Zoe @ 2 months

During Zoe's first few weeks, I was afraid that she might not be getting enough milk from me and I was constantly paranoid that she wasn't gaining enough weight. Come her first month though, she just got big out of nowhere and people started to wonder what I was feeding her. I'm super seriously committed into breastfeeding her even when I get back to work and I really hope that I'd be able to really keep it up.

Here are some of Zoe's pictures from newborn up to the present time:






newborn







3 weeks





2 months



Zoe Alexa's Christening

Zoe Alexa had her christening celebration last November 13 at Christ the King Parish. Traffic was really bad around the Ortigas area and half of her godparents weren’t able to make it to the ceremony and most guests were late in arriving at the reception venue (including us!) since we all got stuck in traffic. Despite the hassles, everything still went okay in the end and our guests were able to take advantage of the buffet except for Dan and I since we were busy attending to our guests.


Below is the list of my suppliers and a short review on each:

Church: Christ the King Parish Church (Green Meadows QC)
- We listed Zoe’s baptism 3 months before she was born. We were that excited (okay, I was that excited..)! We decided on a Saturday since most of our friends and family didn’t have work or school that day. The thing was, I originally wanted the ceremony to be held at 1pm but there was no slot offered on that time block so we settled for 2pm which was a bit narrow on our schedule since the reception at Dad’s starts at 3pm. We were a bit late on the day itself since traffic was also bad along Marcos Highway. The rites started at 2:15 PM and half of her godparents weren’t there yet including all of Dan’s family.

 Reception: Dad’s Mega mall (Merienda buffet)
- We had reserved the function room good for 120 pax and our contract stated that should we fail to fill minimum 100 headcount requirement, we still would have to pay for a hundred. On the day itself, only 85 guests were able to arrive due to really bad traffic and almost all of us were late. We arrived at Dad’s at 3:45 and I was afraid that we weren’t going to make it. Our last batch of guests arrived at 4:40 PM and yet they were still able to take advantage of the buffet.

We didn’t get the baptismal package at Dad’s but I requested for extra tables for the cake and gifts as well as a tarpaulin. We also stayed until around 7:30 PM which was beyond the 5pm reservation but it was okay with them since there was no other function after us. Though I didn’t get to eat (huhuhu), I was still happy that we got value for our money here so no regrets.

Baptismal Cupcakes: Nadine Abraham of Swirls N Sprinkles
- Nadine is my favorite among all of my suppliers. Everything was very smooth and easy not to mention that her cupcakes made me totally throw the thought of sugar and fats out of the window. I ordered 70 cupcakes with packaging and she gave me free fondant toppers and discounted delivery and set up. I booked with her a couple of months before I gave birth and most of our conversations were done through email and through text message on the latter part.


We had 3 flavors for our cupcakes: Chocomoist cake with Hershey’s butter cream filling, Vanilla cake with Vanilla icing, and Chocomoist cake with vanilla icing. They were all made up to match Zoe’s pink and brown motif and they were all very delicious that I almost regret having to give them away. I also ordered a dozen of cupcakes from Nadine for Zoe’s first month celebration and I’m sure we’ll have plenty of transactions to be had in the future.


Souvenirs: Eileen Dela Rose of EroseJazz Clay

- I have seen Eileen’s multiply site even before I got pregnant and fell in love with her hand and footprint clay magnets immediately. So when I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t look elsewhere for baptismal souvenirs. I ordered 50 pieces which came with packaging and tags. They were the cutest thing and got compliments from a lot of my guests. I was sad to give them away too hahaha!


Invitations: Elegant Pieces
- I ordered 50 pieces of invitations for Zoe’s christening and our transaction was done mostly through email. The invites were okay although it would’ve been better if they were printed on photo paper. I would’ve done the invites myself but I am probably the least artistic person in the world so I decided to have an experienced person do them for me.


Candles - DIY
- I never thought I would contribute something to this baptism that I would actually make but I did. I bought a pink ribbon with gold trimming from National Bookstore and put it on the candles. Heck, I was so proud of myself!


Baptismal Gown, Cap, and Booties: Landmark Department Store
- I decided not to spend a lot of money on Zoe’s baptismal outfit since she will only be wearing it for 30 minutes tops. So on our way to Trinoma to meet up with Shally to pick up my orders from the US, we passed by Landmark and got Zoe’s baptismal outfit which didn’t even cost us 500. The only downside was that the sizes were a bit limited. We got the smallest size but it was still a bit too big for Zoe. She hated the booties and she was already barefoot half of the ceremony.


Reception Outfit: Ralph Lauren Romper, Nike Mary Janes, Carter’s socks
- I scrimped on Zoe’s baptismal outfit but splurged on the ones she used for the reception. The RL romper and Carter’s socks were bought from the US when I had my Google training and the Nike shoes were bought from Rustan’s.


Mommy and Daddy outfits: Dress from Plains and Prints and Hubby’s shirt from Memo




The total expenses for Zoe’s christening were more or less 45k not including the gas and food expenses to and from the suppliers. Every penny spent was definitely worth it as it was Zoe’s first coming out party. Now, I can start writing our Christmas shopping list and planning for her first birthday ;).

*Here is the link to more of Zoe's christening pics: http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#%21/album.php?aid=2086142&id=1045323257