Hurray for the residents!

We had another annual residents' meeting today. Still there was no quorum but I was happy that there was some progress from last month's meeting. The developer, FL, actually changed the lay-out of the new towers to be built! For the club and residences development, the "blocking tower" was moved to the side furthest from Crystal Bay, so the view won't be that blocked. Also, the shapes of the new towers were now diamond-shaped, changed from the y-shaped towers. This would afford more space and better views for the residents of the existing towers. I was pretty excited about this development. It meant that the developer actually listened to the residents. Kudos to them and hopefully, they won't be changing their plans again without notice to the current residents.

Further, the residents were asked to give their suggestions as to what amenities they wanted for the future towers. Apparently, FL is planning to have shared amenities for the residents of the different towers. They will be passing out feedback forms for residents to fill out. I will be filling out those forms to propose the following:

1. taxi stand or shuttle
During the times when the vitara is on coding or is being used by S, and the driver is not available, I would need to catch a taxi and it is a pain to catch one from here. I either have to walk about 2 blocks or wait at least 30 minutes and pay an additional 50 pesos flag down rate. I hope FL will be providing a shuttle which goes around the park or at least put up a TAXI light on top of the guard houses.

2. chapel
I was hoping that there will be some sort of chapel or place of worship in the community. I hate attending mass at the shrine of jesus. it's just too crowded and the sea breeze doesn't help - the air is really sticky. once more residents move in, maybe the association or FL could have a place of worship where there can be mass on sundays. I guess the function room would also work but at this time, probably not too many catholics live here to merit mass every sunday.

3. function room
I am also looking forward to bigger function rooms. The 2 function rooms we currently have have a maximum capacity of 40 people. Plus, you have to rent them for 6 hours minimum. Also, we can't rent the indoor pool. Since N is still young, I think a lot of kiddie parties are in our future. I was hoping that the new towers will have bigger function rooms that we can rent so we don't have to rent outside. Maybe there can also be preferential rates for residents so the association can also rent out the function rooms to outsiders.

Although there still wasn't any quorum and no new board members were elected, I'm beginning to see that there may be hope for the bay yet.. :)

1st week of solids

As of today, N will have been on solids for more than 1 week.  We started with mashed avocado mixed with EBM, then with ground-up white rice (also diluted with EBM) and mashed potatoes with EBM as well.  For each type of food, we followed the 3-day rule - meaning, we feed her the same food for 3 days before introducing a new food.  Today is her 4th solid food - sayote.  It was just plain sayote and no more EBM and she likes it! :)  She also really liked avocados and potatoes, but hated the rice.  We've also been giving her about an ounce of water during her meal.  She eats mid-morning and still drinks milk the rest of the day.

N really has a personality now.  When her yaya bibi feeds her too slow, she protests and tries to pull yaya bibi's hand.  She also likes playing with her water, which we give in the sippy cup.  When we give her EBM, we feed her in a cup and she now knows how :).  I can't believe that it has been 6 months!  

When I tendered my resignation to my law firm last year, during my exit interview with one of the partners, she told me that she had a difficult pregnancy (bedrest for 6 months) and she couldn't wait to go back to work.  At that time, I also was having a difficult pregnancy and couldn't imagine myself being a housewife as well.  It's been more than 1 year since I worked in a real office and I can't believe I've lasted this long! I still dream of donning on my suits again before going to work but my career will have to wait.  As S puts it, feeding and taking care of N is my most important job right now.  When we're ready to wean and comfortable with leaving her at home, then I can have my career back.

Are you really disabled?!!

We went to SM Mall of Asia last night for some minor grocery shopping and to get N some sleeveless tops to help her cope with the hot weather. We were lucky enough to get a parking space which was relatively near the mall entrance. On our way to the elevators, I noticed a car driving straight into the disabled parking slot and immediately parking there. The driver and passenger alighted (a couple from the office, by the looks of their uniform) and NEITHER OF THEM WAS DISABLED! I think there about 5 allotted disabled parking slots and there was only 1 space left. This made me think whether that couple intentionally knew they were parking at a disabled slot, didn't care, or thought.. "hey, the security guard isn't there to warn us off, so let's park immediately and hurry into the mall!". I wanted to wait for them in the elevator and comment to S, "grabe noh, puno yun disabled slots, madami siguro disabled nasa mall ngayon." Are we really that undisciplined that we will intentionally park in a disabled slot, just because there's no security guard to tell us off, even if there's a huge painting of a wheelchair right on the parking slot?!! In other countries, parking at a disabled slot without a disabled tag hanging on your rearview mirror will result in a fine as high as $500.00! I don't know if our own LTO even issues disabled parking tags or stickers.

Anyway, in the elevator again, on our way home, we encountered a family of about 8 people who were trying to squeeze into the elevator at the 2nd level (S and I took the elevator at the 1st level and the parking level was at the 3rd level). The elevator had started beeping (max weight reached) but this group just didn't want to budge. Eventually, 2 of them left the elevator and we were off to the third floor. And when we got there, this family of 8, nonchalantly walking to their red innova, again parked in a disabled parking slot. I stopped to take a second look - none of them were in wheelchairs, had canes, were limping or in anyway disabled. Granted that one of them was carrying a toddler, but from my last check having a child did not equate to being disabled. What's even worse, a Mercedes Benz pulled up to one of the 2 remaining disabled parking slots and parked there -- and who was in the Mercedes Benz? A driver who was probably just going to wait there to be called to pick up his boss when he gets instructed to do so.

Haaaay... only in the Philippines!

Broken Promises by the Bay

Because DH didn’t want to, I decided to attend the annual meeting of our condominium association. DH had warned me that he attended last year and aside from low quorum, the meeting was magulo because a lot of residents were complaining about the developer (Federal Land - FL) and their broken promises. I thought that since we lived here, I wanted to know what was happening and what better way to know than to attend these meetings.

So I attended and it was definitely chaotic! The president of the association was from FL and several officers from FL attended too. The meeting was supposed to start at 9am but there was no quorum! At 1030am, the president decided to start discussing matters which didn’t require a quorum. There were four major issues that the residents focused on:

1. Sky Cable
A Mr. Kennedy kept complaining why we were being held hostage by Sky Cable. Sky is the only available service provider in the complex (there are already 5 condos standing our of a proposed 11 towers). The Persian guy wanted to have Destiny because of its numerous sports channels. But the administration and board of directors wouldn't let him put up a satellite dish on his balcony or the roof. So during the meeting, he kept bringing up this topic over and over again. Personally, I couldn't care less if there were few sports channels in Sky (i'm not a sports fan). BUT I think that he should've been allowed a satellite dish on his balcony and the buildings shouldn't have been restricted to Sky Cable. As long as Sky Cable has a monopoly on this complex, we can hardly expect their services to improve and to offer residents better channel selections.

2. Car Stickers

FL has been actively marketing sales of the condominium complex and the logo. Our car stickers use this logo. A lot of residents have been concerned about their security in public. Since our logo is very well marketed, even if the stickers consist of only the logo, the public knows where the car owner lives. Thus, a lot of residents don't want to attach the stickers on their windshield. However, this becomes a problem upon entering the compound since the guards will block you and ask you questions if you don't have your sticker attached. It was suggested that the car stickers use a logo different from what FL is using. Since we are obligated to renew our car stickers every year, hopefully next year, we will be using a stickers with a "private logo."

3. Obstructed Views
This is the most controversial topic during the meeting. In fact the FL officers who were there bore the brunt of the residents' ire, particularly residents of Crystal Tower. When Crystal and Boardwalk Towers were being built, one of the marketing come-ons of agents was that there was going to be a sports club that will be built beside Crystal Tower. Well, there will be a sports club that will be built beside Crystal Tower - but that's not it -- it will be a club and residences - a 5-level sports club plus 3 residential towers with 17 floors each!! Crystal Tower residents were outraged because when they bought their units, they had bought it for the view and now, their views were to be blocked by another condominium. And that's not all. Behind Crystal and Boardwalk Towers, FL is planning to build 2 more Y-shaped towers. FL is also planning to build 4 more Y-shaped towers in front of and behind Mactan and Palawan Towers!

The FL people came with very nice powerpoint presentations and huge smiles. But one resident of Crystal was really upset. She had previously been featured in the Philippine Star, where she extolled the fine living she enjoyed in her tower. But now, she was fuming and wanted to issue a retraction! Another lady from Anchor Tower was also upset because when she bought her condo, she had gone into feng shui consulation and her view was included in the feng shui. But with the construction of the club and residences, her view would be ruined and subsequently, her feng shui as well.

4. Unethical Marketing

Residents were also complaining about the unethical marketing practices of FL agents. One of the residents pointed out that FL was using the previously-built towers as examples in selling Mactan and Palawan. Unknown to Mactan and Palawan buyers, whereas the first towers were made of concrete walls, the towers of Mactan and Palawan were made of gypsum board. I guess this is really the situation which calls for "buyer beware" attention.

My beef with the condo?

The association and administration is very strict - which is also a good thing since it maintains the exclusivity of the place.

It is also very difficult to get a taxi. You need to call from outside resulting in an extra 50 pesos charge on top of your fare! And it takes at least 30 minutes. One of the members suggested that there be a "TAXI" light on each of the security guard entrances, such that the guards turn on the light simultaneously when a cab is needed and once the guard is able to flag one down, he also simultaneously turns off the light. I truly hope that this suggestion is implemented to do away with the 30-minute wait and extra 50php taxi-call fee. Plus it is friendlier to the environment since nearby taxis are flagged down instead of radioing for a faraway taxi to come.

Regarding function rooms, the administration charges 4000php for 6 hours for the Crystal Tower Function Room and 5000php for 6 hours for the Mactan Tower Function Room, with each room good only for 40 people. I find this rate really steep, considering that most functions only last for about 4 hours. I think that they should reduce the charge to 4 hours since most of the condominiums I have inquired at charge much less for a bigger capacity.

And finally, there is another proposed increase in association dues from 57 pesos to 63 pesos. I think since we moved here there has been a 10 pesos increase in association dues! Hmmm is this like Meralco and we residents are also being charged with FL's systems loss?! I hope not!

Oh.. and the meeting adjourned at about 1pm – still with no quorum. As one resident puts it, he doesn’t know if the other residents are just apathetic or they’re just fed up with FL and don’t want to waste their time attending this meetings. They’ve decided to hold another meeting on June 28. I will definitely be attending and I hope more residents will attend so we can do something productive.

We're normal! :D

We claimed N's G6PD confirmatory test on June 13, in time for her pedia appointment in the afternoon.  Happily, N's results were within the normal range! :D -- so she's not g6pd deficient. Hooray!  N is now 8.9 kilos (about 19lbs and 8 oz.) and 28 inches long.  She has tripled her birth weight of 6lbs and 5oz. 

We discussed which solids to start her on.  Her pedia suggested 3 levels of solids - 1st line is rice (lugao), potato, sayote, green papaya, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, malunggay, spinach and other green leafy vegetables.  This is followed by monggo, squash, camote, gabi, tofu, taho, steamed fish, beef/pork broth.  Then finally, ripe fruits = banana, papaya, avocado, peaches, etc. and fresh citrus juice.  The progression of her first foods is bland, neutral, sweet. 

As previously blogged, I've researched about solids for the baby and since N is breastfed, she doesn't have to start with bland foods as my breastmilk is sweet (yes it is, i've tasted it. hehe!). 

According to the Mayo Clinic, citrus can cause painful diaper rash and should be held off until baby is at least a year.  

Anyway, we've decided to start N on avocado because it is essentially a complete food, it is avocado season and DH wants to have avocado shake!  I bought an organic avocado from Rustan's last Thursday but it wasn't ripe yet. I also bought some avocados today from the Salcedo market. Following the internet tips, we put the Rustan's avocado in a paper bag to hasten its ripening.  We had wanted to start solids today but I think will be postponing it to tomorrow because the avocado is not yet fully ripe.  Also, it is recommended that N should start solids in the morning and not in the afternoon.  

I can't believe how expensive that Rustan's avocado is! 1 avocado is 95pesos!! Meanwhile, I bought 2 organic avocados from Salcedo market today for 80pesos! No more organic purchases from Rustan's for me.  

Tomorrow will be a big day for us.  It's N's first father's day, first solids day and DH will be ready his camera.  :D

Twins!!

We went for a photoshoot on Monday at the Stork Studio (thestorkstudio.com). When DH saw N's photos, he just had to do this. N is truly her father's daughter.

Starting Solids

Now that N has turned 6 months, we are entering a new realm of feeding - solids. N's amah gave us a mini-blender especially for blending N's foods -- no instant foods allowed. We haven't actually started feeding her solids yet. She has an appointment with her pedia on Friday so we will be getting instructions then. Initial research suggests that her first foods be rice, barley or oat (cereals), apples, bananas, pears, avocados (fruits) and sweet potatoes, acorn/butternut squash and green beans (vegetables).

There certainly is a great deal of information about infant feeding. A lot of websites and even doctors say that solids can be started when the baby is 4 months. However, breastfeeding advocates recommend starting solids at 6 months (or even later!). According to the World Health Organization, solids (complementary feeding) should start at 6 months of age (180 days). The WHO has guiding principles both for the breastfed and non-breastfed babies.

To be prepared for this big event, me and our cook have started reading baby cookbooks. We are reading Fresh Baby's So Easy Baby Food and Annabel Karmel's The Healthy Baby Meal Planner. Hopefully, I can be dedicated enough to prepare fresh pureed foods for N and avoid Cerelac and Gerber altogether.

Half-year!

N is 6 months today! Wow!! We've made it to half-year.. i've reached my first goal and looking forward to the next 6 months!! :D

Is she STTN?

N’s teeth started coming out last May 26. First it was her lower left front tooth, followed by her lower right tooth. As expected, she was very fussy the past few nights. She used to wake up about 2 times to feed then when I carry her, she’ll fall right back asleep - -and she stays asleep until about 630am – 7am. However, when she started teething, she was waking up 3-4 times a night. And she doesn’t go back to sleep easily. She rolls around the bed and when she does fall back asleep, she’s up at 5am! So I really haven’t been getting sleep the past week. Both her two lower front teeth have broken the gums and I’ve been itching to take photographs of them. N won’t let me though. When I open her mouth, she covers her teeth with her tongue.

Yesterday, we took her for her G6PD confirmatory test. Maybe she got tired screaming when they drew her blood so last night she slept through the night! Ia visited us last night so I tried to postpone N’s bedtime but at about 8pm she got really cranky. I put her down and she fell asleep at about 815pm. I went to bed at around 1130pm, expecting her to wake up shortly thereafter. I guess I fell asleep because the next time I woke up, it was past 2am and N was still asleep – lightly snoring in consonance with her dad. I was super engorged and lazy me didn’t want to pump so I pulled N toward me and she nursed in her sleep. I couldn’t sleep thereafter – I was thinking of how N was growing up – teeth coming out, spacing out her nursings – too fast! I eventually dozed off and woke up, again engorged, about 630am with N still sleeping. This time, I decided to pump and filled up 11 out of 12 squares of Fresh Baby’s tray ☺ N woke up and nursed soon after.

I wonder if she’ll STTN tonight? Once she does, it’s definitely a huge huge sign that she IS growing up – becoming more independent. I’ll miss our late night, early dawn cuddling. I’ll miss the times when she just wants to sleep on me and sigh in contentment. I can’t believe that she’ll be 6 months this Friday. Babies really do grow up fast! sigh

N and G6PD

On June 3, we had to go to the National Institutes of Health because N needed to have blood drawn for her G6PD confirmatory test.  Her newborn screen test didn't include this test so she needed to have it done because her pedia said that G6PD deficiency was very common among Filipinos.  Since the screening tests were not suggested until about 4 years ago, according to my pedia, a lot of Filipinos are walking around not knowing that they are G6PD deficient.  I myself didn't know about this deficiency until N's pedia informed me about it.  

According to the G6PD Association, this deficiency is "is a hereditary abnormality in the activity of an erythrocyte (red blood cell) enzyme. This enzyme, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD), is essential for assuring a normal life span for red blood cells, and for oxidizing processes. This enzyme deficiency may provoke the sudden destruction of red blood cells and lead to hemolytic anemia with jaundice following the intake of fava beans, certain legumes and various drugs."

That was too scientific for me so I turned to Kid's Health for a more plausible definition: "G6PD is one of many enzymes that help the body process carbohydrates and turn them into energy. G6PD also protects red blood cells from potentially harmful byproducts that can accumulate when a person takes certain medications or when the body is fighting an infection."

So why is this worrisome? Apparently, among the harmful substances for G6PD deficient kids is napthalene - which is found in mothballs and fava beans (white beans).  These are common enough items that people can easily get in contact with.   Our pedia recommended a confirmatory test for N because of her prolonged jaundice.  At 2 weeks, she was still jaundiced which led to her being hospitalized for bililight treatment.  For a detailed enumeration of harmful substances to G6PD deficient persons, check here. 

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At the National Institutes of Health, there were tons of babies being tested.  Most of them were newborns with a few exceptions like N.  The charge for the test was 750php.  We arrived at around 1030am and were already No. 85.  Some more people came after us.. so it was an easy 75K for half a day's exam - and that's only for the G6PD test.  

I was irritated at people commenting on how fat N was.  There was even one mom who asked me "is she overweight?" what the !#$^@%&?!  How can N be overweight when she directly feeds and I don't stuff a bottle in her mouth?! She's the one who stops feeding when she's full and I don't force myself on her.  I guess it is part of our culture to "paki-alam" other people's babies.  But I think it's not polite to do so..

Anyway, we will get the results on June 11.  N's next pedia appointment is on June 13. Hopefully, she won't be deficient.

Of Parenting Styles

So my friend Stephen commented on my Avent post and asked me about Stan's and my parenting style. He had watched a show on the Lifestyle Channel about parenting styles in raising babies. I did a bit of internet research and i think the show he watched was "Bringing Up the Baby" (tama ba Step?). The series focuses on the parenting styles advocated by 3 experts from different decades. For the 1950's, the expert was Dr. Frederic Truby King, who advocated a strict routine method. For the 1960's, it was Dr. Benjamin Spock, who is for individualized routine parenting. And finally, for the 1970's, it was Jean Liedloff, for the continuum concept. The basics of these styles are as follows: King - Discipline -- Predictability -- Early detachment of baby and mother -- Order -- One size fits all -- Start as you mean to go on; Spock - Acknowledges individuality -- Tailor-made routine -- Relieves parental guilt -- Balance and Liedloff - instinct -- Based on human evolution -- Community.

So what is our style? Naima feeds whenever she wants to.. it may be every hour-hour and a half (when she was a newborn), to 2-3 hours and sometimes 4-5 hours. Usually, when were out of the house, she goes 4-5 hours. But when we're at home she goes 2-3 hours. I don't do any scheduled feeds with her. Naima also sleeps on our bed so it makes nightly feeds easier on me. Her crib is right beside my side of the bed but she uses it only during the day. At night, we put pillows and her toys in the crib :) while she sleeps in between Stan and me or between me and her crib (depending on which side she'll last feed on). She'll be 6 months on June 5 but she still doesn't sleep through the night. She feeds probably 2-3 times still but since we co-sleep, I don't mind feeding her at night.

At this time, her needs take precedence over Stan's and mine. We schedule everything according to her schedule. We haven't gone out on an evening date since she was born - in fact we haven't gone out to see a movie yet! Stan and I talked about it and we're pretty happy with this set-up as of the moment. We figured, she'll soon be a toddler, busy exploring her new world and won't be interested in keeping us company so we'll just enjoy this year when she can't avoid our hugs or push us away when we smother her with kisses.. hehe.

Stan was also pretty much involved in taking care of Naima from day 1. For the 1st 2 weeks, Stan changed all her poopy diapers. Stan also changes her diapers in the middle of the night, while I catch up on my sleep. He has also been pretty good with playing with her, reading books to her. In fact, I'm really jealous 'cause he can make her giggle and chuckle while I can't no matter what I do!

As for bringing her up, Stan and I listen to our moms, to our friends, our doctors, but we do our own research and talk about what we think is best for Naima and follow this decision. We don't necessarily follow what other people tell us. Also, we don't keep Naima with us 24/7 (i dont' think i would survive!). We're lucky to have her yaya, Bibi, who takes really good care of her (especially when I'm at work), reads to her, perseveres in changing her cloth diapers and putting hot compresses when she has booboos, talks to her, makes her laugh and MOST IMPORTANTLY, doesn't watch TV when Naima's around.

So Step, to answer your question, I think our style would be more of Liedloff. This reminds me of a quote by Dr. Jay Gordon which I really like and try to apply in the way we bring up Naima: "What many people try to do is fit the baby in to their lives, rather than wrapping their lives around the baby."