Where has the time gone...

Where has the time gone. I went to the darkside for a little while and let my blogger go but I am feeling the urge to start again just so that I could savor these moments with my two little ones. They are growing up so fast and time just seems to pass by so quickly nowadays. I think all I could do to catch up is to just post some of my favorite pics from the past year and go from there.

I think this was taken in Jan of 2008. Isa was just 14 months. This was one of her first experiences with the slide which is now one of her favorite pastimes. I love the look on her face here so full glee.
Isa and I visited my mom in Charleston. Isa's cousin Gabriel came over to see Isa. Too bad I was holding the camera at a wrong angle but I was able to capture their first dance together for the most part. Too cute. I can't believe how small Isa looks here.











Bubbletime! Isa loves bubbles so much her dad bought her a bubble machine. We turned it on and she just went to town. She was so happy.












I love these pictures of Erick and Isa taken at Cocoa Beach in the late spring of 2008. It brings a smile to my face everytime I see them. He can be so funloving with her. I love to hear her infectious laugh when she gets tickled in the neck by his kisses. I hope their relationship will always be this way even when she grows up to be a teenager.



This was on Erick's birthday weekend last year. Ricky decided to visit his brother and we took him to Epcot since it had been awhile for him. I think we were pretty much done with the park and Erick had thrown Isa on his shoulder. I liked the soft quality of this picture and of course, Isa's big smile.


Although this picture came out a little blurry, I liked this picture of the two brothers swinging Isa. It looked like a good bonding moment between the three of them.



Isa was eating the standard filipino breakfast of eggs, rice, and tomato. I know it's probably not funny to see your baby gag but she did it with perfect timing just as I was done asking her if she liked the food.


Lalaine and Joe came down to visit us before Nico was born. We took them to Tampa and stopped to eat at a oceanside restaurant before going to the beach. Here we are cheering Isa on with a virgin daquiri. I think Lalaine was already hammered before our food came out which we teased her about endlessly that day.

So I went to the dark side for awhile and stopped blogging after this perv sent me a comment about my daughter. I immediately placed everything as private and it seriously taught me a lesson. No more You Tube for me. I miss the writing though....staying up after the kids are asleep and the house quiet to contemplate on the happenings of my life. So here I go with some trepidation. I'm going to give it another try.

Mama bought a brand new swing

Isa has become fond of our backyard but needed something more to do back there than just throwing balls around and getting into the rose bushes. Erick and I thought it would be a great idea to get her a little swingset. Erick was going to get the big kids kind but I had seen this from a set of pics that my cowerk had. I preferred this because it looked like it was really toddler friendly and didn't need too much assembly. The hard plastic looked much hardier for the outdoors. The metal kind would have needed rustproofing. I couldn't wait to put it together for Isa and it looked like she couldn't wait either. Before I had even finished she was already climbing on the mini rockwall and sliding down. Once it was all done, it looked like she could've played on it for hours. She cried when I had to bring her indoors to get her out of the hot florida sun to take a nap. Even her naptime seemed shorter today. Perhaps she was dreaming about going back out again to play some more.

Little Lady

What a little lady! Here is Isa in her christmas best walking through the hotel lobby carrying my purse and blowing kisses to everybody. Masyado!!!

A Very Merry Christmas

I love that Disney has special events like the "Not so scary Halloween" and "A Very Merry Christmas Party." For half the price you could visit the Magic Kingdom and really get into the spirit of the holiday season. We've had such a good experience with this that it may possibly be the new family tradition each year if we stay in Florida. It's too bad that Isa probably won't remember this but hopefully it will embed some subconscious excitement or feeling of warmth and joy whenever Christmas rolls around. After all it's not the presents we remember from our childhood but the warm fuzzy feelings. I think that is what we try to recreate for ourselves and our children each year. Erick and I both really love this time of year and hope our children will too. I must say though that it was a little harder to get into the spirit of things this year considering how long it took to get our house back to the way it was prewater damage. It took Erick really putting the pressure on the contractors to finally get everything done. We literally had less than a couple of weeks to put Christmas together and enjoy it. We dressed Isa in her Santa hat and off we went to see the Magic Kingdom in its holiday best. The most spectacular part of the evening was watching the fireworks in front of the castle.
I know it happens every night here but I think around Christmas time is when it looks the most magical. With his new camera, Erick was able to capture some cool images.

The parade and the rides were icing on the cake to a wonderful night.


I could tell from the smile on her face that Isa had some sweet dreams that night. It's too bad that Disney doesn't keep these prices all year long. I'm sure this is what Mr. Walt Disney would have wanted if he was still alive today: to enjoy his vision without ripping people off.

Happy Birthday Isa!!!

Well Isa's first birthday finally came. I can't believe it has been a year already since I gave birth to her. It's funny how the pregnancy seemed to drag on but now that she is here, I can't seem to get a minute to savor this moment in my life. She is growing up so fast. We were scrolling through photos of her the other day and remarked at how much she has changed in such a short amount of time.



I am so glad that I was able to witness it all. I think it was worth the sacrifice of being poor to be with her and watch her grow.
Erick and I decided to celebrate her first birthday with the people that meant the most to us: our family and friends in Charleston. I'm so glad that Isa is somewhat of a roadie. She pretty much slept the whole way through except for maybe 2-3 "I can't take it anymore" moments.
The drive seems to take us longer now but luckily the weather was nice and crisp that day. We arrived a couple of days early so that we would have a chance to unwind and not feel so rushed. It was nice to play tourist for a day especially in Charleston. My mom offered to watch Isa so that Erick and I could go out on a date. He treated me out to SNOB (Slightly North of Broad). I can't believe that was our first time to try that place. I had been avoiding it thinking that it would be stuffy in there but it wasn't at all. My duck was delicious. With my mom babysitting all night we made grand plans to watch a movie afterwards but I guess our age got the better of us. We must be getting old because we were ready to pass out after dinner. Movie plans aborted. Nevertheless just the two of us being out alone was refreshing! Since Ricky's birthday was a few days shy of Isa's, Erick thought it would be a good idea to surprise him. I think we got him (kind of). Erick (the party planner) wanted to have it all stress free by having Sticky Fingers cater it. Thanks to his sister Cher who offered up her place for the special occasion. Erick's Mom and sisters did a great job decorating. I can't believe my mother-in-law individually cut all the colored dots we decorated the table with just so it would match the cake. That is love for you! The cake Erick picked was fun and colorful. I painstakingly tried to redecorate the smash cake to match it. It ended up looking so hideous that even Isa didn't want to touch it. I was disappointed that she did not dig into it like I thought she would. Ricky tried to help things along by showing her how it is done but to no avail. It made for one hilarious moment though. I couldn't stop laughing. Not giving up I thought it would be a great idea to have her father show her how to smash the cake. I thought for sure Isa would imitate her daddy. Bad idea because Erick who thought he was being funny decided to smash it on me which sparked a small food fight and left Isa bawling at the table. I don't think she got into the actual birthday ritual of blowing candles, greeting guests, and posing for pictures.Luckily she has a very sympathetic uncle.
I can't thank my family and friends enough for their generosity and for being there to help us celebrate Isa's first year.

I hope everyone had a good time...I hope this was a sign of too much fun. Oh well, at least I think the kids did. That was what mattered most. They went to town with the little gifts we bought them.
I am so glad we did that.

I didn't realize that Erick had bought me a gift as well. To commemorate her first year he had made a shirt for me with the goofiest picture of Isa I had ever seen. I was caught totally by surprise and could not stop laughing and beaming. Too bad he didn't order more, they would've been great party favors for our family. My mom found out it was too small for me and happily snatched it away. I never even got to wear it. Hopefully Erick will get me another one (hint, hint...)
All in all I think everything went well. I only regret not really being able to talk to everybody and I did get frazzled a bit with both grandmothers yelling at me to try to keep my daughter's hair out of her face as she was blowing out the candles. Oh well. I'm so glad I have a husband that likes to plan parties (although it made me feel like a bad mommy.) I think what matters most is that I hope it made a good memory for Isa. Thanks everybody!