My due date is coming yet I haven’t bought a crib and a stroller (or baby basket) for my second daughter. I could not find a wooden crib here which I prefer because it can also be used as playpen. I could not also find a baby basket here which I can use during church services so I don’t need to carry the baby all the time. Baby supplies here are very limited which makes me long for Manila.

I may give birth anytime but it seems that I am not that prepared yet There are still more things to buy and prepare for instead of looking and buying Supra shoes. Anyway, I am not into hip-hop get-up.

Just like the other baby things we haven’t secured yet, we haven’t decided on the name of our second child yet. We were teasing our daughter if it is okay that she and her sister share the same name, Jyma Sciezka. She very much disagrees! She even suggested naming her sister Dora – the main character in her favorite cartoon show Dora the Explorer. I told her that her name is rare if not unique so her sister’s name should also be rare. She answered that we just add Princess, so it will be Princess Dora – one of the episodes in the show. This made us realized that Dora’s influenced to my daughter is too much

Hubby and I are still praying for the name of our second child. Do you have any suggestion?

image courtesy of http://www.babycenter.com

As my expected date is approaching, I feel heavier and heavier everyday. I have also started experiencing edema and worst I could not get a goodnight sleep every night as I feel some pain on my tummy from time to time. My second pregnancy is not as smooth as my first. But I am still thankful that I have no bed-rest moment. I may have more pains with my current pregnancy but I am still well-taken care of by my God.

I am now on my 34th week. The possibility of giving birth will start sometime in the second week of February at 37 weeks. My eldest was only 36 weeks when I delivered her. She was just near full-term. We are praying that my second child will at least wait until she’s on her 37th week.

I am planning to just give birth in the provincial hospital here in Bohol. This is the cheapest option. My OB is a consultant in the hospital hence I can give birth there even though I don’t have a record there. I am planning to give my OB and the hospital staff who will help with my delivery a small token of gratitude. Cake or cookies will do I think. I don’t know if there is Shari’s Berries available locally. But if there is, it will be great because they ensure that all cookie gifts are guaranteed fresh.

I can’t wait the day to deliver my second child. But ooopss! Hubby and I haven’t decided yet what will be the name of our second daughter.

My wish list is for the coming new member of the family which will tentatively come out on the first week of March. So those who are planning to be part of my wish-come-true, you still so much time to prepare, LOL!

So here are my wishes.

Wooden Crib. I already disposed the one that my daughter used. It was quite bulky and we have no place to store it when we were renting a small place in Quezon City. I saw one in Divisoria and I kind of like it. But when I saw it, I am not yet pregnant. It would be too foolish to convince my husband to buy it that time.

Baby Linens, Comforters & Pillows. I will be needing baby linens but not necessarily from Sferra. I still have few but a bit old already.

Nursing Cover. Since I am a breast-feed advocate, I will definitely breast-feed my second child. I will be needing a nursing cover so I can still breast feed in public places.

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Baby Basket and/or Stroller. For the first few weeks, the basket will do since the baby can still fit on it. But as the baby grows bigger, I will be needing a stroller during Worship Service and when we travel.

Baby Clothes. I am asking my friends who give birth this year or last year to lend me their baby clothes. I only bought the new born clothes when I was in Manila couple of week ago but didn’t buy clothes that are for more than 1 month. All of the new born clothes I bought were white just to play safe because I don’t know yet the gender of my second baby.

Actually these are the things I listed in my mind to buy before I give birth. I still have few more months to save for these items. Hopefully, I’ll be able to save for them.

I have nothing against nurses. I actually admire their passion for work. But for me their job is too little meat for too much effort. Their work is too stressful and tiring yet the income is too small particularly here in the Philippines. Though I find the nurses cute in colorful scrub suits just like the medical scrubs from Marcus uniforms, I don’t want to imagine their physical labor during their shift.

As a mother, I prefer a work for my daughter that is at least not too physically draining for her yet she enjoys doing. If she is already in the right age and she still wants to pursue a degree in Nursing, then it is up to her. I can only help her see all the sides of her choice but the final decision will still be hers.

After she changed her uniform, she asked if she could play with her bike. I agreed but with the condition that she finished first the assignments given by her teacher in the text. As usual, she argued but Mommy is more determined than her ^__^. So she did her assignments first before she played.

I’ve asked four different dressmakers to do my daughter’s uniform but the first three didn’t want to accept the job because they were already loaded with job orders. Only the last one agreed to do my daughter’s uniform more than three weeks ago.

I showed the dressmaker the sample uniform lent to me by the school. The dressmaker promised to finish the uniform by the end of June. But when I called her up last June 30, she requested for another day. I agreed. I called up again the next day before hubby and I picked up the uniform. She informed me that she forgot the sequence of the borders for the collars. So I called the school and asked about it {I returned the sample uniform after I showed it to the dressmaker} and called her again. She told me that I could get the uniforms last Friday, 2PM. But since my daughter took her usual nap and hubby went out to visit, we went to the dressmaker’s place after 5 PM. In other words, we’ve given the dressmaker ample time to finish the uniforms. But when we talked to the dressmaker, she was not yet done She only finished the outer garments and the borders of one blouse. But she missed to add a pocket on the outer garments and the borders of the blouse has some crooked stitch. To make the story short, we were not able to take home the uniforms. The dressmaker promised that she would deliver the uniform the next day Saturday. But the whole Saturday had passed but no dressmaker knocked on our door.

Finally, I see the dressmaker’s face again on the afternoon of Sunday. She brought the uniforms. I already noticed that the borders of the blouses were not finely sewed but I just let it pass. I also noticed that the blouses have brown stains. I told her about it but she said it can easily be remove when washed. But when I washed them, the stains were not taken easily even with the use of Zonrox.

Daughter was taking her nap when the uniforms arrived so I was not able to fit them to her while the dressmaker was in our place. It was already evening of Sunday when my daughter fitted the uniform. To my dismay the outer garments are big to her. It seems that the dressmaker didn’t properly get her measurement.

I am thinking of returning the outer garments to dressmaker but I am also thinking that she might just add more damages if she tried to adjust them.  Her work is not satisfactory considering that her service charge is higher than the other dressmakers.

Giving birth at home is also one of the causes why many children are not properly registered. Hubby shared that the process of adoption is made easy here in Panglao. If the baby is delivered at home, the adaptive parents can register the child under their own name so no one can question the paternity nor the maternity of the child in the future. The child is their own based the document.

The reason why many mothers opt to give birth at home is because it is less expensive if they deliver at home rather than in a hospital or clinic. Thinking radical, if they will just put not only their lives but also their newly born babies at risk, they should not have conceived at all. The worst part is, most of these mothers have already more than 5 kids and yet they still add more despite of their economic condition. Do I hear the bell ringing on the side of Pro – RH bill?

Many will say that Philippines is a free-country. Let them do want they want to do. It’s their right anyway. Right! But freedom has always an equivalent responsibility, I hope parents will realize it.

I have no problem with the curriculum, it has been tested and proven by so many schools in different countries to be effective. I am more concerned about the implementation and execution.  When I enrolled my daughter, I asked the one who entertained us if she was one of the teachers. She told me no but she acted as a substitute monitor whenever the monitor is absent. She even told that she’s a clerk cum registrar. It was a relief for me because it gave me an assurance that she’ll not be my daughter’s teacher. But this morning during the orientation, I learned that she’ll be handling the Reading Readiness class where my daughter is enrolled.

I am not being mean nor have any intention to discriminate nor have any intention to hurt people whatsoever. But I believe that a pre-school teacher should have at least a degree in education if not a specialization with handling kids. I didn’t get a straight answer when I inquired about it. Instead they just told me that she’s been observing for two years. My second concern is the way she pronounced the words since she’ll be teaching my daughter phonetics and proper pronunciation. I am not convinced that she can teach the proper sounds of the letters based on how she discussed her part during the orientation and how she pronounced simple words like paste {pest}. She might even confuse my daughter

The administrator probably saw the disappointment on my face because he asked me twice if I’m okay with that. Honestly, I could not answer yes.  Still, he assured me that everything will be fine. I really hope so. Until we reached home {I was with hubby and daughter} I still felt the disappointment.

I am still planning to talk to the administrator about my concern one of these days especially if I notice a drastic effect to my daughter. And if ever they have no other teacher who can handle the class, I might just home school my daughter using their curriculum even for this year only.

My objectives why I enrolled my daughter to that school is because first it is a Christian School. Second because I like the ACE program which the school adapts. Third, because the school claims that they give emphasis on proper pronunciation of the sounds.