Happy 3rd Birthday, Nina!

                                                                                                   October 16, 2012

Hi Sweetie,

     Because today is your birthday, I placed this on my Facebook status message last night:

Three years ago, a little girl was born and immediately our lives changed forever. She initially gave us quite a big scare but she has made up for that with the immeasurable joy that she brings to all of us.

Happy 3rd birthday, Janina! We know that sometimes things are difficult for you and we wish that we could shield you from all that (especially the surgeries, the stares, and the unpleasant comments) but that’s not the way it is. But always remember that in God’s eyes and in ours, you are beautiful and perfect in every way.

Happy birthday, sweetheart! Thank you for always bringing joy to our hearts. We love you very much!!!

     First of all, I know that by the time you do get to read this, you would have no idea what Facebook is but let's just say that it's the "in" thing as I create this post, okay?

     Now going back to my story, since I put up that status message, it's received 133 likes, 60 birthday greetings which do not include the birthday greetings on your dad's facebook page, private messages sent to us and those sent via text messaging (yes this will most likely be obsolete as well by the time you read this too).

     Do you know what that means?  Aside from the fact that you are well known among your mom and dad's circle of friends, it also means that a lot of people love you, care for you, and are inspired by you.  And for that, we are very proud of you!

     This year has been a triumphant year for you because aside from the fact that you have had less health concerns than last year, your vocabulary and talkativeness seem to have multiplied tremendously over the last few months.  Sometimes, it takes a while for us to understand what you are trying to say, but the important thing is that you are doing your best to win over your supposed speech delay.  For the times when we can't seem to understand you - please be patient with us okay?

     As an unofficial nursery student in NJHS, Teacher Emma has nothing but praises for you.  She often tells us that you are even more disciplined than your older classmates especially when it comes to following instructions, cleanliness and to behaving quietly during class.  I have a feeling that you have become her favorite student but let's just keep that a secret ;)  Had you been officially enrolled, I wouldn't be surprised if you came out with honors in the class.  Almost everyone tells us that you're such a bright girl - and that is something that we do know for a fact.

     Since you will be reading this many years from now, I thought you might want to know some trivia about yourself at three.  You love dogs and your favorite foods are: eggs (in any form - boiled, poached, fried, scrambled, qwek-qwek, etc.) hotdogs and spaghetti (which you call getti).  But even though you have your favorites, you will eat almost anything and proof of that was this evening when you were sucking on the calamansi while stating that it was "maasim" but going on about it repeatedly, even if, as you had said that it was sour.

     Your toothbrushing buddy is Daddy and Mommy is your yakap pillow whenever it's bedtime.  Even at this age, it already appears that you have inherited moms OCDC tendencies but that's okay because we know that it helps you push yourself to do your best always.  You enjoy being independent and even your teachers say that many times, you would push their hand away whenever they try to help you with something in school.  That also happens to us when we try to help you put on your shoes or whenever you do something with your hands.  :)  Yup, you're a big girl now but no matter what happens you will always be our baby.

     We pray that as you grow older, you will always feel the love and pride that surrounds you.  May you always strive to do your best in everything (as you are doing right now) and may you always remember that the true worth of a person is not determined by what's on the outside.  It's what's inside that always counts.  PS, please try to be less cranky towards your big brother.  Yes, he smothers you a lot, but that's only because he loves you very very much and that he takes his being a big brother to you very seriously.  So give him some slack, okay?

                                                                                                    We love you,

                                                                                                     Dad & Mom

       

Blessings

I meant to write this as soon as I started this blog except that with all the other things that I had to attend to, updating this post had taken a back seat.  But because Nina will soon be celebrating her 2^nd birthday, it’s only but fitting that I put up this post before she celebrates another year.

I belong to this wonderful e-group of “newlywed” couples called n@wies.  The group started as a resource group for couples who are in the process of planning out their weddings, hence the name Weddings At Work or W@W.  Once the wedding preparations end, you then transition to the Newlyweds At Work (N@W)  of which I am now a member.  This wonderful group allows members to share experiences and pointers about almost anything from parenthood, sale alerts, to travel tips.

It is to this group that I share details of Kuya’s first birthday and his many milestones as well as my many concerns and prayer requests all with regard to Janina’s condition.  At one point, I posted a rant about how I felt about not being able to provide Janina with a big party for her upcoming 1^st birthday.  You see, I had shared reviews about Kuya’s 1^st birthday party – he had a big one complete with balloons, a magician, games, lootbags and lots of guests.  In as much as we wanted to give Janina a big party of her own, she had just come from surgery and we needed to be practical with our spending habits.

Little did I know that the post had become a catalyst for the group to put together a special gift for our little girl.  One evening, my friend Benz, whom I had known in college (and coincidentally was the founder of the group) dropped by the house to deliver a breastfeeding pin/badge that she made for all breastfeeding moms including myself.  To my surprise, she was not alone – several n@wies were with her and they had camera’s and video cams with them.  They came not only to give the badge but also to present us with a letter:

They practically took care of everything and all we needed to do was pick out a date, the theme and finalize details with all the suppliers they had contacted.  Needless to say, I was overwhelmed-speechless with all the emotion that was going through me.

The day before the party, Benz contacted me to check on how things were.  Her call came as I was about to leave to pick up Janina’s dress from the dressmaker and she volunteered to make arrangements for the dress to be delivered to the house instead.  When the dress (or should I say gown) arrived, along with it were dozens and dozens of gifts and cards and letters from n@wies who wanted to make sure that Janina had a grand celebration.   It was like Christmas all over again – multiplied several times more for us!

Nina surrounded by all her gifts from the n@wies

My little girl’s party was nothing but big – it was GRAND. 

It was more than I could have ever hoped for her to have.  Truly she is blessed to have so many loving people around her and we are blessed as well to have been given such a beautiful child to take care of and to inspire us to share a part of ourselves to others.

Nina surrounded by her gifts AFTER the party

Note:

Since that time I have received several messages saying that because of my post they learned a lot about Apert Syndrome or that they were blessed with our story. 

Because of that, I now have this dream of putting up a local support group for families dealing with Apert Syndrome as well as other Craniofacial syndromes.  My wish is to be able to establish a support group for Filipino families and to later on create awareness about Craniofacial syndromes so that people would learn to understand them more and not to discriminate them.  I know that in time, this will all become a reality.

Party Credits:

Party Coordinator, Balloons & Tarp – Jacque Tan of Partyboosters

Gown – Veluz

Catering – Josiah’s Catering

Photo-Video – Imagination & Abbie Co

Cake – Judy Uson of Cake Artist

Invitation – Printsonalities

Photobooth – Baicapture

Guestbook – Erwin Leyros

Desserts – C is for Cupcakes, Cheri Sambo-Pena, Fernando’s Bakery, Agnes Bañez, Liza Esteban & Marj Duran

Food carts – Yan-ple, 5^th Avenue Pizza, Scrambles by Chrissie Salvador, Kopiroti

Entertainment – Ruther Uruqia and Rommel Mejia

Sound System – Janice of Mommy Mundo

Lootbags, Souvenirs and Prizes – Sheila Contento of Let’s personalize it, Leslie Garcia, Veronica Pantig, Pia Pabelico-Rebenque, Joefe Cayabyab, Inday & Norman Legato, Jennifer Lo-Gana - kiddie stools, Just for Fun, Robby Rabbit

Other food carts and sponsors – Camille Mortiz

And most of all, the generous n@wies spearheaded by Benz
(did I forget anyone else?  I sincerely hope not.)

a bound compilation of all the emails that went around just to make the party happen

We love you guys!  You have blessed our lives and the life of our precious daughter immensely.  We are humbled by your generosity and we hope that we can be as big a blessing to others as you have been to us.