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Last week, South Australia went to a state of high alert when 2 new cases of Covid patients emerged. It was unfortunate that one of them went to the juice bar, carpet store and fitness club very near our place! And for that reason,most of us decided to stay indoors again.

And life of lockdown with a toddler can be challenging or just like any other day. So today, instead of worrying about what to do with Ico, we decided to bring out his color paints from his playgroup pack few months ago! Not a bad decision because he enjoyed it. Plus the weather's super nice that we did the painting outdoors under the bright sunny sky!

Here's one of our final works. A painting of momy, dady and Ico.

The experience of being in lockdown really is a blessing to this present generation. It taught us how to be resilient and flexible should we experience it again and again. And we even become better at handling it. I pray the vaccine will come out veryyyy soon!

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A Quick Day

Hello! Today really went by quickly for Ico and I. I worked until early in the morning the day before and I needed to sleep in a bit longer. Ico and I woke up at ten o’clock today so our play time in the morning was cut shorter. We had a light brunch and mostly played in the garden. It was too late to head to park anyway! So after a few hours of playing race and video call with my brother, it was already time for lunch!

After lunch, usually we would prepare for bath and nap time, but knowing Ico woke up late in the morning, he’d have lots of energy so we just played outside the house. We brought his little tent out and did our “TV time” in it. At half past two, he had a bath and tried to take a nap but failed. He ended up playing with his cars and bugging me while I tried to nap until it was already time for afternoon snack time! Since it is winter here, days seems shorter because the sun sets at five in the afternoon, so we had to play indoors again. And just when you finished snack time, it was already time for dinner! That’s why I really felt the day went by too quickly!

Anyways, the great thing about this day is that Ico slept earlier than usual because he didn't take an afternoon nap. This will work great for me because he’ll have a lot of energy for our hike trip tomorrow morning! Below are few shots I took while he’s busy watching his favourite Eat Bulaga’s “Bawal Judgemental” episode with his favourite pal, Teddy.

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MY WEEK AT A GLANCE.

My week started kind of busy because my son and his buddy, Basti, had a playdate. And they played until past three in the afternoon which is by the way tiring for the moms as well!

Tuesday was another playdate with another set of new friends, Chloe and Ivy! I met their mums in a local Facebook page and I'm enjoying every moment of being inside that group. We are actually meeting again and I'm excited about that!

Wednesday was a breather but come thursday was a busy night this time. We had our leader's group fellowship which was very enjoying and fulfilling at the same time!

I still had the energetic vibe going until today, Friday! Since it's school holidays here in Australia, the grandchildren of Lolo and Lola are here. And that means more playmates and playtime for Ico! My son really moves around alot whenever they're here. He follows them here and there and tries to mimic what they're doing. The boys were kept busy by the secret hideout they were building and to bad for Ico he can only see it from the entrance. He's too small and fragile to squeeze through the entry they made to the base! We also went to the park, which was a great idea to let their energy let lose! We have this super big grass field near our house and they ran like wild kids! But it was a joy watching them. I have this lady friend who always go there to walk her dog. She goes there at the same we go to the playground. Today she asked me if they were all my kids because she thought I looked too young to have four! Hahahahaha

Weekends will be a bit more quiet around the house because the kids will be away. So this will be the time to get rest and follow-up on Ico's journal we have to prepare for playgroup!

That sums up my happy week! I thank the Lord that life here in Australia is getting back to normal, that is why me and Ico can do a lot of things in a week. I really pray the whole world heals and people really listen to rules so we can all enjoy going back to our normal lives again.

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Today marks the one amazing year since we got our visa approved. Indeed had the best timing. I wasn't aware of what was about to follow after that day but I am forever grateful He let us come here in just the right time. My husband and I would always talk about what it would be like if we were still in Singapore and away from Ico during this pandemic. It would be stressful and heartbreaking for me especially.

Forever happy that I would get to hold this boy's hand and not letting go again ever.

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Ico's smile means a lot of good things about today:

1. We finally finished our new lego photoshoot.

2. It was sunny for half of the day so laundry was good.

3. Dady Ezer finally got his Land Rover car motor running!

4. Gatherings can now resume so we can finally meet more friends soon.

I hope it's gonna be an awesome way to end May 2020.

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Definitely my favorite shot of the day. I can't believe that we can really interact with him like talking to a little boy. I told him, "Ico let's take a picture!". And he smiled.

Today is Sunday and we rode to the city to visit the bank. Unfortunately, the deposit machine doesn't accept coins so we ended up strolling along Rundle mall and shopping. It's very cool to see a lot of people outside and going around like they normally do. It gave me a sense of being back to normal again.

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Last weekend we found an old racecar amongst our neighbor's rubbish. The car's muddy but can still be played with. The owner said it's still working just that the battery has to be charged.

Ico's dad's dream car is a Land Rover Defender. I guess Ico beat his dad in getting a Land Rover first!

Jackpot.

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Tonight I took this test shared by a friend. Quite exact to be honest. I asked Ezer to take it too and I thought he would be a Thinker. But he turned out to be a Producer, which is more fitting. And I guess that's why we work effectively. I feed him the concepts, he executes it perfectly.

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Today, South Australia has started to lift some restrictions including allowing establishments to open. I took this photo to mark a partial ending to our lockdown and "soft" start to a normal life.

#ByeQuarantinedLife

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Time flies really fast. Today is Ico's 20th month of living on God's beautiful earth and I can't imagine those 20 months so far without him. I wouldn't think, act or appreciate life this way if not for him. We just went through a tough time last week when he got sick. And by tough I meant include those fears that you or your son had Corona Virus but fortunately he was negative.

If it were only for that fever I think we wouldn't panic a little. But with all this words like quarantine, lockdown, isolation, tests floating everywhere it really makes you doubt your instincts and rely on science first. Thankfully, Ezer and I trusted our parental instincts because eventually our worries were removed.

Ico is way much better now and I'm writing because I have so many thoughts about gratitude in my head that this celebration today deserves a post to help clear it out.

Just a simple thank you Lord.

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Posting this to capture a good memory. We might go back to the same way like how it used to be.

#Changes

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Lolo Francis decided to remove the remaining leaves of his grapevines. Autumn is really coming. A friend once said that the slight decrease in temperature this early in the year was brought about mainly by the shutdown of China due to Covid. Since factory plants (which by the way are top contributors to global warming) are closed temporarily, the atmosphere was cleansed of pollutants and warm temperature. If this is true then Mother Earth is staring to heal.

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The end of 2020′s First Quarter.

Hello Tumblr users! It’s really been awhile since I really sat down and wrote a proper entry. The two most updated posts I made were done in a not so intentional way. However, after I finished this particular book, I was inspired to start writing again.

So how did I end up reading and writing again?

When I became a full time mom, completing a book was a luxury for me. That means, I don't have a lot of time to actually select a book, find a comfy couch or curl up in my bed and read to my heart’s desire. In fact, I actually took about 2 months from loaning it from the library until 2 days ago that I finished 2 books! Most of my days now are pre-occupied with entertaining and looking after my son and family so by the time I want to read I feel sleepy or prefer to watch rather than read (ehem Netflix!) So after months of visiting the library with Ico I decided to choose a book and write it on my “to do list”. I also wanted to challenge myself to accomplish mini-goals throughout the year and reading a book every month was one of them. And I admit that I was off to a bad start but a goal must be completed! That’s why I really pushed myself to finish the 2 books for my first 2 books of the year.

My first read was a novel by Nora Roberts entitled “The Obsession”. I chose this because I wanted to read something typical to my taste and I don't need to remember or digest any information. I finished this book in 5 days (in between Ico’s naps and bedtime).

My latest read was by an Australian named Rachael Kable entitled “The Mindful Kind”. I remember that the reason I chose this was because I was in search of something to help me meditate or focus to compliment the whole day of physical activities I do. I tell you, I realised that mom life is a real big commitment and entertaining a boddler (in between a baby and a toddler) is a 24/7 job! My son is at a stage wherein moving around and discovery are his top favourite things to do. So mentally, I needed some outlet or help to slowdown at the same time get positive input.

I won't do a book review don't worry! But I will share to you what I appreciated from the author’s work. 

I love that it somehow pushed me to get up and come back to my passion. I have been dreaming to do revive this blog ever since but the drive and my busy schedule made me put it aside. But the book tapped into my desire to get creative and compose art so I tasked myself to took more purposeful photos throughout the day.

I love that it taught me to be really aware of what I am doing and what I want to do. 

This pandemic crisis (Covid 19 virus - in case you read this entry 20 years from now) increased the number of ways and time the whole world spent on the internet. And how I use this time that we are quarantined and self-isolated made me realise that I should step up a bit on this area. This book suggested a lot of ways to manage time effectively including self love, hobbies and even social media detox. I’m not totally new to social media detox. I have been doing it since 2012 I think. My longest time to be away was about 3 years long (that was the time I was effectively running this blog) and during that time I can say I was more productive - at work, writing, composing content and even improving a bit on my photography.

Finally, I love how it taught me to be more mindful.

Lately, everywhere I looked it was always about the negative effect of the virus, failing economy, poor leaders, lack of help, loss of employment and everything that comes with it. This book taught me to ponder on my thoughts and actually think before I give out a comment. I noticed that people are very quick to judge and actually desire to stir up gossip and drama rather than praise and think of the good results. And this book made me realise that I don't want to do that. Of course, I am a work in progress. I am naturally wired to still give out negative thoughts but I have become more cautious. I guess the fact that as Christians, I am accountable to what I will say about anyone. The Lord doesn't want me to add into the endless list of bad comments going around but rather speak life and positivity.

These are the top three things I loved about the book and I’m very happy I read it! And I’m very happy it brought me back to this filling this site again. I hope the inspiration never stops and may I create a more positive impact in the internet world!

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Today is day 10 of Enhanced Community Quarantine (in the Philippines). Back here in Australia, states have also implemented additional measures to prevent the spread of the Corona Virus. That means our family has to stay at home and avoid exposure and contact to outsiders. Routine is pretty much the same for Ico and I. However, the restrictions like avoiding public places even the surrounding neighborhood and our favorite nearby park is testing our usual exciting day. We have to be creative in order to entertain and educate ourselves since most of our mornings before were spent outside. For example, today I taught Ico how to sing and draw the Teddy Bear song. He didn't memorize it right away but by the end of today, he was able to fill in some of the lyrics while we drew a lot of teddies. Plus, he was able to learn how to spell his name verbally. Children really are amazing creations!

I hope this pandemic will end soon. Life would be more fun if we can really go out there and play and socialize like we used to. I pray that everything else can return to normal but with better improvements.

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Spring is almost ending and the hot weather can be felt already. This season of "just the right temperature" that most Australians enjoy will soon be over. And the once lush and green grass will quickly turn to dry and brownish shade.

This photo was taken at one of the bus stops near our church. I took it because it reminded me about one of our bible study lessons entitled the "Seasons of life". At this particular day, our little family was experiencing our "Winter" season. After exciting months of rejoicing about our move to Australia came the weeks and weeks of silence and slow pace. It was quiet in the sense that much of the prayers that we wanted answer right away didn't come, it was always literally cold and in a way felt lonely and it seems that the days were longer and nothing productive was happening. Even finding a good spiritual family became a challenge.

If my memory serves me right, just 4 days after this particular Sunday, we felt our first days of Spring. And up to this day, everything that's been happening, big or small, we are enjoying our blessings. I have to say, it really did felt like we saw things on a brighter and more hope filled kind of way. But of course, we know that this season can only last up to a certain time and summer may come one day. So me and my husband do always pray that may we become fully prepared and equipped when another season arrives.

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The fishing hype is on! Hi everyone! Lately our boys got fond of fishing and fortunately they were blessed to have an officemate and a friend who's an expert in fishing. His name is James Kang and what I love about him is his passion to learn so many sports! He says he loves the excitement and the outdoors and most especially how it keeps him from getting bored! I believe he inspires people around him everytime! 😊 Anyway, we caught 2 small fishes on this trip and Ezer thinks of pursuing this hobby. I love to see him getting passionate about things he love. So I hope you get to try new things this year. Actually even if it's not new, I hope you rekindle your passion for your hobbies. I believe life short and missing the fun in doing things you love will be a waste! Happy Sunday!

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I found these photos inside Ezer's Nikon folder and suddenly I missed hanging out with these guys. They're the best spiritual and emotional group to be with and I can only be thankful to God He shared them to me. Upon seeing these photos, I immediately sent these via whatsapp to them for a throwback feel. Now we only have social media apps to keep us connected. Hope to see these guys soon!