Where did the months go? As I write this long-overdue blog post, my three children and husband are sleeping soundly around me. We are officially 1 year and six months into the global pandemic – though I am counting March 2020 as the start because that’s when we had our first ECQ here in Manila (a.k.a. NCR Plus!)

A lot has changed. My family grew with one last addition, finally a daughter named Sari. She is just wonderful! She will be 10 months in a few days and I find it so adorable that she has a very loud voice – as in she shouts out loud when she needs something. I think this is her way of asserting herself since we have a very, very, very (!) noisy household. Her Kuyas are 6 years and 3 years old so you can imagine how loud our house can be during the daytime.

The truth is, this time at night is my only quiet time lately, when everyone is asleep. Early this year I still had an hour or so quiet time in the afternoon when my boys are taking a nap. But just recently, my eldest Kobe stopped taking afternoon naps. So now during the afternoon, I take care of him – we do a bit of his schoolwork or we play or we watch something together. Sometimes I am able to get a few things done when I give him gadget time. Ok good days when I have enough energy and drive, I am able to fix something around the house.

Shortly after dinner I would look at the clock and wonder where did the time go. The days are indeed very fast when you have kids! As soon as we wake up, it’s go-go-go-go – just never-ending tasks and little things that you have to do to take care of the kids and the household. My to-do list just never gets fully “checked” or “ticked.” And to think, we have helpers at home. To moms without yayas or helpers at home – a resounding round of applause! I probably can do that too if I had no choice, but boy I would be dead tired everyday and probably would go “ape-sh**” with my husband 😅

I am rambling again. Haaaay.

If you’re reading this, I want to ask you: “How are you? How are you, really?” I hope you take a couple of minutes to stop and think, and FEEL.

I guess writing this blog post, albeit in a rambling, unorganized manner, is my way of coping and thinking of how I am, REALLY. Everyone is telling us to be grateful for what we have especially since so many people in the world are suffering right at this very moment. But I have to admit that there are times when I really just complain and complain (mostly to my husband) about my little problems and worries and concerns. Should I feel guilty because of this? Should I just bury them deep down and not think about it because other people have bigger problems than I do? I think all of our feelings and hurts, no matter how small, are valid. All of us are just trying to navigate this world we live in DAY BY DAY. At least now we know what’s truly important.

So find a person you can complain to! Someone who knows you well and will just let you rant. We don’t need someone to solve our problems for us, most of the time all we need is someone who will listen.

Oh well, I’m ending this nonsense post here. Promise to write something more meaningful next time, haha! Thanks for the online therapy session! 😜