Cuddle Time

What to do on a rainy night? Cuddle with Papa :) I shot these photos using my cellphone camera. These photos are priceless. I just love taking photos of Brandon and Trixie. I'm already content just by looking at them together.

My big little girl

One busy Wednesday morning, I was surprised to see this tower outside our bedroom. Only Trixie and I were upstairs and it wasn't me who built it. So it could only be Trixie. We usually play blocks with Trixie but she likes destroying more than building, so it was really a pleasant surprise for me to see this work of art. (Check out Trixie the Builder video to see for yourself.)  She amazes me these days.  Babies really, really grow and learn fast.  Here are some of the things that caught my breath away these past two weeks...

1.  Whenever I cough, she gives me a pat on the back. 
2.  She likes kiwi, mangosteen, romaine lettuce, hard-boiled egg whites only and sauteed onions.
3.  She loves to doodle on paper by drawing small lines (holding the pen properly), but last week, she started to connect the lines and form them into endless v's or w's.  Just this morning, she learned to draw circles and told me they were eggs and/or balls. 
4.  She now counts 1 to 5 audibly.
5.  She is now into folding paper, but before, she just crumples and throws them in the trashcan.
6.  She loves playing pictionary with Brandon.
7.  She tells me she misses her a-ma, kongkong and a-i.
8.  She sometimes asks for hot tea (diluted with plenty of water) after meals.
9.  Once when her ball rolled below the table, she took a railroad track from her train set and used it to retrieve the ball.  She got the ball then put the railroad track back to its place.
10.  She sings the birthday song quite often, and one time, I found her humming.
11.  At every meal, she takes it upon herself to put rice on our plates plus whatever dish we have.  She doesn't forget to ask for water too to fill our glasses.
12.  She insists on a specific hairdo- all her bangs tied up together sort of like a... uhmm... a shih tzu... Just imagine the struggle we have because I always try to convince her to have another hairdo.  But guess who always gets her way...  See the photo on the right to see what I mean.

Trixie the Builder (October 2007)

I am so happy I was able to capture this special moment on video, where Trixie built and destroyed her own little tower. Mind you, one of the boxes was quite heavy--- see how she struggled lifting and placing this box on the tower.

While waiting in the car...

This was a very good photo op while Brandon and Trixie were waiting for me in the car. :)

This one's for Gatch

I made fruit cheesecakes for Gatch's Auntie's birthday (and a sampler set for Clovy). Gatch, I hope your aunt will love these. I also got your aunt some Ecuadorian roses which were really lovely. Gatch, ok ba? :)

Century Park Hotel

Rating:	★
Category:	Other

I would have given this hotel a no-star rating. We slept at this hotel after my bro-in-law's wedding, to our dismay. The room aisles smelled heavily of smoke because the rooms on our floor were occupied by nasty people who smoked in their rooms while leaving their doors open. We had a huge share of unwanted secondhand smoke. We complained to the front desk but they were not able to solve the problem. The room interiors were bad enough coupled with the bad service of the hotel, so I will never, ever stay at this hotel again. A few days after our stay there, I suffered a very bad sore throat and cough. Trixie got sick too. So I repeat, never, ever again.

Trixie got sick...

After her successful stint as a flower girl, Trixie got sick with colds and cough (Want to know why? Check out my review of Century Park Hotel). Brandon candidly took these photos using natural light in our backyard and Trixie never looked so cute, so I couldn't resist posting these. She still smiled even though she's sick... awww....

Flower girl Trixie :)

I am so proud to say that last October 28, Trixie became an adorable flower girl at her Uncle Bryan's wedding. Hand in hand, we walked down the aisle. No crying, no fussing. I was really happy and proud; she was such a good girl. One compromise I made with Trixie - wearing her Crocs with the gown! We are still waiting for the pictures/ video at the church from the photographer, but for now, here are some moments before the wedding.

Mini Fruit Cheesecakes

Inspired by Gatch's request for me to come up with an impressive dessert, I made mini cheesecakes with assorted fruits- kiwis, mangoes, grapes and blueberries. Strawberries would be great too (next time). These baby cheesecakes were my gifts to Mela at her wedding shower.