TUMMY UPSET

Today, I didn't have any body to babysit except for my little girl. It would have been a perfect day to just relax If I wasn't plague with a stomachache and a diarrhea. There must be something going around, my friend Sarah and her son Joey who is the boy I babysit both had diarrhea, upset stomach and vomiting. Thank God I didn't throw up but just have this stomach upset. I told my MIL about this and she immediately said that Sarah has been getting stomach upset a lot. She said that maybe Sarah needs to go to a doctor and have it checked out. She may need to do some colon cleanse and I know its not fun to do. I have heard people saying about the nasty stuff they have to drink to cleanse the colon. I have also seen a couple of shows how its good to have to procedure done. MIL keeps saying that she really needs to have it done but is scared to find out the result. Hopefully with a little rest I got today I will be in tip top shape tomorrow. I just hope that Sarah and her son Joey also got the rest they needed today. With Thanksgiving coming, you wouldn't want to get sick at all.

COULD IT BE

Lately, I have been watching more and more t.v. and less and less time spending online. Caught up on a lot of new shows and found new favorite shows to watch. I'm very much surprise at how many advertisement are for loosing weight and wonder which one is really the best selling diet pill out in the market. There is just so many to choose from and all promising good results. I for one would try something that someone I know has used and have seen results. For a long time now I have been seriously thinking about trying diet pills but my desire to have another baby is stopping me. I don't want any other chemicals in my body while I am trying to conceive. However at the back of my mind, I wonder If my recent weight gain has something to do with my not being able to conceive. Be as it may, Ralph and I will just have to wait until after my OB appointment this December to find out If my weight gain is one of the many culprit. It that is the case I will gladly go on a diet and take a few pills to help speed up the process.

COUSINS IN WATER

That is just one of the few underwater pictures we had of our vacation last July in the Philippines. I just got it developed today. With my short term memory I had forgotten that I had it and keep forgetting to have it develop. Finally today I remembered to take it with us to Happy Harry's. I miss my cousins and my sister back home.

L-R my cousin Margaret, my sister Mitzi, my cousin Brigitte, Regi and nephew Carl. This was taken at the 3 start resort in Ormoc City my mom's hometown. It is a rare occasion of us cousins to be together since most of us live in different country. We happen to coordinate our vacation so we could see each other. I miss them so much, looking at the fun pictures reminded me of the good times we shared even in a short time. They have not seen the photo as of yet as I haven't had time to post it online. I'm pretty sure they will laugh when they see all of the photos, lol.. I miss you guys

MUSTANG LOVE

Getting rid of our Truck and Jaguar was hard. I never thought I would be attach to a car, we rarely use the truck but I loved it. I started learning to drive on the Jaguar, I would take it out of the drive way and park it again and again. I also got to drive it a couple of times around our development with either my MIL or Ralph teaching me. We had to get rid of both cars so we can lower our car payments as well as the car insurance. My husband has been wanting to get a Mustang for a while now. I guess you could say he has a little thing for cars. He didn't think he was going to get the Mustang if he got a lower trade in for both cars but he was in luck. I didn't want to get another expensive and impractical car when he could just easily get a less expensive car that has a lower monthly payment. But how can I deny him, when he works so hard and he said he can still lower the car payments. Before he got the Mustang he was constantly online looking for the car insurance. He checked on carinsurancelist.com to get a quick quote on the new car. He got the best insurance that covers his newest baby and he was so happy when he finally got his dream car.We'll see how his love for the Mustang last. I am betting 2 years max until his love affair with the Mustang dies down and he starts looking for other cars again.

CLEAN MESS

Men are slobs, they really are. For some reason don't understand why such simple things cannot be done right away. My MIL reads a lot of magazines and tells me that most wife complain about what slobs their husbands are. I know my husband works so hard to provide for us and affords me the chance to be a stay at home mom but I need cooperation. Our bedroom is a wreak, a wreak I tell you. Soda cans all over the headboard, candy wrappers on the floor, paper plates on the night stand, shoes everywhere and the bathroom calls for an emergency. I have been sleeping in our kids room so basically my husband is responsible for all the mess. I have cleaned up so many times and he keeps promising to clean his room on his days off but he never does. So we have come up with an agreement that he will keep his room at least decent and I clean the bathroom. I think I got the short end of the stick though, lol. Cleaning his bathroom takes a lot of arm power, and a whole bunch of cleaner. The tub is the part that I really hate cleaning with all the soap scum. It doesn't help at all that our bathroom faucet are so close to the wall that you barely have space to clean the soap scum in between. How I wish we could remodel the master bathroom and the first thing to go would be the faucet. I would get a modern bathroom faucet that has a minimalistic look to it. Some thing like our kitchen faucet that doesn't have a lot of those knobs and what ever. I just want a bathroom fixture that is easy to clean and maintain. The tiles are also horrendous and needs to be replaced.

To cut the long story short, I am like a master when it comes to cleaning my husbands bathroom. Credit also goes to my husband because he does try his hardest to maintain the cleanliness of his bathroom on his own but the soap scums just won't let him. Maybe I'll buy him one of those automatic spraying things that goes in the shower and cleans after you get out of it. But one day, I will teach him to get on his hands and knees again and do his own bathroom,lol..

TO ANNIVERSARIES

I can't believe that its already November. How time flies when your having fun, lol. The past couple of months have been so hectic for me and my family. It has been specially tiring for me. We attended two weddings and I also hosted a birthday party for my husband and my daughter last month. We just went trick or treating a few days ago and now Thanksgiving is lurking around the corner. Turkey's are abound in the supermarket just waiting to be snatched up. It's still surreal for me that in 3 months time I will be married to my husband for 4 years. I have forgotten what my husband gave me last year for our anniversary but I'm sure he did get me something. We have never done wedding anniversary gifts by year, we have talked about it many times and I have seen shows of couples giving anniversary gifts that fits how long they have been married. We have past the paper which is for 1st anniversary, cotton for second and leather for 3rd. For the 4Th wedding anniversary is fruit.

My grandparents have been married for almost 60 years now and they are still going strong. Hopefully my husband and I will last that long and maybe surpass that. Since we are just going to be celebrating our 4Th anniversary this coming Valentines Day, Ralph made a promise that he would give me something very special for our future tenth anniversary gift. Their will be a big party and a renewal of our vows that will be witnessed by the whole family this time around.

To those who are celebrating their coming 4th wedding anniversary a gifts like these will be perfect:

OF COSTUMES AND CANDY

Trick or Treat!!! Did you guys made your rounds at your favorite neighborhood with your kids on Halloween? We did, we also had a small pizza gathering for the kids before we head on out the door.

The photo are of the kids in their costumes. From (L-R) Kelly the glow in the dark witch, Kaitlyn as Jessie the cowgirl, Kayla as the scary vampire princess and Joey as Lightning McQueen of Cars.

They were all so excited to get dressed in the costumes that they picked and get some candy. I just feel bad though that the turn out for houses that participated in the Halloween candy giving were not so good. It was actually pathetic and just sad. I know people are not oblige to give candy but Its just once in a year and kids really put a lot of effort in picking the costumes and dressing up. Younger trick or treater practice saying " Trick or Treat". This year it was just us and the Tobler kids since our neighbors went to another development to be with their family. It's such a joy to our hearts to see our kids enjoy running down the street and going from house to house. To see the delight on the faces of each child as they hold out the candy holder for some candy. Even with the cold air it did not stop them from having fun. All in all this year was fun and we are thinking of going to another development next year. I hope you guys had fun trick or treating this year,coz we sure did and got lots and lots of candy..

NEWEST BLOGGER

My mom is going to be a great blogger. She already had her own blogspot account but has neglected it as she forgot her password. Yesterday, she sent me an instant message via yahoo that she remembered her password. Now, she is busy updating her blog, trying to tweak her layout and of course trying to get some followers and traffic to her site. She is already a member of Entrecard but has no idea how to put the code on her blog layout. I told her that there is also another way to get visitors and traffic to her site. She has to check out web directory submission and see how she can go about submitting her site. I should also do that since my traffic has gone down ever since I stopped dropping on Entrecard members. I still get a few visitors to my site but I want to build my readership again. So I guess my mom and I are heading to the same site and see if it help with the traffic.

I EARN FROM HOME

I can't believe that it has been two years that I have been blogging and earning online. Time flies when your having fun but slows down when your not. My love for blogging started when one of my friends encouraged me to get my own blogger account. Since I am a stay at home mom she said it would be a good additional income for me. I was sceptical at first but I tried it just for the heck of it. It was confusing at first since I didn't know anything at all. I had to really build up my readership and got told that getting my side on web directories can increase my traffic and get more visibility from the search engine. It couldn't have lasted in the blogging world without the help and advice from other fellow blogger. Now even as a stay at home mom, I am earning a small amount from blogging and I love it. It gives me the freedom of being home and be at my own time and I get to stay with my girls.

YOUNGER DAYS

The only bad time that I had mild acne was in my college years. It was on the summer that I was 19 years old. I spent that fun and amazing summer at my grandparents in Ormoc,Philippines. Waking up one morning with a mild case of acne was alarming to me. I usually don't have skin problems and was worried how that happened. The weather must have had a lot to do with it and the stress of Summer job. Waking up early in the morning and not sleeping early, eating so much fatty food, dust and dirt from the constant compute. That really took a toll on my face and it didn't help that I didn't shield my face from the hard heat of the sun. It was when I got back to Cebu that I finally caught up with taking care of my face again. I promised to myself that I would not let it get bad ever again and I would take better care of my face.

HIS BROTHERS

There I was again hanging out with my two handsome BIL's. From left-right is Larry who is the middle child, me and of course Angelo the oldest brother. The first BIL that I met almost 4 years ago was Angelo. I must admit I was scared about meeting him, but it was four naught. He is such a kind soul that reminded me of my sister so much. As for Larry it was a different story. I was scared out of my pants about meeting him. He seemed so quite and more reserved. I eventually warmed up to him completely when I was about 7 months pregnant. I was craving so much for Dunkin Donuts, we stopped at one and he bought me donuts. I also wanted munchkins and he got me a whole box. From then on, I knew that he had accepted me into his family. He may not be around much but I know he things of us and is always good to my girls. This photo was taken last month at Angelo's sons wedding. We were all so full from the good food and was just having a good time talking and catching up. I love my brother-in-laws and I hope they love me to,lol

FILE IT SAFE

It has been 2 years since Ralph won his court battle to gain residential custody of his daughter. He fought hard to get her back. Due to the expense he had to let go of his lawyer and did it on his own. His battle with the court was just starting when I got here in America. Ralph was constantly on the computer reading about custody and how to do it on his own. My husband is a very intelligent man and found the resources he needed on the internet. One of our guest room was full papers, files, documents and more file about his the custody battle. We had a photocopier, fax machine to help with his and all the motions he had to file. What he needed back then was document imaging to keep track of all his file. Even though he won the custody of his little girl that does not mean that it is over. We still need to keep track of all the file and motions that he had and the basement is not a good place for all of that. Hopefully Ralph still has all his documents in one place and is safe and dry. I would hate to think of him loosing his files.

COMFY AND STURDY

On my trip to the Philippines I got a chance to experience sleeping on the floor once again. We were suppose to stay in a Hotel but it didn't turn out the way we expected it.. The hotel was horrible, the room was barely decent and the surrounding was dirty and transportation was bad. My mom's house had one spare room but had no air conditioning. Her room was the only one that had air conditioning so we camped in her room. Luckily her bed was big and my MIL slept with my mom. I was worried for my MIL since she had RA and is not used to my mom's bed. But she survived and even like my her bed. With visitors coming and going in my moms room I was worried that her bed would give out on her. If It did, she would be happy with pine beds for a choice replacement. Thank God her bed is not only comfortable but also sturdy and strong. Now, for our guest room I wouldn't mind getting my hand on those beautiful and well crafted bed , maybe I can even try to persuade Ralph into replacing our bed, lol.

CAKE FOR TWO

October 22, Friday was the day that the two of the most important persons in my life celebrated their birthday. My husband, Ralph turned 41 and our baby girl Kaitlyn turned 3. Until now, I still cannot believe that she was actually born on her daddy's birthday. Even then she already had a mind of her own.

Three years ago on February 19, 2007 we found out that I was expecting my first child and Ralph's second. We were excited but Ralph was specially ecstatic when he found out that my due date is his birthday. When I reached my 39th week we decided to schedule and Induction on his birthday which is also her due date. On that fateful morning of October 22, 2007 at around 2 a.m in the morning, I was woken up with extreme pain. I stood up and walked towards the end of the bed. I squatted by the end of the bed when Ralph woke up. He knew right away that I was in pain and just asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I just nodded and he changed to wake up his mom. Before 4 a.m. we were already in the hospital and I was admitted. Since I was already scheduled for an Induction on that day they still went with the medication to speed up my labor even more.

To cut the story short, I gave birth to Kaitlyn at past 3 p.m., her daddy and grandma was there to witness her coming into this world. Ralph cut the umbilical cord that attached her to me. I cried a bucket of tears from pure joy and just happiness. We all cried and thankful that I had an easy delivery.

To celebrate both Ralph and Kaitlyn's birthday, I baked my very first birthday cake. I also planned a party for both of them the very next day and stayed up until 4 in the morning cooking, baking and icing. Honestly, I don't think my cake looked that bad. Still I am very proud of my work and I made this out of love.

Happy Happy Birthday to both of my loves, Ralph and Kaitlyn...I love you

GET RID OF BLOATING

On my recent trip to the Philippines I noticed that my mom got heavier. I also noticed that her weight gain looks like bloating and water retention. If she stays out to long with the heat, she gets so bloated. I was also surprise that when I went back to my home country my feet got so swollen. It was just due to the long flight but the heat just wreak havoc on my system. My worries are about my mom though, she has a heart condition and water retention is not good for her health.My mom has done her homework and knows that she can find natural diuretics in most foods and herbal supplement. My mom knows I'm not to found of herbal supplements so she told me of the fruits that can reduce water retention since I tend to get that when I am also on my period. At least its good to know that Lettuce and all Melons are fruits that I love which happens to help reduce water retention. If your like me, worry no more. Natural diuretics can be found in our local supermarket and stores.