Astra's Birth Story

Finally sharing Astra's birth story with you guys! If you read my previous post about my pregnancy, it was fairly easy for me up until my last trimester. Especially the final month, when I started having difficulty walking due to manas/swollen feet and feeling a lot of pressure and pain in my pelvic area. I experienced having trouble sleeping, and just turning from one side to another was so hard! And ugh, the constant need to pee!

My 4th Pregnancy!

Hello again blog! Wow, my last post was in April pa pala! If you're following me Instagram (@mrsmommyholic), I'm sure you know by now that I've given birth to my 4th child! So many people were surprised, shocked, and in disbelief (some actually thought prank lang daw haha) because hubby and I never posted about my pregnancy on social media.

KICCA Kids Cafe & Interactive Playground at Festival Mall

Christmas vacation is officially over when school starts tomorrow! But I'm happy we were able to do lots of activities over the holidays including going to KICCA, a Kids Cafe and Interactive Playground in Alabang.

Happy New Year!

I'm BAAAAACK! Just in time to bid 2018 goodbye! After me and hubby got back from our vacation last November, I was so busy with the kids and prepping for Christmas that I just had to take a break from blogging. But I promise to be back soon to tell you all about London and Scotland! :)

Anyway, here are some of the things I've been busy with the past few weeks.

DIY School Supplies Family Costume

It's Halloween time again! I admit I was a bit lazy at first with the kids' costumes this year. Usually I have a theme all planned out months in advance, but before I knew it, I realized it was October already and we had nothing! I just wanted to buy something but when I told my daughter to choose from an online store, she looked at me incredulously and said "You're NOT making our costumes?! You HAVE to!!!" Ooops, that's what I get from them being used to all my DIY projects haha!

Our day at Ocean Park Hong Kong

This past summer, we went to Hong Kong to celebrate my son Sabre's 7th birthday. It was originally supposed to be an entire Disneyland trip, where we would stay in the Explorers Lodge Hotel for 3 days and get the 2-day theme park ticket. But then I was surprised when my two older kids said they didn't want to go to Disneyland anymore (probably since they've already been there a few years ago) and would much rather go to Ocean Park.

The last time I visited Ocean Park was years ago when I was still a teenager. Hubby's last time was way back when he was 7 years old! Plus, hubby and I went to Disneyland a few months before to celebrate my birthday, so we were totally onboard with just going to Ocean Park instead.

Our stay at Pico Sands Hotel

Our last hurrah for the summer was a trip to Pico de Loro to celebrate hubby's birthday. We've been here several times in the past, but this was our first time to stay in Pico Sands Hotel.

Our stay at Cala Laiya

I was looking for beach recommendations somewhere in Batangas and found Cala Laiya through one of my mommy groups in Facebook. I wanted to try it since it was new and luckily they had an available room when I inquired.

After I posted some pics in my IG, a lot of people messaged me asking about the place, so I made sure to blog about it soon ;p

Our stay at Hong Kong Disney Explorers Lodge

For our son Sabre's 7th birthday, we decided to just go to Hong Kong for a family vacation. Personally, I think I've become more practical through the years since his Ate Miley also didn't have a big party when she turned 7. We just celebrated in McDonald's because she wanted to have her own room as her main gift. I guess going on a trip was also a good idea since Sabre's birthday is during the summer. So it was the perfect time to travel since they wouldn't have to miss school or anything.

Anyway, I definitely wanted to book in a Disney hotel even for one night since the kids had so much fun the last time when we stayed in Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. This time, I wanted to try the Explorers Lodge since it's the newest hotel which only opened last year (April 30, 2017).

Featuring an “adventure” theme, the resort’s third hotel sits on a breathtaking waterfront location and has 750 rooms, three restaurants, four gardens, and an outdoor swimming pool. The exploration theme expands to the four unique tropical climates of Asia, Oceania, South America and Africa.

Oldest, Middle, Youngest

My dear friend gave me these shirts for the kids last Christmas and I immediately did a photoshoot with them wearing it. It says "I'm the OLDEST I make the rules", "I'm in the MIDDLE I'm the reason we have rules", and "I'm the YOUNGEST the rules don't apply to me". Super cute (and true) right? ;p

Christmas staycation at The Bellevue Manila

Ever since I got married, Christmas Eve has been spent at my in-laws where my MIL always cooks up a storm. We always have mass on December 24 which starts at 8pm, and then we have dinner after. Then, we wait until midnight to open presents!

However, both my in-laws and my mom happened to be in the States for Christmas, so hubby and I were going to be orphans lol! We just decided to book a staycation, which is one of our favorite things to do with the kids, so we could celebrate a little differently.

I think we've tried almost all the hotels in the south already, except The Bellevue Manila and Vivere. And when I looked for holiday promos, I ended up booking with Bellevue since they had a great deal.

Crazy Christmas Hat Party!

It'll be 2018 in a couple of hours, but first let me share with you some pics from our annual family Christmas party. This year, our theme was CRAZY CHRISTMAS HATS!

Ice Skating at SM City BF

I remember ice skating when I was a kid all the way in SM Megamall. I probably only got to do it 5 times in my whole life, and I even remember an incident when my older cousin fell and had to get stiches on her eyebrow! So yeah, that was probably the last time I ever went skating.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to see a pop-up skating rink at SM City BF a few weeks ago. The rink is small, only 100sqm, and is located at the Main Atrium where Uniqlo is.

Staycation at Azumi Boutique Hotel

Ahhh... so many days without school! Coming from a 2 week sem break, then a class suspension because of a storm (na walang ulan naman on that day!), then another week because of the ASEAN Summit. I've talked to so many parents already and everyone feels the same - we're all going crazy with the kids at home lol! And sayang ang tuition haha! ;p

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only mom who's getting stressed thinking of activities for the kids to do. And I wasn't planning on going out of town this week because we already went to Cebu for the sem break. So the next best thing? A staycation!

I booked super last minute so almost all the hotels here in the south were fully booked already. Good thing I found an available room in Azumi Hotel here in Alabang (via Agoda).

Long weekend staycations

I haven't been blogging lately since I've just been enjoying time with the fam, especially with all these long weekends. We love going on staycations and I made sure to take advantage of all these rainy day promos the different hotels have been offering.

Our Movie World Vacation Video

I just hate flu season! I've pretty much been sick for like a week already and have just basically been in bed all day. It started with my youngest getting a fever, then my other son, then me. Then of course we all got cough and sipon too. Now that me and the kids are starting to get better, poor hubby has gotten a sore throat and has also taken a sick leave. Haaaay when will this end??

We always seem to get sick this time of year, probably since it's the start of school and of course the kids get exposed to all kinds of viruses. So many of their classmates have also been absent as well. The only good thing about this is I've lost weight lol! I haven't had the appetite to eat much lately since I can't taste my food. Oh and I've been binge watching and catching up on some shows like 13 Reasons Why and Grey's Anatomy.

I've also been quite uninspired to blog since I've been feeling so crappy. So in the meantime, I'll just share the video I made from our visit to Warner Bros. Movie World Theme Park. This is the very first video I made from our vacations and effort and pag edit haha. I just used the software the came with my camera so everything's pretty basic. I really have so much to learn pa, especially since I want to make family videos of our trips from now on. And the kids love watching it over and over too! Anyway, hope you enjoy this video! :)

A day at Sta. Elena Fun Farm

One of my daughter's BFFs celebrated her birthday at Sta. Elena Fun Farm last month and I was really excited about it since I've never been here before! My daughter's field trip was actually held here 3 years ago but I had just given birth to my youngest that time, so it was hubby who accompanied her. They had such a great time and the pictures looked awesome, but we somehow never got around to planning a visit. So now, finally, we were able to go as a family (and for free lol!) ;p

Our updated picture frame wall gallery

I first put up these photo frames back in 2012 when we only had two kids. I've been meaning to change and add photos ever since we had Skyler and finally I've gotten around to doing it.

Here was one side of the wall before:

Sea World in Gold Coast, Australia

When I saw that there was a Sea World in Gold Coast, it was definitely on the top of my list for the theme parks I wanted to visit in Australia. I love seeing marine life and I got even more excited when I saw that this Sea World had a Nickeolodeon Land which my kids would surely enjoy.

Warner Bros. Movie World in Gold Coast, Australia

This summer, we went on a trip to Australia. I've already been to Sydney before but this time we headed to Brisbane and Gold Coast.

Anyway, our point of entry was in Brisbane and at first I didn't know that Gold Coast was just a one hour drive away. Based on research and recommendations, Gold Coast seemed more family friendly with all the theme parks like Dreamworld, Movie World, Sea World, Wet'n'Wild, WhiteWater World, and more.

From there, it was just basically deciding which parks we wanted to go to. The entrance fees aren't cheap so we figured we'll just go to 2. I originally wanted to go to Dreamworld and Sea World. But when you check the tickets online, the prices are bundled for certain theme parks. Like the parks included in the Sea World deal were Movie World, Wet'n'Wild, and Paradise Country. The Dreamworld package was bundled with WhiteWater World and SkyPoint Observation Deck. So in the end, we just decided to go to Sea World and Movie World.