It turns out that we live just a couple of houses away from an idiotic, perverted foreigner masquerading as a respectable businessman.

Know this, Mr. “S”, you messed with the wrong people. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. It would be my utmost satisfaction to see you put in place or behind bars.

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The inspiration for that very first post came after we heard CJ’s heartbeat for the first time, which was during one of Conne’s early pregnancy checkups.

As we eagerly await for a new chapter to be written into our lives, one which sees our Julianna on board, the current chapter ends with a special twist and on a high note — because it ends with a scene depicting CJ, with childlike amazement, hearing his unborn sister’s heartbeat for the first time as well.

Yes, CJ, it does sound like a train.

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It took me forever to realize that, when life knocks us down or throws us a curve ball or two, the wisdom and experience gained from overcoming adversity are built up in trickles throughout the course of our lives.

Backtrack six years ago, I was struggling on a personal, professional and emotional level. But I now find myself a husband to a loving wife, father to an amazing son, stakeholder to a good company, and in control of my emotions (well, at least most of the time!). To top everything off, I woke up one day, while on an overseas trip almost 9 months back, to a blissful SMS message from my wife – telling me that I was to be a dad for the second time around!

One of the first questions that popped up in my mind: Was I ready for this new challenge?

Backtrack again, those six years saw four job changes (with odd jobs in between some), three house transfers, a thousand arguments with the wife, countless temper tantrums (with the occasional gadget “collateral damage”, to boot), questions on faith, a slew of loan payments that needed to be settled, forays into the business world, an investment gamble, and frequent, lonely, extended trips overseas.

Fast forward: I have a good job, we’re saving up for our dream house, arguments are few and far between, temper is in check (with zero collateral damage!), I have a strengthened belief in God, loans are settled, business is good, and investments are paying off. As for staying abroad, the loneliness didn’t kill me but only made me strong.

In retrospect, time allowed courage, wisdom, experience and a bit of luck to eventually stack up on my side. It allowed me and my wife to grow – as a couple and as parents.

So to answer my question, I can say with optimism that I’m up for the challenge.

And the geek in me says that the ongoing upgrade to Parent2.0 (ergo Daddy2.0) is on track.

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We know who you are and what you can do. We’ve heard your glorified, subliminal spiels so many times over the airwaves that we can’t help but hum a little ditty to the tune of your “jingle” just to pass time.

But it turns out that those jingles couldn’t save us, could they? You got so entrenched into our psyche that we subconsciously expected you to come to our aid when the floods and landslides came. And so we waited for hours, drenched and shivering in the torrential rain, helplessly marooned on top of our desolate rooftop atolls – humming that ubiquitous ditty of yours, hoping for the miracle of you.

We filled our sinking hearts with hope, buoyed by your promises. The minutes went by, as did the hours, and for some of us, days. We patiently waited for you for days. We had to, because we had no choice. But where were you, really? Were you off buying liquor somewhere else? Were you with aides planning your political sorties? Were you busy grandstanding, plotting your opponent’s political downfall? Or were you out of the country attending to personal matters?

Oh, and apart from those merciless storm trains, do you know what else rained down heavily on us these past few weeks? It rained excuses, nothing but poor, pathetic excuses.

Did we hear you right? Did you just say that you couldn’t come to us on time because you didn’t have any rubber boats? Oh, is it because you forgot to buy these things in spite of previous reminders and recommendations? And we could have sworn that you said you couldn’t stop the floods because key flood mitigating equipment weren’t maintained. Is this true?

Hey, are you still there? Or is your mind elsewhere, like at your Farm Town game at FB perhaps? Or are you itching to check out that twitter account of yours for new followers?

Speaking of itches, did that same itch cause you to pull that dam-water-release lever, or whatever device you call it, on-the-fly? So what’s your excuse there? Are you saying that, apart from the storms, deforestation was the only other culprit of the massive flooding that we experienced? And should we also accept your justification and excuse that it was perfectly okay for you to wait until the dam water levels were at critical levels before doing anything? Would you blame use if we thought that whoever made those operating procedures of yours must have been lacking in common sense, or must have been tipsy – nay, Drunken Master-drunk, when the guidelines were made?

Are you still there? Hey, we’re still talking to you. Please don’t take your eyes off that monitor. Do you have any idea how soaked we are with your excuses?

Look, we understand that probably half the world sent us relief. You literally begged for it and they responded because they knew that we were desperate, homeless and hungry. Now that the goods are here, what’s next? Where are they? Where are you? Are you telling us now that aid won’t coming our way anytime soon because you lack volunteers to sort and pack the goods? Will volunteers just pop up out of nowhere if they didn’t know that you actually needed help with manpower? Now really, tell us (*wink*), does it really take that long to sort out the imports from the locals (*wink* *wink*)? Does it really take that long to put “donated-by” stickers per item (*nudge*)? How long does it take to make you look good for that photo op prior to doling out goods (*wink*)? That long huh?

Geez, we’re absolutely dying to find out what sort of lame excuse you’ll come up with next time. Have you ever considered owning up to a mistake?

You know what? Let’s just wrap this off.

We’ve learned a lot from all of your incompetence and shortcomings. Had we known beforehand that these things would happen, in hindsight, we shouldn’t have elected you – we should’ve voted wisely! We should’ve been properly prepared for emergencies, at all times! We should’ve relied on ourselves first, and shouldn’t have relied too heavily on you or other people’s promises! We should’ve listened to warnings and we should’ve taken action! We should’ve done our part as citizens of this wonderful, beloved country! We could’ve…. made…. a difference…… Uhm, we, uhm……. we…………………..

Oh, uhm, okay. Our bad.

Bub, you’re off the hook – for now. Cheers! :)

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Having had a string of successful kiddie party catering events added to her belt, and due to the high demand from clients, Conne finally decided to add kiddie party packages as a Caterrific standard package offering.

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Caterrific Catering Services is a full service food catering company operating in Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces.

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Caterrific Catering Services, Conne’s food catering business, can help make your event a success by providing you with well-trained catering staff or by supplying you with clean, stylish and well-appointed food catering equipment. This is made possible by their recent move to expand their service offerings to include catering equipment rentals and staffing services.

With this in mind, you could then focus on enjoying your party and relaxing with your guests instead of worrying about the nitty-gritty stuff.

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CJ and Purple

CJ with Mommy and Lolo

The Sotto Clan

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Here’s wishing all of you a very merry Christmas! Happy holidays to you and your family! Ho! Ho! Ho!

God bless! :)

Cheers!

From: PJ, Conne and CJ

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I initially felt bad because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to spend the entire day with her as initially planned since I had a meeting scheduled in the morning, so I felt that I had to make it up to her for the remainder of the day.

I immediately rushed home after the meeting so that I could spend some quality time with Conne and CJ. We  heard mass in the afternoon, a family tradition every time we celebrate someone’s birthday. Her birthday, by the way, also coincides with the feast of the Immaculate Conception, hence Conne’s full first names were derived from “Maria Concepcion” in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

We then had dinner afterwards at Sophia’s in Alabang with our close friends, Cocoy and Li-ann, and capped the day with some late-night, after-dinner coffee.

So what did I give her as a birthday gift?

For starters, I bought her a new laptop since she’s been extremely busy with her catering business (Caterrific) lately, and has been struggling in terms of mobility and productivity, particularly since she can’t lug our desktop PC around for client meetings and oculars. I also did a little e-baying earlier this week and bought her some perfume online, only to find out later on that I mistakenly ordered the men’s version instead of the women’s version of the perfume(!), much to my utter disappointment and consternation! Darn it! :( It’s the thought that counts, right? (Yes, it’s such a lame excuse! Ha!)

Anyway, Happy Birthday mahal! May the Lord bless you always! We love you so much!

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