I’m a big Elliott fan.

I’m not really an American Idol addict. But after watching Elliott performed in AI Season 5, I got hooked and addicted to it. And he just released his first self-titled album.

Kaya promote ko lang, for the love of Elliott.

Almost six months na lang before Bela’s second birthday. And syempre nasa party planning mode na naman ako plus of course the excited lolos and lolas and titas who really did a big part and helped me during Bela’s first birthday.

I initially want Dora as the theme for Bela’s 2nd birthday since favorite nya talaga si Dora. But one of the lola mentioned that she already envisioned what Bela will be wearing for Bela’s 2nd birthday party (ganon sila ka excited). Napanood daw nya kse sa TV, yung isang girl naka grass skirt and tube top and yun daw gusto nila isuot ni Bela. So biglang naging Luau ang theme ng 2nd birhday party ni Bela.

So we started scouting for a venue na may pool because we wanted to have a swimming party after the program. I’m that close to giving up in finding a venue within Manila and QC na may pool. Lahat kse ng napag inquiran ko, may in house caterer na di ko afford ang rate nila per head for the food plus I have to pay 150-200 pesos per haed sa mga mag swimming. Or may nakita nga ako na venue, pero sobrang expensive ng rent sa venue because I have to rent both the function area and the pool.

Then noong February, I enrolled Bela sa Bert Lozada Swimming class. I checked their website and nakita ko dun yung list ng venues where they held their swimming class and isa isa ko yung tinawagan to inquire.

I was able to chance upon one venue within Manila area. Ok yung rate, and ok din yung amenities. The following week, Howell and I visited the place to check on it. And I immediately love it. Simple lang sya pero the function room is just ok for my number of guest, ok din yung pool and ok din yung rate nila. So nag pa pencil book na kami.

Last Monday, we visited the venue again para ipa check sa mga lola for approval. And ok naman sa kanila so I paid the downpayment na. Ayan, one down na. Pero secret muna kung saan yung venue.

I’m now deciding if I should hire a magician or host na lang for the program. I want the program kse to be short lang so the kids can have more time swimming.

More party updates soon….

Last May 24, I was trying to post a message to my Blog. Then I was surprise to find out that, I can’t publish my message because my blog has been tagged by the blogger spam robots as a spam blog. I have to send them a message to unblock my blog so they can review it if it is really a legitimate blog and not a spam.

Finally, after 6 days, I received the email that I have been waiting for from Blogger:

From: Blogger Help To: "clod0327@yahoo.com {U 494098312650 B 9387633}" Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 6:52:48 AMSubject: Re: [#150359745] Blogger Beta non-spam review and verification request: http://howellabie.blogspot.com/

Hello,Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so thatit will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger andsign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for yourpatience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.Sincerely,The Blogger Team

~~~~
So My blog is back….

Finally, after so much convincing, tuloy na kami sa Hongkong. Matagal ko na kse balak dalhin don si Bela pero lagi ayaw pumayag ng mom and dad ko. Baka daw mapagod pa.

Good timing kse 18th birthday ng youngest sister ko and she doesn’t want to have a party. Kaya yun ang ginamit kong reason sa mom & dad ko. Trip to Hong Kong na lang ang gift ko sa sister ko so the whole family is coming. Actually pati extended family. (10 adults, 5 kids + Bela).

And after so much planning, naka book na din kami sa Cebu Pacific. Grabe, stressful pala mag book sa Cebu Pacific lalo na pag big group.

So we’re all off to Hong Kong on Aug 2-4 (tagal pa noh. That’s the closest date kse that I can find with the cheapest fare). But just the same, I’m so excited. For sure ma enjoy ni Bela yung mga Disney characters kse favorite nya talaga yun eh.

It has been ages since Howell & I watched a movie. We always plan to go, but I always end up backing out because I want to go home right away to see my daughter.

Bela has always been a Shrek fan. Halos gasgas na gasgag na ang DVD nya ng Shrek 1 & 2. So when I found out that Shrek 3 is already showing, I immediately asked Howell to take us (me & Bela) on a movie date.

We initially plan to go last Saturday but Howell will be covering a birthday party at Alabang so we decided to postpone it.

Yesterday, we we’re able to arrive early from work. We we’re already home by 6:30 PM and sabi ng yaya ko, Bela just woke up from her afternoon nap. So I told Howell it’s a perfect timing because I know Bela will be wide awake until 10-11 PM because she woke up late na and we have to go to SM din naman to mail the CDs containing pictures that he covered last Saturday.

So off we went to SM. We immediately went to the cinema and I have asked the teller if Bela and I can go in first to check if Bela will be not scared before we purchase our tickets. And we we’re allowed by the teller to try it first. I know Bela won’t be scared of the dark because every time we try to turn off the lights at home to put her to bed, she doesn’t get scared and she just continue playing even if it is dark already in our room.

So pumasok na kami and Bela was really excited. She was screaming for excitement when she saw the commercial trailer of Surf’s Up and the movie about the rat. And when Shrek finally was shown, she was really amazed. Cguro nagulat sya sa laki ng screen.
We we’re able to finish the movie. Yun nga lang may mga times na pag medyo usapan lang and wala si Shrek sa scene, nag lalaro si Bela at umaakyat sa stairs. Buti na nga lang weekday kami nanood and gabi pa kaya wala masyado tao.

I really enjoyed my movie date with tatay and Bela. Kaya tatay, treat mo ulit kami ni Bela next time.

I just want to share this with you guys because it has been bothering me.

We have a family friend (as in really close family friend) who is supporting one candidate for Congress. Let’s just name her JL. Last Sunday around 11 PM, I received a text message from JL asking me for the landline number of my mom because it’s an emergency. I was already half asleep but I still replied to her text message because she said it was an emergency.

The next morning, I was not able to ask my mom the reason why JL called her because I was already late for work. When I was already home, my aunt was in our house and she told me what happened.

JL was fuming mad at my mom because my mom was supporting another candidate for Congress. My mom is the chairman in our barangay and she is distributing sample ballots containing the list of candidates that she supports. Somebody showed JL the sample ballot that my mom was distributing and so she became really mad and decided to call my mom to confront her.

According to my mom, when JL called her, JL was questioning why is she supporting that candidate. JL even accused her that she might have received a big amount of money from our mayor that’s why she is supporting that congressman. Sabi na lang ng mom ko, “Mare, mahirap lang kami pero hindi naman kami ganong klaseng tao. Malaki utang na loob naming kay Cong ___ kaya sya sinusuportahan namin. Ninong pa nga sya nila Joy sa kasal.”

I was really mad when I found out about it. I immediately texted JL and eto yung text ko sa kanya:

“Tita JL, di ko naman akalain na aawayin nyo si mommy noong hiningi nyo yung number nya sa akin. Ang sabi nyo sa akin emergency. Kung alam ko lang na ganon gawin nyo, di ko na lang sana binigay number ng mommy ko. Politika lang po yan. Sana matuto na lang tayo galangin opinion ng iba. Di naman naming kinukweston ang paniniwala nyo eh.”

Mabait pa nga ako nyan eh. Ayoko lang din syang bastusin kahit gaano nya binatos ang mom ko kse ayoko naman sabihin nya na wala ako pinag aralan dahil hindi naman kami pinalaki ng mom ko na ganon. And besides, kung sya hindi nahihiya sa amin, eh nahihiya pa din ako sa iba nya relatives na maganda naman ang pakikisama sa amin.

Hay, sobrang galit ko talaga pero I chose not to reply na lang sa text nya. Nag reply pa kse sya explaining her side and syempre ang point nya is sya ang tama at mom ko ang mali. Well at least, I know I’m a much better person than her sa mga pinakita nya and by the way she talks to my mom.

Last week, I received a text message from Little Gym. They are offering a 15% discount for the class fee and gym membership fee if I we can pay on or before April 29. So I immediately gave them a call and inquired about their International Summer Quarter.

If we will enroll Bela, she will be a student under the Bird's class, which is for babies aged 10 months - 19 months. I scheduled for a trial class last Sunday so if ever we'll be enrolling we'll be able to avail of the discount.

So off we went to Little Gym last Sunday. Montik pa nga kami ma late because we left late na because we suddenly decided to have lunch first before leaving because the class won't end until 2:00 PM. Buti na lang late na din nag start yung class.

Ok naman yung class. It's really different compared to Gymboree and tama nga si Mommy Jane (Hi Jane), na it's really tiring specially pag active and energetic ang baby mo. And Bela really enjoyed the class. Pag pasok pa lang namin sa loob ng gym area, she's already all over the place. Ngiting ngiti talaga sya while playing. Although I noticed that she's a little scared of Teacher Via - she's the one handling this quarter's Bird Class. Pero ganon naman talaga sya kahit noong sa Gymboree nya and sa Bert Lozada. Sa una, takot sya sa mga teachers nya pero after a while and familiar na sya, di na sya nahihiyang lumapit.

Kaya lang, medyo di ko type ang crowd sa Little Gym. Parang di kse friendly yung ibang parents, di gaanong namamansin and nakikipagkwentuhan di kagaya ng mga parents ng mga ka batch ni Bela sa Gymboree. Although, baka kse bago lang ako sa group kaya di pa sila gaanong friendly.

In the end, our decision was based on whether Bela enjoyed the class or not. And since super enjoy naman ang Bela ko, nag enroll na din kami. And tamang tama lang coz she'll be finish with her swimming class on the 26th of May and her class at Little Gym will start on the 27th of May.

Tatay took some pictures while we're having the trial class. Although some pictures are blurred because he was not allowed to go inside the gym area - one parent per child lang daw (which is again different from Gymboree. Kse minsan nga sa Gymboree 3 kaming nasa loob while Bela is having her class - ako, si lola and her tatay taking her pictures.) Kaya Howell has to take pictures behind the glass window kaya medyo pagtyagaan nyo na yung mga pictures

Wants to let go already, coz she's so excited to try all the gym equipment - na miss ang Gymboree masyad0
Teacher Via, trying to spot Bela for the Forward Roll - Unsuccesful dahil sa sobrang likot ni Bela
Tatay, being coached by Teacher Via on how to spot Bela for the Forward Roll
Bela's Favorite part of the Class (aside from Bubble Time)- Ball Play
It's our turn to try to Spot Bela. Step 1: Touch the floor.
Step 2: Look at your tummy & tuck your head.
Step3: Roll. Bela just loves this.

More pictures here: Bela's Trial Class at Little Gym

2 weeks ago, we attended the christening of my friend's son. The reception was held at Trinity - Macapagal so right after the reception we went to one of Bela's favorite place - Active Fun.

The first time we were here, Bela's just spend most of her time in the Ball Pool. Almost 30 minutes din sya don and we only paid for 1 hr play. But the last time we were there, Bela enjoyed and tried almost all the facilities in the playroom and she really had fun.

Below are some of the pictures:

Playing the air gun with Tatay

Bela just loves the Ball Pool
my brave bela crossing the hanging bridge with tatay
enjoying the trampoline with nanaydidn't even blinked while trying the giant slide with tatay

I've uploaded some more pictures here: Bela at Active Fun