Since we moved to Singapore last year and been remiss in being in touch with some family and friends, we decided to make a Christmas newsletter this year to let you guys know what’s been happening in our neck of the woods.

We started the year off with celebrating my birthday and E’s first birthday, both were simple and quiet celebrations. Although we did not have a big party for E as we initially planned, we had a very meaningful family celebration. E had his first taste of cake and he absolutely loved it. January was also the start of family coming over for a visit. We had tita bot, Ton and Adu that month, the in-laws in February, my brothers, aunt and mom in March and tita Bot, tita Bebs, uncle Lorenzo and family in April, and achi Mai in November. Good thing there are budget airlines nowadays. E has been enjoying these visits as he has more people to play with.

Throughout the year we have been blessed with lots of joys as we witnessed E’s growth. He started learning to walk a few days after he turned one with the help of a push toy walker and in under a month he was walking unassisted already, nowadays he’s trying to learn how to jump with both feet. It was also a little after his birthday that he started babbling a lot. He can now associate words with things and mostly understand what we tell him to do. At the moment, his favorite activity with dada aside from playing with his toys is to go to the toy dispensers that you see in the malls and get cars (the miniatures from the movie cars). He’s now enjoying playing with other kids when we go to parties with children that we’re thinking of sending him to play school next year. He also loves fishes that every time we go out we have to pass by the condo’s fish pond. E also has his share of favorite shows like barney, hi-5, elmo’s world and shows where there are fishes, elephants, turtles and cars.

We also had the opportunity to go back home this year, twice in fact. The first one was for Ival and Cathy’s wedding last July. This was the first time in two years that our family on Ichi’s side was complete. E was also bible bearer at the wedding and we were so proud that he walked the aisle albeit holding his dada’s hand. The second time we went back was for Ichi’s grandfather’s 90th birthday and my mom’s 60th birthday. It was also fortunate that we were able to attend our friend Ness’ engagement party.

During the year we also had to look for our own place after staying at the company housing for more than six months. After two weeks of looking we were finally able to find a flat that we liked, good thing the landlord accepted our offer even if he already had an earlier offer from another family. We thought it would be an easy move but we didn’t realize that we had already accumulated a lot of things in such a short time. It was really helpful that my mother-in-law was visiting at the time as she looked after E while we were busy with the move. A few weeks after we moved in, we hosted our very first barbeque to celebrate Ichi’s birthday. Ton, our flatmate and Ichi’s cousin who came back with us to Singapore to look for work and landed a job in less than a week, helped us with the preparations for the party.

The next few months were not so good for us as all of us in the house were frequently sick. E at one time got the stomach flu and we even had to bring him to the ER for fear of dehydration. A few weeks later Ichi had an appendectomy. It was great timing that when Ichi had to have surgery my mom was here. She helped in looking after E and taking care of Ichi.

We also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with a trip to Krabi, Thailand. Ichi was already going since their company held their outing there. It was a fun trip and E’s very first beach outing, before E would only see the beach from afar. He really enjoyed playing with the sand.

This year Ichi also had his first business trip. In his many years in the IT industry this is the first time that he is being sent on a trip. Though it didn’t push through the first two times (first because we went home for Ival’s wedding and the second because he underwent an appendectomy), the third time proved the charm as he was finally able to go. He is going on another trip to Indonesia in January.

Last month we were excited that Marie (family friend and sister by choice) was visiting. She finally got to see her godson E. Although her visit was short it was truly wonderful to be able to catch up and spend time with each other.

This Christmas would be our second one away from home and this year we decided to hold a Christmas eve dinner with family and a few friends. A few days ago we also had a pre-christmas dinner with our ex-housemates at the company housing. They’re our barkada from Ichi’s current company. We still have a couple of holiday get-togethers to look forward to before the year ends.

That’s basically how our year went. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We hope to hear from everyone.

God Bless!

Much Love,
Ichi, Mich and Ethan

… We were over at R & Tin‘s place last weekend to visit with them and see their cutie baby A. E was very happy playing with K (K & J’s lovely daughter) and the christmas tree which made us decide to finally buy a tree on the way home. E is very happy with his mamama (aka christmas tree), he even knows how to turn on the christmas lights. He even wants to open his gifts, I just hope that I can make him wait till christmas eve.

… Still have to complete our christmas shopping, there are still a few inaanaks to buy some gifts for and of course, Ichi and E. Will also be having a quiet christmas eve dinner at home with a few friends probably.

… On the video front, I thoroughly enjoyed watching My Girl and It Started With A Kiss (ISWAK), definitely recommended. I’m eagerly awaiting for the sequel of ISWAK which is said to be aired next year. I also watched Love Contract also starring Ariel Lin who is also the female lead of ISWAK, I liked the series for the most part but really hated the ending.

.. Want to watch : Silence, The Hospital, Love Is All Around, Super Rookie, Tokyo Juliet, Cloud Stairway (Cloud Stairs). Any more recommendations?

E @ 16 mos
I can't believe it's been 16 months since I gave birth. Mabilis ba yun o mabagal, honestly minsan hindi ko na alam :p Ang daldal na ng anak ko and I still don't understand what he's babbling about. I'm sure may meaning naman lahat ng sinasabi niya wala lang talaga akong decoder. He says dada more then mama and is super excited when his dada comes home. When we go out (gala din itong si E at alam niya pag lalabas kami), he wants to walk on his own aba ayaw magpahawak. We also watch either hi-5 or barney vcds everyday (oo, walang katapusan!!!), ang nakakatuwa he would get the cd organizer and give it to me to open then he would choose which cd to play. And a couple of weeks ago he started imitating our actions na. Ang pinakagusto ko sa lahat is he's malambing, my mom always comments (whenever she sees us via webcam) na lagi daw naka-hug sa akin sana lang hanggang lumaki eh malambing pa din.

feeling down lately
I've been feeling kinda depressed lately, madalas akong wala sa mood, ewan ko I might just be tired coz ichi's been keeping long hours the past weeks.

kaaliw na photo
While blog hopping I came across this photo, check it out! What do you think?

hunt for the dress
We'll be flying home to Pinas in a month and a half's time for my brother-in-law's wedding. E will be a a bible bearer. Wala naman akong special role pero syempre kailangan maganda suot ko hahaha. So the hunt for the dress starts today!