Baby Kyle's Shower

Many thanks for a great surprise to everyone who made it possible. Your thoughtfulness and generosity are greatly appreciated. You really put a big smile on Joy's face.

Special thanks to Marlene Jackson. ...Or Ate Marlene as Joy would put it. This was no doubt hard work, not only organizing, but surely Dondai's drama project too :) .

The piece de résistance :) . Baby Kyle's first cake. ...With a cute blonde hairdo :) .

The soon to be Mommy and Daddy :) .

Marlene's hard work.... You see those circles hanging from the ceiling? I believe she said she cut 140 of those little circles, all by hand. ...and I watched her too! She fooled me, she said they were for her daughter's, Dondai's, drama project :) .

Marlene and my wife were sitting, eating dinner, having a casual conversation,  in Marlene's kitchen. All the while Marlene was cutting those circles one by one, with scissors, and Joy was watching. ...Never suspecting what they were for :) . ...But then, neither did I. My dense noodle just didn't put two and two together :) .

The guest of honor arrives.... Boy, was she surprised too! All the while my wife was thinking she was headed to Marlene's b' day party :) . I had her going with that notion for almost a couple weeks. She even wrote a song for Marlene (don't ask, I guess it's a Filipino thing :) ).

The best part was the Tuesday before, the original date set for Chubba's surprise. Unfortunately I was out of town that day. But my wife didn't forget it was her new friends b' day (...or so she thought :) ), and called her up with best wishes. I think Marlene almost spoiled the surprise there. Fortunately quick thinking on her part saved the day :) .

Oh boy is she surprised!

Chubba unwraps her gifts. Ooops! I mean Baby Uyap's gifts :D .

Time to cut the cake!

Thank you to everyone who attended.

More pictures of the soon to be Mommy and Daddy :) .

Cute button nose! Or as my wife would put it... Pislat ilong! ...She doesn't seem to agree with me :) .

A special gift from Don and his wife Saing.

Man, that was some good cake :) !

To everyone who is not Filipino...

Since I have met my dear wife, I have learned that for Filipino's a nick name is an absolute necessity. Virtually all people I had met in my wife's country introduced themselves to me with their nick name. ...And everyone has one too. Even the kids! No one seems to use their real names for everyday purposes, that seems to be reserved for official use only. Heck, I don't think I ever learned people's real names!

Yes, I soon acquired one too.

Anyway... My wife's real name is Juralene. Her mother always used Joy or Nining, so that kind of stuck as her nickname. I sort of figured rechristening my wife again was not a bad idea, so hence I refer to my wife as Chubba. It is just her cute nickname. Somewhere along the line, we have also agreed that our little boy will be Uyap :) . That is Bisayan, and please don't ask what it means.... My wife said it one day, and it just sounded so cute! So it stuck. My wife is not tremendously thrilled with my choice, as I didn't take the meaning into consideration, but she agrees... It is better than Og! ...Yes, that is another Bisayan word :) .

My wife often speaks her language to me at home. She seems to be on a futile quest to teach me her native language. Why futile? Most times she doesn't translate what she says, so it is not my disinterest or disrespect, most times I just have no clue what she is saying :) . But, wow, it just sounds so cute :) . Even when she seems to be admonishing me for something stupid I had done.