Caroleen’s Treasures

Today I woke up feeling very nauseated. I sat infront of my pc to check on emails and blog hop but I could not stand the cold. I feel like wind is gushing around me and I have to go back to bed and hide under my flannel blanket. I think I have slept for half an hour.

It is Saturday, market day here in our town, so I can’t just lie in bed the whole day without going to the market. Donald, me, Ella and our working student went to the market at quarter before 9 in the morning just right after I woke up the second time. I was not able to blog about our working student since I became so sick the past weeks. She is in 1st year high school, daughter of our neighbor who happen to be a member of the church too. We decided to get her a couple of days before I learned about my pregnancy. She is here to help us with preparing Ella for school, doing the dishes and cook rice. She also do some light yard works but I won’t let her wash clothes. Of course she should wash her own clothes but not ours. I have problems with other people washing my clothes. I am not comfortable with it that is why with all the house helps we had before…laundry is not included in their work. And of course I do not want this girl to be very tired to go to school. Ella really enjoys having her around and she even introduced her to her Tita Cheche when we went to Davao last week, “Tita, ito si Ate Tadiday, may ate na ako…bagong panganak lang siya.” (Tita, this is Ate Tadiday, my new big sister. She is newly born.”

Ella was really excited too that she will be having a baby sister or brother. But she really like a sister. She said if it was a boy she will look for a tall tree, climb there with the baby in his arms and knock in heaven adn ask God to exchange it with a  girl. I actually want a girl too so we won’t be buying new things for the baby since I have kept some clothes and toys and even Ella’s stroller and walker (well with the stroller and walker, it could work well with either boy or a girl since it is unisex). But when I came to read an old post of Julie in her blog, I came across this Chinese calendar and it says I will be having a BOY!!!! Gosh! I do not know how to react on this one. So I emailed Julie and she said with her 4 kids..it was pretty accurate adn with her friends too who have 3 kids!!!! So I told Ella that she might have a baby brother….I was nervous that she might react violently but instead she said, “Okay lang, kahit boy…kasi baka bawiin ni Lord pag-magpili ako eh.” (It is okay if it is a boy. I am afraid God will get the baby back if I will choose.)

With Julie’s kids, she has wrapped gifts for his other kids when one is born. Like it was from their little brother or sister. It was a great idea so I decided to do the same when the baby is born. Maybe I will wrap children’s books or even a bike which Ella was asking for so long (she has outgrown her “torn” bike). So this will make Ella and the baby more attached as Ella. I hope I could save for it before I give birth.

I promised before that I’d post a photo of Ella on her new haircut (I think I promised myself and myself alone) So here it is….her photo when she turned 5 with her long hair.

And her new hairstyle….

Well I like her new look now, at least I can send her to school with a head band and not worry about tying her hair wet.

I lost internet connection at 4am so I got some sleep before Ella went to school. I feel so sore on my back when I woke up from my naps. Yes I had several naps. I again did some cutting of fabric for her pyjamas. Did I mention before that there was a neighbor that keeps on coming back to borrow money? She did come back thrice and she seem not to believe we don’t have money to lend. We don’t really have some extras, only we have enough for our needs and my medication. Then there’s another neighbor who went here last night to borrow money for food, I said I have no change so I offered to lend her if we can find a change of my bill. The she refused to accept since I don’t have a change, I offered a pack of noodles and a can of corned beef but she didn’t accept it. Why would I offer to lend her and I said no to the first? Because the second one needs food, the first one just needs money to pay her debt (she loaned money to buy lotions and other beauty products and to me it is not a necessity). Then in the afternoon, a third neighbor came to borrow money to pay the truck who will deliver wood for their furniture shop. So this one is a need to (to my judgment) so I loaned her the amount since we have ordered a desk for Ella. If she can’t pay it, I can deduct it on the amount of the desk.

I am honestly stressed with all the rantings of my neighbors. Each day I can hear each one of them complain having no food. As much as we can, we try to help. But now I need some medication, all we hope is for more opportunities to come so we can still hand the kids some biscuits when they come here with grumbling tummies.

This makes Ella understand how hard life is….so last night while I was busy cutting fabric, she she was busy counting something on the floor. Then I heard her complain some are missing. I looked at her and there on the floor were nails in different sizes and with different thickness of rust in it. She said she will sell it so we can have money. She told us once before but now she seems to be serious. I said she don’t need to make money herself because Mommy and Daddy are the ones who does it. But she insists, saying she want to help so she can buy slippers for the kids here. Oh well, I can’t argue with her at this point.

Tonight we went to Tatang and Inang’s place. Ella wanted to ride her bike because we couldn’t fit in the motorcycle. Me, Donald, Ella and Cheche (the one who fetched us). We said NO so she was forced to ride with us. When we were half on our way, the motorcycle died. In the middle of woods, without a single light and a house near. So Ella was grumbling more saying if she only rode her bike, we can get there on time She was saying…”because I said so….” and “Mauna na lang ako sa inyo Daddy…” (I will go ahead of you Daddy…) and started to walk. Gladly Cheche had a celphone so she sent a message that we are stuck there, anotehr motorcycle came to get Ella and Cheche while I stayed with Donald and Uncle Jun who fixed the sparkplug. It was an old one and needs overhaul or replacement.

After a few minutes, they finally made it run. So we had a nice dinner and chat with Tatang, Inang and half of their family (I say half because not all children and grankids were there) We took some snaps and was thinking it must be better if Tatang and Inang wore renaissance clothing for more drama and effects.

It’s the 4th day at school of our Princess…Princess Dora Since they have no uniform yet, I let her wear her pair of Princess tops and skirt and her Princess sandals that we bought her last December. I have to let her wear all her clothes so the money we spent to it would be worth it as she may outgrow them all any day soon. I was very suprised last Sunday when I saw her wear the sandals and her feet almost reach both the rear and front end of it. I bought it way too big so she can wear it much longer but boy, it was only 6 months and she’ll outgrow it soon. My oh my….she is on growth spurt! As I have noticed she has grown back her baby fats back which she lost last month and she grows tall very fast! Was it because of cereals? But aside for cereals, she never fails to eat rice and nibble on some finger foods she can find in the cabinet. Have to keep all her food there as some kids will just go inside the house and eye on the food laying on the table, I feel bad not giving them but hey there are 5 of them and sometimes more! So if I’d give them each a packet of cookies, there will be no more for Ella. With my meager earning from blogging, we really need to be frugal and wise. But of course we give the kids some treats whenever we can.

So as usual, Dora…I mean Ella walked home without her Daddy. Donald was about to go when she came calling on the door that she was home. I told Donald to tell the teacher not to let Ella go home when he was not yet around, sides it was 30 minutes earlier again than their dismissal time. I asked Ella who she is with on the way home as I am worried she may get lost. But she answered “I walked with my classmate and her Tita, we are chatting along the way when I realized they are turning to the opposite direction and our house is on the other direction so I took the way home…” Oh well, Ella’s memory is real sharp. She can even remember all the things her Mamang Eling did to her and the gifts she recieved.

After lunch, siesta time! My favorite part of the day! When we woke up from the nap, Ella and Doanld went walking around the block. Ella actually rode her bike without the trainer’s wheel. She is been doing it since last October adn she is pretty good in it now. Good that Donald had repaired the seat AGAIN…with all the wires and thick rubber bands around it to hold in place, it sure does looked like better than the bike we saw last week. Oh you could have been peed on your shorts if you were with us! It was a little bike driven by this little boy…it was a usual bike like the ones I have seen around only the handle bars are replaced by  a steering wheel made of a bike tire and held together by wood. Pinoys are really very resourceful!

Had a nice dinner of sauteed mushroom and about to retire early. Good night to all!

Sunday has been great. We had a story about Jonah and the whale. Since I have kids in mixed ages, I had to make sure the 3-year-old understoods what I am trying to imply like the 4, 8 and 10 year-olds. The story should only take a few minutes but it took a little longer as I have to translate from English to Tagalog and Bisaya Oh well, it’s good that I don’t have to do it in Ilocano and Ilonggo But in case I need to do it with these 5 languages, I still could manage

We have 5 baptisms again after the worship service. I think we needed baptistry here. That will be much easier for everyone as we have to drive a few minutes from the chapel to the river. After the baptism we again piled in Bro. Bernard’s car to the place of the new members. We passed by ricefields and Ella was really thrilled to see hundreds of ducks. It was so hot and I feel very exhausted and dizzy that is the reason I never had the mood to blog last night.

At night Ella had a chat with Tita Crislyn and Tita Cheche, you got to hear her talk! She was like an old woman who was reincarnated in Ella’s body. Although I am the mother and I hear her everyday talk like that, it still amazes me all the time. I don’t know what this child has eaten or drank…I hope I have a recorder to record all her statements. Can’t believe how this little girl talks as if she lived for hundred of years

I felt like dragging my feet all day. Still feeling not well yet I have to go to town to check on the school for Ella. The first one was near the market and I don’t like the location. A little school just behind the fish and meat stalls I picked a few items in the grocery store on my way home and I could not understand the weather here. One hour it is grilling hot and the next there were black heavy clouds and very strong wind. When I arrived home, Ella and Donald was playing here in my pc. They love it when I leave the house. I told Donald about the school I went to, that I don’t like it. We went to the school nearest us to check what they offer. Ella rode her itsy bitsy bike, she is really very good at driving. I learned to ride a bike when I was 8 and so is her Daddy. But she did it when she was 4! Her bike’s seat was broken by the kids and Donald put wires to keep it in place but it hurts her behind. And so I said “If you’d be good, I will get you a new bike.” I was excited to see her reaction…instead of jumping in delight she said “I have this bike, this will be fine. We don’t have money to buy a new one.”

Can someone tell me what happened to our little girl? She seemed to grow one year in a day