Processing

Process.

I first encountered the word when I was still teaching at the Ateneo Grade School. We often used this word to evaluate and explain, reason out and teach our students valuable lessons from the experiences that they had, both bad and good, in school. It was a must especially in times where we encountered some problems or conflicts inside the classroom.

So, why am I writing about it now?

Well, last Friday, Liam was a bit upset because he "lost" in a Wii game with a son of a family friend. He only placed second from his Kuya, who is much older than him.

It was only when we got home when he cried his heart out and vented out his frustration for this recent experience. I had to process it. Alvin had to process it as well with him.

It was a challenging task for the two of us (Alvin and I) because we were flooded with all the tips and advices of things we should and should not tell our kids, based on articles and seminars we have atteneded. It was a challenging and tiring task, it was almost 12 midnight and Liam still didn't want to rest the issue even if I and his Papa took turns already in explaining and processing the experience with him.

I know this is just one of the many more experiences to come that will require processing on our part, so he can learn a lesson and for us to impart the values we want him to grow up with.

Proves once again how hard and challenging it is to become a parent and to raise children.

OA sa Aga!

I can't hide my excitement! :)


I'm done with my final paper and is just in the process of reviewing it before I submit it. Next week, I will attend my last class :) Thank you, Lord!

I started pooling the clothes which we will be using for our holidays. We plan to just bring 7 sets of clothes (for going out), 2 sets of sleepwear and 2 sets of pambahay, and of course our swimming attires. We think this should be enough, because we're sure that we will be buying a few new clothes for us and many for the kids wehehe. I asked my mom not to send anymore the new clothes she just bought for the kids and to just wait for us, saving us additional kg from our luggages. I can also just borrow clothes from my sister hehehe. We plan to buy Sam's party dress in Manila. I still haven't decided what to buy her. Anyway, I have a lot to choose from in Manila. That I am sure of. A huge task awaits me as I start to pack lightly for our flight. Most of the stuff that Alvin will be bringing home are additional pasalubongs and the chocolates we will be using as adult souvenirs for Sam's party. :) We decided that before we fly to Manila, I have already packed his luggages as well.

I need to distract myself because I know if I pack this early I might end up forgetting something, so everything is just on a pile on our extra room. It's a mess, alright!

To date, I have booked our hotel in Cebu. In the process of choosing the best deal for our Cebu City tour. This part of our trip will be another blog entry :)

Sam's party venue has been booked. Oh, I forgot to mention that I was finally able to talk with the person-in-charge and got a date for food tasting for Caterer B and for ocular inspection. Yipee! I also got the rates for the food carts ;)

I have yet to book my date with the "salon" (yes, finally, my hair will get its much needed treatment/s!) and the derma and the spa. :)

Alvin's ticket will be issued before the end of the month (keeping my fingers crossed).

There are still a lot of to-dos but I will do it a week at a time :)

For now, I will distract myself by wrapping the Christmas presents I have already bought early this year for family and friends based here in Sydney. Hehe OA sa aga no! Well, that's me.

Liam's Progress in Reading (and Spelling)

Early this year, I started my mini-experiment. Teaching my son how to read and spell simple words. His first sight word was "the." Now, we don't have any problems with the word, he can easily recognize and read it when he sees it on magazines and newspapers.

For a time, I got distracted and lost my enthusiasm -- an attack of "tamaditis", thinking he will learn to read in the big school. Good thing I got to my senses and continued my mini-experiment. Like how I started, I am in no hurry. I will only introduce a new word until such time that I can sense that he has mastered and can already transfer his learning.

Liam is making good progress.

He does need prompting every now and then but in general, he does it all by himself, 80% of the time.

Right now his sight words are as follows:
the, in, on, of, be, with, you and your.

He can easily read and spell all of it except for "with." He needs assistance when he is asked to spell that word, but he has no problems reading it.

I'm happy with my son's progress. Now, when I read books to him and I encounter some of his sight words, I point it to him and let him be the one to read it. During non-school days, I make my own activity sheets and let him do the exercises to test if he is learning. One of these days, I will take his video spelling the words and will post it as well.

I'm glad I decided to resume this project.

I'm just a bit worried that I might not be able to do it with Sam, since I am anticipating that by the time she is Liam's age now, I'll be back to work. Well, I guess I better make an effort too!

Party Planning from Overseas

I still have one pending school requirement, but I just can't keep my mind off Sam's birthday!

Excited? hmmm, konti lang...lol

I have always had this thing with planning things. It didn't start with my wedding. I have had this since I can remember. So imagine the thrill that I experience whenever I start planning my own event! :)

Two things though to always keep in mind when it comes to my kids' events:
a. to be practical -- spending our money wisely and
b. do what I did with our eldest, with our youngest

The thrill and excitement is the same, except for one: this time, I'm planning and preparing everything from overseas.

My realization? It's hard.

It's a challenge because even if I have my family back home to do some errands for me for the party, they can only do so much. I can't force them to do it the way I would have done it if I am there. They are working and I know and I have to understand that I'm just asking a favor and they will do it on their convenient time.

I know it's still 3 months away, but can you blame me? Of course I will (or, make that we hehe) be shelling out money for the party (a 2-hour party) and I would only want to have something good for the value of the money we're spending. Yes, compared with Liam's before and now, we're much more financially prepared to spend, but I think it should not be an excuse for me to just spend, spend and spend, right?

The venue is booked.

What I want to do now is get feedback from the other caterer (and possibly a food tasting session as well), the venue just accredited and see if it's better than the other one (old caterer we had with Liam's). The only thing I can do is to ring the venue, ask if they have a scheduled party with Caterer B so I can send someone to watch and give me feedback. I'm considering Caterer B because the price for their best package is just the 3rd best Option for Caterer A. I'm just toying with the idea: can I rely on the company's accreditation standards for me to choose it? I mean, they won't get accredired if their food and services were not good, right? But I still want to play it safe. Aside from the program, the food is the next most important factor in a party. You want to make your guests happy too, right?

Second, I already want to know the prices for their Cotton Candy and Ice Cream Carts. Why? Because like in Liam's case before, I hired a trusted face painter even if it means I had to pay an extra Php500 corkage because I still ended up paying less than by getting Tom's own face painter (and I wasn't sure if he is good). It wasn't printed in the contract or flyer -- the exact cost, so I was ringing them a couple of times already (yep, overseas call!) but I can't talk to the person in charge. I want to know if it's cheaper to get these suppliers from outside (plus the corkage for each cart) than to get their in-house supplier. Unlike with Liam before, the prices were clearly printed in the flyer. I guess not all of their clients avail of these carts, so they just made it into "other options/services."

The overall plan is done. The loots are ready to be shipped to Manila. Funds are ok (I think hehehe). I just have to wait until the party date gets nearer.The little things I can do now, I will do. I'm giving myself until the end of August. When the "ber" months starts (and I'm done with all my school work by that time)I'll move mountains so I can already get what I need (and want!) for the party.

The waiting part is killing me. ;)

Aja!

Another lesson learned the hard way.

Well, I thought our dilemma was resolved already, but it wasn't. Well, at least just before hubby arrived from work today.

This morning, I decided to pass by he office of our travel agent, since I was already in the area. Hubby's leave was already approved yesterday and so we decided to contact our travel agent by today.

When I informed our travel agent of our plan to re-book our flight, I asked her how much I needed to pay her. Lo and behold, we had to shell out another $1160 just by moving my and the kids' flight to Manila on the same day as hubby's.

The breakdown:
$225 - change fee (for re-issue of the ticket and the admin fee of the ticketing office of our travel agent) This is for each passenger!
$140 - tax difference between the time we paid in full and the present rate of the tax. Again, this is per person.
$ 70 - fare difference for the kids. So multiply by 2.

I was shocked! More than a thousand? That's big money! I can spend that for shopping (hehehe) or it can already cover for a return trip ticket, may sukli ka pa!

I called on hubby and we decided to sit down and review our options. Good thing, Pauline, the travel agent who handled our inquiry this morning, was very accomodating, and gave suggestions on how we can settle our problem.

Option 1: ALvin moves his flight earlier to join us. That way we only have to shell out $225. --> Can't be! Since he only has 3 weeks leave, if he moves his flight one week earlier, we'll still end up moving our flight back to Sydney, one week earlier so we can all go home at the same time.

Option 2: Alvin moves his flight to join us. As soon as we get to Manila, we contact PAL and have our flights re-booked. That way we don't have to pay the change fee. But we'll still end up paying around $600 for the rebooking fee AND there is no assurance that we'll still have a slot on the date and time that we prefer. So, NO.

Option 3: Instead of spending the money for paying the fees, why not use the money to ask my BIL or SIL to come over for a two-week visit and put their return flight to Manila on the same flight as ours, so at least, I have another adult with during the flight. --> Seriously considered.

Option 4: ASk our Uncle and Aunt who will be having their holidays as well in Manila, if their flight is the same as ours, then problem solved, pronto! --> Sad to say, different airlines and different dates. Well, the good thing that came out from my chat with Auntie Weng was she gave me the push and assurance that I will be ok with it, considering ours is a direct flight. Assistance anyways are given to senior, preggy and passengers with infants on flights, right?

Option 5: Stick with our original plan, I fly with the kids and he follows the week after. Amend some of our things to-do like not bringing any check-in luggage to make it easier for me to travel and to focus on just the essentials -- forms and of course, our kids!

Final decision? Option 5.

Kaya ko yan, with a lot of prayers, and mind conditioning, I know I can.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

Aja!

To Move!

I consulted a friend yesterday about my dilemma. She already had an experience travelling with her kids (almost same age as mine) and based on her e-mail, we have finally decided to move our flight to the same date as Alvin's.

I overlooked some of the things she mentioned on her e-mail, like attending to both of their needs while on the plane, keeping them busy, toilet breaks, etc etc etc. Thank God it's been resolved.

Now the harder task is I have to course through our change of date with our travel agent again?! Hay. How I wish I could have done it directly with PAL.

Hubby's ticket is still pending since they said they will be waiting for the promotional price of the tickets from PAL...well, I visited their website and saw that they already have an on-going promotion for only $890 with tax and that also covers our travel dates. Made me think again, where is my hubby's ticket?!

Well, come to think of it, maybe the reason why we are experiencing some MAJOR delays for hubby's ticket is this: our decision to change the date of our flight.

Can't wait to finish dealing with them.

To Move or Not to Move?

I have a dilemma.

My family and I are going to Manila later this year to have a short holiday, with family and friends, and to celebrate our baby girl's 1st birthday as well.

At the planning stage, we agreed that I and the two kids will go one week earlier than hubby. So me and the kids will be in Manila for a month and hubby just for 3 weeks. Hubby cannot stay and won't stay for more than 3 weeks on holidays. He finds it inappropriate and too long, even if he still has extra 2 weeks of leave.

So, we booked and paid for our tickets. Tickets have been issued.

Hubby's ticket is still not issued as we are still waiting for the travel agency to finalize it. (His ticket has a story of its own).

Now, in less than 100 days, we will be flying already, but I have been receiving feedback/opinions/concerns regarding our arrangement from friends. They worry that I might have a hard time handling/caring for the two kids on the 8-hour trip from Sydney to Manila, all by myself.

Now, we are seriously considering the option that we move our flight to the same date as hubby's. Well, what will I miss in 7 days, if I cut my trip short from a month to 3 weeks?

It's just that thought that I might as well stay longer anyways, we're there already, right? But I have to weigh the pros and cons. In addition to these is the fact that I wanted to go home earlier so I can already prepare for Sam's birthday. I'm finding it hard to prepare when I'm so many miles away! Yes, I get to ask the help of family based in Manila, but it's different when I'm the one personally doing it. I can do it my way. I can't ask too much if I am nakiki-paki. Hay! Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma!

Hope it gets settled soon!