Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Holy Week : Family Bonding Holidays

Though we have to observed the season, as was supposed to be, to be holy but sadly we weren't able to do what a devout Catholic should do except I think preparing binignit. Having binignit last Good Friday had at least made us "in".

4.21.11    Holy Thursday
I started the day doing Jaiden's morning routine: assisted him in walking with his new pair of sole-sounding shoes on, had him take his vitamins plus the Lactulose lilac while he was watching one of those Brainy Baby CD to keep him still on his high chair, then had him his Gerber vegetable mix and Cerelac wheat and milk as his morning food  (after a while of eating pure Gerber vegetable mix, he puke.), then had him took his usual  bath. After an hour of wobbly walking and climbing up the stairs, Jaiden fell asleep for an hour and a half in our couch. That was a record of his morning sleep. His mamala said that he just usually slept for only half an hour but in his stroller. The rest of the days was spent with Jaiden, with his papa all along and with my laptop. Nothing much had happened except that there were more physically exhausting-laughter and amused-entertaining moments with our baby.

4.22.11    Good Friday
Manang Laling prepared for our breakfast our binignit. I was surprised when she told me the cost of the grated coconut. It was twenty-five pesos!!! Shocks!!! Nowadays, you really can no longer make a delicious binignit for just having a fifty-peso budget.

The rest of the day was just normal except that I finished already summarizing all the soft copy pics for printing. That night I watched Slumdog Millionaire. It's a very good movie and it deserved to won the 2010 Oscars. Then I fell to my goodnight sleep and I awoke past midnight to feed our baby and later on found myself writing this.

4.23.11   Black Saturday
Two days of staying at home doing the normal routine. In the past when we were just a couple, those two days would already been so boring. It would seem that we would have to go out somewhere to kill the boredom. However, this time it is different because everyday is an exciting and joyous moments with our baby. By just hearing his hearty, innocent laughter and shrieking are just more than enough to make my day and I believe his papa also. Thus, that Saturday was different.

Manang Laling went home for her day off. So inevitably either my hubby or I had to do the basic household chores but I ended doing it all  :-) which I think worsened my already destroyed no-longer-shiny fingernail-colors.

In less than an hour for lunch my mother-in-law arrived with his first grandson. She and hubby cooked bihon-based meal with the main ingredient that of a canned mushroom and pork leg. I forgot what was the name of that canned meat and mushroom (hubby dear, care for help?). I think the cooked bihon was sumptuous. It was very delicious that made me again forgot of my diet. Sidenote: I am now 110lbs. (yehey!!!).

While baby took his afternoon nap, mother-in-law (I think almost the whole afternoon) did telebabad (talking over the phone with a friend for more than an hour) while his first grandson enjoyed playing Plants vs. Zombies. Hubby and I stayed upstairs in our room with our baby. He played his computer games while I watched The King's Speech (such a very nice movie, again). The rest of the day that happened was usual - playing with our baby after his regular nightly routines.

4.24.11  Easter Sunday
While most of the devotees are up very early in the wee hours to witness the "Sugat" (reenactment of Jesus' risen from the dead with the accolades of the angels). I can't describe much about how the Sugat is reenacted and its incidental activities because (poor me!) since birth I haven't witnessed one. Maybe I'm just that sleepy head then and still, at present. Now that we already have our baby to care, I doubt if I can ever witness one but I think I will, someday, in God's time.

Our baby awoke as early as six plus in the morning. So I had him practice his walking within our house' vicinity. Our neighbors were busy getting themselves ready for their beach outing - the traditional (Pinoy?) activity during Easter. Watching them suddenly gave me a jolt festive feeling. So I thought to myself that before we would fetch my mama in Labogon we would have to drop by SM. I'm sure that our baby would enjoy strolling as much as I would enjoy myself too and to see him happy.

When I told my hubby about it, at first he agreed. Then later, he changed his mind not to side trip to SM for the reason that we have nothing to do there and I half-agreed. Moments later I realized that it was what I really wanted to do. I had been hoping to stroll the mall for quite some time already. Hence, we need to go there and hubby agreed for he has no choice at all.

Indeed, we just seemed to smell the mall for an hour. However, we were able to visit the Sparkles Balloons' stall and saw what their postcard invitation look like. Also, we went to the SM toy department to see a not so costly Winnie the Pooh stuff toy to hopefully buy it for our baby so that he would be acquainted with the character for his later on special day. Unfortunately upon seeing the toy, either his sleepy mood made him not amuse of it or he just loves his Edie  so much that he doesn't like Edie to have a competition of his affection. With this, we decided not to buy yet.  Oh! by the way, we had the photos below as our souvenir.


Arriving in Labogon seems like something new to our baby though he was able to visit there already more than once. He was in all excitement mood that when he saw the faces of my cousins he didn't hesitate to smile at them for a few seconds then stopped for a moment to look at them intently - my signal that he is about to scrutinize the unfamiliar faces and probably would have again his stranger anxiety. So I didn't wait for him to feel the anxiety. Hence, I abruptly ended the meeting and proceeded to my premarital home. He seemed not to mind the unfamiliar house upon seeing the familiar faces of his mamala, his papalo and his dear-playmate-cousin. He immediately felt at home that he automatically made his wobbly walking through and through the house. Still not enough, I had him practiced his walking in the uneven ground outside our house where there are lots of eroded stones. These stones are something new to him as he is used to the do walking exercise in the cemented ground in our subdivision. So he really enjoyed stepping on those stones and I had inevitably had a short work out (by just merely assisting him). I think we did it for about thirty minutes, then head back inside to have his supper. We bought with us his necessary things - his Cerelac, his dishes, his soap for his nightly bath et al.

Bath time was such messier than  usual because the house just had a small basin. So just imagine the result; the floor was about to be totally wet and we had to hold the basin so as not to tumble it. Later on we decided to put him inside the pail since he very much liked to get inside of it. Thus for his rinsing, I had to get the water directly from the faucet. So he was kind of surprised to felt the water cold.  With all the inconveniences we had caused, at least we were able to established his normal routine as much as possible. With this, we are and in behalf of our baby, thankful to my mama and papa for being patient and understanding to us.

After a few minutes, our baby fell asleep. I believe he was just so tired because he hadn't have his usual two hours nap in the afternoon and he had his wobbly walking in SM and in the grounds of our Labogon house. Even in our car when we were going home already, he was still asleep. He just woke up for a while then fell back again to sleep. We arrived safely in our residence. Then regular life is about to unfold.

We may not have been able to do what a Catholic would've done but I'm very sure that by those serene family moments we had made us closer to each other and by our own ways made us recollect and reflect our lives as Christians.

2 comments:

ferenzie said...

heheehe, i have that game plants vs. zombies, Sean bought for my valentines gift and another Sims. He really is a gamer.

Also first time I've read your blog. lol. The longest blog ever, not really. Im just tired of reading right now. No patient at all.

Nice one though... hehehe

gem said...

nice guro na nga game ky mura'g mao manay gikalingawan sa mga bata rn....