Our quest for a home has a taken a backseat once again. With andrea and I expecting someone by August, we’ve changed priorities yet again from saving up for a house to saving up for a hospitalization.

In fact, we’re now considering moving into a house for rent somewhere near our workplace to cut back on a few more expenses such as travel and snacks just so we can have enough by the latter half of the year. Heck, I’m even entertaining the thought of going for motorhomes if it would make things a little easier financially, at least.

It’s extremely difficult makings ends meet, especially with a baby on the way. What more if we go for a house of our own now?

Sometimes I can’t help but envy those people who have more than enough money for everyday needs. Seems unfair right? huhuhu!

Health insurance plans are a tricky business. For one, it’s not age-appropriate, in terms of client-understanding I mean. Why, because most people, especially at their younger years, would never consider availing one due to the illusion of fitness. I know because the same thing happened to us a few years back.

You see, before we had mateo, I used to believe that nothing in the world can harm me. I was 26 years old when we first attended an orientation regarding health insurance. And back then, I thought that no dreadful or serious-enough sickness can scare me down. Oh boy, was I wrong. The worst part about is, when I found bruises on my body (the sources of which I could not remember getting), mateo was already around. I was so scared not just for me, but for mateo and andrea. If the bruises were caused by some serious condition, I had nothing in my savings account to leave my family behind with in case I met the worst fate.

It was only then that the reason behind health insurance became apparent to me. Health plans are not just for the plan holder, but also for the security of those that he or she loves. These are realizations that do not come easily to younger ones, hence age-appropriateness.

Second, health insurance plans vary in terms of extensions, hospitals that recognize them, monetary compensation, and several other technical details. For people that are not familiar with the inner workings of health plans, they seem to be nothing more than money-making schemes of large insurance companies.

These are the two primary reasons why health insurance plans are generally tricky. These should also be the selling points that health insurance agents use. Those that know these two aspects are the ones that become good agents like Jerry Ballard, the 6-year top insurance agent of Blue Cross Blue Shield NC.

As for me, as soon as I’m financially capable of availing one, I’m getting one with or without agent.

Whenever andrea and I look back  at our miscarriage, we can’t help but wonder what happened. Were we too careless with our movements? Is there anything we did wrong or did not do? Is there anything we could have done to prevent what happened?

As far as I know, we’ve done nothing different from the time when andrea was still carrying mateo in her womb. As far as rest is concerned, she was even working full time when mateo was still inside. She’s working part time now. In terms of vitamins, she was given practically the same regimen of vitamins as before. Heck, we even consulted sites such as prenatalvitamins.net to check her prescriptions. She did not contract any sicknesses or ailments or meet any accidents. She was healthy and happy.

According to the gynecologist, it was a cord coil accident. The mark on her neck region seems to confirm the doctor’s theory. And it was something that we could not do anything about. Either her umbilical cord was shorter than supposed to, or by some stroke of bad luck, it just happened to coil around her neck.

It was an accident. That’s what we were told but I still can’t help but feel paranoid. How can the next one be spared? How can we make sure that it doesn’t happen again? Because I don’t think I can handle the same thing again. I just can’t.

When I was still taking up Biology in college, we were required to take an Organic Chemistry course. It was probably one of the most relevant chemistry subjects that I ever took up because most of the things I learned there, I can directly connect with real life. Not to mention, I’m teaching the same lessons to my students now.

It was really memorable and, I must say, really well-taught because I’m using the same techniques that I remember being taught with and my grade 5 students seem to comprehend, if not totally understand, what I’m saying. In fact, for the past few meetings, I’ve been using complex terms and acronyms such as CLA, TCA, and ATP and the responses and questions my students give suggest they’re getting the idea.

Looking back, I just wish all my other Chemistry subjects in high school and in college were as nicely-delivered as my Organic Chemistry class. But then again, maybe it’s the content that made it easier to swallow. I do hope I’m doing well enough for my students to consider my class as memorable.

Who needs sleeping pills when you’re a teacher?

They’re the least things that we would want. Especially now that Science Week is less than a week away, all the preparations and paperwork that need to be done are piling up. I need even the nights to finish all the planning and logistics.

What I do need is a way to squeeze in a few more hours in a day, or the photocopy machine and all the printers to work, or for all the science teachers to rest and recuperate for next week’s activities. What I need is coffee to get me through the night of extended planning and paperwork. I need inspiration. I need a sign to tell me that everything is going to work out fine next week. I need to stop worrying!

I need to sleep! Oh, perhaps I do need a sleeping pill after all! Hehehe!

Mateo has just turned three last Friday, January 15. To celebrate his birthday, we ordered two trays of baked macaroni and some chicken fingers from the canteen, bought a Backyardigans cake from Red Ribbon, and purchased some popsicles from Shopwise. Then, during their recess in school, we went upstairs to distribute food and gifts to his classmates.

It was the first time I saw mateo at work (or more appropriately in play) with his classmates. It was also the first time I saw how small my little big boy is in relation to his preschool friends. He’s barely half the size (and not just height) of the biggest boy in their class Yugi. And even the smallest girl in class is still an inch or two taller than mateo.

I keep telling myself that it’s his age that’s working against him when it comes to size, but I can’t help but worry. I know he’s going to catch up to his friends too, but I’m just not sure when. Let’s face it. Size is an advantage when it comes to so many things – sports, recitation, and even in presentations.

If he does make it to the next level and move on with his classmates, he’ll still be more than half a year younger (and smaller) than them. Should I make him stay in the same level for another year just so he’ll be with kids of the same age and size? Or should I just risk it? Is is time for him to take human growth hormone supplements or do I just wait and see if he catches up in size with his friends? How long will mateo be my little big boy?

What is the best way to lose weight?

That depends on certain restrictions you have and your basic definition of what best means.

For example, for those who equate best with the fastest, the best method to lose pounds would be to undergo surgical procedures such as liposuction. These methods take less than a day to produce results and require very little effort. That is if you have no money problem.

However, for those whose definition of best is healthiest, then the combination of regular exercise and good diet is a common choice. The only problem with this is that results do not show very quickly and tremendous discipline is required.

Others that do not have space in their schedules for regular exercise routines consider dieting (a.k.a. fasting) as the best method for losing weight. They just simply cut down on carbohydrate intake and then go on with their usual thing.  It’s the least disruptive and least expensive technique. I’m just not sure if it’s the healthiest though.

As for me, the best way to lose weight is to play. When I was still in college, I used to play basketball with my friends at least once a week. During my first year of teaching, I used to play soccer at least twice a week. Unfortunately, now, I don’t have time to play any of those games anymore. I do however play with my son. It may not be as physically strenuous as basketball or soccer, but i have to admit. Mateo really makes me sweat a lot. Not to mention, we usually end up out of breath from all the running and wrestling.

It’s incredible how tiring thinking could be. As a matter of fact, I think I’m probably more tired from thinking than from running around the school the whole day.

You see, with the Science Week less than 5 days away, I’m running all over the place getting signatures and following up on photocopies of bulletins for next week’s festivities. During breaks, I’m in front of the computer composing letters, negotiating with suppliers on the phone, and rearranging impossible schedules rivaling grandmaster-worthy puzzles.

The mental work and stress from the Science week preparations are draining my energy faster than I can replenish them. In fact, these past few days, whenever I get home, I barely have enough energy for playing with mateo. One thing that’s keeping me going though is the fact that after Friday next week, everything will be back to normal. At least I hope so. Because if not, it would take more than an anti aging face cream to remove the effects of stress on my face. Haha!

Ever since we moved Science Week to January, I’ve come to fear the month. And now, there’s even more reason why.

You see, during the summer break when we were preparing the school calendar, more changes have been made especially for January. In order to maximize the time for academics during the rainy seasons, a lot of festivities have been moved to the latter part of the school namely January to March. As a result, not only will we be having a more cramped Science Week schedule, but we’ll also have to make do with only a week’s preparation after Humanities Week (which was now moved to January as well).

It’s a coordinator’s nightmare I tell you. All the running around and chasing after people is enough to buy you time off the treadmill for a while. The logistics… a enormous puzzle. The budget… impossible!

Must remember all these stuff for the next calendaring!

We’ve recently cut our cable subscription because we realized we don’t really get to watch TV as often as we used to. With Mateo now reaching the age of exploration and imitation, we don’t want him to be exposed this early to violence and other negative influences that the TV brings. The movies we’d like him to watch, we have in our laptops so we rarely have any need for TV anymore, more so for cable.

Actually, even the thought of selling the TV has crossed my mind more than once already. I mean, it’s rarely used anyway. It’s just accumulating dust and taking up some space. Heck, we could buy some other fancy stuff with the money we could get from the selling the thing.

It’s just that we won’t have any use for the tv stand anymore once the TV goes. I mean we have stuff on the TV stand aside from the TV but I think it would just look pretty odd without the thing it was designed to support. Plus, I have no idea how much tv stands nowadays cost. Do I simply package it with the TV if ever we do decide to sell it? I don’t know. Or should we just keep the whole thing and wait for Mateo to be old enough to understand TV?

TV: To sell or not to sell? Huhuhu