Another Toothbrush Milestone!

I posted a while back how Rain started out with her toothbrushing experience. A first when she started taking solids she was fine with brushing her teeth with the finger silicone toothbrush and water. Then after a few months I made a big mistake of putting a tiny bit of baby mint toothpaste and she hated it. Since then toothbrush time was hell. Then I took the advice of my sister in law and forced to brush her teeth even if she disliked it so much. And I also took the advice of a fellow reader to use flavored toothpaste. Gradually she began to like it and allowed me to brush her teeth without fighting back. She would allow me to brush her teeth 2 times a day:)

Then last May 26, I was just about to finish brushing her teeth and then for the very first time she reached out for her toothbrush, trying to take it away from my hand. So I gave it to her. Then.....

 

Voila!!!!!

 

She started brushing her teeth by herself!!! Way to go baby girl!!!:-) Okay so it was more of a mix of biting the head of the brush with her molar teeth + back and fourth movements but still! The biting action would still cause the bristles to brush her teeth right?

Just realized she looked scared in the photo hehehe. She probably felt weird doing it herself hahaha! So now, every toothbrush time, I brush her teeth first (making sure I cover all areas) and then I let her do it herself after.

Anyway that's it! Just wanted to share this simple yet beautiful milestone :-)

 

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WE HAVE A WINNER! Birthday Giveaway # 4 : MoMo Cafe!!!

My Birthday is over but I still have a couple more gift certificates to share! ;-)

         Read my review here and see why it's totally worth it to try out (or rather go back to) MoMo Cafe. It's comfort food at it's best! If I had time, I would use these gift certificates for myself hahaha! But of course, since I had been blessed to have tried it, I thought it would be better to pay it forward again and give it away to a lucky winner!

          Rina's Rainbow and MoMo Cafe are giving away P600 gift certificate to one lucky reader! So join now! To give you an idea on what to expect from MoMo Cafe (you might be overwhelmed with the mouth-watering dishes so I want to give you a heads up hehe) Here's a gallery of photos. Sometimes pictures are worth more than a thousand words!

Beef Tapa & Crispy Pork Garlic Cheese Fries

My Sosyal Maid

After 6 long months which seemed like 6 years, we finally got a maid!!!! Yahooooo!

She was referred by Rain's cousin's new yaya. We weren't expecting her to be young. Well, not that young. A year away from her debut. She seems okay. Nice, and respectful. I also noticed she was good in speaking some basic English words. Sosyal ang maid ko hehehe. She's not the usual Brosia of Pugad Baboy type hehehe. Check out the phrases I heard her say:

I will miss this moment

          Earlier this evening, Rain was getting cranky because she couldn't get her sleep. Usually she sleeps at 8PM but after she got sick, her body clock changed. She now sleeps super early. I tried everything to help her sleep. Milk, breastfeeding, singing while rocking her, but nothing worked. She was tossing and turning in bed. Poor Rain, she looked so tired but for some reason she still couldn't sleep.

... until she climbed on my chest, lay there for a few minutes and then before I knew it she was in dream land :-)

WINNER ANNOUNCED! Birthday Giveaway 3 : GrandMomma's Kitchen!

Who here likes home-style American food? I'm sure a lot of you do!

A Breakfast Pizza sounds good!...

Rain's Check-Up

Before going to the hospital. My little Rainbow already flashing a smile :-)

So we finally went to Rain's pedia this morning. We got there early, and her doctor arrived late so there was a looooot of down time. Then the little Rainbow over here who was supposed to be sick, started running around. Ayaw paawat (wouldn't let me stop her)! Seemed like her fever was gone. Her temperature was normal. This always happens. During the rare times she gets sick and we finally get at the doctor's office, the fever goes away.

A cool thing happened though while waiting for the doctor. (Cool for me anyway). I met another mom who brought her gwapito 13 month old baby boy for his check up with the same doctor. Of course Rain and Ivan started socializing when the mom tells me...

 

Baby fevers, Migraines, and Coffee

Poor baby Rain with Fever :(

Sigh....

Rain is sick. It started yesterday. It was weird because she was totally fine in the morning. We went through our usual routine. She wakes me up, (yes she wakes up before I do hehe., then we went down to play / have breakfast / play time then i put her down for her nap. When she woke up, she already had fever. 38.9. Still trying to think where she could have gotten it from. No one at my in-law's place was sick last weekend.

Could it be the rain? The rain started pouring when we were all swimming last weekend. But we weren't exposed to the rain that long because we got out of the pool immediately (because we might get wet from the rain ha ha ha). It might also be this crazy weather. Sunny, rainy, sunny, rainy. Anyway I have been giving her Tempra for now. Good thing she likes the taste. We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. Praying it's nothing serious :(

On top of which, I have been having headaches. Actually I think this could be a mild migraine. I googled the difference of a headache and a migraine and it said that migraines can be triggered by sensitivity to noise or light and occurs on one side of the head... which is what I have been feeling for the past 2 days. Every time I use the laptop (like now) or the iPad, the light from the screen gives me a headache and I always feel it on the right side of my head. Sometimes I even feel a hint of nausea.

I googled this and found out that coffee is a good remedy for migraine. Actually, it said to drink ibuprofen and then wash it down with a cup of coffee. Interesting...

Only one way to find out if it works. I'm going downstairs now to make me a hot cup of cappuccino to drink along with my advil. Lately my favorite has been Nescafe 3-in-1 Cappucino. Have you tried it? It's so good!

Do you also suffer from migraine? Any tips?

Shoo sickness! Go away!!! It's my birthmonth! Especially you, fever! Leave Rain alone! :-p

Sick Baby spending QT with Daddy by watching him play Candy Crush hehe :-)

 

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WINNERS ANNOUNCED! Birthday Giveaway 2 : Kulinarya Kitchen!

Aaah Kulinarya Kitchen.... *day dreaming*

           A nice classy dinning place in Powerplant that serves extraordinary dishes that will surely tickle your pallet! If you ask me, a perfect date place with your loved one! You can read my review at The Pickiest Eater here.

Ordering is a challenge here in Kulinarya. It's a challenge because everything in the menu looks absolutely delicious!

To All Mothers...

To all the soon-to-be moms, I would just like to say...

You will soon find out how extraordinarily great your capacity is to fight pain, to control stress, to be more selfless, and to give love until you've become a mother.

To all the mothers, grandmothers, single moms, everyone who carried life in their bellies, as well as those who adopted a baby in need of tender, love, and care, and any woman who has taken care of their nieces and nephews like they were their own, and to pet moms who love their pets like a part of the family...

Here's to you!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

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Tricycle

I felt like James Bond when I needed to rush to our Village's main office to pay our water bill before it closes. It was 4:50 pm. They close at 5:00 pm. So I rushed out of the house, taking Rain with me for her first fun tricycle ride!:-)

First tricycle ride! ( hello oily skin)

Schedules, Naps, and Toothbrushes

My head is burried in my laptop while doing some work. I quickly check on Rain. she's busy playing with her toys or watching Elmo. She's fine. I would tell myself. She will cry if she needs something. Focus back to work.

Hungry Rain nibbling on her finger hehe:)

 

After a few minutes, Rain starts to cry. Oh she probably wants me to carry her. I get up to soothe her. Still cries. No use.

Maybe she's hungry? Still carying her, I walk over to the kitchen and quickly prepare mashed squash. I feed her but she prys her head away. Still crying. No use.

Ah for sure she's sleepy. I try to gently rock her back and fourth. But she's till fussy.

Now at my wits end, I would ask Rain "What do you want?!?"

~end of flashback sequence ~

This was our scenario a few months back. But I am happy that things has changed significantly! Big THANKS to SuperBaby book by Dr. Jenn Berman for sharing tips on following a schedule!

Sky Ranch in Tagaytay!

Tallest Ferris Wheel int the Philippines

Food trip and theme parks.
These are the two must-have-in-my-itenerary items that should always consider whenever Richie and I plan a trip out of town. That's why during our honeymoon in Hong Kong, we went to Disneyland and Ocean Park. And then in Singapore, Universal Studios. In both trips, I got teary-eyed upon seeing Disneyland's iconic Sleeping Beauty's Castle, and the huge globe by the entrance of Universal Studios. (Yes I'm a cry baby and yes I have a child in me who's a sucker for theme parks)
That's why during our little overnight trip to Tagaytay, we made sure to take Rain to the new Sky Ranch before heading back to Manila (yeah it's really for me bwahaha. Rain daw o...). It's a small simple theme park which is partly still under construction. But the beauty of this is of course it's located in the high lands of Tagaytay and it's overlooking the famous Taal Volcano. It's located right beside Taal Vista.

A Family Weekend at Taal Vista

"Yes Daddy it's got a spectacular view of the Taal Volcano! It's really an experience!" I told my dad as I was pitching to him the idea of having a relaxing overnight stay at Taal Vista in Tagaytay with my sister, Richie, Rain, and I. I didn't really need to pitch in further because he was already sold... provided that we let him drive hahaha! (Honestly I think at first he was a lot more excited about the road trip because it would be his first time to take his car on a long drive.) Anyway I was able to book our stay and before we knew it we were off to the second to the highest city in the Philippines (to my knowledge, that is. First would be Baguio City.... Right?)

What I Learned from Blog Inspired

Warning: Long post! But if you want to learn what I learned at Blog Inspired, you will surely want to read word per word! ;-)

 

 

The room was already filled with people as soon as I arrived. All of which are women. Martine who was seated by the registration table by the door welcomed me with a smile. I smiled back with mixed feelings: starstruck as I know her to be one of the top Mommy Bloggers in the Philippines. (Fan girl moment) and embarrassed because I was a bit late (tee hee)! For some reason I thought the event was ay 11AM. It was at 10:30 AM hehe. But thankfully they were still waiting for a few more people (including me I guess) so they didn't start yet. I wrote my name down on a name tag sticker and silently took a seat at the back of the "class" hehe.

I was so psyched to be able to make the cut for this free session for bloggers. The minute I saw the invitation post of Dainty Mom about this event that they were conducting, I didn't even pause to think about it. I immediately registered and crossed my fingers that I make the cut since they were only accepting 30 registrations. And now here I am, blogging about my experience in this wonderful session.

Birthday Giveaway 1: Bo's Coffee!!! - WE HAVE A WINNER!

    A few weeks ago, I was able to attend and learn the Pour Over Demo by Bo's Coffee. You might have read it from my blog post here. I was ecstatic to have met the founder / CEO / Owner of Bo's Coffee, Mr. Steve Benitez and I was more than happy to learn a lot regarding the potentials of Philippine Coffee Origins and what Bo's Coffee is doing to help!

      So..... I hope you will also be ecstatic to know that my first birthday giveaway is a P500 gift certificate for Bo's Coffee!!!

Countdown to my Birthday

Hello May! Please be kind! You're my birthday month!
I usually enjoy my birthday because honestly... I like the slightly special attention hahaha! (C'mon, who doesn't?! Aminin!) and I don't mean having big parties and being the star of the night. Just a simple greeting would make my day. But this time for some reason it's really starting to sink in that I'm moving up the 30's ladder. I know age is just a number and I shouldn't be ashamed of it yadayadayada but for now I freaking out just a teeny tiny bit. But anyway I'll get over it soon. So please do not wonder how old I am for now. Hehehe. What you should be wondering about is how I tend to celebrate it here in Rina's Rainbow. I'll tell you how...



By holding a series of giveaways!
I'm going to erase out my negative feelings about my age and spread the love. As The Pickiest Eater blog has been blessed with a number of gift certificates from kind establishments, we're going to pay it forward by sharing them with YOU!
So stay tuned this week for giveaway number 1!!! :-) Happy birthmonth to meeee!

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Outback Libis is a Kid-Friendly Place :-)

It was on sunny Sunday afternoon when my husband announced that he wants to take me and the little Rainbow out to a nice lunch. And a nice lunch it was! He took us to this nice little Australian- themed steak house called Outback. Oh yes! It's steak time!