From Zubuchon to S&R

Weekends are love! As a working mom, I always anticipate weekends because it means quality time with my family. But before everyone thinks that I have the luxury of spending undivided quality time with my son and husband, well, to tell you honestly, it's not as easy as that.

Weekends also mean grocery shopping, stocking up on wet goods, drinking water, gas, general cleaning, planning the weekly menu, etc etc etc. I could go on forever. 

Oh yes, isa na akong dakilang asawa at nanay, and I want to be as hands-on as I can be! :)

Then how do I make sure I still spend quality time with my family? Easy peasy! We make our weekend errands as part of our family activities. Now that Rocco is bigger (and more malikot!), we bring him along almost to wherever we go, except to the wet market.

Last Sunday, after hearing mass, we tagged along Rocco to go S&R shopping! Haaay! It feels like heaven in S&R! If only I have 50,000 in excess cash, I would go wild picking my perfect finds without even checking the hefty price tags! For now, stick to budget lang muna kami :( Rocco was still hyper here even if he missed his afternoon nap. Look at the droopy eyes! Kahit antok na sya, he was fighting it off because he enjoyed being outdoors.

Before going to S&R, we had lunch at Zubochon. It's my first time there, to think na ang tagal ko na sa Cebu :) We ate at their Mango branch expecting lesser customers because it's outside the mall. But wait!!! Puno pa din sya! Siguro nadala sila sa tagline ni Anthony Bourdain na "The tastiest pig ever!" We ordered lechon belly, dinuguan and kalabasa soup for Rocco. The little boy found it to be delicious because he kept asking for more. I think nakaubos sya ng 2 small bowls. Not bad baby boy! :)

For me, OK lang. I still like Tanauan lechon, the one ordered by Mama and Papa for our family gatherings. I also prefer the Boneless Lechon Belly because there are more herbs and spices. For the dinuguan, winner ang Zubuchon kasi malasa and walang malansang smell. But the takeaway winner is their Iba Shake! Panalo!! Especially if you just ate nakakaumay food, pang-neutralize sya sa taste buds :)

All in all, I would say OK naman ang Zubuchon. We shall return :)

The Past and the Present

I opened my old Multiply because I heard it's closing soon (HOW TRUE?) and I wanted to check if I still had photo albums that I could back up.

Then I chanced upon my blog. Nakakatuwa naman basahin ang old posts ko. Reminiscing lang ang peg ko. This one I wrote when I was getting crazy with my hectic schedule as a working student.
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JUST DESTRESSING
Written last April 27, 2008

It has been months since I last wrote in my blog. Instead, I've been continually cramming to finish and submit endless papers for my MBA. Haaaaayyyy...I wish I can fastrack time and end it all.

Pero sabi, never complain. Ok, I'm not complaining. I'm just destressing :) Seriously, I've had a lot of crazy things going on since the year started. Mapapantayan ko na ata ang hectic schedule ng showbiz people. Sana ganon din ako kalakas kumita :)

Seriously again, these are crazy times. My schedule is so crazy that sometimes, I'm amazed that my body is still holding on. Thanks to my daily dose of vitamin C and my conscious effort to eat healthy stuff, hindi pa naman ako nagbbreakdown. Malapit na cguro. Speaking of healthy eating, I have to give credit to my ever dearest Siegfred for being my great influence on that department. He's my in-house nutritionist. Hehe.

Hay.....my insomnia is kicking in, and it's gonna kill me in no time. My body is tired, but my mind is still pumping adrenaline hormones. I had a hectic week preparing for a nationwide event, medical appointments to attend to,  school stuff to finish (1 full video, 3 presentations, 4 written papers), night classes to attend, events to maneuver and oversee, had to endure fattening hotel food, deprive myself of long sleep on a Saturday morning because I had a 9-3PM class, despite the fact that I slept at 3AM the night before.......the list just goes on.

I deserve a real break so I could just hide off to some secluded beach with Siegfred. Huhuhu...Ok lang, malapit na.

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That was my life when I was still single, full of adventure, fun, and crazy schedules. Now, I cannot imagine going back to the "old" life. I'm getting old now, and I cannot take the crazy schedule anymore. Not when I have to wake up early mornings to feed my son and change his diaper.

My life now revolves around my family. Yes, my social life has been put to a hault though I try to squeeze in some time with friends. 

On a normal day, we are forced to wake up early because the little boy wakes up early. I prepare his breakfast, feed him, bathe him, prepare myself, eat breakfast, and we're off to work. Throughout the day, I constantly check on Rocco and the girls.

Weekends are sacred. I run a household with my husband, which takes a lot of skill and communication, if I must say. We do groceries, go to the wet market once a week, make schedules for our househelp, and plan out our menus. All the extra time we have, we spend on quality time with our boy.

But I'm not complaining. I love this life! This is what I've always wanted!

All while eating chocolate cake!

 The POKER Look

 The BORED Look

 The HAPPY Look

The WAWA Look

Halo-halong Kwento: Series 1

Last night, while driving home from S&R, I asked hubby.
"Do you miss your single days when you used to live with your friends in one compound and just do spontaneous activities with them?"

Hubby replied.

"I'm done with that. I want to spend my days now with you and Rocco."

Abot tenga ang smile ko :)

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Yesterday, I woke up with wet cheeks.
Rocco was smothering me with kisses.

So sweet of my son :)

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Yesterday I called home to check on Rocco.

I asked the little boy, "Are you eating now?"

He said, "Ya!"

I said, "I love you"

He replied back "Ayayo"

I'm on a high! :)

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Rocco's yaya reported that the little boy has been picky with his food.

He did not eat his lugaw.

He only ate little portions of bread, mango, avocado.

This morning, I fed him choco marble cake from S&R.

He was able to finish 1 thick slice! With matching cry pa when I said enough na.

Marunong na mamili ang anak ko. High maintenance ito! :)

Sharing something that I haven't really talked about

I underwent a major surgery last March 2009. It was so major, and almost life-threatening. I didn't tell anybody except for my family and boyfriend because I couldn't deal with the questions that time. I wanted to focus on my surgery and recovery.

When I got admitted in Tacloban last December 2007 because of high-grade fever which turned out to be dengue, I got another rather shocking diagnosis. I had a mass in my throat, somewhere near my thyroid.

I immediately had a biopsy when I returned to Manila and it turned out to be benign. THANK GOD! Still, I consulted with an endocrinologist who prescribed thyroid pills to balance off my hormones because I was having hypothyroidism. The goal was to reduce the mass. I religiously took my pill daily for a year, and had the regular blood tests to monitor my thyroid hormones.

After a year, the mass still kept on growing. Pardon my look, but this was the only picture I could find where the mass is visible. This was taken while I was vacationing in Bohol, a few days before my operation. Yes, I went on vacation before going under the knife. See the quite obvious bulge on the lower left of my neck? That's the mass, which grew many centimeters more than expected, despite my pill therapy.

My doctor gave me two options, to just keep the mass in my body and let it grow (they were suspecting it was goiter, which runs in the family), or remove it. I consulted with other doctors (traditional and alternative), and researched intensively on the pros and cons. I decided I wanted to have it removed.

My sister's sister-in-law who is a doctor at St.Luke's also had the same case, but hers turned out to be thyroid cancer, and she underwent radioactive iodine chemo after her surgery. She recommended her doctor, and arranged for the operation. After undergoing so many tests, I was given the green light for my operation.

The night before my operation, I was already admitted at St.Luke's and a horrible accident happened. Mama, Papa, Ate Dynah, and Ed (her husband) went out to Pizza Hut which was just across St. Lukes QC to have dinner. After crossing the street going back to my room, they were ran over by a speeding jeep. If not for the metal railing in between them and the jeep, they would have been totally ran over, and God knows what else would have happened. To this day, I still thank God for keeping them safe that night. I was only told of the accident when they were released from ER. Kawawa talaga silang lahat. Bugbog katawan nila. Mama had a head concussion, Papa's toenails were slightly removed, Ate Dynah who just gave birth that time also had severe "pasa".

Going back to my operation, I hardly slept because of the freak accident and the nervousness combined. I asked for sleeping pills before I was wheeled to the OR. For that, I have no memory at all of my operation, just the way I wanted it. When I woke up, I was already in the recovery room, and the first thing I checked was my voice  if it was still intact. Sabi kasi ng doctor ko, if worse comes to worst, aside from possible cancer, my voicebox would be the one affected by the operation, and I could totally lose my voice.

Anyway, my voice was retained, thanks to my great surgeon, and I had no cancer! They had another biopsy on the actual specimen and it turned out to be colloidal goiter. I recovered pretty well after almost a month of home arrest. To this day, I still have the scar, pero konti lang. I got tired of using Contractubex, and quite honestly, I love seeing the scar on my neck. It reminds me of the near death experience and makes me appreciate my life more.

 This was after the operation, when I was wheeled back to the room. It was a good decision to take the sleeping pills before going under the knife. I had no scary memories.

 Sieg & I were still on long-distance during my operation. He flew from Cebu in time for my operation.

 I remember feeling really OK and did not experience extreme pain during my recovery. The difficult part was shampooing my head because I could not bend or stretch my neck for 2weeks after the operation. My mama was with me the whole time, from my operation to my 2-week recovery in Manila, until I was allowed to fly to Tacloban to continue my recovery there. She shampooed my hair every other day while I was lying in bed.

Taken during my discharge day. May energy pa ako magmake-up. Nakaka good mood kasi :)