Christmas in November

I had my craziest 27th of November to date. It was the night before our early morning flight to Pinas. Dad threw a party for his brods. Miggz was just recovering from three days of fever. We are still packing some last-minute items into our carry-ons, and we needed to leave at four in the morning. YIKES. I don’t know how we managed to do what we had to do in the little time we had left before driving to the airport.

Being that it was our last night with the family for the year, my siblings and I agreed to have an early Christmas at home. And so in the crazy last weeks before our flight, Te and I managed to buy most gifts, wrap them, and even write out Christmas cards for the immediate fam, all before November was over. We exchanged gifts that night, in the midst of the hustle-and-bustle of my parents’ home. Rushed as all of this might have been, it all turned out fine. It wasn’t as I imagined…I pictured that night to be relaxed, laid back, and with even some sleep to spare.

We didn’t have any sleep, of course. But what I remember most from that night was this boy’s energy and excitement at the sight of his gifts and upon opening them (and everyone else’s).

Miggz loves his new Crocs from Uncle Tedi.

Leave it to a child to wipe out a month’s full of tired-ness in a minute’s matter of time =)

Family Feast

This was a significant Thanksgiving Day for us. For one, it was my first Thanksgiving with my family in years. Having Terrence and Miggz with me and my whole family made it that much more special. It was also our chance to celebrate a big dinner as a family because we (me and my boys) will be flying out to the Philippines in three days and won’t be back until February. In short, it was our Thanksgiving-Christmas-and-New-Year’s feast with them combined.

It was so nice to see everyone pitching in towards dinner…another first. My brother, Tedi, bought a sumptuous lump of meat that my Mom made into a delicious pot roast. My sister, Anna, brought home a ham that my Dad glazed and prepared for dinner. I made my favorite black-and-white brownies that everyone loved. My sister, Kara, helped prepare the mashed potatoes. And Te got to finally make his famous turkey that I have been bragging about for ages.

Terrence woke up early and labored for hours on that bird until it was perfect. Sure enough, the feast he cooked for us did not disappoint. My whole family raved about how delicious and yummy and memorable that turkey was (I knew they would love it!). Of course, it won’t be complete with all the sides we all prepared.

Here are some pictures from the Guerreros’ first Thanksgiving with the Mogols:

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Thought for the Day (and Every Day)

Thank you, April Ferrer, for this nice Facebook post.

Release the regrets of yesterday,

refuse the fears of tomorrow,

and receive, instead, the peace of today.

Waking Up (with a Toddler) in Vegas

I’ve been meaning to blog about our recent Vegas trip. It’s a milestone trip in many ways. My Mom–Miguel’s Gramma–turned 55; it must have been my fourth or fifth ever visit to Vegas (it never gets tiring); and it’s a significant trip for Miggz.

Our little man has been VERY busy traveling it up, with Nevada being his 10th visited state. Not bad for being only almost 15-months old. I’ve lost track of the places we’ve taken Miggz to. If it weren’t for our archived photos, I probably would not be able to figure this out. Let me see, there was New Jersey (the state where he was born, of course), Connecticut (visiting family at almost six months old), New York (Museum of Natural History, NYC – six months old, and the annual Auto Show at eight months old), New Hampshire (snowboarding trip in Vermont – seven months old), Illinois (Jacob family reunion in Chicago – nine months old), Florida (mini vacation in Sarasota and Orlando – 10 months old), Michigan (Mendinueto family reunion – 11 months old), Arizona (our family’s big cross-country move – right before he turned one), California (San Diego wedding anniversary trip – 14 months old), and Nevada (Las Vegas @ almost 15 months old). Whew. I don’t know of a baby who’s travelled more than him. He must be tired from all these travels (so are his parents), but not bad tired. More like happy tired.

So Las Vegas…being in it with a toddler is definitely a different story from my past visits sans baby. You see everything in a whole different light (literally). The drive, the rest stops, the casinos, the shops, the food, The Strip. All become an endless blur of eye candy intermingled with lots of bathroom stops and diaper changes. I say eye candy because all we were really able to enjoy doing while we were in Vegas was sightsee. As much as we’d have wanted to gamble a tad longer, or see some shows, or stay up and out much later, it was great seeing Miguel’s reaction to the lights on The Strip from his car seat, his excitement upon seeing the canals at The Venetian, his even greater joy at eyeing the magnificent fountain at the Palazzo (Miggz has a thing for fountains). If only Vegas were a child’s playground.

But alas, it isn’t a child’s playground. It’s where adults come to play. So as much as Miguel had his fun, I take back what I said about Vegas never being so tiring. It was this time around, and I’ll probably reconsider taking Miguel again here until his 21st birthday. By then he’ll really see what Vegas is all about. But then again, he probably won’t take us, his parents, to that 21st birthday trip, so this one was still a trip well spent 🙂

Miggz wants him some gelato (The Venetian, Las Vegas)

Awe-struck by the great waterfall fountain (The Palazzo, Las Vegas)

Trying on a track suit from the Ferrari Store (Wynn, Las Vegas)

Family picture in front of the Esplanade (Wynn, Las Vegas)

There are more photos, of course. They will hopefully be on Facebook by next week.

Up Before Eight…Good Morning!

It’s rare that I’m up this early.

Mom had Miggz last night. I don’t know how she manages, with coming home from work and needing to wake up bright and early the next day. Miguel can put anyone in a work out right before bed time (über hyper mode for hours, then crashes at about 11:30!). It was nice because I got to relax at the end of the night. She brought him in at around 6:30 a.m. (THANKS MOM!!!)

Man…I love that boy and his smile in the morning! I think it was due to the fact that every time Miguel woke up ever since he was born, we would always greet him with a nice and cheerful “Good Morning!” It’s amazing how something so little can have such an impact in one’s psyche. Imagine if someone greeted you that way, every day, every time you woke up. It’s like nothing in the day can be expected to go wrong (how can it…it’s a GOOD morning, after all!).

I love the quiet this time of the day brings. It’s so peaceful around the house. I woke up this early the other day and got so much done in the two hours before Miggz woke up.

I wish I woke up this early every day.

Oh…The Chaos!

Chaos is a word I’d like to describe our space in the house right now. “Our space,” of course, refers to our bedroom and Miguel’s room, because we are currently living at my parents’ house. I try not to spread our stuff all over the place, but being at the cusp of traveling days, I find it impossible to keep order lately.

We got back from Vegas last Sunday, and our luggage is still around. I’ve unloaded and done the laundry, but most other articles we packed for–and from–Vegas are still visible.

It drives me crazy.

I feel inefficient when I see things unorganized and not in their “proper” place. To make things worse, we are leaving for the Philippines in just a little over two weeks (Miguel’s first international trip, and our first one in fifteen years!). We’ve been buying stuff here and there for pasalubong…and they are ALL OVER THE PLACE. And I haven’t packed yet! Yikes.

Don’t get me wrong. I am excited about Philippines. I just, for some reason–probably because of said chaos–cannot bring myself to start packing. Miggz is napping right now, so I am able to steal a few minutes to blog, but in the back of my head I am actually thinking about, and probably should be, organizing. It’s the only thing that will solve my resentment towards disorder right now.

When everything’s out-of-place, I also feel like it’s affecting my mothering, like nothing I do seems to be working right. Yesterday, I had a good day. I got to fold the laundry while Miguel played, do his bottles while he napped, and got a whole bunch of other things done. Today is just a different story. I wonder if other Moms out there can relate.

Maybe I just need to re-learn to tune the chaos out?

My Thoughts on Backblogging

I am lying in bed when I got the sudden urge to look at old photos in my Facebook account, specifically those in my mobile uploads album. It’s really micro-blogging at its easiest and simplest form if you think about it. Snap a photo, upload it with a few words, and presto! The whole world is instantly updated on the latest about your life.

I especially enjoyed looking back at my mobile updates about Miguel. The bits and pieces of memories I posted here and there on my wall help me go back to that point in time and reminisce about that moment.

I am glad for the times I made use of the mobile status update; there’s no way I’d have preserved those little moments otherwise–of Miggz trying on his first pair of shoes, or him playing on his bounce-a-bout, or his Dad and him hanging out on our porch at Apt. 3217.

I wish every moment now that I had time to blog about all those precious little events and milestones back then, about the story of Miguel’s birth, of him growing up in his first year in New Jersey. I tried…it was just SO hard. With being a working Mamma and coming home to Miguel at night, blogging as much as I wanted to was something time did not permit me. At the end of the day, I simply chose to sleep (whay can I say, exhaustion got the best of me).

But I am determined to write about what transpired, especially events in my first year of being a Mom. I may not have had all the time to write about them then–but I do now–so backblog I will do.

If time permits.