Do you believe in the communion of saints?

Do you believe that our dear departed loved ones also pray for us?

Why do we have to visit to the tombs of our dead loved ones, light a candle, offer flowers and prayers?

During All Souls Day, the priest in our town in the province would hold a mass in the chapel near the cemetery. There, a lot of people who would visit their departed loved ones would join in an early morning mass.

It's his sermon that I can't forget. It gives me an understanding of that portion of "The Apostle's creed Prayer" which says ""I believe. . . the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints". According to him, there is a spiritual union on all Christians living and dead, on earth, those in heaven, and in Catholic belief, those in purgatory. We, who are still living on earth are called the pilgrim church. Those who are in the purgatory are called the suffering church, needing our fervent prayers. And those already in heaven, the thriumphant church.

In Catholic terminology, the Communion of Saints is thus said to comprise the Church Militant (those alive on earth), the Church Penitent (those undergoing purification in Purgatory in preparation for heaven), and the Church Triumphant (those already in heaven).


I now understand why we offer prayers for our departed during Holy Eucharist in the catholic church.


This All souls Day, I can't go home to the province. I need to take care of baby Keona. So, I'll just offer prayers at home. Happy Holidays everyone!

My childhood memories on All Saints Day and All Souls Day

When I was young, I have lots of memories on All Saints Day which happens every 1st of November. This is a time of the year, that we, as young children would have lots of fun because our cousins and relatives from other places would go home. There would be lots of foods cooked, usually native delicacies- suman(made of rice wrapped in banana leaf), bebingka (rice cake), biko, boiled native chicken. In the evening, my Pappa and Momma would prepare food and put it in the altar. These traditions are influences from my grandma during that time. Being a young child and curious that I was, I would ask questions to my father...

Me: Pappa, why would we place foods in the altar?

Pappa:(looking hard up in answering my question) The souls of our departed loved ones will eat food during this time...

Me: Oh, how would they eat foods when they are already dead?

Pappa: My child, they have souls, they will not eat the food, like we do, but they will smell the aroma of the food that we are offering in the altar.

These are traditions the we have lost as time goes by. When my grandma died when I was 14 years old, traditional practices that we got from her gradually died a natural death.

When the All Souls Day come, lots of people visit to our place because our house in the province is just a stone's throw away from the cemetery. This is the day when people would flock and visit their dead loved ones, light a candle on their tombs and offer prayer.

Breakfast at work

It's Alfred's (my officemate) birthday today. He told us not to take our breakfast at home because he will have his breakfast treat at the office since we have only a half day work and it's gonna be holidays already!Yeheeey...long Halloween holidays!

Today is Keona's big day as well. So, its gonna be a fun Thursday for us! Happy Halloween everyone! Enjoy the holidays!

Birthday Invitation

Today, I'm busy finalizing the giveaways for Keona's birthday. All I need to do is make the order of her balloons this afternoon. Hubby made Keona's invitation and I'm gonna distribute it this morning. Most of the guests are our office mates, friends and our family and relatives. Whoow! I'm excited of Keona's birthday tomorrow. Her ninangs and ninongs are excited also, of the foodies, that is.LOL

Keona's invitation card

October birthdays!

A lot of the people close to me are celebrating their birthday on the month of October. Yesterday, my office mate Ate Ping celebrated her birthday with us. She ordered chicken from Goldie's, a family feast consist of 12 pieces regular size fried chicken. Then pancit guisado at Shanghai Restaurant. Pancit is for "long life".hehe. We also had durian ice cream from Allegro. I was very full yesterday. No expense for lunch and afternoon snacks courtesy of ate Ping:). Happy birthday Ate Ping! More birthdays to come...more blessings to receive!

Birthday tarpaulin

Yesterday, I looked for a print shop for Keona's birthday tarpaulin. At C. M. Recto Street, I found one so I queried how much is the price. It's Php15.00 per square foot. Not bad. In their wall, there were samples, so I just choose the size I wanted. I asked about the layout and they are charging Php100.00 for it. ohhh, that's pricey huh. So I just decided to make the layout myself. Here it is...!

MOAR#2 - Feeling good on a beautiful Monday

It's a beautiful Monday once again! I set my alarm at 6:00 in the morning so that I'll be able to catch up my 7:30 work. But when hubby told me it's my turn to take a bath, Keona who was still asleep, rolled her body and face towards me saying "Momma, dede". She wants milk from me! If I won't breastfeed her, she'll wake up. Gosh, it's already 6:30. No choice but to let her up. She opened her big brown eyes with a huge smile on her face as if to say "Good morning Momma and Pappa! What a beautiful morning!

HPS#2 Walking most of the time

Sunday is the only day that we can devote our time to our little girl Keona. So I really make it a point to bond with her during this day. Early in the morning, even if I would have wanted to extend time in the bed, I heard her say "Pappa, Momma, baba". She's already awake and she wants to go down! When she says "baba", that means she want to go down to the floor and walk while holding my hands.

She's can't balance yet and can't stand on her own and this is her way of learning. We spend most of the time walking around the house on a lovely Sunday. Ifever I'm really tired, I would play her nursery rhymes CD because this will make her get glued on TV and it gives me time to rest. Have a great Sunday friends!

B-I-N-G-O

There was a farmer who had a dog and Bingo was his name oh!

B-I-N-G-O! B-I-N-G-O! B-I-N-G-O! and Bingo was his name oh!


Sounds familiar? My daughter loves this song very much that when it starts playing on her Videoke, she would scream like a siren. It is so loud that it can make my ears vacuum and turn deaf. LOL

It's weekend again so we're gonna bury ourselves with so many nursery rhymes while munching on her favorite biscuit and favorite fruit - orange. Happy weekend everyone!

Establishing a sleep routine

Keona has been very active this time. She wants to keep walking while holding my hands. She does not know how to walk yet on her own. And she also wants to play most of the time. She has lots of energy and this gives me problem in putting her to sleep during the night. So I'm establishing a sleep routine for her.

• Give her a bath. To freshen her up, we give her a bath.
• Prepare beforehand. Before sleep time, I make sure that she's able to take her daily low dose of antibiotic. She still have two months of it after her surgical operation. Then I turn off the lights and make sure that the room is comfortably cool.
• Baby massage. I give her a massage before sleeping. It is said that a mother's touch helps baby become stronger and touch therapy is a powerful way for moms to continue their child grow and develop.
• Keep quiet time quiet. Whether I'm breastfeeding her or singing her lullaby, I make sure that I keep my voice low and soothing as she drift off into slumber.
  
• Enjoy my baby. Routines are great opportunities for me to enjoy more happy moments with my baby.
  

Planning for Keona's First Birthday

I'm kinda busy planning for Keona's first birthday. Our little princess will turn one next week! Whew! Time flies by so fast.

My to do list for Keona's Birthday:

1. Buy her a new shoes or sandals.
2. Order her birthday balloons.
3. Order birthday cake.
4. Book at the restaurant where we will celebrate her birthday.
5. Prepare the giveaways.

Hope I can finish all these things this weekend!

Monday on a Rush!

Today is Monday. Start of the week. Back to work. I need to wake up early or else I'll be late. Hubby got up from bed at around 4:30 in the morning to cook for our breakfast. I should have been the one doing the cooking but I'm still breastfeeding baby Keona. She does not drink milk in the bottle when I'm home. She prefers mine. I was already in a hurry to take a bath at 6:30 in the morning. I was already rushing for work at around 7:00 in the morning. I was kinda confused what route to take in going for work. The faster, the better. Whew! When I logged in, I was late for 1 minute. I need to leave home earlier next time.

Happy Family Sunday - Staying at Home the Whole Day

Its a lovely Sunday! But we cannot go out because there are lots of household chores to do- the laundry, cleaning the house, cooking and the list goes on. I wake up late today. I savored the time when there is no work. No reason to rush. But I have lots of things to do because our household helper went home to their province And we found out that Keona's babysitter who was just hired few days ago is pregnant. So we have to send her home.

After our lunch, hubby, me and Keona watched the movie Swan Princess. The whole family had a joyful and restful Sunday.

WW - Keona in Her New Yellow Dress and Bangles

Buying a Dress for our Little Princess

Our daughter Keona will turn one soon. In preparation for this, me and happy went to NCCC Mall yesterday during lunch break from work to buy her a dress. Selecting a dress for our princess was really kinda tiresome. From the many dresses displayed, we get confused on which one to choose. After few minutes of scanning through the wide array of their display, hubby showed me a cutie yellow dress and the print in front of it is Dora the Explorer which is my daughter's favorite. It was really nice that I right away said YES to hubby. The color is yellow which I believe would make our daughter look glowing and pretty. Then I have seen small blingblings for babies displayed in another rack. Me and hubby choose to buy her a bangle and hair clip also colored yellow for color harmony of her dress. Next time we'll buy a shoes for her, either colored yellow or white...

Scrapbook # 3 - Momma and Keona Bonding Together

Contact lenses or Eyglasses?

I'm currently wearing contact lenses for I want to look younger.LOL. I used to wear eyeglasses but when it was time to upgrade, I shifted to contact lenses, around two years ago. That was when our wedding was approaching. I didn't like to wear eyeglasses during the wedding ceremony. I wanted to look really beautiful without those eyeglasses. Usually, my contact lense lifespan is one year, so that means I need to change my contact lense again soon . But I'm having a second thought of buying a new one. I'm becoming lazy in putting on my contact lenses whenever I'm home. I only wear it whenever I go for work or go out to my daughter's pedia for check - up or go to the grocery store. And my dilemma comes in when my daughter wants me to sing her nursery songs on videoke at home. I cannot read those letters on TV even in a distance of about 6 - 8 meters! I have not yet memorized all 50 songs in her CD.

I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons between wearing contact lenses and eyeglasses:

Advantages of wearing contact lenses

->Contacts dont fog up during rain
->I look better and younger with contact lenses

Disadvantages:
->It requires more time for maintenance
->I should adhere to my wearing schedules
->The expenses for the contact lens solution


Advantages of glasses:

->Glasses offer eye protection whenever I'm in places in which debris and fumes may be an issue.
->Any time that I'm in a hazardous environment that needs eye protection, glasses come in handy.
->Easy to wear

Image via Wikipedia

Disadvantages:

->The frames of glasses block my peripheral vision
->It becomes foggy during the rain
->Makes me look older



So now I already have these pros and cons but I'm still confused and can't decide yet. Contact lenses or eyeglasses? What can you say?

Happy Birthday Momma Melds!

I woke up very early this morning coz Momma Melds and I agreed that we would go to Panabo City. We agreed that we'll leave at 5 o'clock in the morning so that I can still be able to go back to Davao City and catch up my work at 7:30. Then I remember that today is her birthday so I greeted her!

I love Momma Melds. She is very admirable in many ways. She is a real mother who is never tired of loving, caring- her sons, daughter-in-laws and her grand daughters.

Some facts about her:

-->She looks younger than her age...Maybe because she has no baggage. She holds no grudge to anyone. And yes, she's beautiful:)

-->She's a former banker, a wise spender and frugal in a right way......She's an expert in handling money.

-->She is calm...She is calm and composed even when all of us are already rattled.LOL

-->She loves cooking...When she have time, that is. I love her fruit salad, banana cake, fruit cake, spaghetti, food for the gods, etc.

--> She is very organized. When it comes to records, clothes, receipts..anything. She have it neatly organized. She wants everything spic and span!

-->she can do a lot of things - she can be a cook, an electrician, a driver, a painter....and many more!

Top Ten EC Droppers for September

I have never been online for several days. After a frequent/ recurrent fever of my daughter Keona, me and hubby finally decided to have her ureters surgically corrected. Even if we don't have money for her surgical correction, grannies lend us money for her surgery. It's only now that i am able to visit my EC account again and a very big THANK YOU to all my EC droppers. Here are my top ten EC droppers for September:

1.crimsonsparkle.com
2. comatised
3. Mother by design
4. Fantasy Brunch
5. Parenting Notes
6.Posh Totty
7. Sweetnorms
8.Frugal Mom knows best
9.Crazy for my kids
10.Karlana

What an indescribable feeling!

Keona's surgery was scheduled at ten o'clock in the morning. So i was the one carrying her towards the operating room. She was really crying so hard upon seeing those people clad in scrub suits wearing face masks. So I had to figure out how to make her stop crying! Then there were student nurses who kept on entertaining her, and she finally stopped crying. I was asked where is her VCUG plates and told the anesthesiologist that it's in our house. He told me that the surgeon needs it so I requested one student nurse to tell my husband to get it home.

The VCUG films finally arrived at around 12:00 noon and the team of doctors were complete at 12:15. The anesthesiologist instructed his assistant to put some medications through intravenous and asked me to place my baby on the operating table. I was really anxious and the feeling is indescribable. Then the doctor said " Ma'am you can go out now". Upon hearing it, I right away looked at the wall clock. It's 12:30PM, start of Keona's operation. Then I walked, took off the scrub suit that i wore and get out of the operating room. At that point, I can't help myself but tears really fall on my face in spite of really trying to keep myself strong. Then I see hubby at the entrance of the OR. When he saw me, he asked "How is Keona?". "Her operation has just started", I replied. Then we went straight to our room at the fifth floor.

We right away take our lunch and just stayed put in our room so that if there were things needed, we can right away attend to it. Few hours after, a voice promt from the nurse station echoed in our room "A doctor's call for Keona's watcher, please go to the nurse's station". Upon hearing it, I was literally quivering in tension and nervousness, my mind asking what must the doctor needed from us in this time when the operation is on going. I rushed to the nurse's station and the nurse handed me the phone. "This is Dr. Bermejo, are the VCUG plates already in the operating room?''. "Yes doc", I said. "Ok, thank you. Then the line went dead. I was relieved that the resident doctor was just making a follow-up regarding the VCUG plates. I went back to our room and told hubby that Dr. Bermejo was just asking Keona's plates.


We tried to relax in the room, scanned through the different channels on cable TV. Then at around 3:30, there was another voice prompt from the nurse station. "Watcher for Keona, Dr. Manalaysay is on the phone, please go to the nurse's station".When I was approaching at the nurse station, the nurse who was holding the phone, covered the speaker and asked me in a low voice "Ma'am, your patient is a girl right?". Yes, she just looked like a boy because she has short hair and she doesn't have an earrings, I replied. Then she said, Dr. Manalaysay (Keona's Nephrologist) is on the line Ma'am. Just talk to him. When I talked to Dr. Manalaysay, he told me that he just wanted to ask permission from us, since our baby is already in the operating room, they might as well just circumcise our baby. To my surprise, I told him "Doc, our baby is a girl! There's nothing to circumcise!". " Oh, sorry, I just wanted to inform you also that the operation went well. I took some photos of it, I'll go to your room later, in a few minutes". To which I replied, " Thank you". I now understand why the nurse asked my baby's gender and as if there's a question in her face while handling to me the phone.LOL

After around 5 minutes, Dr. Manalaysay went to our room, smiling at us. He showed us photos of the operation, explained to us that it was good that we decided to have surgical correction because Keona will never outgrow her reflux because of the placement of her ureters. He said that the operation went well, we just hope that the recovery will be good also.

At around 5:00PM, a nurse went to our room and told us that the operation was already finished and 1 watcher is needed in the recovery room. I right away went to the recovery room and there, I saw Keona lying, groogy, opening her eyes every now and then and would cry a little saying "Momma". Attached to her are machines i don't know. All I know is that they are there to monitor her vital signs. After 1 hour in the recovery room. The personnel In charge there said that her vital signs are already stable and she would be transferred already to our room.