(Life As Is for Z)

H@20months

2012-01-28T17:16:00.001-08:00

Dear sweet baby,

Oh, you are just the most important human being in this world for us! You are such a happy jolly baby girl. You give us joy and pure happiness! Mommy & Daddy, plus Papa and Mama couldn't get enough of you. You turned 20months yesterday and soon......you're turning 2. Waaa!

I apologize for dropping the ball on your month-to-month development post, I missed the 18th & 19th month entries. Oh, well here it is now...

AT 20 months,

-you eat almost anything Mommy feeds you. The other night, we had Indian food
(Butter Chicken and Basmati rice from Chaat Cafe ) and you ate the entire bowl. Lovely!

-you now climb every table ( be it high or low ), desk and beds in the house. You are fearless!

-munching PB with sweet bread is your new fav during breakfast, and you can't get enough of Mommy's chicken pasta soup with lots of diced veggies for lunch.

-you love watching shows such as: Super Why? , Lazy Town, Yo Gabba Gabba, The Fresh Beat Band, and of course Good Night Show by Nina & Star

-watching DVD movies has lessen last 2 months because we tend to play around more with your Pink Bus, Horsey, VTech laptop. You like coloring those cheap books, too!

-reciting the ABC and counting 1 thru 10 are almost to perfection for you. Aww, you are making us really proud, girl!

-when Mommy introduced you to her phone....uhmm yea, you got addicted!? You are now an expert in flipping channels on YOUTUBE so you can watch the Wiggles, ELMO's World, Yo Gabba, Super Why?

-your most favorite to watch on my iPhone are all the PHONICS episodes. You even sing with them like: AAAA-apple, BBBB-- ball, CACACA----cat, and so on.

-O and M letters still top of them all. And you are so cute when you say O is for O-cpus!

-taking photos of us using my phone has become a common deal nowadays. And this picture above received over 50+ "LIKES" on FB today. Aww, guess we are just too adorable and fun to look at....

- you are just excited as a bee when we tell you "it's Apammmm (ice cream) for dessert, honey?" You would even reply " more, more!?!" but you haven't started eating yet. Teehee! We have tried chocolate flavor and you are fine with it, too.

-when we took you to this mini zoo not far from our house, you had a blast hanging out with Daddy. You really enjoy animals.

-taking a bath is your other favorite, you tend to play with water and bubbles!

- GoodNight Moon, I Love you Through & Through, Animal Friends, Cow Moo Me and/or Fluffy Bunnies are a must-read before bed time.

We love you soooo much, Hannah girl... Happy 20th months!

XOXO

Currents

2012-01-26T16:21:00.000-08:00

time: 4:20pm

location: office

weather: overcast, 65 degrees

reading: Financial Accounting by Harrison and Horngren. Working on my homework Ack!

eating: banana and trail mix with mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s

drinking: water

wearing: jeans, pink argyles sweater, brown scarf and Nike running shoes

feeling: tired and ready to go to bed early tonight

waiting : for the clock to tick 5pm and for Becky Higgin’s Design A photo page protectors to be available for purchase.

needing: to start packing the 24x20x24 box I need to send to Manila by Feb 5

wanting: a new pair of running shoes. Might hit the Sports Basement this Saturday

loving: iPhone photoshooting + Baby Boot Camp + Project 365 app for H’s daily photos + new blogsite recently discovered (The Mom Creative)

enjoying: Trader Joe’s trail mix with mini peanut butter cups and this picture shown above of H going bananas.

thinking: to exercise more often during lunch time either 20mins of strength exercises or the 30mins 1:1 interval run/ walk.

wondering: how is H dealing with her new $1.00 coloring books I bought. For sure she and her grandma is having a blast coloring. Hee!

wondering, too: if I could finish the 2-page layout I started off over the weekend. It is actually my Project 12 entry.

Tina A's CURRENTS is so popular that I'm participating every other week here on my blog. Join us, it's fun writing CURRENTS.

Alright, Happy Thursday! I'm ready for the weekend even if it is another low-key one again. I scheduled a brunch date with an old friend on Sunday and if time permits I'm dragging myself to the library to focus on the extra homework we were offered to give us additional 15 points at the end of this 10-week Accounting class. Wish me luck, last night my head was turning with all sorts of different Financial Statements, Debit & Credits, Current Ratios, etc, etc...

XOXO.

Photo-A-Day / week 3

2012-01-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

What a gray weekend we have been getting?! Good rainy Sunday morning! My sister (lives in NJ ) told me they received 5 inches of snow from heaven too. Goodness, winter is finally here? After that Baby Boot Camp meet yesterday, this family decided to keep it very low and cozy at home. Our garage is looking semi-clean, with another box going to Goodwill Store. H was happily scribbling and writing non-sense with her new Fischer Price notepad. We thought Barney and Elmo's World needed to rest up their voices,anyway. Lol!

It's another edition of PAD on this wet and cold morning....and guess what? 2 loves are still snoring as of this writing, meaning I get a few more minutes of "me time".
I got 1 Christmas layout done last night. Yay me! Finished it up while watching The Sound of Music movie. I took pictures of the dining table which will serve as another PAD entry. Ha!

For these PADs, I plan to use some of them when I work on PL 2012. So grateful I have the phone to help me snapped these shots. Just Loving the Shuttercal app, and My 365 and the Momento apps!

Thanks for looking!

PAD#16

PAD# 18

PAD#17-a

PAD# 20

PAD #21

Oh, Friday!

2012-01-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

Oh, rainy day!

Oh, self-declared PJ Day for me and H!
Oh, happy day!

Oh, Friday!

Nothing special on the calendar planned out this weekend. It's cold and wet outside, good time to only relax, snuggle, watch football (maybe?), listen to the rain, clear out the mess in the garage, and eat ice cream. Hehe!

If I get lucky, I do have intentions of scrapping tonight, or tomorrow sometime after I hit the road with Baby Boot Camp pals in the morning. I miss scrapping and I've got nice pictures taken over the holidays that I'm dying to play with. Obsviously, I must use all left-overs from December Daily 2011 Album and old Christmassy stash I have in the green bin. I was good in preparing all necessary work to be done in the kitchen ( Chicken & white bean soup is done. ), family room (all clean and well-vacuumed) and laundry room (one more load).Yes, we are looking good to get crafty this weekend.

On another note, this morning I braved and walked in the Alameda Courthouse to settle the traffic ticket violation I got. Ouch, man! I wrote a check to them for $537.00. Damn it! Come to think of it, that is worth 100 cartons of H's Organic Milk with Vitamin D. Man. That really sucked! Now I wait for the traffic school letter and listing to come in the mail. I'm hoping to get this over with before the end of the month.

Happy Friday! and enjoy a lovely winter weekend...

XOXO.

Blog your Heart

2012-01-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

So I'm here inside the car waiting for the little snoring toddler to wake up from her afternoon nap. We came from her 18.5months Wellness Appointment earlier, with that 3 immunization shots of course she's knocked out and resting. Though she did well today while with Dr. D. She was responsive and behave while Dr was checking her vitals. She only cried for 2mins when the 3 needles reached and poked her thighs however as soon as the toy box showed up....Ha! She has forgotten all about the pain.

I'm In process of collecting all of H's monthly development details now to post here shortly. I realized I forgot to work on it last month. Yikes, I delayed almost 2 months then (18th and 19th months )

Onto BLOG YOUR HEART entry:

1. Feeling Happy --- to find out she has gained back her weight after she lost it last month due to getting sick.

2. Feeling Frustrated --- about this traffic violation ticket I received in the mail. Acckk!
3. Feeling Annoyed --- omg, I have to waste time and attend traffic school and pay $537.00! WTH!!! Dang it, dang it, DANG it!!!!!!

4. Feeling Sad. --- decision has been made about the "upcoming" travel plans to MNL. I lost the battle again against DH's family.

5. Feeling Satisfied --- new work schedule is going well, very flexible and new co- workers are all nice.
6. Feeling Overwhelmed --- starting night classes tomorrow @ UCSC Extension.

7. Feeling Proud --- so far, I'm up-to-date with the Photo-a-Day project. Yay! Below is my PAD #17

8. Feeling Disappointed --- haha, can you imagine I missed watching the GG Awards night last Sunday. I didn't even know it was on?!??! Heck, the TV was busy playing Barney and more Little Einstein movies.... Sigh.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Xoxo.

Trip to the Museum

2012-01-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

Since I'm a fortunate mama to be "not working" every Fridays, I decided to visit the Children's Discovery Museum with H. We planned on being there first opening hour to avoid the crowd. Luckily, a friend of mine invited us if we can join her cute son, A and his nanny for some playtime there. We met them last year at the RMC Playgroup and we are neighbors, actually. I grabbed the opportunity since this is just our 2nd time to visit the place....I might get overwhelmed with H. Lol! Remember the 1st time we ever visited with cousin Y and my niece T, she was only 3 or 4 months old? So, C & little man A showed us around once again. We did hang out inside the Wonder Cabinet area because this room is catered for 4 years and under. It was perfect!

Here are some pictures I snapped during that mellow, curious yet fun 2 hours of visit.

Obviously, she and all of us had a good time there. She played with balls, a telephone, big purple blocks, climbed into the red dragon statue, mingled with the A-B-C boxes, touched the buttons so the butterflies and octupos make some movements. Both kiddos were so curious and just having a ball the whole time. At Storytime session, they paid attention so well. We even snacked for 15mins downstairs with our bananas, sliced apples and scrambled egg. ;-)

C and I made it sure we are out by 12:30 in time for their nap times. Parking wasn't that bad if you get there early. Now, the plan is to buy an annual membership this way we can join them again.

Such a Good Friday...and until next visit.

XOXO.

Wordless Wednesday---All In

2012-01-11T17:12:00.000-08:00

UHMmm, yes....all materials needed to start Project Life 2012 are in the house!

XOXO.

Photo-A-Day //week1

2012-01-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Sunday! Welcome to the 1st week of Photo-A-Day project entry. My plan is to share here photos I took the past week...most likely it is going to be every SUNDAYs however no pressure and no promises. Surely, I pray I can keep up with this 365 Days of PHOTOS. Who knows these photos will be part of the PROJECT LIFE 2012 album <<
PAD 1

PAD 2

PAD 3

PAD 4

PAD 5

PAD 6

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

XOXO.

All ...done ?

2012-01-06T01:25:00.000-08:00

Well, OK it is ALMOST done. Hee! I have yet to run to COSTCO this weekend and order pictures for DD 23, DD 24 and of course the Christmas Day photo. The new schedule has gotten in the way, plus I got hooked with taking daily pictures for the Pboto-a-Day class at SC.

I started a new job on Tuesday...a part-time job as an Office Manager for a small start-up company. So far, I'm loving it. Met all chemists and scientists. Workload is easy-peesy, just need to organize the day-to-day office needs and create a "system" to work for everyonen. I get to be off every Friday, then my new boss told me I can work from HOME 1x a week too. Score! I swear lots of new endeavors to tackle for the new 2012, not to mention I'm taking a class in Financial Accounting 1. Double Score! Yep, the company is paying for it. Hopefully, by this weekend I can register and enroll as class begins in 2 weeks---every Wednesdays from 6pm-10pm.

Anyway, going back to the December Daily 2011 album below are more pages I have accomplished last week. With us being all sick, we chilled at home and made my crafty hands worked nightly on these pages. Once again, I used all old stash here. Saved me a ton of $$.

Here you go. Excuse if I did not post by date. :-)

Day 13--- Mommy & ME event @ Santana Row

Day 14 ---DEAR SANTA page

Day 15 --- H's cute photos of being so cozy and satisfied munching her crunchies
Day 16 --- H & I did a trip to TARGET for more holiday shopping

Day 17 --- around the house
Day 18 --- my favorite Christmas quotes

Day 19 --- decided to include our 2008 Holiday Card. Aww, time just flew!

Day 20 --- FIRST NOEL, all time favorite CHRISTMAS carol

Day 21 --- List of Christmas food I made

Day 22 ---a definition of JOY from my heart, adapted from AE's page.

I promise to share the last 3 pages as soon as it is ready.

Happy Friday!

XOXO.

Currently

2012-01-05T17:33:00.000-08:00

time: 5:25pm

location: new desk >>at new job

weather: in the low 60s

listening: airconditioning sound of the lab room, the desk is inside the lab room
eating: none

drinking: strawberry dragonfruit flavored water. It's actually--- Yucky! No more after this one.

missing: the little one and her tight hugs

wearing: jeans, long sleeves white thermals, beige jacket, and a thick brown scarf

feeling: OK

finishing up: filing online all New Hire -related documents. Still amazes me that it's all electronic submission nowadays. Guess, I slept last 11 years at my former job. Lol!

wanting: some time to run errands tonight, however I doubt it with traffic on 101 forget it?!

enjoying: taking daily photos for the Photo-a-Day Class. Thanks to Instagram and My 365.

needing: some more inspiration with new projects in mind. Off to surf tonight.

planning: to take photos of the last few pages of the December Daily 2011 album and share it here

thinking: about Project Life 2012. I have decided to join the ministry of women doing Project Life 2012 album. Yaya! I ordered the COBALT core kit online today using my credit card…it would be my New Year’s gift to myself. 1st paycheck for y2012 gets to pay for it. Hee!

wondering: uhm now, if I can 100% commit with these crafty projects I have I have in mind. Wish me luck.

Happy Thursday!

XOXO.

Let's begin

2012-01-03T01:00:00.000-08:00

Here we go 2012. As we all begin the new year, why not try making a list of resolutions. Not sure if it is still the "in" thing to do but who cares? Be it with a list or not, it would be helpful and could act like a general guidelines as we "face LIFE as is" in 2012. Right?
The top 8 is listed below. Wish me luck now?!?

1. Save money
2. Simplify, simplify, simplify!
3. Be patient and open-minded on new endeavors
4. Make time creating crafts and other fun stuff
5. Encourage to spend more time with family, reconnect with old friends
6. Drink more water, eat healthy--lessen the sweets cravings
7. Plan ahead and stick with it
8. Exercise 3x a week
Have you thought of making a list, too?

XOXO.

One Little Word 2012

2012-01-01T22:42:00.000-08:00

Hello 2012! Welcome, welcome!
I, me and myself is ready to embark the new year. It seems like 2011 was just yesterday, isn't it? Lol.

We are all slowly getting better here, little bubba is still lingering with this cough but she has been good drinking her liquids specifically her juices. Crossing fingers she'd be back 100% in a few days. We spent more quality time at grannies house and played and played with uncles and auntie today after attending the 2012 New Year's church service. It was nice, not to mention we all went under food coma. Hee!

Anyway, I've decided to choose my ONE Little Word this year. It's simple, short, and staight-forward. The one little word is:

NEW

This year marks several of the "NEW-to-me" thus I look forward to the experience and learnings. I could feel some of these "NEW-to-me"s would become challenges, well I take it. In the end I certainly think it will help me be a better person. Like what AE says with what we need to do with this One little word: "You live with it . You invite it into you life. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads."

In perspective, here's a list I'm openly accepting beginning today, the 1st day of the year 2012.

- new job- this time trying out to work "part-time" only
- new personal family project,
- new list of NY resolutions
- new schedule
- new route
- new sets of Doctor's visit
- new commute
- new work vicinity
- new manager and new co-workers
- new trainings - 1. Potty Training 2. No more use of bottle Training
- new ways to organize
- new crafty projects - 1. Photo-a-Day 2. Project 12 Scrapbook challenge 3. Scrapbook on the Road
- new hobby - Sewing
- new travel plans - a major international family trip
- new weight target

What is your One Little Word 2012?

XOXO.

Happy New Year's Eve!

2011-12-31T15:06:00.000-08:00

The sun was up bright and early today, what a great day to bid goodbye to 2011. It has been beautiful year for us, hard to part however we believe the new year 2012 has more good things in store for us.

For our last hurrah before welcoming 2012, plus saying farewell to all these germs we got lately we took a very quick trip to downtown SJ --Christmas in the Park. It was warm enough for all 3 of us to enjoy the stroll, less crowd too. The " little girl in red shirt " was more than excited to see all holiday displays, curious to watch the toy train go by, mesmerized by the big gingerbread house.

You could tell the Christmas trees are wilting and becoming brown already. Sad the holidays are over...though all the "family time" we spent this whole week is priceless, indeed precious.

We are believing, we are hoping, and we are trusting 2012. Bring it on!!
Cheers to 2012 and may you all have a blessed new year filled with lots of love, hope and peace in your hearts.

Happy New Year!!

XoXo.

Week after Christmas

2011-12-30T16:54:00.000-08:00

Hi there! Hope you had a joyous Christmas celebration spent with your loved ones around you. I never meant to ignore you this entire week after christmas it's just that between all the Christmas parties, holiday food and feasting, opening presents, snuggling with a sick little one, watching Elmo saves Christmas-the movie and Barney, sniffing/coughing and all that wicked symptoms of colds I ended up not saying hi to the computer lately. I know, so bad timing !?!!
DH is off all week, too but we ended up cancelling all plans we initially have in our calendars. Sad. We are staying home, chilling with lots of orange juice, soup and anything remedy we could have to fight this nasty colds. I think the only good thing we did this week is taking care of H passport photos done and passport application ready to submit next week. At least, that is taken cared of.

I do have lots of pictures to share taken during Christmas eve and Day, plus the DD album is coming to its final ending. H had a hard time fully enjoying Christmas due to her runny nose but she tried her best. Too many new toys, books, stuff doggies, and new 2T-3T clothes she received from family and friends. Now to find a place to store 'em all?!

Below are just a few "nice" pictures to share....

CHRISTMAS EVE dinner Party @ my cousin's place

CHRISTMAS DAY-lunch Party @ in-laws place

You could really tell she is getting really sick towards the end of the day...

THE DAY after CHRISTMAS--
poor baby, she slept almost all day! Sniff, sniff.

No choice but not ready for 2012 to ring in. We hated being all sick this last week of December.

Sigh.

Be back shortly to post the last few December Daily pages.
XOXO.

Merry & Bright 2011

2011-12-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

Have a wonderful and blessed Christmas to you and yours!
It has been a merriest year for us with so many graces we have received from Heaven above. Glory to GOD in the highest.

Happy Birthday, Papa Jesus!

Love much,
d' Mercado Family plus Lilly -the Elf on the shelf who just arrived our house a few days ago. She's a bit shy but would sure be helpful watching Hannah and taking tasks all year round.

;-b

XOXO.