Caroleen’s Treasures

Credits: Summer in the Hampton kit by Danielle Engerbretson

“Somehow, out of all the twists and turns over our lives could have taken,

and out of all the chances we might have missed,

It almost seems like we were given a meant-to-be moment…

to meet you, to get to know each other and to set the stage for a special togetherness.

When I am with you, I know that I am in the presence of

someone who makes my life more complete than I ever dreamed it could be.

I turn to you for trust and you give it openly.

I look to you for inspiration, for answers, and for encouragement.

And - not only do you never let me down. You lift my spirits up

and take me to places where my troubles seem so much further away

and my joys feel like they’re going to stay in my life forever.

I hope you’ll stay forever.

I feel you’re my soulmate.

And I want you to know that my world is reassured by you,

my tomorrow’s need to have you near.

So many of my smiles depend on you,

and my heart is so thankful that you are here.”

Excerpt from Inspiringthot.net

I am happy to announce that I just updated my online store in multiply. I am still working on my online store under my own domain and it will take some time. So for now I put some more photos and info at Home of Cloth Diapers and Baby slings. I have added Anatomy of Fitted Pocket Cloth Diaper, How to wear Fitted Pocket Cloth Diaper, Anatomy of One-Size pocket cloth diaper, how to wear One-Size pocket cloth diapers, how to fold one-size cloth diaper insert. I also added an album of different colors of cloth diapers that you can choose from.

I might have something more. Will keep you updated! Thanks!!!!

and hopefully will be the last. It happened yesterday morning and I feel so bad for him but before you freak out (like what Ella did) he’s okay now and he’s back to his old self. When we woke up yesterday, we stayed in bed longer to breastfeed. When he had enough I put him in his playpen, gave him toys and made our bed. Suddenly I heard a cry that sounded like he was hurt.  He’s just at my back so I immediately checked on him and I saw a yellow and black thing smeared on his mouth. I knew it right away, it’s a bee!

So I was in panic (what can you expect from me?) but I managed to keep calm. Ella was the one who was in real shock. I carried Eman right away and checked first his mouth because I suspect he attempted to ate it. He did. That bee was already in “coma” after Donald sprayed the night before. I don’t know where these bees come from but we have occasional visits from them. So we have a water-based insect spray ready each time they show up. I usually squeeze each of them with my slipper when they drop from the air and I didn’t know there was one that landed in the playpen. Apparently the little guy saw it and thought it’s delicious. The bee can still move and can still sting even when it’s almost dead or even when its head has came off. I carefully removed the sting and tried to make him feel comfortable by giving Paracetamol. Ella was like, “Mommy! Anong nangyari kay ading? Bakit ang laki ng space?!!!!!!!!” (Mommy what happened to my little brother? Why the space is so big?). That made me laugh. Read more… »

This face looks like I have to keep an eye on him.

Mother’s instinct proved to be right again. He has plotted another mischief but this time it’s too cute and I can’t help but giggle. Ella was playing with her bears last Monday. She loves playing mommy to them. She tucked them to bed and left for “work” and this little guy thought it’s cool to join them. Read more… »

Yesterday was Eman’s schedule to get measles vaccine. Here in the Philippines you have two options to get your child vaccinated. If you have plenty of money or you just want to avoid the hassle of long queue and heat, go to the private clinics where you pay around P1,000 to P1,500. And if you are like me with not much money to spare or you are frugal mom, then going to the Barangay Public Health Center is your best option. It should be FREE but centers have different policies. In Kabacan they only have a small donation box and it’s not compulsory to drop but I always put in P20.00 or P50.00. In Trento, Agusan del Sur we are asked to pay and they issue official receipt. They always ask me to pay P40.00 each visit but I overheard the midwife ask the mother beside me “Kaya nimo bente?” (Can you afford twenty?). I think they make an assessment based on your physical appearance and on what stuffs you bring. We always bring the camera and I always dress Eman in nice outfit. That might be the reason. But everyone can wear nice outfit if they just know how to find one in ukay-ukay (gently used clothes from abroad).

Okay back in the Health Centers. Here in Mintal I was asked to pay P20.00. I didn’t bother to ask what was it for. We were there last January 20 but we just went home tired and hungry. I was just thankful that I woke up in the right side of bed because if not, I could have given them my two cents.
Read more… »

I wrote last night about Ella’s Barbie dresses made of scraps from my cloth diapers and baby slings. Julie left a comment in that post wanting to see the pictures and so I am sharing to you all the photos of her masterpieces.

Read more… »

In this time of crisis, who would not want freebies? Well, Donald doesn’t want it.

Last Monday night we had champorado (chocolate porridge) for midnight snack. Since it has long cooking time like the other dishes in Cafe World, we usually fix a pot-full of champorado and just put whatever is left in the fridge to make it handy when somebody craves for it. We only have a little of it left today and Ella decided she wanted that for her afternoon snack. Although it is easy to get it in the fridge, she has to get some sugar in the store to sweeten her champorado because we ran out of it. Last night I had a bowl of it too but I put some honey on it but she doesn’t like the taste. We are not big consumers of sugar. In fact one kilo could last a month or so. We just use it for champorado and our occasional hot chocolate drinks during cold days. Honestly I prefer sugar too but this honey is so good. Read more… »

I just finished sewing new set of curtains for the living room mainly because I can’t live without it, I want privacy and I want a dim house. I did some little cleaning in the kitchen this afternoon and took down the curtains but I am too lazy to wash it. It was soaked but it’ll take me more time to remove the spots from I-don’t-know-where than I imagined so I dug in my box for fabric. I find it a lot easier and more fun to sew than do the laundry.

It’s almost midnight but the kids are still wide awake. Ella is hard at work with her crafts while Eman is busy with my soft tape measure. I hope this means my little guy will love numbers and math will be his favorite subject. Well the little girl is inclined to arts and I absolutely don’t have any issues with that. I actually would want her to be an artist or anything related to arts, fashion and the like. Yeah, fashion. She is learning to dress up her Barbie dolls with her handmade dresses made of scraps from my cloth diapers and baby slings.

We are loving the oldies music on Donald’s playlist……remembering the olden days. Go to go now because Eman is sitting on my lap now and is trying to reach the keyboard with his fingers and toes.

I am so bad at keeping my blog updated if I don’t have online tasks. I know being busy is a lame excuse because I can always sit down and blog for 10 minutes or so. There have been many great things happened last week that I have yet to blog. One of this is Ella lost his third tooth.

Read more… »

The little guy slept for 14.5 hours straight!!!!! That surprised me because he usually stays up late sometimes until past midnight. If he sleeps early, he will wake up and play before calling it a night but last night he slept all through out. These photos will tell why he’s knocked out.

Read more… »