A free chair

When Randy and I first moved in together we found this chair.  My neighbour was moving and throwing it away so I decided to take it with grand plans of having it reupholstered.

Here it is in our apartment in London.

We even bought some pretty fabric in Egypt to use when we reupholstered the chair four years ago!

Then I priced out how much it would be to reupholster.  400 Great British pounds!! For 650 dollars I could buy a brand new chair.  So the chair remained.

When we got to the US I priced out again how much it would cost to have the chair reupholstered.  350 USD.  A little better but with a little baby it still seemed like more than I wanted to spend on an old chair.

So when we got to Manila, I tried again.  Success! To have the chair reupholstered and varnished was completely reasonable so I decided 7 years later to finally get it reupholstered!

And here it is now! It’s definitely colourful but since everything else we own is white and brown I think it’ll add a nice tough of color.  I just need to decide where to put it.  It’ll add a necessary pop of color somewhere though!

 

The Great Pumpkin

Adam has been obsessed with pumpkins.  Aunt Sandra sent him some pumpkin pajamas and it’s been love ever since.  He wants to wear them every night!  So we decided to try pumpkin carving with him.

He loved it! He was so excited and thought the whole thing was a blast.  It’s going to be so much fun to start experiencing holidays with Adam now that he can really enjoy them.  It’ll be nice to have someone in the house who loves Christmas more than me (Randy always makes fun of how much I love Christmas so we’ll see if he actually can like it more than me, I mean really what’s not to like).

 
Adam helped me pull all the seeds out of the pumpkin.

 
Here we are studying Adam’s pumpkin pajama to make the perfect pumpkin face.  Randy and I are equally not artistic so drawing the face fell to me.  Look at that concentration!

 

 

 
 

  
 
We’re ready for Halloween over here!

 

Pictures on the wall

I decided to tackle a frame wall.  I think for my first time it turned out ok.  I think my main mistake was having a carpenter from the building hang them thinking he would be better at it than me….I think I would have done a better job.  But I still like the pictures and think it looks better than it did before.  Maybe I need to hang some more frames up before its done.  The living room is so big it’s a work in progress, but little steps always feel good.

Here it is when he first hung the frames before I put new pictures in it. 

And here it is with new fun colourful pictures in it.

Conversations with Adam

This morning Adam woke up really early.  We were laying in bed and I asked him why he woke up so early.  He looked me right in the eye and in his serious voice said ice.   I asked him to elaborate but he just repeated himself.  Maybe the boy really wanted some ice.

I love this stage where Adam is learning new words all the time.  He also babbles in full sentences.  He things we understand and it’s the cutest thing.  When you try to whisper something he should say in his ear he whispers it as well. SO CUTE! Of course there are the times when all that comes out of his mouth is no, no, no, no, no, no, no.  But thankfully for now those are outweighed by moments like below.

Here he is on the phone the other day.  And for those of you wondering what really early is, its 5am.  Thanks ice.  Oh and Arlo and YenYen are his friends in the building.

 

The Farm

For Randy’s birthday I got him a night at The Farm at San Benito.  We’ve been hearing about this place since we moved to Manila so we were excited to head out there.  In typical fashion a typhoon was slated to hit Manila that same weekend.  We were worried but our luck held out.  It rained all day Saturday but Sunday and Monday, the two days we were at the Farm the weather was beautiful!
 
But before we get to our trip to The Farm a little about Saturday and some Adam pictures of course.
 
With all that rain we decided it was time to break out Adam’s rain boots, thanks Aunt Das and Uncle Nooj.
 
 
 This is what Adam’s life looks like these days. Always on the move!
 

 We tried on daddy’s new shoes
We ended up going out once the rain stopped and grabbed an impromptu dinner. Adam is getting much better at dinners out and sitting at the table for a longer time.  It makes going out to dinner so much more enjoyable.  It was such a nice day, maybe made sweeter since we knew we weren’t going to see him for two days.  
 
 The next morning I snuck in some cuddles before we headed off to The Farm.  It’s about an hour drive away from Manila so we left early so we could have a full day there.

We arrived at The Farm around 11 and headed right for the pool.  The rain was gone and it turned out to be one of the sunniest days in a long time.

 
 
 
After the pool and a vegan lunch, we headed out for a walk.  The grounds are large and beautiful. 
 

 

After our walk we headed to yoga and then to a massage, then a vegan dinner and then bed.  Not a bad way to spend a day.

 

 

We woke up the next morning to this view from our window.  The forecast was for rain so we debated leaving early and in the end decided to linger around until lunch, have one last yoga class and then head home.  The weather was beautiful the whole day so we made the right decision.

 

It was nice to have two days outside of Manila and be out of the city.  It sort of felt like camping. This is probably mostly due to the fact that the huts there have a bathroom that you have to go outside and downstairs for, not the best for a pregnant person who gets up to use the bathroom a couple times a night. 

But it was still nice to be in a little cabin in the middle of the woods and have nothing but yoga, pool and spa to fill your days. 

We also took home some uninvited guests, ants who are now living in our car, but we’ve informed them today they are no longer welcome and they are currently moving out. 

We were so happy to get back to Adam and we took him for a long walk when we got home.  Not quite the wilderness of Batangas, but it was still a really nice walk and we all had a great time. 

Randy's 33rd birthday weekend

Randy turned 33 last weekend! We celebrated in style.  I managed to surprise him on Friday with a yummy meal at a restaurant called Masseto.  Randy had never heard of it, which is pretty impressive on my part because he knows his restaurants! It was delicious and by far the nicest restaurant we’ve been to in Manila.

We took some pictures before we left, excuse Adam’s tank top. He stayed home and was on his way to a bath not a fancy dinner, so his attire was appropriate.

 

 
 
Saturday morning we woke up and ate some yummy s’mores cookies while we gave Randy his birthday presents.
 
 
Adam framed his first painting to give Randy for his office at work.  Since Adam was about six months old Randy has been asking when he’ll be able to have some art work by Adam for his office.  Well, it’s finally time!  Adam made it at school using a plastic car that he dipped in paint and rode on the paper.
 
 

 

 
He even made a card for daddy.  I gave Randy a night at The Farm, a wellness resort that’s an hour outside of Manila and supposed to be great.  We’re going this weekend so we’ll let you know how it is.
 
After presents we headed off Wildflour for a birthday brunch where Adam really enjoyed his shake.  The rest of us had yummy eggs.
 

 
After brunch Adam and I headed for naps and Randy went to play some golf.   Randy and I snuck in a massage after that and then we headed off to meet friends for some drinks (sparkling water for me of course).  The best part about Manila, having a nanny on a Saturday birthday and having the whole day to do whatever you want, second best part, cheap massages.  
 
But the best part of Randy’s birthday by far was feeling the baby kick for the first time!
Who could ask for a better birthday!
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Lots of chocolate in one cake.

I wanted to make Randy a special birthday cake since he deserves it! I found a recipe in Ottolenghi’s cookbook for a chocolate fudge tart and I knew it was perfect for Randy.

It was the first time I made a meringue so I was a little nervous but it was DELICIOUS! Very, very rich but worth every bite. 

Adam (who, despite what it may seem here, doesn’t eat that many sweets except for special occasions like daddy’s birthday) so he’s been talking about this cake all week and was super excited for daddy’s birthday to arrive to get to blow out the candles and have some cake.

Can we have some more please?  My two boys asking for some more.

Ottolenghi’s Chocolate Fudge Cake
240g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
265g dark chocolate (52% cocoa), chopped into small pieces
95g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped into small pieces
290g light muscovado sugar
4 tablespoons water
5 large eggs, separated
pinch of salt
cocoa powder for dusting

Preheat your oven to 170°C (350°F) and butter a 20cm (8″) spring form pan and line the bottom and sides with parchment/baking paper.

In a large heat proof bowl, combine the chopped chocolates and butter.
Combine the muscovado sugar and water in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Pour the boiling syrup over the chocolate and butter and stir until they have melted.
Add the egg yolks, one at a time, to the chocolate mixture and then set the bowl aside until the mixture comes to room temperature.
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and salt to a firm but not dry meringue. Using a rubber spatula, fold a third of the meringue into the chocolate mixture. Once combined, add another third, fold and then fold in the remaining third until just combined.
Pour 2/3rds of the batter into your prepared pan (about 800g, reserving the remaining batter for later) and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and leave it on a wire rack to cool completely. Flatten the cake with an offset spatula. Don’t worry about breaking the surface crust and pour the rest of the batter on top. Level the surface again. Return the cake to the oven and bake for a further 20-25 minutes. When tested with a skewer the cake should have a few moist crumbs clinging to it.

Allow to cool completely in the spring form pan before attempting to unmould it.

 Dust with cocoa powder before serving

S'more please

To prepare for Randy’s birthday we had to make sure we had lots of yummy treats.  My sister had made s’more cookies last week and since Randy loves s’mores I decided it was the perfect thing to make for Saturday morning while we opened up presents.

Adam got right to work helping me. 

I love baking with him.  The older he gets the more he gets into it and is able to help.  This time there was more eating of the ingredients (marshmallows and graham crackers are hard to resist) but it’s always fun to cook with him.  Here are the delicious cookies completed.

These are easy to make, so when you’re craving s’mores and don’t have a campfire nearby try these.
Ingredients:1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
20 large marshmallows, cut in half
About 40 chocolate kisses
Directions:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside. In another bowl, beat the butter and sugars together until creamy and smooth.  Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.  Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet, 1-2″ apart.  Bake for 6-8 minutes or until edges are just getting golden brown.  Remove from oven and gently press a half marshmallow, sticky side down, onto each cookie.  Let cool completely.  Once all cookies are cooled down, preheat broiler.  Place cookies back on baking sheets and broil for 1-2 minutes, keeping a close eye on them so they don’t burn.  Once marshmallows are golden brown, remove from the broiler and place a chocolate kiss on top of each cookie.

In case you still doubt how good these are, just watch this. Please forgive my horrendous singing voice and concentrate on how cute Adam is and how he is unable to associate birthdays with anything besides ca

Me and my Briefcase

We got Adam this adorable felt alphabet.  It has animals for every letter and it folds up into a little suitcase. 

Adam LOVES it!  He loves talking about the animals and finding them.  He saw the ostrich and ran and got his zoo book to show me how there’s an ostrich in there too! I love seeing him make these little connections and how excited about it he gets.

I really am amazed at how much he notices.  Lately anything with a handle he’ll immediately pick up like its a briefcase and walk out of the room saying bye.  He see Randy leaving for work every day with his briefcase, so when he saw this briefcase he immediately took it and started walking towards the door saying bye as if he was heading to work.  I love watching him pretend and grow into a little boy with such a big personality that always keeps me laughing.

 
The minute Randy came home he insisted Randy take his suitcase as well and walk around in circles all night pretending to go to work.  It really is the cutest thing I have ever seen.  I love how he’s pretending to be his daddy already!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Week 17

Today I am already 17 weeks pregnant.  I have no idea where the past 17 weeks have gone.  In three weeks I’ll already be halfway there to getting to meet the little person that is currently growing in my belly.  I am going to try to remember to take some pictures and write down what I’m feeling or else the baby will be here and I will have not a single picture and my child will grow up to have typical second child syndrome.  Especially since I made an entire scrapbook dedicated to what I was doing week by week for my pregnancy with Adam. 

Yes, I am aware this makes me a big dork, but I love it and I love looking at it.  I know it’s going to take much more of an effort to make one this time, with two babies to look after but I am looking forward to it.

Maybe this is just the energy burst talking that I am finally feeling like doing lots after feeling like doing absolutely nothing the first two months.  I’m trying to take advantage of this new found energy and do all the tasks I’ve put off oh since oh, about when I was pregnant with Adam.  I’ve ordered more contacts, purged all my old papers (I guess I really don’t need an old electric bill from London days- do I?? I can still go get it from the trash) and I have organized all of Adam’s old baby clothes by size.

Adam has no idea that there is a baby coming but when we ask him where the baby is he almost always points to my belly (the other times he points to my breasts, close at least).  If he’s in a good mood he’ll even kiss my belly and tell the baby ‘Ove you’.  It pretty much breaks my heart every time.  I know there will be an adjustment and he’ll have to learn to share his parents but I just have this feeling he’ll be a great big brother (please don’t throw these words down my throat when he’s pinched his little brother or sister for the tenth time).

Here is new baby ali at 17 weeks.

And just so we can dispel any question as to whether it is in fact a myth that you’re much larger, much quicker with your second baby here I am pregnant with Adam at 17 weeks (yes at 17 weeks I apparently like to dress all in back and take blurry cell phone pics in the mirror, at least I’m consistent).  I actually remember taking this picture like it was yesterday. We had just come back from Italy and we were heading off to France for a couple weeks before we moved back to the States for Randy to start his job at USAID.

I was meeting Randy after his Arabic lesson and we were going to go eat at Steak Frites off of Marylebone Road.  I got dressed and it was the first time I felt like I had an actual baby belly.  And yes, Steak Frites was delicious even well done!