Koala

I somehow consider Lauren to have achieved another milestone today.  We were browsing her books when I pointed to her a picture of a koala.  I told her as she patiently looks at the picture that it's name is "koala".  She repeated after me and said "ko-wa-ya". I asked her again thinking that it was just a coincidence that she pronounced a babyish version of the correct word.  She again said "ko-wa-ya".  Nice one my dear!

God grant me strength and resilience

What if I am the one who is at the other end today?  What if I am the one being subjected to hopelessness, despair, agony and even pain?  Shall I be able to take the blow well?  I'm pretty sure that most of us are trying our best to avoid stress, humiliation, scrutiny and shame.  But the truth is, even if we try to avoid these things, we still end up being tested, jilted, rebuked and hurt.  It is inevitable.  Afterall, we are just mere human beings, who in one way or the other in the event of our existence, are creatures meant to survive and cope.

And today, just in case if I am the one being on the spotlight?  I really don't know how will I take the blow.  Just one thing is for sure.  I want it real quick to get it over with.  I'll take the blow, hoping that I won't be persuaded by retreat and in the end I hope that I'll find myself still standing more stronger than the moment before.

Thoughts

• I've realized today that a little sacrifice goes a long way.  
• If little information is enough, then don't lay down all your cards. It's good to have the advantage and if the going gets tough, at least you still got some spare bullets.
• Enjoy the moment while it lasts, worry would have to wait in line.
• It is good not to speak for sometime, let them wonder and enjoy for a moment their cluelessness.

On a Lazy Saturday

Cooking Pinoy Chicken Barbecue for Mars.  Smells delicious...I wonder if the taste is as good as the smell.

Bon appetit!

Checking the December and January expenses.

Got to do a little budgeting!

Arrange, wash and tidy up the latest shopping finds!

Dresses are "in" in my wardrobe!

Must Haves

Here is the list of the things that I must have soon:

1.  HP Slate
2.  DSLR Cam
3.  Sewing Machine

Must Do soon:
1.  ILS training
2.  Budget and Vacation Planning
3.  Plan for LL's birthday party in the Philippines
4.  House hunting by March
5.  Book for tickets to Manila
6.  Plan for Nining's foster home for 1 month while we are in the Philippines.
7.  Hair Rebonding in Manila
8.  Trip to Singapore and Malaysia with the Toralbas

Hmmm, where to I start?

The Anticipation of the Breaking Dawn Part 1

"Only a vampire can love you forever"

Can't wait for November 2011.  Damn, that's too far ahead. 

Swimming time

Swimming at the Swissbel Hotel.

 Lauren enjoys waddling her arms and legs in the water.

 Lauren doesn't mind drinking the pool water from time to time!

 Lauren seems to tell her dad not to let go of her.  So touching!

Doctor, doctor!

What could be worse than spending Saturday, a rest day, at home nursing a seemingly flu-like feeling?  I've got to admit that I only get sick a few times every year but I really hate having the cough and colds specially now that I have a little one who is always tagging along beside me.  I'm afraid Lauren will catch it also from me.  I just wish that her immune system is now adequately equipped with the necessary antibodies to guard her of any infection.  Albeit, she must be sick from time to time to let her body develop its own defense.  Tomorrow she'll have the much awaited appointment with her allergist at the Hamad Hospital.  We will be again spending the afternoon among other pediatric patients on que for the evening clinic.  I hope tomorrow will be less stressful than the previous check ups.  Arriving there very early to fall in line in the cashier doesn't necessarily mean that we will be the first patient to be seen later on.  Some people doesn't have the decency to fall in line to wait for their turn to be attended by the cashier.  Anyway, as they say here "what to do yani?"  After paying for the check up, we will then wait for at least 1 hour just to have the vital statistics taken.  Then we will wait again until our turn comes which usually averages to 1 hour to 2 hours.  And if the doctor will prescribe some medicines, approximately another hour will be spent at the pharmacy just to claim the medicines.  Whew!  Indeed, spending the afternoon at HMC is tough!

1 Week Vacation

I love the Eid holidays.  Our company allows us to have a break for a few days.  Time to have R and R.  I've spent most time of the week going to the gym, going shopping and bonding with Lauren.  I've gone doing ukay ukay with Elouisa one time somewhere at the Industrial Area.  Now I know where I can buy some flee market bargains to practice for my sewing escapades (that is if Mars will buy me the sewing machine soon). Mars also goes to the gym everyday, goes for some intermittent duties at the hospital and of course accompanying me to do the groceries.  I didn't notice that vacation is almost over.  Tomorrow is the first day of resuming for duty as well as back to the 8 hours duty.  I hope I'll have the energy to start work again.  How nice it is to just be at home and doing whatever I wish to do.

Lauren is walking all over the house now.  I can't see her crawling anymore.  She likes following me around the house and when she reaches me, she extends  her arms to me and wants to be carried.  She's becoming heavy now and I can't stand to carry her anymore for a long time.  She gets upset if she sees me going away from the room.  Mars jokingly say that I am the mother goose and I have a duckling following me around.  I recently bought 3 posters for Lauren.  She knows where to point if I ask her "Where is the dog, cat and the telephone".  She knows also where to point if she is asked where is her hair, head, eyes, nose, ears, teeth, tongue, tummy and toes.  She knows all of them on most of the times that she is in the mood.  But if not, she'll just point to some of the body parts and ignores the rest.  She has 8 of fully erupted milk teeth (4 up and 4 down) now and 4 molars are crowning to come out soon.  My little Lauren is growing very fast day by day.

So goes my 1 week vacation.  Next vacation will come around 16th of November for the Eid Al Adha.

Gym

At last after 4 years, I finally stepped inside the gym once more.  Mars and I enrolled in a 3 months membership at the Swiss Belhotel gym here in Doha. We have unlimited access to the gym inclusive of the machines, sauna, steam room and the pool.  It was my first day yesterday and I had fun familiarizing myself with the different machines.  I was checking which machine should I or shouldn't I be using because of my SIJ dysfunction.  I will stay away from those which I think will harm my back as well as will put too much strain on it.  I will be very careful not to overdo the exercises.  Afterall, I am there at the gym just for fitness purposes.  I am considered underweight and therefore won't need to lose weight.  I will just do exercises that would strengthen my core muscles hoping the my back problem will go away.  As for Mars, he really wants to lose weight and to change from his sedentary lifestyle into something which involves some activities.  

We hope that this is the start of a better healthy lifestyle for me and hubby.  Aside from that, there's another thing to list among the things that we both can do and enjoy together. 

Daddy Gorio

I was very lucky to have experienced the joy of having a grandfather.  I can't help but miss the old times my sisters and I spent at our province during weekends and vacations.  Our daddy always made it a point that we enjoy our stay there and also taught us a lot of things about life in general.  He used to provide for us our abong-abong (make shift tents) where me and my sisters play bahay-bahayan.  Early mornings, he taught us to pick up the fallen leaves and branches from the trees and gathering them underneath the tall mango tree to burn.  Another times, he taught us how to take care of our  pets and prepare for their meals.  He instilled in us the love of animals and nature.  Maybe, he unconsciously taught us also the value of reading.  He reads Bannawag-the Ilocano magazine which I grew up seeing it always at my daddy's house.  Infact, I also read and enjoyed the stories published. All the things we did with him were all seen as happy moments.  He sometimes lost his temper but we knew how to stay away from his way once he lost it.  The good thing about his "muryot" episodes was that it passes quickly.  Once finished lashing out his sermons, he became silent and soon he is pacified again.  He had the habit of ending all his sermons with the syllable "si or C", which my sister Tetet, would tease him, "daddy, ag-D kayo metten ah, kannayon la nga C" (daddy, say D, this time, you just always say C).  Yes, my sister Tetet had a special bonding with daddy.  She was the favorite since she knew how to deal with him.  She was the one who patiently cleaned the tough nails of daddy, pulled his uban (white hair) and slept by his side at night.  

Today is the birthday of my dear daddy.  Wherever you are now, I know you are at peace and happy.  I pray that you are happy seeing what your grandchildren has become.  I regret that my dear daughter didn't have anymore the chance to see you.  But you live in us daddy, someday when she's old enough to understand, she'll know you through my stories about you. I promise to impart to her all the lessons I learned from you.  Happy birthday daddy, we love you.

10 Tricks for Improving Your Memory

10 Tricks for Improving Your Memory

Ramadan almost over...

Almost over....just a week to go, and our normal working hours will be back to normal.  Aside from that, I won't be having any evening duties which ends until 10 pm.  Whew! Hopefully everything will just be fine on the last week.  If the Eid will fall on Thursday, then the clinic will be closed on that day.  Either way, since I will be coming tomorrow for my Saturday duty, then definitely I will be off on Thursday.  I'm blogging about this to remind me just in case I forget what were the events that transpired which I need to ask for my colleagues' in lieu of duties.  First, Samah owes me one afternoon duty and I will ask Wafa later on who owes me for this coming Sunday's duty.

So what will be our Eid Holiday plans...come what may...most probably we will just be bumming around the house, visit some friends and maybe just stroll around Doha.  Wish that I can spend the holidays in the Philippines..

On this day, God wants me to know 

... that change is the very nature of life, - welcome it. No glass ever became sand again; No bread ever became wheat; No ripened fruit ever became a flower. Welcome change, and choose what kind of glass you create, what kind of bread you bake, what kind of fruit you harvest.

Today is my second afternoon duty for this week.  Yesterday's duty was manageable.  Just a slight nuisance from the SQA-V machine.  I was supposed to use it for a patient having a scheduled semen examination yesterday.  I thought that it would be best to do all the quality controls for the machine so that when the sample arrives, the only thing I've got to do is to feed it in the machine and voila, my work is done.  But unfortunately the machine failed in its auto calibration.  I tried to troubleshoot the problem but I guessed that the engineer has to come to fix it.  And so it was, the patient arrived and good thing, he didn't bring any sample yet.  I told him that we will reschedule his test since the machine is out of order and that the engineer has to come and fix it by morning time.  At first, I thought it was  a problem and so I decided to call my supervisor and tell her of the situation.  She agreed that it is best to tell the patient to come back until the machine is fixed.  It was good that the man saw and heard my conversation with my supervisor and no more protests nor questions were asked when I told him what my supervisor has just said.  The afternoon went on smoothly with some patients coming one after the other.  My day should have ended fine only if dear husband came early to pick me up from the clinic.  He came from a birthday celebration of one of his colleagues.  To make it up for his tardiness, he gave me some chic Body Shop gift pack consisting of a perfume, lotion and a shower gel.  I tried the perfume on my wrist and briskly sniffed the fragrance.  Because of my dampened mood last night, my nose had the instant aversion to the aroma of the perfume.  I told him  that the next time he decides to buy me some colognes or perfume, he should bring me along so that I myself will have to choose the fragrance I want.  I felt guilty afterwards.  He again made it up to me when he prepared for me some instant noodles to serve as my dinner last night.  He didn't even bothered to play his Legends game last night and just allowed me to use the laptop.  That's my husband, he really knows how to manage my intermittent hormonal attacks.  

As I end this post, I tried smelling again my wrist to see how it smelled this time,  what came to my nostrils is a sweet and mild cherry blossom fragrance.  Hmmm, I think I kindda like it now.  

"Eventually all the pieces fall into place until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moment, and know that everything happens for a reason".  (--Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw but picked up from my friend Aby's post in FB)

All the events in my life, during the exact time of their occurrences seem to have very vague reasons for happening.  I may not comprehend the reason on that time the particular situation happened but each time I look back now and ask myself "why it happened", I always end up understanding that it happened so that I will be the person I am now, that I will be exactly in the same place I am now and that I might be on the exact moment now.  All events in my life in the past contribute to these 3 generalizations.  I always question why it happened, I sometimes address to God that question.  Frantically, I evaluate and assess what went wrong and lo and behold, I find myself clueless.  Most of the time I questioned, cried, and suffered along the way.  In the stillness of confusion I learned how to be resilient.  I can't control the situation but I can definitely control myself.  Slowly, I accepted the situation and realized that I have to move on.  Life doesn't end with one bad blow and that life is so short to waste it sulking.  Gradually I learned how to laugh about it, just let time took its course to heal me, and hoped that everything will turn out just fine.  I became my old self again and realized that all things happen for a purpose.  It happened so that I can learn something from it, to apply in my life and to become if not the best at least better than before.  I pray to have the courage to stick that wisdom in my head and not to be indecisive whatsoever.

Aby, thank you very much for the countless times you were with me during those moments of confusion...

Lauren intermittently woke up a couple of times last night, undecided about the best position to sleep.  Mars has to go for an overtime today and as he was leaving, I asked  him to take Lauren and let Nining take care of her as I catch some sleep.  That was the reason why I woke up around 10:30 a.m.  I woke up very hungry and decided to cook for some oats-one of the food they say that boots the serotonin level.  To make it a little palatable, I dashed some chocolate powder and sugar while cooking.  I hoped that Lauren will also eat some spoonfuls if she she sees me eating oats.  She only had a 1 bite the last time I asked Nining to feed her with that food.  Lauren ate with me but I think she still didn't like it but thanks to the diversion from watching YouTube in the computer, she managed to ate more than 1 spoonful.  She didn't notice the spoon reaching her lips.  Maybe out of habit, she just opened her mouth as the spoon is near her lips.  We finished the bowl of oats, drank some milk juice and continued watching video clips of animals and babies in the computer.  She was very quiet as she watched the theme song clips of her favorite TV shows.  She got tired afterwards and she was taken by Nining back to the room hoping to put her to sleep for her usual noon time naps.

So what's next for me?  Today is Friday, and a weekend.  I don't know what to do, what is it in store for me in my agenda.  Actually there's none.  I wish to cook later but still I'm wondering what to cook.  Mars called and he told me that he'll have to buy his lunch outside and eat at the laboratory pantry.  So again, what's in store for me today....I was website hopping when I encountered one very nice article about the topic "wanting to be loved".  I read that in order for one human being to be wanted and loved, one must be able to become lovable.  Most of the time, we are waiting for the right person to come into our life but most of the time we fail to become the right person ourselves.  All of us must be ready to fill in the space of becoming the right person before we should be looking for the right one.  Maybe the right man/girl is just also waiting for us.  So how should we be ready to become the right one for them?  In Sri Lanka, they have this saying that a a flower full of nectar doesn't have to beg from the honeybees to pollinate it.  The honeybees know which one has the sweetest nectar and once they find it, they will know how to take care of it and not to destroy it.  The article continued that we must first be flowers with nectars in order to attract the "honeybees".  These honeybees will know the flower which posses the sweet essence.  I quote this from the article: "For human beings, spirituality and love constitute the nectar of life, the sweet essence within".

I think a flower having a sweet nectar doesn't end with the honeybees' discovery of the flower.  While the flower is alive and capable, it must make its effort to continually produce the sweet essence. It must always be rekindled.

Once you pop, you can't stop!

There's this line popularized by a Pringles ad, "once you pop, you can't stop".  

Just recently at 14 months old, Lauren learned to walk on her own unassisted.  She can be included in the bracket of late-walkers.  I was really praying a few months back that she start walking soon as I envy some of the babies around her age who already started walking.  And now that she knows how to move around by herself, I now have second thoughts praying way back then. To my surprise she's now going anywhere she wants to and plays with anything her little hands could grasp.  One time she was in the toilet playing, another time in the kitchen attempting to open the cupboards and now inside our room, pulling all the papers from the cabinet, my socks and undies from the drawer, the pillows and blankets are scattered all over the place.  I'm sure this is just the start...more to come from my darling Lauren.  I know she'll drive me nuts putting the place back in order.  But that's just how it is, she may become a little monster but the bottom line she's still my little darling I love very much.  Starting to walk is just the beginning of this.  As I contemplate on the line "once you pop, you can't stop", I guess that's the same with Lauren now, she has learned how to walk and she's all over the place non-stop.  Enough of this for now....enough also of me munching Pringles from its canister.  But on the contrary, I can stop knowing that I should leave some for my dear husband.

I've Got a Feeling

This is one of the few days which I really feel so down.  I don't like to go to work later, I'm tired, dead beat tired and most of all bored to death.  I wish to have some kinda inspiration to get me going.  I really wish to set my feet on new grounds to start anew.  I don't know how and when but I really, really, really hope that something good and better is coming soon.  I must be strong and not be easily wavered, so long that I keep my focus I know anything is possible.  But first, I've got to deal with what is in front of me now.  Got to get ready for another grueling evening duty at the clinic.  I pray that tonight is gonna be a good night....(makes me remember BEP's song...."I've got a feeling, that tonight's gonna be a big night")....well hopefully...

Lauren attending a birthday party

Yesterday, Lauren attended the 1st birthday party of Gabriel.  I sensed that she enjoyed the party.  She really liked seeing other kids, looking at the lights and playing with the balloons. The party was held at the Gondolania Theme Park in Villagio.  The place was very nice, complete with crystal balls giving the atmosphere of a real party.  It was also not too crowded which allowed children to roam around and do some party games.  The food was great and everybody both young and old had a great time.  

That is the birthday boy, held by his mom.  We could have taken a much nicer picture with the celebrant but he got tired and was already sleeping when we tried to have a snapshot with him.  I was surprised that at least on the background in this photo, Gabriel had a picture with Lauren.

Bugs bunny pushed Donald Duck, and to our surprise!  DD almost fell off the stage.

Lauren seems to be afraid of Donald

Daddy and Lauren playing "Eat! Bulaga!"

Lauren pointing to somewhere

This was the party place at Gondolania