Hadrien's 4th!

The Little Mokong turns four years old today! This year, Kuya Baz and Daddy are with him, but sadly Mommy is abroad (this time last year, Mommy and Kuya Baz had gone ahead to the States, and Daddy and Hadrien followed two weeks later).

So we started out the day with the usual greeting sign on the wall -



- and opening the birthday gifts.

Kuya Baz and Daddy went to get these gifts (Buzz Lightyear on a scooter, and Emperor Zurg, both chosen by Baz) in secret yesterday, separating from Hadrien, Gramma, Gramps and Yaya in Rockwell mall to go to the toy store. Earlier, when he had been asked what he wanted for his birthday, the Little Mokong had specified, "Something we don't have ... but it has to be for '4 and up.'"



Then a video call with Mommy, followed by a little jumping around.
















Instead of dinner this year, since it was a Saturday we went out to lunch at Milky Way.





Auntie Na-a made a gorgeous theme cake, with Baloo and Kaa from "The Jungle Book," as requested by Hadrien.





Hadrien blew out the "4" candle, but seems to have caught Kuya's bias against singing the Happy Birthday song, which we had to recite instead of sing.



With Ninang Genni:



Hadrien even brought Tito Jolly's birthday gift, a combination bag/pillow/blanket stuffed toy monkey that Hadrien dubbed "Matoy."



You're a Big Boy now, our Little Mokong! As Kuya Baz said, "time to be more independent!"

A Joint Birthday Splash

We threw a joint party for the boys last Saturday. The usual suspects were there - the Felicianos and the Khans (everyone accounted for except for Maribel who can't help it as she lives in faraway DC), Marnie & TJ with Amelie and Miguel, Clarisse & Jose (with baby Tomas), Nonie and Jill (with twins Gabby and Miggy), Rachelle and Andrew (with Isabelle and Illyse) and Jason. The timing was perfect as Lingget and cousin Maddie are here for a short visit, as well as Tito Beb!

The boys were looking forward to their party one week before (around the same time we started preparing for it). The unstoppable Hadrien even got a nasty bump before the party started as he dove into the pool which hadn't been filled yet. They weren't disappointed, the kids enjoyed themselves immensely jumping from one inflatable pool to the next. Hours later, they were busy running around the lanai.

Thanks to my parents for letting us use the house. As usual, they went all out during the preparations. And Daddy, the popcorn maker was a hit with the kids, specially Baz! Thanks too to Ate Linda, Andora and Cyril who were a tremendous help in preparing for the party.

My First Post

I've lost count of the times I promised myself to finally print and organize the kids' photos, update their baby books, and to do many other things that most moms do. Obviously, I haven't gotten around to finishing (I admit, not even starting) any of the projects I've ambitiously planned in my mind. Hopefully, this will somehow make up for it. So that months, years and - dare I say? - decades from now, I will have a record (or at least a record of my attempt to record) of my days with my wonderful 2 boys (ok 3, if you count Raffy).

So here goes....













These are the most recent photos of the boys (including Raffy) - taken on Baz's birthday.

Since his birthday fell on Easter Sunday, Raffy thought that the kids would enjoy painting (instead of hunting) their own easter eggs - he was right! The kids had a blast! Aside from getting to paint the eggs in various shades of purple, Baz learned to deal with droplets of paint on his hands. Hadrien, on the other hand, was oblivious to the wet paintbrush on his cheeks.

It was a good day. To Baz, my first-born, my sunshine and my Wallace (guess who's Grommit?) - Happy Purple!