MM: Welcome Sunny Days

Though this rainy season is not completely over yet, rain still fall sometimes at night, but most of the time we see bright sunshine in the morning. Which is a nice start after months having rain all day long.

We haven't done much outdoor activities to enjoy the current good weather, we will soon, so there aren't much pictures can be posted here for now. Only these two pictures when Evan's school went to a water park earlier this month to welcome the sunny days. It's the same trip posted last week, but different pictures :)

With teacher and classmates at the water park

Even baby Eldrick too enjoy the sunshine in the morning...

Click the badge to see other moms' story about their summer days. Thanks for stopping by everyone. Have a great weekend!

MM: School Field Trips

Oh it's been ages since my last MM post. Sorry mommies, so many things happen in real life so I need to slow down blogging a little bit. Ranging from taking care the kids until my mom's recent corneal transplant. Not to mention that March is a tax reporting month, so got busier everyday at the office. And sometimes I simply don't have new photos to post.

Anyway, glad I can join this week. As for the theme, field trips, I took some pictures of Evan's school trips. His school has field trips at least once a month, so I got plenty of pictures but most of them already posted here.

These pictures were taken on his latest school trip two weeks ago. They went to a nearby water-park. Unfortunately, I don't have many good pictures of him. Have to wait for the school's photos. It was a short trip as not long after they arrived the rain fell. Poor kids they couldn't stay long in the water.

These pictures were taken on his trip to Jakarta last month. During the trip the students learned about how to ride a commuter's train. It was a good lesson for the students.

Click the button to read other moms' story. Thanks for stopping by everyone. Enjoy your weekend!

MM: Welcoming A Baby Brother

It's Friday, time for Mommy Moments again. This week theme is about our kid's experience in welcoming a new sibling. Waiting for a new baby was a bitter sweet experience for Evan. On one side he was excited he knew he would become a big brother. We told him on the day my OB/GYN confirmed my pregnancy. He instantly said he wanted a baby boy. Well, I guess God granted what he wished for.

On the other hand he also began to realize that after over three years of being the center of attraction, now he had to share his fame with his brother. On many occasions I could sense a hint of jealousy on him even before his brother was born. But overall he just couldn't wait to see his brother.

The night before the big day, it was Sunday night, October 4th, I kissed him good bye with a promise that he would see the baby at the hospital in the morning.

 

The next morning he skipped school and went to the hospital instead. My CS was scheduled at 7AM and I was already inside the OR when Evan came. He spent times playing at the children play area at pediatric section while waiting for my operation.

 

Unfortunately, the hospital have very strict rules about kids under age. They didn't allow him to see me nor the baby that day. He was so sad, of course, I could hear him crying from the recovery room.

The next day he came again to the hospital after school. This time he was allowed to see both me and the baby. That was the first time he laid his eyes on his brother thru the window at infant room.

 

The first picture below was taken on the day we brought Eldrick home. Evan was so excited as if he got "a new toy", he spent hours watching his brother. The second picture was taken recently, they still like playing together.

 

Click the badge above to see other mom's story about this. Thanks for stopping by everyone. Have a good weekend!

MM: Newborn Days

Remember those moments? The first time they stole our hearts? It was an overwhelming swell of emotion. Pure joy mixed together with pride and relief. Then came more overwhelming experiences. The breastfeeding, diaper change, cry, smile, sleepless nights, the never ending camera clicks as if they would change every minute and so on...

I remember those clearly like it was only three months ago. Oh wait! It was three months ago, when my heart was stolen for the second time :)

Anyway, those are random pictures of Evan and Eldrick taken on their first days. On the first collage Evan is on top, now you just have to guess which one is Evan or Eldrick in the second collage. Don't you think all babies look the same?

Click the button to join us. Happy weekend!

MM: Let's Make It Better This Year!

"Happy First Anniversary for Mommy Moments!"

It's another late post from me! This week Mommy Moments theme is about our New Year's List. To be honest, I don't do resolutions and almost skip this theme because didn't have time to make one last night.

Anyway, instead of making a list, I usually evaluate what we have done in the past and see if we can continue or make better plan on this new year. So I highlighted few events from last year and added our plan for this year at the end of each entry. If you click on the image it will bring you to the original post.

January ~ Evan's first day of school. It was already in the middle of the school year when we registered him to Pre-K last year because he was still under 3 yo when the school year started on July 2008. Schooling will always be our top priority for our kids. We'll pay more attention to his study and will make sure that he participates in all school events. He missed few trips last year due to various reasons.

March ~ Trip to a tea plantation. March is always a busy month at the office. However, we still managed to make a quick trip to a tea plantation. This year we'll always keep in mind that even though we're busy with work we'll try to spend our time with family as much as possible.

April ~ Easter. Last year Evan's school went to an orphanage to celebrate Easter, it was his first Easter celebration. Shame on us! How could we failed to introduce Easter to him before that. This year we'll talk more about this one important day in Christian life to him.

June ~ School break. Last year we took Evan to Taman Safari (Safari Park) Indonesia during school break. We didn't do much trip last year due to being pregnant and not so in the mood for trips. This year we'll do better, more trips on school break.

July ~ New school year started. He'll be on K-2 class this July and soon we need to find a primary school for him. We need to review our education insurance plan for him to see if it's still relevant with current cost. Education costs more every year.

September ~ Evan's birthday. Last year we had his birthday party at school since I was already 8.5 months preggy and didn't have time and energy to hold a party at home. The party turned out great and less tiring! This year we plan to continue celebrating his 5th birthday with his classmates and a simple thanksgiving at home.

October ~ Eldrick was born. We thank God for trusting us another boy, it is a big responsibility for us. We already have many plans in mind that need to be executed soon. Not only about his first birthday party, which is a milestone for him, but also about raising him day by day, insurance plans for his health and education, etc.

December ~ Christmas and New Year holiday. Last year Evan was busy with school and Sunday school activity during Christmas. I think this year is gonna be the same. We did made a trip during New Year holidays but I haven't had a chance to post it here. Let's just see what we can do for end year holiday this year :)

Thanks for reading such a long post everyone, and don't forget to check out other mom's new years list here! Happy weekend!

MM: Something New for the New Year

Oh I'm so late to post this meme. This week theme is about something new that our kids get during this holiday season. Since we don't do gifts on Christmas, I had to wait until New Year came to create this post.

When I was a kid, my parents never put gifts under the tree on Christmas. Never talked about Santa's bringing presents either (Zwarte Piet was more popular those days). If they wanted to buy us something, they would do it long before December 25th and never wrapped them as presents.

It was their way to teach us that Christmas is not only about presents. They wanted us to focus on the real meaning of Christmas instead of being busy playing with new toys on Christmas day. However, sometimes they surprised us with some gifts after the season ended, usually on New Year.

When we grew up and had our own money to buy gifts, we still carried on the tradition even until now. We didn't wrap gifts for Christmas, instead we would do that on New Year. We would buy simple gift for everyone just to mark that a new season has begun.

Anyway, here's what we bought for our kids during this holiday season. We bought Evan some new outfits and a pair of shoes before Christmas. He loves wearing his new Avatar shoes. Today he got two additional gifts, Power Ranger and Ben 10 wristbands.

Eldrick also got some new outfits for Christmas and today his gift was a new baby rattles.

Everyone else in the house also got gifts today, including Evan's grandma and our two maids.

Click the button above to see other mom's story about this theme.
Thanks for stopping by everyone and have a happy new year!

MM: Merry CHRISTmas to All!

It's Christmas day! Time for families to get together and enjoy the joyous season. How do you spend your time on Christmas holiday? I'll be busy later today so I made a quick post this morning to wish all my readers/visitors and MM participants a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas is always special for us and this year is even more special because we have a new member in our family. Last night the whole family, including the baby, went to church to attend Christmas eve service. It was Eldrick's first Christmas service and I'm so happy that he went through it very well. He just slept in his stroller without being fussy :D. After the service we went straight home. Evan and Eldrick were already tired but we took time to take some pictures together.

On Christmas day we are going to enjoy our time with the kids reading nativity story, watching Christmas DVD, listening Christmas CD, and off course taking pictures. As usual, we will also have some relatives and friends coming to our house to wish Merry Christmas. Some of them will be staying to have lunch or dinner with us.

I'll be off from blogging for a day or two, and will come back again soon with more photos after the festive is over. Until then...

have a blessed Christmas

and a happy holiday!

Mommy Moments: My Favorite Mommy Moments Post

This week we are to feature any Mommy Moments post we have made that we love the most. I have several favorite topics on MM actually; however the most favorite, if I have to choose one, that will be when we talked about our kid's name and the story behind it, or The Name Game on August 28, 2009.

The timing of that topic was just perfect for me. I was 7 months pregnant and still looking for baby names. Reading other moms' posts that week confirmed our believes that names should mean something.

I then included that post in a commenting contest I sponsored the following weeks and got more comments. It's interesting to read about how people got their names or named their kids. I copied and posted all comments here so you can read them too.

sweet_shelo said...

great names with great meanings.. Your son surely has a beautiful name.=)

Yami said...

Napansin ko Mommy puro unique names ang mga pangalan ng mga anak ng fellow mommies including yours. I've heard Evan before pero hindi pa ang Keona. :-)

life's journey said...

Ang ganda talaga ng mga names ng mag anak natin oy hehehhe. Mine is up too.

Tetcha said...

Evan Keona is a nice combination. Truly unique! Mine is up, too!

Lynn said...

Well yes, kids are God's gifts. Evan Keona, a very apt name for a child. I particularly love the name Evan.

Chris said...

great names!

EdZee said...

May I join your name game by citing how we gave name to one of our children? Our first born, a boy, was named in honor of his grandfathers, a traditional way but we do it with tweaks. His paternal grandfather was Marcelo while it was Valeriano for his mother's side. We named him Marc Valeri.

Kristy said...

I would suggest Eugene, which means well-born.
Happy name-choosing!

Kristy
tettro[at]gmail.com

Jennifer said...

Why are some of the comments in some garbled language? Strange...anyway, I like your son's name because it's unique. My first daughter's name was a name I always said I would name my first girl...unfortunately, it was also the most common at that time (Ashley). My second & third daughters are Kiara & Jocelyn, then my last 2 girls I named Amber and Lacey. Even my son has a unique name: Dakota.

Mys said...

such a unique name. great entry.

Dragonblogger said...

Our 2nd son was named Oliver because we wanted an old world name that was regal sounding. It just rolled off the tongue.

Joy said...

That's nice! I never would have thought of using two different variants of a name, but it works very well.
E names... Elijah is a nice one. Emir/Amir is an Arabic name, it means prince.

zuls said...

Wow! The way you choose the name are interesting. I have my friend with name Erwin, Ezwan and Eddy. I don't really know what it means though.

maricel said...

what i suggest is nathaniel.. i love that name...good luck!

Mara said...

Evan is nice, first time I heard Keona though. :)
You wouldn't want to know my real name. It's so old school. My dad wanted all of his children to have MA's so all 8 of us are named Mario, Marvin, Maria..., Maria..., Maria..., that's to say us girls have Maria at the beginning of our names and the 9th and youngest one is a a Jr. (II). When I researched what my name means, it's contradicting: Light and Bitter. LOL.

Anyway, a suggestion for your second child's name... how about:

Emmett - strength
Ethan - strong, firm

Fida Abbott said...

Edward is a nice name, if you like it. Eden is beautiful name, too.

Just suggestion, I hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend everyone!

Mommy Moments: My Own MM

Since this week theme is about our own mommy moments, I decided to share what I've been doing lately, which is basically enjoying being a new mom again. I spend (almost) everyday taking pictures of my sons and watching them spending time together.

Notice that I've been actively posting in this blog since last month? That's because I'm still on maternity leave so have plenty of times to capture their moments. My colleagues said, "Enjoy your free time whenever you can coz next month will be a different story!" Well, they were right, it will be a different story. It will be bye bye holiday, welcome back a bunch of work :-)

So what's your own mommy moments? Share with us here.

Thanks for stopping by everyone. Have a great weekend.

Mommy Moments: Raking Leaves

It's chore time in today's Mommy Moments. Cleaning up messy toys, keeping sandals and shoes in place, putting dirty socks into the laundry basket have become a daily routine for Evan. It's been part of our training for him to be responsible to his own belongings since he was younger. Though sometimes I wonder why he still missing his toys if he really keep them in place, hmm... Anyway, our rule is simple, "clean-up first, TV later. Messy toys means no TV". Most of the time the rule works with no or little arguments.

Sometimes he gets additional chores to do from school. Remember my MM post about him helping us cleaning up the house for two weeks? He was still at Pre-K when his teachers gave that assignment.

Recently, his Kinder teachers gave him another household chores assignment, this time was raking leaves for two weeks :). It would take hours for him to actually finish up raking our big yard using that broomstick. Usually he would get bored and stopped after a few minutes. It's still OK though, I never expected a four-year old to rake the whole yard in one day, so I just assigned some spots at our carport.

 

 

"Done, will you sign my report now?"

There were times when he decided to "help us" washing car and watering plants. You may be interested to find out what really happened that day :).

Join us and see how other kids doing chores here.

Thanks for stopping by everyone and have a great long weekend :)

Mommy Moments: Yummy

This week theme is about our kids' favorite food. Now, let's see if we've been feeding them right ;-)

This is typical situation whenever we go to the restaurant. Evan usually will look through the pictures in the menu, looking for something interesting, before ordering his favorite food...

Which is basically anything with ice cream on it, a banana split for example...

Yup, his favorite food is ice cream. You can see it in the picture.

 

Wait there's more pictures...

In case you haven't seen them!

 

And since this theme suits for anyone at any age, it's time to include Evan's brother, Eldrick, here. This is his first debut on Mommy Moments, though some of you already saw him as he occasionally showed up in this blog. From now on he'll be featured in my MM post whenever possible.

Anyway, his current favorite food is... milk! Look how happy he was when he knew grandma was going to feed him.

 

He also likes other kind of milk, you know, the kind that comes right from your boobs, but I think it won't be appropriate to post the picture here :)

Thanks for stopping by everyone. Have a great weekend!