29 Weeks Exactly

only 11 more weeks and kian will be with us (that is if he decides to come on time =D)! if he's anything like his older brother, we may have to wait another 6 days before he shows his cute face =D

today commences my 30th week of pregnancy. where has time gone!? i've got a little nudger inside me - very active and playful. oftentimes, i get tickled by all his movements! but that's great, right?

he only scared me once. im used to him being so active that last monday, i couldnt feel him move at all! last time i felt him was at around 7am that morning. it's almost lunch time and he hasnt even hiccuped once! i read that they should move at least 10 times in 2hours. i couldnt focus on my work, i was contemplating on calling my midwife to tell her about my concerns.

i read that if i drink something cold and sweet, that'll make them move. i only had water with me so i decided to buy a soda. lo and behold! i felt him moving again. i told tantan afterwards that his little nudger is somewhat "maluho".

so what's my tummy like now? BIG and HEAVY!

credits: shabby princess gabby badge album

Torn: Glee or Elmo

cayden has been climbing on top of everything. we eventually got tired of telling him off and running after him so most of the time, we just let him do as he pleases (unless he's really put himself in a very dangerous situation). we only hope that if and when he hurt himself, he'll learn from it (but obviously not, since he hasnt been discouraged by the bumps and falls he had). he's got good balance and can calculate depth and distance really well that we allow him to do his naughty tricks.

last night, he was watching the elmo video tantan got him (on tantan's laptop). and us, adults, decided to watch glee. he was seated in front of the laptop (he got on the chair by himself) and we were on the sofa, a few feet from him. as soon as he heard the music on glee, he turned himself around and was even boucing to the beat. then he would turn around and watch elmo again (repeat lotsa times!). it was too cute to pass so i took some pictures!

He even stood up to show off his dancing skills!

Kiki - Flawless No More

i've had kiki for over a week now. i was a bit nervous driving a bigger car but it proved to be easy (well, with parking sensors, it should really be easy, right? =D). anyways, just two days after having her, im already used to her as if im driving my previous (3dr-hatchback) car. so far, it's been running smoothly and our gamble (of buying something we didnt view) has proven to be a success. we've been very lucky!

...until today. i was walking to the parking lot, going home after work, when i noticed that she has a brand new scratch on her front right bumper. it was almost dark and i've got bad vision and to see it from that distance, it has to be bad! when we bought her, she's got some very light scratches on the black bumper but not on the main silver bumper. and this is what i saw:

ok, i know im over reacting. this is just a car. it's not even brand new (imagine if it's brand new, i would have killed someone! lol). worse could have happened. but it still pisses me knowing i've been very careful with all my belongings and then some idiot will do the damage that easily! anyways, big bro saw what he/she did. karma will catch up on him/her in no time!

Kiki

im probably one of those crazy people who name their stuff/belongings just because. from our house (unayuki), to our cars (there was golpi - for golpi sarado, stuwart - for stupid wart, chloe - clio, ice - police, baxi - vauxhall, tere - the race).

i wanted to use "kiki" as a petname for our supposedly daughter (bec we're naming her kirsten). but since im pregnant with another boy and this is probably it, i decided to just use the name for my new car.

what... new car?! well, it's not actually brand new. it's second hand (we've never bought a brand new one bec we just think it's a rip off with the very expensive price tags when you can buy used at a more reasonable price - and they still look/work just as fine).

i have baxi, a 3d hatchback. she's been with me for 2.5 years, never had major problems whatsoever. but i have to let go of her bec my family is expanding and 3-door isnt really ideal if you have kids. if i didnt get pregnant, i wouldnt need to change cars since i managed with cayden. but with 2 kids, it's definitely a stretch. we have tere (a 7seater), which is supposedly tantan's car (but he's now cycling to work so we might consider selling her in the future) but it has manual transmission and i can only drive automatics.

Baxi

Tere

anyways, we're in no hurry to replace baxi. but just the same, tantan was on the lookout for possible replacements (ebay, autotrader). when i saw the features of the renault scenic, i told tantan, i dont want any other car but this - without even looking at how much the road tax and insurance cost are. come to think of it, my first car was a renault (clio) and it drove wonderfully until it had to be written off bec a stupid old man bumped me from behind. and then tere is also renault - so fingers crossed, kiki wont give us any major headaches.

this is the crazy bit. they say never ever buy a car you havent test-driven beforehand. kiki was being auctioned off on ebay. it was to end on a sunday (last sunday actually). the car is in surrey, about an hour from us. we wanted to see it on the saturday, but the seller was not available. the description was pretty ok (hpi clear, drives well, well maintained, etc). but of course, you couldnt be sure unless you see it for yourself. anyways, long story short, we decided to bid without even viewing it, but set a limit so that if there's any work needed to be done we'll still have extra money for the repairs. this car doesnt come with any warranty, at all! so we got lucky and won the auction! tantan said the poorest version of this car is still selling at around 800 more than what we bought it for. so not bad.

tantan collected the car earlier. based on the previous mot's, no major repairs were done. the engine sounds/drives good/well (based from our limited knowledge), the body is still in mint condition apart from some scratches on the bumper, it has all the space we need plus the features i wanted it for in the first place. it's a bit wider and a lot longer than my hatchback but i need not worry bec it has parking sensors! and tantan likes her bec it also has cruise control! it's quite loaded with features, it's driving me mad =D

Kiki

huge sunroof!

yup, that's the key!

you need to press the start/stop to turn on/off the ignition

i drove her when we went grocery shopping. im still a bit nervous driving her, im sure it will take some time to get used to. we're still keeping our fingers crossed that no major problem will come up anytime soon!

im going to miss baxi! but it's time to let her go.. selling her off in a week and im feeling really sad. hope we find her a good new owner!

DIY

again, i have been negligent of this blog. lots have been going on lately and we're trying to do as much as we can while my mom is still here. she's leaving in a few week's time and when she's gone, it'll be just me and cayden most of the time and being heavily pregnant, i wont be able to do much.

anyways, we're redecorating our upstairs/downstairs hallways and afterwards, the master bedroom. it all started when cayden started peeling off the wallpaper upstairs. that gave me the push to start the whole process. after all, we've been in this house for 5 years now and some of the rooms are still stuck in the 80's! it's about time we update some more areas of the house.

tantan prepping the stairway - the hardest bit!

just a little history - our house is probably about 50-60 years old. we bought it from a little old lady, who wanted to move nearer her family as she's living all alone (a widow). so just imagine how outdated the decors were/are. our house has 3 bedrooms (2 doubles and 1 single), a galley kitchen, a separate loo and bathroom, lounge/diner, utility room and a fairly big back garden. all the bedrooms are fairly decorated. as well as the lounge. there isnt any need for urgent updating. even so, the other rooms are/were functional despite looking really outdated.

the first one we renovated was the kitchen (2007). we were helped by a friend and her husband from work, tantan's previous boss and one of our neighbours.

Old

renovated

next was our bathroom and loo, just a few months before giving birth to cayden. the bathroom is always my favorite spot in a house so it has to be visually appealing. our old one - disappointing! it had bright pink tiles, pipes showing and the tub was ewe! i love having baths but i have never taken one single bath in the old tub! and we used to sit on a stool just because we couldnt stand up because we were splashing the wallpaper with water and we had to shower using a pail and a dipper because the hot and cold faucets were separate. i told tantan i dont want to bathe our baby in the yucky tub (it's clean though but not my type!) and we have to refurbish before i give birth. thankfully, he agreed. we were helped by our next door neighbour (who just moved in), who happens to be a builder and has a brother who is a plumber. they didnt charge us much =D (and they can cost an arm and a leg!).

 

before

rainforest shower with hand shower and little body jets

whirlpool tub big enough for 2!

then it was cayden's room.

in addition, our next door neighbours (both sides) have fenced our garden (even the side we're responsible of). i've long wanted to do that to have more privacy but it's really not that important so we just let it be. thankfully, it's been done for us =D

the house is really getting smaller for our family. cayden has been dominating most rooms (and soon, kian will be joining him!). the kids really need their own separate playroom so we, adults, still have a place to relax - without seeing any chaos toys around. but it's not gonna happen in the very near future. tantan said, the earliest we can move house is probably 2013. the housing market is not really good at the moment and the banks are not giving out affordable mortgage deals. hopefully, as the economy improves (god knows when!), we'll be able to buy and move into a bigger house.  for now, all we can do is bring all our junk to the attic lol!

Kindermusik

i have long wanted to enroll cayden in a special class where he can interact with other kids. he's now at this stage where he'll be all active and bubbly if it's just us with him (me, tantan and lola) but then goes quiet and reserved if there are other unfamiliar people around. there are playgroups available but most of them we can't go to bec of conflict with work. i didnt want to enroll him in just any class. i want one that is already tried and tested. in the philippines, there are 2 that are very popular - gymboree and kindermusik. i wondered whether they'd be offered here too.

i did some research and found out that both are being offered here! unfortunately, the nearest gymboree is about 50miles away. there's kindermusik near us but the term has already started. to top it, we are only able to do either a thur or a fri class because i go to work mon-wed. i was initially offered a tues slot but then, one parent pulled out bec they'll be going overseas for an indefinite period of time - so we're in on a thurs slot! next term though, we might need to move to a tues class bec thurs really is always full. but it doesnt matter. i'll be on maternity leave then. i can do whatever days!

earlier was cayden's first session. i was a bit anxious bec i dont exactly know where it is (it's only 5.4miles from our house) and i'd be relying on the gps to get us there. and it was raining cats and dogs so that didnt help my confidence (i dont like driving to new places - i am still scared of big roundabouts!). anyways, we got there with plenty of time to spare. there were about 8 kids and cayden is the youngest (at exactly 18months).

watching mickey mouse before leaving for class

we were the first ones there. cayden was initally exploring by himself, occasionally pulling me to where he wants to go until the other kids started arriving. he then became quiet (usually, if there are new faces, he'll just sit on my lap and observe the people). the class started and cayden was just on his observant mode. during the instrument time, he participated but when it was time to put away the toy, he didnt want to let go of it - he cried! then he was in a sour mood.

the teacher said it's normal for kids to react that way in the first few sessions. and knowing cayden, once he gets familiar with all the faces and gets to warm up with the other kids, he'll be his dance-y, bubbly self again.

the loot: picture books, stir xylophone, cd, bag

cant wait for the next session. hopefully, cayden will be more cooperative =D

7 Years

here in uk, people celebrate guy fawkes night (also known as bonfire night) every 5th of november. as for me, i have a different occasion to celebrate - the anniversary of my coming over here in england. and you can just imagine my arrival - with a bang (lots of fireworks)! and last november 5, was my 7th anniversary. i still cant believe i've been here that long!

i never imagined living here. i do admit, i have imagined myself living in a foreign country, but england wasnt on the list. it all started about a year before we went. there was an agency in the philippines recruiting for audiology posts here in england. two of my friends applied and they were accepted. i didnt apply. i didnt see any need to move countries. i was working in a good hospital - salary wasnt as good as i hoped but i was happy with what i was doing. but things became messy - relationships (personal and professional) broke down. fortunately, a year after, the 2 friends who migrated suggested we apply to work in england as there was a great demand for our profession. they gave as a link to an agency here in uk.

after just a few days of submitting our cv's (me and my other workmate/friend at the same hospital), i got an email from an agent. he has a job lined up for me. soon after, i was interviewed and then i just saw myself flying off to uk in no time. the whole process (initial contact to flying over) probably only took 2-3 months. my friend was also contacted a week after me, with a post in the same hospital so we left at the same time! everything was shouldered by the hospital - visa fees and airfare. we only paid for the medical exam locally. they even found us our accommodation, just a few meters from the hospital. everything was set when we arrived (was even picked up by a chauffeur-driven private car complete with uniform). our friends met us at the airport to give us our first essentials - food!, phone cards, plates, cutleries, etc - we were spoiled!

of course, the first few months seemed to drag forever! we were homesick, we didnt have much to do. fortunately, our partners were able to join us after 6 months. then finally, life happened! and time just flew by really quickly.

in those 7 years, we've only been back to the phils 3 times. we got married, bought a house, became british citizens, had kids. recently, i have unearthed old pictures from our first few years here. god, i feel old!!! anyhow, im really grateful for the opportunity given to me. im really proud of what i have achieved, how tantan and i have been able to build our lives here.

7 years and counting!