It’s more than a hundred months since andrea and I got together. It’s more than 2 and a half years since we got married. It’s been significantly long since our story as a family started and yet andrea mateo and I still have no roof of our own over our heads.

Apparently, it’s not that easy acquiring a property nowadays. No matter how much foreclosure help i find, getting around to procuring enough for a downpayment is more monumental of a task than I thought. Huhu! And as the head of the family, it’s a burden I bear heavily on my shoulders.

Sometimes, I even get to the point when I would think about how andrea and mateo would be right now if I was a bit richer or if andrea decided on marrying a richer guy. Would they be more secured? Would they be happier?

It’s quite depressing contemplating on these things but as the saying goes… reality bites - sometimes even harder than you could imagine. I know andrea and I had plans of having a house of our own early. And even though, based on others’ standards, some people think it’s still quite early, I can’t help but feel that it’s not. I mean mateo’s growing really fast. Soon, andrea and I would have to decide about whether we’ll have another baby or not. Before you know it, we’ll have more bills to pay and less money to allocate for our own abode.

Bit by bit our dream of a house is slowly fading. I’ve got to do something about it before time runs out - no matter how drastic or tragic it takes.

I’m seriously getting worried about mateo’s health. Just this morning, I had to rush his poop to the hospital before going to school because the color was alarmingly green. Not to mention, it has a very liquid consistency - all telltale signs of amoeba infection. Yet it hasn’t been a week since he finished his cycle of medication for the same condition.

Even Mateo’s pediatrician couldn’t believe the results when I informed her about the outcome of the lab test. She was in such disbelief that she scheduled an appointment for tomorrow just to check up personally on Mateo’s condition. But the results are shockingly very conclusive. I saw how green his poop was and how liquid the consistency was. Even I couldn’t argue…

Anyway, the only thing we could do, at least until we gets confirmation from his pediatrician, is to put him back on medication. So now, instead of just his food, milk, water, change of clothes, diapers and a few toys, he has a separate luggage devoted to his medicine.

Poor baby. It just tears my heart into pieces seeing him take all his meds. I hope you get well soon babsy! I hope you get well really soon!

Mateo has been on and off antibiotics lately, first because of amebiasis, and now because of tonsillitis. It seems that his immune system has been significantly compromised. This is why andrea and i are now figuring a way to pinpoint where the problem started and how to solve it.

So far the only thing we’ve figured out was that whatever compromised mateo’s immune system must have been airborne. We didn’t show any symptoms of whatever he’s having so that means he must have caught it somewhere else… most probably school. That’s also why we thought about 2 ways of addressing the problem: (1) keeping him at home or (2) if he stays there, then making sure he has a safe place there.

In the first option, we can’t help but hesitate because of various reasons I’ve mentioned in my last post. In the second option, however, we’re limited in methods of virusproofing a place in school. I mean there are not many Santa Fe dehumidifiers around to filter out allergens and viruses so this is quite a difficult option too.

The only things we have now are options, worries, and a sick mateo.

After several searching and surfing sessions, I’ve finally found the laptop memory supplier that I want. This is all thanks to Google, Yahoo and Ebay. They’ve been my friends for several nights already keeping me awake at times when I’m about to give in to sleep.

It is a 2 gigabit memory that will replace the 512 MB one that andrea has on her laptop. It’s not the fastest one in the market but it’s the best one I could put in there. Unfortunately, the memory together with the shipping is gonna set us back in finances so I couldn’t do anything but keep on looking at it for now.

I just hope that the offers don’t expire before I could save enough to buy! I really want to upgrade her laptop!

Recently, Mateo has been coming with us to work and spending an average of 7 hours in school, sometimes even longer especially during occasions when andrea and i need to attend meetings. It’s no wonder that he’s already contacted a cold. I mean with all the interactions he’s getting with so many students (both sick and healthy), I guess he’s bound to encounter at least 1 with a virus that he can’t fight against yet.

It’s really very frustrating. Andrea and i are torn between letting him stay at home or allowing him to continue accompanying us to work. You see, both have very real and significant consequences.

On one side, he’s already entering the age of wild curiosity. He’s always testing everything, tasting anything he could get his hands on, seeing how far he could throw objects, and running all over the place. He likes exploring the school grounds so much that I fear we’d need a GPS just to make sure he doesn’t get lost. It is because of this that I want to let him spend his time in school where there’s so much he can learn and experience.

On the other hand, if he does spend a lot of time in school, it would mean exposing him to more threats such as viruses, accidents, and even some not-so-nice habits - all of which he could get from other kids. The more I think about it, the more I realize that school isn’t really a place for babies. But then again, mateo’s not such a baby anymore.

There was once a time when andrea and I were both on postpaid lines (cell phone plans I mean). That was after we both started working. She, in an insurance company while I, in the school where we’re at now.

I can still remember her refusing to give up her line because most of her friends are on the same mobile company as the one she’s on while I was on the other one. But since there was a communication antenna near our school which blocked all her phone signals, she found it difficult to hang on to her line when she transferred work here. Well actually we even thought of getting cell phone amplifiers as a desperate option but it was just too far fetched at that time. In the end, she just switched mobile companies.

Now, because of so many increase in expenses, we decided it would be impractical to keep more than one line. That meant one of us had to give up our line. This time, she volunteered hers. That was because we were already living together and we originally planned on her staying home to look after our baby.

Now, almost 2 years after, our baby goes with us to school and andres is back to working full time. One of these days, once i get to finish allocating our budget for a year, I may just surprise her with a new line. Haha! We’ll see!

Our 100th monthsary is just 3 days away now and I’ve just finished arranging a reservation at a nice restaurant here. Since we can’t go on any Orlando vacations or on any Carribean cruise for this special occasion, I figured we’d just try out this remote but popular Swiss restaurant near our place, Vieux Chalet.

You see, according to a lot of reviews that I’ve read about the place, it is quiet, convenient, supposedly serves really delicious food, and especially romantic. It sounds perfect for our 100th monthsary. Well, of course, if I had more to spend, then I could think of a hundred other options that would be more fitting, but since I don’t, then this is the best one at the moment.

Anyway, what’s important to me right now is that I get to spend this special day with the woman that made it special for me in the first place - my wife … andrea.

There’s something about a new office that inspires people to work - the smell of new cubicles, the feel of new air-conditioning units, the overall atmosphere. Just as any makeover seems to help forget past troubles, a new office brings a refreshing feel of work.

You see, this year the school decided to provide the teachers a brand new, air-conditioned office complete with individual cubicles - a very welcome reprieve from a day’s worth of lecturing, standing, confusion and chaos. It comes fully furnished with chairs and extra tables. All that’s left is for the teachers to decorate and customize their own private areas.

And since it’s my first time to personalize my very own office space, I was excited to customize everything. I would always ask andrea to take a look at office furniture shops whenever we go to the mall in order to check out the most appropriate trinkets and supplies to adorn my cubicle. So far, I was able to procure a desk organizer, a new set of clips, push pins, and a new pair of scissors. Next time we go to the mall, I’ll be getting some book holders, a cork board and a few other items.

Hopefully I’d get to finish decorating my cubicle next week.

Since I never dreamed about being able to celebrate a centennial anniversary with andrea, I thought about celebrating the next best thing - a 100th monthsary - something that is supposed to take place next week on the 7th of July.

Yes, it’s been a hundred months since we got together, not much actually compared to those who have gone through 50 years or more of marriage together, but it’s been the best 100 months of our lives as far as I’m concerned. And now, I’m wracking my brains out trying to figure out how best to celebrate it with andrea.

Do I treat her to a romantic date complete with a view, a sumptuous dinner, and the wine of the month? I’d like to but I don’t think it’s gonna work because that’s not really our style. Should I give her a diamond necklace or earrings instead? I thought about that too but unfortunately I don’t have enough to get her any jewelries (even those without the diamonds). The fact is, I’m broke, desperate, madly in love, and 8 days away from our hundredth monthsary.

I’m still waiting for the right idea to come along and I’m praying it comes along soon…huhuhu!

This first few weeks of school are taking its toll on our expenses. We’ve been spending more because mateo’s nanny comes to school with us too, so instead of just snacks for 2, we have snacks for 3. Instead of lunch for 2, we get lunch for 3. Not only that, since everyone is lining up to use the printers at school, andrea and I are now resulting to using our own printers at home, which translates to ink expenses. It’s still more than a weekend to go before the next payday and yet we’re already on our reserves.

It seems that we have to re-evaluate the way we allocate our money because it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to save up with the way things are going. Especially with mateo nearing school age, we can’t afford not to store for the rainy days. So far, andrea’s own MS Excel program is the only budgeting software we use for this but I guess it’s not as reliable as it was before. Well, it’s either that or we win in the lottery! Haha!