Found the Baby Doppler/Listener

While cleaning out some stuff (our own version of Boxing Day), we found our Luvion Doppler deluxe-80 after 4 years.




By this time, there are probably more advanced products out there. But this one - as we found out - is still working just fine. Just had to throw away the worn out speakers and the empty tube of aloe vera gel, and replace the two AAA batteries.

Our baby's heartbeat was at 130-140 beats per minute. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Proof that kids grow in the blink of an eye

Here's our proof that kids can grow quickly in a few short weeks.

Renewing your child's LTVP - Dec 2012 Update

My original LTVP renewal post is found here. For the rest o fthe related topics, click on the link above For Pinoys in SG.

Another year rolled in by and you find yourself preparing to extend once again your child's Long Term Visit Pass (LTVP). There have been some changes but otherwise still basically the same as before. Below is the high-level view of the task list.

1. Renew the pass online;
2. Prepare the documents;
3. Payment and e-Appointment;
4. Complete the formalities.

Before you even begin the above steps, you may want to get your kid's picture for the pass. To me, that still remains the most difficult part: coercing your kid to stay still long enough for you to get a decent picture for the ID :)

Just some notes: the "Applicant" will be your child (the one whose LTVP will be extended), while the "Sponsor" will in most cases be the parent (PR with SingPass).

One Year Later: Renewing your Child's LTVP

Shortly after your son's or daughter's first birthday celebration, chances are you need to work on his/her LTVP renewal which only has one year validity.

 

Just in case you're in the same spot we were, here's what we did to renew my son's LTVP.  Basically, three main parts, namely:

1.  Renew application online.
2.  Prepare requirements.
3.  Complete formalities (if approved).

BTW, as I was looking for the easiest way of renewing the pass, this post is intended for those who are eligible to renwe online. Those who aren't eligible have to personally report to ICA -- as far as I know.

 

 

PART I: RENEW APPLICATION ONLINE

 

For this part, I'm not going to discuss one by one how to renew online, as it is pretty straight-forward. All you need is the link to "e-VP Electronic Visit Pass (Longterm) System", which is:

 

https://ltpass.ica.gov.sg/eltsvp/main.do

 

Instead, I've listed below the factors that you need to consider BEFORE you renew your child's LTVP.

 

Timing of Online Renewal:

First thing to consider is WHEN should you apply online. From what I can gather online, the applicant (ie, your child) is allowed to renew online IF the pass is still valid for 10 days at the time of application.

It should be noted that the actual processing of renewals -- as per the online FAQ and our own experience -- takes around two weeks, which would probably explain the ten day limit -- must be ten working days, which spans two weeks.

 

At any rate, I think that if you're targetting as close as possible to the 10 day limit, it's cutting it too close -- and not worth the extra hassle. Us, we just submitted about four weeks before the expiry date. More time to maneuver, more time to prepare, more time to plan ahead.
 
Requirements for Online Renewal:

Go through the list in the "Important Notes" part of the link and make sure you have everything. Nothing worse than nearly completing everything only to fail because your laptop/PC cannot support your transaction.

•  SingPass account
•  Financial: AMEX, Visa, Mastercard, or Internet Banking
•  Supported browsers + plugins.

Most of these you should already have, since this is a renewal. The only potential problems are forgotten pins and/or passwords, and if you're using a new/reformatted PC/laptop.
If it's the latter one (PC/laptop), I suggest going through the online renewal process until you reach the part where it's asking you to choose your payment method. If you reach this point and can select whatever method, then you're good to go. :)

 

Oh, on the financial side, whatever method you use, be sure that you can pay SGD30.00. That's the processing fee.
 
Doing the Online Renewal:

Once you decide on the date to renew the application, just go to the link and enter whatever information is necessary. Since this is renewal, most of the information is already there, so you just need to enter a few more.

Once submitted, check the inbox of your email. You should have received a notification email about the submission. Expect the next email in two weeks. For the meantime, this would be a great time to prepare the requirements.

 

---

 

PART II: PREPARE REQUIREMENTS

Below is the list of required documents to be submitted in Part III. Note that "applicant" refers to your child and "sponsor" refers to you or your spouse, or whoever was the sponsor indicated in the renewal.

• Approval Notice (available once approved)
• Completed Form 14 (available once approved)
• Terms and Conditions of Issue for Long Term Pass Card (available once approved)
• Applicant's current Visit Pass
• Applicant's Passport + photocopy of applicant's passport particulars
• Applicant's birth certificate (original + photocopy)
• Sponsor's marriage certificate (original + photocopy)
• Sponsor's divorce certificate, if applicable (original + photocopy)
• Sponsor's spouse's death certificate, if applicable (original + photocopy)
• Applicant's recent passport-sized photograph (within 3 months, colored, white background, matt finish, full face shown).

The first three are available once approved; just need to print them out and sign afterwards. The others should readily be available, as they are most likely have been submitted in the original application. Only the photograph needs to be done, and the most difficult to get. If you have your own camera, that makes it a little better, maybe. But the most difficult part is "coercing" your child to stay still, and have his/her picture taken against a white background.

 

Just some pointers:

• For kids under 5, photo restrictions are relaxed:
• picture should be a good likeness of the baby;
• neutral expression not required;
• head does not need to be straight;
• eyes do not need to look straight in the camera; and
• eyecolor should be visible.
• Passport-sized photos are 35mm x 45mm or 400 x 514 pixels. Resize and/or crop as necessary.
• If your child is using a high-chair, use that and simply find a way to hang a white cloth behind. The stage is now set, making it easier to take pictures of your child.
• Background will not be perfectly white. Adjust as necessary with Photoshop or even with just MS Paint -- picture is small enough, that changes via Paint will not be visible if you are patient enough to do it.

For more information, checkout the links below:
  http://www3.ica.gov.sg/apples/faq/photo_image.html

  http://www.kodakexpresscamden.com/Passport-Baby.html

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PART III: COMPLETE FORMALITIES

You should get an email informing you of the approval. Your child has been given Short-Term Visit Pass and the In-Principle Approval. As soon as you get this email, be sure to follow-through right away so you can make an appointment. Appointment slots are limited per day and if you wait too long, you might not find the date/time that you prefer.

Just follow the instructions in the email. You should be taken to the eVP site again, then just click on Enquire Status/Make Payment.

You will need to do the following:

• Print the Approval Notice (link provided)
• Print the Completed Form 14 (link provided)
• Print the Terms and Conditions of Issue for Long Term Pass Card (link provided)
• SGD 90.00 ready "online" (SGD60 Issuance Fee + SGD30 Visa Fee); you'll need to pay at some point when making the application.

Note that the Appointment date will be the Issuance Date in your child's LTVP; the old and new LTVP cards have no dependence on each other. That is, if your child's old LTVP had an Issue and Expiry Date set to November 30th, then you set your appointment to November 15th, then the new LTVP card will have the Issue and Expiry Dates set to November 15th.

Just be punctual for the appointment and have all of the above documents ready and sorted out. Go to the ICA Building 4th Floor at the Visitor's Centre, go to Kiosk 3, scan the barcode on the "Approval Notice", and get queue ticket. Wait for your turn. It should be finished in under an hour.

Lastly, note that the old LTVP card will be collected. So if you are the sentimental type, be sure to make digital copies of your child's old LTVP card; you will not see it again once the new one is issued.

Reviewing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

My son really likes Mickey Mouse -- his very first favorite character. And this is a quality Disney series that should be watched.


Mickey Mouse Clubhouse logo

Every 9:00 AM at Playhouse Disney (here in Singapore, it's still Playhouse Disney, not yet Disney Junior), he will smile as soon as he sees Mickey Mouse walking down the lane and says "Hey everybody!", he lights up! His round eyes also smiling and you can tell that he really, really, really likes him.

That's all well and good I guess. I've been watching the other shows in Disney Playhouse -- yep I got that much time in my hands -- and all I can say is that this is by far one of the "safest" shows for any toddler to watch. Not that my son is a toddler, but.. well, I guess you get my point.

So let's see. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I guess I'll just get down to it and list down the pros and cons (yeah, not all shows are perfect, even this one has its downsides).

Baptism Ideas for your Baby Born Abroad

Happy New Year!

After completing your "quest" to get a valid pass for child -- and you're Roman Catholic -- it's only natural that you arrange for your newborn to be baptised. For most Filipino Catholics here, you either have your child baptised where you are, or back to the Philippines where most of your relatives and friends are.

We went for the Philippine route. So anyway, if you're interested, here are some firsthand tips from us.

• Prepare the documents. Namely, the child's Birth Certificate and the parrent's Marriage Certificate. Prepare some photocopies as well. If you don't have this, you'll be in a whole lot of trouble.
• Contact your Church. You should have done this waaaay ahead of your target date of baptism --even way ahead of your flight back to Philippines. Ask for the requirements (i.e. above documents, seminar for parents and godparents, etc.), whether they offer "special" (i.e. solo) baptism or only mass baptism, available schedule, and what fees are required, if any. Most parishes have websites nowadays, so you should check them out online.
• Contact your local contact. To make things even easier for you, you need someone "onsite" -- could be a relative or a close friend -- to actually help smoothen things out even before you arrive. They should be able to help out arranging with the church/parish, talk with caterers, prepare your place, etc.
• Prepare the budget. Can't be stressed enough. A well-planned budget goes a long way. This will help you plan ahead with the event.
• Prepare the Guestlist. With the budget on hand, you should be able to make a list of the people you want to invite. Usually, this should always include your immediate family, close friends, and godparents. This is a bit trickier than what you may think. So plan ahead.
• Consider your luggage when booking a flight. Expecially if it's your baby's first-time to travel, you should consider the amount of luggage. You'd be surprised that the large bulk of your total check-in baggage is your kid's. So you may want to consider carefully before going for the cheaper airline's 15kg check-in limit or the more expensive one with a slightly more 20kg check-in.
• Pictures, Pictures, Pictures! If you're like us, you'd probably want to take pictures of your newborn everyday if you could. Save, collect, and collate. It may not seem much now, but you should organize the pictures before the total number is way too much to handle -- you'd be surprised that you may end up with hundreds of pictures in one month alone. Anyway, where are you going to use this pictures? Well, in case you have absolutely no idea, here are some hints for you:
• invitations
• sourvenirs
• tarpoulins
• guest book
• Hire some Help. Might be a bit costly and some may think even unnecessary. However, you need some people to take care of stuff -- food, pictures, video, whatever -- so that  you can have the time to concentrate on the things that are more important. You don't need to hire someone for everything, but you should consider hiring for the "big stuff" that you should not be worrying about like caterers and a photographer.
• DIY Stuff. There are some stuff that you can do yourself, provided, you have the time, energy, and resources. Example: for us, since we have photoshop, tons of pictures, and a decent printer, we did the invitations ourselves.

Guess that's it. There are still many other considerations but this list, based from our personal experience, tops them all off. Good luck! :)

Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now What? - Summary

We finally completed our baby's papers here. I just thought this summary might come in handy for other Filipinos in Singapore who have a child born here. Here's a list of your to-do's in order to ensure that your child has the papers to have a valid stay in Singapore -- i.e., so your child is not an illegal alien, a TNT here.

This is divided into three main posts, as there is a waiting time in between each.

Part One: From Birth to Passport Application
The initial part consists of the following steps:

• Birth Registration
• Philippine Passport Application
• Extension of 42-Day Limit

Completing your Baby's LTVP Formalities (Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now what? - Part 3)

This is the last post regarding of the "Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now what?" articles.

At last, this is the homestretch. Weeks of patience and hardwork now pays off as your child finally gets his new Long Term Visit Pass (LTVP).

That is, of course, assuming your application was approved.

While waiting for the approval...
The review of your child's LTVP application usually takes between two to three (2-3) weeks. During this waiting period, it is best to get the following ready to avoid the cramming:

The Poem that Made Us Cry Again

While searching quotes for Riley's christening, we came across this poem... It pretty much summed up everything we felt. It's been a while but we never thought we'd still cry after all this time...

God Gave Us A Tiny Rosebud
For our Angela Marie

God gave us a tiny Rosebud,
It was the fragile kind.
She never opened her petals,
They were so delicate and fine.

God didn't want us to keep her,
To care for and to love,
So He tenderly took her away,
Up to heaven above.

Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now what? - Part 2

This is the continuation of my previous post regarding the papers you need to do for your newborn kid in Singapore. http://raabad.blogspot.com/2010/08/newborn-filipinos-in-singapore-now-what.html

Reminder: This post is based from our experience back in November 2010. Some details might have changed since then.

Philippine Passport Collection

Although you generally have to arrive early at the Philippine Embassy to accomplish things faster, for passport collection you actually have a bit of a leeway. No need to be at the gates before 7:00 AM. I was there around 10:40 AM (I got queue number 49; the number being served at that time was 26). I was finished by 11:15 AM.

And -- perhaps more importantly -- there is NO NEED TO BRING THE BABY WITH YOU!!! Yep. There's absolutely no need. Dads can do this on their own, without tagging along the entire baby crew. Means you can move faster and you don't have to worry about your baby getting irritated with all the noise and the weather. Yipee for baby! :)

So here's what you bring along:

One of Riley's Rare Smiles

It took a long while. But at last, we got another rare smile for a split-second:




And we continue to wait for more of these moments. :)

- via BlogPress in iPhone

Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now what?

Being in another country, Filipinos should take note of the things that must be done to fix the papers of their newborns. Particularly in this country, you should try to accomplish the to-do list so you want have to cram it all on the last few days.

Remember, once the baby is born, your baby has a 42-day Social Visit Pass to stay in Singapore. You need to get it extended or have a valid pass (PR, dependent, etc.) before the 42-day limit expires.

The child's mother will most likely not be able to do this -- or rather would not be able to do anything at this point -- so this is especially for dads out there.

Before you continue, please note that the information below is true as of the first week of September 2010 -- the week when we applied for this as well. Some of the requirements and/or steps below may -- or probably will -- change later on. So please don't complain to me if the information below is no longer true; let me know the details of the changes and I'll change this accordingly.

Anyway, first things first. Once the baby is born, you have to file his/her birth registration right away.


Birth Registration

As per Singapore Law, you have 14 days to register the baby's birth to ICA. This is different from the 42-day limit stated above. Birth registration should be done within 14 days. The immigration status (i.e. Social Visit, Singapore PR, Dependent Pass, etc.) should be done within 42 days.

There are a few things you need to prepare in order to file the baby's Birth Registration:

• Identity card (NRIC, FIN, E-Pass, etc) of both parents;
• Original Copy of the Marriage Certificate, if applicable;
• Notification of Live-Birth - this is the Red duplicate form you get from the hospital/nurse station;
• Registration of Birth Form - to be filled up by YOU; most of the details should be found in all of the three (3) above documents;
• Fee. I forgot exactly how much I paid, but should not exceed SGD 50: ICA fee of SGD 18 + hospital administrative fee, if you registered at one of the hospitals below.

Hospitals where you can register your child's birth include the following:

• East Shore Hospital
• Gleneagles Hospital
• Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital
• Mount Alvernia Hospital
• Mount Elizabeth Hospital
• National University Hospital
• Raffles Hospital
• Singapore General Hospital
• Thomson Medical Centre

You should check out the reverse side of the Notification of Live Birth form for the above information.

After you have successfully registered, you should get the following:

• Notification of Live Birth - updated with the Birth Registration Number;
• Certificate of Registration of Birth (laminated);
• Disembarkation Card (aka White Card) - usually attached with a notice from ICA "Regularisation of the Immigration Status of a Foreign Child Born in Singapore".

The actual processing takes no more than 20 minutes. The waiting time might be longer or shorter, depending on how lucky you are. Anyway, this makes it the easiest step.

Now before you can get to ICA to apply for your child's PR, Dependent Pass, or whatever, he/she needs a valid travel document, i.e., a passport. So our next step is to get...


Philippine Passport
The actual processing is fast. In our case, we finished within 40 minutes -- includes submission of forms, picture-taking, and payments. Of course, in order to achieve that, we had to get an early queue number. Meaning you have to be at the Philippine Embassy before it opens at 9:00 AM. There's just too many people applying for the new passport.

Also, as of this writing, the babies are required to be physically present in the embassy, as their photographs will be taken there as well.

Just some tips that should help:

• Complete all forms and photocopy the required number of copies beforehand. Saves time and money. (Not sure how much the photocopier in the embassy is charging, but I bet it's slightly higher than usual.) Check out the list below.
• Avoid going there on Thursday and Sunday (the end and start of week, respectively) as well as days immediately before and after a public holiday/long weekend. There's even more people there!
• One person (usually the dad) has to be there really early. The baby can arrive later at 9:00 AM when the embassy officially opens. I was there at 7:15, but there was already a queue! Luckily, I was number 4. Within the next half hour or so, there were 10 people behind me.
• Prepare for a long wait. It's up to you how to deal with long waiting times (around 2 hours). Bring something to read, something to play, something to listen to, or something to eat, whatever to keep you sane while you're waiting. The words "painfully slow" come to mind, so watch out! (Of course, if you're happy with just the chit-chats and gossips, just talk with the people in the queue.)
• Once inside, while you process the papers outside, the baby can stay inside the air-conditioned halls of the embassy.
• The windows to look out for are Window 6 (where you submit everything), Window 1 (where the baby's photos are taken), and Window 9 (where you pay). Best to know where they are, as it can be very chaotic when the waiting area is filled up with tons of people.

So what documents do you need exactly? Here's the list:

• Passport Application Form - get form from the Philippine Embassy website;
• Report of Birth - get form from the Philippine Embassy website; submit the form along with 5 photocopies;
• Certificate of Registration of Birth - original for show, 5 photocopies for submission;
• Passports of both parents - original for show, 5 photocopies (of the data pages) for submission;
• Marriage Certificate of parents - original for show, 5 photocopies for submission, if applicable;

Not sure if this is applicable to all, but Report of Birth and all the 5 photocopies should have the left and right footprints of the child on the reverse side of the forms. In our case, the lady on Window 6 asked us to have the footprints imprinted on the forms. They provided us with the inkpad so that's one less thing to worry about.


After the initial submission of the paperwork on Window 6, everything should go on smoothly. The digital passport photo will be taken at the room beside Window 1. After that, you will be provided a letter to be given to ICA (details below). Then, it's off to Window 9 for payment.
 
You should end up with the following:

• Claim stub for the passport. This should also serve as your official receipt with the breakdown of fees. Take note of the Collection Date (approximately 6 weeks from the date of application).
• Certification from Philippine Embassy regarding the Passport processing - as the 6 weeks will most likely eat up the 42-day limit, you will need to submit this to extend your baby's stay in Singapore.

Extension of the 42-Day Limit
Due to the 6 weeks required processing time for your baby's passport, you can apply for an extension of his/her Social Visit Pass. This should give you some more breathing room to process everything.

Here's what you need:

• Certification from Philippine Embassy regarding the Passport processing. See previous section.
• Disembarkation Card (aka white DE Card);
• Certificate of Registration of Birth - original for show, 1 photocopy for submission;
• Passports of both parents - original for show, 1 photocopy (for the data pages) for submission;
• Marriage Certificate of parents - original for show, 1 photocopy for submission;

In order to maximize your baby's stay, wait for the week when the 42 days will lapse before you apply for the extension. We tried applying for the extension a day after submitting the passport requirements. We were advised by the immigration officer in Counter 4 that the extension will overlap with the 42 days; they clarified that the extension will start from the day you applied for it, not on the day after the 42 days have lapsed. So she advised us to just return later when the limit is about to expire before we apply for an extension.


This is as far as we have gone, so far. I'll do another post once we have the passport and applied for the passes in October.


::UPDATE::
Got some new updates, but they're quite long. So, please check my next post on this topic here. For the complete list of posts on this series, please check here.

Riley says Hello World!

At 8:20 AM on 28th of August, 2010, our nine-month journey concludes with the birth of our son, Riley.

Here's some pictures taken within the first few hours of Riley saying "Hello" to the world. :)

Riley warm and cozy under the spotlight some time after birth. Taken shortly after he was weighed and measured.

Riley, when he was first brought to our room.

One of my favorite shots: this is Riley's first ever recorded smile. Dated Aug 28, 2010 17:57 SGT. :D

And now we embark on a new journey: parenthood. While that may seem scary, I'm looking forward to it. With this little bundle of joy with us, I can't wait! :D

Daddy-to-Be's Long Reprieve

And it's another one of those times when I'm so no blogging for a long while. Not that I don't want to.I simply put it (blogging) off because I'm busy with something else. You know, important things that requires my utmost attention... sort of. :)

So what the hell have I been up to?

Birthday May
My birthday. My birth month. Yey! Yipee! Nothing unusual. Same old, same old celebration at the house with my wife. TV. Cake. Food. Never gets old! :)

Then towards the end of the month, we returned to good ol' Philippines -- way after the May 2010 elections. Our last visit was way back August 2009. Those were painful times for us... So at least now, it's good to look back at our last visit as a more pleasant one.

Unfortunately, the last visit was not without casualties. The touchscreen of Che's Nintendo DS Lite is broken. Well, not broken broken. Just that it can't detect the stylus accurately anymore. It's like there's always a stylus pointed at the upper left region of the screen, so when you're not doing anything, you will see the pointer always on that location. Oh well, I guess it's time to move on. I'm actually eyeing that new Nintendo DS XL. Not sure if the R4DS works on that as well though; haven't had the time to look into it yet...

Then there's this nagging cold and flu. I had this since before our flight home, but I thought I could get by with just Tempra Forte. Guess not. And the weather did not help at all. Raining slightly for ten minutes followed by intense sunlight everyday really did a number on me. Good thing I still get to drive the car... Wow, I missed driving!


Raining June
Yep, rain, rain, rain, and more rain. Good to know that by the time we left, it already started raining again in Manila... At least for the first few days, that is.

So we had the usual cleanup-after-returning-from-a-trip. A bit harder that usual since we're also rearranging stuff for the baby. :) We finally decided to get a Trends portable aircon for the master bedroom. And yes, we're living in a flat without an aircon for the last two years. So installing the portable aircon was a welcome change. It was fun installing the exhaust for the portable aircon; removing the dusty old roman curtain, covering the exhaust cover with printed foil cover (heh), and moving things around so we can place the aircon as close to the window as possible.

Then there's two events that keeps Singapore busy these days: the annual IT Show in Suntec City and, of course, the Great Singapore Sale (GSS). Things just got a bit busier. :)

We already planned this way back... The next big thing that we will buy is a videocam. And so, after much comparison, and weighing of the pros and cons, we finally decided on buying a shiny blue Sony HDR-CX150E. It's within our slightly tightening budget, lightweight, has an internal 16GB harddisk, supports both the Sony memory stick and the SD card, touchscreen, 3.1 Megapixels, 25x Optical zoom, Full HD (1080). And since it's the IT Show, we got a lot of freebies - extra batt, video frame, tripod, etc. And so there you have it. A good buy to suit our needs.

And the very first thing we shot: Che's ultrasound. After three previous sessions of failing to determine our baby's gender, we finally got a confirmation: IT'S A BOY! Hehehe :) And we got it all on tape -- or disk, whatever. :)

Then the ongoing GSS also got us busy. Preparing the baby stuff, choosing the crib and stroller, and more. All these considerations is sometimes abit hard to swallow... Oh well, part of being a new dad. :)

Then on top of these all, there's one other thing we are having a hard time with: what will be the baby's name? We've narrowed down it down to about ten combinations -- we decided that baby should have two first names, so as to avoid the problem I had with NBI Clearance: if your name is too common, chances are, somewhere around the country, there is another person with the same name. :)

So there you have it. The things that got me all riled up. :) Hopefully I can get to post something more often. I do have some opinions about what's happening around. I'm still deciding whether I should publish it or not, though. :)

Good day!

Med Containers Galore

I like containers. A lot. Even if I have no idea what to put in it, I want to buy containers.

Because the truth is, there always something that you can place inside any container of any size and shape.

Take for instance below:


These round plastic tall tumblers with lids serve as container of my wife's and mother-in-law's daily supplements.

Come to think of, there are quite a number of meds that she's taking everyday. Not surprising because of the baby. :)

So there's the ever important folic acid, then there's the iron supplement, calcium supplement, and fish oil. A few weeks ago she took utrogestan and duphaston, both for supporting gestation -- that's OB-speak for boosting pregnancy.

Anyway, that's just a few of the many containers I have here. Many are still empty, just waiting for stuff to be placed in them.

This must be driving Che crazy. :))

- via BlogPress in iPhone

Baby's 4th Picture

It's my second day shift, so unfortunately, I could not come with Che to her checkup with the OB, after last week's scare.


Anyway, baby's doing great! Yey! Yipee!!! :)

- via BlogPress in iPhone

Long silence... hidden fears realized... and forging ahead...

It's been a while... Been scared most of this time... So scared of the what ifs and what may have beens....

My wife Che is pregnant again. Just a few months after the loss of our Angel, we're there again. Though I'm very happy that we're blessed again, at the back of my mind, I can't shake that same fear we had faced just a few months before.

Guess our fears are understandable... And for a while, we've been coping well... Several check ups with the OB and everything's clear so far. We thought this time would be better. Smooth sailing from here on.

Still, couldn't find the strength nor the will to post about it... Not sure why, but I think my fears got the better of me. Plus the fact that we've been legitimately busy, with her birthday last week and all... Guess that trauma is still with me... Posted the first scans of Angel a few months back. That was one of the happiest moments of our lives. Only to last a few months, happiness replaced with extreme sorrow... Yep, guess that sums up why I can't post about it...

Then fear struck again....

Che was bleeding. She was scared as hell. What's worse is that I'm in the office; she's all alone facing that ordeal. Thankfully our good friends are onhand and helped her along; took her to the hospital and everything.

Thankfully, the baby is okay. Our OB explained this as a "threatened miscarriage", quite common during the first trimester. After an overnight stay, we checked out of the hospital.

A couple more weeks before the first trimester is over and everything becomes peachy again. Just need to get over this few weeks. That means minimal physical exertion. No stress. No nothing. Nothing bad for the next few weeks. Coping well so far.

As I'm the designated "houseband" for the next few weeks, I've become fully domesticated. :)) Hehehe... Doing laundry, cooking, washing dishes, grocery, cleaning. You name it. Not a new thing for me, mind you. Ever since we settled here, I did my share of household work. Of course this time, it's gonna be 100% on me. I welcome the challenge.

I think I'm actually doing good; the fact that I have time to write this post since I've finished my work for the day kinda proves that. Not bad. Guess all that time management training in the office is finally paying off. :))

Oh well, better plan the lunch and dinner for tomorrow and the next few days. I will be at work starting this Thursday, so I need to plan and cook food for her such that she only needs to reheat the food. Don't want her to rely on food deliveries; not that healthy and definitely more expensive. The pork ribs afritada I cooked for dinner earlier was a surprise hit. I wasn't expecting too much from it; didn't follow the cooking instructions and made a lot of improvisions. Anyway, glad that Che liked it... so did I! :)

Anyway... Guess I've moved on. Or at least in the process of moving on... Writing something after a long time of silence. That's a big step for me. Now motivated by the renewed desire to share experiences, good and bad.

Should heed my own advice. I always tell Che when she's down that there's always good side to anything. That it's up to us whether we look at the bad side or the good side of the story. In this case, better to share fears and experiences. Might help some people some day. Maybe.. Maybe not. Whatever...

Uhh... I'm babbling again.... Well not babbling, babbling, since I'm actually typing... Anyway, I lost my train of thought. Guess I shifted to my nothing box a few sentences ago. Hehehe :))

Oh well, thanks for reading.. :)

Getting back on the groove...

It's been a while since I last posted something on this or any of my blogs. Ever since, well... after the whole ordeal we had with Angel. Read more on Che's post here.

This has been a most difficult thing for me to write about. She's supposed to be our first baby... and out first big loss...

Don't want to dwell too much on this. We're just moving on.

Going past the first trimester...

As the old adage goes, time flies fast when you're having fun. Still can't believe we're already on our second trimester. Three months have gone by and the baby is doing well. Che's belly is starting to bulge a bit. Starting to feel a little push here and there. Wow!

Of course, that means I have to do more and more of the work at home. Not that I mind. In fact I'm kind of enjoying it. Doing laundry early morning so that I can hang them out to dry before noon... Doing grocery... Vacuuming the place... Mopping the floors... Taking out the trash... and others... Being a "houseband", is not as bad as I originally thought.

This also means that I don't have time to do the other things I usually do. I don't play with Fallout 3 anymore, nor do I blog so much as well... As you can apparently tell from the lack of posts for weeks. I haven't even been able to play around with our SLR that much. But that's all okay...

I guess the thought of the baby is more than enough to keep our happy disposition in place. :) Despite the challenges at work, I feel more relaxed and carefree than I was months before.

Can't wait till the next check-up. I want to see how baby is doing in there. :)

I, Expecting Dad

Yep... In case you haven't seen my or my wife's Facebook profile yet, I'm now an expecting dad...

We were completely taken by surprise. So surprised that Che used up two pregnancy tests just to make sure. :) It's been a long time but finally we've been blessed! Of course, there were the usual jitters and agitations. Everything's surreal... But overall, we're excited and can't wait to see him or her...

Anyway, we had our first checkup last Tuesday. Here's what our baby looks like for now.



According to them (I have no idea how they come with it, so don't ask!), the baby is about six weeks old. We're scheduled for another checkup in two weeks time which, hopefully, the ultrasound will reveal much more...

I'm not really sure, but I'm guessing the next two weeks will just quickly pass by...