Ema Isabel is here! :)

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After 4 nights of false labor contractions, I finally went into true labor last March 4 and gave birth to our second baby at 10:02pm via normal delivery :-) Ema Isabel weighed 2.7kg and measured 47cm in length, just a bit heavier than her Ate Iya who was very happy to finally see her.Ü

It's been 36hrs since Ema came to us, and though it's been very hectic having a newborn AND a toddler in a hospital room, Labsie and I are coping quite well. Iya is very attached to us and refused to go home with my parents, and so we're stuck with 2 babies. Oh well, what won't kill us will just make us stronger, right? Hehe!Ü

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Leap Day Zen

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I'm currently zoning out here in Abreeza (430pm), trying to find inner peace on the very special date of Feb29 :-) 'Me time' moments like this are very rare and I'm glad 2012's extra day is turning out supah fine for me!

Our 'leap day' started early with my 39th week OB checkup at 9am- I'm still in early labor, gahh! The waiting continues.. Up next was my last session of prenatal yoga. Will surely miss Alex of The Pod and our mommy talks!Ü

Lunch was sushi buffet for only P250 at Teriyaki Boy. I was very, very full :-P Before lunch was over, our toddler fell asleep on my chest! Was forced to stay in the resto til she woke up 1hour later o_O

Hubby had career matters and left us after lunch (he's still not back now, 3hrs+ later!). Thank god my MIL was around and she watched our toddler play in Wonderland and Abreeza's atrium playground :-) And so here I am alone, pondering about my life and mobile blogging our Leap Day 2012!Ü

P.S. Pic above is our after-yoga tea in The Pod. Perfect, calming end after an hour of stretching!

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Lucho's Baptism!

Another KADA celebration with all the kids present! A very rare moment :) From left: hubby, Iya & 38wks+ pregnant me :: BFF Chin & baby Ysha :: Mems, Charo & ate Lianne :: HS lovers Amats & Pidja with the newly christened baby :: BFF Jinky & Madz, the proud parents of the now-Christian baby Lucho! :) Here's to more joyous Kada celebrations!

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early Valentines date :)

La Boutique is a small French restaurant in Plaza del Carmen, Obrero, Davao City. It is beside The Pod where I attend my prenatal yoga class.Ü Yesterday, hubby and our toddler Iya had their first date there :) I was having my yoga class next door while they were eating delectable French food in the resto. I was a bit scared leaving them alone (never left them before except in playhouse!) but I figured it's about time father & daughter had a date :) Great timing too as it was just before Valentines Day, i.e. they escaped the VDay horde.

Anyway, hubby & Iya ate seafood pasta, strawberry sorbet and the in-house bread + pesto appetizer. The pasta was super delish!! They saved some for me which I devoured after my yoga class ^__^ We'll definitely be back and try other dishes! Hopefully it will just be me and hubby on a kid-less date. Hehe!Ü Have an awesome Valentines Day everyone! Remember, celebrate love every day, and not just on VDay!

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Prenatal Yoga :)

Hello from The POD! Davao's only store where you can go barefoot while shopping :) Alex Hao's store also doubles as a Lamaze / Prenatal Yoga studio. Two years ago, hubby and I attended Alex's Lamaze class in Brokenshire Hospital. Now she has her own lovely, relaxing place :) Just finished my first session of yoga here and we're just sipping yummy tea + trading horror stories about labor, hehe!

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♥ 27 weeks today ♥

In some pregnancy books, 27-28 weeks is the start of the seventh month. And the 7th month is the start of the third trimester. WOW! This second pregnancy of ours is sure is going fast :) Our EDD is early March 2012, 3 more months to go!

http://babyblues2010.blogspot.com/2009/11/pregnancy-breakdown.html

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stretch marks galore! :p

It's not our second baby's fault actually. When I was pregnant with Iya, I got stretch marks in my belly around the 35th week. The picture at left was from my 31st week where I boasted I didn't have any stretch marks. As you can see my belly is smooth and oh-so clear :) A friend commented she thought she didn't have stretch marks in her first pregnancy too, that is until she gave birth and finally saw the marks on her flat baby-less belly. One month after her comment, I saw my first stretch marks, gahh!! Thank god the marks were small and stayed like that til I gave birth to Iya :) The marks eventually faded without any post-partum interventions (i.e. cream or lotions) on my part. Sad to say, the stretch marks came back with a vengeance now, in my second pregnancy.. *sigh*

What's more, unlike in my first pregnancy, I wasn't active in stretch marks prevention this time around. Before, I started my anti-stretch mark regimen after the first trimester. I rubbed on natural lotion on my belly every single night. My sister-in-law even suggested to use olive oil which she used and my mom swears my SIL has no stretch marks in her belly at all! I found that encouraging but I never got around to using olive oil as it is too icky for me :p Anyway, this time around, I haven't put any anti-stretch mark cream or lotion in my belly since the second pregnancy began. Hopefully, I can find the best stretch mark cream before I go into my third trimester (I'm on the 6th month now) and apply it on my belly like crazy til I give birth! Maybe I'll even give olive oil a try :p Hopefully it will discourage any new marks to appear (on belly, arms, breasts and thighs) and will help remove the old. Will probably write an update on this stretch marks affair after I give birth. Maybe even post before/after photos if my belly doesn't look too horrifying! Hehe!

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baby in the bun! :)

As promised in the last post, here's my "official" blog announcement regarding our second pregnancy :) Sad to say, unlike our first pregnancy, there's hardly no documentation this time around :( With Iya, I made a baby blog and a Facebook album chronicling the 10months of carrying her to term. I just hope our second kid won't mind. It's been very hectic being pregnant while taking care of a very active toddler (I'm a hands-on mom, no nanny). And forget housework, I only get things done when hubby's off from work or when Iya is asleep -_-

Anyway, I announced my current pregnancy via Google Plus (G+) when I was about 5 1/2 months. If you want to follow my pregnancy updates, go here: http://gplus.to/melissasolito :) If there's one thing good with this pregnancy is the fact that I have G+ to stimulate my brain and have crazy fun! To those who say G+ is dead, you clearly don't know how to make your Stream interesting! If you're tired of the useless updates, gossip, spam and endless game notifications from Facebook, go check Google Plus! But don't blame me if you get addicted :p And yes, G+ IS addicting!

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beaches to casinos to stinky tofus to mall tripping

The title just about sums up the 4 years of family vacations we had. Though, technically, the first family vacay (beaches) was our honeymoon and the second one (casinos) was our babymoon. I was 4 months pregnant with our first baby then :) The third one (stinky tofus) was truly our first "family of 3" vacay and our most recent one (mall tripping), just this October, was kinda like "family of 3 + 1 in the bun" vacay. Yep, folks, we're pregnant again! o_O But I will reserve the second pregnancy story for another post, heehee!

BEACHES

Back in 2008, the place we honeymooned was still kinda a secret vacay spot. I never blogged about it (did not even share photos in FB!) coz I wanted it to remain a secret place ;-) However, other people who went there blogged about it as the place is truly awesome! Now, Coron / Busuanga / Calauit Islands in Palawan is not so secret anymore. Coron town in Busuanga Island has lots of new hotels and I hope, a better road from the airport to the town proper. Anyway, here's one of my favorite honeymoon photos (unedited from my phone camera) that captured the splendor of one of Palawan's last frontiers:

CASINOS

On our first wedding anniversary, we went to Macau and Hong Kong. It was my first time in Macau and second time in HK, but the first time I went there, Disneyland was still not yet operating. For Labsie, it was his first time in both places. Now, as much as I hate to admit this, I'm a fan of casino games, whether offline or online. So you can just imagine my excitement in visiting Macau's ultra-awesome casinos! :) My fave casino past-time, of course, are the slot machines. There's just something addicting in trying to win from a machine >.< Now, if it weren't for my cheapskate tendencies, I would be in so much debt right now due to my casino-loving nature. Hehe!

But.. I'm so much smarter than that because I use casino bonuses! In The Venetian Macao (pictured below), I got free $20 worth of casino voucher from a roving hotel employee. For online casinos, I trawl the web for blogs and sites that offer no deposit bonus codes and casino bonus coupons. That way I can try different online casinos without spending money. After all, what if I don't like the online casino? My deposit would be wasted then! At least with codes and coupons, I get to try the online casino for free- and if I like it, I will probably use my own money to play some more without any hard feelings ;-) Back to The Venetian, isn't the casino hotel gorgeous?? And that's only one of the many stunning casino hotels in Macau! By the way, that's my youngest brother with 4-months-pregnant me in the photo below :)

That's it for now! Stay tuned for part 2, involving stinky tofus and mall tripping! ^__^

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