IKEA Again!

Our girl was feeling much better over the weekend and was already itching to get out of the house. As a treat we thought we'd go back to IKEA seeing as she seemed to like going there. Alright, I admit, WE like going there. The wife picked up a couple of stools and the kids had fun just walking around and playing with the furniture. Myself, I came for the swedish meatballs... :) Here are a few pics of the day...

Click on the photos to go to the Flickr page...

Kid Funnies Part 13

For the past few nights, our son has been climing into bed with us. He sleeps between us and sometimes even kicks either his mother or me out of bed. He also wakes up really early but he's really good in that he tends to wait for us to get up before he does anything crazy like jumping on the bed.

One morning, it was just him and me on the bed as my wife already gave up her space to the little man. At any rate, he was already awake and was waiting for me to wake up. I was still half asleep when I rolled to his side of the bed. I was jolted wide awake when he began to shout "Don't crush me! Don't crush me!" I bolted out of bed thinking I was already crushing the life out of him.

Turns out, he was only playing but that was as good a wake up call as any...

Kid Funnies Part 12

I was watching the soccer match on TV ( Australia v Greece ) and was getting into the action. During a particularly exciting play I began shouting at the TV as men are wont to do. My daughter then put me in my place. "Don't shout at the TV, Daddy," she admonished. "It can't hear you!"

That shut me up real quick, but not without bursting out laughing with my wife. That should teach me to mind my manners.

Still Sick...

Our poor little girl is still sick. She's missed school all week but I'm just happy that she's still up and about despite her having fever and slight coughing. We've already taken her to the doctor and she's been taking antibiotics since Wednesday. She'll have to go back again tomorrow because she doesn't seem to be getting any better. Hopefully we'll get stronger medicine then.

Both her and her brother are still active, thank God, but because of her fever we've been forced to keep them indoors most of this weekend. We played in the house and doing all the things we could to keep them occupied. Here they are just tuckered out and having a big nap on their parents bed.

I hope she gets better soon as she's already complaining that she's missing school and her friends. Well, it's winter after all and I'm sure not a few kids will be under the weather too.

Mother's Day Lunch

We had a nice mother's day lunch last Sunday at a small Italian restaurant just a short drive away from the house. It was a good thing that I booked a table a week in advance because the place was packed already when we arrived. We got ourselves seated right away and surprisingly, the kids were extremely well behaved this time. They patiently waited for their food ( ham and pineapple pizza! ) and we played and read them some books we packed in their bag.

Although the food was fine, the service was a bit slow I think due to it being a busy Mother's Day weekend thing. It was a shame though as the restaurant had a good vibe to it but we'd certainly try to come back again when it's not too busy.

Winter Blues?

It's definitely winter. Our poor little girl's has been nursing a fever all week. They went to the doctor's this morning and got prescribed some anti-biotics. It's not too bad this time as she's still up and about but it's a sure sign that winter's here. I'm sure that the flu bug will make it's way around soon enough.

Anyway, our daughter is such an actress. Maarte. Here's a picture of her and her brother. She's showing us her sick face. She insisted on me taking the photo and blogging about it.



Here they are just being themselves. I'm trying to take a picture of them in their bright clothes together with the tulips we got for their mom on mother's day.



This doesn't look like anyone's sick at all.

My Mother's Day Gifts...

And the flowers were nice too. :)

Mother's Day Revelations

As you know, mothers all over the world get to have a special day tomorrow. Some of us will get breakfast in bed, a special meal with the family, nice gifts, etc. In my case, at this very moment ... I actually get a few hours today without the kids! Yes, my husband has taken the kids out shopping for a surprise gift for me. Bianca has been waiting for this day for the past 2 weeks now, trying so hard to keep it a secret from me, talking in hush tones with her Daddy as they try to decide what to get for me. How sweet!

Now that I have some quiet moments to myself, I reflect on a few recent discoveries about my kids:

1. It only takes a few words of appreciation or encouragement during these early years to give your kids confidence. I noticed it this morning as Bianca started playing on the computer and she reached the highest level of the game. I did not have to say "good job", "well done", "clever girl" anymore ... she just came to the conclusion "I did it because I'm the clever-est girl in the world!". Nico also sometimes tells me "good job mommy" with his thumb up without any prompting.

2. I was reading a book "Love Languages for Children", trying to 'analyze my kids' (as hubby would say) to find out what makes them feel loved. And when kids feel loved, they respond better to parents advice, communication and discipline in the later years. There are 5 ways mentioned in the book: physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service.

After reading the book, we concluded that our little girl's primary love language is 'quality time'. It's quite obvious when she gets all excited about the times when we are alone on our 'girls day out', rides on the bus, having a snack at the cafe where she gets undivided attention. Since she's now in school, we don't get to do this as much so she often mentions missing it. Right now, she's having a "daddy's day out" and I'm sure she'll tell me all about it when she gets back. Hope we put in enough love into her "love bank" to get us though the tough teenage years!

Also, I wonder what love language the little boy works on, the book says I have to wait until he's at least 5 years old before I can figure it out. He seems to enjoys physical games a lot, at least a few minutes each day seems to make him really happy all day. He also likes helping me out with small tasks like getting a cup, throwing things in the rubbish, grinding some salt into the food, etc. Oh well, will have to wait a few more years to find out for sure.

3. Bianca it not only confident, but very assertive as well. One time I was trying to choose a book for Nico at shops and here comes hubby trying to rush me, not really helping. At this point Bianca says "Daddy, let Mommy decide!". Another time, I was really busy getting a few things ready before they went to bed while hubby was just sitting down reading a book. This time she said "Mommy, you are so busy ..... and Daddy's not helping again!". LOL ;-)

These are times I am glad to have given up full-time work to be a stay-at-home mom. There are good days and bad days, but most definitely more good ones. I certainly like the feeling of knowing and caring for my kids ... and to me, that's what motherhood is all about. And all this would not have been possible if it wasn't for my hubby ... thanks mahal.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Free Comic Book Day!

Yes, I'm indeed a comic book geek and today marks a special day for all my kind. It's free comic book day where participating comic book shops around the world are giving away specially crafted comics to all. It's the 5th annual celebration of Free Comic Book Day and it's also a great way to introduce readers young and old to this other form of literature. Yes, I said it, comic books as literature. More information about Free Comic Book Day here

We decided to take the bus to the city as an adventure and the kids really liked it. It's good that they still get enthralled by simple pleasures like riding a bus. I took my daughter to the shop while the wife and son went around Rundle Mall to window shop. As expected, my local comic book shop, Pulp Fiction Comics was already buzzing with activity. FCBD is always a big thing and the shop was packed.

There were people in costume walking around Rundle Mall promoting the free comics and the shop. I deliberately waited a few weeks before getting my regular orders of comic books from so I can pick them up on FCBD. My daughter went with me while the wife and son went off to do some window shopping at the mall. Aside from my own comic book stash, I made sure to pick up a free comic book for the girl as well. She's always enjoyed reading books but she seemed particularly happy to have a comic book to call her own.

We walked over to Chinatown to have lunch. It was a cold day and the wind picked up a bit while we were walking but at least it wasn't raining. We even got to pose for photos at the Victoria park fountain which is in the center of the city. After lunch, we did a little shopping at the Adelaide Central Market for some fresh food and veggies before heading home.



All in all, a great day. Now, to settle down to some comic book reading...

A few more photos:

---

"Getting Hungry!"

---

"At last!"

---

Central Market, fresh fruits and vegetables and everything else at the center of Adelaide.

At Victoria Square

More Photos!

Well, who can say no to a grandmother? :) As requested, more photos of the apos! Courtesy of Filmloop. These were taken when we enjoyed some time at the park as well as clowning around at home.

Scanpan Warranties and Good Customer Service

About six months ago we bought ourselves some new non-stick cooking pans. They were a Danish brand called Scanpansupposed to be the best around with a lifetime warranty and guaranteed that the non-stick coating would never to blister or peel. Three months later, much to our dismay, we found the pans to doing exactly that: the non-stick surface was forming blisters and peeling.

Unfortunately, we lost the receipts and didn't know if the store would still take them back. My wife tried to return them anyway and was pleasantly surprised that the store was more than happy to take them back and have the pans shipped to the local distributor. They explained that the distributor was normally pretty good about taking back damaged pans and seeing the states our pans were in they had no problem accepting them back. Just this week the distributor delivered to us our brand new pans without any fuss.

I'm quite happy that the company owned up to the lifetime guarantee even though we weren't able to show the receipt. I know of a few stores that would be none too flexible about that. Goes to show that there's still a level of trust here in Australia that I hope won't go away anytime soon. Now, what to cook for dinner?

Canon Test Shots

I was testing some of the features of the camera we just bought. I like the fact that the camera has a setting for Kids, which means the camera automatically adjusts to taking fast pictures as kids don't really stand still for long as evidence by how they're jumping on the bed here.



Also tried the color accent feature that highlights a specific color in the shot and leave everything else black and white.



And another shot:

Canon IXUS 55 or How I Bought a Cheap Camera...

Our old Nikon 4300 gave up the ghost some months back and we decided to get a new camera. Actually, the sales decided it for us. My wife and I saw in the David Jones catalogue that the Canon Digital Ixus 55 on sale for about $120 off the retail price. Of course we couldn't pass up a bargain and when we found ourselves in the city last Sunday after church I thought I'd go and see if we could buy it.

Unfortunately, the store didn't have any in stock anymore and explained that because the model was to be superseded it was on sale and a very popular buy. Not to be deterred, I grabbed a copy of the catalogue and marched up to a few stores in the city. However, the other stores were still selling the Canon for the retail price and couldn't even match the price that David Jones was selling it for.

In the end, I was able to find one store who was able to sell the camera for the same price. They had to order it in though but today, they rang up and I brought home our latest toy. I'm still testing it out. It's got a lot of great features, it's small and sturdy but mainly I'm most happy that I got it for a great price.

A couple of test shots:

Kid Funnies Part 11

When my wife and I talk in tagalog in front of the kids and we don't usually try to explain what we talked about because they seem to understand that it's grown up talk.

While in the car this afternoon, we talked about stuff regarding the birds and the bees and were kidding around.  My daughter then asked us what we were talking about.  I replied that it was grown up talk and she wouldn't find it interesting.

I said, "You find grown up talk boring, right?"  She replied, "But when you were lauging it sounded like it was something good!"  And we burst out laughing all over again.

IKEA Stuff

IKEA Stuff
Originally uploaded by chazzvid.

We bought a few items from the new IKEA and our long weekend was spent putting things together. The chairs and table was easy enough to assemble. The other stuff like the shoe racks/benches was simple too.

I had quite a time trying to get a floating shelf up correctly. I had to look for the right type of screws to attach the shelf to the wall as well as making sure everything was just level. In the end we got there and our house is now a little bit IKEA-fied.

She Loves IKEA

I sat down with my daughter for some Q&A today.

Q: What did you like about IKEA.
A: I like the new texters. The playroom and the lunch! I also liked the little shopping trolleys!

Q: What did you buy in IKEA?
A: The dragon and the snake.

Q: What did you do?
A: I played in the play room, I played with Texters and I played in the ball room and putting balls in tubes. I drew and then I played in the farm and saw Finding Nemo in the playroom.

Q: Would you like to go back again?
A: YES!

And she made this drawing just to show her enthusiasm.

Ikea in Adelaide!

Finally, after months of waiting we finally have our very own IKEA here in Adelaide. The wife and I are big fans of IKEA so we trooped the kids down to the grand opening of the IKEA Adelaide. I took some time off that day so we were able to arrive bright and early for the opening. I figured that IKEA opening in Adelaide was a very big thing and we didn't want to miss out on the fun.

We were there almost an hour before the opening time but already the 900 space parking lot was filling up and a substantial crowd had already gathered outside the store. It was all very orderly as IKEA already anticipated the popularity of the store and they were well prepared with free juice, orderly lines, lots of parking attendants and even a live ABBA tribute band to keep the crowd entertained while waiting!

Finally the doors opened and the line we were on slowly moved it's way inside. The first thing we did was check out the kids playroom as we though we could leave the kids there while had some time to browse. Unfortunately, the boy was not allowed in because they had no nappy changing facilities. So we left the girl to have some fun while we attempted to browse around with the boy. But, it didn't work out that well because he didn't like being left out and he had a full blown tantrum.

It took a while to calm him down and we took our first walk around the store with him just constantly crying, not a good first experience it was. At any rate, he quieted down right away when my wife fetched our daughter from the kids play room. After a quick snack of the famous swedish meatballs at the IKEA café, we decided to go around the store again, this time with the calm and happy kids.

The store was laid out exactly like most IKEA stores with show rooms at the 1st level and the market space at the ground level where you can pick up brick a bracks, and the warehouse where one can go and pick out the furniture that was on display in the showrooms.

After waiting months for the store to open, the wife already had a list and a budget to spend so we ended up with quite a few items to bring home. We couldn't all get it to fit in the car but we were pleasantly suprised that the delivery fee wasn't too expensive. It was just one price for delivery to most of Adelaide, which was so different from the prices they had in Sydney.

We were about to go home when the little girl decided she wanted to buy some cheap pens she played with in the playroom. So instead of going out the exits, we headed back to the entrance again. An IKEA employee tried redirecting us to the exits but after telling her we were going back up, she said, "Oh great!, Buy some more!" Well, at least we still came on budget ( at least that's what the wife tells me... :) )

So we had a late lunch at the café again and after picking up our daughter's things we finally made our way home in the late afternoon. The wife and I laughed at the fact that we stayed the whole day at IKEA. Consumerism wins again!

I don't know what it is I like about IKEA. I guess it's partly how the products are good value plus the sense of accomplishment of putting the furniture together. But then again, it's probably just me indulging my suburban fantasies.

School Holidays

School breaks (also known as school holidays) in Oz are different from the school breaks in Manila. Here, there are 4 school breaks lasting between 2-6 weeks in a school year over here, whereas there's just one long summer vacation in Manila for about 2 months! During the preschool era for my kids, there was not so much drama during these breaks. After all, they were contented with just watching TV, videos, going to the park and playgroups. Keeping them happily occupied at home was not a problem.

But now that Bianca started going to school, she always poses this question to me on the ride from school to home: " What fun thing am I going to do when we get home?" On schooldays, I could always suggest a number of things like "have a snack, watch TV, do your homework, read a book, make a drawing, etc.". But now that she's officially on school holidays, she has more time on her hands at home that its not easy coming up with ideas. She asks this question at least 4 times a day!

Good thing we started with a long easter weekend that we managed to invite some friends over that that kept them happy for a while. Tomorrow, hubby goes back to work and its back to reaity for me as I am left alone to think of activities for them. I'd hate to go to the shopping malls as I know it will be crowded and its a costly way to pass the time. As I try to become an organized mom, I had thought of a few ideas to prepare for the coming days. However, I've already used up more than half of them at this point with still 2 weeks to go!

Oh well, so much for preparation. Maybe I can just take my cue from them, be a little more spontaneous. Who knows, they may not want to do as much, or they will have more ideas than I do ... I hope.

Holy Week and Easter 2006

It's Holy Week that reminds me so much of Dumaguete.  I can always remember the hot summer days that begin the same time as Lent.  The merciless sun bearing down on those lazy afternoons that find me and my siblings just sitting at home and watching religious movies on the TV.

I recall the countless times we'd be watching The Ten Commandments or Ben Hur on Good Friday.  I get the feeling that watching those movies made me feel a little "religious".  Then in the afternoon, we'd go out of the house and watch the Good Friday procession brought by the people in the neighborhood.   I was always fascinated by the way the people on our street re-enacted the Passion.  It's like they were atoning for a year's worth of sins.

Of course, there'd be no meat in the house at all.  It'd be fish and Takoy's adobong itlog.  I'd always get a hankering for adobong itlog around this time.

At any rate, Easter and Holy week down under is a different proposition.  To most Australians, it's the start of school holidays and a long weekend.  Australia is not exactly a religious country so Holy Week doesn't mean a standstill of the economy and life like in the Philippines.  Of course, Good Friday and Easter Sunday and Monday are still holidays but there's not the deserted empty streets or the via cruxis across the entire city.  Not too many Catholics around these here parts but there's still a lot to keep traditions alive.

Last night we went to the Easter vigil mass, something that my own family would do in Dumaguete as well.  The kids were mostly cooperative because we made sure they had their naps that afternoon.  What was encouraging to see were the many kids who attended the mass with their parents.  The church doesn't get filled up too often.  Mostly it's BCE.  Baptism, Christmas and Easter. :)

Anyway, it's Easter Sunday now.  Time to go out and look for those eggs!  

Hmmm... donuts...

Krispy Kreme!
Originally uploaded by chazzvid.

These didn't last long...