BaDong Blogs: Jam-packed June

"Hello again, everyone!"

"It's been a long time since I last shared about how I'm growing inside Nanay's belly. Well, Nanay and I have been really busy the past month -- from celebrating birthdays (We got a lot of family members who have their birthdays in June.) to preparing for going back to school. Nope, Nanay isn't going to be a preggy university student. She's going to be a preggy English instructor!

"First, let me show you just how big I've grown since my last blog:

Me at 3 weeks, 12 cm

"That's me during our June 3 check up with Doktora Revilla. If you're like my Tita Kayanne who can't make heads or tails of sonograms, let me help you out. This is my...

"Now take another look at my first photo, the one without the scribbles. Do you see my 12-week-old self better now? It'll really help if you put your monitor at arm's length.

"I think I was climbing over a muscle there or something, I forgot. It seemed so long ago. Because now, this is how I look like (We just came back from our monthly check up.):

Me at 16 weeks

 
 "Again, try to have your monitor at an arm's length... so you can see me napping face down on a downward slope of Nanay's I don't-know-which-body-part. I wasn't as active today because it was siesta time, but I managed to say 'Hi!' to Nanay and Tatay in this next photo:

"I think the hand thing was also inspired by Titanic - Nanay and I were watching it just this morning.

"Anyway, thanks so much to all those who prayed for the concerns I shared in my last blog. Our June check up showed that Nanay's bleeding in the uterus has already healed. Praise God! That's why we were able to commute to Manila to attend the send-off of this special couple:

A pair of Nanay and Tatay's ninong and ninang sa kasal: Kuya Ed and Ate Judy

 "They're a missionary couple who have been in the Philippines a long time. But recently, they went back to the US for the next chapter in their ministry. During the send-off lunch, Kuya Ed (I'm not really sure what to call them, so I'm sticking with what Nanay and Tatay call them, which is Kuya and Ate.) shared something that struck and stuck. Kuya Ed said something like, when believers work together, there'll be exchange of words and even misunderstandings, because it's still different people working together. But as believers, it's important to keep in mind that, at the end of the day, it's our brothers and sisters in the faith whom we're working with.

"After the lunch, Nanay had a great time talking and praying with Ate Judy. Nanay went home after with the following pamana from them: 1) Copy of Stormie Omartian's Power of a Praying Parent (Nanay believes this book and a lot of prayers are a good investment any parent can make for their kids.); fondue set (We're having a fondue party soon!); fancy wine glasses (For Nanay's Moscato after my delivery); a gadget where you can plug in an appliance like a lamp or a radio, and set it so it turns on automatically at a certain time (This is sooo cool! It's something you use so people would think somebody's at home even if you're all out of the house. This is really for Tatay, because he likes cool gadgets like that.); and Luminarc storage ware.

"I want to say a big THANK YOU to all who prayed for us to be able to eat like a Viking! The weekend following Kuya Ed and Ate Judy's send-off lunch, Mama Anita treated us to Vikings Marikina for her birthday! And because this was such an important lunch to me and Nanay, I'm dedicating a separate post on this - on the eat-all-you-can strategies I learned from Vikings."

  

As if we're not yet ready to go on food coma, that night, we went to Tita Aina's and Tita Jing's joint bday celeb at Avenetto. Carbs on carbs on carbs.

"The days following that weekend were spent preparing for Nanay's teaching demo on a precis, and then fixing her papers for the processing of her teaching assignment. You ask what a precis is? Well, how am I supposed to know -- I'm just a 16-week-old fetus! Anyway, Nanay will write all about what a precis is and how she ended up applying for English instructor at UPLB later on, because that story deserves a post of its own.

"The Sunday following Mama Anita's birthday was Father's Day and Papu's birthday! And so after Sunday service, we headed to Cabalen for another birthday buffet! Where Nanay ate crispy kangkong, lettuce with vinaigrette, green mangoes with alamang, a tablespoon of dinuguan, three to four slices of grilled catfish, a small bowl of corned beef sinigang and a small bowl of guinataan (of which she ate just the bananas and bilo-bilo). Not too impressive for a preggy Pinoy buffet eater. 

"We weren't able to attend Lola's '40 Days' which was the same day as Tito Turo's birthday. (I told you we got a lot of family members celebrating their birthday in June. They actually thought my youngest cousin Sasa - whom Tita AC calls Salsa - would also be born in June. But Chang MC gave birth to her in May.)

My cousin Sasa. Also known as Salsa.

"Because we missed those, and because Lola's and Nanay's birthdays were just a day apart, Nanay wanted to celebrate her birthday in Pasig. Before leaving for Pasig though, Nanay cooked a simple birthday dinner for our family in Bay. She's strange that way - she chooses slaving in the kitchen the whole day to prepare for dinner, rather than just eating out at, say, Herb Republic (which was what she was craving for at the time) for her birthday. Sometimes, she too wonders why that is so.

"Anyway, she prepared roasted chicken with rosemary, garlic and lemon (inspired by Tito Arvin's friend's recipe and that of Jamie Oliver and Herb Republic's roasted chicken -- recipe to follow!), herby-meaty-cheesy lasagne (which turned out to be a lava lasagne, like lava cake - solid outside but flowing with oooey goodness inside - only it's lasagne -- recipe to follow!), and vegetable salad with Mandarin orange segments and vinaigrette (something she missed from Vikings). There was Mer-Nel's cake, the best chocolate cake in LB and Nanay's forever favorite, to cap off the evening.

My cousin Aqui helps Nanay blow her birthday candle out.

"Meanwhile, Nanay's Pasig celebration was Pinoy-themed. I think it's because she and Chang Angel were talking about eating lechon and sisig and crispy pata and kare-kare on the way to Cabalen weeks ago, but there was no more lechon when we got there, and there was no sisig nor crispy pata, and the kare-kare didn't have laman or pechay. So Nanay requested lechon and kare-kare and pancit canton (with chicken livers, because she found out from her medical examination a couple of days before that she got slight anemia) for her birthday lunch. Nanay would've wanted sisig and crispy pata too, but Tatay and Chong Tonton and even Mama Anita have hypertension, so she stopped at those.

This time, Salsa helps Nanay with her birthday candle.

"To conclude, I'm happy to announce that all that eating last month actually paid off! From losing more than two pounds as of our May check up, and half a kilo as of our June check up, Nanay has kept her 56 kilos as of our July check up! Also, she's been eating more frequently now (although portions are still smaller than her pre-pregnancy ones)! Praise God! Please continue to pray for great health for both of us. And for a smooth 2nd trimester, even as the threat of bowel constipation looms overhead (because we'll be taking iron supplements starting this week, and constipation is a side effect of that)."