Dear all,

So in my last post, I've shared with you my thoughts in moving to wordpress which I did last month. Hoping you could follow my journey there, my new site is lovemommya@wordpress.com. I have more exciting goals and plans for this blog so I am really looking forward to meeting you there and your continued support.

Thank you so much! And, see you there!

Love,

Mommy A

THINKING OUT LOUD

So, I am thinking of doing some changes here in my blog, but I can’t decide on what to do. Here are my two options, need your help!

1.       Move to wordpress and have a fresh start. PRO: It will be a fresh start and I would be able to have a better focus on what I would want to write. CON: I don’t know if I can leave blogspot and the stories and memories I’ve shared on this blog. Is there a way that I can bring this with me to wordpress and have it as an archive?

2.       Stay here on blogspot, archive the articles that are not align to my focus of writing (is this even possible?), and re-launch my blog. PRO: I am more comfortable in using this platform and there will be no separation anxiety with my old articles. CON: I haven’t tried archiving my posts and don’t know whether I can do it selectively. Also, I am not sure if staying on blogspot will serve my goal of having a fresh start and better focus.

3.       Are there other options that I have not thought of? I’ve used tumblr before but didn’t find it very user friendly, I’m an old person when it comes to technologies. Haha

HELP!!! 

Love

~A

Dear Niklaus | At 13 months

Dear Niklaus,

I’m writing you again because I want you to know what you love at this age, what you’ve learned and achieved at this point in your life. I’ll do it in bullet form ha. Love you!

·         For starters, from your 13^th month check up, you weighed exactly 12 kilograms and now 78 centimeters tall.

·         You got six teeth now, two on the lower part and four up. Your bites are now giving me bruises, but I’m happy to help ease you in your teething pain but please be moderate.

·         You have unlocked a new skill that is sipping on a straw. You are very happy when you manage to get some water out of the straw.

 

·         You’re a talker now or a blabber if I may accurately put it. You’re first words are ma ma ma ma ba ba ba ba.

·         Due to the changes in your sleeping schedule, I realized that you are not a morning person. Haha! You slept late at night around 11 and wakes up late the next morning from 9 to 10. Sometimes, you will try to wake yourself up so you could stop me from going to work or maybe say goodbye?

·         Your nap times in the afternoon usually last for two hours.

·         Walking is a piece of cake to you now, you actually prefer to stand on your own when you fall over and would be annoyed if we lend a hand.

·         You can circle around like a pro.

·         I’m so happy that you are enjoying solid foods more; we just have to ensure that you’re hungry when given food.

·         You now have a way to get us do or go where you want us to go, by getting our hand and pull and lead us to wherever.

·         The wheels on the cars are still a favorite; you will always go to the condominium’s parking lot every time you have a chance.

·         You love the water, you love swimming in the pool, splashing the water in your tub during bath time and would fearlessly jump into the pool if you have a chance.

·         Aside from pulling our hands, you can also do fake cries and coughs to get what you want and tell me how sad you are that I’m leaving you for work. Most of the time, you fake cough to compete with your dad.

·         You still love story time and now into flipping pages of the books. Yay!

·         A magic board was given to you as a birthday gift, and you’ve been learning how to doodle/write. You seemed really happy when you see an image or line being drawn on the board.

·         You slept through the night without me, you cried at first but maybe realize that crying wouldn’t bring me back to you so you went on your way to sleep. You really prefer that I’m there with you at night, hugging you and lulling you to sleep. I prefer that, too.

·         When I was away for work, they told me that you will cry out of nowhere, probably realizing that you haven’t seen mom for the whole day.

·         That first night that we didn’t sleep together, I want you to know that I’ve cried, too. During our video call, when you’re all gloomy and teary eyed (as shown on the photo above), I’m crying inside and did my best to suck up the tears and failed.

Aside fro the drama we had a few days ago, I am glad that you are always a happy baby even on your teething days. I love you so much Niklaus! I'm always here for you!

Love,

~Mommy A

Mommy A's review: KFC's Salted Egg Yolk Fried Chicken

Photo from KFC Philippines website

Definitely not a sponsored post. Just doing the public some real service. So there is a new KFC Filipino colonel and accordingly he released his new order of business, the new Salted Egg Yolk Chicken. 

So where should I start, okay first things first, impression. Honestly, I love salted egg, I paired it with my fried dishes and love the salted egg chips, so this idea got me curious. That weekend when it was first released, I ordered for delivery. Apologies for not having actual photos, but it might be a total giveaway, but I'll try my best to be as descriptive as possible.

PACKAGE

It goes with the same paper box of the 1-pc or 2-pcs chicken of KFC. The rice is automatically a garlic fried rice, while the sauce is not mixed with the chicken but placed in a gravy container. Actually, the sauce turned out to be a replacement to the gravy.

TASTE

The chicken used for this meal is KFC's hot and crisp variant and is paired with a garlic rice, which for me is a good choice. But that is not the case here, the consistency of the salted egg yolk sauce is that of a curdled milk with too much oil in it, while, the taste, well, I tasted more butter in it than the salted egg yolk. It felt so heavy and bland that I ended up using my husband's gravy.

VERDICT

As you may well derive from my descriptions, I did not like how KFC make the salted egg yolk sauce and wouldn't order it again.

That's all!

Love

~A

Beachin' 2017

------This is supposed to be an end of May/summer post.------

 Haha! Anyway, better late than never. 

So May just ended, bringing along summer with it. I want to bring some heat into this wet season with a beach trip we had with Niklaus and a few of my closest friends. IT WAS A FIRST FOR NIKLAUS! Another milestone that we, my husband and I, got to witness! YAY!

We went to Pico De Loro at the Hamilo Coast, Batangas. It was a three to four hours drive from Manila. Pico De Loro is an exclusive beach club, open only to members and their guests. There are two types of accommodation, one is you could rent out a unit and get an authorization from the unit owner or you could book a hotel which I haven’t tried so know more details here. 

On our way to Hamilo Coast, we couldn't resist not stopping by with that view above. The scorching sun didn't stop us either to have a mini photoshoot.

My going to the beach outfit (Gingham top from Bench #lovelocal, Denim shorts from H&M #thrifted, Bacon and egg socks from Iconic and White sneakers from Converse)

Family picture! This is the best we can get with the intense heat! Haha.

Candid shot, naks!

My beautiful ladies, #girlsquad. All blooming in their floral dresses and top, unfortunately, I didn't get the memo. lol. Look at Niklaus getting super annoyed with sunlight.

Taking a break from sunlight! That smirk is love!

His face says: "what are you doing, Mommy? can we please get in the car?" haha

Here is Pico De Loro. The Lagoon view across the condominiums and hotels is just calming.

Look at those lovely ducks!

Niklaus' first bus ride, and his super annoyed face with the heat.

We arrived at Pico de Loro just in time for lunch, so we headed straight to the restaurant. There are only a few food options at Pico de Loro, one at the country club, another at the hotel and lastly by the beach. And, may I add all our overpriced! Ha!

This little human surely got exhausted from the long drive and the intense summer heat. When we got to our room he got super excited with the view of the the bed and good air conditioning, it surely got him back into good mood.

Since this is a first beach trip of Niklaus, we really took the opportunity to get lots of photos while the sun is still out. Niklaus is trying his best to be cooperative amidst the heat. Look at his face on the next photo.

He finally had enough! haha

Finally some shade.

Enjoying the beach.

So, while the baby is asleep and the daddy is enjoying his Php300+ halo-halo (i still couldn't get over the price of the halo-halo, it's totally overpriced!). My girls and I had a little photoshoot by the beach. Enjoy!

There are too may people on the beach that day, but no one will stop me from my #traveljumpshot.

Definitely, a candid shot!

Good afternoon Niklaus!

Testing the water with daddy!

Once the sun went down, Niklaus instantly changed his mood from annoyed to playful.

Tasting the salt water! haha

We really were concerned at first that Niklaus would not enjoy the beach, luckily, it was just the sun that's annoying him. Look at him all by himself playing with the sand.

This trip is only overnight, too short for me but just enough for Niklaus to have fun and experience the beach. With the more than three hours drive and I am so grateful that Niklaus was in his best behavior. He slept half of the drive and when he’s awake, he just watched the cars outside. We’re very lucky parents! He obviously enjoyed the beach, the salt water and the sand.We will surely be back, maybe, with white sand beach?

'Til the next trip, bye for now!

Love

~A

----all rights on the content and photos on this post are reserved to me----