I'm baaaackkkk!

For some reason today, I said to myself (I really said this to myself. Out loud.) : "I think I'm going to revive my old blog." So I logged on to that account, uploaded a test blog post, and lo and behold, the damn thing worked! So despite having said that I'm migrating here, I'm happy to say - I'm baaaackkkk!

Hallelujah! 

You will find that I have exported the posts from this blog to my new (old) blog. I'm sorry for making you bookmark so many pages. I'm a woman. I have the license to be fickle-minded. See you there!

In my cart

It may just be because we're second-time parents, but it seems that taking care of Izik is relatively easier than how it was with Malik.

Malik to Izik: "I object."

I say "relative" because I'm still as sleep-deprived as the next parent but when compared to our experience when Malik was a baby, Izik's baby-hood feels like a field day (again, relatively). Izik sleeps longer at night. He doesn't cry so much. And since he's not as heavy, it's easier to carry him around.

"I'm sexy and I know it."

There are things that we did differently this time. They may have helped so I'd like to share them here. In no particular order -

Minions!

I panicked the other day as I was looking for yet more minions. The friendly neighborhood McDonalds server said I only had until July 10 (yesterday) to get my grubby hands on them.  So naturally, I moved heaven and earth to collect all nine. 

Stuart the one-eyed minion holds a special place in my heart. Malik asked that we get him first.
We went to at least four McDonald's stores one weekend but all minions were sold out.
I got Stuart from an officemate. It was fate. Malik calls Stuart "Papuy".

Yipee yey!

We've so far given three to Malik. I hid them inside Malik's school bag, his sock drawer and our cabinet. I don't know who had more fun - Malik who was hunting for the minions, or myself while pretending I had no idea how they got where they were. Heehee

Here's Malik playing with his minions before bed time last night.
He has 6 now. He doesn't know we have more, hidden nga lang.  Sssshhh.

In other news, Izik's being adorable as always. He knows how to play with us now. For the first 3 months, all he ever did was sleep, poop, cry and drink milk. Now he likes looking around.

Why so serious, Izikoy?

He especially likes it when we move his arms and legs.

Our playtime repertoire: "Shake body body dancer,"
"Head and shoulders, knees and toes," and
Izik's all-time favorite "Copacobana"

It's time to bring out ye ole toys.

Izik's starting to discover his hands and feet.
He stares at his hands when he's not otherwise occupied with reaching for his toys.

Lesson learned

On Wednesday, Malik left his bag at home. Yaya ended up buying Zest-o and SkyFlakes for him from the peddlers outside his school so he wouldn't feel left out during snack time.

So yesterday, Malik looked for his bag as soon as he woke up and held on to it everywhere he went. He wouldn't let it out of his sight even when Yaya was putting his snacks inside. That, my friends, is one hard lesson learned.

All about nursing

Congratulations are in order. As of yesterday, I've officially been nursing Izik for a week more than I did Malik. That's 4 months plus plus for you. Yey.

Doesn't that smile just make nursing worth it?

It hasn't been easy. I get recurring milk blisters that make breastfeeding very painful. They go away on their own after some time but for some reason, I develop them again. Tiis-tiis lang when that happens. I tell myself it's just one of the things that mothers have to put up with for the love of their children.

Also, my milk supply noticeably decreased as soon as I started going back to work. I've been desperately trying to maintain my supply at least. It's still decreasing as we speak, but I like to keep the faith. So far, here's what I do.

The wheels on the bus

I had the pleasure of bringing Malik to school yesterday. Malik was as excited as I was, seeing that it was the first time that I'd get to ride the school bus with him. He normally would dilly dally in the morning before waking up. But yesterday, Malik took no time at all. All I had to do was to say "Wake up, honey. Mommy's riding the school bus with you" and he was in the bathroom getting ready before I could even bat an eyelash.

Here's our happy trooper.

After bringing Malik to his classroom, I stayed for a few minutes to take pictures of Malik's school projects. Here's one where the kids tell the teacher how they spent their summer.

Most of the kids remember swimming pools and going to the mall.

Here's Malik's answer. Sa totoo lang, we didn't get to take Malik anywhere nifty this summer because we were busy taking care of Izik who was just a teeny newborn. Most days we were just holed up in our room, watching TV, and waiting for the sun to go down a little so Malik could play outside. But we're happy Malik imagined he went to the forest. We didn't even know he knew what a forest was! 

This I particularly liked. Hehe

In celebration of Rizal day, the kids asked Dr. Jose Rizal questions. 

My favorite question, apart from Malik's? Chase's, of course.

On our way home Malik insisted that I not go to work the next day. His exact words were "No work tomorrow, okay?". I felt heartbroken. I wish I could spend my days like I did yesterday. But well, bills have to be paid. Taking Malik to school, fetching him, and dressing him up would have to remain an occasional privilege in the meantime.

A sentence (or two) a day

Izik's grown a lot since I last posted.

Izik at 3 months, 3 weeks and 4 days. His forehead is decidedly mine. :)

I've been watching him grow every day before my eyes and I can't help but think of how it was when Malik was still a wee-baby. I wrote about every single thing that Malik did no matter how uneventful. Now that Malik's all grown-up, I like to go back to those blog entries and grin at the thought that once upon a time, Malik wasn't so kulit.

We bought Malik these goggles so he can pretend to be a pilot. 

I've been busy, you see. It turns out, being a parent to two kids is as stressful as being a parent to three (or four, or five). I rarely find time for myself. Today, for example, I got my hair colored over lunch break at work! So necessarily, a few of my daily activities would have to be sacrificed - one of which is this blog.

I will try to post about the boys at least once each day - the goal being to document their lives and to an extent, my life. I know I've said this before and have not been able to meet my commitment with success. But I'm willing to give it another go. Shall we?

Izik: "Yes! Let's do this, mommy."