The Baby Blog

All righty my dear baby blogger readers... this blog will now be my weight loss journal. As most moms can attest, except of course the ones that I dance with (Tina-maan, Liza, Fides) as well our sisters up north (Melanie and Michelle!)... gaining weight during pregnancy is to be expected... and the boobs from breast feeding are more than welcomed... but losing all that weight has been my biggest challenge.

Ever since college my weight has fluctuated but moreso steadily increased, and the pregnancies was a catalyst. So here I am about 140 pounds. My arms add an extra count to all the dance moves (damn Pangsat!) My thighs and hips just add to this proportionately "fat" look I have been sporting. But when you must dance next to size zero to 4 girls, it is not easy.

So I have signed up for our campus' "fitness center" class which works like your basic 24 Hour Fitness... except I only pay for 1 unit = $26 for a whole semester!!! Construction on campus has forced me to park down the hill and in a farther parking lot... so everyday up the hilll, down the hill (not the easiest to do in dress shoes, though!) I have cut out most of my rice, working on the french fries and soda (my biggest weakness). I am utilizing the On Demand Fitness TV to try different workouts from Yoga to Pilates to Hip-Hop aerobics, and maybe even go to the "Hot Combo" Dancing!!

Anyone in the Vallejo/double V area that plays tennis? This has been the one thing I have been wanting to pick up again. The one sport I know I can play and keep up with most average players. I would enjoy just a friendly "rally" every Saturday. I would try swimming, but it is hard knowing I should take the kids with me, but then I would end up just standing in the pool versus swimming.

So this is my plan... hopefully by next year's tour, big show, and summer season... I'll be able to fit in those costumes (except for Itik-itik!), sport a new bathing suit, and be healthy and MORE Energetic!

To be continued...

With the heat really burning up I noticed that it also took a toll on my patience and my energy to do anything. Luckily Damoomoo has been home to do as most of the upkeep as possible but there are some things we haven't done:

1. Laundry. I think we washed all the clothes after our trip and maybe a couple more loads since, and that's it.

2. Mail. It's all spread out on our kitchen nook table, and I still haven't found those darn Marine World Tickets I have been saving!

3. Cooking. Well, it's just too darn hot to turn that sucker on that we have been eating out... Damoomoo has been finding ways to stay out of the house and into cooler areas. In fact he went running around with the UPSer looking for a fan...all sold out! I opened our fridge this morning and the shelves were empty.... like a college bachelor fridge!!

4. Sleeping in our bed. Its tooo hot... It doesn't help that I only stay ustairs long enough to change out of my day clothes and into pajamas, and take off my contact lenses. I even wait to get to work before I put on my make-up... my hair looks like crap every morning because it's too hot in the bathroom to fix it (well, waking up late doesn't help either!)

5. Feeling guilty for not wanting to do anything at home, even with the kids. The heat just wears me out... the commute in the heat wears me out, and for some strange force of nature, my kids STILL have their bursts of energy that overcomes the heat!!

If this heat continues and happens again next year... we are moving!

On Thursday, I watched a campus production, "Hit It!" with a few of my co-workers, and I am glad I did. The star of the show is Jared Choclatt, a drummer/percussionist who has performed in Bring in Da Noise/Bring in Da Funk, and in bands for famous singers. And this show was testament to how good he is... The whole audience, not really knowing what to expect, was just in awe by the end of the first act! He was awesome!!! The production is actually on its way to Broadway! So if you ever see the production or this artist somewhere, you gotta check it out!

Then last night I made arrangements with mom to watch the boys so Damoomoo and I can watch Superman Returns... I liked it a lot! The love story didn't overpower the movie, in fact it helped it, I think. I love the dorkiness of Clark Kent! Now, hopefully I can find a way to watch Pirates, too before it leaves the theaters... any babysitters?

This weekend is going to be another busy one, especially because Damoomoo is picking up a lot of gigs (which I am grateful for cuz it just gives us a little more pocket money). Maybe this being more full-time wouldn't be too bad! Stay cool and hydrated everyone :)

Well the family wedding has come and gone. It was BEAUTIFUL, but not just because it's family, but because it is a couple that you know are truly made for each other. They were together for 10 YEARS! I don't think I owned anything for 10 years, let alone a single relationship!! Damoomoo has a better update!

The next morning we went swimming with other cousins. AJ is definitely ready for swimming lessons. Mio on the otherhand does not like water in his face, but he did let me put him under water several times. Then it was time to check out... and the heat was already getting to me.

We made it to the Cruz's for only an hour, and made it to practice. I don't know what it was --- the heat, the lack of coffee that morning, or just not ready to practice --- but I was really off during practice. I wasn't feelin' it that day, and the big show is only a month away! The boys were running around as usual, and Mio would cling to me only when I have to dance! But we made it through. I tagged along with Damoomoo during his meeting with his client, and we grabbed some L&L on our way back home..

Got to Vacaville and the house was like a sauna, even though it was already 11:00pm! We opened the windows hoping to cool the house down, and slept downstairs in the family room under the ceiling fan. I woke up late with back pains... and started sweating as I got ready for work. Now, here I am in my last week of 4/10. School is still pretty empty, but the fall term is just around the corner... at least it's cooler here!

While were away in the Netherlands, and in this hectic schedule, I miss A LOT of television. If you know me, you know that I am ADDICTED to reality tv. I love the "drama", until it gets really played out, like in The Real World where every season is all the same elements, and I love Soap Operas.

I grew up watching Dynasty, General Hospital, All My Children, Ryan's Hope, Hotel, etc. Then comes this "new" concept of reality tv. Okay these are not the most educational viewing choices, but it sure if fun to watch. In fact soap operas were the only thing I was able to related to with my great-grandma, who was able to follow the stories, even without knowing much English!

Since we've returned, I still found myself very busy, or the kiddies are hogging the "big tv". We only have 1 cable box that has the DVR. Right now all the episodes I am recording are:
Days of Our Lives
24 and Smallville (waiting for new episodes)
Project Runway
So You Think You Can Dance
The Hills (the MTV spin off of Laguna Beach)
Making the Band
Beyond the Break

And a new one I just might have to start recording is, Instant Pageant. The hosts go to different cities, and randomly choose 6 women to compete in a beauty pageant. They are given 3 hours and $500 to purchase everything they need including hair and make-up, with the help of the friend or family member who happened to be with them at the time. Let me tell me, Damoomoo and I were hooked when we watched the episode in Florida... the friend "coach" was the drama queen and quit before the pageant started!!! Damoomoo even went upstairs to fold clothes, and I caught him still watching!

Now as for my Days...
Why can't they have a wedding that just makes you cry... the last I remember is Jack and Jennifer. Ever since then all the weddings had drama or couple is not "meant to be". Hell even Bo and Hope (she is getting on my nerves, so I always FF her story) are heading towards splitsville right now.. but jeez, give us something that really keeps you attached--- a good thing, that may last a long time, if not forever. I like how they brought back Steve and Kayla. And as bored as I get watching the show and the storylines drag... it is still recording, and I am still watching (although mostly if FF).

I LOVE MY DVR

Uncle Patrick...happy 17th Birthday! I am already trying to plan your big 18th birthday bash and graduation party! Oh my goodness....

This past weekend was all about that --- FRIENDS!
Friends we see often,
Friends we see at parties,
Friends we only see at VERY special events...
But either way it was fun to be around friends (and family) even if it means travelling around the bay in one day!!!

Friday, we actually made a trip to Sac a tomato. Of course to visit IKEA! which although the same store and all, you can see the small differences, some good, some not so good, but there cafeteria area is much bigger! Oh did I mention that it was Pretty Darn HOT!

Then of course we went to Arden Fair Mall... where I started my hunt for an outfit for Damoomoo's cousin's wedding on Saturday. Pink is really hard to find when you DON'T want to wear floral stuff! I think it would be good to match the color scheme since we are Secondary Sponsors, right. We are also looking for a "suit" like outfit for Mio, who although is not the official "Ring Bear", will be walking with us (and maybe a pillow!) I couldn't help it... he is already practicing!!! I think AJ is all Ring Beared out!

Saturday we killed 2 birds with one stone: A Yanger Baptism which unfortunately we stayed long enough only to say Hello, take a picture, and then good-bye... well actually time for Damoomoo to catch up a little and "plan" a round of golf... like a said, the same game they planned before Mio was born! Our lives are just too hectic... but worth trying, right!

So many things are happening in all our lives, that even for these brief moments, it is good to be able to catch up... not just in the blog (Hi, Mariss!) but in person...maybe not as much details but enough to say... if you ever want to hang out (we love to BBQ)... or in my case (visit the outlets) feel free to come our way!

Then it was on our way to birthday party for Damoomoo's nieces in South City... to beat the traffic we decided to cut through Richmond and take the GG Bridge... it would have been beautiful if there wasn't any FOG! We ate Filipino food, joked around with family, and headed out to Stonestown to continue my hunt for an outfit... Finally, I decided on a top and nice pants. I am wearing white.. which I am totally afraid of... but it looked cute, and cool enough to last in the San Jose heat!

Sunday we went to the big slide park for another baptismal celebration for a DOM-mate. It was nice to see friends again, since we missed the Tahoe tournament, and they aren't playing ALL together in a league this season. We chatted, ate, and fought for shade. It was so hot that Mio got a little burned when he tried to go down one of the slides!! The ice cream made bank that day. We ended our night at casa de sanchez as always, ordered pizza and the kids took a dip in their "cool spa".

I think AJ is ready for swimming lessons as he stuck his head underwater. Mio, just the brave heart that he is although barely touching the bottom wouldn't let me near him!! But did I mention that he gets angry when he wets his face... it was great watching him as he "tried" to go under water!!

Oh the fun times... Now if I can only get together with more of my friends... more often!

hopefully it was just the end of her lifespan... but when we returned home, we found Nala... sleeping forever! Damoomoo looked really sad as he was the one who found her in her wheel, lifeless.

The next morning AJ asked, "Where is Nala?", and with all honesty I replied, "She is in hamster heaven. She died while we were on vacation." He looked a bit shocked and sad, but quickly responded:

I want a bird!

So the question is, do we go out and buy another pet? Should it really be a bird... that is a lot of cleaning after... it was also suggested to get a Beta fish... all alone, and happy in a small bowl? Any suggestions? And no we are not ready for a dog and Damoomoo and i are allergic to cats!

After 14 hours in a plane, 2 hours in the airport, almost 2 hours on BART, we finally made it home, almost. My mom and stepdad picked us up from BART, originally we had it planned that they pick up our van that way we could just go home. But of course my mom had other plans, that just seemed to make it more difficult. They had my sister's van instead... which barely fit our luggage plus all of us. Then we still had to drive to V-town to pick up our van, which meant another hour. We finally made to our house, very tired and very ready to sleep in our own bed... BUT as Damoomoo went to unlock the door...

No house key! We made it back to his parents house and I offered to drive back... Dosing off , yes very dangerous, but we finally made it through our door... and only made it as far as our couch... I never even made it up the stairs!!

It was nice to wake up to AJ smiling and hearing him... "Hi, Daddy!" along with a big hug, and "Hi Mom!", also with a huge monster hug... then there is my Mio...., "I want dede!!" All day I couldn't do anything... I just slept... my biggest worry, is being able to get back to work on Monday...

Already we miss Europe... but it is VERY NICE to be back home... back with our boys where we belong... The memories will always be with us, thanks to Likha for the opportunity ---- "FIRE!", here's to Amsterdam and bad choreographed dancing!! hehehe

Our vacation is practically over. We bought all our souvenirs, said good-bye to the city of "freedom" -- where the prostitutes stand behind glass doors for men (& women) of all ages to window shop, where you are free to smoke (or eat) marijuana, and the whole red light district (and even their version of our Castro area) is full of sex shops, sex shows and of course places to eat in between your activities!!!

Farewell, Amsterdam... to the rest of Likha, break a leg in Marseilles, see you when you return... we will host the cast party where we can swap pictures, watch any videos outside in the backyard!!! hehehe

Boys, mommy and daddy are coming home to pick you up now! Although I have a feeling we were hardly missed... the first time we called AJ got mad cuz we were interrupting hime while watching "Diego".... And today they are swimming at Ninang's house!!! They definitely had their very own vacation.

Happy Birthday Ninang Voodoo!

Muslim Suites
Due to the time we split our Muslim Suite into 2 nights.
Friday we performed Magigal/Paunjalay and Vinta.
Many details to work out, cutting counts to fit in the time limit, so back to the village hall we practiced.

Performance time, and we nailed it. Vinta stayed on their sticks, knee walks were done... and of course us girls were on and off stage in a matter of 2 minutes... actually longer:

We marched onto the stage when introduced. Our instructions were to "set-up" in position until our music played... well it took our musicians HELLA LONG to set-up so we stood there frozen in position for what seemed 5 minutes!!!

Saturday
Parade: We arrived in costume, which on a hot day, made you already sweat. We walked through the village just to get to the starting point. Then we walked (I think I heard 2.1 miles) and danced and waved and smiled... in our "jazz shoes" which barely has sole for the bottom, but just looks "nude". And boy were my feet hurting! You could feel every pebble on the road!! But it was fun...

We had a break so we walked some more to grab a bite and some beer. We got to relax, most of the girls wearing "subli" wrapped around due to the heat... it was pretty equivilent to Vallejo weather in the hot summer time. Headed back in time to change into my Spanish costume for Pitik Mingaw. And boy, was I sweating!!! a thick ass dress, with a 3 layer petticoat, was not fun in the heat!!! We performed out 2 Spanish dances inside the market, so most of the crowd did not see us, cuz the main performances had already started! oh well, at least it made it worth carrying that huge dress on this trip!

For our mainstage we performed Pangalay, Asik, Singkil. And it became redemption... because in the middle of Pangalay our male dance fell!! And he is not a small dude!!! And the stage made itself made it the "fall heard throughout the festival!" But of course we laugh it off now! All the fan girls back stage, just had our jaws dropped to the floor, "oooooh, my God.... he fell!!" And of course by the time Singkil was over we hoped the fall was forgotten!!!

The closing day... we sat through Church Service in Dutch... and certain groups were asked to perform piece. Rok Star played the guitar and Ms. Luzon sang. Puerto Rico had the guitar player sing... let's just say HOT! All the girls and gays were turned on!!! hehehe The service lasted longer than expected... and we still had to prepare for our closing peformance.

We went home, and literally out the door, not realizing that the bus call got pushed back... so I was putting my make up on over my sweat cuz we were out in the patio waiting for the bus.... it was so hectic because we were performing Banga, Salidsid, Gansa Pattung... which is although just leotard and a skirt... the time to change was very limited, so we wore 2 leotards on stage for Banga... Thankfully we all made it in time... and Cassie carried all eight pots on her head without a flaw!!!

We left the festival with barely enough time to say goodbye to the other groups... which was really sad. But we get the news as we left the festival that we were ranked #2 out of 15 performers overall!!!! WOOO HOOO!!!!

The after parties... yes there were nights we got to party, and this mommy and daddy couple without kids, did just that... What can I say... When in Holland, do as the Dutch do!! One night we partied with Bosnians who had their native plum wine... That stuff burns down your throat and into your stomach...worse than our stuff in the U.S. We danced the polka and partied! They have some tall ass dudes in Bosnia!!!

Well it was time to say goodbye to Warffum, and our hosts in Usquert. It was really sad... I really enjoyed their hospitality. Ria and Peter were so nice to us. We stayed in big clean house, and fed very well... almost too well!!! I have gained weight here because for the past week, I have eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner!!! I will miss riding bikes around the village. I will miss the beautiful lands that are endless farms... I will miss the "end of the world"!!! The country has so much history... and now I have to watch Band of Brothers again, to see Old Holland as Easy Company marched through!!!

We have one more day here in Amsterdam... yes we saw the red light district, ate some space cakes, which made the "live nude show" a real trip!!! Today we want to see the Van Gogh museum, Ann Frank's House, and do our souvenir shopping! So much to do, and so little time... maybe while we wait in the airport tomorrow I will share more about our stay with the Filipino Dutch people in Amsterdam... Toto we aren't in Usquert anymore!

The festival in Warffum, Nederlands is in it's 41st year, and attracts many Dutch people throughout the week. When we arrived for our opening night performances we were "herded" to our dressing room trailer. I know believe that we had one of the smallest ones, and probably the farthest as well! First we had to manage to unload everything out of the room in order to get people in the room to change... with a whole bunch of "divas" it seemed to take forever!

Then it was time for the green room... passing by all the other groups:
South Africa: you can smell the fresh leather from their drums, not the most easing scent
Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guatemala, Malaysia..and the Green Room is full of people despite we were 12th in the line-up out of 15. We met the Philippine Ambassador and his wife, took pictures, and on our way to perform our Barrio Suite (Pandanggo, Itik-itik, Binasuan, and the National dance, Tinikling.

Last minute instructions were yelled out, and Boom.... "Forget it about it!" all the last minutes exits were forgotten, so we definitely got our ears full outside by great grandma! To relieve ourselves we went on a hunt for beer, at which time, I met the "aunties" from New Zealand. We had missed their actual performance, but I just loved listening to their accent! They were so funny. I was introduced as "Mighty Mom, from the Philipine group, out of the United States" Our cover was blown! Most people already knew we didn't come from the PI.

Day 2 : Redemption
Instead of our planned "collage" kuya rudi decided to stick to one suite-- Lumad (Mandayan, Blit, Kadal, Tahaw, Bagobo) The awesome thing about this festival, is that our shows were either 12 or 25 minutes long which is enough for only 1 suite. So I have had no quick changes! Anyhow, we reached our redemption... Bagobo sounded really fierce with the foot stomps and the bamboos hitting the floor. The stage itself mainly created that effect by its design.

We ranked 3rd in the crowd surveys for opening night! woohooo.