Mommy Moments - What's in a Name?

Since Mommy Chris told me its the theme for this week's mommy moments, all i have to do is add the badge and the picture :) weeeh!

Now let me tell you the story on how my daughter yena got her name: YELENA HAYDEN. If you frequent my other blogs you might have known the reason behind, but if you're new and would like to know. Read along :)

My husband is fond of watching greek mythology. His favorite of course is Helen of Troy, the face that launch a thousand ships. So he wanted his first born to have a greek myth background. So as soon as we both learned that our baby is a girl, we decided on naming her HELEN. I found it so ordinary and i wanted it to be somehow different so i made it YELENA. It sounds russian, i know! :) HAYDEN came from Hayden Panettiere of the Hero's star. The usual cheerleader who captured my attention. I love her beauty!

So there! That's the story on how i got my daughter's name. But now expectant mothers have another tool to help them decide on what to name their child. The Baby Name Wizard is a website based on the book, “The Baby Name Wizard” by Laura Wattenberg. I already bookmark the site, we are planning for yena's little playmate next year! The tool will be very useful! Weeeh
And here's my little angel last night! It was hard capturing her now coz every time i asked for a pose she would say her favorite word time and time again with her pouting lips- - AYAW! :)

Talking with a Toddler

Yena's favorite word for the past few days is AYAW (NO). Ask her anything and she would reply with ayaw with her pouting mouth. An exception would be when you asked her for jelly ace, which is her current favorite snack or watching Barney. She wouldn't say NO to both.

What i love about my talking toddler is her calling mem mey and then point to anything that amazes her. Yesterday she called me out to tell me mem mey hikaw! (mommy, earring!) pointing at her own earrings and then at night the earring was lost! :) Might be dejavu! I have to learn my lesson next time.

Last night while am putting her to sleep she was talking non stop as if to get my attention. mem mey stars, mem mey moon.. When she calls me mem mey with a hand tugging at my front i know i have to reply back and said yes baby? and repeat her every word. I know she is just learning to talk and i am loving her being talkative at this early! :) I won't talk to thin air from now on ;) hahah

Yesterday's after the mass picture with Tita Fairy, dad's younger sister

Increase your Link tag!

Baby Yena has been tagged by my Baby Sam of Samantha's Own. Thanks a lot sweet baby sam for always including Yena on your tags :)

1. Try to make a post just like this one and mention this process.

2. From the list of blog sites below remove the number 1 and move the rest in the list 1 step higher (i. e number 2 becomes number 1, and so on). Add your blog name in the 5th position. Don't forget to copy the links. (Here's my list-my site added in the end)

1. Make or Break
2. The Mommy Journey
3. Just About Anything
4. Samantha's Own
5. Yena's World

3. List at most five of your friends blogsite here with link and inform them of this post and ask them to do the same. Now am tagging the following:

Daddy Yobib of Husband of a Blogger
Tita Jean of Me and Being the Real Me
Tita Amy of Amiable Amy
Tita Cecille of Kitchen.. the Heart of our Home
Tita Rose of Meet our Clan

Girls can play swords too!

Playing with make believe that this hanger is a sword, our daughter gave one hanger to her daddy who was busy with the kitchen last sunday just to play SWORD! She said 'daddy laban!' (daddy, fight!)

And she was saying laban (fight) while i was trying to capture her here! laban?! Hitting me with a hanger! She won! aw! :)

I can wear my slippers all by myself!

Before turning 19 months old last saturday, my daughter Yena can wear her slippers independently! She used to going out of the house often, i told her she can't go out without her slippers on. So i would point her where her slippers were (which she knows how to keep outside our door or at the rack) and she would wear them like a pro! :) She didn't even tried a slipper with a garter at the back!

She would often mess around with our shoe rack and would always wear my sandals! She would point at her daddy's shoes and said "DADDY!" (that's daddy's shoes). She knows what's her things from our things. She would get one of her clothes and would say 'aken' (mine). She would point at our laundry clothes one by one and starts her endless chitchats of MOMMY, DADDY, AKEN. Setting aside each of our clothes! She can be very messy around the house but she is my little helper already! Am so glad i have a little girl at home! ;)

How about you? When did your toddler wear her slippers independently?

Yena with her Cousins

Husband and I had a late minute shopping last friday. I have been eyeing to buy yena new clothes. She is getting bigger already!

We decided to buy this matching floral dress to her and her cousin Eya. ;)

And her four cousins were so excited to wear their matching shirts to the sunday mass!

Aren't they cute?

Mommy Moments - I gotta wear shades

This is my entry for Mommy Moments I gotta wear shades :)
That's my daughter Yena with her pink shades and an over sized shades below.

Having a good time with her cousins Eya and Yael. :)

Can a Toddler have nightmares?

I would say yes. Yena, my 18 month old toddler had a nightmare last night.

She was crying at midnight, she looked so frightened at something and her legs and hands were freezing while lying sideways facing me. She looked really scared. I told husband to turn on the lights, reassuring her that we were beside her and rubbing her back seemed not soothing. She cried while hugging her favorite pillow.

I knew at once it’s a nightmare. So I searched and found out that it really is a nightmare. On why she suddenly woke up crying and seemed scared, the reason was the mouse we kept on teasing her before we put her to sleep.

According to babycenter, Toddler's nightmares are most likely linked to something that happened just before bed, like listening to a story that scared her or watching an upsetting show on TV. I felt so guilty that we were teasing her about that mouse that we heard at our ceiling, and we kept on telling her to be still as the mouse will come near her if she doesn't. Now i have to buy her a book that will be soothing for a bedtime stories. I wonder where can i get a copy of Margaret Wise Brown's classic Goodnight Moon. No more mouse scaring this time.

Hurting while Playing

I would often hear laughter as i came nearer my parent's house every night. There are three toddlers at home! The two are my sister's kids. They play all day, hurt each other, hug and kiss each other after crying, sleep together and dance and sing to every commercial breaks on TV.

This is the typical view when i arrive home. The view of endless playing :)

I'd like to say they are growing close to each other as my daughter would usually woke us up early on weekends excited to go out and meet her cousins again. But last night, I saw a lump on my nephew Yael's forehead. My mother told me Yena hit Yael with a glass. Yena cried when Yael told her what she did was BAD.

I admit i don't believe in spanking kids when they do wrong, i always tell yena hitting is bad and she should not do it again. Hitting for her is fun. She laughs when something or someone fell of the chair. That is really funny for her. Sometimes my daughter can be really rough, i know that will change. But i always remind her to be gentle: Love, Kiss and Hug. I hope and pray my words are enough.

The Joy of Reading

While i was tending the kitchen one night, Yena kept on tugging my shorts down and was pointing to something. At first, her words weren't clear but as soon as my eyes took notice of the book at the top of the cabinet i knew at once that was what she wanted.

She said Book! Book! But with at blab blab blab (totally unclear to me) Am glad finally i understood. So nightly, when she's tired of playing, she would asked for these two books.
Last night, I was asking her if she wanted to watch Barney, she answered me back with not just a nod but also with a very loud OO (yes!) I told her to say; Yes Please. She said OO again!! The third time it was a harder OO already!
I kept on demanding her to say Yes Please. I told her she cant watch Barney without saying those two words. Then finally, she responded a loud PLIS! :)

Mommy Moments - Part of the Family

Yena has lots of family favorites maybe because all daytime during weekdays she is with them. She favored to be with her lolos (my uncles) and to mamato (my MIL) , she has a few titas she go along with (she is that aloof!) but she adores all her cousins.. she lavishes them with kisses and hugs (if she's in the mood). We make it a point to spend weekends with husband's side for her to be close to both sides. And I guess it pretty works :)

That's my younger sister Aya whom yena calls MAMA. Her favorite night time playmates are her cousins Yael and Eya.

Hubby's sister Faye and Cousin Jean are her most favored titas on husband's side. She would go with them if she's in the mood. She is also close to husband's guy cousins who mostly imitates Barney.

Of course you must have recognize this gorgeous lady! That is mom of four aka yena's pretty ninang liz. Now its time for me to sing ~ WE ARE FAMILY! :)

Last Night's Kulit Pictures

Coming home from a day of work is like running a marathon for husband and i. The thought that after calling out 'Boyeng' outside my parent's house would mean yena's jump of joy and a yell of Mom my and Dad dy adds up to that excitement. It is as always PURE JOY! ;)


So last night was Yena's hyper self while playing with her daddy. At 18 months she knew how to 'fix' her hair when told, she got the 'fixing' style from me. After their bonding time this is what she usually looks like! Messy hairs but need not worry, when we told her to 'fix your hair' she happily tucks them underneath her ears :) Mommy style :)

Last sunday, her daddy bought all this educational materials and we paste it on our lavender wall. Yena knows how to point at some of them, at this stage i know toddlers are very easy to teach so we are grabbing the opportunity to teach her everything!

From the charts, she would point at the ball, cellphone, moon, zebra, and yoyo. She can speak clearly some of the things at the charts too. What she usually replies when asked now is 'yaw' short for 'ayaw' or no and she would point at the refrigerator and asked for ace or jelly ace :)

She is as always the voracious eater that she is (to which hubby and i aren't complaining). Rice with soup is her favorite of all. She can finish two cups every meal! :)