Thank you, daghang salamat, maraming salamat, merci beaucoup!

We would like to thank all our dear friends and family who came to David's birthday party and who offered presents to him. One day our little one will realize how lucky he is to have somebodies like you ;-) Merci beaucoup:

Al & Nina
Dominique, Janese & Virgil
Grégoire, Lucille, Cathy & Louis
Guillaume, Ana & Roxane
Lionel & Jaina
Lola Bernie
Madeleine, Fred & Raphaël
Alex, Maria & Mathias
Terence & Emmanuel
Rochelle & Laurent
Roger, Mila & Nathaniel
Lolo Pierrot, lola Sarah, tita Laetitia, tita Alyssa and tito Matthieu

Bday bash that comes with running noses!

March is a special month for the three of us. We are all born on this month, dada in the beginning, me somewhere after the middle, and David almost at the end! ;-)
We have decided to celebrate David's first year on the 19th, which was last saturday. It was an advance bday bash since we won't be in Paris on the exact day of David's birthday. We are going to spend the Holy Week in the Alpes, hoping to catch some of the remaining snow that I'm sure by now is starting to be soupy. Well, what the heck, if there's none left, a mountain would still be a good break for the three of us.
David's birthday went well. So I hope. I guess the people who came to celebrate the special day with us should be the judges. The party was really simple, although it took us two months to think of the theme. I already knew it would be about animals, as David loves animals. But we have gone to many shopping centers, baby shops, party stores, etc. to find the whole set of an animal party. We have found none! The closest we got was this animal circus, but the set wasn't complete. They had the cups, plates, table cover, but they didn't have the banners and hats. The complete set we actually found was Mickey and Winnie. But these two cute creatures, lovely that they are, didn't appeal to me. They are just so everywhere, seeing them makes it less original. And for David's first party, I really wanted it to be original, nothing fancy really, just down-to-earth-simple but with a touch of originality, my kind of originality mwahahahah!
I like the barnyard theme I found on the internet but has to be delivered from UK. Dada and I sat in front of the eshopping, choosing what we needed. We discussed what we should order. He told me already no plastic cups-spoons-fork and paper plates. As he puts it, the French don't use those stuff. So we didn't. As we concluded the list to order, we ended up with just the decors and the total cost was like, peanuts compared to the delivery cost. He was so ok with the whole thing, but practical as I am, I said no. The french side in him started to debate and the filipina side of me started to argue back. He reasoned out that it would be much easier to order the stuff right there and then so that we wouldn't worry anymore. I begged him to go through the list again and asked him if it was really practical to spend every penny and have them delivered with a price tag three times more than what we would order. My stubborness brought home the medal, so to speak. This might be our first child's first year party but I didn't want our heads to get carried away and just go on spending on nothing. We can still have a memorable party for him, have a good time without becoming too extravagant. That's definitely one thing I want David to learn and comprehend.
So, everything was set. Tuesday, I started to feel terrible. I got the bloody cold! Of all times! I was so sure that it will be passed on to David. I told dada that if by Friday David is going to be sick, we will cancel the whole thing. I didn't want his other friends to get sick as well. Two days came and went, David was still en forme.Our angel was cooperating. So Friday morning, David and I went to buy all the fresh food. We went to the supermarket at 9 am, by ten we were already back. He went to sleep and I took the chance to clean up and decorate the living room with balloons and crepe papers. Just after noon, he woke up. When I started giving him his lunch, I noticed his eyes were tired and the nose was running! I had cold sweats! "Gosh baby, you have a cold!" he refused to eat but was fascinated by all the decors and the mess! He kept on sneezing, wiping his nose off with his hands and continued chasing the balloons and pulling out the decors. The cold wasn't nasty since he was still active and was excited. But then, it was just the beginning. And colds are known to fall in love with their victims for long, they stick in you for days. And since it was just beginning, I had fear that the following day, his party, he would be really sick. I was debating of cancelling the event and I was biting my nails literally as to what to do with the tons of meat in the fridge as we are leaving for a break. Dada had no second thought of it, he told me on the phone to call all our friends and cancel the whole thing. I reasoned him out of it. I told him, let's give David until late afternoon. If he gets feverish then I'll give the ultimate call. But David was just happy and playing. Before he went to bed that night, we gave him medicine and he slept it all through the night. And for myself, I went on finalizing the decors, chopping meat and spices for the following day! I went to bed at two in the morning with my nose completely blocked!
Six a.m., I started cooking. This was really funny, since I couldn't smell anything nor taste. I was feeling groggy with the cold and flu medecine I've been taking for days. Even when I chopped off the onions, I didn't cry! Now that was something! As dada put it: "you are a blind cook!" That was an honest-to-goodness comment, and I couldn't agree more! But that was a terrible compliment, it didn't raise my confidence at all knowing that kitchen is my least favorite place. But I continued cooking, with the recipe book in hand, and my neurons trying to remember how did mamang and papang cooked this and that! I actually prepared the easiest filipino dishes, some people cook them with eyes closed. But since I don't have the talent, I needed all the miracles of our oven and pans. By quarter to one, everything was cooked. Dada tasted everything, and made his culinary skills to artistically tell me what he thought. Our guests started arriving around one, as expected. My friend Maria and her adorable son, Mathias came in first and she helped me prepare the apperitif. I asked her to go all through the dishes and tell me what's lacking. Actually, before they arrived, I found out, my adobo was so bloody salty! I applied my father's trick on what to do when occasions like these happen, and as it turned out, my adobo was most popular mwahahahaha!
When the guests were starting to arrive, I can't remember anymore what happened. It was just chaos, children running here and there in our tiny flat and David looking gloomy with his nose. Although he did behave well considering the situation he was in. He played a bit with the children, asked for mama most of the time and slept twice (I think) in that afternoon. The funniest part was with the cake. I put him on his high chair and presented him his birthday cake while everybody was singing happy birthday. His teary eyes (bcoz of cold) were wide and I have no idea if he understood what was happening. I just know he enjoyed his chocolate cake very, very much! Two servings and David was a picture of a piglet playing in the mud! Dada had the biggest laugh. He was happy seeing his son enjoying the cake. Seeing my two boys laughing and enjoying, I realized it was worth all the effort. The decors and themes didn't matter anymore. It was having this family affair and share it with our close friends that counted the most.

Ped nightmare! :-o

I just have few minutes here to jot down some notes. David is playing dog with his dada.
Absolute FEAR is how we can describe David's visit to his doc. As soon as he saw his ped he went into a mad howl, his whole body shaking. It was actually the first time he made such horror show, of course he cried before but not to this extent.
Anyway, everything is ok with him, although as usual his weight is just below average. Doc said he has low fat. But height and the size of his "skull" are both normal :-)
I don't worry much why he can't store fat, he eats well, way pili, but then he is so active, makes caca 3-4 times a day, and he exerts so much energy by getting so excited even just flipping through books.
Hmmm, I'm off time to feed the piglet!

Blah, blah, blah

I am just currently viewing David's blog and realized, it's been almost a month I haven't posted anything in here! Gosh, he has got heaps of devs and I haven't jotted them down. Our little piglet grows like a weed and there's simply limited luxury time for me to sit in front of my pc. It's true what "seasoned" mothers and grandmothers say: enjoy it while he is still a baby for once he learns to crawl and walk, it's another story!!
And indeed what a story! Few days after his tenth month bday, David started walking with absolute absence of fear that he might fall down or bump his head, and a week later he decided, crawling is just as fun as walking! Now he spends most of his waking time crawling, walking, pulling things out of cabinets and drawers, sticking his tiny little fingers in electric plugs and the funniest for him of all is pulling out cables that run around the flat like cobwebs! And for myself, I'm starting to sound like a dictator: no, no, nooooo David! Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't! I have this feeling that the more he thinks it's prohibited, the funnier it is to do it!
David made a lot of improvement when it comes to crawling, I mean he just goes off as if a speed blaster is attach in his nappy! Before he did few tumbles, you know like he crawls faster than he could and off went his head and face on the floor! I kept on telling him that even crawling there's a speed limit. He has found his balance and he is like the master of all crawlies! He loves it when his dada and I do the "cow game". On our feet and hands we chase him and say "moooh, mooh, mooh"! He really thinks it's funny.
As to walking, hmmm somehow he has developed a sense of fear, finally! I was worried before when he would launch himself without the understanding that he could eventually fall. Now, he is scared walking on his own. He has to hold onto something before he makes his steps.
Alright, I'm just gonna pause it here, he is awake and crying! Later we are off to the ped for his monthly check!