AH1N1 in Calamba?

This is the recent “gossip” around: that someone infected with Influenza AH1N1 is currently quarantined in a hospital here in Calamba. But it is not confirmed yet. Nonetheless, it has caused quite a stir to some who are afraid they might get infected. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Some precautions that we do in the household is basically washing up when we get home. Also, we go out less often now and avoid very crowded places.


AH1N1 is now a pandemic, and hopefully the Philippine Dept. of Health know what to do in case a major breakout happens. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get much worse.

Jian Ezekiel at Pizza Hut

One of our family’s favorite bonding moments is eating out. Especially now that Jian is becoming more aware and curious of his surroundings, its even more enjoyable seeing him feast his eyes around, looking at things and touching objects he can reach. This is one of those days when we really had fun with Jian’s kakulitan:

“enjoy na enjoy!”

“wag masyadong makulit baby…”
 
“gusto mo na rin kumain ng pizza? di pa pwede Jian eh…”
“takaw ni daddy!”
 
“enjoy ba kayo, mommy? :)”
 In the near future kasama na talaga namin kumain si Jian. :)

First Solid Food ni Jian

Eto ang unang try ni Jian sa pagkain ng solid food. Five months sya kumain ng first solid food (malambot na lugaw). Kuha lang sa low-res na celphone cam kaya medyo hindi maganda ang quality. Isa ito sa mga milestones ng aming cute and cudly baby Jian Ezekiel.

Hanggang ngayon ay naaaliw pa rin akong panoorin ang video na to. :)

Wagan Family Manga Pics

Nakikiuso lang sa mga may manga avatars! Eto ung mga pics namin ni Ianne at Jian, from FaceYourManga.com:

Kamukha ba namin? Hehe… Punta lang kayo sa FaceYourManga.com to get your free Mangatars! Lolz

How much does having a baby cost?

I just thought of how lucky we (Ianne and I) were when we had Jian in our life. Come to think of it, we were so blessed and God’s grace was showering over us when Jian was still in the womb. So I got hyped to list down a rough calculation of how much we’ve spent to get our baby boy safely out of the delivery room and see for myself how we did with our first born since we didn’t have time to reflect on our spendings last time.

This is the nine-month rundown of our expenses with Ianne’s pregnancy and preparations for the coming of Jian Ezekiel:

  • monthly check-ups with her ob-gyne: 350 pesos/month if you don’t have a health card * 9 = 3,150 pesos
  • ultrasound: 250 pesos/session * 5 = 1,250 pesos
  • weekly check-ups on the last month: 350 pesos * 3 = 1,050 pesos
  • monthly vitamins, Anmum, and other medicine: around 4,000 pesos/month * 9 = 36,000 pesos
  • maternity dresses: around 3,500 pesos
  • baby clothes and cloth diapers: around 1,500 pesos
  • crib: around 4,200 pesos
  • stroller with baby carrier: around 5,000 pesos
  • other baby things (bottles, etc…): around 3,000 pesos
  • Caesarian maternity package: almost 30,000 pesos (cheapest among Calamba hospitals)
  • other miscellaneous expenses that I’ve forgotten: assumed at 6,000 pesos
  • Total expense of Ianne’s 9-month pregnancy with a Caesarian delivery:  94,650 pesos
  • Feeling of joy and gratitude after seeing your son and wife safe after the Caesarian delivery: PRICELESS!
I do admit that all that money didn’t came out of my pocket. I had the help of my parents and in-laws with it. But I also did my part, as a husband and (back then) a future dad to look for sources of income to prepare for the delivery. I know others would agree and/or disagree with the amounts I placed in the list, but what’s important is that everything was worth it. I never looked back at what I’ve spent and think “sayang, sana sa iba ko na lang ginastos.” Seeing your wife undergoing a Caesarian operation is not the best feeling in the world, you’ll never know how it feels like until you’ve experienced it. I’m just so full of gratitude that I have my wife and my son safe and are now my greatest inspirations.

Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS)

I’ve just recieved a forwarded email about a mother who lost her baby because she chose the wrong person to take care of her 3 month old daughter. The cause of her baby’s death was SBS or Shaken Baby Syndrome. I did a few googling about Shaken Baby Syndrome and this is what I got from Wikipedia:

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a form of child abuse that occurs when an abuser violently shakes an infant or small child, creating a whiplash-type motion that causes acceleration-deceleration injuries. The injury is estimated to affect between 1,200 and 1,600 children every year in the USA.It is common for there to be no external evidence of trauma. Injuries from impacts with hard objects may accompany SBS; this combination of shaking with striking against a hard object is sometimes termed the shaken impact syndrome or shaken/slam syndrome.

SBS, a major cause of death in infants, is often fatal and can cause severe brain damage, resulting in lifelong disability.

 Jessica, the mother of London Marie, shares with us her experience on how she lost her precious daughter because of SBS. Below is the email forwarded to me by my wife:

December 4th, 2007, Jessica Sherwood had to do something no mother should ever have to do.
At 2:29 pm Jessica made a very tough, but the right decision to take her little 3 month old daughter off life support In memory of little London Marie, i thought id start a little forward..
Jessica had a message that i want every one to know.. 

This is what Jessica said:

“If anyone has kids, make sure that you keep them with you the whole time. Don’t give then to anyone that you don’t trust. Trust me, I thought that I trusted Josh. But now as of December 4, 2007 at 2:29 AM, she is gone. My one & only baby . & He is going to pay FOREVER, even if he gets out of jail scott free, he will be dead no matter what. & To all my friends that know London , I am very angry & upset that I lost the love of my life, my babygirl. She died on her three month birthday .

London had six fractured ribs, both of her legs were fracture, & her brain was so damaged that if she were to live she would be a vegetable. So I did what was right & what was best for her & took her off life support

That’s what you call Shaken Baby Sydrome [SBS]

For those of you who dont know what Shaken Baby Syndrome check out the facts ;
-Shaking, jerking and jolting can cause blood vessels in the head to tear or burst.

Shaken Baby Syndrome is the shaking of an infant or child by the arms, legs, or shoulders with or without impact of the head.

This trauma can result in bleeding and brain injury with no outward signs of abuse

Often frustrated caregivers feel that shaking a baby or small child is a harmless way to make the child stop crying. However, a baby’s brain and blood vessels are vulnerable to whiplash motions, such as shaking, jerking, jolting, and impact.

The neck muscles of an infant or small child are weak, so the child’s head is relatively heavy and the neck cannot support the stress of shaking or impact
-Shaking a very young child, with or without impact of the head, can cause irreversible brain damage, blindness, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, spinal cord injury, seizures, learning disabilities, and even death.

It is tragic that healthy, intelligent babies are suffering these disabilities simply because their caregivers don’t know about the dangers associated with Shaken Baby Syndrome

An estimated 1,200 to 1,400 cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) occur each year in the United States .

Only 1 out of 4 babies dies of Shaken Baby Syndrome

HOWEVER, the other three babies will need ongoing medical attention for the rest of their short lifespans 

London in the hospital
 
London after she passed
 
You dont have to foward this, your not going to have bad luck in your love life, your not going to die tomorrow, and your not going to get good news at 11:11.


If you have any heart at all, you would foward this Rest in Peace London Marie Sherwood

September 4th, 2007-December 4th, 2007 

Photoshopping Jian ala-Blow-Up Babies

I and my wife Ianne have been planning to take Jian to the now-popular Blow-Up Babies studio to have some shots taken. Problem is, the studio is a few miles away and also, it will be hard for us to take Jian there since we don’t have our own wheels (plus, gasoline prices are still high, and plus again, we don’t have money yet!)

I looked at the 2008 Huggies Calendar (free from the diaper packs a few months back) which feature the works of Blow-Up Babies, and I said to myself, “kaya ko rin yan sa Photoshop!” And so it happened…


With the help of my wife to find some inspiration on the net, this is what we came up with:


the original image

Jian is now an angel on a Christmas-themed cupcake! :D

A close-up on our cute little angel.

A matching wallpaper for our PC.

This image took us about 2 hours to finish, and I must say it really looked pretty good. Considering the fact that we saved about 2,800+ pesos on the registration and printing costs on Blow-up Babies!

Jian is simply our cuddly cutite heaven-sent angel on a cupcake! :D

Jian Ezekiel

Right now its 6:48 am, I haven’t got any sleep yet since I was stuck to studying and learning the bells and whistles of ASP.NET (at least the basic stuff). Its quite rainy outside and still pretty dark and cold.

Jian Ezekiel is the name of my son. He’s now at his 7th month, and he’s simply the cutest baby around (mana sa daddy, hehe)! His picture is at the top right corner of this blog. I love him so much and I’m very blessed to have him in my life. He gives me the inspiration that I need to work harder to give my family a good life.

Jian Ezekiel is just an angel to me, just like the woman who gave him to me, my one and only wife Ianne. :)

Here they are on a photo we shot after a Sunday mass: