Balloon Fest

Last Saturday, we went to a balloon festival in Readington, NJ. I saw the ad a week ago in our local newspaper and got very interested since I’ve never seen a hot air balloon in my entire life. We purchased ticket for a discounted price at Quickcheck ($17 instead of $25) and off we went to have fun.

Since the place is a small airport, there was ample space for parking. There a minimal fee of $5 but all that is worth it if I compared it to the seafood festival we went to last June where parking was nightmare and it took us an hour to find one. At the entrance, map of the place is handed out, there you can see where the portable toilet and washer is. For a bladder-always-ready-to-burst person like me, it was nirvana to have a toilet in every corner hehehe sosyal pa may tissue at hand sanitizer pa sa loob. 

There were many assorted booths lining up the run-away from basement construction, HD-sampler cinema, vacation tickets to be given away and lots and lots of freebies. There was a hershey’s booth but the line was too long so I wasn’t able to get my free chocos, I did however got lots of pain reliever meds and a small bottle of aveeno sunscreen. Thirsty? No problem lots of ice tea , soda and energy drink samplers is available. There is also a mini carnival for kids and adults at heart. A shade with lined up hay as seats, a NASA museum, a dunk-a-cop game, an arts and craft tent for kids, airborne jugglers which I didn’t get to see because I misread the map grr! and many, many more activities. There was also a monster truck, that Yiek went gaga over, its his first time to see one. Sulit na sulit ang entrance fee.  It felt surreal, I only saw this in movies and now I’m part of it.

We then set-up the map near the viewing area, the balloons are launched at 6:30 AM and PM because of weather conditions, humidity ek2. There were suppose to be 125 balloons but only a few went up, we did not even see the special shaped balloons (darth vader, twin bees, noah’s ark). Grrr! We promised ourselves to comeback next year but this time we will do it early morning as it more beautiful for photo-ops and Yiek promised himself that he’ll ride one, not me because I don’t want to risk bringing Caleb up, up there maybe when he is bigger.

We saw an oriental bbq inside and found out that the owner was pinoy, going at $4 a stick, it was quite expensive but the taste was sooo worth it. Will post the link to our pictures once Yiek has uploaded it in his multiply. Click on the picture below for a bigger size.

29

I’ve been a bad, bad blogger. Anyways, my 29th birthday has come and gone. My birthday is simple yet I enjoyed it.

First off, I got a package from Macy’s Amazon on July 3. I know it’s a birthday present so I opted to open it on the day itself. On Monday, July 7, I couldn’t contain my excitement so I opened the said package. Technically, its my birthday Phil time so I can get away with it. Nyehehe!!! It’s a gold BIG nine west bag and no indicator whatsoever where it’s from. All I had was the receipt, complete with how much the cost and shipping was. Haha! I asked Georgia and Yiek but both vehemently denied that its from them. Grrrr!!!!

So I called Macy’s and learned that its from my BFF, Georgia. Deny deny pa dyud! Thank you sis! Saturday before that, Yiek received a missed delivery from Mr. Postman and I just know that its his gift for me. I was teasing him, to get it from the post office ASAP as I want to see what it was. I accidentally saw the order confirmation from Amazon kasi. haha! How’s that for a surprise? In fairness, I did not look at what he ordered I just know that he ordered something from Amazon and I know that its for me (na delete naman sa iyang inbox haha! next time dear use another mail hehe  kana wala ko access!)

I immediately opened the box and I got surprised because he got me a Coach Ergo. My first ever designer bag, I’ve been eyeing those coach bags at an outlet store and now I have my own. I’m proud of him because he chose a cheaper model as I couldn’t take having a bag that expensive and knowing the money bought from it is from our savings. haha kurips talaga!

On my birthday itself, we had a simple dinner at a filipino resto. Simple lang di ba?

Today, I received a necklace from Ria. The silver necklace had “Claire” in the middle a la the “Carrie” necklace from Sex and the City. I love it. I also received BB cream and donburi from both Maila and Ria. Its nice to know to my birthday is remembered. Pictures to follow, pramis.

Sleep Method 1: Cry it out

With the sleeping issues that Caleb is having, I was left with no choice but to let him cry it out last Saturday evening since my arms were dead tired and I was sleepy as hell. He cried out for 10 minutes and then he was okay, he played for an hour (miski flower nga design sa bed spread iya gipatulan) even with the lights off and fell asleep after that. He even had a nice mood yesterday, never demanding to be carried. Although he did still wake up every three hours he wasn’t crying like he was before.

Night time yesterday, we decided to try it out again. He was crying out on and off for 30 mins and then cried without stopping for 15 minutes. Yiek and I were bickering because he wants him to cry it out for an hour if that is what it takes for him to sleep and I called him heartless. That endless 15 minutes was pure hell for me, I wanted to pick him up and in the end did, both of us crying. He was able to fall asleep later on my arms 10 minutes after.  You have to have a heart made of stone to try this method and I don’t think I can make this work for us.

Sleeping issues

Can I just rant? Nighttime is always a struggle for all of us. It is so freakin’ hard to put Caleb to sleep! Like today, it took me an hour and 45 min.

At 10:00 PM , Yiek bathes him using some chamomile/relaxing baby soap. I turn off the lights and put him on our bed. He screams after a few minutes. I try to pacify him by swaying, cradling and singing. I then feel that my arms are about to give away because he is getting to be so darn heavy! I try to sit on the glider and he screams because he doesn’t want me to sit. I try to let him cry for a few minutes. On some lucky night he falls asleep but usually he screams until I give up and sway again standing up. I give up so I go to the rest room and let him see his reflection.

After a few minutes, I go to the room and the cycle begins again. After a while he falls asleep and I try to put him on his crib. He cries for a little bit and I pat him. Sometimes he sleeps but usually he screams again and I want to bang my head for putting him down too soon.

The cycle begins again! After an hour has passed, my arms are aching, I’ve sang rock-a-bye-baby and somewhere over the rainbow countless times, I give up and breastfeed even though he’s been breastfeed an hour ago. I then worry that he will never fall asleep on his own, he will be dependent on me for breastfeeding and we will have weaning issues later.

He wakes up every 2 hours and I am a walking zombie! When will this end?