can i handle the seasons of my life

the weather sucks, and so does my day. actually my week. yes, even with christmas and all.

vaughn has not done his business for a few days, so we had to resort to some procedure involving glycerine suppositories. i never thought mark and i would be so happy to see and smell s!@#t, literally. so i thought that was the end of life's miseries but then we got sick...all three of us. saying "appy olliddayz ehbrywond" because u have a too stuffy nose is no fun. no, not at all.

yesterday i felt like my head's gonna explode even if i bombarded myself with vitamin c and theraflu. damn cold. i don't get sick as often but when i do, it hits me hard. poor vaughn has not had breastmilk for three days now. and he got the cold -- when i hear his labored breathing i just want to die. is there a magic pill that can take all this sickness away?

i came in to work today and of course, there's a problem with the same thing we've been dealing with for two weeks now. wtf. and i still haven't sent my christmas cards, i went to michaels to do an exchange, the cards i wanted weren't there anymore. it started to rain so i decided to buy an umbrella at target (i don't want my cold to get worse), $18 for a damn umbrella. and when i went outside, the rain stopped. yes, dramatic irony.

so i'm hoping all these events are not previews of what 2007 will be. i feel like the cogs in the wheel of my life are not thoroughly in sync. do you sometimes feel that way? maybe i'm just fatigued from the holiday rush, maybe i need to get more sleep, maybe i need to do the things i want to do. there doesn't seem to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find them per jim croce. i want to read my tuesdays with morrie book, i want to read to vaughn and have him play with all the toys he got from everybody for christmas, i want to upload tons of pics on my multiply, i want to see my sisters and chika and have a fashion show of all the clothes they got for christmas, i want to call friends and have hour long chats, i want to go to SD and visit lori and damon, i want to go snowboarding because there's at least one good thing that comes out from sucky weather and that's good snow, i want i want i want. as cliche as it sounds, "every cloud has a silver lining" and that is, i can still blog and bitch about how much my life is sucking. at least i have that. hahahahahahahahaha!

have you seen Mean Girls?

you know how when rachel mcaddam's character got pissed at lindsay lohan's character and then she lets out this ear piercing scream? yes, that part of the movie. well i just did that a couple of minutes ago -- out of frustration. if you want something done RIGHT, you have to do it yourself! aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhh! nuff said!

panic level = 200%

what the hell...christmas is in two days and i'm still not done wrapping presents, sending out cards (haven't even started this yet), i desperately want to update my online photo album of vaughn, and i haven't seen my family in two weeks. sigh! work is a sonofabitch. i wish i'd win the lottery so i won't have to work. don't get me wrong, i don't hate my job and my co workers are awesome -- it's just that if i was given a choice between working and staying home to take care of vaughn, i'd pick the latter. hahahaha, i never thought these words (written or otherwise) would come out of my mouth. a human being's ability to morph into a complete stranger never ceases to amaze me. anyway, i just thought i'd rant about random stuff. oh yea, mark made a snowboarding video a few days back. it's too funny! turn it up and watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNi5GYxDPcs

and since i'm too busy to upload, i'll mooch off my sisters and my friends who have already posted pics on their sites that i should've posted on mine:

ella's bday party at lake o'neal (isa)

ella's bday (ate kate)

lia and ryan's despedida (going away) party

and with that i bid everybody adieux. the ham-induced-coma-season is upon us, happy holidays everyone!

well i guess this is growing up

i got this email from tiff and got teary eyed -- man i'm becoming such a wuss =P

Being A Mom

We are sitting at lunch one day when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of "starting a family."

"We're taking a survey," she says half-joking. "Do you think I should have a baby?"

"It will change your life," I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral."

I know," she says, "no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations."

But that is not what I meant at all. I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes.

I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable.I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without asking, "What if that had been MY child?"

That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the, primitive level of a bear protecting her cub. That an urgent call of "Mom!"will cause her to drop a souffle, or her best crystal without a moments hesitation.

I feel that I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood. She might arrange for childcare, but one day she willbe going into an important business meeting and she will think of her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her baby is all right.

I want my daughter to know that every day decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at McDonald's will become a major dilemma. That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in that restroom.

However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother.

Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about her self.That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. That she would give herself up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years, not toaccomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish theirs.

I want her to know that a Cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become badges of honor. My daughter's relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks.

I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child. I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic.

I wish my daughter could sense the bond she will feel with women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk driving.

I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike.

I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or cat for the first time.

I want her to taste the joy that is so real it actually hurts.

My daughter's quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. "You'll never regret it," I finally say. Then I reached across the table, squeezed my daughter's hand and offered a silent prayer for her, and for me, and for all the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this, most wonderful of callings.

(Please share this with a Mom that you know or all of your girlfriends who may someday be Moms. May you always have in your arms the one who is in your heart.)

I should exercise with these guys

holidays are hectic! but i have to share this awesome video of this new band i'm digging OK go. enjoy =)

i thrift therefore i am

yesterday was a good day to go thriftstore shopping...but before i show off my finds, i just wanna say a big overdue THANK YOU to my friend matet for my pasalubong from the philippines (my dad came back last month so yea, this is really overdue). cloud 9 and kendimint rules! it's such a rush to taste these treats again and feel the childhood memories come back. hahahha! doesn't take much to amuse me =)

now on to thrifstore finds. lia and i went to the salvation army yesterday -- it's just a few miles away from the house so vaughn spent time with his lola daisy and auntie chu while mommy takes a break from nannyhood. they had a 50% off sale on everything so... (click on pics to enlarge)

i found these beautiful ball jars for less than $1 each, it matches the old school feel of our apartment and now i have a place for all the candy i got from matet:

and for other stuff as well:

i also found this bag that looks like something from urban outfitters...it has amazing bead detail! a lady and i both reached for this at the same time but she graciously let me have it woohoo!

and other random stuff (that's a kid's knitting kit, lia is teaching me how to knit since i never learned from home ec...i've decided i'm gonna do something about my "uncraftiness" hahaha)

and this vintage shirt for mark hahahaha!

gas: $3

parking: $0.50

thriftstore finds: $20

satisfaction of cheap retail therapy: PRICELESS!

happy halloweeny!!!

ahhh it's that time of the year again! the holidays are the most wonderful time of the year! and now it's even better with a little one around =) vaughn's first halloween festivities started friday night when we went to a halloween festival here in the valley. there was a pumpkin patch, rides, food, games...but we forgot to bring cash! so we took pics and left. saturday we went to la mirada since the flores clan decided to do halloween early (oct 31st is a school night, so we can't get together that day) -- we went to another pumpkin patch and this time we brought enough cash =) the kids had a lot of fun running around and picking out the perfect pumpkin. vaughn snoozed through the whole thing hahaha! we dressed him up as wonderbread (i know, crazy parents huh), but he has 5 other costumes (1 my co worker lent to me, the other one is a roo costume that's too big on him, and the other 3 my friend jen bought for him) so i'm planning to do a shoot on all of his costumes for posterity's sake. on halloween day we plan to go to the disney lot to join the annual halloween festivities, should be fun! meanwhile here are some pics from this weekend, hope everyone's having a blast too!

twenty twenty four hours ago, i wanna be sedated

Vaughn's Ramones photoshoot!
(the effect of being on maternity leave for waaayy too long, hahaha!)

jean dilemma

i want a sewing machine. i don't know why i didn't get one before but for someone who spends around $15-20 just to get jeans hemmed by a pro, i should've learned how to hem jeans on my own a long time ago. sigh! i think about random things these days, i.e. i wish i went to a sewing class instead of wasting my time stewing and being mad about certain things in the past, or i could've learned how to fix cars or went to photography school or learned how to knit a scarf...hahaha. but i'm not that great at home making. when i was in gradeschool and highschool, i always paid somebody to do my home econ projects for me. now all of a sudden i feel like it's such a critical skill to have, but really the desire to learn how to make anything with my hands or at least to sew is derived from my frustration of shelling out so much money to have some other person do it for me -- and it doesn't even come out the way i want it! anyway, i'm gonna save up for one and maybe try to hem the boyfriend jeans i got from ae. i might need to buy some thriftstore jeans to practice on...or i might just go to isang and have her do it for me heheheh. lazy bones.

that was then and this is now

it's 2:35 am and my mind is racing still. looked up a couple of friend's sites on the internet and found pics from last year. seems like it was such a long time ago. i stare at disbelief -- how many times in the 365 days of 2005 did i spend in drunken stupor? i don't even remember how being drunk feels -- haven't had a bottle of beer for 11 months now (because i'm breastfeeding). amazing how motherhood changes you. i stop and think, do i want to go back to that life? i click on the desktop icon and my wallpaper of vaughn's picture is smiling back at me with that ridiculous faux hawk that mark insists he sports. nah -- i don't want to go back to listlessly living my life looking for the next party, waking up with a horrible hangover, and doing the vicious cycle all over again. having a kid forces you to rethink your priorities and weigh the consequences of your actions very very carefully. it's not all about you now, another human being depends on your choices and the life path you choose to lead. shit that thought still freaks me out. *yawn* gotta get some shut eye, the boobman will be up soon and i wanna be awake for his satisfied coos and smiles =)

pics pics

no time to blog but here are some pics...i think i'm gonna be doing this for a while, just posting pics that is. mark goes back to work next week so it's just gonna be me and vaughn -- my hands will definitely be full. i'll post pics though...so just check from time to time. oh and i got the job! yeeehaaa! family was over last weekend to celebrate...will post pics on that as soon as i'm done uploading. toodles!

http://vaughnarthur.multiply.com/photos

and we're back online

heeelllloooo everybody in the internet who cares about what's going on with my life =) been offline for a while due to the demands of motherhood, moving, interviewing for a job, buying a new set of wheels for my lil prince, and life as we all know it. yes mark and i are a bunch of crazees multitasking and trying to get a gazillion things done while we are both on leave.

things are going well with the whole being a mother stint. i am still actively breastfeeding the boobman but feeding him via bottle so it's easier for me to go back to work. vaughn's now a month old and mark and i already have a nickname for him, we call him "bato" translated in english as "the rock" because he literally weighs like one. and man he can eat! the last time we went to the doctor (i think three weeks ago), he already weighed 9.8 lbs. I just started laughing -- imagine how much he would weigh in six months??? yep, i will definitely be blogging about that!

as for the moving thing, we didn't really move that far...still in the same place but in a different unit. mark saw an empty unit with a backyard and the owner was only adding a little bit more for the rent plus we got another parking spot so we jumped on it. i'm glad we did because our new place is sooo much better than the previous one. now we have a huge backyard project to tackle...note to self: need to get a bbq grill, maybe set up a tiki bar, some chairs and a table, potted plants and we're good to go. hmmm, maybe i should sign up for some HGTV shoot or something hahahaha!

i interviewed for a new position yesterday...so still pending on that one. i'm crossing my fingers that i'll get it because having a kid is super expensive. we've since upgraded our car and living quarters since vaughn was born. and now i have to think about daycare when i go back to work. ayayay.

so far that's it. we've just been busy with having fun and enjoying the time off from work. last weekend was daniel's 14th birthday so we ate out and went bowling (i didn't get to go bowling cuz it was too late for vaughn and i to be out). tomorrow we're having sushi with our friends because mark and i are experiencing some serious cabin fever...then saturday my friend invited us to her kid's birthday party in seaworld (lori i'll call you this weekend!). so yes, our calendar's been full =)

packed weekend!

vaughn's already two weeks old! no significant changes yet...all he does is sleep, eat, poop, and pee all day =) these days he wants to be around where the noise is and does not want to sleep in his quiet room. last friday brian and gary came over and we had some lobster -- vaughn sat in his swing the whole time and watched us gobble the "orange stuff" it was yummy!


saturday we went to the cagay-anon picnic in long beach, again he was oblivious to all the noise and slept the whole time. we also hung out at la mirada...


sunday the Flemings came over from SD and hung out with us. they brought my godson jack and we all had a ball watching him open and close cabinets! it was really nice to hang out with damon again after 3 years or so. he went to virginia to get his phd and is now moving back to SD to become a professor in state (our alma mater)...i think i blogged about that a few months ago.



anyway, more pictures at http://vaughnarthur.multiply.com/photos till next!

drunk with love =)

all day long i feed vaughn every two hours and daddy mark changes his poopie and wet diapers. we're both thankful he's not a super fussy baby. he only cries when he's hungry or when he needs his diapers changed. when he sleeps in his crib we both stare at this small creature and marvel at how handsome and fragile he is and totally dependent on us for survival -- us, the party going, tequila chugging, dance floor king and queen. it's odd how parenthood changes you. but there is one universal truth about having a baby: you've never known unconditional love, until you have a child.

anyway, i posted new pics on his site, check it out whenever you guys have time:

http://vaughnarthur.multiply.com/photos

having a baby changes everything...

i stole that line from the johnson's commercial and i couldn't agree more =) my little one decided that he couldn't wait till the 15th and decided to put me on active labor on August 13th. i was complaining about contractions around 9 in the morning then finally at around 11 am, we called the hospital and they told us to come on over. i had some cereal that morning so my c-section wasn't scheduled until 2:30 pm that afternoon...they also had to inject me with teributalin (again) to stop the contractions. baby vaughn can't wait to get out of my tummy! after much prep work, mark donned his scrubs and i was wheeled into the operating room. the anesthisiologist and the nurse were great, they made me me feel so comfortable during the process -- the epidural didn't hurt at all (just like a pinch) and they put these leg warmers on me which really helped distract from the pain...(oh yea i told the nurse if i could buy those warmers for my own use hahaha -- i had a sense of humor while going thru surgery!). the c-section didn't take that long which surprised the heck out of me. mark came in and sat down after i had my epidural and we were chatting for about 8 minutes then the doctors told him to prep his camera because the baby's gonna come out! so i was in surgery around 3 pm, and vaughn came out at 3:21 pm -- the experience was so surreal! i couldn't feel anything from my diaphragm down and all of a sudden i hear a piercing cry fill the OR! vaughn arthur endraca was born a healthy 8 lbs 1 oz 19.5 inches. i can't even begin to describe how i felt when i heard him cry for the first time. mark and the doctor took baby vaughn to me so i can at least feel his cheeks and start to bond with him immediately after birth. i looked at my little boy, then at mark, and the tears just started free falling =) having him is definitely one of the happiest days of my life.

the recovery is another story -- not quite as fairytale like as the birth but hey, it was all worth it! hahaha. anyway, i made a website for baby vaughn and posted pics, so click on the link if you wanna check it out:

http://vaughnarthur.multiply.com/photos/album/2

3 more days to go!!!

I went to my last doctor's appointment today and got instructions for my c-section. i'm not supposed to eat anything after midnight on monday...so mark and i are planning to stuff ourselves silly the day before my operation -- hahaha! j/k, we're both just really anxious and a bit tired from waiting. i've gotten super super big (see my shower pics in the entry below), i can't walk that fast anymore and have difficulty sleeping. my damn rashes also reappeared which adds to the sleeplessness. but i keep telling myself that i only have to bear three more days of this and my little precious will come out.

we're finally done preparing baby vaughn's room and mark's been practicing on the red teddy bear and getting used to the rocker and glider =) for more nursery pics, click on this link:
http://teray620.multiply.com/photos/album/12
i still have to sterilize some bottles and we have some formula and nursery water on hand just in case i'll run into problems breastfeeding baby vaughn. my goal is to really try and breastfeed him 100% until age 1. we're planning to get a lactation consultant to help me with the process, i'm gonna buy some breastfeeding books, and i have lori to support me if i ever think of giving up (she gave birth to her daughter last march and have been breastfeeding her exclusively, look how pretty and healthy she is!).

it's still a bit surreal to think that in a couple of days, i'm going to be somebody's mother! i mean, it really hasn't hit me that hard until i heard the doctor give us instructions on what to do during the operation...i think mark's feeling the same way too hahaha! everybody around us are excited about this baby coming out, we get an average of 5 phone calls per day from friends and family asking if he's already come out. last night, mark and our friends christian and champ all had a dream that the baby came out already. how weird is that? anyway, my mom is here to help us out for a few days. it's really nice having her, she prepares meals for us, cleans, and constantly hovers over me. i've completely forgotten how good it feels to be fussed over by a parent because i've lived away from home for a good 8 years now. i love my mom!

so we're just sittin' and waiting for this little baby to come out...thank you everyone for your well wishes, please pray for my safe delivery and baby vaughn and i will see you all soon!

love,
teresa

day 10 and 9

here's the best pic i took yesterday of our friend angel jacutin. i'm still trying to get my sea legs with my new cam =)



the last of my baby showers was yesterday and mark and i had such a blast! mark's family went all out with decorations, food, games, and gifts. just take a look at the pics =) i'm still trying to get used to my camera so there's some weird shots in there. the following days will be spent overhauling the apartment in preparation for our little one. we're going to my last doctor's appointment on thursday then i go in for surgery on august 15th. we can't wait to finally meet baby vaughn arthur endraca!

cumpston baby shower pics

day 11 - BEP LOVE!

the Black Eyed Peas Bebot video is out! yeeehaaaa! it's a black eyed peas song in tagalog, when i watched it my heart was bursting with pride =))) click on this link to view: http://kidheroes.net/bebot/videos.html


mark chaffeured me around as usual and we went to the westside to have my eyebrows threaded by my favorite Ziba guy: Marco (girls if you want perfectly arched eyebrows go see him!), mark bought some cheap graphic tees from AE [outfit for this weekend's shower hahaha), and i got a bobbi brown lip gloss from nordstrom [courtesy of steve and rosalee's bday gift certificate]. we also went to circuit city to buy a tripod for my camera and maybe an ipod dock to play music for the baby's room but of course we ended up getting something we didn't totally plan for! we ended up buying a bose dvd entertainment system -- now now, before i hear any "wow where did u guys get the money? or how on earth are you able to afford a $1300 system?" (with matching raised eyebrows) the answer is: we got the jtem open stock, in other words, it was used by the store for display and demo. there's absolutely nothing wrong with it except that it's used...but it still has that awesome bose sound for a fraction of the price (as in deeply discounted, mga more than 50%!!!). needless to say mark was awfully pleased with the purchase because now he has another toy to fiddle with. we rushed through dinner at his parent's house because he wanted to hurry home and install the system. he even dragged his cousin steve and had gary come over so that the three of them can marvel at the quality of sound the system makes. hahay! men! i can never "get" them. i found it rather amusing that a few speakers would excite them so much, they were like little kids watching and listening intently to the matrix dvd they popped in for quality testing purposes. so wives or girlfriends the lesson of the day is: if you want your man to stay home, buy him an awesome theater system and i guarantee 200% that he will be glued to that thing from morning till night. the only drawback to this masterplan? yes he's home but his attention won't be geared towards you, instead you will see him in the corner of your eye, lovingly staring at his precious new commodity! hahahahaha! the only reason why i agreed to buy the system in the first place was because it had a dvd, cd, and am/fm radio. which means i can play baby vaughn's kiddie videos, baby mozart cds, and radio disney with amazing sound clarity. yes, i know, we are already spoiling this kid and he's not even out of my womb yet. so sue us =)

day 12

hey y'all, i just figured out how to work multiply and been working on my site since last night. here's a link to it: http://teray620.multiply.com/

i know, i know, another website...but i think i'm gonna blog here and post pics there. multiply has this really cool feature of being able to cross post from blogger to them. plus i can post videos, reviews, music, and other stuff on multiply so i'm gonna put a lot of content there except my blog...the only feature that's not there is people's ability to comment on your site even if they don't have a multiply account. this is why i'm still keeping my blogger because i don't want to force anyone to sign up for multiply and have to remember another username and password, just to make a comment to an entry or say hi to me -- i have a ton of those, i've lost track already. anyhoo, i posted some pics from the moran's wedding last june 24th, here's the link: http://teray620.multiply.com/photos/album/6 enjoy!

day 13

didn't do much. stayed home all day and fiddled around with my camera and took pics of the apartment facade. my sisters got the cookie thank you cards i sent to them...yea, there's a website you can order from, it's kind of a unique twist -- like, instead of sending the traditional thank you card, you send a cookie card. isang's gonna photograph it so she can show me how it looks. tomorrow i swore to myself i'll be more productive. baby's still kicking up a storm in my tummy. i have grown in epic proportions. mark and i will do a photoshoot on ourselves soon (we're gonna be guinea pigs for the new cam) so i have to purchase a tripod and a remote control maybe tomorrow or friday. we'll see. but i'll be sure to post pics so just watch out for it =)

8/1/06 - day 14

today was a good day. mark and i started our day early to have lunch with jong since he's leaving for japan (navy) tomorrow. we had dimsum in chinatown and lia came with us as well. after the much needed msg rush, we drove back to noho to hang out. the weather's not been that bad these days. last two weeks the valley felt like a rotisserie! oh yeah, i got my dream camera today!!! mark and i finally broke down and purchased a canon rebel xt digital SLR camera (yes, the one i blogged about last april 4th!). we needed to retire my itty bitty casio exislim because we need a better cam with high resolution to take pics of Vaughn. we also got a videocam so we can record our baby's milestones (first cry, first laugh, first steps) sigh! we're such excited parents!! this kid is gonna be super spoiled but we already agreed that we're gonna try our hardest to not go overboard. anyway, here are some test shots i did at the baby's room. it's not done yet so i only took pics of the stuff around the room. there's a recurring disney theme in there because well, i work for the company hehehe. the pics are ok...i have to practice, do a lot of reading and really learn to use this camera so i can justify all the money we paid for it =) heeheehee. oh yea, it was also steve's birthday (mark's cousin) today and damon's as well. steve had a mini bbq at his house and damon's probably seething cuz i haven't called him. damon: i didn't forget, i was just really distracted today. i'll call you tomorrow promise! don't be mad =) ok i gotta hit the sack. we're gonna try to pack our day with activities tomorrow as well so we won't think so much about counting the days. i'm really excited to take my camera outside and take pics in natural light! thank you everyone for the encouragement and the texts. i'm almost there!

the countdown begins - day 15

our days are spent anxiously waiting...and waiting...and waiting...we usually try to distract ourselves by going to mark's mom's house and watching wowowee for two hours straight -- they have TFC (the filipino channel) and we don't. after watching a couple of episodes with luningning jiggling her thang on national tv, i finally got the gist of the premise of this show. and it works, the pressure and intensity they put on the poor people who are lucky (or unlucky?) enough to be chosen for "pera o bayong" really gets you glued to the television. one woman won a taxi cab and she almost passed out. we laugh our asses off, then go home again to the apartment with the wowowee song stuck in our heads "wowowee sinong di mawiwili..."

flip the tv on at home, and we catch an episode of survivor man. it's this crazy guy who goes to the arctic or canada, or in the middle of the ocean -- he videotapes himself and gives tips on how to survive in case you got stuck somewhere with no food, drink, shelter, and tv. i ponder this thought...yeah, what would we do if there was no tv? this is the most tv i've watched in all my life. i putz around the house and try to be productive but it's really difficult maneuvering a huge belly, swollen feet, and an aching back (not to mention i'm supposed to be on bedrest). today we at least got around to hanging curtains in the baby's room. tomorrow i'm going to make a valiant effort to wash the baby clothes we got from the showers. i write daily to-do lists but we're such slackers it actually becomes a to-do list for the week. sigh! i guess it's just weird for me because i've worked and always had something to do ever since i came to the US, that was 11 years ago. and now not working and just being home is forcing me to slow down -- maybe this is the precursor of having a child. maybe life's trying to prep me for the things to come.

baby showers

it's been a while since i blogged and i really don't have a good excuse since i was put on bedrest since the beginning of july. yes i had premature labor two weeks ago. i had contractions while i was at work and ended up staying at the hospital for five hours! they gave me two shots of terbutaline, a drug that will stop the contractions. it worked but my doctor had to put me on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy. it's not really complete bedrest, i.e. i can go to the store and get one thing but i can't shop for three hours --- which suuuccksss so much because now i have all this time to cruise the malls but my legs and my back aren't strong enough to do so. it also ruined my plans to take my cousin karyn to santa barbara and solvang, she came to california for a conference and she wanted to go wine tasting and tour SB...oh well! so i thought my troubles were over when i suddenly developed this rash called PUPPP (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy). it's pregnancy related and it's super gross! check out the before and after pics of this website http://rainiersoapworks.com/puppp_relief.htm yeah...mine started on my tummy, then spread to my arms and legs. i was soooo miserable! to the point where i was only getting 4 hours of sleep. my doctor prescribed something but it didn't work so i did some research on the internet and found rainier soapworks which is a god send! it's been a week since i've been using their herbal soap and cream and now my skin is better and i don't itch as much. i've never ever had skin problems in my whole life so now i have newfound sympathy for anybody suffering from psoriasis or eczema. hmmm, so i do have an excuse for not blogging! lol!

anyway, i know it's tmi (too much info) for some people so i'll stop talking about it and change the subject =) last week was the week for baby showers...work threw one for me on july 13th and i got some amazing presents! my coworkers really went all out! i got this three layered cake looking gift package that they made, it's made up of painstakingly rolled up diapers! it's really crazy! check out these pics ... mark and i had a lot of fun opening gifts for baby vaughn and all my co-workers teased me that i'm gonna give birth before my due date 'cause i'm so big! they even have a baby pool going (on an excel spreadsheet pa!).

sunday, july 16th my friend stephanie (teptep) threw a baby shower for me and mark and invited all our friends. it was a blast! she went crazy and decorated their patio with streamers, baby blocks, balloons, bubbles, rubber duckies and GI joe's as centerpieces. our friend drew was the dj for the afternoon and did a fantastic job spinning! tep tep also came up with hilarious games like sucking OJ from a baby bottle (cham won), eating melted chocolate on a diaper -- gross but extremely funny (dammasch won), identifying mark's ankle (i was debating between the real thing and champ, i guessed wrong!), guessing the size of my belly using toilet paper, and a cotton picking contest (gary won). we also entertained ourselves with the bubbles and the electric fan that i brought along. with all the bubbles floating around, it created this relaxing environment on a very hot day. fun fun fun! check out the pics below (click on the link):

baby shower pics at tep's

this sunday my family is hosting another baby shower and i'm really looking forward to it because my college friends are gonna show up and my friend lori is bringing her baby over (born last March)! i've only seen her in pictures so i'm really excited to meet her =) i even bought an outfit for the ocassion heheheh.

so more baby update: we went to our last ultrasound to have the baby's weight checked...and to our surprise, our doctor told us that she's estimating that we are going to have a 9 lb baby! i was really shocked because mark and i are super skinny and how on earth did we create a 9 lb baby? so i'm gonna end up having a c-section per my doctor since the baby's too big. i wanted to have a natural birth but oh well, i've already accepted that this baby's in control...hahaha! anyway, i'm scheduled for august 15th, a week before my due date, unless baby vaughn decides to come early. will definitely blog and post pics on my family's baby shower. till then!

...

wanna blog about a lot of stuff but too busy! so here's some random thoughts/events that happened...

- my feet are now starting to swell and my itty bitty toes now look like fat sausages, vaughn's getting heavier by the week and yesterday was the official start of my 8th month -- whew i'm breathing a sigh of relief! i'm saved from the 7-month-premature curse that my family seems to have (2 of my nieces and 1 nephew were born at 7 mos)

- went to eileen's wedding last saturday and wore the dress mark's mom gave to me for my birthday...got lots of compliments on it lol! will post pics soon

- i have three baby showers! one at work, one with friends, and one with family. my sister isang and i handmade the family invites because there's a lot of old school peeps who don't have email addresses and won't know what to do with an evite heeeheeheee. turned out pretty cute, i'll try to scan it and post pics here. i also have some interesting shower party favors, shoot me an email if you wanna get one in the mail

- my bday was pretty mellow, mark made me breakfast (french toast, bacon, and eggs -- i love this guy!). i had to work since it was a weekday but we went on a tour in our imagineering department and i got to see how the rides are developed in the disney parks and also test out a new pirates ride that they are thinking about doing. had dinner with the future in-laws and mark that night, then just went home and chilled. one of the best weekday birthdays i've had =)

- oh did i mention that my feet are now a size larger (5.5)? i can finally fit in a shoe at the mall stores and not just at nordstrom. i wonder if they'll stay that size...then i can do some major shoe shopping! heheheh...if they get bigger and your current shoe size is 4.5 or 5, let me know. you can potentially inherit all my cute shoes!

- work's been a sonofabitch because i'm training my temp replacement and he's too super perky for me...arrrgghhhh! hahahaha, j/k. he's just being nice but with me being pregnant and hormones all over the place, i can't help but wanna strangle the guy when he gives me an over enthusiastic greeting on a monday morning

- it's sooooo hot in the valley (angela is it also very hot in manila?), and being pregnant does not help any, but i tell myself that it'll be over soon and it'll be worth every trickle of my sweat hahahah

ok i think that's about it for now. so i guess this is kind of a blog entry. just without pics and stuff. i'll post that soon. right now i have to tell mr. perky to come by and continue training. ttfn!

it's not how old you are but how you are old

mark and i celebrated our birthdays together for the second time. we decided to have a "small" party at the last minute and sent out evites to the usual suspects. got a few declines and maybes and only a few said yes so we both thought, ok, it's gonna small and intimate -- yeah right! our party started at 1:30, well, people started showing up as early as 1:30 even if the evite said 3 pm...because they wanted to see us and say hi before they go on to their previous engagements. rebecca, dan, and their cute baby girl arianna were the first to show up, then steve and rosalee stopped by, and lia and ryan came after. i forgot to take pics of the early comers =( oh wait, no, our friend paul came all the way from the bay area the night before, and gary spent the night so technically, they're the early birds...and angel too. anyway, i'm too lazy to write, so i'll do a bullet point of the things i remember...

- the boys checking out my pregnancy mags and their eyes growing bigger by the minute as they turn the pages
- the girls pretending that they're pregnant too and taking "spot-the-real-preggy" pics (much to their boyfriend's dismay)
- tep did a quasi photoshoot of my pregnant belly (official ones by lia in my 8th or 9th month coming soon)
- our filmmaker neighbor steve dropping by to join the party (and of course the boys were asking him what kind of filmmaker he is, when he said he doesn't do porn, they lost interest right away hahaha!)
- us loving the sepia tones from tep's cam, thus most of the pics taken were in sepia tones
- paul, raj, and jackie driving all the way from the bay area to come to our party! (well, paul drove down to see angel but that's another story hahaha!)
- everybody trippin out on my belly and saying how i'm gonna pop soon!
- everybody showing off their belly because now there's somebody who's got a bigger belly and they're not so embarassed by their beer bellies anymore (men! <--- roll eyeballs here)
- somebody put icing on my face and mark's...so we have this pic with icing on our cheeks which looks like? tsk tsk...so so wrong!
- the "take a pic with the pregnant lady" session, it's funny how guys are also really fascinated with the pregnancy process...i thought they couldn't care less!

that's all i remember so far...everybody was all giggly and happy, and had a great time. of course i was the only sober person in the room which sucked but oh well, i got to point and laugh at the drunk ones hahahah! the party ended around 2 but mark and i turned in early and left the guests to their own devices -- so we take no responsibility on what happened afterwards! here are some pics for everybody's entertainment (click on link below...warning: there's a lot of preggy pics in there, so if you are aversed to pregnant women in any way, don't open the link!=P ). till next!

Mark and Teresa's Birthday Shindig Photos

will you...?

yes i am now a proud wearer of "the rock" =) my ring looks exactly like this picture with the marquise diamond setting. Mark asked me to marry him last May 28th. i didn't mention it in my previous entry because our friends were supposed to do this major proposal production in an exotic locale with flowers and candles, the works! and we thought -- in true teray and mark fashion, we'd punk them and i could practice my acting skills (specifically, crying on cue)! hahaha! but i can't resist wearing the ring and he can't resist telling everybody that he's already asked...so we just dropped the bomb =) sorry isang, tep, ron, gary, lia, ollie, and everybody else who was in on it. mark can't keep a secret from me so he ruined your surprise hehehe. i really didn't mind but thanks to everyone for keeping it quite and letting him do the talking, that meant a lot to me.
on other news, today we went to do a 4D ultrasound of baby Vaughn ...btw for those who don't know, we're planning to name him Vaughn Arthur Endraca. it's the only name mark and i can agree on so nobody is allowed to complain ;-) anyway, below are some pics from the ultrasound (click on the pics to enlarge). we also got a video and a couple of black and white pics, isn't technology amazing [4D is done for vanity reasons only and not covered by insurance so we had to shell out some bucks but it was well worth it!]. Vaughn slept through the whole thing and buried himself deep into my placenta but we still got some pretty good images. right now he's in a breech position -- kinda like a u shape, his head is on my left side and his butt at the bottom of my abdomen and his legs are both raised up to his head. talk about chillaxing in mommy's tummy!


he's currently 3 lbs, and will get bigger as each week passes. i'm so excited to meet him!

it's 3 am i must be lonely...

hahaha -- nah, not really. just can't sleep. too hot in the valley tonight, 100 degrees. i feel icky! this is the only downside of summer. so i got up and paid bills, then browsed my friend's websites just to be nosy...and found this http://www.dierockersdie.com/ hahaha! can't believe i was a dierockersdie bandaid before =) check out the images link in 2003 and click on the pics to view them. i was a skinny fox back then, damn! now i feel like a house with no ankles, sometimes the idea of writing a blog entitled "the case of the disappearing ankles" fancies me. but then i'd have a great title but nothing else to say except pregnancy can cause disappearing ankles. tsk, tsk, so much for imagination. memorial day weekend was a blast...i spent the night at my sister kate's house friday nite since my mom was leaving for the philippines (again) on saturday. saturday was spent running around the park with my nephew and niece and daniel, feeding the ducks, and dodging frisbee golfs. i also took my sister suzy and mom for some last minute pasalubong shopping. sunday we went to rosalynne's pool party, didn't get to dip in the water since i will most likely sink and we didn't end up going there till 5 pm...too lazy to go into detail but let's just say brian got his ass whooped from their UFC (ultimate fighting championship) simulation with mark and gary ---> roll eyes here. hay men! they do weird things when they're bored! here are some pics from tep's pbase...ron promised me he'll email me more pics so i'll post them soon. monday we just lazed around and did absolutely nothing! overall it was a mellow weekend which i really needed =) k i think i should hit the sack...i still have to go to a training class tomorrow. i'm out!

can't get this song out of my head

Crazy
by: Gnarls Barkley

I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that phase.
Even your emotions had an echo
In so much space

And when you're out there
Without care,
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me crazy
Probably

And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice, that's my only advice
Come on now who do you think you are,
Ha ha ha bless your soul
You really think you're in control

Well, I think you're crazy
Just like me

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember is thinking, I want to be like them
Ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done

Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably

p.s. RON VALIENTE IS THE BOMB! heeheee, salamat ron for helping me fix my blog!

ahhh vacations

del mar beach was a blast! everybody arrived friday night and there was a frenzy of unpacking and getting settled. the kids were all hyped up and running around like crazy. after settling in, a few conked out but the rest of us still had adrenaline pumping in our veins...so we decided to play poker. mark and i lost (we both suck at texas hold'em) and the big winners were jun and dad. saturday we woke up early. the skies were overcast but we made the best out of it -- flew kites, walked around the beach, and took the kids to the playground (which was really close to our cottage). the sun came out later that day so we all changed to our suits and went swimming. the water was freezing cold! but it didn't stop any of us from getting our feet wet. i'm a wuss so i just got my feet wet...hehehe, mark and the rest of the gang actually took a plunge. my niece ling enjoyed the water so much she didn't wanna do anything else. we also built sand castles, the guys went to the casino nearby -- except mark, we took a nap then bought some firewood for our bonfire. saturday night we sat around the fire while my dad played his guitar, the kids made smores, and when the fire died down, we played texas hold'em again and stayed up till 3 am! everybody decided to leave sunday afternoon so we had our last bbq lunch and back to LA we went. it was a real good time and everybody in the family agreed that we should definitely do more family get togethers. next year we're planning to go up the mountains and let the kids experience some snow =) definitely lookin forward to that! oh before i forget, here are some pics from the outing:

del mar beach pics

isang's kids