And Another One of Mine Turns One

My youngest son turned a year old last June 18. He has 8 teeth, he can say a couple of words, he can take small independent steps, he can last 10 hours without me, and each day that passes, he shows more and more of his personality. I gave him the moniker “gentle happy knight” because when I gave my second son the “feisty dragon” moniker I didn’t expect him to be literally feisty (and yes, turns out he has a thing for dragons). I don’t know if it was pure coincidence or just Law of Attraction at work but I didn’t want to risk it hence “gentle and happy knight”! Haha!

The birthday boy. He was a bit unplanned. My husband and I were planning to have him around 2014 and even then it was still a decision we had to carefully make. Alas, he was conceived October of 2013 while I was currently trying to get the hang of handling several jobs but I went through the pregnancy with so much happiness so much so that I didn’t stop happy donuts in my diet.

He was weird when he came out. We couldn’t place who he looked like and he had us guessing even weeks after his birth. The realization came late: he looked like the boys of my mother’s nuclear family, the Spanish blood evident. From the very beginning he’s a smiley happy baby.  I believe the moniker worked. Although we have yet to see if he is indeed a gentle being because so far this is what we gather: he is very demanding and impatient. He will scream and get really frustrated when he doesn’t get what he wants right away. He is also ma-bibbo, likes to show off his new skills. He can open and close his fists at will only a few months old, he can wave “buh-bye” at 10 months, he can dance and “sing” if you ask him to. I know these are basic “baby tricks” but understand I didn’t experience that with my feisty dragon. He was too feisty to perform “baby tricks” for us.

Until now I don’t know what I have gotten myself into. I added another human in this world, so much responsibility to bake this dough-boy into perfection. There are hundreds of moments when I just stare at him and think: You are the third person I have to take care of. It’s no joke to be responsible for a life of ONE human, what more THREE. It’s an overwhelming thought. It’s more scary than exciting. At the same time it is an overwhelming joy. The Love and Peace I feel every time I caress his sleeping face is just priceless. I would just stare at his tiny hands, tiny feet and the awe is powerful. I have done it to 3 babies, it never gets old.

Twelve months on Earth and I am still getting to know him. Still adjusting with this life of being a mother of three children. Still overwhelmed. 

 

The Birthday Celebration

The Concept and Venue
We wanted to celebrate at the Fun Farm again, just like the dragon’s 1st birthday but since we knew there’s a huge chance of rain, we opted for The Purple Owl (which is basically our home anyway). We knew we wanted it to be down-to-earth and simple but fun (not really a fan of loud and noisy, commercial character-ridden birthday parties, especially for first birthdays) so we came up with “gardening” party. At first the concept was to push living a healthy lifestyle and the party food was supposed to be all-organic and all-natural but I procrastinated too much with the preparation and just went and ditched the whole organic thing. I was also supposed to put several “bars” (popcorn bar, juice bar, and apple pops bar) but I knew we would run out of space since we decided two days before the party to hold it indoors. The kids activity was supposed to be out in the garden, I asked our gardener to prepare plots so kids can plant. It was ready a week before the party but we had to opt for indoor activity instead and came up with “paint your plant’s pot”. That’s really the whole idea of holding it in our place so we can choose indoors even if it’s a last minute decision.

When he was only a few months old, just by chance, we kept getting stuff that were dominantly orange and teal so it was a no-brainer that his color-scheme would be those colors. I wanted to veer away from Hoot Design’s usual bare wood look so I painted the wood white and added denim for a twist. The carrot just happened.  I guess it's the ultimate orange representation of a garden? Hahaha!

The Twist
I didn’t want it to be just a gardening party so I added a bit of twist to it. I came up with the copy “Plant Positivity” and “Sowing the Seeds of Happiness” so it has a relation to who my son is (a happy baby).  If there’s one thing I regret not doing it is not doing the word balloon props for the studio I made for the photo booth area. It could have been cooler had I provided word balloons with those lines. The photo booth area was where people sat and relaxed and had their photos taken ala-photo studio. The photos were one of our give-aways. We also had mini clay pots the children took home after they painted it. For the older guests, we had fruit-bearing plants like calamansi, passion fruit, papaya, and guyabano.

The Blessing

Just like with my second son, we blessed the happy knight with our very own loving energy. No priest, no pastor. Just us. We asked them to channel all their good intentions and well wishes to him and we asked them to envelope him with their Love.  We also carefully selected special few to be his beacons. It was simple, meaningful, heartfelt, and not tied to any religion but open and accepting.
 

 Click HERE for more photos! :)

Onto Upper School for the Prince

My son started Upper School last June 15, still in Acacia Waldorf School. He planned to leave the school because he was determined to expand his social circle, try new curriculum, basically explore a new world in a traditional school.

He crammed studying for the entrance exam and after a week we were notified that he didn't make the cut. His grade school teachers were shocked when they learned he didn't pass because they were all confident he would. Now they're saying it's probably because of the limited slots (he was the very last one to apply). I am thinking he failed the exam. I really don't know. Because the school didn't even bother to elaborate why he wasn't accepted. It was just those two cold words, high-technologically albeit impersonally stated on the computer screen: 'Not accepted'. I am not kidding you, it was only those two words. Nothing else.

I am sad for him but quite re-assured that I don't like traditional schools. I e-mailed them asking if they care to expound and all I got was a computer-generated unrelated response. When my son first tried to enter grade school, he took an exam in this progressive school in Quezon City. He wasn't accepted but I was given a thorough and comprehensive analysis as to why he didn't make it and even got a good recommendation to enter Builders School, a then-up and coming non-traditional school that specializes in teaching children to read love reading. That is how you help people learn. In fact, when we left Builders (because we have to move to Tagaytay), his kind and capable teachers expressed their hopes and fears for my son. We felt the love and concern. That is how a school should be: teachers are more than just people who robotically shove information in our heads. They're our mentors, our guide, our friends.

Alas, I guess my son is just a number to them. A faceless, character-less entity who has to reach certain points arranged by them. I am not mad, bitter, or even disappointed. That's just how it is in their world and, apparently, it works for a lot of people. Some might point out that it is just how the "real world" works but in my opinion, our world should be about helping one another, reaching out to one another in our own best ways. It is totally okay to be denied acceptance but at least explain why and, if possible, point out the necessary steps one has to take to improve. It's not "baby-ing", it's called improving the society.

Well, like I said before, it all boils down to how you personally define what education means. My top priority is to teach my children compassion and during the admission process of the traditional school he tried entering I didn't feel or see a tinge of it. I am now sure, more than ever, that it isn't for me*.




*"Isn't for me" doesn't mean it isn't right for him. He will try again come next school year and we'll be here to support him no matter what.

Hello Life

It's funny how this blog started with my Kind Prince as the main character. Now we have the Feisty Dragon and yes, now the Happy Knight. I can't believe within four years my little family is now bigger.

Our third child was a little bit unplanned because we aimed to conceive on the year 2014 but I got pregnant October of 2013. The Universe has different plans. In fact, when I was pregnant with our Knight, we didn't know his gender until the very moment he came out of the womb while it's no secret we want a Princess in our story. So perhaps maybe 2017? Who knows.

I haven't been updating this blog as often as I want to but I will try my best to tell stories that transpired and will also be keeping it up to date. Life just seriously happened. I started two businesses in the past two years (here and here) while still holding my current job as an art director in our family multi-media studio, and like mentioned above, gave birth again. I'm even cooking up 2 more businesses. In between managing work, tandem breastfeeding, attending school meetings, consuming hundreds of milk teas, looking for the perfect yaya (we all know this is almost an impossible mission), I got too busy simply enjoying what life has to offer and resorted to instant (photo) blogging on Instagram (follow me!).

Let's kick-off by simply telling you how my day started today. My day started at 2am with my Dragon and my Knight beside me, both awake, both wanting to nurse. So I tandem-fed them. After which, I checked the bed if it was wet with wee-wee then checked their butts. Because that's just how we roll. My toddler didn't have an accident but I changed my baby's cloth diaper. We slept again. Around 4am, same scenario. Because life is so awesome, it's mainly about boobs and butts.

Around 6am, my Prince came inside the room to prepare for school and so the other two decided to also officially start their day. The Prince got busy with his outfit (which is cool, if I say so myself, hello camo pants and beanie), the Dragon got busy punching everyone and stomping his feet, the Knight got busy being half-cranky half-excited to play.

Hello Life.

Then it got a little bit more interesting because I placed my toddler in a corner after he punched everyone but the "corner" happened to be his closet so he grabbed his Godzilla outfit and insisted he wears it. He stripped off his jammies and got inside Godzilla and became Godzilla for around 8 minutes, decided it was too itchy and hot, removed it and decided to stay naked. So he was naked when they went out of the house for the usual morning mini-walk in front of the house.

Oh yes. This blog will be interesting.

Welcome Back

I have been on hiatus for more than a year. My last entry was last February 2014. I was 4 months pregnant at that time with my third child and between that and today, things have been quite fast and confusing and a bit sad. First off, my financial status has been (and still is) incredibly shaky. Having no fixed income can be quite exhausting. Secondly, I lost my last grandmother and my one and only uncle on my mother’s side. My one and only Godmother has been in and out of the hospital, wowing everyone around her, time and time again, as she fights all the cancer in her body. Sigh.

On the very bright side, I gave birth last June 18, 2014, without anesthesia again. Funny that this is a mommy blog yet I never really wrote anything about my pregnancy (I think I only have one super-crammed entry regarding my journey with No. 2 in my tummy). It’s as if I avoid talking about it which is totally the opposite because I’m passionate about the wonders of child bearing. I’m passionate about breastfeeding. About using cloth diapers. About feeding my children the right stuff (yet watch me feed them Mcdonald’s French fries from time to time because I am frustratingly inconsistent like that).

My eldest graduated last April and will start Upper School this Monday, June 15. Three days after that my youngest son will turn a year old. My middle child is now 75% Godzilla.

I will try my best to fill in the blanks as I move along. For now, allow me to welcome you all back to Silverpixiemom.  

What do you know? I have THREE sons now!