Day 5: I Love Papaya!!!

Due to the incessant rains today, afternoon classes were suspended so I had to fetch Jarred from school at midday.

Upon arriving home, he checked out the fridge for something he could snack on and he discovered the papaya slices that were chilling inside. He quickly took a spoon and started to munch on this pretty healthy snack.

I told him that papaya is a rich source of Vitamin A which is good for the eyes and that made him even more excited to finish the plateful of fruit in front of him.

Day 205: Nutrition Week 2010

In celebration of this year's Nutrition Week, here's a mélange of photos taken at Butuan Faith Christian School as the students showcased their healthy bodies and minds in an entertaining program filled with wit, talent and creativity. 

Day 204: As a judge

During the recently concluded Nutrition Week celebration at my son's school, I reprised my role as judge (last schoolyear was my first time). From the A1 Child competition for preschool, primary and intermediate categories, the jingle-making and interpretation, to the slogan and poster-making contests, there were so many talented children to choose from this year. Some were more witty and charming than others and yet hid wonderful treasures of talent inside.  Together with three other parents, we were tasked with choosing the best among the best. In the end, it was difficult to decide but the choices had to be made. For the preschool category, the A1 winners were from Kinder 1, for the primary category, the pair from Grade 2 bested their opponents and the Grade 6 partners were triumphant in the intermediate category. The Grade 2 and 6 pupils were the grand winners for the jingle-making and interpretation contest. Overall, it was a grand showcase of talent, skill and teamwork from all BFCS students. Kudos to all!

Day 186: City Life

It will be more than eight years now that I'd been living the promdi (provincial) life. Being born and raised in Manila/Quezon City for most of my life, it is still a puzzle to me (and to most people who know me) how I was able to appreciate and love the simple life. Knowing and seeing it is one thing but living it is entirely a different matter altogether. 

I was known as "lakwatsa" and "porma" girl in my younger days. The Greenhills Shopping Center was my hangout place and I remember needing to be updated with the latest fashion trend. That was one effect of growing up in a private all-girls school. I had this lopsided view about life and belongingness. I grew up believing I had to be "in" to feel that I fit in. I guess that was the reason why I never felt real happy during elementary and high school days. I was always measuring myself against my richer and well-placed classmates that I forgot that the most important thing was developing my own being and individuality. 

I was fortunate to learn this once I entered the country's state university where my classmates came from all walks of life and from all over the country. It was where kikay met jologs and sossy hobnobbed with geeky and it was sooooo okay. For the first time in my life, I felt that I belonged in this crazy world. 

I guess it was this awesome, mind-blowing and culture-shaking experience that made me  go for the unusual things in life - choosing to start a career right smack in Manila's pier area, deciding to move to Cebu for independence and finally settling for a laid back life in Northern Mindanao.

Shunning away from the busy city life has probably added several years to my life expectancy because of less stress, no pollution and a no-excess lifestyle. The lure of the bright lights only come once in a blue moon and is easily fixed through a brief vacation in the city. Looking at how well my children are - carefree, simple and happy, I know that hubby and I must be doing something right and have made the best decision we could ever make for the family - the rustic provincial living. 

Day 183: Toothbrush

Five toothbrushes all in a row...


It amazes me how our family has grown in just a span of 9 years. When hubby and I got married, I got used to seeing two sets of toothbrushes after every meal. Then, we were blessed with a son and when he turned one year old, he was given his own brush to use. The same happened with our first daughter. Recently, even our little bunsoy became part of the family brushing ritual by having her own tiny toothbrush to use. 

Can you guess which one goes with whom? 

Day 143: Hawaiian Tuna Melt

After nearly two months of non-food posts, the foodie in me couldn't resist but feature what we had for breakfast today. Tuna is a well-loved staple in my household. I reckon it was a taste acquired during our 5-year stay in General Santos City, the tuna capital of the Philippines.  I make it a point to serve tuna-based dishes to my family from time-to-time. One of these is a regular breakfast or snack-time favorite - Pan de Tuna. 

Here's my quick and easy recipe...

HAWAIIAN TUNA MELT

3 cans Century Tuna (Solid in Water), drained and flaked

1 small can pineapple tidbits

1 pouch Mayo Magic or Salad n Sandwich spread

1/4 cup grated cheese

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

pandesal

Cheez Whiz

In a bowl, mix together the flaked tuna, pineapple, mayo and cheese. Season with Italian dry herbs, salt and pepper. Spread tuna spread on one side of slitted pandesal and Cheez Whiz on the other. Toast in the oven for 3-5 minutes. 

Day 65: Forty-Six

There was a Nestle Wellness booth at the supermarket today.  I saw that they had a weighing scale and thought I should go and have a consultation with the duty nutritionist.  Ever since my dramatic weight loss, I haven't really taken note of the exact weight difference as the scale at home has long gone out of commission.  I knew that the amount was somewhat substantial however I was still surprised when I figured what it was.  At my heaviest last year I tipped the scales at 213 lbs.  (96.6 kg). That was around a year ago when I was ready to give birth to CeeJae. At the Nestle weigh-in, the scale pointed to 165 lbs. (75 kg).  It means that in the last year, I've lost a total of 46 lbs. (21 kg).  Forty-six is my magic number.  The actual impact of this number only hit me when I got home.  Wow!  That is a lot of weight to lose.  I didn't think it was possible but it actually happened.  The feeling is great...now I know what it feels like to be "The Biggest Loser".

Day 35: Healing Hands

Maybe it's the colds...or it may have something to do with teething...whatever it is, baby CeeJae isn't feeling well today.  She was running a slight fever the night before and this morning, we asked our Manang laundrywoman to work her magic of "hilot" (Pinoy massage).  She said my baby had some "piang" at the sides below her armpits. CeeJae certainly began sweating profusely right after and her clogged nose became runny.

In the afternoon of the same day, our trusty reflexologist worked her healing hands on all three children as they were all coughing and showing signs of respiratory allergy.  In this photo, she's working on the tiny foot of CeeJae.  My baby cringed and welled up when the pressure points on fever and coughing were touched.  It was pain that got rewarded by a well-deserved nap.

Day 32: A Rosy Start

Oh my! How time flies so fast!  Today is the first day of the love month, February.  It officially marks the end of being in sick bay.  Slowly, the kids are getting back into full gear and their appetites are going back to normal (thank God!!!).  While we were all down with intestinal flu, you'd really notice the relative silence at home and today, it was obvious that it's back to business since the noise and buzz of the kids at home are indeed too loud to not notice.  Well, if there's anything I learned while being sick it's that I'd rather have all the noise and stinky smells of normalcy than being worried over some illness hovering at home.  If the usual cure would be an apple a day...for us, it was a tomato a day, kept the doctor away.  It helped that my "suki" vendor at the market had a lot of ripe and luscious tomatoes at hand when I did my marketing last week.  Even little Cailie was game at posing with these lovely tomatoes to show that she too, is back in form.

Day 31: Accomplishment

At the start of the year, I began Project 365 in response to MrsG's challenge. It took a week before I finally pushed myself to begin the project, hence having 7 entries in my very first post.  I have to admit that it was indeed a daunting task in the beginning and there were days that I missed updating it but somehow I managed to get back on track.

Today is the last day of the month and I cap the first 31 days of 2010 with the word "accomplishment".  I borrowed the image here from www.zazzle.com and found it to be a fitting description of the past month.  Every single day that passes leaves some accomplishment, no matter how small.  Before January bid a bow of goodbye, we had to battle certain health issues that reminded us to always be careful with what we eat and feed the kids.  It also made us come face-to-face with fear when we thought a simple misstep could have caused a serious injury.  Sometimes the everyday rustics of life tend to make us complacent and this should never be the case.  We should always be on our toes...always alert to whatever life throws at us.

With January enclosed in memory, I look forward to the next 11 months with so much vigor and excitement...and I wonder what other adventures are in store for little Miss Promdi...

Day 27: Assurance

Our original plan of consulting the pedia for only one child turned out to be for all three of our children.  While keeping watch in the wee hours of the morning, the youngest one surprised us by retching so suddenly.  But since it seemed isolated, it was thought that maybe "hindi lang natunawan during dinner".  

However, several hours later, while prepping the eldest for school, he too had retching bouts while taking his bath. Hmmm....this is not good.  But thinking that maybe it was just an anxiety symptom before going to school, we let him leave for today's school activities.  A couple of hours later, the school calls to say that he's been vomiting in school and doesn't feel well.

Oh no! And so, we took all three to the pedia to seek professional advise.  After eliminating all the symptoms associated with head injuries, child #2 was cleared.  A big thanks to the big guy above for that!  And since all of them had been exhibiting similar symptoms, the pedia thought that they may have eaten something that didn't agree with their body.  Armed with prescriptions and instructions, we were now more confident that there was nothing serious to worry about.  Of course, we still had to be vigilant and make sure that dehydration won't be a problem, thus the help of ORS (oral rehydration salts) and an antiemetic medicine.

Day 14: Transformation

For several months now, I've been receiving comments on my weight loss, especially whenever I visit my son's school.  Although I am aware that there has been some change, I wasn't fully aware of how much the transformation had been until I saw a picture of mine taken six months ago.  I asked hubby to snap a photo of me now, wearing the exact same clothes.  The top and jeans are the same ones but I had the jeans altered some weeks back as it had been sliding down already and the fit wasn't great anymore.

I am glad and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to make the change without much stress and effort on my part at all.  The big change you can see is courtesy of tandem breastfeeding and a cut on my rice consumption.  Everything else on my diet is more or less the same and although I don't follow a regular exercise regime, I've been keeping active ever since we let go of our household help.  Doing household chores is one surefire way of getting some exercise in your life.  I'm trying my best to keep the habit up and hopefully, I can maintain this look from now on.