happiness is...

... seeing rauf smile when he wakes up in the mornings.  and seeing him give me a huge smile when i get home from work at night.

... rauf wrapping his chubby arms around my neck when he's about to sleep, and feeling his soft hair on my cheek as i lull him to sleep.

... a tall steaming cup of starbucks white chocolate mocha.

... having downtime to surf the net and click (and read. and type.) my heart away.

... finding "lost" games on storm (my laptop) and playing chocolatier all over again.

... having friends who understand the insanity of who i am, and who stay in touch even if i rarely have time to hang out with them anymore.

... bumping into friends while at the mall.  (feeling ko lahat ng kakilala kong taga-UP na nawawala, nakikita ko sa trinoma. hehe.)

... getting those work bonuses that allow me to pay off my yearly debts.

... knowing that i will never, ever be really alone because i am blessed with rauf, my family and lots and lots and lots of friends.

thank you, God!!!

in sickness & in health

i blogged about rauf being a real trooper despite his nasty cold and cough last week.  he WAS a trooper, up until he ran a fever and we decided to bring him to the st.lukes ER to undergo analysis & work-up. 

since i sincerely believe (and this has been proven N number of times before) that my son is not stupid, lo and behold, he turned into a feisty fighter upon entering the portals of the ER. 

he clung on to me/lola when the nurse was taking his temp. he refused to be weighed. he didn't wanna be laid on his ER cot. he fought the nurse tooth & nail when the nebulizer mask was still 6 inches away from his face.  he squirmed & gyrated when laid on the xray table, it took a male technician (the female gave up) & me to pin him just enough for his chest to be photoed.  he flicked his wrist at the right (for him.  wrong for the resident. haha.) time TWICE on EACH hand when the resident was inserting his IV on his hand/s.  and it took SIX people (me, 2 nurses, 2 interns & 1 resident) to finally insert the IV needle on his left foot.

rauf was a fighter through and through.  and despite his mommy's pain at seeing her son having to go through all those, she had to be a fighter too.

my son the fighter is also a mover.  he loves moving from one end of the bed to the other, and i'm sure if he were put on the floor, he would move from one end of a room to another room, or even to another house. hehe.  so imagine his frustration when he couldn't even turn over or crawl just 3 paces.  his IV got in the way.  he would scream and shout and cry and kick just to prove to all & sundry that he was one mad little boy.  when his IV was finally removed on the day of his discharge, his face lit up like sunshine... he turned over and crawled to his heart's delight.  my heart just melted.

three days, numerous nebulizations, lots of IV meds and tens of thousands of pesos later (oh yes, i had to mention that. hehe.), my son was finally discharged from his kiddieland room (they call the pediatric wing in st.lukes kiddieland. cute.).  i couldn't be happier.  my son was well!  the imp is baaaaack!!!

i hope and pray this doesn't happen again anytime soon.  or ever.  babies are meant to be happy & smiling & playful & active, not irritable & mad & fussy & terrified. 

to my son, be strong. be well.  mommy is sorry for giving you bad genes like being prone to allergies and asthma (and that's just the tip of the iceberg).  but mommy knows you'll always be a fighter.  and she'll make sure you won't ever face any opponent alone. 

to all mommies & daddies out there, the weather isn't helping much and there's been numerous viruses (virii???) flying around.  don't bring your babies to public places full of people.  and it won't hurt to have everyone in your house who's sniffling to wear a mask.  better safe than sorry.

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super duper thanks to Dra. Teresita Narciso, pediatrician-pulmonologist!!!  she was sooo great with rauf!  her clinics are at MAB-516 st. lukes medical center (T/Th 9-12) and at patient first, mercury drug building, glorietta (forgot the days, but she's there 1-4).

ramblings

i was uber tired monday night after standing/sitting/walking around the whole day around the north wing lobby of the house supervising and overseeing the elections for the next employee reps to the admin boards.  but it was fun...  we had a lot of good feedback because (1) everyone was envious of our shirts (pics to follow), (2) the voting started early & we extended voting hours pa, (3) the WHOLE electoral board, though not required to be there the whole day, was at the polling place from the opening of the voting until the declaration of winners.  the camaraderie we have built was really evident that day.  thanks to all the dedicated members of the board!  super proud of all of us!!!

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rauf is sick again.  i blame it on the weather.  but he enjoys being nebulized.  his curious eyes peer at the smoke coming from the nebulizer & he's attracted to the shiny green see-through mask.  he may be sick, but he sure is one happy, good-natured baby!

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first anniv today of the congress bombing.  rest in peace, maan!

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just SIXTEEN stickers needed for this year's starbucks planner! and there's one in RED!!! wahooooo! :)

adrienne-ish

nights in rodanthe wasn't a great film.  in fact, the reviews call it a sleeper. 

but the plot got me all wound up.  because i could relate to adrienne.  because i could feel every push and pull of the story revolving around her and her life.

sigh.

the fun seminar blog

last tuesday to thursday, i found myself at punta de fabian, baras, rizal, attending a seminar on wto, globalization and international trade law.  when my brain cells permit, i will blog about my personal take on the philippines' (inutile?) efforts at playing on the international trade arena.  since i had fun, let me just blog about that... haha.

1.  for a motley crew of congress technical people, we all had a blast!!! never mind that we only had 2 nights of bonding... errrr, drinking... but let me say that when busy people get together and take advantage of a respite, well, they do take advantage.  haha. 

2.  apparently, i do have that inner madonna in me.  i remember i swooned (yes, i swooooooned) when i saw madonna with her kids at LAX, but i never realized that i still know the lyrics of "like a virgin" almost by heart.

3.  i wonder if law school or lawyering is the culprit, but the awards for videoke kings and queens for the solidary night would definitely go to the lawyers in the crew.  hats off to J.S. for the never-ending playlist, which included GLAMOROUS (my gulay, alam ba ng frat mo na alam mo kantahin yun???).

4.  when you're at a normal videoke party, you would sometimes feel the age-gap among the crew, which would actually reflect on their choice of songs.  but this time around, that wasn't the case.  imagine a 52-year old momma singing britney spears... though after the song, she screamed:  buti nalang nakikinig ako sa anak ko!!!! (hehehe)

5.  52 year old guy, barely drinking, gets egged to sing a song.  he picks a beatles song which everybody knows.  then he walks toward a group of girls, and we all think he's going to sing to one of the seminar lecturers on a gesture of goodwill.  but NO.  he picks a co-participant, drags her to the front, and doesn't let go of her hand until the song finishes.  then he steals a peck on her cheek.  now that's guts... with age. :)

oh well...  now i can't wait for the follow up seminar.  hehehe :)