1. January. I’m not going to ask where has January gone, I know exactly where it went. Today I thank the Lord for Januarys, for 2013’s firsts, for breakthroughs, for love that gets renewed every morning, and for new beginnings.

2. Totally smitten. The twins are starting to engage more, and smile more, and—their latest discovery—stare at the camera lens with eyes wide open. They’re attracted to bright lights, and the flash of the camera fascinates them! I’m totally smitten everyday, I can’t stop taking photos with our DSLR and with the iPhone. Will this ever end?

3. 52 week project. I have found this gem of a project, and a gold mine of inspiration. This blogger named Jodi started a 52 Week Project with this goal: “A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.“ Hundreds of bloggers from around the world joined her, and because of the theme of the project, it’s pretty obvious that the ones who are doing it are MOMS. I’ve been following their posts and have found some of my newest favorite blogs. And while I don’t know these people, it feels like being in a roomful of kindred spirits. I can’t contain it, I have to do the project too! They are, however, on their fifth week already. I messaged Jodi to ask her if it’s okay to join even though I’m only starting my first week this month, and she said yes. :) So, yeah. Watch out for that. <3

*I have a backlog of 30 Days of Gratitude posts in my drafts. Not that you need a proof. It’s just taking me some time to get them together, but they shall be up and live soonish, dates backtracked; I don’t want to back out of a challenge early in the year!

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 12.

1. Mornings. This has to be the grainiest and blurriest family portrait ever, but I’ll keep it. It was taken Wednesday morning, one of those rare mornings when all of us are up early, and Daddy doesn’t have class, and the babies are not crying even with all the hugging, and squishing, and snuggling. Sometimes when I look at photographs like this, I feel like watching someone else’s life. And once again I swoon at how blessed I am, and how beautiful God has made this little life to be.

2. Coin box. We have this little box where we keep loose change. We’re not really consciously saving them at first, we just needed a place to gather the coins so that they won’t be scattered all over the house. Later on we realized that by saving loose change, we’re able to gather a substantial amount of money at the end of the month. So we started making it a habit.

The box was already full this week, and D counted the coins which amounted to, ta-dah, P1,500+. Not bad no? :) Too lazy to go to the bank to have the coins changed, we went to a nearby store to buy groceries instead.. and paid for them with our abnormally heavy stash of coins! The cashier was smiling from ear-to-ear, and we went away happy with our brown paper bag of goods. Yay.

3. Taking risks. It’s been sinking in, the decisions we made the past few weeks. Although I’m sure in my heart that the Lord has led me to make these choices (otherwise I wouldn’t have made them), I still sometimes have fleeting moments of worry, wondering if we heard Him right. And then I came across these words as I was having my devotion,

“What risk is the Lord calling you to take? He understands your wariness, but He’ll never let you down. Step out in obedience, and watch what He does to grow your faith.“

..and just like that, an enormous amount of weight was lifted off my chest and was replaced by peace, assuring me that we are right where God wants us to be. 

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 11.

1. Book reading. One good thing about watching over or carrying a baby for most part of the day is being able to finally do some book reading. You see, it’s impossible to get some work done on a computer while carrying a baby—I tried it many times. But reading a book while holding a baby in your arms, or even with a baby sleeping on your lap—now that works. I finished a book and I’m already on my second one this week. Time to hit the book stores again, I’ve been reunited with an old hobby.

2. Multi-tasking. Today I thank the Lord for giving humans 4 limbs. Lately I have mastered the art of using all of them at once. Baby on my lap, book on one hand, phone on the other hand (or sometimes, a feeding bottle), and feet rocking a bouncy seat where the other baby sleeps. Multi-tasking at its finest, what can I say?

3. Silent nights. Having said the first two items, it’s only in the evenings that I get some real work done. We’ve set a routine that works for all of us at home, one that frees up my evenings so that I can peacefully work with little interruptions, if not none at all. That’s one of the many challenges with having two babies—getting them to follow the same routine. But at least they’re learning to distinguish the difference between night and day now, giving Mommy some peace and quiet at night.

Works for me. All those years adjusting to New York time, my body clock has been trained to switch to EST in a heartbeat.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 10.

1. Mondays. I have a love-hate relationship with Mondays. Now, it’s love. No more long commutes and grace periods. No need to squeeze myself inside a jampacked train, or sit through 2 hours of traffic in a crowded bus. No more time ins and time outs. Sure, Monday is still the start of the work week for me. But now our dining table is my desk, and these two adorable creatures are my bosses (slash teachers). And I, am a student with a whole new world of things to learn from them.

2. Sisters. I grew up wishing I had a sister. And God did grant my wish when I was 25 years old, when my brother married Ate Imy. I’m glad Dawn & Rain don’t need to wait 25 years to have one. Right now they’re still unaware that they lived and grew inside the same placenta for 8 months, and that they’re sleeping in the same crib with someone they share the same genes with. But soon they’ll know. They will be playmates and the best of friends. They will have double birthday celebrations. They will sing songs together and blend with each other’s voices. Ahh, the thought of them growing up sharing each other’s clothes, and toys, and secrets, is making me smile and tear up all at the same time!

3. Taking photographs. I started taking photographs again. And no, not just with a phone cam, however convenient Instagram has made our lives. This week I took out our DSLR and started clicking away; our 50mm lens aimed at my two beautiful and clueless little subjects. I almost forgot how much I love doing this. Thank God for technology, and its ability to freeze moments in photographs.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 9.