Dear Sofia...

I promised to myself that every year or even monthly i will make a letter for you anak. Last year, i did. but then i wasnt able to finish it :( but i was able to write it. Dont worry i will still keep it and give it to you once you learn how to read :)

Dear Anak,

Happy 2nd birthday anak! Imagine you already giving mommmy and daddy two wonderful years and counting?:) Thanks anak for everything. You really never fail to amaze us.We love everything about you sweetie.your tricks,your wiggle wiggle dance,your dance moves,your pacute pose,your smartness,everything anak..EVERYTHING....

When you turned 18 months i stopped counting the words that you can say.Because everyday there's a new words in your vocabulary.You really amazed us darling. When we had our regular pedia check up in manila, you were 22 months that time. your pedia asked me if you can already say 30 words atleast. Then i told her in a very very proud voice, its actually more than 70 words! :) She told me that you're such a smart girl. You made me and daddy so proud again baby..When you learned how to say daddy and mommy clearly, thats the best,priceless,heaven word i have ever heard in my entire life. I really never thought that someone would call me that and even daddy. And right now anak, super sa dami mo ng alam na words! super talaga! You can make a sentence na :) You never stop surprising us.

You're such a book lover too! whenever you see books you will go crazy and will tell me "mommy open read book " that's one of my dream for you...to be a book lover :) You made it come true baby.. Hay anak daddy and mommy are so proud of you and ofcourse blessed :)

This is your first visit to the library and you enjoyed reading books!:)

Oh By the way, i know someday you will be like your daddy and ninong john who is really good at art. At this age, you really know how to hold a pen and you know how to draw lines and circle. And most of the time you use your imagination, like you said you are drawing eyes, ear,house, car,etc but you only draw lines. and sometimes you even draw mommy's face haha

The other day, while we were having our routine body wash before bed time, you suddenly said,"Baby its hot " in a very very clear voice. I always tell you that not to touch the water first because i need to check if its hot,cold or warm. I cant believe what i heard, you are now trying to copy mommy! hahaha!


You know anak, daddy and mommy are so proud of you. You changed alot. You used to be a shy baby. that you would hide up your face whenever strangers look at you. But now, you are shy no more! you can interact with other people now, and you even show them your bibo moves!And u even learned how to "bless" or "mano"in tagalog to give respect to older people.. You made us proud anak.

This September your going to school na.Mixed emotions. I think i'm gonna cry on your first day. But Dont worry anak mommy will be alright it's just that cant believe that you'll start to face the reality,the real world.i really pray that you wont have a hard time in your school, i know naman you wont kasi your a fast learner and one smart kid! It's just that i cant imagine you inside the classroom with other strangers/students. For me it's too early but i have no choice anak,if i didnt let you go to school this year,you'll be late in hk academics and the school that me and daddy wants for you will not accept you because they want students to enroll at their nursery first.Dont worry anak we will not pressure you :) Just enjoy your schooling :) Remember daddy and mommy will be the coolest parents? :) And dont worry anak even if mommy is working i'll come to rescue you if someone tries to bully you. Lagot sila sakin! :))

This is your admission school picture anak. daddy took this picture! :)

Baby,don't worry daddy and mommy will not be tired of you. Even up to now, you still wakes up in the middle of the night and ask for milk and we need to change diapers. You really have to thank dad for this bec he is always the one who will make milk and change your diaper. There was one time baby, It was saturday, I think it's 6 am and we were all sleeping then i suddenly heard you cry and calling out "mommy mommy mommy" i thought you are awake but when i looked at you, you're just dreaming, your eyes are close then suddenly you opened it a little then you saw me,you stopped crying and you went back to your sleep. You made me feel anak that i am the best mom in the world.

Again, thank you baby ko for everything.Thanks for giving us meaningful life. You are the meaning of our life. You made us proud not only me and daddy but the whole agtarap and pagilagan family.Anak, just always remember we love you so much. and We will do anything and everything for you. You are our world,our universe, strength,our inspiration,our happines,our other half and our Life... Again, Happy 2nd Birthday my little princess Sofia Jae. Dont grow up too fast please? :) Love you 'nak! :)

Love always,

♥♥♥Daddy and Mommy :)♥♥♥

Almost all Set!:)

3 days to go til my baby's 2nd birthday party ( 1 day to go till she turn 2! ) I am praying that my DIY party will turn out the way i dream/wanted to be! It's really hard for me to source out materials here. Very limited materials plus super pricey!

• Balloons - Done! Bought it at Simply love :) Super love this shop!:) but Imagine we bought the balloons for 1,000 hkd! that means 6,000 php! OA! No decoration,delivery fee etc yan just balloons. But anyway,what is important naman is that my baby girl will be so happy once she see the balloons that we bought :)



• Venue - We already paid the full amount last saturday. I just have to finalized how many tables and chairs i need. We've got around 50-60 adult guest and 25 Kids. :)
  


• Menu - All finalized! :)



• My cake/candy bar - I am almost done shopping for candies,gummies and jars. And the banner that my brother made( again thanks to him for helping me and ofcourse thanks to my ideas and concepts.haha!) we have already picked that up 3 weeks ago :) Btw i am so happy, i was supposed to DIY a cupcake tower but then i realized that i can use it for my own later on since i like to bake naman so we just decided to buy my own cupcake tower! Yipeeee! I've been dreaming for this! and finally, after the long search, i already found a candy scooper!!! It's kinda pricey since it's wilton but i have no choice. hehe Super happineess!!!

Oh btw, i even bought cotton candy maker! :) We had fun trying the cotton candy! Super aliw! hehe For the flavors, i bought the strawberry,pineapple,grape and orange! :)

• Birthday Girl Sofia's dress - All Set! :)



• Mommy/Daddy's Outfit - checked! :)
  


• Souvenirs/Loot Bags - Just waiting for it to arrive :)



• Cake/Cupcakes/Themed Cookies - Done! :) So excited for this! :)
  


• Loot Content - Done! Hope the kids will love everything!

• Prizes - Done! :)



• Party Utensils (Fork&Spoon,Plates and cups) - Done!
  
  Did i miss out anything? hopefully none... Promise to share with you our DIY decorations! ( maybe after the party since this coming days will be sooo busy for sure! ) Can't wait to share pictures! :)

♥Happy Birthday Daddy!♥

To the most sweetest,loving,responsible,handsome husband and daddy in the world, Happy happy happy 28th birthday daddy! Wishing you more blessings,good health always and more success in your career:) We are so proud and blessed to have you :) I am sooo lucky to have you as my husband and a daddy to our little princess. Thank you for taking very good care of our family. Thank you for making my life easy each day, for being hands on daddy, you made my sleepless night easier, that i dont have to wake up in the middle of the night just to change sofia's diaper. I can't imagine my life without. I always thank God for giving you to me. You're the best daddy! Thank you for everything.We love you soooooooooo much dad! ♥♥♥ You are our everything too! :) Btw, we decided to just have a simple celebration at home. I just prepared and cooked spaghetti, honey glazed chicken and since i have no time to bake, we just bought a cake from maxims. Happy birthday daddy! :)

Look who is so lucky to have 2 beautiful girls around and who got sweet kisses! It's daddy! :D

All the best dad! We love you to bits! ♥♥♥

Oh Two-oooodles! A Minnie Mouse Party!:)

"Oh Toodles!" This is one of sofia's fave word to say if she see minnie mouse and friends :P she would instantly say "oh toodles" with matching the hand pa. too cute i swear. If your a parent for sure you know what is "Oh Toodles" Or if you're curious try it to watch disney jr mickey mouse clubhouse! :) And once she marinig and makita nya ang mickey clubhouse. she will dance! esp the hotdog dance! hahaha You're tooooo cute talaga anak! :)

Anyways,this year for her 2nd birthday its gonna be a Minnie Mouse Theme!:)and this time its really her choice!:) She's really a minnie mouse fanatic!:) I am incorporating polkadots and candyland party to a minnie mouse themed! It's a girly girly theme!:) Wieeeee! I am so excited! :)

Sharing her cute invite made by her ever artistic ninong john :) Thank God for a talented brother :D but ofcourse credits to me for the design and concept hehe :D

Sofia's 2nd Birthday DIY party preps! :D

It's less than a month and it's my little girl 2nd birthday party! Excited and at the same time kinda sad haha bec she is growing too fast. sigh, how time flies talaga. oh well, i cant do anything about it :D

Initially we wanted to celebrate her 2nd birthday in manila but then after the discussion ( read here related blog ) we decided to celebrate her birthday here.and that means if we celebrate party here its gonna be more of DIY party which is more challenging and exciting :)

So last october, we went to see a venue. Ofcourse i wanted something different for my daughter's party. Usually parties here are only held in a fast food chain and a playhouse and they dont decorate. Or if we celebrate it in a hotel or restaurant for sure there will be a lot of rules and corkages .So i searched for a place that i can decorate and do everything i want inshort not strict.So we wanted to something a like a clubhouse :)

Actually when i saw the place in one of my friend in fb, i fell inlove with it instantly. with the help of my mareng eryne, she accompanied me and arman to the park island:) The clubhouse is located in an island! yes, an island!guests will have to take a 10 min ferry going to the island. :) Imagine the view? ahhh! perfect! or they can take bus but will take them longer travel time. When we got there, we had the chance to see the place and i must say its super super nice and perfect. it's an overlooking of the tsing ma bridge (one of the longest bridge in the world! ) But ofcourse its gonna be sooo cold! So be ready :P

Sneak Peak of Blue Blue Club at Park Island :) too bad we werent able to take pic of the outside view. thats the entrance. me and eryne. Not so good pic against the light.


So there,after the venue hunt. The next thing will be the caterer. Actually they have their own catering, but then since i wanted to have filipino foods and i wanted to get our own caterer. And bigla ko naisip my mom in law so when we went to manila last month,we told her our plans that sofia's birthday will be here and asked her if she can be our caterer. :D ofcourse she said yes! woohooo! atleast alam ko na masarap ang luto :D unlike if i get other catering :) But after finalizing our guests, i will invite some of my chinese officemates who have kids,so what i will do now is to order 3 menu from their in-house catering and 4 menu from my mom inlaw. :)

Bought 2 chafing dish by the way for the foods the will be cooked at home:) Oh di ba pwede na ako magcater hahaha btw, I still need 2 more :) ( LOL,sorry for the background :P )

I am still finalizing our menu but what i have in mind right now for the pinoy foods are chicken lollipop,morcon,spaghetti and ofcourse my mom in law's specialty,palabok! :D Yipeeeee! i am getting excited! till my next blog! :D promise to share with you our diy stuff and decoration! :D there's a lot more to come! :D

Welcoming 2012!

Happy New Year Everyone! First of all i want to say Thank you Lord for everything,for all the blessings that we received.For making our 2011 a smooth and blessed year :) Thank you for keeping my family and esp my baby girl safe and healthy :) May our 2012 be more blessed. please keep us always healthy and safe :) Cheers to 2012!:)

My little girl enjoying our new year with a torotot! :P

We had simple celebration at home. It was our first New Year in our "own" house :) I cooked and prepared everything. It was super tiring bec we went out pa that morning to buy some stuffs for sofia's birthday and i accompanied hubby to hair salon. But ofcourse,it's all worth it naman. The reason why i love to cook is my family. :)

Anyways, here whats i cooked and prepared! Oh yes, i cooked everything! :D

Puto, Lumpiang Toge, Liempo, Fish Fillet, Buttered chicken wings,Baked Lasagna and Lechen Flan :)

Striking a pose before eating media noche! :P

Sorry anak i had to post this. haha! too excited to eat the fruits!

Thank you Lord for giving me this kind of family :)

Still finalizing my new year's resolution/wishes hahaha! Keep you posted :P Cheers everyone! :D

Sofia's 1st Magazine Appearance!

What a nice advance birthday gift! :D

Wieeee! I was surprised when one of my friend messaged me in fb. She was asking me if i know that my sofia is in smart parenting kiddie greets section. I didnt had idea at all talaga. But ofcourse when i submitted her picture, i am confident that she'll be chosen ( ofcourse, thats my daughter and im very proud of her :D )

So there,i immediately told everyone,i asked daddy if he can call up my mom in law to buy for us the magazine. But then since ofcourse she cant buy right away kasi busy sa business. then i tried my luck lang, i asked my brother if he can ask favor for me to his gf :) Luckily, She said yes! woooohooo!!! :D But ofcourse, bago ko pa makuha yung magazine mga 2-3 days pa. Eh di na ako makahintay. so i asked her if she can take pic of the magazine. And after a while, got her email na.. I'm such a happy and proud mom! :) It's not every kid will have the chance to be part of a well known magazine dba :) Even if its a small section.Atleast nakita sya sa magazine:)We are sooooooo proud of you anak :)

Smart parenting Jan-Feb 2012 Issue. My Sofia Jae's first public appearance :)