independence day pilgrimage to antipolo

every year, the parish of san fernando de dilao in paco holds a pilgrimage to the national shrine of our lady of peace and good voyage in antipolo. this is done every june 12, independence day. the former is where we attend mass every sunday and where nelo also serves as a lay minister.

we've joined past pilgrimages but not recently. this year, we decided to join in the pilgrimage again and bring along nikko with us.  we went there with my sil and her family. the mass was scheduled at 8am and we left the house around 6:30am. it was raining when we left and nikko's outfit was just perfect for the weather.

when we got there, the previous mass has not yet finished so we had to wait. once inside, i told nikko to sit down on the church pew. good thing the lady was nice enough to let him stay there. i told nikko to hold on to his lunch box. we always bring this whenever we go out. it's filled with his favorite fruit- banana, some biscuits and his cerelac.

it was hot and humid inside the church. as expected, there were a lot of people who were attending the hourly masses. lucky for us, my sil was able to find a seat right behind the lay ministers. our mass already started around 8:30am.

nikko was behaved during the entire mass. of course there's the occasional "shrieks" from him and being carried back and forth between me and his yaya. but other than that, he was a good boy during the mass.

after the mass, we lighted a candle for our special intentions then paid homage to our lady.

 

then it was off to an early lunch. more on that on my next post.

first haircut

after nikko's 1st birthday celebration, i've already set a schedule for his first haircut.  i don't know with you but in our family, there are certain traditions that we still follow. and that includes waiting until after the baby has turned 1 yrs old before we cut his hair.

holding on to lolo and lola on the way to cuts 4 tots

 so last sunday, right after mass, we asked my mom and dad to meet us at g4. i wanted them to see nikko during his hair cut.  we had lunch first then proceeded right after to cuts 4 tots.  apart from the haircut, we availed of the certificate for this milestone. they first took a "before" photo and then seated nikko already in the "car chair" -- which he loved! the barber prepped him up for the haircut while he "drives" his "car chair." there was also an assistant to kept on playing bubbles for nikko and also gave him a toy clapper.

being prepped up. look who's watching him

photo with daddy first

the bubble was the perfect diversion! nikko was so busy reaching out for the bubbles while the barber shaved away. my mom couldn't help but laugh as they were shaving off  nikko's hair. aliw na aliw mama ko ng makita ang head shape ni nikko habang ginugupitan!

as my mom was laughing, my dad was busy looking after nikko. he just stayed behind nikko and the barber and was intently watching the whole process. halos hindi nya tanggalin ang tingin nya kay nikko. :)

shave, shave, snip, snip!

in less than 30 minutes, the process was over. my nikko is now a shaolin kid! by the way, this haircut is called semi-kalbo #2. oh di ba! ang taray ng title!

here he is with his new look!

change of clothes after. it's itchy!

nikko really looked different with his new haircut. but i think it suits him. his mischievous personality seems heightened with this new look. di bale, bagay naman sa kanya. ngayon nga lang, madali na din makita ang pawis nya sa ulo. lol! i think we'll stick to this look for a little while. :)

my little shaolin with lolo and lola

and with mommy & daddy

stroller bike

about 2 months ago, a neighbor of ours and her almost 2 yr. old nephew was walking by our street on a stroller bike. i think it's the fad now, wherein it starts off as a stroller but can be converted into a bike when the kids gets bigger.

anyway, i didn't want to buy one before coz i knew nikko's birthday was coming up and someone might give him one as a gift.

our neighbor was gracious enough to let nikko try on the stroller bike. unfortunately, my baby loved using the stroller that it was a struggle to get him off it. and the funny thing was, whenever the neighbor's nephew sees nikko, he starts crying! he probably thinks my little boy is out to get his stroller bike! lol!

to prove my point on how he loves the stroller bike, i asked nelo to take a video while i stroll around with nikko.  the reaction says it all... :)



after that incident, i knew nikko had to get a stroller bike.  my solution - ask my sister-in-law to give it to him as a birthday gift! talk about asserting yourself. lol!

here's nikko with his new stroller bike from tita myla. this was taken the day we opened his birthday gifts.

my baby finally got his wish and he's such a happy trooper after that. he loves it when we stroll around the neighborhood and he just sits there contentedly. it's his favorite now and one of the best gifts he received on his birthday.

here's my baby during a break from his afternoon stroll

hosted a street mass

last friday (june 8), our family hosted the celebration of a street mass. they situated it right in front of our house. the last time we played host to a street mass was in november 2011. nikko five months at that time.

the mass was officiated by our paris priest, fr. allan peter dialogo. he also officiated the past year's mass.

since the mass will start at 8pm, we let nikko sleep first early in the evening. we wanted him to have the energy to attend the mass with us as we knew fr. allan will give a special blessing to those celebrating their birthdays in june.

we were so happy that nikko did not get cranky at all considering that it's his sleep time already. he woke up at around 7:30pm. and just waited with us for the mass to start.

the mass promptly started at 8pm and i was also one of the readers for the mass.

before the final blessing, fr. allan asked the june celebrants to come forward to the altar. nelo carried nikko there and he was amazed at the fact that the attendants were raising their arms over him and the others as the blessing is given.

after the mass, we invited fr. allan and the church staff along with the choir to have dinner with us.  while the staff were tidying up the altar, nelo brought nikko to fr. allan and he remembered nikko! he even carried nikko and nikko was such a trooper.

our family with fr. allan

this was nikko's photo with fr. allan back in november 2011. he was 5 months old here

here is nikko now with fr. allan once more. he is exactly 1 year old

that mass was just our way of giving thanks to HIM for all that he has given us. and we are continually thanking him for giving us nikko.

we hope we can host the street mass again when it comes back to our area.

lunch date: piadina

before nikko was born, hubby and i would often go out on friday nights for a dinner or a movie date.  but our friday night habits had to take a back seat with nikko around already.

with the two of us working, weekends are devoted to nikko. so we've decided to work around his schedule and opted for lunch dates instead. we get to bond at least for a short time occasionally. a little time away from the baby and just hubby and i together.

we had lunch at piadina over at greenbelt1. this is one of our favorite restaurants to go for some pizza and pasta fix.  their pizza has a thin crust and the cheese just melts in your mouth. their pasta is also good. the noodles are al dente and the portions are just right even if we share.

so what did we order?

for starters, we had grissini di pizza. these are freshly baked garlic bread sticks which comes with a special cheese dip. i like how they present the grissini, they're stacked up on a plate alternately and the dip is placed inside. i love that the bread is a bit flaky but it doesn't get soggy as you dip and eat it.

next was pizza margherita. it's a thin crust pizza with a topping of cheese, tomato sauce and basil leaves. it's sort of a vegetarian pizza. like i said, it melts in your mouth as you take a bite. and it's just light, which was a perfect pair to our pasta of coice.

pasta italspagna was the last item in our menu. it's pasta with italian sausage and spanish chorizo in creamy tomato sauce. i'm such a pasta lover that this choice was just perfect for me. it complemented the lightness of the pizza.

it was a satisfying lunch, and we got to bond as partners.  definitely worth another trip back for another lunch date soon.

nikko had roseola

it's always hard when your baby is sick especially since he still can't tell you what he's exactly feeling.

a week ago, and just a day before his birthday, nikko suddenly had fever. we just gave him tempra/paracetamol thinking that it was just a phase. sabi kasi nila, minsan daw kung kailan mag-birthday ang bata, saka sila nagkakasakit.

nikko during his birthday party feeling sick already

unfortunately, he was still not feeling well the following day, which was his birthday. of all the days to get sick. but we couldn't do anything but just give him tenpra. sayang nga kasi hindi sya masigla sa birthday celebration nya. and it was evident when you see him. malamlam ang mata and hindi sya pala-ngiti.

that night when we got home after the party, around 9pm, his temperature shoot up to 39.0! plus, he doesn't like the taste of tempra that he throws up whatever meds you give him.  i had to call his pedia already and was advised to just monitor and bring him to the clinic on monday.  we gave him 2 cycles of tempra and monitored his condition.

sunday, just a slightly higher temperature but no fever. and, his appetite was down. he only wants to drink milk and no solids. after his afternoon nap, matamlay pa rin sya and sabi ng mama ko parang namumutla. that's when we decided to bring him to the e.r of makati med already.

we got there around 4pm.  the resident doctor checked his vitals and noticed that his throat was sore and red. we were advised to have his blood checked for possible bacterial infection. argh! it was painful to see him crying as they were extracting blood from his fingers. but we knew it had to be done.

mommy & lola holding nikko tightly during his blood extraction

nikko tired after the extraction

my poor baby, he was got so tired from crying that he fell asleep on my chest as i was carrying him. actually, ayaw nya magpababa sa bed, na-trauma ata, feeling nya siguro kukunan sya ulit ng blood if he sits there.

and so we just waited for the result. when it came out, the doctor said that based on the result, he has bacterial infection that is just starting. and it's probably from his colds and the redness in his upper respiratory tract. we were prescribed antibiotics after.

since his pedia has clinic on weekdays, i decided to hold off on giving him the meds and texted the pedia the results of the blood test and asked what i should do.  he no longer has fever by this time. but we had to wait until tuesday for the pedia visit.

monday, we had to leave for an appointment at the embassy. nikko no longer had fever but he was still sick. we left at 10am and we finished with our appointment at 2:30pm already.  when i called my mama, she said nikko did not want to drink milk from the bottle. kawawa naman, di masyado nakakakain tapos ayaw pa mag-gatas.

we had to take a quick lunch before going home. pagdating namin, buti na lang at nakatulog. nakainom naman daw ng gatas pero pinipilit pa. by the time he woke-up, i was ready to give him milk already. gutom na gutom ang baby ko. :(

tuesday morning, i noticed that he has rashes on his face. i took note of it for discussion with the pedia. i went to work early and just met-up with my mom and nikko at the pedia's clinic. i updated the pedia with all the details and the verdict -- roseola or more commonly known as tigdas hangin.

with lola while waiting for his pedia

per my pedia's explanation, and which i also checked online, it's a virus that usually starts with fever, sometimes high grade fever, the throat will also appear to be red. after that, fever will stop, then the rashes will come out. there is no meds for it nor immunization. you just have to let it run its course.

it was such a relief to hear that from the pedia. at least di naman pala totoong tigdas at mawawala din after 3-4 days.

his rashes started on his face

and then his body

by now, nikko has recovered and has regained his appetite. he's much livelier now and his energy is at a high point once more. i will have to give my baby a reward over the weekend after what he's been through. this deserves a ride in his favorite carousel ride at timezone! :D

scarf peek-aboo with nikko

in a recent trip to davao, we made a stop at the aldevinco shopping center. i scored a lot of good finds there and one of my fave finds was a scarf. and since i couldn't decide on the colors i wanted (read: i wanted a lot!), i settled on buying 4pcs of scarf. talk about indecisiveness! lol!

well, here's one of the scarfs i bought. i was teasing nelo on how i should wear it and he snapped this photo. it's actually a nice way to accent your shirt, if you want a little oomph to it. i think i should have worn it properly in this photo. :)

anyway, last sunday we bought books at fully booked in rockwell as a gift for nelo's inaanak. i was trying to keep nikko entertained while we wait for nelo.  and yes, i was wearing my scarf at the time.

well, nikko found a different use for my scarf. he found it an amusing tool to play peek-a-boo with mommy! he was so cute, toothy smile and all, as he played with my scarf. i think i will have to use/bring my scarf more often when we go out. :)