Family – Page 8 – Chasing Dreams

Love Comes Tumbling Down

August 13, 2014August 13, 2014 RhizaLeave a comment

Dear David,

Do you remember that day? We ran around the old Philippine Air Force museum grounds with our small crew of 3, cramming our prenup video. We had to be quick because the sun was about to set that day and we didn’t have a lot of days left. Our wedding was less than a week away.

Do you remember that day? We were grinning from ear to ear, couldn’t keep our eyes off each other, couldn’t contain our joy. We awkwardly posed where they told us to pose, jumped when they told us to jump, chased each other when they said we should, smiled for the camera till our cheeks hurt.

Do you remember that day? We were so happy like we were living in a dream, except that our eyes were wide open and you’re, well, for real. And while we knew then that the best was still yet to come, we still couldn’t have guessed what God had in store for us!

Do you remember that day?

It’s been three years since then. So much has changed and so much has remained the same (we still chase each other around and smile til our cheeks hurt, that’s for sure). But in the midst of the big and small changes, the good times and bad times, you still remain to be the boy who makes my heart sing.

Thank you for being a huge part of the happiest days of my life, and even the ordinary ones. You’re my most favorite blessing. A lifetime thanking God for you is not enough.

Happy third year anniversary!
I love you, don’t forget.

Love, Riz

Continue reading “Love Comes Tumbling Down” →

Retail Therapy and Taking Photographs

July 15, 2014December 23, 2021 Rhiza1 Comment

Photographs of my daughters, once a week, every week, this 2014. Week 25.

This set is definitely one of my faves! Can I just say, I may be the one deciding what they wear on Sundays but I can NOT take any credit for the way they pose..

..or the way they project themselves in front of the camera.

Nope, I didn’t teach them that. Their Daddy denies teaching them that too. Lol.

But for sure their Daddy is semi-responsible for making them laugh. He can be such a clown sometimes, and the girls love it when he goofs around.

Also, don’t you just love those dresses? You know, when mommyhood is becoming tough and monotonous (and sometimes even lonely), I sometimes resort to retail therapy. When I was single, I’d give myself a little treat once in a while and make room in my budget for some shopping spree. (I can see my husband rolling his eyes on “once in a while”.)

When we had Dawn & Rain, my retail therapy shifted to dresses and accessories in much smaller sizes.

If retail therapy is not possible, which is often the case (no time, no budget), I discovered one therapy that doesn’t cost anything at all: taking out my camera and snapping photos of my girls. Ahh, ‘works like wonders!

Are you a mommy who’s feeling a little lonely sometimes too? Here’s one thing you know you can do: Take out your camera (or phone!) and snap photos of your children. Take photos of your messy house even. Or your dirty laundry. Or the toys that are scattered all over your living room floor.

We all want to remember this time of our lives forever, so go ahead, take pictures! Preserve the memories. They say it will be over before we know it.

What’s up, I’m 31

May 27, 2014May 27, 2014 Rhiza2 Comments

So I turned 31 last week, and as usual, it felt like it was the twins’ birthday instead. We spent a few hours at the mall with my Mom, had some sugar overdose at Vanilla Cupcake Bakery, and took lots of photographs.

There we were, our little party of five at Vanilla Cupcake, enjoying our happy food.

Chocolate Cream Pie for D, Salt & Caramel Cream Cheese for me, and two orders of Banoffee in a Jar (my favorite!) for my Mom and the twins. The girls love cupcakes, I reckon they’ve inherited my sweet tooth!

They’re learning to eat on their own too. Still a little messy but hey, no one’s complaining :)

On a totally related note, I love being able to celebrate birthdays with my Mom, especially now that I have this deeper understanding and appreciation of everything she went through to raise me. What most people don’t know is, my mom had a cardiac arrest giving birth to me. She delivered me c-section, had complications on the table, flat lined for a few seconds and was revived miraculously. I almost lived my whole life without a mother (and I probably wouldn’t have survived too without one!) but God has been so gracious to us, and now we’re here to tell the story. You can definitely say that May 21 is my Mom’s birthday too. Happy birthday to us, Mommy!

We passed by Cotton On Kids on our way home, and the girls excitedly posed by the window display.

Look at those faces and tell me: Can you feel my joy and my pride and my giddiness, being the Mommy of these two? I know I sound like a broken record, and I don’t care, and I still would keep saying it over and over—being a mommy is just plain.. awesome. These girls, and their Daddy whom I love so very much (really, I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else), are the best things that have ever happened to me in like, the history of ever. And celebrating birthdays and milestones with them is a blessing I just can’t stop thanking the Lord for.

Later in the afternoon, a few friends dropped by for a little (impromptu) pizza party, and much later, while the twins were asleep, my husband and I sneaked out to watch X-men (last full show!) with my sibs. As the night came to an end and I continued to ponder upon God’s goodness to me in the past 3 decades of my life, I knew that I wouldn’t have spent my birthday any other way.

What a happy birthday indeed. :)

It’s Mother’s Day, and, oh hey, I’m a Mommy!

May 11, 2014May 11, 2014 Rhiza5 Comments

It’s been 18 months since I gave birth to the twins and I’m first to admit that the idea of myself becoming a Mommy took a while to sink in. And yet, somewhere in the midst of changing diapers and giving warm baths and witnessing two little humans grow (too fast, I must add), I find myself learning to embrace this (new) role with eyes and arms wide open.

I’m a Mommy, and I love being one!

The thing is, I was never motherly. Sometime a few years ago, a cousin of mine predicted that I’ll be the last one in my batch to settle down and have kids. I don’t know what made him say it, and I didn’t exactly contest—I knew that I didn’t fit the Mommy profile.

Maybe because I was horrible with kids. Maybe I wasn’t the type to settle down in one place and it showed in the way I restlessly moved from one place to another when I was younger. Or maybe I was too preoccupied with my career at that time that it didn’t look like I had time to pursue having a family.

Or could it be that I feared becoming a mother that I subconsciously pushed it at the back of my mind?

I go over the bucket lists I made when I was younger and find that I never once listed or dreamed of becoming a Mom. Never. Like, it just never crossed my mind. I know of friends who believed in their hearts that they’re going to become mothers someday, and they did become mothers and they’re awesome at it!

As for me? I wanted to be successful in my career, go places (New York, check; Sydney, check; Italy, maybe someday), buy this and that, find The One, get married before 30, establish a passion business, have my dream wedding.. and, the list kindof stopped there.

In retrospect, how can I not have dreamed of becoming a mother someday when it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me now? It’s like The Dream I never knew I had!

All these years being unsure of what I want, or what my dream job is, or where I want to go next.. Suddenly, one thing is certain. I’m a Mommy, and God called me to be one when He blessed me and my husband with these two beautiful little girls. And I learn over and over again that no matter how inadequate one feels about a role, God is the one who equips her to be the best person for it.

Surprisingly for me, nothing—no job or hobby or dream—has ever been more fulfilling than this. Epic, I must say, and we all know that the word “epic” is not to be used lightly.

So this is how it feels like, to be a Mom, on Mother’s Day. I don’t think I’ll be receiving hand-made Mother’s Day greeting cards from the twins this year, not yet, but I look forward to the tiny hugs, adorable smiles, and little kisses I’ll be getting today. :D

And before I end this monologue of sorts, I just want to throw a little shoutout to my fabulous Mom who modelled and taught me unconditional love, who raised me to be who I am today, and who remains to be as beautiful and as amazing as ever.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom! I thank the Lord for you! I didn’t quite grasp how much you (and Dad) loved me back then, but I get it now. Thanks for loving me/us the way you do. :-*

And finally, I’d like to send some virtual hugs and highfives to all you mommies out there, all over the world. Happy Mother’s Day! Enjoy this day darlings, you deserve it! :)

An afternoon at UP Diliman, and thoughts about “being all there”

April 29, 2014July 1, 2017 Rhiza4 Comments

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, but I guess I’ve proven enough in my life that the unplanned trips are the ones that actually push through. So my husband and I took an afternoon trip, on a whim, to my alma mater, and it was gooood.

He did a nice job documenting our afternoon in a post on his Facebook wall, and I thought I’d keep a record of our afternoon date in this blog too. Late lunch at Rodics, Mang Larry’s isaw (craving satisfied!), a walk around the acad oval and sunken garden, a quick stop at the university avenue to take pictures of the sunflowers (because they’re so popular lately—this and this), and a final stop at Razons for some halo-halo (his craving satisfied!) before heading home.

It was an added treat that the College of Engineering was having their graduation ceremony while we were there. It reminded me of my own graduation day, and gave D a little glimpse of how a UP graduation looks like. He was thrilled to see Oblation wearing a sablay, and couldn’t get over why it’s called “sablay” when it symbolizes success, quite the opposite of what the word means in Tagalog. (I couldn’t give an answer.)

It’s not the first time I took him there, but something about this particular afternoon that was a little extra special. Maybe because I left a pile of work at home and it felt so liberating to ditch a few tasks and do something on a whim. Or maybe because I’m a little bit older now, and having my husband with me in places like this makes me look back on years past, and how far God has brought me, us.

Being in UP Diliman always brings me this feeling of nostalgia, good memories, and maybe a little tinge of regret. I wish I made the most of that place. I wish I studied better, appreciated being there more. All those days I spent in the UP campus, dragging my feet to my next class, wishing I was somewhere else, and sometimes, wanting to get college over and done with already. If only I knew that college was going to be so quick, I would have slowed down a little and made the most out of my time there.

Not that I didn’t enjoy my college life, I did. I just sometimes wish I practiced a little “being all there” more. There goes my lesson for the day.

The babies were just waking up from their afternoon nap when we got home, it didn’t feel like we were away at all. Recharged, I went back to my desk, checked my email inbox and went over my never-ending list of tasks to see what else I can tick off for the day.

I’m glad we went to UP. I needed a breather, and to be reminded of things that matter. Besides, it was about time I satisfied my isaw craving.

We Weren’t Joking Alright

April 2, 2014June 27, 2019 Rhiza3 Comments

Two years ago, on April Fools Day, we announced on our Facebook wall that we were having twins. It sounded like something someone would post on April Fools, but we were overjoyed and we couldn’t wait until April 1 was over to share the news to our family and friends.

“I know it must sound like a really good April Fools joke, but it’s for real, we’re having twins. We’re still recovering from the sweet surprise, thank you for including us in your prayers.”

It wasn’t an April Fools joke alright, but we still couldn’t help but laugh whenever we remember that moment we found out we were having twins.

We were in the ultrasound room of Delgado Memorial Hospital, when the sonographer on duty nonchalantly announced The single most life-changing news of our lives.

“Twins? Seriously?” my husband squeaked, “Are you really sure?” I remained still on the hospital bed, and my husband barraged the sonographer a bazillion questions I would have asked myself, except I was frozen and unable to say anything at all. He calmly explained to us what we were seeing on the ultrasound screen—two gestational sacs, one placenta, 5 weeks old.

“How did that happen?” my husband asked.
“Do you have twins in your family?” the sonographer asked us back.
“None in my family,” I answered. (That time, we didn’t know this yet.)
“Is that really possible?” My husband asked.
“Yes. It happens. Very rare, but it’s possible to have twins even if you don’t have it in your genes,” said the sonographer.

He answered a few more questions until we’re positively convinced that what we heard (and saw!) were true. Dazed, we went out of the ultrasound room, sat in the hospital lobby to wait for our ultrasound prints, and took some couple selfies that we later posted on Facebook. We then called my Mom, and then my husband’s father, who also couldn’t believe their ears.

The rest, as they say, is history.

They’re turning 18 months old this month, and wow do babies grow fast! It’s not at all easy to raise twins, and there are days when I feel so tired like I could sleep an entire week straight. The expenses are doubled, the responsibilities are doubled, and I sometimes wish 24 hours a day is doubled too. There’s never enough time for everything!

But what an awesome, awesome ride this is, and believe it or not I still sometimes whisper to my husband at night, “Do we really have twins sleeping in the bed with us?” He would smile and answer, “yes we do” to state the obvious, and we would drift off to sleep like that—smiling.

God wasn’t joking alright, when He called us to be the parents of these two, and we couldn’t be any more grateful for this sweet April Fools surprise God has played on us.

Best April Fools non-joke ever.