Head Lice

        I just chatted with a relative of mine. Turns out her toddler acquired head lice from the yaya. Then we went on talking about our own lice exterminating tips. Then she told me that she was planning to buy Kwell from Mercury Drug but they were out of stock. Then I suddenly remembered reading a story about how Kwell can be harmful to children, or in little Jesse's case... can even be fatal :-(

Read his story here:

NIVEA: 100 Years of Trusted Care, Now in a New Bottle

        I never used to care much about beauty products. I would use anything that's available. Any soap, any shampoo, any lotion. But there comes a point in one's life when you have to start caring. Especially when you reach a certain age (which I choose not to reveal hehehe), you HAVE TO start caring.

        Like in my case, I prefer products that don't have overwhelming scents, and that is not too thick. Thick lotions tend to make me feel hot. As if we don't have enough heat in the Philippines already. And so one of the brands that I like using is NIVEA.

Keeping Rain Busy: Crayola Mess Free Color Wonder Stow & Go

        Rain loves scribbling. I can't really say she loves art yet because all she makes are long scribbles from left to right. But all I can say is just like any toddler, she can get pretty busy with her crayons and paper. Or as she calls it... "Pe-puuur"

        So when I saw this Crayola Mess Free Color Wonder Travel Kit at the Baby & Family Expo last December, I knew I had to get it. It's a travel mini desk for toddlers that is small enough to carry around. And the best part is, the pens are mess-free. If you use the colored pens in ordinary paper, walls, clothes, furniture, or even your skin, you won't see the ink. It's just invisible. Hence it being mess-free.

Hope for Coby!

        Whenever anyone tells me to make a wish for anything, I always ask for good health for everyone in my family. While it may seem like a selfless wish, it's actually also really just for me because I don't think I'm strong enough to handle it when someone I dearly love is suffering from a serious illness. More so if that family member is my own child. I don't think I would be strong enough. But of course there will be no choice but to.

        Sadly, the family of a friend of mine is now going through a hard challenge where their youngest member of the family, (and when I say young, I mean 3 months old) is suffering from a serious illness. It breaks my heart whenever I hear about a baby who has no choice but to battle sickness.

        I am sharing this because their family needs help. Any amount will be a big help. Even just sharing this is a great help as well. Little Coby is an innocent infant who deserves to live life to the fullest. All babies do.

 Craig Jacob "Coby" Araos Castillo, a 3 month old baby diagnosed with severe neonatal hepatitis. #CobyStrong


He's a 3 month old baby diagnosed with severe neonatal hepatitis. He has cytomegalovirus infection, went into liver failure, and the work-up to rule out other associated treatable causes has turned out negative.

His family and friends are not giving up hope for him even though the doctors are not very optimistic about his chances. 

This page aims to be a centralized portal of information and updates about Coby for people who want to know how he is doing right now.

The secondary purpose of this page is to gather and disseminate information about possible treatments for liver diseases for babies in the hopes of helping Coby and others like him.

We encourage our followers to post anything that they think can help.



        I also applaud their family for sharing their journey every step of the way. This way, we can all be aware of this type of health challenge and hopefully can help others who might be suffering the same.

        Please like and visit the Hope for Coby Facebook page to be updated with his progress and to see how you can help.

Bath Time Stickers!

What is Rain busy with in the bathtub? I'll show you....

Rain's Bike Story

       It was a normal weekday afternoon. The weather was nice and cool and so I decided to take Rain out for a walk to get some fresh air. It was just me and Rain. Walking while holding hands. It was a nice day, it was a peaceful walk. Then it happened...Our 1+ year old twin neighbors passed by with their yayas pushing them in these Mickey Mouse tricycles with push handles.  

       Upon seeing the twins, Rain got all excited! You can see the spark in her eyes. She was in love. Not with the twins, but with the Mickey bike!

Twin 1: Uh.... what's she doing with my bike?

Belle De Jour Planner 2014 and More

       I vividly remember my old high school organizer. It was yellow, kind of sporty looking, and if you look at the entries inside, you would see lots of drawings instead of words since I would draw an icon for each thing that I did for that day. Each time I went to Greenhills, I drew 2 green hills. Literally. Hahahaha! Or whenever I would watch a movie, I would draw movie tickets and a popcorn. Yep. I had a loooot of time in my hads before. Too bad I don't know where that planner is now.

       Despite the powers of smartphones where you can add daily events in your calendar, organizers are still very popular.  Especially when you see all the extra perks you get inside the pages of today's planners. There are a lot of very nice ones like Seattle's Best Dream Journal which I recently posted about here, and of course Starbucks planners, and more.

       But there's one that is also a very special journal wherein you don't need to buy coffee and collect stickers to get one. It's the Belle De Jour Planner! This costs P598 but one look at the inside you will know that you will definitely get your money's worth! Probably even more!

What's Up, Rain?

       It's been 2 years and 3 months since I became a mom. It has been a roller coaster ride. And I hear it's going to be so much harder as she grows up. I haven't really seen the wrath of the so-called "terrible twos" yet. So far it's nothing that would make me want to pull my own eyes off in frustration. Of course she has her moments but over all, its been all good.

       Sigh... seems like only yesterday when all she could do was eat and sleep. Now she can already do the following stuff:

My 5 Must-Haves for a 2 Year Old

       Because Rain is growing up so fast, I can't help but think of the things that we've purchased that has been helpful in entertaining Rain, and helping her develop in a lot of important aspects. (As I have learned from the Chief Mum herself, Carrie Lupoli during her talk for the FisherPrice Joy of Learning workshop), as well as the things that I could not live without while taking care of Rain. So I decided to make a little entry to compile a small list that may help moms of soon to be 2 year olds on what kids at this age would most likely be enjoying (then again every kid is unique) and what things could make your life easier as a parent of a toddler.


1.) Baby Vision Monitor

Baby Vision Monitor

       If you're a working mom or if you're like me who occasionally leaves the house to run errands or attend a "racket", then you will definitely want to purchase the Baby Vision Baby Monitor. This has been my eyes (and ears) in the house  whenever I'm away. I once saw a baby monitor with small screens that costs around 20K. And you can only use that within the confines of your house.

A Weekend at The Bellevue Hotel Manila

       When Richie told me we were to again be spending the weekend at the South, I was pretty excited. Especially when he said that we were going to be staying at the Bellevue Hotel Manila as we were invited by the very nice Jane Go, author of the blog Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice. It was such an honor to be one of her guest for the weekend!

Baby & Family Expo 2013

       After months of preparation, the Baby & Family Expo "Welcoming Life, Love, and Care" finally opened last December 6 to 8 at the SMX Convention Center. I was there during day one and the place was packed! This event was organized MediaCom Solutions Inc. and was co-presented by Cordlife Medical Philippines. It was also sponsored by Picar Development, Inc., Ever Bilena, Unilab, Johnson’s Baby, Esquire Financing and Mazda Philippines, the Baby & Family Expo Philippines.

       See below a little picture blog all things wonderful during this successful Baby & Family Expo 2013!

Red Ribbon's Improved Black Forrest plus a Christmas Story!

       Red Ribbon is one of our defaults when it comes to buying affordable yet presentable delicious cakes for any celebration. This is always the case because I know that it will not disappoint me. Case and point:

       My village friends and I have this post-Christmas Party pot luck planned next weekend. Our schedules have all been busy so yes this is a very late Christmas celebration haha! So since I was assigned to get the dessert, that means I get to choose what flavor to get. And because I love chocolate, you can always assure I would choose something chocolatey. A classic. Something that has been tried and tested through time. One of which is the Black Forest Cake.

The Most Powerful Driving Ad I've Seen

Was browsing the net and landed on this video. A powerful reminder to drive safely.

"Other people make mistakes. Slow Down".

Even if you're on the right lane, if you're going too fast, there's no saying what might happen. So everyone please stop driving too fast.

 A reminder made by New Zealand Transport Agency.

Please watch and share. And prepare kleenex :-(

6 Years of Happiness

       I can't believe it has already been 6 years ago today when I married my best friend, my soul mate, my partner, my beloved husband, and now the father of my child. It is definitely one of the best days of my life!

       To my dear husband, thank you so much for still being sweet to me until now, for always making me laugh, for always making me feel like I'm the most beautiful woman in the world despite the stretch marks and the love handles and the un-rebonded hair.

       Thank you so much for being an excellent father to Rain, thank you so much for your patience whenever I would act childish and whenever I get attacks of momnesia...

        ...and most of all, thank you so much for always believing in me whenever I would stop believing in myself.

       I love you so much! Here's to 5 million more years of laughter, commitment, and love! I truly am the luckiest wife in the world!

       Oh, and Happy Birthday tomorrow my love! :-)

Jest Camp Adventure and Bird Park

       As much as I can, I would love to write about fun places that the whole family can enjoy. Fortunately for me, the kind group of Aristocrat took us on sort of a Blogger's Day Out in Subic when we went there to visit the Subic Branch of Aristocrat.

       We started the day by having what I would like to call "silog" breakfast at Aristocrat's Makati Branch. They have excellent breakfast sets all of which consists egg and garlic rice. Right after, we hopped on our fun V and started our road trip to Subic.

       After having a very filling Pinoy lunch at Aristocrat Subic, we went to Jest Camp, a great Zoo and sort of an amusement park that's very close to nature. But the rides they have don't involve roller coasters and other huge mechanical rides. They're more like those military training camps, but more fun!