I had a feeling our seventh year together would be a lucky year and I was right! You want to know why? It's because we were given a car as a gift! Isn't that the coolest? It's not brand new but it's good enough for us. Thanks for my dad for giving me his old car. His new Honda City is way cooler but I certainly don't mind that we're driving a Mazda 323. It will still last us a couple of years and hopefully, (we're really keeping our fingers crossed on this one) by the time it's too old to run we can afford a new car. That's not all. I don't know why but I have a feeling next year is going to be so much better. Hurray for a wonderful year for us!

Experts have always recommended for mothers to breastfeed and not to rely on baby formula. It's still a puzzle why after so many studies and researches that were made public other mothers still choose not to breastfeed their babies. It's estimated that you can save up to $2000 per year on formula costs by breastfeeding.

With regards to this, WIC, which is a federal agency that provides food, nutrition, and access to health services to underpriveledged women and children has released a new food package to encourage breastfeeding. In this package women who feed their baby with formula milk will receive 13% less in formula assistance that was previously given in the recent years. So parents who are in this program have to shell out their own money if they insisted on continuing feeding their babies formula milk.
Here is what Dr. Barbara Levine from Weill Cornell Medical College has to say about generic infant formula, “In the United States there are no generic infant formulas. The truth is all infant formulas are subject to the same regulations governing manufacturing and ingredients as stipulated by the Infant Formula Act. Store-brand infant formulas sold at major retailers are therefore a premium nutritional substitute at a value price and meet the same exacting FDA nutritional requirements as all the major brands. As a nutritionist I know the truth about infant formula: there is no nutritional reason to buy the much more expensive formulas sold by the big pharmaceutical companies. The quality and safety of the manufacturing are also inspected in same way by the FDA.”

Z is starting with his new school service today. We had problems with the last one because he doesn't have permit to drive in our area. This morning, Z agreed to ride the service but I had to go with him. He said I don't have to fetch him after school and will ride the service on his own but he needs me to accompany him still going to school. I don't know the reason for that but I'm confident in no time he would love riding the service on his own. This will also give me time to focus on my online activities to help augment our family's income.

Everything is now back to normal. We have survived the two typhoons that rocked the Philippines without a single damage. I don't know why we were spared while I think 99% of our neighbors have suffered unthinkable damage in their property. It really opened our eyes that in the end whatever properties we have won't matter. But despite the massive damage the storms Ondoy and Pepeng brought our poor country I guess we're still very lucky that we're still alive. Properties can be replaced but not a lost life. I wish we would never experience this again in our entire lives but with the way the earth is deteriorating and nature fighting back I guess it's just wishful thinking to say that it will never happen again sometime in the future.

Last Thursday was hubby's day-off and just as planned we went to Star City for Z's birthday. We went out at 3pm but we have so many errands on the way that we didn't arrive there until 7pm. Before going there, we took care of our grumbling stomach and went to Wendy's. S tried the newest on their menu which is the Baconator which costs P210. I was worried about the extra calories but ordered it anyway because I was afraid S wouldn't be able to sleep that night thinking about it. LOL

The actual burger doesn't look as thick as that though. S liked it but when I tasted it I only tasted meat so it was too much for me.

Next stop was to get a memory card for my Powershot A590. So we went all the way to CD-R king and bought a 4gig SD card for P380. I am amazed at it's price because I know this can cost from P500 to P1,500 so I wish it will last unlike the headset I bought at the same store which broke after dropping it on the floor once! Here's our first shot.

So off we go to Star City. Oops, not yet. We still passed by Shangri-la to take care about the wedding gift we bought at their Weddings and Beyond Bridal registry. They were supposed to gift wrap it and send me a text message to pick it up but the wedding was long over and I still didn't receive one. I thought they'll just deliver it with to the bride's house along with other gifts but my friend texted me it's not there yet. So we were prepared to give them an earful about the bad service, but good thing they said they can deliver it so I went away happy.
We rode the MRT and LRT and got off at Vito Cruz station. S wanted us to ride a taxi from there but I wanted Z to see the orange jeepneys because I knew he likes to see different kinds of vehicles. We call it "baby jeep" although it's not exactly small it still is smaller than the normal jeep he sees. We were so near yet so far because the roads were being fixed so we endured about half an hour of traffic.
We finally arrived. Here's getting stamped at the entrance. One thing though, I was surprised to see their prizes have increased. I asked the lady behind the counter about it and she said they didn't. They just don't sell the rides in a bundle anymore. The Ride-all-you-can + Snow World + Dino Island which costs P475 before you can now get at Ride-All-You-Can - P300, Snow World - P100 and Dino Island - P100 for a total of P500.

A year ago, Z was too afraid to ride the simplest rides but he showed us how big he's getting by bravely riding a lot of the rides there.









S and I didn't ride any adult rides at all. If you want to know why, look at the picture above. S is already afraid riding the Teleconverter (I'm not sure if this is the name).
Z wanted to ride the ferris wheel for a long time, he can see it at SLEX whenever we go to Sta. Rosa. Upon seeing it up close, he was almost sure it reached the sky. Still, that didn't discourage him.




The famous Dino Island and Snow World we didn't like at all. We were bored at Dino Island and Z was scared. I reminded him how he wasn't afraid at all watching Jurassic Park all by himself but he still didn't want to go too near.


At Snow World, I thought we were prepared with the extra jackets we brought along but it was still too cold. S is sick and I was beginning to show symptoms of cold myself so we lasted for - I'm not sure we even lasted a minute there! It was a totally waste of money for us. Anyway, we had fun overall and Z was really happy. Didn't want to take off the ride-all-you-can tag he was wearing till the next day.

One thing that my husband really loves is getting massages. Every time he comes home and before he sleeps, he'll ask me to massage his hands and feet. I, on the other hand, knows nothing about giving a massage. I'm sure he would really love it if I learn something about hand reflexology and foot reflexology. Aesthetic Video Source offers instructional massage dvds so people like me can learn it at the comfort of my home. If I'll learn the right technique from the expert then I will no longer hear him complain about my massage. What's more, maybe he can learn it so he can give me one too. I never thought I needed to learn something like this but I'm glad there are videos out there that can make it easier for me to learn it. The DVDs an be ordered by calling 1-800-414-2434 or visiting www.VideoShelf.com.
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All the balloon blowing I made the night before was worth it because when Z woke up and saw the simple decoration I prepared, he was grinning from ear-to-ear. I knew all he wanted was to get all the balloons but I told him he had to wait a little bit.





It was almost lunchtime when his cake arrived courtesy of Dad. We were expecting a regular cake because we weren't able to order something in advance but his Dad was holding a Car-inspired cake and Z was ecstatic.



Pretty soon all the balloons were in Z's hand and our mini-party was over. Z confided to me before he went to sleep that night that he was surprised when he woke up and saw the balloons and the "sulat" ( Happy Birthday banner) in place.
To my birthday boy, daddy and mommy love you so much! How I wish you'll stay four forever and remain our cute little boy!