Pregnancy Update

I am now on my third trimester, and all is looking good. Baby is doing well in my tummy and she is so likot na, hehe. Below are some photos I took over the weeks.

 week 22

 week 23



week 23 

  week 26

week 24 

week 26

week 27 

week 27

I am getting bigger and bigger each day and stretch marks are starting to show at the bottom belly, di ko pala nalalagyan ng oil,hehehe.

3 more months to go...



Pregnancy Update: My 20th Week

How time flies, I am already in my 20th week of pregnancy. Halfway there but to quote my officemates  - "you still have to battle Summer". Haaay, I hope its not as hot as the one before but judging how spring is becoming, I don't think I will be lucky. One thing for sure, our portable airconditioner will be maximized to its full capacity LOL.

My updates for the week:

• Felt my Baby moved!!! The feeling is unexplainable --- weird but overwhelming at the same time. I now look forward to feeling each movement happen everyday. =)
• Had my second hospital visit and was told I gained 1 kg since last month --- a very good weight gain, yahoo!
• Baby is reacting in my tummy everytime I play Celine Dion's Lullaby. Very funny!
• I am still in search for our Baby's name --- need to get a name that starts with A and G.

Also, Tanya finally announced to everyone that she is preggy  --- 14 weeks, hahaha. I have a feeling we'll give birth simultaneously. Can't wait to see hear and exchange our pregnancy stories.

I will close this post with my 20th week photo taken just this morning. Sideview para makita ang bump. =)

The most sinful chocolate cake

After going to the market today, I made sure to grab 2 bars of Nestle Dark Chocolate from the baking aisle because I really wanted to bake the most sinful chocolate cake by Casa Veneracion. This recipe is on top of my list despite me not really a chocolate person. I wanted to bake this for hubby and see if its really as simple as the recipe suggests.

For my version, I used one bar of Nestle Plaistowe 70% Dark Chocolate, just over 175g of unsalted butter (I am trying to lessen the butter content), 1 cup of sugar, 2 heaping spoon of flour (hubby wanted a bit more flour than the 1 tbs suggested in the recipe) and 4 eggs. After mixing the ingredients, I then put in on my preheated fan-forced oven at 175C for 30 mins, and left it there for 10 mins with the oven turned off. After cooling my cake, I turned it upside down and saw a burnt bottom of the cake, I scraped the bottom and the picture below is the finished product. My mistake for the burnt bottom was that I didn't reduce the temperature (fan forced oven should be set lower than normal ones!). But it didn't affect the taste of the at all.

 my cake after scraping the burnt part

 so moist and fudgy

really really sinful!

I shared this one slice of cake with hubby and it was really really good! I don'y have a sweet tooth but this one hit the mark ---not too sweet and not too bready either. And believe me, its really sinful --- think about the sugar and butter content and you will think twice of eating over a slice of this cake. And since its only me and hubby, I told him to bring the cake to the office tom and share it with his officemate who are all chocoholics. Hmmm, I think I'm gonna bake this cake more often but not for our own consumption. =)

Thanks PinoyCook for the inspiration! You made my weekend a very fruitful (and tummy-full) one.

Cake orders anyone?





Grilled Saturday

I was feeling hungry by this afternoon because hubby and I only had boiled corn for lunch. I was silently doing an inventory of food in our fridge and realized that I only had 2 pcs of chicken thigh in there and we are not going to the market until tommorrow. Then I remembered I had 4 pcs of small eggplants, a pizza base and some shredded cheese so the idea of having a grilled eggplant pizza came to mind.

I brought out my stove-top griller and put it on high heat while turning on the oven at the same time. I then salted the sliced eggplant to remove some of its moisture, then basted it with olive oil. When the pan was hot enough, I put on the sliced eggplant, turning it once for that char-grilled look.

The pizza was then prepped, with fresh basil from the garden, cheese, grilled eggplant, a bit of chili flakes and some pepper. I then put in on my Pizza Stone - something I bought a long time ago but only used today.

After 10 mins, the pizza is ready for eating. And its soooo delish!!! I will definitely make this more often, not as fattening as my meat-based pizza.



yummy grilled eggplant pizza cooked in my very own Pizza Stone

 nice grilled marks on my eggplant

Because my griller is still hot, I want to make full use of it. I checked my freezer and there's a Kransky (some kind of sausage which is really yummy!) inside. I defrosted it in the microwave for a minute, sliced and grilled it.

 yummy Kransky. I now have two tapas. =)

To make my grilling worthwhile, I took out the chicken thigh, defrosted it a bit, then rubbed dry spice (lemon pepper spice) and salt to it then off to the griller. The smell coming from the kitchen is so divine. I want to have dinner at 4pm! But because of the pizza we ate, we have to wait for 6pm to have my grilled dishes.

grilled chicken rubbed with dry spice.

All these cooking made me want to create a food blog, haaay... Last weekend, while homealone, I cooked these three dishes I got from my new fave food blog Casa Veneracion. Yum, yum, yum!!!

tuna spring roll.

 beef salpicao

creamy baked chicken and potatos with yogurt (instead of cream)

There are still a number of dishes from her site that I really want to try, I have a list and one day I can tick off everything from that list. =)

So, what's cooking in your kitchen this Saturday afternoon?



A letter to our little one

Dear Baby,

You are 19 weeks and 1 day (in gestational age) today. Your Dad and I were really happy to see you again this morning and couldn’t wait any longer for the 1st of March to come.

Seeing you today at the Sydney Ultrasound for Women was a breath of fresh air from our chaotic month end activities. I am thankful that I lived in this technological age where I can see you in 4D inside my tummy. You were so cute when you had your arms over your head, just like me when I am sleeping. We saw your limbs, your eyes and nose (and Daddy said you have a very ‘matangos’ nose just like Mommy hehehe). And when we wanted to check your gender, you crossed your legs, cheeky little baby. Though not 100% sure, the sonographer said that you are my little girl, my mini-me.

How time flies baby, we are halfway through this journey and you know what, my good friend is also pregnant although she didn’t know that she is 14 weeks on the way already. There are so many things she needs to do but I will be here to guide her, and when her baby will arrive, I’m sure she/he will be your best buddy as well. You two will look after each other Baby okay?


At this stage my Angel, I am not sure if what I am feeling was your kicking and jumping but I am sure I will fully feel your movements in the next few days. Seeing you earlier waving at us and kicking is such a joy. And the confirmation that all is well with you is indeed a blessing --- something we continue to thank and pray to God.

My pregnancy book is telling me that you can hear our voices already. I hope you like the music I am playing every night before we go to bed and you also enjoy our conversations together. I treasure these moments, our bond as mom and daughter just began. Sometimes, I think, you also look forward to hearing your Dad’s voice because I can feel the sudden pressure at my lower ribs when I am walking towards his office at 5:00 pm everyday last week! And he enjoys talking to you as much as I do.

 4D photo of you my little one.

Little girl, please continue to be brave inside Mum’s tummy okay? Remember, we love you so so much, we prayed for you, our family and friends prayed for you. You are surrounded with love from the moment you were conceived. A grand party is awaiting your arrival my Princess.




Hugs and kisses.

Mommy and Daddy

Well, hello there

I know, I know. Its been a month since my last update and I have a valid reason for not attending to this blog --- I was busy at work! Yes, busy. We just had a hectic year end with all management reports due two weeks after the 4th of September. But now, that is all over and the new financial year have started (I will worry about month end tom).

Today, I am 18 weeks and 4 days pregnant, almost halfway already. I will have my second ultrasound on Thursday and we can't wait to see the little one once again and to finally know his/her gender.

The second trimester is the 'most forgettable' according to the books I read --- no major dramas, morning sickness is gone and you are not that huge yet that you can still do whatever you like (or almost). And this is true in my case. I am just so happy that I'm over morning sickness because it not really funny! I am monitoring my weight now so I won't gain more than what is desirable for me and for the baby.

I haven't had a monthly photo to show off my tummy but on my 16th week, hubby took this photo of me when we went to Bobbin Head Park.

I am ending this entry with a photo of me and Rose, my highschool barkada who went to Vanuatu to educate the people there on how to do organic farming (and even grooming!). I am so proud of her coz she is doing what she loved to do --- be involved in her own NGO and help other people by imparting her (and her husbands) knowledge about farming. You are truly an Iskolar ng Bayan Rose --- you gave back to the people what your learned from UPLB, I salute you!



Till my next update.

Hope you are having a lovely day!

Never ending blessings

I claim 2011 to be my year and I can't thank Him enough for all these blessings. We're still two thirds in the year but I felt my bucket list were all ticked off (well almost).

I had my CPA ceremony in April.

Found at that I was pregnant in July.

Hubby got a new job near my workplace in August.

and, as an icing to the cake, I got promoted in September!

I have been whining about my work (or the lack thereof) for a quite a while now. Friends are envious that I am not busy and can go home at 4:30 everyday. But sometimes, the lack of work is making my brain stagnant. To compensate, I used to read my CPA materials during work hours. After finishing the program last December, there was nothing for me to study at the office anymore and the boredom returned.

Middle of last year, our Department was made into a shared services of the entire GROUP  - this meant we are now doing the back office not only of the Bread Division (our current division) but also Milling, Cereal, Information System and more are in the pipeline. With the move, our financial accountant was promoted to Manager but all eight of us assistant accountants were not given any change in title despite the fact that most of us are doing more than an assistant acccountant job. (Title is very much important here in Oz specially when you want to find a new job).

Then, in December, they announced an opening for FA in our IS Department. Naturally, I applied as I know I am more than capable of doing the job. You see, during this time as well, they asked me to take on the role of Corporate Accountant (on top of my asset accounting without any jobtitle change and payrise!). But of course they did not promote me to the IS role and hired someone from outside to do the job. This really pissed me off.

I've decided then to look for a new job. So in March this year, I was busy talking with agents for a possible role. After reviewing my resume, they told me they would change my title to Financial Accountant because that is basically what I am doing. I asked them if this is okay, it looks like I am lying in my resume, but they told me what I am doing is more important than the title and they will explain it to the client once they placed me. But I also told them that I am more interested in the Western Sydney area because it would be easier for me to work close to home. But jobs that I like are few and far between...

Then I got pregnant.

I have to stay in my current job because we have two months maternity leave benefit. The plan was to take a year off from work and then in the middle of my leave, I will look for anither job and will not return to the Bread Co. Sounds like a good plan right?

Last monht, we had our year end performance evaluation. We already knew that because of business performance, we are not to receive any bonus nor increase for this financial year. Bit of a bummer really because I know I made a very good contribution to the team but what's making me stay was the added knowledge that I am getting each day --- Corporate Accounting, Fixed Assets Accounting, budget and forecast etc. These are essential to my resume and linkedIn profile. =) So when I had my review, I was not really expecting anything but in the middle of it, my boss was discussing employee management as part of my objective for next year. And then she told me that they had a review of my job, a review of the current structure of the team and made some changes. The changes are not yet final but they said I would get my new position description come 1st of September. Also, my maternity leave arrangements were discussed so they would know how long I would be off from work. Hmmmm, very interesting!

The next day, an announcement in the people portal was made for a Group Accountant opening --- the current Group Accountant is moving to the other division and they are hiring for his replacement. This could have been the perfect role for me as I am doing half of his job now. But with my pregnancy, I couldn't apply because this meant I will have to train someone to do my Corporate Accounting work and then be trained for the Group Accountant role, then after three months go on maternity leave. It's not right and I do not need the stress of learning more at this time. So I decided not to apply and just wait for the confidential discussion to take effect. I think my Boss knew about the opening so she told me a day ahead her plans for me so I dont end up applying for that other job.

Then, on the 1st of September, I got my papers --- Management Accountant for Shared Services! Wohoo!!! And the payrise was good too, double wohoo!!! The new challenge (which was not announced yet) was the people management bit of it. I thought I would not be doing performance reviews here in Oz, I thought I would just be a receiver of the review but hey, I welcome the challenge. The people handpicked to be in my team were those who ask me how to do their work everyday anyway so not much of a change there really. And because I am in the team longer than most of them, I already earned my position so to speak.

As to when the announcement would be, I do not know. As long as my pay is adjusted this month, I am happy. Me and my growing baby need the additional money for our future needs. =)

Thank you once again God, all in Your perfect time. Thanks for giving me the patience --- the pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly. Please continue to guide and protect me and my baby. I cannot wait for this precious little gift to finally be born to this world.

I am forever grateful.

Saturday is Smoothie Day

We went to the supermarket today and I saw that strawberry's were on sale at 2 punnets for $5. I grabbed a few, some mandarines, celery, carrots and apple for Agie's weekly celery juice (good for lowering cholesterol). And being pregnant, I bought a tub of yoghurt for my calcium needs (I don't like milk so I need to look for other sources of calcium!).

As soon as we got home, I noticed the big book of juices on our table. I skimmed through it and found a very refreshing recipe for a smoothie. Basically, it just list ingredients and you put in in your blender, after a few seconds (or couple of minutes), your smoothie is ready!

So for today, the Celery juice took a back seat as I made my Strawberry smoothie (finally, I can use my blender which has been gathering dust in the cupboard).



before 

and after

The result? really yummy and filling! I can't wait to try the other combinations in the book!!!

Now, off to do the celery juice. =)

We are pregnant!!!

Finally, i'm almost over my first trimester and can now announce that we are having a baby!!!

Click on my other blog for more details.

Please pray for me and my baby's health.

http://mumdadandbub.blogspot.com/

xoxoxo,
Gracy and Agie

Another freebie, yey!

I got this from our mailbox today ---

What a pleasant surprise, I almost forgot that I won this from Primped last May. Yey, another beauty freebie, can't wait to try this out.

And on another news, its been raining cats and dogs here in Sydney! I am dying to go to Costco's opening today but the weather is not cooperating. Oh well, have to trek there next week then, hopefully the chaos have died down...

14,972

that is the number of steps I took yesterday, from 7am to 7pm.





Eversince hubby's work team joined the Global Corporate Challenge and was given two pedometers, I took it upon me to use his spare one so I can also keep track of my steps for the day. Having the pedometer on a winter day encourages me to take the stairs instead of the lift and to walk around so I can achieve my goal of 10000 steps. Some days (like yesterday) I am way above my target but on a few lazy days, I fell short.

Its fun having the pedometer on me and I usually check my progress every so often. Why don't you try it? It may help ward off that dreaded winter pounds. ;-)
 
lez get it movin movin!!!

2011 - My Prosperity Year

My horoscope this week from MX got me real excited --- financial freedom here I come!!!

Lucky opportunities --- Lotto? Stocks? Raffle Draws? The world is really conspiring to give me the best year evaaaa!!! Anong numero ba dapat tayaan ko sa lotto? =)

what kept me busy this month

7th of May:  We flew to the Philippines to attend Nanay Ine's burial, my hubby's grandma who unexpectedly passed away on the fourth of May;

spent a few days in Bohol after the burial and just stayed at home eating adobong manok nga bisaya!!!

12th of May: Went home to Bukidnon to spend my birthday with my family

14th of May: Happy birthday to me!!! ug ang request nga lechon naa gyud. =)

17th of May: Flight to Manila then to Singapore

21st ofMay: Flew back to Sydney and embraced the cold winter days ahead.

What I missed most back home

 Baby Franz - who's always jumping like a kangaroo, hehe

 Baby Yman - who is very laagan and mag ma-oy ug biyaan.

 Baby Zyka - nga sungit girl, dili magpahold sa akoa when we're about to go.

 Nicole is taller than Jen and I, while Kuya Yuan is making Zyka kulit, hehe.

miss you mom and dad!!!

Next time we go back to the Philippines, it would be a real vacation --- beach in Panglao, Palawan and Boracay, meet up with friends in Manila and of course more time for shopping!!! Now, all I need to do is start saving for this grand trip (plus Europe and NY). Lotto luck, come to me na.

The Bargain Hunter

I was enumerating to a friend my latest bargain purchase when she told me I am the best bargain hunter she knew!!! This made me realize that indeed, I am always on a look out for the best buys - whether it be on the internet or at the shops. I have a favorite site - ozbargain.com.au which list all shops/products/sites that are having a sale as of the moment. I also check out Missy Confidential and Vogue forums for some bargain tips.

So, I present to you my recent bargain finds which saved me a few hundred dollars:

 

Oroton Large Tote Bag (my gift to myself after completing my CPA)

Original Price: $495

Got it for: $153.50
Where: Oroton Online
Savings: 69% (should have been 70% but I have to pay shipping cost which is still cheaper than going to the shop and queueing for hours! Seriously, this is such an overpriced Australian brand that everytime they're on sale, people would go nuts. I would only buy it if they are on sale).

Wittner Shoes
Original Price: $189.90
Got it for: $20.00
Where: Wittner Shop - Town Hall (special thanks to Lynn for coming with me. She bought her very nice sandals here for only $10!).
Savings: 89%

Guess Stilletos
Original Price:$169
Got it for: $50
Where: Guess Online
Savings:70%

RMK
Original Price: $109
Got it for: $49
Where: Myer Wespoint
Savings: 55%

welcome to the latest additions to my stills! summer be quick so I can use these pretty little things. =)



-yes, I am a certified bagaholic and shoe-a-holic. =)

On my 10th day in the stock market

Osama Bin Laden was killed;




AU to Php exchange rate is at its highest at Php46.75 to a dollar;



I have a paper gain of 1.67% and had averaged my cost for my long term stock - ALI (on a downtrend but good for longterm hold so I will buy more of you when I have the excess fund). Lost a few pesos on my 'gaya-gaya' stocks but the biggest surprise of all is my NIKL - it has risen by 13% since acquisition --- and still going up!



I learned to be patient and to not chase the price of my short-term stocks because it will not do me any good.



I still have a lot to learn.



I am hopeful, I am excited, I am on fire!



now back to month end reporting =)

Paris on my Mind

Traveling to Europe and spending a few days in the romantic city of Paris is a dream of mine. Had our travel plans this year pushed through, we would have been in the city of love right this very moment. But alas, it was not meant to be, not this year. Perhaps next year? We'll see, we'll see.

But who said I cannot have the Eiffel Tower here in Australia???

Wall decal from Ebay and Quilt cover set from Target. Hmmm, me thinks the guest room needs to be renamed the Paris room.

Come dream with me...

CPA Certificate Ceremony

After three years of (not-so) hardwork and anti-social mode a week leading to exam day, I finally finished my CPA program and got my certificate yesterday. The event was held at Shangri-la Ballroom with the CPA NSW Division President handing out the HUGE paper to us. My dear supportive hubby was with me to celebrate this momentous occassion and of course to be my photographer. But instead of pushing the click the button when it was my turn to accept the certificate, he instead turned the camera off! We still managed to get a few decent shots so all is well.

To reward myself, I bought an Oroton bag online, onsale at 70% off! wohoo... just waiting for it to be delivered next week, can't wait.

ps - my hair is 'tamed', thanks to the flat iron i bought (not GHD coz I can't bear to part with $300 so I purchased a GHD-like flat iron at half the price). =)

pps - I love my dress! A very good buy from my favorite store. Bought two dresses since they had a buy one get the second one at half the price. I am a sucker for bargain products haha.

ppps - Zara opened yesterday at Westfield. I was about to join the long queue but after the linesperson said it'll be a 45minute-minimum-wait in the line, I gave up my spot. I will just come back when the hype died down already.