MCNs Lots 8 & 9 - GroVia One SIze AIO

Before 2011 ended, I ordered two more lots of GroVia nappies for Jacob. This time from their US website. The US site actually doesn't ship outside the US so I had to think of a way to go around this policy. Haha! Good thing Jacob has a Godfather in California. So we had the parcels shipped to him and then he sent it to us here in Sydney. Voila! Nappies from America! :D I must mention that nappies are way cheaper in the US than here in Australia, even if you factor in the shipping fees. The RRP of a Grovia AIO here is AUD35, while it is selling for USD22.95. Go figure.

Anyway, back to the nappies. The first lot I bought was from their seconds sale. I was never wary of buying GroVia seconds because I've read reviews that there's nothing wrong with the nappies at all! It was USD36 for a 3-pack of AIO seconds so I ordered 12. Hehe. I ordered them in 4 different prints -- owl, nature, mod flower and planes.

I ordered the second lot because they had a promotion over the holidays -- for orders over USD50, you get a free shirt. I really wanted to get an owl shirt for Jacob so I made an order for 2 more AIO nappies in plain colours -- cloud & surf and added 2 sets of wipes, too!

Here are the pictures so you can see what I am fuzzing about! Haha!

Jacob's fluffy mail from the US

owl shirt & nappy set <3

US GroVia stash

Jacob's nappy count as at 12 January: 52 >> I think I need to stop buying more (for now!). This is fast becoming an addiction. Haha! I'll leave you with one more nappy shot! :)

my son's nappy stash in his cot!

Baby Showers

We've been blessed to have been given two baby showers for Jacob. I honestly wasn't expecting even one shower at all! We are grateful and thankful for our "families" here in Sydney.

The first shower was given by our CFC family on 9 December. I was 34 weeks pregnant then. It was held at the Fontimayor residence in Plumpton. It was a fun night and everyone enjoyed the food, the games and most especially the company of one another. Special thanks to May Ann and Ate Jeanne for your time and effort in organizing this shower. Here are some of the photos:

Thank you, Fontimayor family (May Ann, Karlo & Noah) for letting us into your home

somebody already ate the 'B' cupcake before I was able to take a picture :(

with my sister & mum from Manila :)

the ladies,

the gentlemen,

and the kids!!! :)

gifts for Jacob -- thank you, Titos and Titas :)

Our second baby shower was given by our BESA family. It was held in conjunction with our post Christmas party on 29 December. I was a day shy of being 37 weeks pregnant. Everybody thought I would give birth anytime because of my ginormous tummy. I guess Jacob proved them wrong. Haha! As always when we get together, fun, laughter and food were abundant that night. Special thanks to Jeana, MaJen, Mama Ida and all the Betanettes who helped in making this shower possible. I only have a few pictures because my husband was in charge of the camera/taking pictures and I was in charge of taking the videos. Fail, Daddy! >:) The videos of the games, however, are too long. I wonder if I can upload them here. Any thoughts?

Dad & Mum
photo credit: R. Dumlao

more gifts! -- thank you, Titos and Titas :)

More Stuff to Buy

*Updated 11 January 2012*

I'm creating a list of things that we still need to buy for Jacob and myself (in preparation for breastfeeding) just so I have a reminder. Up until now I only had an imaginary list! Haha!

Here it goes:

1. MORE modern cloth nappies -- Bumgenius 4.0 with snap closure, GroVia One Size All in One and itti bitti tutto are some of the brands I also want to try. Although I already have 2 GroVia AIOs, I want to add to it. To date, I have 38 nappies (30 One Size Fits Most & 8 newborn ones) which I feel is not enough if I plan to do the laundry every other day. So I definitely need more!
* 10% OFF GroVia website using code PTPA (valid until June 2012)* 
>> I have a GroVia stash en route to Sydney from the USA. It has 14 One Size AIOs, 2 sets of wipes and an owl shirt to match Jacob's GroVia owl nappies. :) I think I can stop buying nappies FOR NOW. I'm not saying I won't buy more LATER, though. We'll see how we go with our current nappy stash. :D

2. washable/cloth wipes -- Since I'm going to be using MCNs, I figured I might as well go the washable/cloth wipes route. Makes sense, right? :D The GroVia washable wipes doesn't look too bad and by far the cheapest branded ones I've seen. >> My mum & sister bought 2 lots of these cloth wipes from The Eco Baby Boutique. I'm hoping they are good.

3. curved car window shade for Honda Civic -- Jacob is going to be born in January which means it's going to be Summer here. I can just imagine how hot it's going to be. We're already experiencing extreme heat most days now and it's still Spring. >> Just bought a car shade set from Costco. Hopefully it does the job.

4. grooming set -- nail clippers, comb & brush, etc >> I asked my mum who's coming to visit us to buy from Manila. :)

5. health care kit/first aid kit

6. organic baby toiletries (body wash, shampoo, oil, lotion, sunscreen) -- I might try Burt's Bees' Baby Bee Getting Started Kit first. See if Jacob likes their range of products for bubs. :) >> I've decided to put as little product on Jacob as possible. I've read that water's fine in bub's first few months. Just the same, I have some sample goat soap on stand by which we got from one of the baby shows we went to last year. :)

7. nappy rash cream compatible with modern cloth nappies -- I'm leaning towards GroVia Magic Stick for convenience. I hope it's good. >> Bought one because of free shipping from GroVia website and also availed of the 10% discount. Win! :)

8. digital thermometer -- Still deciding which is best: ear, forehead or the good old under the arm one. >>  I asked my mum who's coming to visit us to buy from Manila. :)

9. Gro Egg digital room thermometer -- Kaartehan lang ng nanay ni Jacob! ;p >> Bambini Pronto had a 55% off SALE, so I bought one rightaway. :)

10. bottles, bottle brush, dummies, steriliser -- I'm leaning towards getting Avent. Also, I'm still not sold on using dummies but I'm putting it on the list just in case I might need to. >> We've been given Avent bottles on our first baby shower. I'm hoping I'd get the need to use them much later. :)

11. flat head support for sleeping -- I don't want Jacob to end up like his mum in terms of flat head. Haha! The one we saw at Baby Kingdom is called baby-head-rest.

12. washable/cloth breast pads, Lansinoh nipple cream, nipple shields

These are the things I can think of right now. I'll cross out/add to this as appropriate. :)

2012!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a nice holiday. It's Monday and today is my husband's first day back at work so it's back to reality for our household. Hopefully he wins the lottery SOON so he won't need to work! Haha!

I would've wanted my first entry for 2012 to be Jacob's birth announcement but alas, our little prince is still enjoying inside Mummy's tummy. :) His Daddy wanted Jacob to have the same birthday as his but 5th January has come and gone. Sorry, Dad! Jacob is still as active as ever! He's still not engaged at our last antenatal check up at 38 weeks. I'm beginning to feel like I'm going to be pregnant forever! Absurd, I know. We pray that he's taking his sweet time to make his appearance because he's still growing healthily inside of me. We'll see on our next check up on Friday. :)

On other news, Jacob's GroVia nappy stash from the US is now en route to Sydney. Yay! Thanks to his Godfather in California! :) I'll make a separate post once our fluffy mail arrives. Can you tell I love fluffy mails?! Haha.

Oh, I also need to remind myself to make an entry about the two baby showers I've been given. I'll do it next time. I'm sleepy so time to go back to bed. :)

Happy Holidays!

The Year That Was 2011

Only 5 days left 'til Christmas! This will only be the second time my husband and I will celebrate Christmas here in Sydney. The first was in 2008. We've been spending our holidays in Manila the past two years. This year we couldn't go home because I'm due to give birth in January so we flew my mum and youngest sister here instead. It would've been great if the family could all be here but of course that's not a possibility.

As what I did last year, I'd like to look back on all the things that happened to me & my family this year.

January - My husband and I welcomed the New Year with my family in Manila. We flew back to Sydney just before my husband's birthday. We didn't have our own place yet (we lived in Tamworth before we went on our holiday) so we stayed with our friends in Gladesville while we were looking for one. Luckily, we found a unit in Mount Druitt before the month ended. We moved into the unit on 22 January. Before I forget, my husband got me a washing machine. Yay! :D

February - Not much happened this month. In addition to the stuff we kept in storage, we bought a sofa, some home furnishings and kitchenware to make our unit 'homier'. :)

Kiama Rock Pool

March - I turned a year older, hopefully a year wiser as well. To celebrate, we went on our first road trip south of Sydney -- to Kiama. We had fun, more so my husband, although the blow hole did not 'blow' when we were there. He swam in the rock pool. We had fish & chips and ice cream for lunch.

This month, we started our Christian Life Program (CLP) in preparation for joining Couples for Christ (CFC).


I had blood tests and ultrasound towards the end of the month in preparation for the next step in our TTC journey -- IVF.

April - We consulted with our Fertility Specialist (FS) on 5 April and we finalized the protocol for our IVF/ICSI. We had our orientation on 12 April where a nurse showed my husband and I how to administer the drugs I would be needing (via injection, of course). I started my first injection on 15 April. There was no looking back after that. I had blood test and ultrasound almost every other day. Just for fun(!), I added and I had 7 blood tests and 5 ultrasounds. :))

May - I had egg collection on 2 May and then embryo transfer on 7 May. After that, it was an agonizing wait to find out if I'm pregnant or not. My pregnancy blood test (beta hCG) at the clinic was scheduled for 18 May but I couldn't wait that long (impatient much!) so I did a home pregnancy test on 14 May and the result was positive. My beta hCG confirmed this. My husband and I were so happy. We shared the wonderful news with our immediate family and closest friends. I started acupuncture on 21 May. My all-day sickness started SOON after.

June - We had our 7-week scan on 9 June. This was the first time we saw our 'jellybean' and its heartbeat. Such a precious moment! We graduated from the CLP on 5 June.

July - Our 12-week scan or Nuchal Scan happened on 15 July. I decided to temporarily call our bub Bee until we find out his/her gender. Thank God, the results of the scan came back normal. I had my initial interview at Blacktown Hospital (where I will give birth) on 26 July.

August - We found out that we're having a BOY at our Morphology Scan on 25 August. By this time I was already 19 weeks pregnant. We've decided to name him Jacob Lucas. I had my first doctor visit at the hospital on 30 August.

September - I had my first antenatal check up on 28 September at almost 24 weeks. My husband and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary/6th Wedding Anniversary on the 30th of the month. Happy times!

October - We had our babymoon at Wisemans Ferry from the 16th to the 18th. This month I also started my Aqua Natal Class.

November - We again 'saw' Jacob at our 3D/4D Scan on the 12th. My husband and I attended the first part of Parent Education Session at the hospital on 26 November.

December - The second part of our Parent Education Session happened on the 3rd. Jacob and I gradated from Aqua Natal class on the 6th. We had a growth scan on the morning of the 9th at 34 weeks. Then in the evening, our CFC Family gave us a baby Shower. We had so much fun! :)

As you can see, 2011 has been a great year not only for my husband and I but also for our family. God has given us the biggest blessing of all, Jacob. We can't wait to meet him in a few weeks time! In the meantime, I'm enjoying the remaining weeks of my pregnancy. I know I will surely miss having Jacob inside my tummy. :)

♥♥♥ A Blessed Christmas and a Prosperous New Year from My Family to Yours! ♥♥♥

MCNs Lots 6 & 7 - GroVia Newborn & Bambooty

GroVia Newborn - Ice & Owls print

Before my mum & sister flew to Sydney, relatives and family in Manila were asking what gift they can give Jacob. At first I said whatever they wanted. I didn't want to impose. But then again, I thought what if they give me something I already have or don't like? Sayang naman, imported from Manila pa. Hehe. That was about the same time I learnt of an online shop for MCNs in Manila! So in the end I asked for MCNs, washable wipes, washable nursing pads and heaps more I'm sure I will be using for Jacob. So I'm one happy mum. :) They were only able to buy 4 GroVia newborn nappies. They wanted more but the seller only had these left. Too bad. Prior to having these newborn nappies, I only had OSFMs (one size fits most). But I got worried that they might still be too big for when Jacob comes out. So I wanted to get some newborn ones just to be safe. :)

I ordered another newborn lot of MCNs from Bambooty. Just like the GroVia newborn ones, they are too cute for words! Of course, I'm aware that I will only be able to use these nappies for about a month. But I don't care. :p

with the extra bamboo boosters

Jacob's nappy count as at 9 December: 38 >> I want more! :)