The real workout, friends etc.

Yesterday was my very first real work out with Mark. Man am I ever sore today! I realize how much I missed working out with him. He is so great at encouraging people. I miss the feeling of being sore too (good sore). It totally makes me feel better about myself. I have more energy and I feel great! It is so important for postpartum Moms to get into an exercise routine once they feel they have more energy and time for themselves (even if it's only 15 minutes a day!). Mark makes me a 15 minute workout everyday and I try my hardest to do it. He says to just make it a priority and it will get done. He is right. There's just too many excuses and too many distractions that if you actually make it a priority, it will get done.


Anyway, I went out with my girl friends from church yesterday and it was great. There's 5 of us in the group and they have been such blessings in my life. They have supported me through thick and thin and I love them dearly. What a wonderful thing to have with you, a group of people who will love you for who you are and what you beleive in. They have been really important to me. There's Michelle (who's son Canyon is 2 days older than Micah) and there's Heather who is due in August and there's Hannah who is our yoga master and Shirely who is our super Mom in the group. To have such a diverse group of friends and still able to get along well is so awesome. There is nothing like feeling at home when I hang out with them. They are pretty much my second family in Calgary. Thank you bellas for your friendship, your love and honesty. I appreciate you all so much!

As for my beautiful son, he is growing and growing some more. He weighs 12.5 lbs now at 2 months! He is definitely getting more round and I love it! He is going to get his first vaccination this coming Tuesday. Wish me luck! I know Michelle went to take Canyon and she told me to bring Kleenex!!! Yikes! we'll see if I can tough it out! Probably not! Maybe we'll get dad to come along with us.




Anyway, hope you all have a Happy Canada Day long weekend!

ciao,
K

Weekend, First Bus Ride, and Mosquitos

Our weekend in Wetaskiwin was great! We left there friday night and Micah and I were back yesterday. We took the Red Arrow back to Calgary and it was wonderful. It felt like you were on a plane. It is so much better than the greyhound. They had free snacks for you, you can watch movies or read a book. I had to carry Micah with me though all the way to Calgary as they didn't allow you to bring the car seat in the bus. It was ok. It was better than driving all the way to Calgary by myself with Micah in the back and not knowing if he was ok or not. All in all, I was so proud of him. He slept most of the way and he woke up an hour before and I just fed him and we hung out! His first long bus ride at two months. He did so well! I am lucky to have such a good baby.












It was great to see my family and friends. They threw another shower for us and we got more stuff! 3 showers for a baby is quite a lot. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining at all. I am very thankful to have such wonderful family and friends. It was fun t spend time with my Mom and my sister too. Thanks for everything guys! We appreciate it very much.

Anyways, we went out for a walk yesterday night and had to rush back to our car. What a disaster!!! Freakin mosquitos everywhere!!! Let's just say that Mark and I got eaten alive. We were too busy trying to get Micah to the car as fast a we can because we didn't want him to get attacked by the little buggers. I think he got a couple of bites...I know, his first mosquito bite...it will happen sooner or later.

A lot of 'first' for Micah coming our way soon!

Hope all is well in blog land.

take care and talk to you soon!

Ciao,
K

Father's Day, Dinners and Lunches and Friends

Hello all,

Happy belated Father's Day to all you dads out there! Being a dad is definitely hard but it has its rewards. I know that you only want what's best for your family ...even though sometimes us Mom's don't make a point of thanking you for the work that you do and for your love and support. I am definitely am thankful for Mark. For being such an awesome father to Micah. He loves him so much and it shows! When you hang out with him or talk to him on the phone...you will definitely hear a lot of bragging about our son :)



Speaking of Micah, he is doing so well! He loves to smile and coo and talk to you. I am so thankful everyday to have everything I want in my life. I just love him so much! Here's some cute pics of him the other day.





It is now Thursday and finally had a chance to blog. We have been quite busy this week. On Monday, Angele came over and we went over to Costco and did some food shopping. Now we have food at home yay! It sucks when you open your fridge and you have nothing to eat. I now realize that it is harder to go out there and grocery shop with a baby. Anyway, I was so thankful for Angele to help me out for sure. I know she was really tired and she still came and did all that work with me. When we got home she was definitelly pooped and so was I. Thanks Angele! You're the greatest.

On Tuesday, we had Gord and Kara over for dinner and had a great time! I baked salmon from Costco and they were really yummy. Costco is the way to go. You definitely save so much and the food is good too. Anyway, we were sooo full from that dinner...I'm sure Gord and Kara will never have salmon for a long time....the salmon steaks that I got were so huge! And then, we decided to have apple pie and ice cream...yup, I felt like a pig after that for sure!

On Wednesday, Micah and I went over to Jenn's place for lunch and hung out with her and Lucas. I had such a great time. Thanks for all the helpful advice Jenn! I appreciate it! It is great to have friends who have kids...they know so much! hmmnn...must find more :)

And now it's Thursday and Grandma Esh is coming over at 3. I plan on giving Micah a bath around that time so she can experience bathtime with her grandson. I know she will love it :)

And last but not least, we leave for Wetaskiwin tomorrow (Cars cost less in Wetaskiwin!) ha!ha! sorry, I couldn't help but add that in! My family and friends are throwing us another shower party there for Micah and I can't wait! It will be sooo good to see my family again. I miss them so much. It is really hard when you are alone in the city and no one from the side of your family is here. Don't get me wrong, I love Mark's familly but it's just not the same when you have your own family over. I hope you understand what I'm saying. I know I can talk to them on the phone and I know I can invite friends over so it's not so depressing but there is nothing like being with your family that will help fill that void. Anyway, I am very excited to leave tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a great weekend. Also, Micah and I are staying over there until Wednesday so I can spend more time with my sister and my Mom. Very very excited for sure!!!

Anyhoo, this blog is long enough...have a great weekend everyone!

Ciao,
K

Love the rain

I guess you could look outside and either love it or hate it. I must say that I do love it. Rain is good! I was just reading the Water Quality Report from the City of Calgary and they talk about the quality of water in our city, finding ways to make it better and giving advice on what we can do to help save water in the future. One thing they suggest is to put out rain barrels to collect and store water. What a simple genius idea! we used to do that when we where still in the Philippines and would use the collected water for so many things. It's about time we start doing something like that....I mean we did that in the Phil. like 15 years ago! Anyway, I'm sure you all got the handout about this. It's a good idea to read it and be aware of what we can do to help save our environment.

Anyway on to other things, I am feeling better today. Not too sore anymore. I had a massage appointment at 1 p.m. yesterday at Cava Bien and it was the best massage experience I've gotten in a long time! I highly recommend going there if you ever need one. They give you slippers and a nice wrap and a robe once you get in and it felt so nice to wear them. It felt like I was a Supa star :) I headed to the fancy change room and it was faaannncy! they had this cool steam shower that I willingly tried after my massage and then went on ahead and used all of their nice products after wards that were on the counter. The massage was amazing! I totally felt like a brand new person after that. They use this Havina Japanese mint oil and oh boy, it was the best. Anyways, the massage cost $70 and it was worth a 70 service. You go to other places that charge the same but they are not as nice like this place. Definitely check it out if you are thinking of being pampered.....like a Supa Star :)


As for my beautiful handsome son, he is doing great! Oh by the way, if you can't see the video but hear sound from my previous blog - you need to go and download the Flash Player 8 from the Flash Download Center so you can see the video. It only takes 3 seconds and this does not take a lot of room. So please do go and download it because the bath video was priceless. Had a great night last night. I fed him at 11:20 p.m. and he slept right through the night until 6:30 this morning. I wanted to wake him up at 6:00 because I was worried that it was too long for him to go without eating but he seemed to be ok. Here are a few more cute pics of him.

This cute outfit was given to him from his shower this past weekend by my great friend Chun Lee. Thanks Bella! He looked so cute in it!



Also, my great friend Angele came over yesterday and I had so much fun just hanging out with her. She has been there for me a lot and I trully appreciate her. She is just like a sister to me. She's been through so much with me and I can't beleive she is insane enough to do that :) from running 10k's to running up and down the stairs by Princess Island Park to just hanging out and swimming by the Glenmore river down in Weaslehead area. She's insane! but in a good way :) She is the sweetest girl you will ever meet and have the biggest heart. Thank you Bella for being there for me. Here's a picture of us yesterday with Sammy on her lap and Cassy on the bottom right side corner hanging out on their bed :)


Anyway, this should be good for now. Take care everyone and stay warm!

Luv,
K

Humble Pie, Bath Video and More

Hello everyone,

I did the workouts that Mark created for me yesterday and I am feeling it today.
I had to do some sumo squats, lunges, leg raises and planks and a few other things and I am having a hard time going up and down our stairs. I am soooo sore! It makes it twice as hard because I have to carry baby around too. Anyway, enough of my complaining. No pain no gain right?! It is humbling to do the workouts though. I mean these are like basic simple things and I was having such a hard time doing them. I guess if you haven't done anything like that for almost a year, you would find it challenging too. It's just that I was doing really well before I was pregnant...from running 10k's to running up and down the stairs by Princess Island Park to doing crazy hard core workouts. Now, I am having a tough time doing push ups! Oh well, I just have to be patient with myself again. Anyway, Mark made me another workout plan to do today but I skipped it. Maybe I will try to do it tonight.

Anyway, Micah is fussing so I have to go. Here is a cute video of him though from his bath last night.







Enjoy,
K

Love it!

Good Tuesday Morning everyone! To all my co-workers who read my blog, I feel your pain...I promise to enjoy the nice day outside for you today. Now that it's summer I know how hard it is to be couped up inside and working...I would rather be doing something else too :) Hence my title, Love it! I am loving life right now!

I love being home and being a mom. It beats being at work on a nice sunny day anytime :) mind you it doesn't look sunny outside anymore (what's new? calgary weather!) but it is still nice to not be working right now. Speaking of right now, my son is in his swing happily sleeping. Puppies are on their comfy bed happily sleeping too. Man, maybe I should go and take a nap too..... but nah! I think I had at least around 5 hours of sleep total. We had an ok night last night. Mark had to sleep in the other room because he had to work early today (8:45 a.m.) I know, to him that is really early. He is so lucky to have a business that he can set his own hours to. Usually, he doesn't leave our house at around 10 a.m. We are fortunate to spend time in the morning as a family and have breakfast and just get things ready for the day.



Anyway, we had a great weekend. Kara (Mark's brother's wife) had thrown us a baby shower for family and friends and we had such a great time. It was nice to see some of my good friends that were able to make it. It meant a lot to see you all there! Thanks again everyone for the gifts...we are definitely accumulating a lot of stuff. Cute stuff for baby anyway. I can't wait to take pictures of some of them and upload them on my blog. Hmmnn... I should buy my own camera...right now we use Mark's camera and he uses it often and I don't get to take pictures of my son during the day (like my friend Jenn does) I was checking out her blog yesterday and she uploads pictures of her cute son Lucas almost everyday and it is so cool. It is such a great way to keep a record of how her son is growing so much and just for family and friends to see that as well. Anyway, I'm thinking of getting a canon. Just something small, tough and a simple camera that I can use.

On to more things that I love...my new imac! I ask my self, why didn't I get an imac before?!! (because I didn't know much about it and couldn't afford it? he!he!he!) it is so freakin awesome! I went to Best Buy and bought my imac and they gave me a free canon printer as well....now that's a great deal! Anyway, I set this puppy up and it was like 3 steps to do it! can you beleive that?! plug it in, connect the mouse to the keyboard and connect the keyboard to the monitor. Budda boom! Budda bing! done! I love it! it even automatically detected my wireless internet for me! wow, now that's impressive. I'm sure you'll be hearing more stuff about this on my future blogs. Everyone, if you're planning on buying a new puter..I recommend checking out the apple products first. I was kind of overwhelmed and iffy about buying it at first because I had never used one before but it is so simple that you figure things out so quickly. I can't say enough good things about it. It has this built in camera right on the monitor so you can take pictures and choose different cool effects, like these:





Anyway, I should get my day started and do my postpartum workout program that Mark made for me. He is so amazing with what he does. He knows so much about the human anatomy (is that like a fancy word of saying the human body?) that it blows me away! I am loving having a free personal trainer :) thanks babe! I definitely think that you should pursue your goal of writing a book regarding post partum workouts. It is so important for women who gave birth to get back into shape again. Speaking from experience now...I guess it just helps your confidence, helps you to be strong (to carry baby around) and you just feel good about yourself. Mark stresses the important things that I need to work on and that is doing my kegel workouts and my TA's. I forgot what the the T A stands for (trans*!@#!mus, abdominus?!) anyway, it's the thing where you suck in your stomach and hold it for 10 seconds and doing that about 30 times. I wondered why he didn't start me on doing ab workouts right away and he said that it is important to strengthen your core muscles from the inside first because it has been stretched out when I was pregnant. Anyway, he is a genius at this stuff. So I better get to it while I'm still gung ho in doing it.

Sorry to blah blah blah you guys...I'm off to enjoy my Tuesday :)

Hope you're doing the same!

Luv, K

Week 6, Video, Poop Scoop and More

Today is Micah’s 6 week birthday. We can’t believe how much he’s grown. It has truly been an emotional, hard and wonderful experience. I am now averaging 4 to 5 hours of sleep straight and I feel great. It is true what people say, that it only gets better in time. I would now like to take this blog space to thank a few important people in my life who has been there for us in the 6 weeks of taking care of our lil Micah.

First off to my Mom and Sister. Thank you for being so wonderful. Mom, I appreciate you for coming down and looking after baby and cleaning our house! You are a machine….okay a Mom loving machine J I cannot believe how much you do for your kids. I now understand how you feel (that you would do anything for your kids coz you love them so much).

To my beautiful sister, I admire you for who you are. You are an amazing Mom and sister. Thank you for your support and for calling me when I need to talk to someone the most. You always knew what to say to make me feel better. (maybe it’s a twin thing)

Next is to my mother in law Linda, thank you for coming over once a week to look after your grandson. It is so nice to get a chance to go out by myself and just do whatever I wanted to do. I truly appreciate you.

To Angele, you are a true friend! Thank you for being there for me and going out of your way to come over and helping me out in any way you can. From showing me tricks on how to burp baby to changing him and just hanging out. It has definitely help me be sane. Thank you Bella!

To Jenn, thank you for your wonderful, reassuring comments that you give me on my blog. It is great to get advice from someone who’s gone through the same thing before. P.S. I know you’ve heard this before but Lucas is just soooo cute! I love his latest video of him in your blog! I have to admit that I will be copying you again and will be doing the same thing with Micah (uploading videos to my blog) Thanks for starting a blog revolution. When Darryl told me about your blog, I totally got hooked and now Mark and I are just blogger addicts too J Thank you!

And to the rest of my family and friends who I have missed…we appreciate your support and everything you have given us.

Anyway, Micah finally pooped today! Yay! It was definitely a landslide…let’s just say that we have to wash our bed sheets….again! Mark and I were so happy that he has finally pooped. After that he just felt so much better that he went straight to bed with a smile on his face. He is such a sweetheart! Anyway, here is his latest video.






Enjoy and talk to you all soon!

Ciao,
K

End of Week 5

Hello friends and family,

I know I have been slacking off on my blog for the past week. It's been quite busy in our household lately :) I never realized how much work and time it requires to take care of babies. The end of week 5 is here and some nights have been good and some have been bad...well let me explain the bad first. (not really bad...more like stressful moments)

I'm finding that I want baby to be happy all the time (Isn't that what all parents want?) well, some nights I wouldn't get a burp out of Micah and from being so tired would just lay him on his side and sleep...well, I have learned my lesson by waking up in the next few hours with him screaming his gutts out because he is in so much pain from gas. By this time it is too late to burp him and I am already in distress and filled with guilt. From lack of sleep and feeling so bad, I then end up being emotional and not a very happy person to be around with. That's just one example. Also, Micah hasn't pooped for two days now and it is hurting him. Today is going to be day two and I hope that he will poop soon. There are lots of wet diapers but no poo. I can tell he wants to by the sound of his grunts but it always end up with a painful cry. We called the start line and they told us that babies who are breastfed would usually go for 10 days without pooping. Well that's all good and dandy but I just want him to poop now! I never thought I would be cheering for my son to poop. Anyway, cross your fingers and hope he will lay a landslide soon!

The good days and nights are so worthwhile. He has been averaging 4 hours of sleep. He is now able to smile back at you and focus on your face. I have even heard a laugh or two from him and they were so precious. He coo's more often too and I love it! Bath times are definitely the best times...he kicks his legs and splashes everywhere!

I can't wait for what week 6 will bring. I know every week is a totally treasured experience. More stories to come your way soon!

Anyway, I should go check up on him.

Take care everyone and hope to hear from you soon!

K