A Welcome Freebie

One of the things I love about living here in the Dubai is the shopping experience. You literally get the value for your money. Discounts are massive and the stores usually give further mark down to the prices nearer the end of their scheduled sale. Plus the items put on sale are almost always in good shape. That’s why it is quite easy for people here to fall into the trap of succumbing to debts because of all these tempting offers.

I have 2 working credit cards here, one of which is an emergency card that we got for free. The account is just there, sitting nicely with a substantial credit limit but zero balance all because we did not activate it…haha!  The other card I’m carrying is my first credit card here in the UAE which I have been using for most of my purchases. Earlier last year, I have requested to have its credit limit reduced to the minimum amount they would allow, which is just enough for me to purchase our family’s air tickets when going home. I had several other reasons why I requested for that but they deserve a separate blog entry.

As my card is tied to a point-generating card called Airmiles, I get to receive points every time I use it. In addition, I get to incur double points to certain stores that have partnership with Airmiles.  So if I use my credit card, let’s say at Chili’s to pay for our food bill, I get points by using my credit card plus I get another round of points if I present my Airmiles. Great, isn’t it?

my valuable card ;-)

Now here’s the best part – the redemption of points. I know people might think of me as tacky but I do use my points to get presents for family and friends. Well, I'm practical like that, haha! For instance, back in 2006, I got my best bud a hairdryer as birthday present because that’s what she wanted. So far, the Philips hairdryer is still working great and is now a staple to her everyday life. Then in 2009, I redeemed Ryan’s Kitchenaid Artisan mixer, which Airmiles gladly delivered to my office within 3 days after I've placed my order. I was heavy with Dade then and couldn’t afford to spend so much on a birthday present so I checked on my points to see if there’s any item I could snag from their catalogue. Ryan was pretty happy with his gift and was over the moon to see his dream mixer come true.  Now recently, I was put in the same scenario of finding an anniversary gift for the husband. Since my Dad gave my husband a spankin’ Beats Pro over-ear headphone, I was pressured to get him a proper iPod since our iPod Nanos are pretty old and were either given as presents or handed over as a prize at work. New Beats and old iPod Nano just don’t seem right.

wicked ear phones

But then, I have no budget for a new gadget. We just returned from our holidays and are recuperating from all the expenses. We are also saving up for our upcoming move to a new apartment plus preparing ourselves for the costs of hiring a nanny the proper, legal way. On top of that, we are looking into the prospect of selling our current car to get a bigger one in time for the arrival of the new baby. So you see, I literally don’t have the means to buy a new iPod. That is until I had a lightbulb moment.

I was cleaning up my office drawer yesterday when I saw an old statement of my Airmiles card. Curiosity hit me so I checked online how much my points are. I was so happy to learn that I have more than enough points to get me some vouchers from Arabian Centre which has a Sharaf DG 4U store. Realizing that I could get the iPod Touch from there, I immediately dragged the husband last night after work to get some vouchers. Silly goose me gave a lousy excuse that I won some vouchers so we need to drive there straight away. And because it was too cold last night, he and Dade decided to stay in the car while I made my way to the Customer Service section of the mall.

I almost jumped up and down when I was told by the sales person in Sharaf DG 4U that they have stock of the 32GB in white!  I quickly claimed my vouchers, came back to the store and took home hubby’s present.  I even got a free AED 50 voucher plus several discount coupons in Forever 21 and Sanrio stores.  I was also asked by the lovely lady from the Customer Service kiosk to go back to her after I've made my purchase so I can present my receipt and add more points to my Airmiles card.  On top of that, I got 6 raffle coupons for a chance to win some shopping money.  How cool is that?

free new gadget -- hooray!!

As soon as we got home, I gave the new toy to my husband who happily tinkered with it.  He said he knew I was up to something but couldn’t point a finger at it.  He is an unassuming person anyway so I knew I'd be able to pull it off without giving the surprise away :)

Here he is checking out his new gadget while Dade was watching Curious George in his iPad. Such techie boys!

Apple fans

So yeah, when i’m desperate, I always check on my Airmiles points.  They do come in quite handy :)

Library In The Making

My son has a love affair with books.  Sometimes we would catch him going through the pages and pretending to read out loud :)  And we are so grateful he does like 'em because we've always believed in the power of books to stimulate imagination and creativity.

So during our holiday in Manila, imagine our delight when our little big boss received all these books as Christmas presents:

our little one's treasures

In as much as we appreciate all the toys and clothes our boy wonder received, we are ever grateful to all our thoughtful friends and family who gifted our son with these readings.  It didn't matter that we almost exceeded our baggage allowance (boy, these books are real heavy!).  We had to bring them back to Dubai and that is exactly what we did :)

Dade's Big Boy Room

We're scouting for a new apartment because we plan on moving to a bigger unit in time for the new baby.  And before we finally leave this pad we called "home" for almost 3 years, allow me to share with you what we've done to Dade's room when we did a little make-over a few months ago.

Dade's newborn photos & nickname 

These round wooden thingies welcome you as soon as you enter the room.  Got them from Invitation House in Manila during one of our holidays. The photos and frame were from Ninang B.

our little one's bedroom/playroom

Dade's room at a glance. The room looked so small because of his toys (and that's just half of what he has!)

pull-out white framed bed

This is our wee one's bed.  He used to have a palochina bed frame but we changed it to this white bed frame with pull-out bed.  We badly wanted those from Pottery Barn Kids but couldn't afford their staggering prices so when we saw this day bed frame on sale at Home Centre, we bought it without even thinking twice. It just looks so elegant and Hampton-ish...haha!

books, toys &  knick-knacks station

We wanted all the furniture to be white to match the built-in wardrobes of the room. if we could only afford to spend a day to paint the walls, we would, but obviously we can't.  So yeah, everything looked sterile thanks to the lack of color.  The discounted Pottery Barn Kids curtains, thankfully, made the room look a bit brighter.

collection of bears & family photo

The bears were from Dade's very own Christening party.  The picture frame, meanwhile, was a complimentary gift from Pink Pepper Photography.  It is by far our favorite family picture :)

the ex-command center

This used to be called "the command center", a cabinet which we love so dearly because it can be converted to a changing table, which made our lives sooo much easier when Dade was still an infant.  No back-breaking experiences so I say it was worth the investment.  Here's how it looks like with the changing table installed: Hensvik Changing Table.

crib from Ninang B & Ninong K

Remember this crib from my baby shower?  Yep, it's very much intact as it was barely used by Dade. We intend on using this for the next baby so it's got to be disassembled before we move.   For the time being, we're using it as a bin for all of baby #2's shopping loot...hehe! Meanwhile, the wall decals were a gift from a friend. So useful!

side table with storage

Next to the crib is this small side table. Everything on top of it is a gift, except for the lamp shade and the iPod dock.  The iPod nano, a gift from Dade's Ninong a few years ago, is kept in the room to play classical music for the little boy.  I remember he used to sleep in the crib with Vivaldi playing in the background.  The digital frame was a birthday gift from my Pinoy colleagues a few birthdays ago. It has most of Dade's newborn photos.  Meanwhile, the rosary, a present from my HS friend, was the same one we used during our wedding while the candle and cross were gifts from friends.

So there you have it, that's a little tour of Dade's room in our current apartment. By mid of this year, he'll be sharing the room with his little sis and hopefully, the room will be more spacious than this.  More importantly, I hope that new room will have a splash of color compared to this :)

Happy News

wee!!

What a beautiful day!  It's my almost-16 week check-up today, and we found out Dade's getting a baby sister soon.

Hubby is wishing for a princess in the house and he's so stoked his wish is granted.  He was literally rejoicing in my OB's office after he announced the good news.  We were all nervously waiting in the dark and looking seriously at the screen while my OB was doing the ultrasound.  Yep, no balls nor trunk in sight so it's definitely a "she".  As for me,  I was secretly hoping it's a girl because I'd like my own baby girl to doll up, hihi!

We're happy beyond words! We feel so blessed.  Thank you, God!

Halloween Party 2011

Sharing with you some snippets from our Halloween Party last week.  This is the 3rd consecutive year we've done this and we're growing bigger each year.  More families have joined us for the party, and this time, we've leveled up by holding it in Burger King :)  Yep, we're done with house parties! No food to prep, no mess to clean :)

pumpkin balloon -- cutie!

Lone-ly Ranger

Mommy Minnie Mouse with Little Red Riding Hood

check out Dade's leather cowboy boots (which i got for only AED 10 at Gymboree)

Power Ranger

Dracula, Owl, Spiderman & Ninja

Mom, Dad, the little cowboy + Jelly Bean in Mom's tummy :)

trick or treat, table-hopping style

Mom, Dade & his loot

The kids had a grand time interacting with the other kids in different costumes. Well, except for Dade who was super scared of Spidey! When he finally warmed up to his presence, he danced to his heart's content and played with the other kiddos, too.  Whew!

Burger King prepared activities for the kids.  There was a face painting session, a dancing activity, competition for Best in Costume and Best Performer and a magic show which was entertaining to both kids and kids at heart.  Best in Costume went to Ninja kid while the Best Performer was Power Ranger.  Prizes were courtesy of Burger King :)

Each family also prepared some candies and give-aways to the 10 kids who attended the party.  We made some stations per table so the kids could do some trick or treating within the party hall.  It was so much fun!  I think the parents enjoyed it more than the little ones :P

I'm so delighted the party went well despite the last-minute preparations.  Our party was on a Saturday and we only finalized everything a few days prior to that.  Lucky for us there was a slot available for us and the BK staff I spoke to pencil-booked our party even if we haven't made any confirmation or down payment. Big thank you of course to all the Moms and Dads who took time to participate in this get-together. It would not have been extra fun without their presence (and goodies to give-away!).  'Til next year!

Photo credits to Armil Veloso who took all these beautiful pictures and for setting up our photo booth :)