Ready for a rainy christmas

This year has got to be one of the rainiest Christmases I've seen, at least in my lifetime.  To equip myself for the wet holiday season, I went online shopping for the perfect pair of rain boots to keep my feet warm and dry.  Check it out ladies, my very first pair of plueys in Ooh la Lace:

Super cute even on my super-sized feet.  Found these on readyforrain.com.  I also got 3 other pairs as presents for my sisters and mom in Sew Cute, Charlotte and Lulla.  Ordering is easy and boots are shipped via Air21 door-to-door delivery in 3 days.

These boots have got me wishing that it was raining everyday!

Help Wanted

     I have 25 days left (gasp!) before my yaya leaves us.  I am desperate.  I am taking this to the internet hoping that a kind soul would reach out and help us find a yaya for Vito, the cutest boy in the world.

1.        He loves music and can be kept busy for hours singing songs (literally!  Mommy’s last videoke session went on for 5 hours.  Mommy sang herself hoarse and had to call in reinforcements.  Ninang Carla saved the day by taking the last hour singing Vito’s favourite nursery rhymes), playing musical instruments like the guitar and piano, or videoke-ing in lolo’s bar. 

2.       He is easy to feed the food he likes—anything with soup like nilaga or arroz caldo, lola’s special longganisa, spaghetti with sweet meat sauce (minus the hotdog, McDo is good too), Olsen’s Spanish bread, loackers quadratini and graham crackers. 

3.       If he seems to be starting a fit, there’s two easy ways to change his mood to happy—give him a banana to peel (but you have to do the eating, he only likes to peel them) or present some M&Ms for him to snack on (lola’s trick).

4.       He naps at 1pm to about 4pm which gives yaya (and the entire household) the much needed timeout to recover for when he wreaks havoc again by the time he wakes.

5.       If you want to get him tired (which is almost always the goal everyday) take him outdoors for a walk (or a run), or to the neighbourhood playground for some slide and see-saw action, or fly his favourite helicopter till the batteries run out.  Hopefully his batteries run out before the helicopter’s does.

6.       He’s soft and cuddly like a living teddy bear and he blows kisses, gives high-5s and warm hugs as much as there are stars in the sky.

7.       He isn’t toilet trained yet but the upside is he loves brushing his teeth and can be easily motivated to take a bath since he loves the water.  So this kind of evens things out.

8.       If he gets too hyper, it’s easy to calm him down.  Just give him his favourite books and he can leaf through their pages while you identify the colourful pictures.  He also loves puzzles and blocks but make sure he doesn’t get frustrated with them.  If he does, refer to number 3. If that doesn’t work, number 10 should.

9.       When he gets bored or antsy, just put him in a moving vehicle—a golf cart, a bike or a car.  Driving around aimlessly is one of his favourite pastimes.  A duyan works like a charm too.

10.   When all else fails, only one thing can save the day—BUBBLES. So mommy always has a bottle packed for emergency situations.

     So will someone please take pity on this little boy and help find a yaya for him?

Aminexil for thinning hair

     If you have the same misfortune of being born with the bald/thin hair gene like me, this one’s for you.

     To begin with, my hair has always been thin and limp.  It didn't help that I also put it through a lot of abuse over the years--blame it on the aquanet and all that teasing which were the rave at that time (oh you know you can relate! I’m not the only teenager from the early 90s here...). Or it could just as well have been my obsession with hair coloring, highlighting, and low lighting in my late teens til mid twenties.  Then I got pregnant at 30 and it was downhill for my hair since then.

     It is for this reason that I am always looking for a remedy to improve the health and quality of my hair.  Right now, I'm on Aminexil which was recommended by my hair stylist.

     Hair follicles can shrink or get blocked due to hormonal imbalance, stress, pregnancy, medical treatment and seasonal influences.  When this happens, the hair gets "choked" resulting in a thinner strand or worse, no growth at all.  Aminexil is a topical scalp solution that addresses the hardening and shrinking of hair follicles.  By lifting the blockades, hair grows thicker and stronger, and the hair at the transition phase (the short hairs on your scalp) grows normally again.

     I am on my 26th day on Aminexil and I'm beginning to see results.  My scalp's condition seems to have normalized, my hair is not oily at the end of the day which it used to be pre-Aminexil, my hair has more body specially on the crown area and I'm beginning to see more short hairs growing.  I particularly like this product because it smells good (unlike other hair products that smell hideous) and is easy to apply.

     Disclaimer: This product is more for prevention of hair loss and maintaining the hair you still have. It does not claim to produce more hair follicles.  In short, if a follicle stops producing a hair, this product will not make that follicle grow a hair again.