Christmas in Maasin

I live in Maasin City, a small city east of Visayas with a population of 80,000 people more or less and growing!  Most of the time, it's a sleepy town, complete with a yawn.  But I noticed lately, there's been like a boom in all aspects.  And thankfully, our first ever mall is on the way by August.  I'm like weeeee..because I can't put into words how exhausting it is to shop in Cebu City which is a stressful 6-hour boat trip away.  And when you're with kids, those 6 hours will double up.  So I've been praying for a mall since forever and thank goodness, 2011 is the year baby!!

Last Christmas, me,hubby,sistah and the kids minus one went out for a stroll in the city.  There's not much to look at but I've lived here ever since and we love taking walks and gazing at different little things.  We decided to take pictures of those glittery lanterns and anything Christmasy.  Here are some of those photos.

In the end, Khym threw a slice of icky lime at my face which he picked up somewhere.  Probably remnants of faceless drunks having a partaay, playing a game of "body shots" and slurping on that lime.  That lime!!!  Gross..And Kliven threw a fit because he wanted to go somewhere...without me.  So much for thinking that I can take a peaceful stroll with a 6 year old and a 1 year old.  Wrong!  Downright wrong!!!  And so we went home just like that ;P

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!

Mwah.Mwah!!

Kiddie Gift Suggestions for Christmas

6 days to go before Christmas but there's still time for some last-minute Xmas shopping. I'm a lazy bone myself so hubby and I usually shop a day or 2 before Christmas. So what's in my list? It's probably more for the kids because I just love their squeals of delight when they open their gifts. My kids love Christmas though the old Be-good-or-Santa-won't-grant-your-wish tactic doesn't really work on them, we still shower them with gifts anyway. For those of you who are still thinking of what gifts to give your own kids and other kids in your life, here's a good Christmas Kiddie gift list for those of you living in the Philippines HERE.

Happy Shopping and Merry Christmas Everyone!!  Cheers!!

Khym's Doodles

My 6 year old is such a hyperactive child.  He's always wired, bouncy and..annoying!  We're running out of things to entertain this bundle of energy but one thing's for sure, he loves doodling.  Today, he ran out of extra free pages in his drawing book for his doodles and later zoned in on me while I was using the laptop.  It was a tug of war but I cannot tolerate his annoying habits sometimes and so, he won!  The laptop's his while he doodled away!  Here are some of Khym's works of art.

Cute right? :))

Icky Itchy Allergy

Over the week, Kliven had small, itchy and red patches all over his body which I presumed were rashes of some kind.  From the looks of it, they seemed like heat rashes or even insect bites.  But the weird thing was, they seemed to appear, go away and then reappeared a few minutes after.  The first night was another sleepless night for yours truly.  Kliven was itching til mawnin.  And had gone spotty the day after.  I checked: temperature's normal and so were other vital signs.  Except for the occasional itching and the obvious red spots/rashes, he was up and about and was his normal hyper-self.

And then I remembered, this wasn't the first time Kliven had this itchy breakout.  The first time was a few months ago.  And that one was worse than what he has at present.  When I added it all up, it seemed that Kliven has food allergy of some kind and he is specifically allergic to junk food.  Now, what is junk food doing in my toddler's diet?  It's not actually part of the menu but his big brother is usually finding comfort in junk foods at the moment, much to my dismay. Kliven managed to steal a few chips when Khym wasn't looking and now the breakouts.  I had a hard time figuring out the culprit because Kliven is not the typical picky toddler.  He usually eats anything in sight.  Be it food or whatever.  We in the family are never hard-core chips enthusiasts.  Though there are some occasions when we do dig in.  Khym is another story having picked up his current preference to junk food at school.  So on the fateful day, Kliven must have helped himself on an open bag of chips lying in the corner.

Itchyyyy!!

From what I've learned, most infants and young children are usually allergic to:

• egg whites
• milk
• wheat
• citrus
• soy and soy products
• food additives such as aspartame, BHA/BHT, certain dyes (Yellow No. 5 is an example), monosodium glutamate (MSG), nitrates and nitrites, and sulfites
• peanuts
• sesame
• shellfish
• and other fish

Some allergies do go away in time.  It usually helps to be on the look-out for possible allergies that can be triggered by a specific allergen. Removal of that said food allergen in your child's diet usually helps and so does being a relentless label reader.  Kliven's allergy seemed to be responding well to the anti-allergy med (ALLERKID) he's taking.  Most of the red spots are gone now and his skin is slowly getting back to its normal state.  Yay!

Why you guys should visit Ultra Broadband Blowout!

Something to do this weekend.  If you live near any of these SM Malls, check out PLDT MyDSL's last two important events of the year and score important deals.

'Tis the season to be jolly indeed.  HoHoHo!

Keeping it SIMPLE!

I got crazy and reverted my template to my old Blogger classic template.  I don't know why, I never really stick to a certain thing for a long time.  I get bored easily and this time, I got bored with my template.  Why all the hassle? Maybe I'm one of those psychotic people who don't seem to get entertained with just about anything and then...SNAP!  Maybe I just love juggling diaper changing, chasing my hyper-kids while cracking my head in my keyboard.  Weird.  I'm weird.

Thanks to Cebong Ipiet anyway, whoever he is, for my old header.  I decided to keep it.  So while I'm still in my blog overhaul stage.  Forgive this boring blog.  And the mess if there's any.  I'm working on it :)