Category Archives: Married Life

Life as I Know It Love Married Life Mommyhood

Day 14: Hello sunshine, home-baked cookies, and missing my husband

February 2, 2013 – 6:52 am

Hello, Sunshine!

1. Hello sunshine. If Rain likes taking baths, Dawn likes waking up in the  morning! (I mean, really, can their names be any more prophetic?) It was Saturday morning and Daddy was leaving early for the last day of Men’s Encounter. I can’t really remember how he managed to leave while this little girl was doing her morning round of cuteness! Interestingly, Dawn is not this happy any other time of the day. She would be smiling randomly alright, and would respond when you try to make her smile. But her best, widest smiles are always in the mornings. So yeah, if you want to start your day right, come visit us around 8am everyday to see this little darling’s good morning show. Email me for ticket prices!

2. Home-baked cookies. Left alone with the babies and our yaya, and in need of some form of change in our Saturday routine, I knocked on the door of our favorite neighbors and invited myself to bake some cookies. Pics or it didn’t happen, I know! But I wasn’t able to get any remembrance of our oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, aside from the memory of its yumminess. Ehem. Ask her! I enjoyed baking, and it was gratifying to eat something you worked for.

3. Missing my husband. During the Men’s Encounter, D would leave early in the morning and come back home very late at night. I know it was just two days, but I still missed him! It’s funny how you live under the same roof as this one person, and you share the same bed, and you still miss him when he’s away even for just a while. Is that normal? Or am I being totally clingy? #thismarriedlife, what can I say.

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Faith Talk Life as I Know It Married Life Mommyhood

Day 13: Bath times, solitude, and another encounter

February 1, 2013 – 6:46 am

Rain, bath time!

She was waving her hand! Hello! :)

1. Rain and bath times. If there’s one thing about Rain, she’s the twin who knows what she wants and gets it—I’m loving that about her! So last Friday she spent the whole day almost like scolding me for not being able to figure out what she wanted. She cried when I wasn’t carrying her the way she wanted to be carried. She cried when she woke up hungry and her milk bottle was not ready. She cried when I couldn’t put her to sleep. I was starting to get frustrated! But as the day was nearing its end, and I was getting her ready to take a bath.. alas, her first smile of the day! I found out that Rain is happiest when I’m giving her a bath. I don’t know why I didn’t notice this before, but now I’m aware of how comfortable and happy she is when she’s submerged in a bath tub full of water. I think she’s starting to live up to her name!

2. Solitude. Solitude is hard to find these days, but I’m thankful for times when the babies are asleep, and for extra sets of hands (my husband’s, our yaya’s, or whoever’s available) which give me time to breathe. I hardly have time to go out these days since I work at home too, but stepping out to walk for a few minutes a day, or at least plugging in my earphones so I can zone out for a couple of minutes, works wonders for me.  

3. Encounter Weekend. It’s the Encounter Weekend in our church and D was, again, one of the speakers and counselors. He came home tired from the whole day, but as he took time to tell me stories about the Men’s Encounter, my heart swelled with that familiar feeling of joy, knowing that he’s doing what God calls him to do and that he loves it. Another batch of men and women are encountering God these first two weekends of February. I’m excited for them! They may not know it yet now, but their lives are never going to be the same again.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 13.

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3 Beautiful Things Life as I Know It Love Married Life Mommyhood

Day 12: January, totally smitten, and 52 weeks project

January 31, 2013 – 4:02 am

Love love love!

1. January. I’m not going to ask where has January gone, I know exactly where it went. Today I thank the Lord for Januarys, for 2013′s firsts, for breakthroughs, for love that gets renewed every morning, and for new beginnings.

2. Totally smitten. The twins are starting to engage more, and smile more, and—their latest discovery—stare at the camera lens with eyes wide open. They’re attracted to bright lights, and the flash of the camera fascinates them! I’m totally smitten everyday, I can’t stop taking photos with our DSLR and with the iPhone. Will this ever end?

3. 52 weeks project. I have found this gem of a project, and a gold mine of inspiration. This blogger named Jodi started a 52 Week Project with this goal: “A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.“ Hundreds of bloggers from around the world joined her, and because of the theme of the project, it’s pretty obvious that the ones who are doing it are MOMS. I’ve been following their posts and have found some of my newest favorite blogs. And while I don’t know these people, it feels like being in a roomful of kindred spirits. I can’t contain it, I have to do the project too! They are, however, on their fifth week already. I messaged Jodi to ask her if it’s okay to join even though I’m only starting my first week this month, and she said yes. :) So, yeah. Watch out for that. <3

*I have a backlog of 30 Days of Gratitude posts in my drafts. Not that you need a proof. It’s just taking me some time to get them together, but they shall be up and live soonish, dates backtracked; I don’t want to back out of a challenge early in the year!

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 12.

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3 Beautiful Things Faith Talk Married Life Mommyhood

Day 11: Mornings, coin box, and taking risks

January 30, 2013 – 10:18 pm

Mornings

1. Mornings. This has to be the grainiest and blurriest family portrait ever, but I’ll keep it. It was taken Wednesday morning, one of those rare mornings when all of us are up early, and Daddy doesn’t have class, and the babies are not crying even with all the hugging, and squishing, and snuggling. Sometimes when I look at photographs like this, I feel like watching someone else’s life. And once again I swoon at how blessed I am, and how beautiful God has made this little life to be.

2. Coin box. We have this little box where we keep loose change. We’re not really consciously saving them at first, we just needed a place to gather the coins so that they won’t be scattered all over the house. Later on we realized that by saving loose change, we’re able to gather a substantial amount of money at the end of the month. So we started making it a habit.

The box was already full this week, and D counted the coins which amounted to, ta-dah, P1,500+. Not bad no? :) Too lazy to go to the bank to have the coins changed, we went to a nearby store to buy groceries instead.. and paid for them with our abnormally heavy stash of coins! The cashier was smiling from ear-to-ear, and we went away happy with our brown paper bag of goods. Yay.

3. Taking risks. It’s been sinking in, the decisions we made the past few weeks. Although I’m sure in my heart that the Lord has led me to make these choices (otherwise I wouldn’t have made them), I still sometimes have fleeting moments of worry, wondering if we heard Him right. And then I came across these words as I was having my devotion,

“What risk is the Lord calling you to take? He understands your wariness, but He’ll never let you down. Step out in obedience, and watch what He does to grow your faith.“

..and just like that, an enormous amount of weight was lifted off my chest and was replaced by peace, assuring me that we are right where God wants us to be. 

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 11.

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3 Beautiful Things Love Married Life Mommyhood

Day 7: Saturdate, TV time, and now-what moments

January 26, 2013 – 3:57 am

Bud & Riz

1. Saturdate. We took advantage of the twins’ afternoon nap time. We left them with our yaya, took out our chuck taylors and walked aimlessly around the village while the sun was still up. I love long walks, especially when I do it with someone I enjoy talking with. And I’m so blessed to have married this guy I can talk with endlessly, who listens, who makes me laugh, see the world with new eyes. It’s the total package—I didn’t just get myself a husband, I got myself a best friend too.

We ended up at good ol’ Dayrits, he ordered one of those huge steak burgers, and I got a plateful of yummy beef stroganoff. And then we enjoyed the rest of the daylight walking back home. Five minutes after stepping inside our little home, the babies woke up, and it’s as if we were never gone.

2. TV time. One of my guilty pleasures is waiting for the end of the week to download episodes of Grey’s Anatomy & Suits. Something about fictional surgeons and lawyers in suits makes me giddy happy. Also, Harvey Specter. <3 Besides, TV time with D is like our weekly date night. We may not be able to do things that require being away from the babies too long, but at least we can sit down, put our feet up, and spend quality time watching commercial-less TV.

3. Now-what moments. That moment when God answered one of your major prayer concerns, and you settle down into a new routine, and while you love your new life now, you start to wonder what’s up next. I’ve been having a lot of these moments lately. Should I accept more freelance gigs? Can my schedule handle more? When will I be able to justify shopping for bags and shoes again? How can I make this world a better place? It’s a good exercise for me, to ask myself questions like these. Sometimes I get a brilliant idea out of it, I write it down on my journal so I won’t forget, and pray about whether I should do it or not. But normally, all it takes to snap out of the moment is for me to hear one of the twins cry (or coo, or laugh). They are my now. I am who I am now—a mother—because of them. I’m working from home now because of them. Our life is like this now because of them.

I traded good things to embrace the best. And I won’t have it any other way. At least for now.

I’m loving and enjoying this season of my life.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 7.

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Dawn & Rain Life as I Know It Love Married Life Mommyhood

3 months of la-la-la-love

January 25, 2013 – 8:21 pm

Interrupting the 30 Days of Gratitude to give space for this special occasion: Our babies reaching their 3-month mark.

These photographs were taken the day we took them home. And I just love looking at this photo set because it reminds me how far God has brought us. I know that sounds like it’s been years when it’s only been 3 months.

Dawn and Rain

Dawn and Rain

Dawn and Rain

Dawn and Rain

Dawn and Rain

Dawn and Rain

Dawn and Rain

It’s amazing how fast babies grow in such a short period of time! D & R looked so tiny and fragile then—out 2 weeks short of their due. But now they’re chubby all over! And they’ve outgrown some of their newborn clothes too. I’m torn between wanting to see them grow further and wishing they wouldn’t grow up too fast.

x o x o

I’m glad we took photos of their nursery before the room stopped being a nursery and started looking more like their walk-in closet. I remember how it felt, hanging up those pink curtains, washing their first clothes, putting their crib together, obsessively disinfecting everything. Joy filled the house, and our hearts, as we waited for them to come turn our lives around.

Baby's Nursey

Baby's Nursey

Baby's Nursey

And now, 3 months later, life has been a riot, including our house. We took their crib out and is now right smack in the middle of our the living room, while the room which used to be their nursery becomes a storage room of their stuff. The whole house is their nursery, and soon we’ll be paying them rent.

I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all. :)

x o x o

Behold our first photographs as a family. How can one forget a day like this?

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

So much has happened since that day, so many sleepless nights have passed, so much we have learned. To think we’ve only just begun.

Home Sweet Home

Happy 3 months, Dawn & Rain!
We feel so special for being blessed with such beautiful gifts. I wish you both know how much Mommy and Daddy love you both; someday, we’ll show you how much.

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3 Beautiful Things Faith Talk Love Married Life Mommyhood Work Life Balance

Day 5: Officially working from home, mutual appreciation, and my little support group

January 23, 2013 – 4:58 am

Waiting

1. Officially working from home. After lots of deliberation, pages and pages of journal entries, prayers, consultations, and waiting on God, I’m now officially a Work At Home Mom (or what they call WAHM—sounds like burger to me!). Working from home is not new to me. I was in this business for two years, that’s why I’m pretty aware of the advantages and disadvantages of this setup. I’m scared, I’m excited, I’m a mix of many emotions. But prayers were answered, opportunities came, and doors were opened in amaziiinnngggg ways. And here I am now, working from the confines of our home, beside the twins’ crib (literally). I prayed for this, and He blessed the desires of my heart. God is sooo good.

2. Mutual appreciation. After sending the last email of the day to one of my clients, I messaged him to say I was done and calling it a night. He quickly replied, “Thank you for helping me out on this.” Which made me stop for a moment and wonder, wait, shouldn’t I be the one thanking him for giving me work to do? I’ve worked with many different clients in the past 8 years of my career—Asians, Americans, British, Filipinos, you name it. And you rarely find someone who thanks you for doing something he’s paying you to do. So I replied and told him just that, “Hey, I should be the one thanking you.“

I love it when gratitude becomes a mutual thing. Makes the world a better place. ;)

3. My little support group. It was past midnight and I was beating deadlines. Husband said he would wait for me finish my work. Rain was already inside the room sleeping, but Dawn was still up playing with Daddy. Every now and then my husband would check up on the progress of my work. After some time, I realized that he stopped asking if I’m done. I glanced at my support group who fell asleep on the couch waiting for me. I love that they tried.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 5. *I switched the colors off the photographs. For the drama. :)

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