10 Great Things About Having A Baby!

Got this article from "Im Pregnant" Magazine (Oct. Nov. Dec. '05 Issue)...

1 YOU'RE EXTRA SPECIAL
As soon as you announce you're pregnant you are the center of attention.
Even complete strangers want to touch your bump!

2 TOGETHER FOREVER...
Many couples find that having a baby improves their relationship.

3 TAKE IT EASY
Pregnancy is a great excuse for putting your feet up and watching
episodes of Friends.

4 TALKING SHOP
It's great fun planning what to buy for your new arrival.

5 SPEND! SPEND! SPEND!
You can spend lots of money - without feeling guilty!

6 MUM'S THE WORD
Having a baby can bring you closer to your own mum.

7 FANTASTIC FUN
Just think how great it will be being able to act like a kid again.

8 NEW FRIENDS
Pregnancy is often a time when you make new friends who will
completely understand your hopes and fears.

9 WHEN TWO BECOME THREE
Having your very won family is a wonderful feeling.

10 CUDDLE UP!
Nothing can beat having a cuddle with your baby.



But although there are "10 great things" ...there are also a few not so good things...

As soon as I entered my third trimester, I have not been sleeping very well ...(actually ever since I gave birth to Paul...hehehe!!!)..its my bump..its getting bigger and bigger everyday...and every turn I make, it seems that I can't find a comfortable side...I read in pregnancy magazines and sites (storknet.com) "Sleeping on your back can put too much pressure on your back and compress important blood vessels" and "With a big belly, there is now no way to sleep on your tummy and it gets painful to lie on your back, putting all the weight of your belly on your back." and, so I have to lie on my left side, with lots of pillow between my legs and under my tummy (thanks ninang carrie, im using Paul's Lightning McQueen pillow).

And when I am able to find a good position, I am awakend by my need to pee in the middle of the night, not just once but every two or three hours...ha? And before I knew it, its 6am...I have to get up and say good bye to hubby...and eventhough I can go back to bed, it will be very hard again...haY!

What's more? Heartburn; indigestion; achy back, legs and feet (cramps); nasal congestion; shortness of breath; abdominal aches and itches; mild swelling of face, feet and hands....that's just to name a few...hahaha!!!!

Waiting is another story, since I am in my 3rd trim, I am really excited and can't wait to see Sam...I can't wait to get this over with..hahaha...the waiting is killing me! More or less 10 weeks to go, hay...! I am a bit scared...I hope that I will have an easy delivery, just like when I gave birth to Paul.

Thirst For Serving You

Last Saturday, I had to wake up very early (as in 4:30am) coz my hubby had to be at work by 6am. While preparing breakfast for him, I also ate a few bites coz baby Sam was a little bit complaining :). But my biggest mistake was to eat a few spoonful of ice cream… yup, you read it right, ICE CREAM @ 5am…BIG MISTAKE!!! Not because my stomach ached, but because I wasn’t able to go back to sleep as much as I wanted to.

So, still dark outside at 5:30am, Paul was still sleeping, and still I can’t sleep. I took the time to read a few chapters of the bible and said my morning prayers…and after I listened to some praise and worship music. Listening to it made me reminisce the days when I was still very busy serving the Lord through our Catholic community (God Loves Prayer Community - GLPC). As the memories came back, I became a little bit sad, sad because I miss it terribly.

Before Sanny and I got married, I was very active in GLPC, as I’ve mentioned from my previous post (Writer’s Block), I was not only serving the music ministry, but I was also serving the liturgy and the outreach program in Molino, Cavite. When I gave birth to Paul, all of those activities were gone…because I decided to be “hands on” in taking care of Paul, so I decided to sacrifice my time serving the Lord.

What do I miss most? Of course…singing!!! But it’s not just about singing…serving is the reason why I am doing it. It‘s my way of showing my gratitude…of thanking the Lord for all the blessings and the talents He has given me. Serving has this kind of satisfying effect, a feeling of happiness, knowing I was able to share God to other people. It’s also my way of sacrificing and going out of my way to help and serve other people.

But I believe that although I am not active in our community, God gave me another opportunity to serve, and that is my family. The biggest responsibility that God ever gave me: To serve my husband, my son and my child inside my womb. It is not an easy task, unlike the one I did in GLPC, coz after our prayer meetings, my service is finished, but with my family, it’s a 24/7 kind of job. Like any other service, I do need a lot of prayer also, because like I said, it is not an easy task…I need a lot of patience and understanding especially in dealing with my kids…hahaha :) I know it is important to serve my family, especially my children, because I am able to share with them the love of God. I am also happy because I am able to give my whole time, effort and affection to them.

Hay! Enough of this drama… Lesson learned? Never to eat ICE CREAM in the morning…;)

My Celebrity Look A Likes

I got this idea from Faye and I tried it also. Wow, mala-koreana pala ang beauty ko. Hahaha! My mom will be happy about this (she's so addict sa mga koreanovelas!!!)...And I am happy too coz fave korean celebrity ko sila, especially the girl in "Love Story in Harvard"!

Please check it out! (I used my wedding photo here!)





As for my hubby, although I wasn't able to find many celebrities, but guess who is his handsome and famous celeb look-a-like:



Try it out, so much fun...hahaha!!!

www.myheritage.com

God bless!

Easy to Forgive, Hard to Forget

"Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever." - Lord Chesterfield-

As I was about to finish with my prayer time the other night, the last prayer I read was about forgiveness. And as I was about to say the prayer, the people who I have forgiven came to my mind. After saying the prayer, a thought came to me: "Did I really (totally) forgiven those people?" I guess that was the Lord asking me.

It is so much easy to say that we have forgiven those who have caused us so much pain. But can we truly say that we have forgotten the incident, the reason for the misunderstanding, the painful words that were spoken and the mistake of that particular person to us?

I am not perfect, and I confess I have forgiven "them", but at the same time, I am not sure whether I have totally forgotten it. Honestly for me, it is hard to forget the things that caused so much hurt, the painful words that were uttered, and the trust that was destroyed. I do not hold any grudges or harbor any resentments, but when memories of it flashes back, the pain I felt came rushing back as well.

My friend told me that the only time she can totally say that she has forgiven and forgotten, is when there are no more "sumbatan" over whose fault it is, or why it started, or how it happened. As the cliche goes,"Time heals all wounds." I guess it hasn't healed yet...or maybe its just my pride over taking me. For me, another reason might be that there were no closure between the two parties. After the incident, we were not able to talk about it, we just drifted away and thought that we'll just forget the whole incident and stay the same. I confess, I am not good at talking, I am not comfortable with confrontations...I rather keep it all to myself and pray that things will work out.

For now, all I do is pray that I might be able to forget the past, and that I might be able to face "them" if the situation calls for it. And also that the people who I have hurt in the past, will also forgive me.

PRAYER:

"Heavenly Father, bless me with the grace of Forgiveness. Forgive my sins and annoit me with the love to forgive those who hurt me.

Jesus my Saviour, I thnk you for changing my heart to forgive and I am asking this through Christ our Lord. Amen."

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4: 31-32

SAM

September is here and for Filipinos, that means Christmas season! But for me, I am more excited of another thing...and that is giving birth on November.

SAMUEL ISAAC if its a boy...

SAMANTHA IRENE if its a girl...

SAM for short...

Almost seven months have passed but still I can not believe that I am going to be a mom...AGAIN (for the second time)! I still can't believe that I'll be carrying another innocent child in my arms...I still can't believe that I would hear another sweet voice will call me "Mommy"...will be kissing, hugging me and will cuddle close to me every night.

Carrying a child in your womb is not that easy. All the pain and discomfort will come your way and yet you can not do anything, but just to endure it. For the 1st trimester, I did not feel any pain, but I suffered a lot of nausea and vomitting (which I did not experience w/ my 1st pregnancy). Eating (w/c is my fave) was hard to do (can you imagine that???)... On my 2nd trimester, I didn't feel any pain and I'm not suffering from any morning sickness, but my appetite came bcak...hehehe... My tummy was not yet showing, friends and relatives who saw me thought that either I am not pregnant or that I gave birth already. But I can feel that there's life inside of me coz I can feel SAM do the summersault and kick as well.

Now that I am in my 3rd trimester, I am feeling a lot of pain...from my back, hips, my legs and from my "butt area". I can not sit, lie down or stand for a long time. I am not able to sleep the required amount because its hard to find the perfect position with my bump getting bigger and bigger. I am constatly hungry and yet I can not eat so much coz heart burn will surely come my way.

All of these pain are just an icing on the top..."wala pa ang sakit sa panganganak"...hahaha (that's another topic)!!!

All mothers will say that all the pain they suffered and endured are all worth it. As soon as the nurse places the baby in the mother's arm and saw her baby for the very first time, all of the pain and discomfort vanishes from her memory. They say a baby is a blessing, but for a mother, its not just a blessing..its her joy...her passion...her life.

Two more months and I will be able to hold SAM in my arms, breastfeed SAM, cuddle SAM and give SAM all my love.