Late August this year, my Ate C forwarded an email from her company’s brand manager requesting for leads on potential baby models for a new TV ad. In my excitement, I bothered less if our dinner wasn’t ready yet and that I was very tired that day coming from work. I immediately picked-up Amelie, gave her her evening bath, fixed her hair and diaper and grabbed my trusty Canon camera! Talk about priorities! Hee.

The photos in this layout are just two of what I sent to my sister. Kaya lang, when the brand manager inquired about Amelie and learned that she’s in Singapore, she told my sister that the shoot is scheduled in the 1st week of September and it therefore followed that she’s dropped off from the list. Sayang no.

But despite that, Amelie remains to be a JNJ baby.

Credits: Brushesflowers Kit (embellishments) by Kristy Nerness.  Playful Kit (papers and clips) by Holly McCaig. LO created on December 3, 2007.

Amelie had always enjoyed bathing save for the first few weeks when she was still a newborn. But when she was in her 10th to 11th months, she started to dislike it. The mere sight of her tub just sent her shrieking and wailing. I had to improvise like using plastic containers and what not to entice her to stay put in her tub because bath toys didn’t do. If R was around, he would hold Amelie while I wash her up. Her struggles and wails often led to 5-minute baths and a wet mom and dad.

However, a few days after we reached Manila, she surprised me most when she all of a sudden changed her mindset over bathing. She stayed put until I finished the whole bathing ritual. Now, unless I take her out of the tub, she wouldn’t stop splish-splashing! A pleasant surprise indeed!

 Credits: Sara’s Surfer Girl Kit.  LO created on November 24, 2007.

Used Photoshop CS for this LO. LO created on August 14, 2007.

Used Photoshop CS for this LO. LO created on August 7, 2007.

Used Photoshop CS for this LO.  Created on July 8, 2007.

For our daughter’s first year, we celebrated the 20th of each month as it presented milestones/developments of her growth. I fancied buying this small cake with her favorite character design, Elmo.

Credits: Papers used by Sarah Batdorf of Scrapartist. LO created on February 21, 2007.

I was doing some reading today about babies and I came across this beautiful list of post-baby observations. I couldn’t agree more..

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms. 2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

4. You respect your body … finally.

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.

6. You find that your baby’s pain feels much worse than your own.

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9. Your heart breaks much more easily.

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

11. Every day is a surprise.

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)

13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

14. You become a morning person.

15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.

Used Photoshop CS for this LO. LO created on December 17, 2006.

This scan already shows our baby’s features — her chubby cheeks, button nose and cute lips.

Credits: Fab Freebie by Gina Miller of Digichick. LO created on September 24, 2006.

Those free papers and embellishments make really good e-cards. Here’s what I did for 2006. The first one was sent to friends and relatives while the second was posted on my blog.

Credits: First LO - Winter kit by Valerie Fowler of Digichick. Second LO - Holly kit by Holly McCaig of Digichick.

Leah and I met through another blogging pal turn real friend, Jay. The three of us, together with our spouses, shared a common liking for Singaporean favorites like beef kway teow and chilli crab. We would always go for spur-of-the-moment dinner or lunch outs to Geylang or Chinatown. We enjoyed watching movies, plays and concerts, too! Their company is sorely missed.

Credits:  Papers and embellishments from Scrapbook Factory Deluxe.  LO created on November 13, 2006. 

Keanu is the son of Justice, a blogger-friend I eventually met when her family moved to Singapore. I’ll never forget how she helped organize a get-together (cum shower party) for me. How thoughtful, no?

Credits: Aberdeen kit from Sarah Jones of Digichick.  LO created on April 19, 2006.

Andrew Thomas is the son of my close friend, Shiela. We’ve know each other since grade school, became classmates in high school and schoolmates in university. She left the Philippines for the US months before our graduation and stayed with her parents in Oxnard.

We saw each other during my US trip in 2004 and I crashed in her place for a couple of days. Being with her again brought back memories of us staying up late just chatting, confiding about each others’ problems and secrets. Boy, how I miss my dear friend.

Credits: Soft and Sweet Layout kit by Jan Hosford of Digital Freebies. LO created on April 19. 2006.

This is one of the first layouts I created in 2006. I’m still very much a newbie in digiscrapping and in using Photoshop. But I’m enjoying every minute I spent in creating layouts

Kathleen is the daughter of our couple-friends Jack and Karen. This little lady should be in primary school this year. How time flies.

Credits: My Favorite Color kit by Dena Cooper. LO created in March 11, 2006.