[Zei the Charmed one] I will sing forever of your love O Lord!

Our Lord is indeed great!

This song will forever make me smile and remember how blessed we all are because of God's unending love! Happy Easter everyone!

[Zei on Home Deco & Design] Weekend Project!

I just love weekend projects! This weekend's project is the wall art I've had in my home bucket list from my previous post here. Anyway, I wanted to make our plain white wall exciting, but I didn't want to just put up more frames or paintings, so I thought of something that I liked - words and color. So this is what I came up with - some sort of letter puzzle with our names.

This was the plan on paper

Tada! My latest wall art!

I just love it. Rich suggested that we just put the words Faith, Hope and Love in some other part of our house. And I agreed since it might look too busy with all the words. The words are actually with me already, but I haven't decided where to put them. So that's probably gonna be my next simple project. So stay tuned. If you wanna do a similar project, you can order the carton letters from Tod's Country Crafts in SM Megamall. =)

How about you guys, did you have your own weekend project? =) Hope it went as planned and you're happy with the end result. =)

[Zei on Career & Passion] Friday of all Fridays

Today is a particularly momentous Friday - why? Well, today I tendered my resignation from my day job of 3 and a half years. I'm a brand man by day, just in case you guys don't know. It's not that I don't like what I do, because I really do and I love my brands, but I guess the time has come for me to move on.

Today I chose my loyalty to my family, my loyalty to Zia and my loyalty to myself. It was just something I had to do for me. It feels right and I am happy.

I'll be wearing the stay-at-home mom hat for awhile and enjoy it while it lasts since returning to the workforce is still just around the corner. But for today, I can think of being the best version of me, not in the workplace, but in my turf where I matter the most (or so, I think), at home, with Rich and Zia.

Something tells me, it's gonna be a great weekend! Happy Weekend all!

[Zei the MOM] Happiness!

We co-sleep with Zia and every morning when I watch her sleep, I just can't help but be thankful. Everyday, I just wanna shout this to the world...

Wishing everyone a happy midweek!

[Zei the MOM] Zia's fashion files #1

This is why having a baby girl is so fun!!! We just love our little fashionista!

Wishing everyone a great, colorful and blessed Sunday!

[Zei the MOM] Zia's (first) solid experience

This day in particular is blog-worthy. Today Zia ate her first solid food. I was really planning to make her pureed avocado or banana, but I had to give her Cerelac as ordered by her pedia. So the Dr. Brown's simple puree handheld blender I bought will have to wait for a month. Zia's pedia said to start her with rice cereal first (read: Cerelac or Lugaw) so that's what we gave her this morning. Looks like she liked it. I didn't have any discouraging moments (which I was actually prepared for). She took it in stride and seemed to like her first meeting with the spoon.

Oh, and of course, we had to get her camera ready for the momentous occasion. Thanks to her go-to pretty bow from http://www.celestinaandco.multiply.com/ and her cool statement bib from http://www.inthecrib.multiply.com/ Zia looked every bit cute for her morning meal.

Looks interesting =p

Hmm... interesting! This is different.

I think I'm getting the hang of it mommy and daddy!

I think I like it! Tomorrow again please. =)

[Zei the charmed one] Weekends are heaven sent

Weekends with this little girl make me wish weekends don't end.
I love how I have time to play dress up with Zia during the weekends.



Weekends = Happy, Wacky and quality family time

I've always loved weekends. Back then, circa life without a husband and a baby, weekends used to mean going to the mall, shopping, eating out and just hanging around people I love (but really, more of going to the mall), but now, weekends seem to be more special. Wanna know why? Well, because it means two straight days of spending quality time with my favorite people in the world a.k.a the two loves of my life.

Do you agree, weekends are heaven sent? =) I'm pretty sure you do. =)

[Zei the MOM] She's got mommy's smile

I've always wanted to have a mini-me, but when Zia was born and everyone was saying she looked more like her daddy I didn't mind any of it - when she arrived, all I wanted was for our daughter to be a happy baby - never mind if she looked more like me or Rich.

Today, at a little over 6 months, it seems like I have a mini-me. Zia is reminding me of myself more and more as each day passes. But the more important thing is, our daughter is a happy baby. Just look at her smile, which she got, most evidently, from (ahem) me! Although beyond the big smile, my wish and prayer is that she would get my optimism and happy disposition when she grows up. You see, those who know me always say I'm an optimistic person and I've always been a happy and cheerful person. I guess my main point is that I hope Zia sees life the way I see it, with a positive outlook - that each waking moment is a blessing and that each day is a reason to be thankful.

The good thing is, I (together with my husband) have a hand in making Zia see life exactly like that.

Just sharing one of my weekend thoughts. Hope you're all enjoying the weekend as much as I am!

[Zei the charmed one] AMEN!

Photo credit: www.thoughtsbynatalie.blogspot.com

I've always been an optimist, but lately, my optimism is M.I.A. But I made a pact with my real (optimist) self to get out of this rut, starting NOW. I saw this, and it made me smile and slowly, I felt my trickles of optimism regaining its foothold. I felt more like me. My life is GOOD and colorful and I intend to keep it that way.

Happy Holiday!

This is why non-working holidays mean more to me now, more than ever!

Yesterday was a day of many firsts

Just as the title says, yesterday was a day of many firsts for me. Allow me to enumerate and expound if necessary.

~ First time to leave our baby girl for more than 3 hours

People have been saying that I have to get used to leaving our baby girl for more than 8 hours so I won't have a hard time adjusting when I go back to work. Well, yesterday, Richmond and I were out for around 7 hours, so I guess that's a good start. But the whole time we were out, I was texting hourly and asking how Zia was doing. Hehe.

~ First Happy Lemon drink

Since I got pregnant, I've never had a sip of milk tea and I was always sad that I couldn't drink what has become sort of a fad drink. Though I still can't really drown myself with milk tea since I'm breastfeeding, I took a break yesterday and decided that 1 small order of Happy Lemon milk tea won't hurt. So how was my first sip - loved it to bits. Thanks for the treat love!

~ First Mochi Ice Cream experience

Try it. A kids fist sized ball of mochi goodness with ice cream inside. You'll wonder where this yummy treat has been all your life. =p

~ First movie date with rich since I gave birth

We watched Real Steel and it was a great 1st movie after around 2 months of hiatus.

~ First time to use the Breastfeeding Station (not to breastfeed, but to pump)

Since we were out for a couple of hours, I really had to pump. Luckily, Eastwood Mall had a nice and quiet breastfeeding station where I could pump privately. I was conscious at first since there were 2 other breastfeeding moms, but I got into the groove shortly and pumped away.

So there, that was my day of firsts and I loved my day yesterday, but it actually made me look forward more to the time when we could share many firsts with our baby girl. Can't wait! Lovelier days ahead!

Why 8 & 7 will always be my lucky numbers

The number 8 and 7 will always be my lucky numbers. :) They've both been my class numbers in school, I like how they sound when you say it and I also like the way they're written. More importantly, our anniversary (Rich & I) falls on August 7 (8/7). I know that when you get married they say you should celebrate your new wedding anniversary date, but 8/7 is just such a special day that we will go on celebrating it until we can. =)

8 years ago today, August 7, 2003 to be exact, my heart made the best decision ever - actually, it wasn't a difficult decision to make, because it felt so real, so right and so natural - I said yes to the sweetest, most caring and kindest boy I've ever met and I've felt like the luckiest girl ever since (biases aside). I was 18, he was 22 then, we're now married and expecting our 1st baby, I'm 26 and he's 30, but my LOVE, you will always be the thoughtful, super sweet and cheesy and most loving boy I will never tire of loving.

We've gone through so many things my love, not to mention, so many Between You & Me cards, but the thing I love the most about your cards are the ones you've written yourself - it always makes my heart melt - it's your genuine sweetness. And I want you to know that your love makes me feel blessed each and every day.

Happy Anniversary love! I've said it before, and I'm saying it again - I really know in my heart of hearts that our love is really one GREAT love. <3

2 weddings and a baby bump

To date, our baby has been to 4 weddings while in the utero. But during the first two, my baby bump was non-existent. Fast forward to this past week, I've been to two other weddings, this time, taking with me my 7 month baby bump. I guess I just want to say that despite how attending weddings in my current state have made me dream about getting to wear body hugging dresses and killer heels again, weddings still make me feel giddy all over especially when I have my husband as my date. Here are some of our shots from our friends' nuptials. :)

Lovely day

Let me begin by using my Facebook status as of this writing...

We had our congenital anomaly scan and fetal echo today and all our prayers were answered. Dr. Lyra Ruth Chua of The Medical City did the scan and she made us feel twice as better as she showed us our baby girl's internal structure and heart, with much appreciation and awe of our baby's make up. When she said that baby's heart was beautiful, I told myself that we would do everything in our capacity as parents to raise our baby girl to be a beautiful person because as early as now, she's already super blessed, we're all very blessed. Today is one of those days that, despite the heavy downpour, merit a lovely day stamp. Every waking day gives me more reason to believe that with God, anything is possible.

We didn't get to bring home a single 'photo' of baby, but today more than ever, our hearts are happy and the photos can wait. She'll be a beautiful baby inside and out for sure because she's got the Lord on her and her parents' side. =)