I am glad that I imposed a bedtime routine with my eldest because I never had a problem putting her to bed. I have also started a bedtime routine with my li’l girl.

With my eldest, the bedtime routine starts right after our dinner. After our last meal, she would brush her teeth and clean herself. If she’s in KIKAY mode, she’ll first comb her until she doesn’t see any single strand standing. If she’s in artist mode, she will spend her time drawing and coloring. After combing her hair she will pick up the book she wants to read. If by that time, the li’l girl is already asleep, I will read the book to her. If I still need to work, the husband will be the one to read her the book. But if both of us have some pending tasks, she will read the book by her own. Prior to giving birth to her li’l sister, she insists that either me or her dad reads the book for her even if she could read by her own. But now, she is more understanding and flexible.

After reading the book, she will turn off the lights and will lie beside me. She will then ask me to hug her. That is the signal that she’s ready to sleep. She never sleeps without being cuddled.

With my li’l, I would start cleaning her up after 6 pm then change her clothes and diaper. Then I will breastfeed her. After which I will try to put her to sleep by humming to her hymns that I know. I hope that I will not also have a problem putting her to bed when she grows up.

So how about you, what is your kids bedtime routine?

I hope a good-hearted and able person will see the lack of recreational activity for kids here in Panglao and will finance and construct one for them.

Tomorrow is my daughter’s scheduled well-baby checkup and we were already in the hospital where my daughter’s pediatrician, Dra. Valdez has a clinic, I told my husband to check if she was in the clinic so our baby can have her well-baby checkup today instead of tomorrow since we were still waiting for the result of the laboratory tests and for the discharge instruction of my attending physician. Good thing, Dra. Valdez was there. Before hubby proceeded to her clinic, he bought a dozen of doughnuts for Dra. Valdez as a token of our appreciation for her kindness. Our previous visit was free of charge because she learned that my husband is an associate pastor. It would also be nice to send flowers but hubby was in hurry. They were not also asked to pay the consultation fee today. Our visit to the hospital hit two birds.

I was diagnosed with ulcer (or probably it was just hyper-acidity) and with urinary tract infection (UTI). I was supposed to be admitted for further observation but since I am exclusively breastfeeding my baby, I was allowed to go home when I requested it. The doctor and ER staffs were afraid that my baby got infected of other patients’ diseases. I was just given a set of prescription which when we checked the price, made me felt to bear the pain. The medicines are truly very expensive. For two weeks, I need to maintain worth 300 pesos worth of medicine daily. For us whose income just meets both ends, this additional expense is really a burden. But we have no choice. We are just thankful that God allowed us to buy the medicines I needed. Well, we have to cut some unnecessary expenses this month so our remaining money will be sufficient for our needs.  Anyway, God provision is always enough and never lacked.

Dothy taught me the ins and outs of blogging. She taught me how to build my blog, how to optimize it, and how to earn from it. She introduced me to Google Adsense and Infolinks. And I think I could not earn from blogging, she encouraged me to continue because soon I would also earn. She even shared to me some of her opportunities so I could also earn. My interest with blogging was declining when I learned about paid post from other moms’ sites I visit. I am thankful for Dothy‘s encouragement because if I stopped during the time I wanted to give up, I may not have other source of income today.

Aside from being my mentor, Dothy is also my resource of so many things.  Though we don’t see each other face to face, we never stop talking via Skype or Yahoo messenger.  Whenever I need something and she has it, she generously shared it with me;  from software licenses, baby dresses, baby bond, baby sling and even breast pads. She also let me know if she learned some promos and freebies. She is also my helper when I have a task which I could not make work. She also covers for me when I could not finish my assignments. Truly, I owe Dothy a lot.

Hi Dothy, I may not be able to repay your kindness but the Lord of Heavens definitely knew your acts of kindness. He will surely repay you ten folds. I keep you in my prayer. God Bless.

Btw, she is also the woman behind All About Mommies, Work At Home Wannabe and My Phone and Gadget Zone. If you want to know her better check her sites

We will also have our camp here in Bohol. From the latest of what I heard, it will be held on May 14 to 18. So don’t expect me to be online on those days. The venue will be the same venue last year which is at Camp Kariz in Ubay Bohol. I have started praying that everything will be in order as we travel going there. I remember last year that one of the vehicles we used broke down even before we reach quarter of the trip. It could not be fixed that time even we hired a mechanic so it was pulled by the other vehicle until we reach the venue. We could not also leave it because it carried most of the church campers and all our things. We were supposed to arrive in the venue before lunch time but because of the unexpected problem, we already arrived past dinner time and the program has already started.

The camp here is different from the camp in Project 8. In Project 8, there is a committee assigned for cooking. While here in Bohol, campers were responsible for their own food. Good thing in our church, we had a member who can cook for all the church delegates. She can cooked the old way, using only woods. So we had no problem with food last year.

Unfortunately, that member could not join this year’s camp so we don’t know yet who will be assigned in cooking. We are planning to have easy-to-cook dishes. So we will probably just have fried and grilled dishes. And it would be a lot easier if we have a gas grills. Hubby suggested that we bring a stove and LPG so cooking will not be hard and long.

But anyway, food is not that important. I am more excited with the preaching that I will be hearing and the fellowship with other Baptists here in Bohol.

Going back to Keyboard lesson, hubby started teaching my daughter the proper fingering. Daughter practice it when she only likes it. For her this is already enough and does not want to move to another lesson. Sigh! I think she is not yet ready for the Keyboard lesson yet. She is more interested to sing that to play the keyboard.

I noticed that my daughter sleeps longer when she sleeps on her tummy. She does not get easily interrupted when sleep in this position. I also noticed that in this position, she gets to exercise her body especially if she already wants to be carried. Unlike my eldest who could not lift her head when in this position during the same age, my second can already move her head from left to right and vice versa. I think in this position her locomotor will develop faster.

During day time, I allow her to sleep in this position. But not during the night because I’m afraid that she may not be able to breathe when her position covers her air passage. I could not still trust her ability to move her head by herself. According to our pastor’s wife, who was a nurse in the US for more than 30 years, this is the usual cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome there before. This also the reason why it is parents are discouraged to put the baby on this position when sleeping at night. I don’t want to take the risk. Probably, when she’s a little older.

Our pastor is not the only one who has a sealed garage here in our place. Most homes with vehicles have the same garages especially those who live very near the shore.