Dear Andrew

My dear Andrew, you were born in a time when your country had a series of unfortunate events.  We are still reeling from the effects of  Typhoon Pablo (just in case there are international readers out there, the international name of this storm is Bopha).  This boxing, beauty contest, and (recently) Football crazy country also suffered big defeats. Manny "the PacMan" Pacquiao lost to long time rival, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miss Philippines was just 1st runner-up when everybody thought she would win, and lastly, our national football team, the Team Azkals lost their semi-final match to the eventual winners of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup, the Lions of Singapore.

All these unfortunate events seem now a memory of a distant past in our family because of your arrival.  You are our shining hope in the midst of the not so sunny news.  And just like your Kuya Jacob I have high hopes for your future because I know you will succeed because you will do everything to reach your goal as evidenced when  you cry bloody murder at night when we are all asleep and you want milk.  I am also sure you'll be famous someday because your first picture got around a hundred likes in Facebook!  You were just a few hours old yet you are already a star! On a much personal and selfish note, I am also very happy because you look a lot like me (or so your Lola Dolly said, I have not seen myself as a baby, of course).  Lola Dolly said, we share the same bushy hair and fairly red skin as a newborn.  We also have the same blood type, B+.  Your Kuya Jacob is very handsome, too, just like you but he looks like your mom.  I can only hope that you boys will not be heart breakers, just like your dad.

Kidding aside, my little one, I pray to God that He will bless you all the time and may He give us the strength and the wisdom to successfully guide you into becoming the intelligent and God-fearing man you are destined to be.  May he guide us in instilling in you the right values to help you become what you wanna be when you grow up.  I love you so much, my son.

PS

Kuya Jacob promised to share his toys to you, not just his old clothes.

Cebu Boy

It's been a while since we've began contemplating on bringing Jacob to Cebu.  With wife pregnant with second kid, we figured out that this was the right moment to have Jacob experience being "out of town" this far.  Otherwise, he has to wait until his future baby brother will be 3 years old.

As expected Jacob was ecstatic.  He was excited to be at the airport and ride a full size version of his favourite toy, an airplane.  He always go crazy seeing one in the sky.  He can't help but be excited when he saw the airplane up close from the waiting lounge.  I was a bit worried that he might freak out when he boards the plane because the last time he was asked to ride another full version of his favourite toy, a back hoe, he chickened out.  Thankfully, he did not.  We made sure we got really good seats (bulk head) so that if Jacob gets a little nauseated on the plane, there is little possibility we'll bother other passengers.  Again, Jacob was calm.  He wasn't even bothered at all by the change in the cabin's pressure.

We've visited quite a few places like the Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort, Amara, and my grandma's place.  Although I think Jacob remembers the visit to my relatives, but not as much as he remembers the  plane ride.  It's all that he ever talks about when we came back.  I'm glad that Jacob enjoyed his first plane ride and first visit to his ancestors' hometown.

Update

It's been a while since I last posted here in this blog and there are so many things that I need to update (hi to my two followers!).  For one, Jacob is getting really big.  He growls now.  Yes, he growls.  Like a lion.  It's kinda cute only that it's not because he growls when he is not pleased with us when we tell him no.  Either that or he flatly just tells us that we are not allowed to say "no".  Jacob finished toddler school last March and is going to be a Nursery student in our school (PLDC PreSchool).  Anyway, this will just be a quick update to say that I am going to be back blogging here.

Oh and Jacob will be a kuya soon.  My wife is 2 plus months on the way.

It's good to be back!