Milestone: First Holy Communion

If you are a Catholic, do you still remember your first holy communion experience?

I received my first holy communion as a Catholic when I was already 29 years old. I received 3 sacraments all in one day - baptism, holy communion and confirmation. It was a prerequisite for the next important sacrament that I was to receive - Matrimony.

Was it a memorable one? Well even if I was an adult, I don't think I have really accepted Jesus into my life then so it wasn't that memorable for me. I vividly remember getting free breakfast at McDonald's Tagaytay from my Tinong Jess right after the ceremony but that was all that was left of that day.

As much as I would want my little girl to chart her own experiences, for this particular one, I wished and prayed for it to be a lot more memorable for her than it was for me or her dad (who also barely remembered anything from his own FHC).

But how to make it memorable? Always, always a challenge.

Good thing, as I am not much of a planner, I had plenty of friends whose kids are also going to have their FHC. My good friend, Maqui, thought of getting letters from her son's godparents (with them sharing their FHC experiences). I love letters! I think what really spawned my love for writing was my love for letter writing.  And Maia also love reading letters. So it was perfect!

Next challenge, how to convince godparents to write. With such short notice. By short notice I mean 2 days prior to the FHC event.

But guess what, everyone was just so nice. They immediately sent it letters. All of the godparents I asked sent it a letter for Maia. Here are samples:

From Ninang Ching:

From Ninong Nono:

From Ninang Kleng, Ninang Manet, Ninong Ronald and Ninong Ren:

Ain't she lucky to have these wonderful people as her godparents?

Congratulations again for this milestone, Maia! We're really proud of how far you've come and how you are growing to be such an amazing child of God.

Keep the faith. Keep the spirit. Let God be your guide always.

Milestone: Lost A Tooth Today

We first discovered her loose tooth 2 days ago. We attempted to remove it right then and there because it seemed to be loose enough to pull but I was wrong and the kid fell to drama mood so I decided to wait.

While I was wiggling the tooth (made sure that finger was clean):

"(sob) Is it going to be painful????" (sob)

"No, it won't be...but okay we'll just wait for it to come off on its own"

"But how will I eat? What if I swallow it?"

"I'm sure you won't swallow it. You will feel it once it comes off"

---------------------------

Two days later, we decided to let her skip school because she was feeling dizzy and nauseous. It was probably a combination of a lot of things (drowsiness, cold and maybe oil/lactose intolerance?), she was already crying while I was dressing her up. She actually didn't want to skip school and was worried about her Filipino class activity later (they were asked to bring a few cut out pictures). I assured her I will write to her teacher and that calmed her down.

After throwing up her breakfast, the tooth came off too.

Someone just lost a tooth. She had to skip school today because she was feeling dizzy and nauseous. "Mommy, I wany you to stay but I know you need to go to work *insert sob* Five minutes later, she threw up her breakast and out came the tooth as well. "Ahhhhh, maybe it was the tooth that made me dizzy" #witty #naisahanyatasimommy #milestone #MaiaIsSix #PicsArt

A photo posted by Faye and Maia Paras (@chroniclesofmaia) on Nov 11, 2014 at 3:56pm PST

Hello new tooth! #MaiaIsSix

A photo posted by Faye and Maia Paras (@chroniclesofmaia) on Nov 11, 2014 at 3:59pm PST

Weekend Love - Milestone At The Kitchen Front

What's the activity that you are most scared of doing?

For me, it's probably baking. It comes a close second to my top fear/hate which are job interviews and speaking in front of a lot of strangers (both tied in first place).

Both of the things I mentioned earlier, I've already attempted to overcome several times. Well, I came out alive on all attempts but I couldn't really say I've totally overcome them.

But I am perfectly okay with the idea that at several points in my lifetime, I've tried once, twice and even thrice to win myself over those two.

BAKING on the otherhand is something that I haven't really tried my hand at. Well, I don't count that first attempt I did during high school because that probably was the reason I'm so scared to try baking come adulthood.

I love watching THE FOOD NETWORK though and yes, I will not deny the fact that I've always been in love at Ina Garten and Nigella Lawson's creations.I did dream to make them myself at some point. But I guess, I dreamt freely because I knew there's really no way I will ever challenge myself to try making one of those mouthwatering homemade baked desserts.

THAT however changes this year. Because my husband, who is just as masochistic as me, agreed to buy a gas oven for our household. We've had the oven for about 2 months now but I've never really gotten around to trying to whip out even just a simple muffin or a cookie recipe. Not till last week. It's the husband's birthday and I thought, it's just the perfect day for me to take the plunge into the world of baking. But that impulsive plunge turned out to be just as I feared -- my first break into the baking world was A TOTAL FAILURE.

I was on a break at work because Ate Inday is not back yet. I planned for a perfect day for me and Maia after she comes home from school. We wanted to do something special for the husband's birthday. I suggested baking calamansi muffin (which was actually something that he's been requesting for us to make) and boy was she delighted with the idea of me and her baking a goody for Daddy? Of course, she was! She's been asking for it since we had that baking playdate with Aki.

But guess what I did? I burned half of the muffins. I was extremely heartbroken. But unlike the other two fears that I mentioned, I had this strong feeling that I can make a strong comeback. If only I can find out the reason behind my burning the muffins when I've followed the recipe to the letter.

Well, turned out there's something that I didn't follow. And that was to read the OVEN MANUAL. It said there to use either the top or 2nd rack to bake cakes and cuppies and muffins. Guess which tray I used? THE BOTTOM! No wonder 15 minutes I charred half of them.

So yesterday, I prepared my ingredients and got myself ready to comeback with a vengeance.

How was it? IT TURNED OUT REALLY GREAT!!! Yay! I felt like I won the lotto when the muffins came out of the oven perfectly baked and sporting a nice yellowish color. It didn't look anywhere close to the Calamansi Muffins that Real Coffee makes in Boracay but hey, to my taste testers (aka Tibs and Maia) it tasted exactly the same.

And as an added bonus, I also tried making a double chocolate chip loaf cake with the remaining ingredients that I have on hand and that turned out pretty well too. My co-workers liked it so much. I'm just so, so happy!

So I guess, it pays to challenge your fear and push yourself to overcome it.

This might seem petty, shallow, trivial to some but my baking success last Sunday was like a triple dose of happy pills for me. Now, I'm more excited than ever to try other baking recipes.

United Nations Day - Winning Best Costume

It is both amusing and scary at the same time. I am more scared than amused to be honest. I do hope and pray this milestone doesn't give you the impression that you can only win best in costume when you start exposing some skin. (You called me after you were recognized onstage: "Mommy!!! Nanalo ako Best in Costume! Kasi, labas pusod ko eh!")

This was something really unexpected. Not much effort on our part and yet you won! And you were the happiest!

Congratulations, little girl. You rocked that Brazilian costume!

Our daddy had his share of milestone on this day too. It was the first time he came to school with the kid on his own. He played Daddy Paparazzi/Yaya Daddy (yes, I would learn that he was even the one who dressed her up) so well and tailed the kid like he was chained to her. He took great photos of that day and I just have to compliment him for those. Good job, sweetie! (see it ain't that bad at all!)

Princess-themed Class Party At Five

Dearest Maia,

You have been counting down the days since the beginning of October. It always amazes us how you remember the days and the dates. You wake up cheerful in the morning and announce how many days are left till your 5th birthday. One of my favorites was the morning of the 15th when you announced, "three days na lang birthday ko na!!! yes!!!"

You planned your 5th birthday immediately after you celebrated your 4th. You planned your 6th, 7th, 8th till the 10th. Oh, it was really fascinating to hear you make plans. This 5th birthday, I couldn't remember now if it turned out to be the way you planned it. I now have a fuzzy memory of that day but seeing you smile from ear to ear made me feel like it was exactly how you planned it to be.

Ate Inday and I did this handmade MAIA letters 2 days prior to the party.
It was one of the few brilliant ideas that my cramming mind managed to come up with.
Would have been nice if we made a tiara, no? I bought the banner at National Bookstore for P60.

We had fun interacting with your school friends today little girl. We can see how much all of you have grown up in a year. You now had voracious appetites and can now eat independently. Your dad found it amusing too that you all know how to throw your trash properly. That was really nice to see. 

It was an awesome party, little girl. All credit goes to you. You planned it well. And you were the most beautiful Princess party host I've ever met ;)

Your classmates sang happy birthday and greeted you with a loud, "we love you, Maia" and we caught you getting teary-eyed.
You mumbled a gentle THANK YOU and quickly joined your classmates to eat. I guess you didn't want to be caught crying but remember it's okay to show your emotions too sometimes my little girl.

This year is your last year in preschool. I'm bemused every time that realization hits me. I guess, it will always be bittersweet for me and daddy. But we're glad you seem to be growing up just the way we'd hoped it. Stay compassionate. Prayerful. Adventurous. Passionate. I pray you'd learn to speak your mind as well. But you're perfect just the way you are my little girl. Always remember we love you very, very much!

Weekend 18: Rainbows and Little Surprises

I love rainbows. Who doesn't?

my camera phone did not do any justice to this magnificent sighting.
i wish i had a real camera today. just for today.

Today, my little girl saw a rainbow from end to end for the first time. She immediately took out the Rainbow Brite coloring book that I bought for her recently and started waving that at the rainbow. 

greeting the rainbow with relentless waves of her Rainbow Brite coloring book

Most of our neighbors got their cameras out and started taking shots at this rare sight too.

Ah, the gift of nature. Kid got so inspired she immediately went to work filling her coloring book with rainbow shades.

This morning we woke up to a wonderful surprise. My mommy friend Leslie (and who's also a blogger who I look up to) tagged me in a photo from a local newspaper. The little girl was in a photo that was featured on one of the articles in the paper. It was a photo from her recently concluded 3-day summer at St. Michael Playhouse. I was thrilled with that Facebook photo tag already but our daddy was not satisfied by that he went to get our very own copy of the paper for documentation's sake. I was smiling from ear to ear. I didn't know we also have a stage daddy in our midst. 

So anyways, weekends like this - all-centered in my little family - is something that I extremely miss. And I'm glad that I was given the opportunity to reclaim that this weekend. I must admit, I still didn't feel the weekend go by but somehow, I have the happy smiles of the husband and the little girl still fresh in my memory when they woke up yesterday and simply declared it's going to be a happy weekend.

I'm leaving for another week in Japan again at the end of this month and I'm hoping I can still spend one more weekend with the little girl doing arts and crafts before that happens. School season is only a month away and I'm pretty sure that when that hits, I will surely not have the luxury to spend leisure weekends like this with her so I better catch up.

Milestone: Studded

We just came back from a weekend with my in-laws. I could barely remember the last time went for a visit since it's usually my in-laws who have been coming over to visit us lately. But since my mother-in-law is not in the best shape to travel for 4 hours (it's from the north to south after all), we thought it best that we do our share of the long commute this time. The little miss couldn't be more ecstatic. She has been asking for us to take her home to her Lola Aida's for some time now.

And you'd think "how sweet of her to miss her lola that much" but honestly, the excitement was fueled by a totally different agenda. You see, eversince since she started obsessing on getting pretty (and was slowly putting together her personal definition of what beautiful is) she wouldn't stop bugging me to get her ears pierced. We opted not to get it pierced when she was still an infant because we thought body piercings are something that one has to decide on her own (and yes at 4, she is still in no position to decide for herself but admittedly the delay was mainly due to my paranoid nature - I was too scared she'd pull it off or ingest it or put it inside her nostrils).

I couldn't remember now when I got my ears pierced. But I am sure I was already in school then. The guns (what are they called exactly, would you know?) that most pedia would used these days are not yet popular in the province then so the nurses (not even sure if a nurse did it then or maybe it was just one of the elders in our small town then). In my teens, extra ear piercings became a fad I did my second ear piercing by myself thinking my parents would never allow me to get an extra hole on both ear lobes. Looking at them now, makes me rather 'un'proud of myself because they were a little lopsided. Yes, you most likely will pay for the reckless things you do in your youth (and this serves as a warning to you LITTLE GIRL).

Little miss had no idea what that trip to the doctor had in store for her. All she knew was a pair of earrings would make her extra pretty. So when the doctor pushed the trigger of the piercing gun and locked in the first earring on her earlobe, she cringed and stifled her cry of pain. That didn't stop her tears from falling though and soon she was sobbing and almost refusing to get the other earlobe pierced. Good thing, the doctor patiently waited for her to calm down and we managed to get the other earlobe pierced within seconds. After a few more minutes, she walked out of the clinic beaming like nothing happened. She proudly showed her dad her sparkling earlobes and happily trotted home.

Isn't she prettier indeed?

Our Amazing Spider-Kid

There were several web-ropes like this around the Fun farm but this particular web-rope was inside the sand play area so the kids could just go ahead and climb when they get bored digging. For the little miss, we didn't really expect much as she has recently developed a slight fear of heights. I say slight because it really doesn't occur often but when it does she would really freeze up and refuse to move. 

This web-rope (sorry for the rather weird sounding term, i had to make something up as I really don't have a clue what it's called) went all the way up to the play area's ceiling and it was already quite high per our standards. We were quite surprised when the little miss stood at the bottom of it and started climbing. The daddy was hesitant to let her go at first but soon realized it was pretty safe so he eventually caved in and just watched and cheered his kid on by the sidelines. 

This really made me proud and I thought I should make a separate post of it for her to read later on. Maybe it can even inspire her when she's older. I sure hope it would!

The Perks Of Having A Daughter

This weekend was another milestone for both Maia and me. For the first time, we left the daddy home to spend an entire weekend by our coosome twosome. It was not really a trip far from home but what made this weekend special for me was because I had been looking forward to this day since I became a mother to a daughter. I'm sure there will be more and more days and weekends like this coming our way and I am making a list now of things we can do together outside of the house. My heart is making cartwheels just by the thought of it. Yay. Yay. Yay!



The thought of somebody always being there, ready to be dragged away from the house on a whim makes me giddy. Salon trips. Window shopping. A dash to the grocery store (dash could also mean an entire afternoon wasted but grocery store trips always make me high so no waste there really), a lazy day spent at a bookstore, crafts day. Oh I could go on and on...the possibilities and bonding opportunities just seem endless (wehe).


Just a few more years and I'll have company to play dress up at clothes shops. Aging momma and a teenager out to annoy sales girls (wehe. just kidding. we'll be nice customers. i swear)


It's a long list I have right now. But last weekend we just started with this. Did she have a blast? Definitely did! And would you believe we burned more than an hour there and she didn't make a scene (well apart from tripping from the tangled wires, not her fault really). She was so behaved and waited for her turn like every nice little lady would. 

too engrossed to even care

pink nails and play doh bracelets

Photo Blog: First Day Of School Rush

I posted about our first day of school experience here. And of one of my well-accepted baon recipe here (I say well-accepted because she requested for me to cook pasta for the entire week). I don't have a lot of school anecdotes to share yet because the little girl has been very privy of her school experience so we don't press. We will wait. For that day when she openly shares her everyday adventures in school. For now, we're just happy with her coming home excitedly to show us the stickers and stars that she's earned for being well-behaved. Well, actually we're just happy to always have her home safely from school.

i caught myself staring at this.
it's probably reality starting to sink in.
i still feel the excitement more than the anxiety though.
i hope it stays that way. so i can be a better parent to my preschooler.

So here goes the photo blast (again if you're not up to it, would suggest you skip this post ^_^)! I'm glad I  was finally given the opportunity to take pictures again using an actual camera (thanks for letting us borrow your camera lolo!). It was nice break that I really welcomed with open arms since I was kind of getting burnt out (read: tired) already looking at lousy photos from my faulty phone camera. Is there a raffle out there that's giving out free cameras? I'm willing to try my luck since I don't think I could squeeze in our budget tighter to make way for a new camera anytime soon. Lolz.

tiny shoes, tiny socks ready to share new adventures with our little tot!

"Mommy, ako na magsasara ng butones ha?"

maia's first day baon that she helped prepare with me.
i wasn't able to get some seedless grapes earlier so we had to peel and seed them out manually.
it was a fun bonding exercise for me and maia anyways.

admiring her sandwich masterpiece

Mandatory First School Day In Uniform pose

Another obligatory pose this time inside her school shuttle service
while waiting for the other kids. She's the youngest in this batch
but she doesn't seem to mind. And she's starting to love the rides to school
since she gets to horse around with the other kids. 

One of the things that our little miss preschooler is really excited about is the playground time. And to see plenty of kids to play with is more icing on the cake for her. When we arrived in school, guess where she immediately went.

THE PLAYGROUND! 

At almost 11am, the sun was already blasting at it's hottest but little kids don't really care too much about that, do they? It's a good thing they had shortened classes the first week and PE in the middle of the week so she had plenty of play time and wasn't immediately subjected to a barrage of school work. Kid has unlimited energy, I'm telling ya. I'm deeply hoping she will have the same amount of energy for schoolwork when they all come pouring her way.

Anyways, I'm glad I didn't have to sift through a lot of photos so here's just a few more that I'd like to document (there's a bright side to not owning a camera after all!) These are our first day parting shots. 

happy to see her daddy waiting by her classroom door

with her pretty classroom adviser, teacher jam

So that's how our first day of school went. Kid slept like a log a few minutes after the school shuttle left the school to take them home. She gets tired, after all (what a relief! hahaha). But the minute we got home, she was wide awake and ready to share her first day of school experience to her village friends. 

Caught A Ball Today!

when we got inside the house,
she grabbed a pen and started drawing our play time this morning

For this year, I made a resolution to always play with Maia in the mornings before I leave for work. She has always been a morning kid (wakes up as early as 5am and never sleeps past 7am) since she learned to sleep straight through the night (so that was around 4 months if I recall correctly) and we thought it would be a wonderful idea to enjoy the morning sun with her. BUT...as most resolutions are, I was not able to keep it. I think it ran for a good one week and then I couldn't drag myself out of bed before 6am everyday after that. But I do get to do it with her at least 2-3x a week and I don't think she really minds me missing it some days. 

However, Tibs have been noticing that even on really good mornings (read: no tantrum incidence for at least an hour after waking) she would immediately go for our mobile phones just right after greeting us with a big cheery GOOD MORNING followed  by a kiss. 

"Just one Mommy. Puhleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase"  **insert puckered lips and twinkling eyes**

Yes, her negotiating skills have drastically improved the past few months. She can match that pleading tone with a really cute puckered look that even somebody who's had a rough night couldn't say no to. It's just too cute to ignore and heartbreaking to deny.

This has been going on for weeks now. A few days ago however Tibs was telling me he doesn't like how the little girl has been obsessing on the phone apps and would want us to take strolls in the morning again to break off the habit. And so we did. Yesterday, she was contented with just one round around our block. This morning she asked me to chase her around the rotonda and she squealed like there's no tomorrow every time I caught up with her. Then she took my hand and ushered me to walk back to our house already. 

"Gusto ko catch the ball Mommy. Yung ball ko na may scribble scribble kukunin ko lang. "

That ball has already deflated and was thrown already. But she was okay with using a different ball. She was just excited to play catch. So I threw. Guess what happened. She caught it! Caught it like a pro, she did! Oh man, was I happy? 

Maia is already 40 months old. You'd probably think there was nothing celebratory about her catching a ball. But you see, she's been struggling with this skill for months now. Each time she drops a ball, she gets really frustrated. I thought she's already given up trying. But today, no sir. She just had to catch it. 

I don't know if she learned that skill a long time ago and just wanted to show it off this morning. But that doesn't matter to me really. Each time I see a milestone, I always feel like I saw it first. My daughter makes me feel that way. She always manages to make me feel like it's okay to be gone during the day and work my a$s off because I will always get to be in the front seat when her milestones premieres. 

I'm Back, Doc Dentist!

Our dentist have a lot of books for the kids to read while waiting for their turn.
Maia was excited flipping through pages of Aladdin here.

Well Maia can now say the word dentist clearly. And we don't know how she ended up knowing we're really going to the dentist. I was a bit shocked when I asked her where we're going and she replied, "di ba Mommy kay doc dentist?" I was still expecting her to push the bookstore trip (we were supposed to go to MV Logos today, that floating bookstore, that is currently docked at Pier 15 in the Port Area in Manila) but we had to change plans last minute. We promised to take her to the bookstore Sunday though so this weekend will mostly be spent outside of the house. 

Digressing again.

Back at the dentist today we could tell how the little girl has grown since our last visit by the way she handled her time in the chair. Her attention span has now extended and having learned (almost perfected) the art of gargling recently she took the time to finish the entire glass of water. I think she just really wants to impress doc dentist. What I like about our doc dentist is her patience with kids and how she really takes her time to make sure Maia's teeth is thoroughly cleaned. I know because I watched her do it for almost 45mins. In between, she would stop to share tips on how to better care for the tot's milk teeth. I guess that's what sets pediatric dentists apart from regular dentists. We're proud to say that aside from some calcified plaque that took quite sometime for the doc to clean, Maia's oral health is still in perfect condition. And despite her losing the veneer from our last visit, doc didn't push to have it re-done anymore since the tooth seemed fine already and she said the last 2 we did somehow covered the 'cracks' in the tooth so with the fluoride treatment and the regular tooth cleaning that tooth is already saved from further deterioration.

Some things I learned from this recent visit --

1. Our 2nd and 3rd molars (grown around 6-7 and 11-12 years respectively) are very dependent on the placement/position of our milk teeth. When the milk teeth is not properly cared for, there's a big probability that those molars are going to come out in the wrong places (i.e. hello braces).

2. Genetics is still a factor when it comes to how our teeth are set in our jaw. Tibs and I have really crooked teeth so doc dentist was saying, Maia might need braces when she's older. But then again, it's not purely due to genetics too she says. Our diet is also a big contributing factor. So we should watch that too (especially when it came to eating food where we have to do a lot of hard biting action)

3. For toddlers/preschoolers like Maia, oral prophylaxis is very important since no matter how we make sure to brush at least 2x a day they're still very much prone to childhood gingivitis (mostly due to exposure to adults who have it) and usually that's where the problem starts. So the earlier you address that problem, the better.

Good thing I got to read this post from Manilamommy before our dental trip today because it helped me tremendously in how I conditioned Maia for this trip. I used to scare her with dentist trips or doctor trips each time I am having difficulty imposing my authority especially during brush time or meal time. But because of this post, I am now making her think doctors and dentists are our friends (which is really true). There was no sign of fear on Maia when we arrived at the dentist clinic this afternoon. She waited patiently and entertained herself with the books at the waiting area. When she heard her name being called, she was alert and didn't hesitate to open the door to the clinic and climbed the chair on her own. All I did was take a video of her and show her how wide her mouth should be opened but other than that I was useless in there. 

I was already (i think ha) in high school when I first visited a dentist and they always scared the hell out of me. So when I had a kid, I made pretty damn sure she is comfortable with dental visits. I think I can finally pat myself in the back here for a job well done.

Ballerina Princess

I never imagined you'd be fascinated with princesses and ballet since I never was as a child but you are indeed your own person. Bear in mind that whatever your heart desires we will always be there to support you all the way, baby girl.

Showing me her ballerina moves one morning. She was struggling to keep her balance
but it was really fun watching her make the effort entertain me.

Walking Down the Aisle

Little Girl in Pink Caught in a Pensive Mood

Last June chronicled another milestone for us. It was Maia's first time to walk down the aisle as a flower girl. She just turned 32 months then. Milestones always make me giddy (I said it like a true-blue stage momma, didn't I?). Plus, the thought of this little girl finally wearing a gown with a flower basket in hand is just too cute for words.

As I've always looked forward to this day (stage momma alert once again!), I know I have to come prepared. Months before the actual event I starting orienting Maia with the help of some You Tube videos on what flower girls do in weddings. During rehearsal day, Maia walked about half of the way. We felt confident then that she will walk all the way through since another girl who is older than her will be walking with her. I know very well that this little girl likes to mimic and is quite competitive so as long as the other girl walks ahead of her she should be alright.

flower girls

This event was destination wedding that required us to travel to Iloilo. We've been actively travelling since Maia was 5 months old. Most of the time we are hands on parents when we travel/go on vacation. We do not bring any help with us since we usually end up spending most of our vacation time with our extended families so we could still yell for help if our hands are so full already. This trip was an exception though. My family was not around to help us so we needed to be super parents this time.

What did I learn from this experience?

- That you should always consider the nap time of your kid. The wedding time did not really coincide with Maia's naptime but the preparation time did so she was not able to catch some snooze before the ceremony. We ended up with a sleeping Maia and a Daddy Tibs walking down the aisle carrying his pretty daughter in his arms and the flower basket in his hand instead.


- That only one member of the family should be on the spotlight if a toddler is one of the parties involved in the entourage. In this particular occasion, I was also going as Matron-of-Honor. Even if I wanted to play the stage mommy all the way, I only could do it before the ceremony started and during the wedding reception. And since Maia was more attached to me than her dad, that somehow put us in a more complicated situation.

- If the situation would allow it, make her wear the dress a few minutes before the ceremony starts just to keep her excited. That way, she won't entertain the idea of sleep even if it's already looming. In our case, Maia was already in her dress more than hour before the ceremony started so I guess that also contributed to her succumbing to sleep no matter how excited she was.

- Good thing, we oriented the little girl with her role. The minute she woke up, she was super game to join the picture taking. There were no crying fits for us to deal with so I'd say we still did okay.

At least she made it to the entourage pictorial

- Keep your composure. Even if you're tired, keep that smile going because the little one mimics your mood. We were tired but we remained composed till the reception party was over so the little one was very cooperative the entire time. She was clapping, ringing the kissing bell and clearly enjoyed the party till it was time to pack up. She was tantrum-free!

Well, we might have missed seeing this little lady walk but we sure learned a lot from this experience! And if another opportunity like this comes, we'd surely be more prepared!

Gamely Posing for More Pics after the Reception Party