November 23, 2011

When Wishes Come True

Today I am 18 weeks pregnant. In moon term, I am 4 1/2 months with child.

And we have waited patiently for this for almost 12 years.

When we had our first-born, we decided not to have another child for many reasons. We were inexperienced, we had no money, we were practically kids ourselves. Although it took us over a decade to finally get things together, the timing is just perfect. When 2011 began, my husband and I had one common super wish: To have a baby.

What we didn't expect was our wedding. Another, albeit old, wish of ours. We have been together for 13 years and we were officially engaged 3 years ago, but we've been holding off because I wanted a wedding with Stormtroopers and fairies. Yet after attending a solemn meditation course last March, I figured I can be happy with simple things, so I threw up my arms and said "Let's do this"!

Turned out my wedding was far from simple, but it was very special and intimate. We turned our empty lot behind our house in Tagaytay into a reception under 2 months. Built comfort rooms, did full blown landscape, added unique touches to suit our theme (Medieval). I was in and out of Divisoria, I drew all concepts, took charge of overall production design. It was fun. However, exhaustion took over me when the Big Day was nearing. I had an inkling I was pregnant because I know my body. I can handle stress pretty well, I can handle sleepless nights, I relish working under pressure. It was odd that I was throwing up my breakfast and was flat out tired all the time.

On the day before our wedding, I secretly took a pregnancy test kit with me in the bathroom just in case. Alas, it was positive. I showed it to my boys and told them not to get too excited. We decided to go to an hospital for confirmation. And confirm we did, on the very morning of our wedding day. The word 'positive' in blue-gray letters from an analog printer gave us pure joy and gave our grand day extra special meaning.

Yes. We learned we were pregnant on the very day of our wedding. I didn't care that I looked and felt extremely tired, I was bursting with Love and Happiness. Definitely one of the best days of our lives. My son cried, he was overwhelmed by the good news. In fact, the day was just too overwhelming, too many good feelings can sometimes make you shift to auto pilot. We were in a daze.

The very next day, my husband and I sat down on the garden where we had said our vows. With our drinks in hand, his was coffee mine hot chocolate, we looked around. We talked. We reflected. We cried. We were just too happy.

Our wedding. 
Above pic was when my son was tying our hands together, a Medieval wedding tradition.
Below: Showering my husband with kisses.




November 18, 2011

Advent and Christmas Through My Eyes

Now I understand Christmas!

Advent Season, the coming of Jesus Christ, is primarily observed by Christians, but since this is mostly a Western tradition I never really encountered it full force until they celebrated this in my son's school. Somehow you can say I grew up with spiritual freedom. My school and my parents allowed my spirituality to grow and glow at my own pace and understanding. I wasn't scolded at if I didn't want to go to church. In short, the "true meaning of Christmas" wasn't really forced on me.

Besides, with all the Noche Buena goodness, loud and fun reunions, and exciting gift-giving, the significance of the birth of Jesus Christ wasn't really my focus. It is a favorite holiday mainly because of the incorporated Filipino family traditions, I failed to put Jesus Christ, the celebrant, right in the center where He should be.

I do know the story very well: Joseph and Mary got turned down by inns and eventually gave birth in a lowly stable. Then the Three Kings came with their marvelous gifts. An ordinary story for me, nothing more nothing less.

My son's school, however, made me appreciate Christmas in "Jesus Christ kind of way". The reason why I failed to appreciate the story before was because I took it all too literally. I failed to see and understand the meaning behind each candle, star, and King. 

The story, the way I digest it now at least, is a beautiful metaphor of Life and Astrological Phenomenons.

December is the darkest month of all. It is cold, gloomy, and it has longer nights than any other month. December 25, in fact, has one of longest nights of all. "Christmas", is how the Christians and Catholics interpreted Winter Solstice (middle of winter). Winter Solstice is literally written in the stars. It is an astrological phenomenon (yet Pagans were burned alive for celebrating Winter Solstice). The world, according to Jesus Christ followers, needs a Savior. He is their Superstar. A Star that will guide them through a very dark night. They say He is the Son of God. If God is Love and everything good, and Jesus Christ is full of Love and everything good, then He is a Son of God. The coming of Light, on the darkest hour, gives people joy, peace of mind, and serenity. And I, not a Christian nor a Catholic, recognize the importance of this.


A handcrafted traditional Filipino parol. Our star. Our light amidst the darkest hour.

It is just like how Catholics celebrate Summer Solstice (middle of summer). The longest and warmest days of all. They have St. John the Baptist Day, where they have "water" to "clean" you. Doesn't it make sense? A holiday where they throw water at people, on the hottest day of the year?  

In a nutshell, what I am trying to say is that these Catholic and Christian festivities are anchored on absolute truth, on astrological phenomenon when you get into the seed of it. The symbols and figures may or may not have really existed in flesh and blood, it doesn't really matter. What matters most is to digest and understand what they mean. At the end of the day it is all about Peace, Love and Happiness. And we all want that.

I don't celebrate Advent and Christmas like how I was taught by one of the Waldorf mom in my son's school. But I respect their tradition, and I admire the passion that is poured on it. I am glad that they were able to shed some light and gave me a reason to SPIRITUALLY celebrate Christmas.

Do read on to see how they celebrate Advent in my son's school! 

November 16, 2011

Our Big Move to South

This is basically my blog entry to fix in my blog readers' minds that my set up is here in the south side of Luzon. Specifically Tagaytay. And soon enough, in Nuvali City (the Green City of Ayala) in Laguna. 

***


I was living and breathing in a concrete jungle from the time my son was born until when he was eight years old. Working some floors up in a building in Makati and living some floors up in an apartment in Quezon City. We squeezed in time for parks, particularly Legaspi Park, whenever we can. Luckily for us, at that time we had a condo unit, again, some floors up in a building along Carlos Palanca, Makati.

Let me just clear things by saying that I am forever grateful to my generous in-laws who had lovingly provided us a safe roof over our heads for eight years (they own the apartment), but my then frail son would often get sick due to traveling from house to school via smoky Quezon City traffic. Urban decay, that's what it is. The city is just too congested, too chaotic, and it is getting shabbier and shabbier. Ateneo de Manila High School even released a statement of its intentions to move somewhere greener.



We found a school that we fell in love with and this was where he went for his first two years of his elementary life. It was quaint, cozy and over all lovely. It had a huge garden and a tree which is a very precious and rare thing in schools in Metro Manila. However, the city outside the school's gate is inevitably decaying.

Life took a sweet turn around 2009. The company I was working for was supposed to merge with another and my position became too expensive and redundant for them so I was fired. It was the Universe's way of telling me I need to stop and do things differently. And by different, I mean allowing my parents to finally help me all the way. Blessing, blessing, blessing.

I gave in to my parents' offer of hiring me and helping me with my daily needs after years of declining. After all, the idea of living in a calmer and greener place was too sweet to say no again. It was also time for me to learn the ropes of our family business anyway, so things fell into place.


THE BIG MOVE






After eight excruciating but life-altering years trying to run my own household in the city, I am now living again with my parents in the cool and breezy Tagaytay. Which is really good for my son who honestly has lung issues. We are now surrounded by trees, rare birds, bright and colorful flowers, and relatively fresh clean air.

This is a blessing for my son than for me. He needed this healthy environment.

My son is now studying in a school where he runs free on a vast  garden, BAREFOOT. He climbs trees, he jumps on puddles. He meets and observes beetles, worms, and kittens up close through first-hand exploration. On weekends and summers, he rides his bike for hours. He has taken fishing as one of his hobbies, too.

Before, his fave food were tocino and hotdogs. Now it's egg-pie, banana cake, and soy milk. The move really made a huge difference. When I was working as a robot in an advertising agency in Makati, we rarely had the time to bond. Now, I go to his school more often than required, I assist him in almost all the things he does, we have spontaneous dates, we have hours to spare just talking. I don't want to have a full-day job in the city ever again.

Here is my son enjoying the mud pit during their Michealmas Challenge.

Here is my son (in black cap) planting vegetables with his classmates in a nearby farm.



He sees the Taal Lake and Taal Volcano on a daily basis, when he is in school he has Mt. Makiling as backdrop. The car windows can be down to and fro. These things are important. It does a lot of good emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

Our big move to the south is definitely one of the best blessings we ever got from Universe.


**

November 14, 2011

My Little Bestfriend

My husband is the mysterious, cool and silent type of guy. Well, at least that's what you will think at first because, really, he is just shy. But once you get to know him, even beyond his kenkoy side, you will discover that he is extremely conservative, old school, practical and conventional. Very square and very simple. People find this surprising because he has body piercings and tattoos.

So yes, my husband is practically the main reason why my feet are on the ground. He keeps reminding me to be realistic. Our dates are simple and normal, our conversations very conservative and limited. Our ways very practical and non-adventurous. Very vanilla. But I love him to bits.

Besides, I have my little best friend to keep me crazy.

Yes. My son and I can talk about anything under the sun for hours. We throw jokes at one another back and forth until it's a huge snowball.  We can do crazy things together, we learn new things together, we read books together, we are best buds. My son gets my humor and vice versa. Most of the time my husband will just look at us and frown. We both love reading books, we can do silly dance in public and we are up to good adventures even if they're not planned (pet peeve of hubby). We are brutally honest with each other and we really just do click.

Sigh.


My eleven-year-old son. He was born on the last day of the last month of the last year of the previous millennium. Year of the Earth-Rabbit. Two months too early so his lungs were not yet mature when he came out, he was only 4lbs and 10 oz. heavy, he was the tiniest baby in the whole nursery.

He didn't cry a lot. In fact he almost didn't cry at all which alarmed his neuro-pediatrician. He spoke only when he was about 3 years old, which alarmed his then first-time grandmother. Before that he only had the universal word "dadum".

I wasn't that "there for him" for the first years of his life. Not in an ideal way, I mean. I was also growing up during that time. Dealing with rocky love life, with school, with work, with in-laws, handling my social life, learning the ropes of running a house... the works. I was also clueless. I gave him milk formula and store-bought baby food. But I read books to him every night and I sang songs to him.

When he first attended school, in-laws won in choosing a school which was conveniently near our home. I was working during that time, so like any other Filipino working parent, yaya became my son's closest friend. God is good to me, He provided me the best yaya we could ever have during my son's first three years in school but, of course, there was also my worst enemy: the television.

I resigned from work and was given the opportunity to really choose a good elementary school for him. Maybe in some other blog entry I will talk more about our choice for his education. But let's just say I found two awesome schools and I had more time with my son.


Fast forward to today. My son is about to turn 12. He got circumcised last summer, he already knows what sex is but his imagination is still as active and sharp as ever. I commend his school for taking care of the child in him. That's why I am only too happy when we do pretend play.

My little best friend will not be "little" anymore after a couple more years. He is about to become a big brother and we can't wait for our new adventures together with our other "Little Best Friend".

Hello Blogging World, We Meet Again

My History as a Blogger:

College days was when I started blogging. Yes, it was also here in blogspot. I found out I can rant and rant endlessly with strangers dropping by to give their two cents. It was comforting while it lasted. Of course family and friends eventually discovered my virtual sanctuary and things just became like I was walking on broken glass - which defeated the purpose of my blog.



Then Multiply came along. It offered one URL for all my photos, videos, reviews, and of course blog entries. It had widget-like thingies for your favorite links, recipes and even for selling things. I thought Multiply was the best thing to ever hit the internet because it provided great network and great interface for anything you want to share. Sharing became the main point which provided a feel-good atmosphere. Until online sellers took over and games in Facebook became too addicting, and yes, its network became undeniably more superior than any other social networks, too.


Around 2008 I got too hooked on Facebook games. I didn't bring my camera with me as much (therefore no photo blog to share on Multiply). But I still blogged on my Multiply once in a while. I then experimented with Tumblr and Twitter. Twitter is where I put my brain farts. Pretty much blurting whatever is in my head, no censorship (that's why it's a private account). My Tumblr is still suffering from identity crisis. At first I thought it was just right to put my Mom Blog, but I was wrong. It is clearly not a place for such a thing. But then I created a second Tumblr account: Silverpixie Creates where I will post anything that I will --- err, create!


I also re-activated my sleeping YouTube account and started vlogging earlier this year. But it still needs polishing. I want HD videos and I still haven't found my niche. So far what it has are low quality videos covering various topics. It clearly needs a direction. Today, I created Pixie Dust Studio channel where I will post my videos about makeup and probably anything kikay. But more on that someday.


The Mom Blog:


So here we are, at SilverpixieMom. My blog where I will post things that are mom-related according to me. It is not really a blog for my family and friends. But for people who are interested to know me as a mother and for those who want to share mommy things.

Hello, my name is Pika. Recently married to the love of my life, the father of my 11 year-old son. We are now expecting (yay! 17 weeks in!) our second child. And we are planning to add more angels if we are blessed enough. We both love children and we dream to have a happy family. 

Welcome to my blog!