Under The Cherry Blossoms

Hanami is an ancient Japanese tradition of celebrating the cherry blossom season. It is dubbed as the "New York City Rite of Spring". I didn't want to miss out on this so yesterday, knowing from the forecast that the weather would be a "park perfect" day, we headed to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens to experience this! My friend Celine already visited the park last weekend and absolutely adored it (http://networkedblogs.com/32wZf).   

The Garden displays 42 varieties of these cherry blossoms (supposedly the largest collection outside of Japan!) and no one variety blooms for more than 10 days. So for those who are planning to see it, I highly suggest that you do it very soon while the bloom is at its prettiest. Joel and I walked under the amazingly beautiful cherry blossom canopies holding hands and pushing the bugaboo where Henri was quietly seated. We looked up and took sheer pleasure in the beauty all around. Nature at is finest! *sigh*

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

900 Washington Ave (Eastern Parkway)
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
718-6237200
http://www.bbg.org/

Introducing Filipino Cuisine

For the last three months, I have been using this book called "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel to guide me in creating a variety of purees and dishes for Henri. This week, I decided to start introducing two classic Filipino viands to my little one : Tinolang Manok and Nilaga. Both are very simple and basic Filipino dishes that I grew up eating. Tinola is chicken ginger stew with vegetables, in this case, I used sayote/chayote. Nilaga is the most basic Filipino beef stew. It's made by sauteing some garlic and onions and putting beef chunks (I used smaller cubes to let it cook faster) and letting it boil until tender. Since I don't want Henri to get used to salt yet, I refrained from using patis (fish sauce) and salt itself for both recipes. But bland as it may sound, both stews were a hit!

 I can't wait to make him try Sinigang which is my favorite comfort food!

Slighty pureed Beef Nilaga and Rice

Hungry boy

First taste of Beef

The titas feeding Henri Tinola and Chayote (Henri's baon when we went to Tita Coco's apartment)

Another Fun and Rockin' Sunday Morning at Tribeca

We had so much fun at the BYOK (Bring Your Own Kid) concert last week that we decided to go again this morning. We invited grandma, Ninang Liza and Ian to join us for some quality time and a whole lot of "rockin". The band that played was "Princess Katie & Racer Steve". I have no idea who they are but they were really good. This week was actually (as your dad noticed) more interactive than last week. Princess Katie was so perky and witty. She made all the kids dance and get involved when they were jamming. You and Ian enjoyed it so much that yet again, you were knocked out towards the end! :) After the concert, we headed to Minado and pigged out in their Sunday sushi and seafood buffet. You gotta love Sundays like this!

BYOK Concert Series Flyers

Princess Katie and Racer Steve

You and Dada

You were both in stripes!

Ian with Dada

Where's Henri? Look for him....

Mommies and their kiddos! :)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

I should have posted this with all the pictures about Christmas and the winter season but I just recently arranged my pictures folder and found this album which I completely forgot about. I just had to post these because you look absolutely adorable in the snow...

Central Park Winter Scene

Having a blast in the snow. - snow outfit c/o Tita Krissy Baretto

Look at that smile...doesn't it melt your heart?

Our Snow Angel

Dada preparing you for the photo op :)

Mommy Tip : Natural Teething Remedies

After my discovery the other day that Henri's tooth is just about to come out, I want to be sure I make it comfortable and easy for him to go through this painful stage. Here are the things I've been doing to soothe his gum pain the natural way. I don't believe in giving medication and those over the counter ointments. Feel free to try these things with your baby too!

COLD TEETHERS - Henri actually has a collection already! This Baby Einstein Key Set is one of his favorites. The key word here is "cold". We put it in a bag and freeze it and when he begins crying, we offer this to him.

MESH FEEDER WITH ICE: I've also tried this and it worked. I put small ice cubes into the mesh feeder. The only problem is that he gets all wet as it melts so I have to change his outfit after.

FROZEN BANANAS - I just put the bananas inside the freezer (peel and all in a ziploc). When I'm ready to give it to him, I just take out one and run it through lukewarm water until I can peel it. 

COLD CARROT STICKS- I sometimes give him carrot sticks straight from the fridge. This really calms him down plus it's very healthy snack which is cheap and readily available. Just make sure he is under your supervision when he snacks on this to make sure he won't choke.

I hope these things help the mothers who have babies going through the same stage :)

FIRST Tooth: It's Almost Out!

You were in your car seat earlier and I was watching you play with your baby ipod. As usual, you got bored with it after a few minutes. I scrambled to look for another toy to give you but realized that the baby einstein ipod was the only thing i brought (the rest were pacifiers and bottles which you had no interest on!). So i offered my hand because I couldn't really do anything. I couldn't take you out of the seat because the car was in motion and rules have to be followed. You began playing with mommy's hand and the next thing I knew, you stuck my index finger inside your mouth! To my surprise (and delight!), I felt something hard and sharp on your lower gums! woohoo! I think it's a tooth. This explains why you've been really cranky at night and keeping us up, why you've been chewing on every single thing that you get your hands on and why you've been "hot" ( your temperature's been higher but not really hot enough to be a fever) at night. Hang in there my love, it's almost out!

We'll be needing a toothbrush soon! :) 

Central Park Stroll

It was a nice and warm day today. Dada and I decided to take you out to the park. We both also wanted to do a quick run and sweat out a bit! Dada was pushing your boo (bugaboo stroller) while jogging...another one of his multi-tasking skills. The view in Central Park now is absolutely gorgeous because the cherry blossoms are in full bloom already! I couldn't resist not taking photos while running so I was carrying the camera around my neck the whole time. Our workout was cut short though because my allergies kicked in and I started sneezing. I should have taken my medicine before leaving the house (tsk tsk!). Anyway, we passed by one of the playgrounds there and gave you a ride on the swing. It was so much fun watching you enjoy yourself as we gently pushed you...up and down! 

The view while we were jogging;

Dada pushing you while running;

Enjoying the swing...weeee!

FIRST Concert : Bubble (The Band) Unplugged featuring songs of the Beatles

One of the perks of living in New York is that you never run out of activities to do whether you're single, married or with kids. Our little family found the perfect Sunday morning happening yesterday at Tribeca. We brought Henri to his very first BYOK (Bring Your Own Kid) Concert featuring a band called Bubble. It was an hour long acoustic jam of the timeless tunes of the BEATLES covering everything from A Hard Days Night, Two Of Us, Yellow Submarine, etc. All the kids (not to mention the parents and grandparents) absolutely loved it! Henri got a bit uneasy with the fairly loud music at first but when he adjusted to it, he had a blast! 

The intimate acoustic set-up

2nd to the last song, you passed out. Zzzzzzz!

So to all the NYC moms out there, I suggest you check out the upcoming concerts at www.92ytribeca.org. I guarantee your little ones will love it!

Beautiful Shots by Tita Maan

Thank you Tita Maan for capturing these precious moments;