Rocco's Mom

Rocco vs. Simba (Guess who won?)

Getting ready for action. Gotta do some arm stretching.

and some leg kicking.

Ready!

Now he's gigil!

Roar!!! Gotcha Simba!

My Bubbly 3Month Old

Rocco is starting to show his personality. I'm so happy that he's a happy child. He didn't take after his moody mommy. Fingers crossed, I hope he will continue to be a bubbly little darling.

So happy during his nightly sponge bath.

His pedia was so amused because he was all giddy :)

His face had red spots because of his constant scratching, but still he was super smiley while Daddy was changing his diaper.

Still attempting to smile even if Rocco is already sleepy.

He can dig girls with this smile :)

The really cute smile.

This has got to be the winner of the best baby smile award. Priceless!!!

Rocco and his mischievous smile.

My heart melts when he laughs at my jokes.

He's really a bubbly boy. Rarely cries.

Happy with his toys, and happier that Mom and Dad are home.

I wish I took a video of this. He was choking from too much laughing. So funny.

Rocco and his toothless grin. His smile is so infectious!

He obviously got excited for his first mass trip.

Having a baby brought back my interest in photography...baby photography, that is. We have tons of Rocco's pictures, and he's barely 4months old! What more, his grandparents in Tacloban keep asking for daily photo updates, so we have no choice but to keep snapping at our cute little shaolin.

Rocco is very "pawisin." His pajamas and over-alls are barely used. The only time he wore his footies was early January when it was raining like crazy.

Rocco received the Fisher Price rocker as a Christmas gift from his Uncle Antolin. He loved it so much that he slept in it, more than his crib. Thank you Uncle Antolin for the gift :)

Rocco LOVES to scratch his face. I don't know when he will outgrow that phase. Look at him, all red after he wakes up! What we do (since we can't do anything about the scratching) is to put mittens every night. His pedia told us to minimize using mittens because it doesn't help develop his sense of touch.

His Daddy dreams of the day he and Rocco will play basketball together. So imagine his delight when Rocco gave us the three-point sign. Oh well, we're just putting meanings to his innocent actions, but what the heck, the Daddy is still happy.

The rare time Rocco threw a tantrum, I couldn't help but take a picture. It was so cute! I didn't realize he was hungry, that's why he was crying. Bad mommy. Now I know.

Rocco was hospitalized a few days short of his 2nd month. Just thinking about it gives me a heartache. It's really true what they say that when you're a Mommy, you're willing to take all the pain, just spare the little child.

After his hospitalization, Rocco started to like breastfeeding. I almost cried when he finally accepted my boobs.

Such a cutie, my little shaolin :) He's a sleepyhead like me. He would literally doze off after feeding.

Rocco is a strong boy. He started lifting his head when he was barely 2months old. He kicks really hard. Now at 3 1/2months, he can already sit with support, hold his head, roll from side to side, and when held on a standing position, he can stretch his legs and stand with support.

With his Grandma Flor. I'm so blessed that Rocco has doting grandparents :)

How I survived the first month, and more reasons to love it!

The first month was personally hard for me. Rocco had hyperthermia at birth so he was left at the hospital for a week. He latched so poorly that breastfeeding became a struggle, plus the fact that there aren't any latching support groups in Cebu who could help out. What made it worse was my allergic reaction to my medications. I had severe (and I'm not kidding when I say severe) hive rashes from my pain killers, which spread all throughout my arms and tummy area. I had to wear long-sleeves for a whole month, for fear of coming into contact with my son (though my doctor assured me countless times that it was not contagious). This restricted my much needed skin-to-skin bonding with my son. From worse to worst, I got sick with pneumonia (or something like that). I was coughing and had colds like crazy I was freaking out because I might pass the virus to Rocco.

Still, I'm just happy I overcame the first month of mommyhood intact, with no bouts of post-partum depression.

For the most part, Rocco brought so much happiness that all those little aches I was experiencing were nothing.

I never expected to have a Chinese looking boy, but thank God for his chinito eyes, he's cuuuuter and so adorable.

The day we brought him home from his week long stay at the hospital. I could not get enough of him.

Being a first time mommy is super scary. Thank God I had the best support group. My Ate Dynah came all the way from Manila to teach me the know-hows of caring for a newborn :)

Rocco started side-sleeping at 13 days old. I don't know if it's a normal thing for babies his age.

Rocco is such an "cool" baby, and very easy to care for. He slept a lot, so I squeezed in a lot of snooze time too.

Rocco thinks that his Daddy is a clown :) Only Daddy can make him squeal in laughter. He showed his first real smile when I took a pic of him with his Daddy. Much love for my boys :)

We gave Rocco tummy time at 3-weeks old. I got a lot of flak from my family for doing this to my son. Hahaha! Huwag daw magmadali :)

Rocco's cord stump fell off at 5 weeks. I then gave him his daily tub baths. At first, I could not understand why he kept on crying and whaling during bath time. It freaked me out because he would hold his breath and would turn dark. Thank God for mommysense, I found out he didn't like being placed in water immediately. From then on, I placed him in an empty tub, and poured water through the trusty tabo. Bath time has been a delight ever since.

Rocco absolutely loves the outdoors. Everyday, after our early morning playtime, we bring him outside to greet Mr. Sunshine, Mr. Sky, Mr. Tree, and all tweety birds in our nice compound.

I'm so blessed to have a very supportive husband, and a hands-on daddy. When I was sick with pneumonia and hive rashes, he let me sleep straight at night, and he took it on to really care for Rocco, especially during early mornings.