Baby stuff shopping…

Max & I have been going out of town a lot recently… either heading into the bushes, or going down south, etc.  But since forecast was windy & rainy for this weekend… we went baby stuff shopping instead.  he he  we’re both pretty bad with shopping around… give us a few minutes inside the shopping centre and we both get completely drained. 

Anyhow, I think we did achieve something.  At least we’re getting closer to what we think are the few first essential stuff that we need to get.

1. stroller/pram – we want something that is light yet durable, and also for me, what is essential is that it folds easy.  There are prams/strollers that you need to detach the seat first before you can collapse it.  And then, it’s not even that small when you fold it up.  And man, talk about choices – there’s soo many of them to choose from you don’t even know where to start looking – and prices can be as high as AUD 2,000.    Anyway, we saw a stroller that is relatively light, good for newborn to 17kg (which is about 4-5 yrs old) and also folds easy – not to mention cheap too!  Steelcraft Express Stroller – AUD 129.

2. breast pump – I’ve heard a lot of talk about breast pump, which makes it very confusing whether to get one asap or not.  But… most that I’ve heard is that having a breast pump is not a bad thing,

• it helps express more milk
• when you express milk into bottle/s, you can then train baby not to rely solely on you for feeding.  Your husband or other relatives can get the chance to feed the baby too, also gives you freedom to go shopping and maybe go to the spa or something…

There’s also a lot of breast pumps out there… but based on research, top brands are Avent & Medela.  As for here locally, I think Avent is more popular as you can find more accessories at the shops.  So I think I wanna get the Avent isis iq uno electronic breast pump – which costs about AUD 250.  Baby food warmer and steriliser will have to follow later on. 

3. baby monitor – Max absolutely wants this – and not only does he want the sound monitor, he wants movement & sound monitor – meaning, it also monitors baby’s heartbeat – it sets off an alarm if baby’s heartbeat drops.  We thought it would be difficult to find but as it is, it’s very popular nowadays.  We’re looking at getting the Babysense II – AUD 300.

4. disposable nappies – we’re going to combine cloth & disposable nappies.  Thank goodness there’s a lot of nappy washing companies around here so I don’t have to worry about the washing. 

5. capsule – Max thinks that we don’t need a car seat straightaway so we might hire a capsule in the beginning as they’re relatively cheap.  However, a friend is planning to sell their baby seat soon so I might just grab that.  Car seat should be a really good one for baby’s safety.

6. bassinet – Thanks to Glen & Julia who recently had their baby, they’re gonna pass on their bassinet to us.  Yippee!!! 

7. baby bath – Thanks to Max’s ever perceptive eye, he found one that is still in very good condition.  Not only is it a baby bath, it’s got a change table too. 

8. change table & cupboard – Thanks to a wonderful & very excited sis in law, we got a change table early on… I think I was only in my first trimester when Julia delivered it.  ha ha  BUT, I can’t complain, it’s a really good one! 

Other stuff that we think are essential too are baby wipes, nappy liner & change mat.  And as we are having a December baby, I think we should go buy these stuff relatively soon so that we don’t get caught up with the Christmas shoppers like last year!  That would be a complete nightmare!  It was tough enough when I wasn’t pregnant! 

Mum is pretty excited too… kept asking when we’re gonna go baby stuff shopping…   I can tell little Sammy’s going to be pretty spoiled! 

And we’re also on the lookout for a bigger house… hope we find a good one soon! 

Weekend @ New Norcia

Spent a relaxing weekend at New Norcia – the only monastic town in Australia. We got there Saturday noon… had lunch at the hotel, then checked in – the hotel is pretty interesting – if you have an active imagination, you can easily transport yourself back in time.

You can actually stay at some of the other establishments there, like the old convent, guesthouse, etc. – we’ll save that for next time.

We then spent a couple of hours strolling around town… peering into rooms which are boarded shut, and simply enjoying the town itself.

Max, Julia & Brett then went for a ride while this getting “very” pregnant lady kicked back at the hotel and relaxed.

The next day, Julia and I joined the 2hr guided walking tour – which I’m very happy we did. It was pretty interesting learning more about the history of the place… and also got to go inside all the chapels.

The boys on the other hand, went for a ride.. (but I think they were really going after the abbey ale… )

To view the photos, visit my facebook profile and take a look at the New Norcia photo album.

Really should be blogging more…

I haven’t been blogging at all lately… spending all my internet time on facebook… not that I spend a lot of time these days on the net anyway.

Plenty of changes going on…

1. I am currently 20.4 weeks pregnant, and getting bigger by the week – oh, and it’s going to be a boy!!! whoopee!!! For photos, visit my facebook profile.

2. Then there’s the changing of workplace. I am officially finished with the Department of Corrective Services and will start with the Department of Health come Monday. Not gonna be taking long drives anymore… yey!!!

I’ve been thinking lately that I wanna get back to blogging more… this time around though… I think my blogs would lean toward my journey through being an expectant mother… to finally being one… and the after effects… he he which I hope will be all good!!!

25 random things about me…

RULES: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged — people who know you or you want to know better. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I met my husband in Bali.

2. My favorite color is violet.

3. I don’t know how to ride a bicycle… yet. There’s hope for it still! 

4. I read books through my pocket pc.  Absolutely love it!!!  I’d always have 70++ books with me wherever I go, not because I read fast but because I’m always paranoid that I’ll run out of books to read… he he  And, it doesn’t weigh much at all.   

5. I am scared of flying cockroaches.

6. I represented Philippines once for a Tai Chi tournament in Fuzhou, China.

7. My all time favorite sport is volleyball.

8. I was thin as a stick when I was younger… I don’t know where all these meat came from. 

9. I LOVE food!!!  (now the truth comes out of the horses’ mouth!!! )  I used to be able to eat more than my brothers… I still eat a lot now but so much lesser than before… *sigh*… ageing… *sigh*

10. I always daydream of living life as a millionaire.

11. I hate doing selection criterias.  Absolutely hate it!!!  But I’m getting better at it..

12. I’ve just started to really learn how to swim.

13. I still bite my fingernails when I get all freaked out.

14. I have a navel ring – it was a spur of the moment thing years and years ago… I was with my 2 best buddies and we suddenly got the hankering to get it done, 2 of us got navel rings while the other one got a beautiful little butterfly tattoo on her left shoulder blade.

15. I’ve always thought that I’d be married by 25… I got married 4 years late… the wait was very much worth it though because I have the BEST man! 

16. My favorite ice cream brand is Häagen-Dazs® (strawberry flavor).  I can finish off 1 whole pint just like that.  My next favorite is Ben & Jerry’s.

17. I used to collect stationeries and stickers when I was younger – and most of them are still intact.    You see, I can’t even bear to use them.  Now, they’re slowly getting used by my brothers. 

18. I don’t drink or smoke… because I just don’t like them… which is good! 

19. I’ve been in quite a few dancing contests when I was younger, several actually, but, even after all that, I still can’t dance spontaneously… I stand rooted to the spot.  tsk tsk tsk

20. I used to be able to bend back just like that, now… I won’t do it even if you paid me a thousand bucks… I’ll be in extreme pain.

21. I was once a fast runner, 100m in 13secs, that’s fast… I think…he he  well, compared to now.. I can’t even run 100m without hurting my knees. 

22. I get obsessed with counting money when on holidays (according to my husband) 

23. I have 3 chickens namely Martha, Bertha (age 19 months) & Maggie (age 21 weeks).

24. I’m blessed to have an underarm that doesn’t grow wild… in fact, doesn’t grow at all!

25. It’s taken me 2 weeks to complete this. 

Note: I tagged you but it doesn’t mean that you really have to do this… I don’t want to give you the same pressure it gave me… he he he  but, if you feel the inclination to do it too… then by all means!  *wink wink*

Facebook-ing…

Haven’t been blogging much… and I have facebook to blame… he he  looking for something, anything to blame…   But truthfully… I’ve been enjoying facebook-ing too much.  I wrestled with myself for a long time not to sign up with facebook because I have several accounts like that to maintain already… I started with friendster, then came hi5, neatvibe, sms.ac, zedge, multiply… aaaahhhhhhh…. I then dropped everything and just maintained friendster… and even just one is time consuming enough.

I finally succumbed to facebook… even my mother in law is on facebook!!!  ;)  Can you beat that? 

Anyhow… I found that facebook is really good… I can’t fully explain why but people seem to enjoy using it more and so more people are getting in touch and being updated with each other.

So… if you haven’t got one yet… I highly recommend you try it.  Gives you something to do on your spare time.  I probably should charge facebook for advertising.  he he   Alright… what am I doing here… time to facebook again. 

One of my best christmas ever…

How was your Christmas guys?  Hope you had as much fun as I did.  :)  One of the best Christmas I’ve ever had… to have my family here as well would have made it the best ever!    We’re going to start the visa processing soon for my family… fingers crossed everything goes well so they can come here for 2 weeks about March-April.

We met with Max’s family Christmas eve as opposed to the traditional Christmas day gathering cause Julia had to go away to attend the wedding of a friend.  We met late afternoon and went to the park first to open a few play-toy presents.  Julia got Max a remote control car so we played with it for a while, hit some balls and had some drinks.

     

Afterwards, we went back to Julia’s place and cooked a variety of seafood dinner.

The Chin’s in action and the food feast.

  

There was a lot of gifts exchanged around… but one of the best things I got was a GPS navigator… I never have to get lost again!  ha ha ha  Maybe I’m that bad with remembering roads that they (mum & Julia) had to get me one.    I’ve used it several times now and it’s a beauty!!! 

Max bought himself an expensive bike and it has motivated him to ride more… he’s always liked to ride but he’s doing it even more now – which is not a bad thing at all.  And have a look at our christmas tree – it’s a REAL live one.    How awesome is that? 

     

Anyhow… after christmas, Max & I have been catching mussels down by the Swan Yacht Club, abalones down South and crabs right in the city.  Really awesome that we can do that here… this is one of the many reasons why I love Perth.

     

     

Hopefully we’ll get to do some prawning soon too.    For a girl who doesn’t know how to swim, these are all a big accomplishment for me – all thanks to my bub, who takes care of me more than I take care of myself. 

We’ve been cooking & eating the crabs plain, which is absolutely heavenly, makes me really feel blessed to be alive… I might try my hand at chili crabs tonight though… which is fairly easy to make I reckon. 

Happy Christmas everyone!!!

Mad christmas rush…. aahhhhhh………

I’ve been busy for the last few weeks in my new job.  After getting my WA driver’s license, I went straight into looking for work… not expecting that with the economy so bad, big private companies have gone freeze-hiring to cut down their costs.  So, looking for work turned out to be a bigger drama than it was supposed to be.  But, I’ve been blessed yet again.  My sister in law works in a prison as a nurse and as it turns out, they were looking for someone for administration work.

I’ve been working there for 3 weeks now and it’s been great!  Every single day is unique and I meet people from all walks of life.  It really is very interesting… as it is a prison, eventhough it’s minimum supervision, I can’t really write a lot about it as the Australian Government is very strict with these kind of thing.  I wouldn’t want to get into trouble and then be imprisoned there myself… that would be hilarious!  ha ha

I’ve been told that working for the Government is as good as it gets cause they do give a lot of benefits for their citizens… and I have the option later on to move around to other departments if I want to.  We’ll see… I can’t say yet what I’ll be doing for the long term especially with the plan of having a baby next year in mind.  Fingers crossed! 

As I’ve been busy, I haven’t gotten the chance to do christmas shopping… we’ve left it too late and I can’t believe my eyes when I went to the shopping centre the other day and saw the place swarming with people.  It’s not funny!  One afternoon after work, my bub & I went to a shopping centre but couldn’t even park our car, can you imagine that?!?!  We had to go back home with empty hands.

I’ve been away from Manila for some time now and I had forgotten the mad christmas rush… whew!  I told my husband, next year, we better make sure we finish our christmas shopping by October! 

Tomorrow, 19th December, we’re going to the WACA to watch the test cricket match of Australia vs South Africa.  Can’t wait… I will finally get to see my boyfriend Brett Lee.  ha ha ha

     

He’s gorgeous isn’t he?    Whenever we watch cricket on TV, Max would always make a comment when Brett Lee comes out either to bowl or to bat.  He’ll say, “Your boyfriend’s batting now…”, he always makes that comment because then, when Brett Lee gets bowled out with just a few overs, he can make fun of him.  ha ha ha

Anyhow… gotta go to the shop now and get some stuff to bring tomorrow to the WACA and we might be having visitors over the weekend so I gotta buy more food.

Happy Christmas to all!!!

On turning 30…

Happy birthday to me!

I’ve never been a biggy on age… but somehow… turning 30 seems to undeniably, somehow affect me a little bit.  It forced me to think back and look deep and see what I’ve accomplished up to this stage of my life.  I’m very happy as it is but like everyone else, I want more.  Here’s to many more failures, but to even more successes! 

Didn’t really do anything extra special… just dined out with my bub’s family at Jetty’s Restaurant in Hillary’s Boat Harbour.  Everyone enjoyed the food as there’s plenty to choose from and also, base on our experience, it’s a great blend and low fat too.  We chose this place because my bub knows how much I love smorgasboard (buffet).  My appetite really is not what it used to be though… I give up easily now just after a few plateful…  Have to really admit that I’m getting more “mature”.  he he

Got my Australian Driver’s License!!!

Yeeha!  Passed my practical driving test!    One less thing to worry about… I’m slowly but surely becoming an Australian Citizen. 

P.S. If you’re from overseas and have some questions about how to get the driver’s license, please, feel free to drop me a note.  I know how it feels to be so far away from home, family and friends.  There’s no one to help you out so you have to find out everything by yourself… so just drop me a note and I’ll help you in any way I can. 

Honeymoon in Bali…

Has it been 3 weeks already?!?!  Where did the days go?  It was only like yesterday when my bub & I were preparing to leave…

Since both of us were pretty busy with this & that, we didn’t pack until almost the last minute… couldn’t say we struggled though… we’re quite the professionals in light packing nowadays.  he he  packed a very few selection of clothing, a few essential toiletries (especially sun block), some first aid kit, snorkeling gear & not to forget, my bub’s surfboard… and off we go.

As I’ve always said, I love the food in Bali so that’s what we did… we delved immediately into the local food.  Some of our favorites are: Nasi Campur, Sari Laut, Ayam Pelecing & Kangkung Pelecing & Seafood at Jimbaran Bay.  That’s just to name a few.  I’m sure there are a lot more local food that we haven’t discovered…yet.

Nasi Campur:  Basically, is mixed rice.  It is a very classic Indonesian favorite.  Most shops set up their stalls with different kinds of meats, veggies, chili, etc. for you to choose from.  If the choices are too much for you, just tell them you want a nasi campur and they are more than happy to serve you a nicely made up delectable plate.  Not to mention it’s pretty cheap too.

  

That’s what we ate most of the time in Bali but beware, if you have a weak stomach, be extra careful lest you suffer from what they famously call Bali Belly.  I’m sure I don’t have to elaborate what it is. 

Sari Laut: From what we gathered, Sari means fried, Laut means seafood.  However, choices include duck and chicken.  We asked one of the local ladies why this is the case and they couldn’t tell us either… oh well.    I don’t really mind as long as the food is good.  he he  We normally order fish and chicken… and of course served with the chili that goes with it.  One interesting thing about these Sari Laut stalls is that in the morning, it’s normally an auto shop.  And then in the evening, they set up shop outside.    You’d be able to find some Sari Laut stalls in the morning but very very few.

Ayam Pelecing & Kangkung Pelecing are very famous Lombok dishes.  A good place to get this is in Ayam Bakar Taliwang Bersaudara located in Imam Bonjol, Jalan Raya Kuta.  Word of caution, it’s VERY HOT!  You can order the chicken either just a little bit hot or spicy hot.  For people not really used to hot food, I would suggest you order the mild one because the kangkung pelecing will provide you with all the heat you will ever need.

  

At Jimbaran, we always go to Warung Ramayana, located in Jalan Pemelisan Agung, Jimbaran; tel no: +62.361.702859.  Here, you dine by the beach with the waves crashing just a few feet away and a band to serenade you, not to mention the million of stars overhead.  You choose from a variety of seafood: crab, lobster, prawn, clam, squid, fish, etc.  You tell them whether you like it baked or grilled.  We normally have them grilled.    There are heaps of restaurant along these stretch of beach but in my opinion, Ramayana is the best… they normally have the most number of customers too.

     

It was in Jimabran also that we had our first taste of Sambal Matah.  I didn’t know then that was what it was called… we only found out the name by accident and I’m so glad we did.  I have been trying it out since we’ve come back… and I would say I’m pretty close to making it almost perfect.    It’s good to go with almost any food!

Have I got your taste buds piqued now?    These are definitely must trys.  We always make it a point to eat these stuff whenever we’re in Bali. 

Note: As this was our umpteenth time in Bali, we didn’t take many photos… I had to source out some of these photos from the web for illustration purposes.

On our second week there, my bub got sick – it’s pretty weird too.  Let me share it with you as it may help you.  One evening, he told me that he feels like he’s getting sick.  The next morning, he woke up with muscles all sore and with a bit of fever.  But then with a bit of rest, he then wakes up in the middle of the day ready for some adventure.  After about an hour or so, he then becomes so weak again that it renders him incapable of doing anything else for the rest of the day.  This went on for a few days… I was thinking already of bringing him to the hospital if need be.  Then he flipped through the lonely planet book and saw that what he was suffering from is very similar to dehydration so he went out and got some hydration salts.  From then on, he got better and better.  We never would have thought that was it because he was drinking lots of water and weeing a lot too.  But anyhow… if you ever feel fatigued for no apparent reason, try taking hydration salt.  It just might help.

We went to Nusa Lembongan towards the end of our second week.  It’s a small island off Bali.  It’s a quiet place with lots of good snorkeling and diving spots.  To get there, you have to go to a port in Sanur & pay about Rp80,000 to get across by public boat.  They do have speed boats on offer but of course at a much higher cost.

In the island, we hired a small boat that took us surfing, fishing and snorkeling.  On our third day there, we went to Ceningan Point.  While my bub went surfing, I stayed on the boat and fished with Kade, our boat-man (contact number: +62.878.61253588), he’s nice and speaks pretty good english too.  Lo and behold, we caught some big fishes (albeit losing a few)!!!  On a hand line!!!

     

Man, I even got some line burns on my fingers because the fish was just pulling on my line and trying to get away.  I had to pass on my line to Kade several times so that he can help me pull the fish out of the water.  They call it snapper, but then, they call a lot of their fishes snapper… so I don’t really know what this species of fish is.  What I can tell you is this: It’s absolutely YUMMY!!!  We took one home and gave the other one to Kade.  Had ours grilled when we got back to our hotel and served with no less than the Sambal Matah. 

From this:

  

Reduced to this (in less than an hour, no kidding, I checked, he he):

YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM! YUMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that was the highlight of our trip!  Now it’s back to reality time.  I’m scheduled to take my pratical driving license test next Tuesday, for a girl who came from a country which had almost no driving rules, it’s certainly going to be difficult.  I can still remember my driving test in Manila.  The instructor told me to get into the car, drive the car forward for about 30 meters, and that was it!  Tsk tsk tsk!  Sad but true!  Anyhow… crossing my fingers that everything’s going to be good.

More pictures from our trip:

Max doing his best to do the Bali Dance.

A yummy steamboat dinner we had in Sanur.

Stayed at Bungalo 7 in Nusa Lembongan.  I think we had the best located room in the whole place. 

     

Having a meat feast in a Mediterranean Restaurant at the Bali Collections Shopping Center in Nusa Dua.