Patio Updates

I'm not really an outdoors person but I do love staying out in the yard because of the covered patio.

Since summer came, however, every time we go out and spend time in the yard, it seems like we're also providing a buffet for the mosquitos. Yes, we get eaten alive, I kid you not.

We've tried different repellents - spray-on types, citronella bracelets and stickers,off clip on - and nothing really seems to work. Last night, Swe-cha's ninong advised spraying the yard with insect repellent, they come in bottles that you could attach to the garden hose and they get sprayed on the plants and lawn as you water them . Hubby sprayed this on this afternoon.

We also decided to get some mosquito coils (check out the clay coil holder!) and citronella candles (oo, late na). After Swe-cha's last foray in the backyard this week, he got no less than 30 bites all over. They're still swollen now, 3 days later, so we're not taking any more chances



Not really sure which one worked or if our neighborhood mosquitoes were out for the day but I can say that we didn't get bitten tonight and that is such a huge relief. Next year, we will start spraying the insect killer early (you do it every 8 weeks) in the summer, before the mosquitoes start hatching.

While we were outside trying to tempt the mosquitoes with our delectable blood, hubby decided that he wanted to open up the ceiling light and clean the dome.

I convinced him to switch the incandescent bulbs with energy-saving CFL ones. I have been trying to get him to do this for the longest time and finally succeeded now, 9 months later - not too bad ;)

I am also happy to show that I did set up the el-cheapo Ikea Rusch clock that we purchased last week. I've been wanting to put a clock outside for the longest time as it is so easy to lose track of time when you're lounging outside.

Little things make me so happy, I tell 'ya. $1.99 to be exact. I don't feel the need to put up a nicer one because it'll be exposed to extreme temperatures and well... er... because I'm cheap that way.

This is it, I guess, patio-wise. We don't feel the need to put in any more updates at this time.

Family

It used to be that when you say "FAMILY" out loud, Swe-cha would rush over to us and hug us. Family meant Mommy, Daddy and Swe-cha mixed in with a lot of hugs and kisses.

These days, Mommy and Daddy have been demoted and replaced with two other family members.

Family raw,... and then he kisses them.

Granted, they're super stars.

But hey, aren't Mommy and Daddy supposed to be super stars in your eyes too, Swe-cha ?

Sickies

I'm WFH* today, Swe-cha has been sick since last Thursday when his daycare called us early in the afternoon to come and pick him up. We've been tending his fever since then and we have instructions to bring him back to the doctor should his fever not go away by Tuesday (ang tagal!!!).

We have been alternating between seeing Swe-cha in a great mood and having to deal with severe crankiness all weekend long - he's good when he's comfortable but gets cranky when not (i.e. when medicine wears off).

He's been sick a lot during his first year in daycare but it hasn't been this bad in a long time and the previous times he's been sick, his recovery is already very obvious within 24 hours of administering meds. Now, we're on our 3rd day of antibiotics and I still had to give him Tylenol this morning.

Poor baby.

In the meantime, I'm taking the opportunity to air out our house. All our upper floor windows are wide open and there's a nice warm breeze going through - warm enough to not feel cool but not too much to be uncomfortable.

Please help us pray for Swe-cha's recovery. Thanks!

------
*WHF - working from home

Home organization

Our home has been a work-in-progress since the time that we moved in - roughly, 9 months ago - and given our very slow pace, each update is really an achievement in itself :)

So here's our latest acquisition - the Kallax shelf unit and Knipsa baskets from Ikea. It's really doing a good job of keeping the clutter down (not completely gone, but it's way better now).

It's really similar to the one that we got for my home office (Ikea just renamed the series) and admittedly, this wasn't what I had initially envisioned for our living space. Since we have an open concept house where the living room, dining area and kitchen flows right into each other, I was thinking of getting a nice buffet for this wall here. As it turns out, this is one of those times when I'm sort of grateful that we didn't rush furnishing the house as this is really more appropriate to how we use the space.

In the ideal world I envisioned, all the toys are confined to the playroom, however, that isn't really practical in the sense that how am I supposed to confine Swe-cha within his playroom while I am in a completely different section of the house ?

Anyway, we can always move this shelf into one of the bedrooms eventually when we're done using it this way  =)

This is a wider view of the space.

We have two more things on my list to get before I would say that this space is complete, I'd like to get a big clock that would also serve as wall art and a TV & media table so we can get our TV off the floor.

Wish us luck!

Pahabol

After hearing mass, hubby and I ran through the list of errands that we needed to do...
- get milk and eggs from the grocery store
- pick up lunch (takeout) from our fave Vietnamese place

So we drove to the grocery store, I ran down quickly to get the milk and eggs and got back to the car.

Hubby then asked, "Vietnamese na lang no ? tapos uwi na ?"

I confirmed, "yes, Vietnamese then bahay"

and then from the back of the car came a small voice adding "and beach".
He had been asking to go to the beach for a while now.

...

Can't decide where Swe-cha understood our Tagalog conversation or he just has really good timing.

Bonding over Sharks

Hubby and I spent our Sunday bonding over SyFy Channel's series of Shark-themed B-movies.

- Dinoshark
- Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark
- Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus
- Attack of the Two-headed shark
- Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus

Had a great time bonding while making fun of the plot, special effects, cheesy lines and bad acting.

We find it interesting to see familiar names. For example, Stargate SG-1's Teal'c, Christopher Judge, is in "Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark" and Stargate Atlantis' Mr Woolsey and Star Trek's Emergency Medical Hologram, Robert Ricardo, is in "Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus.  Since we are both fans of the Stargate and Star Trek series, naka-relate na kami agad :)

High on Milestones

It's been a while since I blogged and I'm still exhausted from our recent trip but I cannot pass up this chance to record the milestones that we experienced today.

- In the morning, Swe-cha brought my shoes to me while I was getting ready for work and said "Bye bye, Mommy"

- Some time after dinner, Swe-cha went to the bathroom pooped in bathroom by himself. He's been good about going to the bathroom when he needs to and I let him go by himself but I do follow close behind to monitor him. This time, I saw that he sat down, did his thing and flushed. He did not wipe but immediately pulled up his pants, I intervened and gave him a bath.

- Hubby decided to mow the front lawn. *eyes wide* Yes. On a weekday!
Apparently, he realized that tomorrow is a Wednesday (our yard waste pickup day). We have 2 yard waste containers, the first of which I've already filled 1/3 - 1/2 when I started pulling out the weeds*** on Monday afternoon. Normally, we fill up both containers to the brim when we mow the lawn so it dawned on him that with all the weeds I already pulled, there was no way we were going to be able to fit the cuttings if he waited till the weekend. He decided to do the front yard and when he was done, he did part of the side yard as well. He stopped when it got dark just before 9pm.

As I told my friend this afternoon, "the one good thing I can see when you hit rock bottom is that from there on, there is really nowhere else to go but up..." =)


---

*** more on weeds later. Kainis ito.