I got caught up in during our Philippine trip that it completely slipped my mind to do my blog anniversary entry. I am late 2 months to the day. Last year I did A Year In Review: highlights, favorites and America 101 - a compilation of impressions of the U.S. as seen through the eyes of a newbie filipina immigrant.

I started the second year recounting how I met my husband through the Memoirs of a Penpal 6 part series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Conclusion). Eventually I did another piece about the unhappy endings in cyber-matchmaking with The Dark Side Of Internet Marriages.

It wasn't until I was almost in my 5th month that I went public with my pregnancy, a precaution, having undergone two interrupted pregnancies as told in The Tale Of My 2 Miscarriages 4 part series (1, 2, 3, Conclusion).

Has it really been almost 11 months ago? Were you really this tiny? My precious Evan, barely a week old.

Being gifted with a child is truly a blessing and life-changing that about 90% my blog has been devoted to recording the profound and new experience of motherhood. For me one of the many surprises of being a parent is that the feeling of having your newborn finally in your arms doesn't ebb with time - it is but multiplied a thousandfold. The older the baby gets the more beautiful and fun they are. If it is any more possible our love for them burns even more fiercely.

It is indeed very easy to forget the Pregnancy Woes , excruciating pain of Giving Birth (1, 2, 3, 4, Conclusion), the physical challenges as recalled in My ER Experience and Postpartum Black And Blues a result of how labor, delivery and fatigue in taking care of a baby can take a physical toll on even the healthiest of a mom's body. I'm sure I only have to reread what I have gone through would be enough reality check for me once I start yearning for another baby when Evan is 2 or 3 years, as forewarned by other mommies.

I also talked about my mixed feelings of going back to work in I'm Mrs. Brightside, trying, as always to look into the brighter side of things.

Taking care of a newborn was so much more difficult than I had imagined that many times I felt overwhelmed by the task. It is a demanding, always on a rush, 24/7 job with no sign of letting up for the first few weeks that I've had often wondered if anyone could really be Ready For A Baby?

More than ever, even if I was in a haze, I turned to blogging as a stress reliever and a thought gatherer. There was only so much verbal words one can convey to the people closest to me sufficiently. I have always been better at writing down my deepest thoughts and feelings. And everytime I had an entry done, the weight on my shoulders and my chest always lightened up a little.

Through blogging I also enjoyed comparing and exchanging notes with other new parents about coping with parenthood like outlining my Rookie Mommy Mistakes, enumerating Baby Buys: Hits And Misses. No yaya? I authored the No Nanny Survival Manual. Breastfeeding didn't come naturally for me either as written in I Should've Known and Beginner's Manual For Breastfeeding. I shared how I solved the problem of putting our baby to sleep in Dandansoy and how a passage in a book made me more proactive in helping my son achieve his milestones in To Sit Or Not To Sit.

Lest people are wondering where my husband was in all this, Father Love was my tribute to the rock I held unto, my Tom - aka Evan's dad.

Currently listening to: Diana Krall cd
Currently reading: Parent's Magazine's "It Worked For Me"
Currently watching: Saturday Night Live