We were also given PAracetamol as a preventive measure. We used Baby Kool Fever on her, too, because we felt she was a little feverish when we got home.

Next month, she will receive PCV13 # 1. Yes, that means more gastos for us. *sigh*

Of course, these shots ay ang lakas maka-maharlika, but are completely necessary to protect Baby Charley from various diseases. *yay!*

Baby Charley is only 3 months old, and we still have a looooonnnggggg way to go. Yes, that means, we will be frequenting Makati Med on a different reason this time, and will be seeing more of our pretty pedia, Dra. Caedo more.


Dra. Pamela C. Caedo
Rm 226 Makati Medical Center
Mon - Sat; 9am - 3pm
#888.8999 loc 226
0917.5396.785

Rm 1224 MAB St. Luke's Global
MWFS 3:30 - 6pm
#664.4890 and 789.7700 loc 5224

Follow charley_and_her_teddy in IG

Moving In With Baby Charley

Yay! We've finally moved from our small condo unit in GA Tower to a more spacious unit in Makati. Since my maternity leave was finished, I needed to go back to work soon. That also means we have brought Baby Charley from the comfortable Batangas-living to Makati.

This is a HUGE adjustment for the three of us since 1)we needed to transfer our stuff from Boni to our new unit, 2)we had to adjust our work schedules since someone has to stay with Baby Charley, and 3)Baby Charley will be living in the big city already! With no yaya! *gasp*

suite life of baby Charley

Transferring our new and old stuff from Point A to Point B with Baby Charley could be a challenge. We needed to stop once in a while and double-check if the windows were really tinted (!) so that I could breastfeed and calm her from time to time. Talking to each other is struggle especially when it was already 6pm and we're still on the road.

Remember her 6 pm habit? Yup, even on the road.

Since we couldn't move in right away because the unit still smelled like fresh paint, my room mate (my hubby) and I decided to check-in at Great Eastern for a couple of days just to make sure that all would be ready for Baby Charley. Good thing we were given two (2) big beds so Baby Charley could sleep peacefully on her own.

Enjoying her sleep at our spacious new unit

Having a bare unit is really challenging because room mate and I literally eat AND sleep on the floor. Cable connection right now is not a priority as well. We don't have any essential furniture and appliances yet, so life on the first days was a complete struggle. It still is...a little.


But you know what, we're not complaining at all!

We love the new unit and our new neighborhood. Babies and cats are everywhere!

It's also amazing that we're close to three churches, one being Don Bosco. Not to mention, Assumption is just one jeepney ride away, so are Landmark, Greenbelt, Waltermart, SM Hypermarket, Cash and Carry, and Makati Med.

Right now, we're still learning the ropes of living just the three of us. Baby Charley, roommate, and I have to be extra patient and loving with each other since this is a completely new beginning for all of us.ü

The Great Breastfeeding Debate

When girl friends and relatives had learnt that I was pregnant, their constant reminder was, "Try breastfeeding." Back then, my response was always "why not?" Or "why shouldn't I?" It was only when I have given birth when I realised that the struggle to breastfeed was real.

First, it was frustrating that in-laws, parents, and random strangers are frustrated that you're not breast feeding despite the assurance of nurses and my OB that the milk would eventually flow after three days or so. There was a sudden panic-attack of "what if I don't have milk? Will my baby be deprived of its health benefits? Am I a good mommy?"

While I was still in the hospital, I began googling for "food to improve lactation" and even "why is there no milk in me?" Or "how to get rid of annoying unwanted advices from strangers." (joke!) It was not even helpful that other mommies in the hospital, regardless if you know each other or not, would seem to wonder why you don't have milk yet since theirs started leaking while they were on their first trimester. "It will come in, people! I will text you all when it did."

Of course, when it finally did came in, there was no sudden gush of le precious milk right away. It started with a few drops of yellowish liquid colostrum - said to be the healthiest part of a breast milk - before white milk would come in a few more (sigh) days after. So, white milk or none, we still breastfed baby Charley every day.

A hungry baby figuring out how to latch and suck without drowning or starving herself and hurting me in the process can be tiring, too. When I'm exhausted from lack of sleep (since our yaya has gone awol for holidays), it's not easy to be patient all the time especially since baby Charley seems to be hungry every hour. Not to mention my roommate and my mom were constantly asking, "Are you sure she's getting enough milk from you?"

Sometimes, I would really wish to give up and give in to exclusive formula-feeding.

But I didn't.

Good thing I didn't.

We would offer to breastfeed her first before giving her formula milk. Yes, that meant regardless if she's getting any milk or not. That way I could get use to the process and baby Charley would make my body think that I needed to produce milk soon -- for everyone's sanity. It was only after a couple of days that we were able to "drain" the colostrum and the white milk finally (yay!) flowed.

It has taken some time before baby Charley and I both figured out how to do this breastfeeding thing without disowning each other. It was a journey we both shared and we're thankful for we got that done with.

Baby Charley was not breastfed exclusively during her first few weeks. There were times that we would give her formula milk, Nan HW One, which was prescribed by her pedia while we were still in the hospital (remember, I had no milk yet back then?). We made her finish the can first, and she would drink an average of 3 bottles every day. We bought Nan HW One for almost Php1,200 so I am so not throwing that money away.

Once we had finished the can, we decided to give exclusive breastfeeding a shot. We've finished our first week and so far, baby Charley does not look underfed at all. Yes! 

I hope we could continue exclusively breastfeeding baby Charley when I go back to work. I've heard that I can pump then put the milk in the fridge, and it could last for days. I'm not sure about how to heat it though or if I should. That one we're still trying to figure out.

On the other hand, some mommies prefer not to breastfeed their babies. I know one who has very low pain tolerance and could not really take being sore. Some could not because of time or of their work schedule. My sister-in-law couldn't breastfeed my nieces before since she used to work in Makati while my nieces stayed in Batangas. Sadly, some mommies just didn't have enough milk.

Baby Charley and I are very fortunate that I could still breastfeed her, but we still have very high respect for mommies who gave their babies formula milk instead. No judgment ika nga. After all, what matters is that the baby is well-fed and loved....breastfed or not.

Breastfed! 

How we got baby Charley's NSO

Getting NSO certified documents can be such a drag for many parents with young babies. The queues are long and the waiting time is terrible! It is such a hassle especially if you need these documents to apply for another set of documents - let's say for passport. 

Fortunately, there are reliable websites where you can apply for your NSO certified documents. Recently, we use NSO Helpline to apply for our marriage certificate (yes, after two years, we just got ours this year) and our baby Charley's birth certificate.

One can also order for a death certificate and a certificate of singleness or CENOMAR - all for Php350.00. I think this covers the payment for the certificate requested and their delivery charge. Our documents were delivered with in four days by Air21. We got our marriage certificate after 2 days. 

We just filled out the forms online, double-check for spelling, and paid online using our VISA Amore credit card. We're done after those steps. All we needed to do was wait for our documents to be delivered. We were also given reference numbers (one for each document) so that we could "track" the progress of our deliveries online! 

We could track the progress of our delivery online 

Since we applied for baby Charley's birth certificate just a few weeks after she was born, we received a certificate from NSO stating that the one from the civil registrar (which we got from the hospital) should be honoured as her birth certificate. This is necessary as a supporting document for her Passport application.

I would definitely recommend using NSO helpline instead of applying for the documents yourself. This is waaaaayyyyy more convenient and hassle-free - well, at least for me.ü 

no more cry time waiting in line 

Battling Infertility

When we lost our first baby early in my pregnancy last 2013, my roommate's  (my husband, btw) and my immediate urge to cope with the loss is to replace the baby right away.

My OB from Makati Med, Dra. Marinette Sto. Domingo, however, recommended that we wait for 6 months before we tried to conceive. This was to give my body and my uterus a sufficient time to heal and recover. During those time, my roommate and I had a healthy lifestyle. He even took Selenium with Vit. E to improve the health of his spermies. 

However, three months after our 6-month rest period had passed, and we were still not able to conceive, my roommate and I underwent some infertility treatments. Not because we weren't able to get pregnant (because technically I did), but because we're concerned we could be having problems staying pregnant. Dra. Sto Domingo told me perhaps the reason why I had a miscarriage last 2013 was either because I had an unhealthy egg or my husband had unhealthy sperms; thus, resulting to a blighted ovum.

However, we sat down together and had a serious heart-to-heart talk. There were many things that were going on in our minds then.

What if we couldn't conceive? 

What if I had the problem? 

What if he had the problem? 

What would our next steps be? 

Are we open to adoption? IUI? IVF? 

Do we have enough money to prepare for all these? 


Just thinking about all these was already very stressful, and it wasn't helping us at all! Dra. Sto Domingo and my close friends kept assuring us that all would be okay, and we just had to keep a positive attitude towards it.

We did. And we prayed. Hard.

Really hard.

After a trans-V ultrasound (Php 2,300 @ Makati Med), I started taking Clomiphene for 5 consecutive days five days after my period. This was done for 3 - 6 menstrual cycles, and then my OB evaluated whether my body was responding well to the meds by ovulating; hence, we avoided contact until she told us it's okay. It was a strict prescription, so to speak. 

A dominant follicle in my left ovary 

On the 10th day, I underwent a follicular monitoring (Php3,800 @ Makati Med; Php2,400 @ New World). This involved a series of trans-v ultrasound (3 days with a day or 2 interval) just to look out for "dominant" or the biggest follicles and see if any of these follicles released an egg.

We needed to go back to Makati Med after each u/s and show the result to our OB. When she saw that I had ovulated, she would then told us when to you know...do it. It's possible there would be a lot of mature follicles and that could result to having multiples, aaaaannnnnddddd we're trying to avoid that. 

On my first cycle, I failed to ovulate so I had a trigger shot of hCG (around Php1,000 @ Makati Med). This tricked the brain that I needed to ovulate so it would force my dominant follicles to actually release the egg. hCG shots should only be administered by your trusted OB because random administration could cause ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. 

My clomiphene cycle continued for 3 consecutive months. It was tiring and frustrating (and expensive, too!) just thinking about why we couldn't conceive yet. Before my third month ended, my OB had my roommate checked for sperm count and total sperm health at Victory Lab. According to her, the difficulty to conceive was not always the woman's fault. Husbands should be checked as well; after all, it takes two to tango. I'm very fortunate that my roommate was very open to the procedure. I'm sure that not all men would be willing to have a check-up because of their fear that they could be the problem. 

So, with an open mind and an open heart, after a 5 day abstinence, we went to Victory Lab also in Makati for a Sperm Analysis (roughly Php1,000). We're not sure whether Makati Med offers this service. We then consulted Dr. Nikko J. Magsanoc who informed us that the results were good, and it was really just a matter of timing.

*Sigh of relief* 

Since Dra. Sto Domingo requested that I take a rest from the treatments and Dr. Magsanoc said that it was just a matter of timing, my roommate and I decided to break free from all these things that stressed us and went to Hongkong and Macau for a second honeymoon.

True enough, we conceived the following month! And we felt truly blessed!

Thank God and Makati Med doctors.ü

From one tiny follicle to this lovely baby girl! 

Dra. Marinette T. Sto. Domingo 

3rd Floor Makati Medical Center 

02.815.9679
For appointment 

Dr. Nikko J. Magsanoc 

02.892.8863

888.8999 loc 2123
For appointment 

Makati Medical Center 

5/F Tower 2 OR-DR Complex 

# 888.8999 loc 3500, 3501, 3503 

7am to 5pm 

Needs appointment for follicular monitoring 

New World Diagnostics, Inc. 

Campos Rueda Bldg. 101 Urban Ave. San Lorenzo

# 887.5498 

Accepts Walk-in only

Victory Art Laboratory Phil. Inc.
Unit D-1 Medical Plaza, Legaspi Village
#884.2290
Accepts walk-in 

Baby Feeding Cues

To feed or not to feed? This is the question my roommate and I argue on most of the time. He, with my mom, likes to feed Charley every time she cries. 

Every single time.

It doesn't matter if she has just been fed 12 minutes ago, basta she cries, she gets fed. On the other hand, I would follow by heart her pedia's reminder to feed her every after two hours as there are a number of reasons why babies cry: 

According to BabyCenter, babies cry for a number of reasons, some of which include: 

1) Hunger 

2) Dirty diaper 

3) Sleepy or tired 

4) Wants to be held 

5) Sick 

My room mate (sometimes) and I look for certain cues to determine how hungry Charley is. We got this from this website, and it has been very helpful ever since. For everyone's reference.ü