ABC's and 123's

My 2.8yo has never been this interested in the alphabet and numbers. It's always been a mother's pride hearing for the first time, without a miss, her child reciting his abc's or 123's - or at least say his complete name. And I am so proud of how he has grown to love enumerating and identifying figures in plate numbers, store names, keyboard, and books. 

I found Starfall.com that teaches letter-sound relationships and has an easy and kid-friendly navigation. My boy is now experimenting and learning on the exercises it offers. He's having a lot of fun and at the same time he's collecting new words, understanding simple instructions. And what's more amazing, he has discovered how to click and drag a letter using the touch pad! Because he has trouble controlling the mighty mouse, he found a solution on his own.

What an A-for-Awesome discovery of good things! (Like mama discovering the alphabet series by Paul Thurlby.)

who knows!

I just found out that Coldplay drummer Will Champion is living in Dubai. Whoot! Who knows, we might be neighbors! :)

"Making it to the Middle East was something Champion said the band had always strived for. With family currently living in Dubai, he said he was looking forward to his father coming to the gig."

Read full article here

doodled wedding album

View full 23 spreads here.

After a month and a half (or so), here they are. 23 spreads, 46 pages, a gazillion doodles. All for the love of... well, design-dancing. These are pages for my good friend and diva Tishoo(and Teody)'s wedding album. Thank you for the surprisingly "lisud" and "kuti" kind of fun. Hope you'll love them as much as I do.

his first tattoo

He calls it "S". Just showing off.

Coldplay high.

Photo credits from gulfnews.com

Whoooooooooooo!!! Even if I'm thousands of miles away from Abu Dhabi, I am still on Coldplay high! My husband called me as soon as the show started with VIOLET HILL from their new album Viva La Vida... and then they hit it with CLOCKS!!!! OH MYYYYY GUULAAAY!!!! tengnengnengnengnengnenggg!!! That's one of our wedding songs! .... and then it comes to IN MY PLACE one of our favorite coldplay songs...we sang together... I can hear people screaming...I was gleaming... flying like I've been transported... I just closed my eyes... and then people went crazy. It was all YELLOW!!! Whooooo!!! And then Chris said some greetings in Arabic... 

We had to cut it off because it was now raining. I love you my husband! Thank you for doing this for me, for us!

Coldplay tonight.

I am receiving text messages straight from Abu Dhabi, with love, that soon enough the show will start. My husband isn't a fan of the band I adore the most, but still he managed to get a ticket, ride on a two-hour bus ride, and made sure he's going to enjoy their concert for me. 

Now I can't sleep. I know he'd call any minute. 

saying goodbyeGoogle for the love of Design.

I found this blog through netdiver.net, my ultimate design-love portal, and thought that this guy must've love designing so much that he had to let go of Google. I once had a silly dream of working at Google - well, just because they look like they're always trying to create grand schemes that could change the world. But today, I change my mind.

"Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better."

It's just so silly having to give so much of a deal and having too much opinion in a design problem. Of course everyone is entitled to an opinion but design is a philosophy and has it's own principles that could guide us. And if people who have no background in high design rules, then that would indeed come to an endless debate.

Read Douglas Bowman's Goodbye Google blog entry.

bravest sunshine

At exactly 10am today, Dr. Maribel Du (a.k.a my momi's "blood sister") has successfully circumcised my little sunshine. 

I held him during the whole operation while he wailed and screamed non-stop, hoping I would at least take some of the pain. I never looked or even glance for a minute at the procedure, I just can't. I can only lock my eyes to him and assure him everything is going to be ok and that his milk is eagerly waiting for him outside.

30 minutes past but it felt like 5 hours.

At last it was over. I can finally breathe again. He was now sound asleep in my arms with his milk. He is the bravest baby I have ever seen. I am so proud of you, Akii...we all are.

my two

It only takes the existence of these two beings for me to stay sane, keep up, have an extraordinary patience, and smile no matter what at the end of every day. I am very fortunate to have tasted the sweetness of having to raise my babies full time and seeing them grow in love and knowing that they love eachother is enough for me to understand what motherhood is about. 

Akii at 6.

6 months (and counting) of being inlove with you...

1. of being inspired by you

2. of your sunshine-y smile 

3. of warm (on the table) baths

4. of chewing wet biscuits

5. of kissing and smelling tiny toes

6. of pee love

At 6 months old, he will be ready for his circumcision. Everyday I get nervous and apprehensive on the mere thought of him lying in an operating room. I pray everyday that everything will fall into place. 

puddle play

We finally had the chance to put up our three-ring pool today. Hooray for a cool lovely sunday! My little boy almost wouldn't want to end his puddle of joy. "Enough Zaiid?", I would ask him and he'd instantly answer me with a firm "No, no." Of course I need to give him extra minutes. After all, it's a sunday. 

I plan to invite some of his friends next time around. I know he would love to share his pool happiness with them, in fact he might even learn new water tricks from other kids. Now that's something! It would be a fun early morning pool party. *wink!*

Below is my favourite picture (as if I can point out favourites, every shot of my babies are perfect!) of him from today's set - a sweet stare locked for me to keep forever.  Looking at the pictures these days, I realized that my 2.8yo is looking a lot like a grown baby or a real boy or some kind of school boy. I don't know but that breaks my heart by a tiny bit.

social-networking - less

I am officially myspace-less, multiply.com-less, friendster-less, and facebook-less. I am just a blogger. And I am proud. 

Thank you hon :)

tainted

I just love looking at this picture.

(missing our Opon roadtrips.)

Perfect On Paper III

Perfect On Paper III made The Outpost bang a big boom event last March 14, 209. It was indeed a big success and for that, we would like to thank everyone who came - and bought journals and postcards - and enjoyed the exhibit. It was our pleasure to share our labour of love and extend the opportunity for you to keep the artworks. Thanks to the hard-rockin' support of the POP crew and extended-POPpers (friends, husbands, sisters, you!) who made this event possible. To Niel Quisaba who started this crazy perfection on paper - salamat 'doots! See you all next year!

These are some of my favourite photos taken from the setup to the opening. Enjoy!

POP III opens to the public

my postcard. SOLD OUT. salamat ninyo! :)

He got my journal! salamat :)

Autograph-signing... a shoe! :)

Thank you people!

enjoying freelancing?

I have been freelancing for about 4 months now - for my ex-bosses and friends - but it seems like I have been doing this for years. I'm not complaining, it's just that I'm overwhelmed by the time they demand from me. I end up getting annoyed and irritated by the way I steal time, thinking I needed to finish or amend something. Choosing not to have a day job was never a hard thing for me because I always wanted to be a stay-at-home-full-time-mother-slash-wife. But now that projects came pouring in, sadly, I don't thing i have become "full-time" for my babies :( Or at least that's what I feel. 

Yes, I love the freedom it brings... the control I have over time - but why am I ranting over these things? Crap. Maybe I'm just a little uninspired with that gloomy grey sky outside my window.

heavy heart

Saying goodbye yesterday was hard enough for all of us. Add a panic mode when we had to worry that our baby might be getting his third episode of UTI, it was harder to breathe. Being apart, we always assure ourselves that it's the best for our family (because it really is. This is our family's current situation and we all had to accept the way it is.) and that we are still very blessed for my husband's job abroad (the think of it as the bonus blessing). But yesterday was too much. The timing was very annoying.

But what can we do? This is the type of drama that we talk about and let out all our feelings and the kind when you need to see the brighter side. I had to rush Akii with a 40degrees temperature to the ER, leaving our 2.7yo the chance to say goodbye to his papa in the airport. I had a heavy heart - the missing and the worrying is a very bad combination. But I managed to stay strong and positive, thinking this too shall pass. Knowing that this is just a speck of our family's grand story.

We will miss you terribly papaGoy. Thank you for the grandest time of our lives, thank you for coming home :)