4th Church Wedding Anniversary

I cannot believe it’s been 4 years since I walked down the aisle of San Agustin Church in Manila. Oh, it was a lovely day that I will forever treasure! It was the day we signed and sealed the deal in front of God, our families and friends.  Truly unforgettable!

We’re so thankful that we were able to celebrate our church wedding anniversary tonight. Much thanks to my friend, H who gladly took care of Dade while we sneaked in an exclusive dinner date.  How I missed having a night out with hubby alone!

We ate at Caramel, one of the elite restaurants and lounges in our centre.  We tried their famous Steak and Frites and Grilled Chilean Sea Bass that are perfect for a special occasion such as this.

Next week is another occasion not to be missed – our 5th wedding anniversary (civil), which we also celebrate.  Uh huh, two anniversaries that are only a week apart.  Cute, right?  

Merry Christmas!

Warm wishes from our family to yours! :)

My Baby Can Sign!

When Dade turned one, my friend Mandy gifted him with a Baby Sign Language book.  It came with a fridge magnet that shows 4 basic signs that are commonly used, and we’ve placed it in the kitchen where we can find the magnet instantly and refer to.  I was ecstatic because I wanted my little boy to learn how to sign.  I got interested in baby signing after I learned its benefits -- can help the kids learn how to speak and expand their vocabulary, more advanced mental development, and enhanced parent-child relationships. But what made me buy the idea is the reduction of tantrums out of frustration (because the parent or caregiver cannot comprehend what the baby wants or feels).

Last night on our way home from the mall, our darling Dade signed “eat” to my delight. I fed him a huge jar of Hipp Pasta Twists with Courgette & Mozzarella and he finished it in no time. He was in a happy mood while eating because I was able to quickly tend to his need. No more clothes tugging and crying because we can now communicate properly when he’s hungry and wants to be fed.

I have to give credit to my husband who has been teaching Dade how to sign. He’s always been good with kids, and now he’s putting that gift to good use.  He teaches patiently to Dade which is why it’s not a surprise that the little one learned all his tricks from his Dad.  I’m sure my husband is quite happy that he’s the first to discover the many new things that our little boy does.

Christmas Goodies

…for my team, that is.

Since I joined the company, it’s always been a custom for me to give out Christmas goodies to my team mates.  After the restructure of our company around mid of this year, my team was merged with another sector so I had new team mates who by the way are the coolest people ever!

My hubby toiled late last night to prepare 3 kinds of baked treats to go to the goody bag – butterscotch, chocolate crinkles and gingerbread cookies. We have a stash of boxes bought from Chocolate Lover in Manila during our trip last year, which we made use of during this festive season.  I just added a red organza ribbon to tie the handles and placed a gift tag on each of the bag with handwritten names of my team mates.



For my two friends at the LD, I gave each of them a jar of individually wrapped butterscotch. I just added a red ribbon to the jar I got from Ikea to give it some flair.  I like it that the jar has some stars printed around it so it gave the gift a more Christmas-sy look. The cellophane to wrap the square-cut butterscotch were from Chocolate Lover from Manila, as well.  I am so glad we hoarded these items during our vacation last year. You can never find these kind of stuff here in Dubai, and if you do, they are priced really high. so it does pay to stock up on hard-to-find items, especially for packaging purposes.



I am delighted that they loved my simple gift.  It’s just amusing how some of them don’t want to open their boxes yet because they are saving them for the weekend.  And when they do see someone munching on a cookie already, they would ask for a small pinch to taste.  Talk about being greedy with their treats, haha!

Updates on Dadelicious

Just a quick update on the wee one before the year finally folds.

Swimming
We realized that Dade isn’t exactly fond of the waters. It took him more than 20 minutes to pacify himself the last time he went for a swim with his Ninang B.  Poor Ninang B had to get in the floater with him.  When he had finally warmed, the boy wouldn’t stop splashing water.  We took it as a sign that he’s no longer afraid. Yes, we could bring him to go swimming again soon!




Hungry
Dade gets really pissed when he’s hungry, that much I can tell you.  Just look at this face – taken at P.F. Chang’s Bistro.



He was able to finish 2 pieces of chicken dimsum and lots of spoonfuls of rice and spinach. He's also learned to let us know if he’s hungry by tugging at our clothing (it’s so cute when he tugs at our shorts when at home!) Dade’s also learning sign language now (thanks to Mandy’s birthday pressie for him) to avoid any tantrums when he cannot express himself properly.

Techie boy
My little one knows how to switch on my iPad, unlock the screen, swipe his fingers through the screen and play his Sesame Street videos all by himself.  Seriously!  He practically plays with my toy more than I do. Oh, and he also knows how to play Fruit Ninja and scores combos randomly.



Milk Intake 
Dade still drinks 4 cups of 6 oz milk in a day. He eats solids at least twice a day with cookies and fruits in between. This is a picture of him drinking his milk while we were having coffee at the mall. 


Dumping stuff
We noticed how Dade grabs stuff by his hand and then dumps it in a bag, box or bin.  One time we were supposed to leave the house to go somewhere and I was desperately trying to find his other shoe.  My Dad, who was here then on a holiday, suggested that he might have put it in the paper bag for disposal.  True enough, the missing pair was there! Goodness!

Now look what I found in my purse the other day.


Giggles
My son is very frugal when it comes to giving a smile or stifling a giggle. So it is a big deal for us when we see him give a warm grin or a hearty laughter spontaneously.  Like this picture for instance.

We were at Mercato Mall then, and we sat for a while as I spoke to Dad on the phone. Out of boredom, he and Ryan played with the silicone cups we bought from Tavola.  He would grab the bunch of silicone cups and shoot them in the paper bag, after which, the Dad would cheer him on.  He had so much fun doing it, he was laughing his heart out the whole time.

Come January 1st, Dade will be turn 17 months. So far he’s mastered kissing the hand (pagmamano) and give us kisses to make lambing.  He’s also trying to speak a few words, and sometimes babbles to us as if telling us a story.  He still co-sleeps with us, which I have to admit is the best part of my day because we get to cuddle a lot especially now that the weather is nippy and all we ever wanna do is stay in bed.  I really am savoring these moments before he grows up feeling binata na and all.

Arm’s Length Away

How fast time flies!  Christmas is just 6 days away now, can you believe it?  Have you done your Christmas shopping?  How about wrapping ‘em gifts?  Did you shop for the Christmas dinner already?

It may not be as busy in this part of the world but our family will definitely be super busy this week for the holidays.  We’ll be baking lots of goodies for my team mates, as well as for my Pinoy colleagues. I cannot afford to buy gifts for each of them so we’ll just give something home made with love.  Goodluck to me & my hubby who will be working on a tiny urban kitchen this week, hihi!

I'm glad we have bought all Christmas pressies for our families and friends here, and had them all wrapped already. Our tree has been put up 3 weeks ago, and it’s brimming with gifts underneath – mostly gifts for Dade’s friends here in Dubai. We’re also half done shopping for ingredients for the food to be prepared for our Noche Buena feast. Now all we need to do is keep the house clean, cook food and welcome our guests on the evening of the 24th.

The Christmas atmosphere may not be as jolly or busy as back home, but we will make do with what we have and we will try to make it special for our little boy.  We’ve always been home for the holidays every year, except in 2007, so it’s a bit difficult to be away this year. we’re missing the get-togethers, meet-ups, the Christmas songs played wherever we go, the rush that the holiday season brings…haaayyy!!

Well, if there’s one thing that made me and hubby smile last weekend, it was this precious little bag that has one of the things that make up a Filipino Christmas.

that ham 

Now we just need to buy queso de bola and we’re all set.

Dade's (and hubby's) First Metro ride

Dubai's own railway system opened September of last year. However, it took us months before we finally had a chance to ride it because we didn’t find any reason to take it in the first place. My first ride was around May, and I was with my cousin S. We took it from Mall of the Emirates to her apartment, 21st Century Tower which is just right in front of the Financial Centre Station (yep, a 10-minute walk from my office building).

Last month, we were invited to come celebrate our friends’ daughter’s 6th month birthday at their flat in Dubai Marina. Ryan and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to take the train with the little one since the JBR Station is just right next to our friends’ building.  And since it’s difficult to get a parking spot at Dubai Marina, we thought of taking the Metro and just leave our car in a mall in the other side of town.

Here’s a picture of our wee one on our way to JBR station:

The trip was long, I tell ya! It took us 45 minutes from Deira City Centre Station to JBR Station, which would normally take a little over 20 minutes by car at the maximum speed limit. It has a lot of stops so you can tell the little boy became fussy towards the middle of the ride. Despite our level best to entertain him with the view outside, he still insisted on getting off my lap and walking around, which we prevented him to do so and much to his dismay!

We were relieved when we finally had to get off our stop because the boy was annoyed already.  Good thing he was entertained by the walkalator so he was back to his usual self before we arrived at our destination.

The ride back went way smoothly because Dade was already tired then. but before he fell asleep, I took this picture of him and the Daddy as a little keepsake.