Dream Number 1

"Making a decision to have a child - it's momentous.  

It is to decide forever to have your heart go outside your body."

~ Elizabeth Stone

For two of my female officemates, this week has been a pretty momentous one that will go down in the history books of their lives.  This week, they found out that there's a bun in their oven! :)

When I heard the news, I felt happy.  Overjoyed, even.  Especially for one of them who has been patiently waiting for the lil pea to come for two years now.  I felt how she must be feeling, the excitement of a would-be mommy.  I went to her and hugged her tight.  Her eyes spoke of an unmistakable elation, bliss which could never be expressed with words alone.

Rolly and I have been married for 10 months tomorrow, and we have been actively trying for me to conceive for 7 months already.  When there was no sign of a baby the month after we started trying, I felt very concerned.  We went to a doctor to get our reproductive functions tested, but the OB told us that it's way too early to be worried. Several months passed and much to my frustration, Aunt Flo (a.k.a. my monthly period) still hasn't missed a visit. We went to another OB and we were told exactly the same thing.  The doctor also explained that even under the most perfect conditions, only 1 out of 4 women conceive during the first 3 months of actively trying, 2 out of 4 within the succeeding 3 months, and so on.  Thus, it takes one full year or 12 months of "baby-dancing" to reach the 4 out of 4 possibility of conception for perfectly healthy couples.  After a year and Aunt Flo is still a guest (an unwelcome guest in my case), that's the time when the couple can get their reproductive system checked up.  This means 5 more months of trying and waiting for Rolly and me! :)

At times, I get paranoid.  

What if I will never bear a child?  What will happen to my motherhood dreams?  My life will be worthless and I will forever be unhappy.  

Thoughts like these run through my head.  Ever since I can remember, I have always known that I want to become a mommy someday. Perhaps because I am very fond of kids. As a matter of fact, I used to write that in my "what-do-you-want-to-be-when-you-grow-up articles in gradeschool.  This has always been my number one dream.  Not wealth, not a booming career.  But a family.  A happy family with a loving husband and wonderful kids.

You know what gives me peace in times like this when my head starts to go crazy?

It's my FAITH.  God knows more than I do how much I want to become a parent.  And He is not a selfish God.  He is a very generous God.  No father wants the heart of his child to be broken.  And Jesus knows He will break my heart if this dream of ours doesn't come true (what a brat, I knooow). That's why I am very certain that He will bless Rolly and me with children. That's what He promises me everyday whenever we pray.  When?  We don't know.  But our faith in Him includes faith in His timing.  When our little munchkin (this is how we call our unborn child) arrives, we know that the time can never be more perfect. :) We may not understand why, but the Lord always has His purpose. :) For now, we will just keep on trying, and we will never stop praying. :)

P.S.  I have a feeling that the Lord is sending the Little Munchkin to my womb this year. ;)  That's our makulet prayer every night.  I wish God will get exhausted from all our pangungulit and finally give in! Haha. :)  


Excited about God's promise, 

5 Things To Do in the First 5 Years of Marriage

Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. Jun. Jul. Aug. 

Nine months. That’s how long Rolly and I have been happily married, in fact, we’re turning 10 months in a week’s time. :) We are very new in this husband-and-wife thing, so it’s nice to find helpful articles that give pieces of advice to newlyweds like us. Let me share with you one that I found on http://davewillis.org. The pink text below was copied from the site verbatim.

1. Find some good “Couple Friends”

"If you only have “his” and “her” friends and you spend social time apart from each other and always hanging with the girls or the guys, you’re missing a great opportunity to grow in your relationship with your spouse while also growing in friendships with other couples."

grabbed from Google Images

Hmm. Do Rolly and I have couple friends? Yes. But we rarely hang out, and majority of our friends are still single. However, we make it a point that my friends also become his friends and vice versa. We would always include each other in the other’s circles. Perhaps when these single friends tie the knot, then we’ll have lots of couple friends already. :)

2. Make your health a priority

"When I got married, I got kind of fat. I temporarily lost all motivation to eat right or to exercise and I dug a hole for myself that I had to work hard to correct. I’ve seen a lot of folks abandon their health early in their marriage and it can create a lot of negative effects on all aspects of your life and your marriage down the road. Find a physical activity that you enjoy doing together and then you’ll get exercise and quality time all at once."

grabbed from Google Images

Oh no. This is something we have to work on! I am the I’d-rather-starve-myself-than-exercise type when it comes to losing weight. I don’t like to walk, I don’t like getting sweaty and malagkit! But hubby is my complete opposite. He does push-ups and crunches every morning. He loves running and boxing. He even has this device that measures his footsteps everyday! After I sent him the link to the article on davewillis.org, this is the one item that he brought up to me. We gotta exercise together! Hahaha. Okaaaay. We agreed to play badminton the week after next and we’ll make it a regular thing. :)

3. Develop a financial plan

"We started off flat broke so we figured we didn’t really have a need to budget, but our neglect of financial planning early on led to a lot of debt and the debt created stress and that stress put an unnecessary strain on our marriage. We’ve worked hard to get out of debt and it’s been one of the best things we’ve ever done for our relationship, but it would have been even better to not make those financial mistakes in the first place!"

grabbed from Google Images

I’m pleased to say that we may not have a lot of money in the bank, but at least we are not flat broke. Between the two of us, it’s me who takes care of all the budgeting and financial planning, and I think I’m doing a good job so far. :) Rolly gives me all his earnings every month, and together with my income, I carefully plan our expenses and savings using my trusty excel template. So far, we’re doing okay in this aspect. :)

4. Find a good church

"Faith is the foundation that sustains a lifelong marriage. Ashley and I made a commitment to get connected into a church right away and it’s probably the single best decision we made. We volunteered together in a youth ministry, made some wonderful friends and grew in our understanding of how beautiful marriage and life can be when you do it God’s way."

grabbed from Google Images

Fortunately, I’ve been blessed with a God-fearing man who shares the same religious beliefs and values as mine. Together, we go to church every Sunday and if there’s time, we attend The Feast in Alabang on Saturdays. Every night before we close our eyes, we pray together (and aloud). Rolly always leads the prayer. There are times when I would forget, but Rolly never fails to remember. :) 

5. Keep dating each other

"Never stop dating just because you’re married! Continue to create new memories and adventures together. Keep discovering new things about each other. Having a consistent “Date Night” is one of the biggest reasons our marriage is so strong today."

grabbed from Google Images

This is pretty easy! :) Our dates now that we’re married may not be as expensive as our boyfriend-girlfriend dates, but at least we still find time to just enjoy one another. 

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We have heard time and again that being married takes a lot of hard work. You don’t just fall in love and get married and live happily ever after. There is no such thing in the real world. There’ll be bumps along the way, rough roads and whatnots. But what’s important is that the two of you, husband and wife, together, are committed to making the sparks last. For newlyweds like us, for sure, the embers of love are still huge and burning. Let’s challenge ourselves to keep it this way, shall we?   And for starters, why don’t we try to observe the tips above? Game face on! :)

Cheers,

Red Velvet Goodness

Emma Stone

Emma Stone's statement is no surprise.  Life is too short to pass up on that red velvet goodness waiting to be devoured. That delicious and distinctive flavor that is not quite chocolate and not quite plain vanilla is unquestionably irresistible!

This afternoon, I finally gave in and  made my dreams come true (I mean this literally, for I've been dreaming about red velvet the past week)! :)

Deep red! :)  I used food coloring by McCormick.

The batter looked like a mess on the liners, I knooow.  It's very thick and transferring it to the pan was a challenge.  Because I do not have a scooper yet, I just made use of a couple of spoons!  It took me quite some time to finish and my back ached. =P

Straight from the oven!  They domed but cracked. =P

Cooling 'em up! :)

And what's the perfect topping for a red velvet?
CREAM CHEEEEEEESE! 

Finished goodies! :)

I am very proud of my first ever red velvet cuppies, especially since the cream cheese turned out to be really good this time.  I tried making that once before but it was too runny, but now I found a recipe that can finally hold shape!  Cream cheese goodness at its best. #LoveYourOwn! ;)

I wonder what cupcake flavor I'll try next time. Any ideas? :)


A happy baker,

The Perfect Dome

I am a super newbie at baking.  As a matter of fact, I have only baked three cakes and four batches of cupcakes after I took baking classes in June.  But there's one thing I'm proud of --- I've already made a perfect cuppy dome! 

When I started making cupcakes, getting that dome shape was a mystery.  My cupcakes always looked flat and lonely, or they would dome right after I took them out of the oven but would deflate eventually.  But now I already know the "secret" after scouring the web for tips and tricks!  

Bake the cupcakes at 400 degrees F initially, 

then lower it down to 350 degrees  after five minutes 

and for the rest of the baking time.

And that's it!  Hehe.  Ang simple lang pala ng solusyon. :)  But the thing is, no cupcake recipe would tell you that.  Glad there's a bunch of ingenious bakers out there who discovered and shared this after years of experience.  This is not 100% guaranteed though, the practice hasn't been tested for every single recipe on the planet.  What's sure is that it works for most cuppy recipes, and that's enough for me. :)

Cheers,