The Gift of Life

I love surprises. But, only the pleasant ones, of course!

This morning, the mailman handed over to me three parcels which came from our relatives in the States (J’s uncle, to be exact).

They were all addressed to J and me, but we knew they were all for the little girl.

Thank you, Tita A and Tito E for all the wonderful pressies!

And just when I thought that that was the end of our excitement for the day, I heard another knock on the door. It was the mailman once again. He forgot to drop off a bigger package that was still addressed to us.

And yes, it was again for Erin. This bub sure is getting spoilt!

I’m tired. As in, dead tired. If you have been reading my previous posts, you’ll know why. Being a new mom to a young little baby does not actually mean I’m all blissed out by it. Since not all babies are the same (as with us adults), not all families get to sleep peacefully at night. And we are one them.

It’s been almost five months now since I’ve had a decent sleep. By this I mean at least 8 hours of uninterrupted shut-eye. I’ve learned to be more awake instead because of Erin’s erratic sleep pattern. During those rare instances when she does sleep well, I find myself wide awake, my entire body tense with absolutely random thoughts racing in my head. Maybe I am too tired to even sleep!

I have to give credit to J though. J can be quite a lifesaver when we’re having another sleepless night episode. He takes charge of Erin and orders me to get some rest. He has gone from the clueless father who can barely hold her daughter because he is afraid he’ll squish her tiny body to the daddy that can actually settle his kid and even get her to sleep when I can’t. Yes, we are the ultimate tag team!

Anyway, I digress. Last Saturday night was one the worst because Erin was having trouble sleeping. Being puyat from Friday’s “bout” (and from other nights), I just broke into tears in the midst of it all. J came in and took charge. It was 1:30 AM when I slept and woke up at around 5:30. I got up and saw Erin fast asleep on J’s lap, while he was surfing the net to keep himself awake. He told me that he could still take care of Erin until 7AM just so I could rest. Awww… I took Erin from him and went to bed and just allowed him to sleep until noon.

Thank God for wonderful and thoughtful husbands! I cannot imagine new mothers who do not have support systems in times like these. No wonder postnatal depression is so common here as most parents in first world countries like here are on their own.

Oh boy, it’s the last month before the “-ber” months start to kick in. I can hardly believe winter is already over in another four weeks, which, by the way, is getting to be more obvious because of the less cooler temps these past few days. In no time, I can say goodbye to my fleece and wool outfits (and hopefully to Erin’s eczema as well!) and welcome good old cotton back into the wardrobe. It’s no secret the cold has not been a good friend to the family so I am just giddy at the thought of Spring in the not so distant future.

-o-

With Erin getting bigger by the day, she is quickly turning into a Daddy’s girl with all her cute antics. J is so smitten with the little girl (not that he wasn’t before. it’s more pronounced now!) that he vehemently expressed that he cannot go on without her for three months. You see, we have been slowly planning our loooong holiday next year after Erin turns one. The original plan was to go home to the Philippines in April 2008, with J staying for two months while Erin and I stay back until the end of August. Now, we have both decided (yes, after a bit of compromising because I really would have wanted a longer break) to just start our holiday by the end of May (in time for Erin’s cousin Pablo’s 1st birthday), with J going back in July and Erin and me by the end of August. As of this writing, all is still in the planning stage (i.e., no booked flights yet so no specific dates to speak of) but one thing I know for sure is that we are definitely going home for a much needed vacation. I can hardly wait!

Erin’s been quite talkative these days. Her speech is not limited anymore to just cooing. She gurgles a lot and I think an emerging “Ba” is on the way as she loves making bubbles with her saliva. “Gi” is also now part of her vocal gymnatics repertoire.

The other day, J reckons he heard her say “Daddy.” Now, that can’t be really true, right? I spend almost the entire day (24/7) with this kid and her first word is “daddy” ?! Maybe J heard something else, like the “gi” syllable which does sound like the last syllable of daddy. Anyway, whatever it is, I have yet to hear it for myself to believe it. So far, nada!

-o-

Yesterday was Erin’s cousin C’s 18th birthday. Lunch was held at the second floor of the Canberra Football Club in Deakin. It was eat-all-you-can Yum Cha at AU$15 per person. The food was delicious but their service was terrible. The place was packed at 12 noon. And since our tables were located in the farthest corner from the kitchen, the food couldn’t get to us. I think we were able to start really eating at past one when some of the other customers had left.

While waiting for the food, the little girl got passed around to other family members and friends. And she did not cry! Looks like this kid is turning into one social butterfly! And she doesn’t cry anymore in her car seat (except of course, when she’s already tired). Thanks to endless playing of nursery rhymes and toys dangling everywhere.

-o-

The three of us haven’t been getting much sleep these days. Erin’s eczema still flares up every now and then. What’s worse is that these episodes occur late at night or at early dawn when we’re all supposed to be sleeping. We know it’s occuring when she suddenly wakes up, rubs her face and starts screaming. J and I don’t have eczema so we don’t have the slightest clue as to how she’s really feeling. But I reckon it’s so damn itchy judging from her terribly loud cries. After applying creams, the most that we can do is just wait for the rashes to subside. And it’s only then can we go back to getting some shut-eye, which isn’t easy, by the way.

I realise eczema is actually pretty common in kids, especially after talking to family and friends. Extreme weather temperatures (either the cold or the heat), I think, are majorly the culprits. So I’m guessing this’ll be back to haunt us in the summer time. Oh dear…

-o-

Shameless Plug
Thanks to my brother D for ‘photoshopping’ one of Erin’s photos. He’s a graduating Fine Arts student at the UP in Diliman and he’s trying to build up his portfolio. Here’s his ‘Erin’ project:

Last Saturday’s mass turned out to be quite nerve-wracking for all of us because we had to bring Erin along with us as she was going to be presented to the parishioners and welcomed into the Catholic community. It was a very cold night and we were afraid that Erin might feel uncomfortable and end up crying the whole time in church. Good thing her aunt J was there to help us make her go to sleep while the presentation was going on.

It was a full house at the Holy Family Church at Gowrie because some kids were also having their first communion that night. Good thing we were able to get some seats. And since the church was fully packed, there were lots of people who came to bless Erin as she was being presented. As in, pila talaga!

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Erin officially became a Catholic last Sunday, the 27th of May. She was exactly ten weeks old. There were three other kids who were also scheduled to be baptised that day. And out of all of them, Erin was the loudest! Hay naku, of all the time in the world, this little baby decided to make her baptism a crying session from start to finish. I’m sure everybody will remember her for this. hehehe…

At the reception venue, it was like playing ‘Pass the Parcel’ as Erin hopped from one set of arms to another. This time she was not crying anymore. Apparently, she was enjoying herself, being entertained by all the different faces that greeted her. She’s always like this whenever we attend a party. Hmm.. something tells me she might be a party-goer when she grows up.

As with every Filipino party, food was overflowing! We couldn’t have done it without the help of Mama, Ate J, Ninang E and some of our very good family friends. The yummy and beautiful two-layer cake by C was also a wonderful delight. C also did the cake for my baby shower last March.

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Poor Erin developed a cold today. It must be due to the weather here. Also, she’s been out of the house for three consecutive days. Her exposure to the freezing temperature must definitely be the culprit.

She’s been sneezing every so often and sometimes her nose get so stuffy she can hardly breathe. And because of this, she can only sleep for short periods. Nakakaawa talaga! I hope she gets better soon.