Good day Friday

Today was a great Friday. Addie had playgroup with her friends this morning while I worked on checking things off my list of "things that need to be done before I leave". Later while Addie was napping I had a visit from an angel in the form of a prenatal masseuse who does house visits. Pure heaven! After the session I was back pain free! I felt so good that Addie and I went to the pool before dinner. Justin came home from work early so we all got to eat homemade pizza together and now the American Idol wild card show is on. I get to watch the latest episode of Lost we downloaded with my hubby tonight snuggled on the couch. I'm not sure how this Friday could get any better. Here some pics of my girl today.

art project

I find the hour between 4 and 5 PM the hardest to entertain Addie. We are both getting hungry for dinner and generally ready for the day to end and the evening with Justin to begin. Yesterday was an exception. We completed an impromptu craft project that consumed the hour and then some, we were having so much fun. I pulled out magazines, Addie pointed at the pictures she wanted "cut", I put glue on the backs of the pictures, and she placed them on the paper for a collage. I was really impressed that she took time with each picture to decide where she wanted it to go. I thought for sure the final product would be a big mess of gluey photos on top of one another but instead she created a really great picture. The best part was proudly displaying it for Daddy to admire when he got home. It also helped Addie with her words when she pointed out the pictures and described what they were "puppy, cat, bum, choo choo, Pooh, shoes, teddy bear, Mickey Mouse, etc." it was pretty impressive. Over the past few days she's also spewed out the words "heart, dance, come, car seat, fix, pillow, bubble, ouch, fall, jump, pool, mango, cup, balloon, cool, dude, so pretty, party, and plenty more I can't think of. I think the language explosion has hit. Every day it's new words. It's also been interesting finding out the words that I use often and she's picked up on it. I never realized home much I say "okay" to Addie. I tend to put it at the end of sentences to ask her if she understands what I'm saying. For example: "We are going to have lunch, read a book, then go take a nap; okay?" She now responds to most things I say with "k". For Justin it was "yeah" we never noticed how much he said it until Addie started favoring that word as a response and says it with the exact same inflections as her Dad.

freak show

I've hit the point in pregnancy where I start looking like a freak show. People stare at me and gawk at the size of my belly. I'm at 32 weeks now and every week I feel a difference in Arabella's growth. She's hanging out so low that the nerves in my legs are getting pinched and I'm suddenly hit with a strange numbness/pain in my legs as I walk or move (all similar from last time). I think it was at this point in the pregnancy with Adelaide that people started shying away from me on Metro and making comments like "I hope you don't give birth to that baby before your stop". People are generally shocked when I tell them that I still have roughly two months to go. Can you say "freak show"? This when phrases like "the vessel of life" and "the beauty of pregnancy" really get on my nerves!

I already know that this baby is a strong and healthy little girl. She is extremely active in the evening after dinner all the way until midnight or so. Justin and I just watch my belly come alive with waves of movement so intense that it feels like she might just bust through. Justin is always alarmed when he rests his hands on my belly and Bella gives a big kick or flips around. HA! Trying feeling that from the inside.

play group friends

The past few months Addie has made friends with a group of kids at the playground that she meets up with in the mornings. The yayas take turns getting the kids together at their employer's homes and this morning was our turn. Today Carmella and Amalie came to play with Addie. The three girls and their yayas played and I worked on our taxes (everyone had fun but me, puzzles and popcorn looked more appealing than turbotax). Addie and I will be leaving in a mere two and a half weeks, Carmella will be on home leave when we return in June, and Amalie will be leaving Manila while we are away. Sadly the girls only have a few weeks more to play together. Addie is the hugger of the group. At the end of the play date she hugged everyone. It was so sweet.

weekend

We've been soaking up lots of time with Justin before our leave on March 18th. This weekend we spent time as a family at the pool, playing, eating out, etc. The usual mostly. On Sunday Addie snuggled up with her Daddy to take a nap and I couldn't resist a photo.

Jollibee

Saturday we attended our driver's son's 7th birthday party held at the local fast food chain, Jollibee. It was extremely Filipino, with a loud M.C. using a microphone in a small room with loud R&B/pop music playing. For a kids birthday party I cringed as we were forced to listen to Britney Spears' Womanizer over and over while the M.C. lip synched the lyrics into the microphone. The Jollibee mascot arrived and all the Filipino kids were in love. Our daughter clung to us and cried. After awhile Jollibee was OK from afar and at the end of the party I snapped a picture of Justin and Addie with Jollibee. Unfortunately, since Addie was the only westerner in the room; Jollibee paid extra excruciating attention to Addie (scaring her each time) while the little Filipino kids begged for his attention. The superhero themed party was really fun for the kids. Kyle (the birthday boy) graciously received gifts from family and friends. One tradition that I appreciated is that the gifts are opened later at home. Not in front of everyone like American birthday parties. Addie admired the cake and had some Jollibee ice cream instead since the cake is a show piece for the party not for eating. She was rather disappointed. Addie was pretty excited to play with Gary at the party since she asks for our driver whenever we get in the car. I think the concept that he's a Daddy himself (to three boys and another on the way), doesn't register for her. She wanted his full attention-which he was nice enough to give.

allergy

Monday morning the first words I heard were "Houston we have a problem" as my husband handed me my daughter who was covered in a red itchy bumpy rash. My initial hunch was an allergy to the sunscreen we had slathered on her the evening before since the rash was concentrated on the areas where her swimming suit was not. I dug out our antihistamine and called the medical clinic at the embassy to check what dosage they'd recommend I give Addie. She was kind of warm too so I thought I'd give her some infant Tylenol. The ever-indecisive clinic staff actually advised us to head to the emergency room since the rash was all over and she had a slight fever. (the emergency room is used like a urgent care center here for expats. It's cheap so the clinic just directs us there instead of try to solve the problem...rather irritating). Long story short we were seen at the E.R. and they diagnosed Addie with an undetermined viral rash and prescribed us a fever reducer and antihistamine! Hmmm, oddly the same thing I was going to give her hours earlier. Anyhow, by the afternoon she was rash free and no fever. Ok, maybe it was a virus?

So yesterday, I get Addie dressed and ready to go to the park. It's sunny and hot here again so I put some sunscreen on her before she heads to the playground with Cora. By 4 PM she has the rash again where I had put the sunscreen. You can actually see the rash stops where her shirt and pant sleeves were. The worst is on her face because I of course focused the sunscreen on her sensitive little cheeks. After another dosage of antihistamine (no fever this time) and a good night sleep she's fine and I lathered her with an organic Zinc based sunblock for today's outings. The strange thing is that we used the Coppertone Water babies since we arrived in the Philippines, stopped during the holidays when the sun wasn't out as much and then just started it again on Sunday. Very strange that she's developed an allergy just now.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that Mother knows best. I should have thrown out the sunscreen right away and just given her the antihistamine and Tylenol and called it a day.