Sean intently watching his English Time program

 He is now capable of mimicking what I do. I was folding the laundry while he was crawling around a couple of month ago. When he looked at me, I hid my face behind a pillowcase and played peek a boo with him. He loves this game.  He then came closer an picked his father’s shirt and hid his face behind it. That’s so cute!!

And then the other day, I was trying to make him laugh so I twirled and twirledd. He likes that and makes him giggle. Later in the afternoon, while he was walking around the living room he started to twirl too!! He is quite a cute monkey if you ask me. Although it’s cute when he tries to copy me, I should start being conscious of what I do because he will copy everything he sees now.

Being the obsessive party planner that I am..I have already started organizing this when Sean just turned 6 months. Well I asked hubby first if we can go and celebrate it in Manila so that friends and family can meet Sean. When I got the go ahead I started planning like crazy. I first thought of Peter Pan birthday theme but I couldn’t find a  nice costume so I decided to go with Toy Story theme because it’s more flexible in terms of the costume.

It was fun fun fun!! We had about 70 close family and friends (including the kids) on the party. It was so nice to see them so excited and happy to finally meet Sean.

Sean was not in the best mood in the beginning actually because he just woke up and it was a bit overwhelming for him to see so many people in one room plus the music was really loud so I asked the sounds people to put it a bit lower. He warmed up a little later and started smiling.

Anyhow, he wore this cute Woody costume his godmother Ana from Germany sent him. He looked adorable in it

Specia thanks to Mye of  for designing the lay out for the photobooth.

I can’t thank our friends and family enough for celebrating with us and being such beautiful parts of our life, especially Sean’s. He’s a lucky boy!

• Venue – Legend Villas

• Birthday Cake – Project Happiness Bake House
• Cupcakes – Project Happiness Bake House
• Magician-  this was also included in the kiddie package of Legend Villas

• Host – Ayie –  Her services was also included in the package I bought. She didn’t just host the party, she also did a balloon show for the kids.

• Food/Party Area – The party was held at the Banahaw Hall in Legend Villas.

• Prizes  Divisoria Mall–10 major prizes was included in the package so I ask my brother to buy some more. I knew that there would be cool items to be found in Divisoria, it’s just a pity I had to delegate it to my brother as I would have enjoyed shopping for the prizes myself

Special thanks to Firefly Toothbrush, Guard Insect Repellent for sponsoring some of the prizes too!!

OMG!!

It is so amazing!! I know I should brace myself because I would have to start running after him real soon.

A year ago I was still waiting for you to decide to come out and now you are out and about!

You are busy making momma run after you all the time. You love playing and laughing. We do a lot of hide and seek and you think I am a magician when I transfer quickly what I have on one hand to another hahaha but you are catching on to me!

The other day while you lying on your crib, you suddenly stood up when you saw this group of pretty korean girls singing on the telly and you were smiling at them!

Oh boy I hope you are not gonna be too much of a chickboy! You are growing too fast and me don’t likey !

You only have 2 teeth up to now but that doesn’t stop you from being my little vampire. Just this morning you tried to bite me, thrice!! I don’t know you were thinking, trying to bite momma’s ankle?? :p

When I caught you doing something he shouldn’t be doing like touching a cord or the lamp, you would quickly run  away from it with a mischievous smile. Actually I find it hilarious when you’re being naughty but I know I should not let you see that I find it funny because you would keep on doing it and it will be a big headache for us later on. Oh my goodness…looks like I have to prepare big time running after you little guy…good opportunity for momma to lose weight .

But you are a very friendly baby when you’re in a good mood that is, you get excited when you see people visit us like uncle Frans.

I see these changes as bittersweet but hey it’s a part of life. This last year has been an incredible journey for all of us baby and your Papa and i are looking forward to the years to come. I am sure you have a lot in store for us .

Here’s a little video I made composed of your pictures from your birth up to now.

Happy Birthday baby!! I love you love you to the bones.

I can still remember how paranoid I was when he was just born. I hardly slept at night because I was super afraid of SIDS. It took several months before I could get over my paranoia. I realized you are a strong baby and if something is wrong, you would immediately let us know by crying your lungs out .

Anyhoo, look what my little guy has been up to lately:

Where did the time go? In a few weeks my baby boy will be turning 1!!

A lot has happened in the last few months. He started furniture walking and although I said I won’t let him use the walker before, I did. It gives me a few minutes of free time. It’s like his little jail hehehe. When he’s in his walker, he won’t be able to touch and lick things in the house easily.

Sean got his 2 teeth below and loves sharpening it on our dining table .

That's Sean teeth marks on the side of our table

It’s so hard also when your baby gets sick. You wish you can take their place and suffer instead of them. Sean got sick for the first time a day before he turned 11 months – cough and some runny nose. It was terrible. He cries when he has to cough and that is just so so difficult for me to see. He hardly drink milk but I made sure he got some other liquids by giving him some apple juice and water to prevent him from dehydrating. He couldn’t sleep well because he wakes up whenever he needed to cough. We also didn’t get much sleep..it was one heck of a week!

He’s better now thank goodness! And we started with a new routine, after his milk at dinner time and some time with his Papa, I bring him to the bedroom to read to him. He loves reading. And after a bit he would start to get sleepy and roll over the bed to find a position he likes and fall asleep. It’s been a week already and it’s amazing !

Here’s a little something I put together so you can see how much Sean has changed

Having children is one of the most priceless gifts couples could have and couples who are experiencing difficulties receiving these gifts would understandably be all too willing to give every option on the table a chance.  One of the most popular options is IVF or in vitro fertilization – the option I chose to take in my journey to motherhood.  It is one of the safest, most affordable, and widely accepted assisted reproductive procedures all over the world.  IVF, however, is not for everyone. Successful pregnancy and consequently live birth through IVF involves a host of factors that you should take into consideration before you make your decision.

The process of IVF is highly demanding both financially and physically.  IVF cost in Singapore would come up to about SGD18,000 or nearly $13,000 for one cycle alone.  You have to be ready to shoulder the IVF cost of several cycles given that studies suggest an average of three to six cycles of IVF treatment before successful pregnancy is achieved.  Once you have the cost considerations settled, you have to weigh your physical considerations.  To start with, IVF could be a good option for you if you are younger than 35 years old – an average success rate of 50% is observed in clinical studies of IVF procedures in subjects within this age range.  The duration of fertility issues as well as other issues concerning your ovarian function would also influence the success rate of your IVF procedure.

Finally, as the IVF cost is not cheap, you want to make sure that are indeed ready to go through what the procedure requires and that you will be able to complete your IVF cycles until you successfully conceive.  In previous posts, I have broken down the IVF cost for you and somehow let you in on what I had to go through in my journey to motherhood.  Now, to help you determine whether you are ready for an IVF procedure or not, here’s a quick look at how IVF is done:

1. After the necessary medical checks, your doctor will start you on hormonal medication to stimulate your ovaries for egg production.  This was quite a challenge for me since I am afraid of needles.  You will have to inject this medication yourself or with the help of your partner at home at the same time everyday until the follicles are ready as determined by a laboratory scan.

2.It’s back to the hospital again to have your eggs retrieved either through a needle inserted through your vagina or a laparoscopic operation.  Don’t worry, you will be sedated during the procedure and will not feel a thing. Your eggs will then be combined with your partner’s sperm in a laboratory dish to start the process of in vitro fertilization.

3.And Once fertilization is achieved, usually after a few days, the embryo is placed into your uterus through the cervix with the aid of a catheter.  It takes a two week wait, on bed rest combined with hormonal treatment, in order to determine whether the embryo has successfully latched on to the uterine wall and the pregnancy is confirmed.