Philippine Passport application for infants

We are planning to travel with the baby this year so we decided to apply for his passport. That way, we won't have any problems with getting one once we find ourselves a good deal on a travel package. We trekked to SM Megamall, where the Department of Foreign Affairs has a satellite office. If you have a car, it is best to park on the 5th floor of Carpark C, this is in front of the mall where the bus stops are.The office will be a short walk from here.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Make sure that you have all your requirements. For us, all we needed to bring were the following:

•  NSO copy of my son's birth certificate
• photocopy of parents' passport ID
• marriage certificate (we brought a photocopy as well as original too be sure)

2. Set an appointment through the DFA website. Since we are applying for an infant's (below one year old) passport, we did not have to set an appointment.

3. Go to the DFA office and get in line to get a number for the electronic queue. If applying for an infant, you will be allowed to cut in line and will be asked to fill out a form before you get the number. Once your form is checked, you will be asked to go to the processing area where you are to line up in front of the priority lanes windows 2 and 3. Don't sit there and wait for your number to be called on the screen because it won't. And for some reason there are people who are in the priority area who aren't priority at all so it may be confusing. I was observing the people around me and saw that the person who had the number before me went up the window already so I made sure that I was next. Our papers were verified and we were given a piece of paper that should be brought to the payments section. You will be asked if you want your passport to be expedited or not. We were not in a hurry so we opted for the regular processing which was Php 950 versus the expedited request which was Php 1200.

4. Payment

We asked if we should also pay for delivery here and the lady said that we should request that after the encoding step. Were you wondering why we were given a number when it was not being flashed in the screen? I was too until we got to the payment step and we were asked to go back to the window that processed our documents and tell the processor to enter the number/information on the paper. So may purpose pa rin sya :)

5. Encoding

This was the last step for us. This is where your information is encoded and the picture taken. It was such a hassle as the person who assisted us basically asked us to dictate to her the information she needed to type in instead of looking at the form we very legibly wrote on.

There was box for the baby to sit on for the picture taking. Baby was not too fussy and we got a good picture quickly but he was not smiling. If it were up to me, I'd request another picture but the staff might get irritated :p

The time stamp on our number said 10:14 AM and we got out of there by 10:32 AM. 18 minutes! That's what it took us to finish the process. Technically, we were probably there a little over 20 minutes since we did have to fill out that form before we got our number. Even so, this is the fastest time I ever dealt with the government. The staff were efficient and polite. The temperature inside was comfortable. I would say this is the best experience I had with applying for a government ID. Kudos to DFA for adding satellite offices!

Datu at lunch after our passport application

Weekend Special: Our IHOP Experience

One Saturday after Datu's monthly check up, we decided to attempt to eat at IHOP, BGC. We tried a couple of times before but were always discouraged with the amount of people we see hanging outside the restaurant. Based on my experience in the US, it wasn't worth waiting an hour in line. I could eat else where.

However, after seeing pictures posted by friends on Facebook, their omelettes and chocolate pancakes really looked appetizing. In all fairness, when we were in the US, I only tried the strawberry pancakes and I had very high expectations. During the weekends in Charlotte, there were also very long lines outside IHOP and that drove my expectations further up. When we finally got a chance to eat there, I found the pancake ordinary. When I heard they were opening in the Philippines, I was still interested to try it out with the hubby. The second weekend after it opened, we tried our luck but we didn't expect the lines to be that long I guess. We'd pass by a couple more times but there were always a bunch of people outside that made us look for other places to eat. One of my friends experienced to be 50th in line. I'm not willing to wait that long.

Finally, we had time and the crowd volume didn't look too daunting. We still waited some 30 minutes. By the time we were seated, we knew our orders and placed it as soon as a server got to us. Service was pretty quick. Before we knew it, all our food was out. Dru ordered the Big Steak Omelette. You can have the omelette meals upgraded to come with pancakes, you just need to add about 50 pesos. I wish they had a set that came with drinks. Good thing though is that a lot of their drinks are refillable (coffee, tea and spritzers). He chose Strawberry banana pancakes to go with his omelette and iced coffee. The omelette was good, cheesy and had lots of onion, the way the hubby liked it. It could use more of the meat though. He liked his pancakes too. The iced coffee was iced three-in-one coffee.

Big Steak Omelette Php 325

Strawberry Banana Pancakes

I got the Chocolate Chip Pancakes and Bacon Temptation Omelette. The pancakes were loaded with chocolate chips and were oh so good with the Butter Pecan syrup. For my drink, I got an iced tea. The omelette was good too. The iced tea tasted a bit weird. Tasted like it had maple syrup in it. I should've gone with plain water. I was hoping the tea would taste like southern sweet tea, I guess.

Syrupy goodness

Bacon Temptation Omelette Php 285

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pancakes

It's weird to get for breakfast but we also ordered onion rings. We love onion rings. We always try the onion rings at a new restaurant to see if it's any good. This one was ok but forgettable. Let's just stick with the pancakes.

Onion rings Php 195

Service was fast. We got our orders quickly so that compensated for the long wait in line to be seated. We didn't have to ask for condiments as the servers went ahead and offered that to us. Though they could be more attentive for requests to refill drinks.

All in all, IHOP did not disappoint. I would go back again for the pancakes. I asked the manager if they had plans to open branches elsewhere and she said a branch in MOA, Mandaluyong and QC are in the works for this year.They might open in the new wing of Shangri-la Mall, that would be nearest to me, yay!

Stupid things I cried about when I was pregnant

I remember being a tough chick. I don't get grossed out easily and I don't scream at the sight of cockroaches (as long as they're not flying roaches, those are a different breed. I think even the most macho man won't be able to hold a screech). 

When I got pregnant and now months after, I've become a cry baby. I'd cry watching sappy movies ( I didn't do that before) or video clips or something I read.

But it was worse when I was pregnant. I shed a tear for ice buko. We bought ice buko one day. My husband and I shared three sticks each. I was reserving my last piece for a certain day. When that day finally came, I opened our freezer to find an empty plastic bag. I felt really really bad. I knew it was a very stupid reason to be upset about but I just had to call my hubby up to tell him how I felt and I cried. I couldn't help it. He offered to buy more ice buko the next day but it just wasn't the same...

The first time I ever cried while pregnant, I can't even remember the reason for. I just remember laughing one minute and then crying the next. I made my husband promise not to tell anyone because I felt really silly. Now months after, it is ok to laugh about it.

How about you? What was the most stupid thing you cried about when your prego hormones were raging?

Weekend Special: Mother's day Lunch

Weekend is a time to unwind. Whether with family or friends these two days are what we look forward to and sometimes is the only thing that pushes us through a hard day at work. Weekend is a time to spend with family and friends, mostly over food.

This portion of my blog will feature places we ate at over the weekend or a recipe I tried that you may want to try out yourselves.

Weekend Special: Mother’s day lunch

We were supposed to have lunch with the Sanchez matriarch at Simply Thai in Greenbelt 5. All seats inside have been reserved and we refused to eat al fresco out in the humid lunch hour on a summer day. It felt like we were walking through a wall of hot air. We moved to Bistro Mango tree a few steps away (thinking that my MIL wanted Thai food). The ambiance was dark (not like the branch at the Fort) and didn’t feel right for a mother’s day lunch. Our last stop was Mr. Jones, an American diner.

Light fixtures

Dessert display/Bar area

The menu was the usual American diner fare which included burgers/sandwiches and milkshakes. Food was a bit pricey, ranging from Php 300-450 for sandwiches alone so we asked how big the portions are. The server said it was pretty big so we asked for our orders to be split for two. And decided that if it was not enough for us, we'll just order more. We ended up satisfied with the portions.

My MIL and FIL shared their Homemade Char-Grilled 100% U.S. Beef "Superman" Burger. They said it was pretty good. They reqested for the burger to be well done. We were surprised when their order came out. It was a pretty hefty size even for a split portion. MIL and FIL said the burger was cooked well and tasted good.

Homemade Char-Grilled 100% U.S. Beef "Superman" Burger (split portion) Php 475

The hubby and I got Reuben's "Diner" Classic more out of curiousity. We watch Man vs Food and there was always some great Reuben sandwich they featured and hubby has never tried one.

I forgot that they use rye bread that is a bit crunchy around the edges. I normally don’t like that sort of bread because it scratches the roof of my mouth. This was no exception. The sandwich itself had corned beef and that’s that. I was expecting another type of meat (I didn’t read the menu) like pastrami (like on TV). It came with fries, sauerkraut, mustard (or could be horseradish) and coleslaw. I’m not a fan.

Reuben's "Diner" Classic Php 380 (split portion)

We also got to share a Wicked Truffled Mac n' Cheese. This was so good. You can really taste the truffles. It had peas, what looks like bits of ham and shiitake mushrooms which I love. I’ll come to eat just this and I won’t share. Haha!

Wicked Truffled Mac n' Cheese Php 395

For our drinks, we got a rootbeer float. The menu says they use A&W. I got excited because A&W rootbeer float brings back some good childhood memories for me but the server said they actually use MUG. What the heck, we still got it. It was actually a surprise because the ice cream was really really good. I think they used caramel instead of vanilla. I would have still preferred an A&W rootbeer float. And it is rather expensive for a float.

Rootbeer float Php 195

And because it was mother’s day, we got free dessert. I think this was called a chocolate caramel crunch cake. It looks pretty. It was a sponge cake with caramel inside. The sponge cake was on the dry side so I didn’t finish it. MIL shared hers with FIL. Sweet!

Free dessert

Service was good. Our servers were polite. Place was clean. That Sunday, there were a lot of foreigners dining there. I guess it really reminded them of home. Hubby and I are planning to come back there just the two of us to sample their other food fare.

Where I gave birth and how I chose my OB

There a lot of decisions you need to make when you learn you are pregnant. Two of the important ones would be who will be helping you give birth and where you are giving birth. What drives this decision? For us, it was our financial ability and OB GYN affiliation.

When we got married, I told hubby that I wanted to give birth at The Medical City. It was new, modern and looked clean. To me the older hospitals kind of seem dirty. I said we will save up so that I can give birth there. Anyway, we had at least one and a half years to save up (when we got married we decided it will be just the two of us the first year and a half). But then, St. Luke' Global City opened and it was newer and looked really nice. I had second thoughts. I heard it was expensive. I did my research and the price was not far from what TMC would charge me so we found us an OB at St. Luke's.

Our relationship was promising at first but she was always late and there was always a long long wait (because she was late) and had a lot of patients (which seemed like a good thing since it seems a lot of people trusted her). She even had celebrity patients (who cut in line of course and that added to the wait time). We saw her for about 4 months before we decided to look for another doctor. The last straw was when she was out and had another doctor for a reliever. We went through the usual tests and then she went about checking the heartbeat of the baby. All was good. For our next check-up, we saw our original doctor and after the usual checks, she said that she'd check the heartbeat of the baby next time we see each other since we won't hear it yet. I didn't say that we already heard it previously, we just decided then that we would rather switch doctors.

That's when we met Dra. Conception Alfiler. We were at hubby's aunt's house one time and we were talking about our OB experience and she mentioned that she knew someone she could recommend. We decided to see her and we never looked back. She was great with her patients. She was really strict but motherly at the same time. You will never feel hurried. She is very thorough and she quickly checks the baby's stats via ultrasound every month. We saw Datu every month since his 5th month. This was one of the reasons why we did not opt to have a 4D ultrasound. We did not see a need for it because we saw him every month anyway and it was an added expense. She was this way with all her patients. So you never want to be the 8th patient she sees because you will most likely wait at least two hours for your turn. But she is very rarely late. You'd want to see her on a weekday and be the first or second patient in line.

Dra. Alfiler with my boy

Going back to the hospital choice, I still wanted to give birth at St. Luke's BGC. The thing is, our OB was only affiliated with TMC. We really liked her so TMC it was. Then, I found out more about the fact that it was a breastfeeding-friendly hospital and they encouraged rooming in soon as the baby was born. I felt it was the right decision.

About a month before giving birth, my mom, hubby and I checked the maternity ward of TMC. We checked their Lamaze rooms and birthing suite. If I remember correctly, both are on a first come, first-served basis. We were not able to check the labor room since it was a sterile environment and our visit was not scheduled. Our next step was to find out their room rates. If I remember correctly, the Lamaze room was about Php 8, 000 for the first 8 hours and you can opt to extend per hour for a fee. I can't remember exactly as we didn't get to use this as I had a C-section. They also had birthing packages that you can avail but that means staying in the maternity ward. I wanted to avail of the package but my husband was firm that he wanted me to stay in a larger room because he wants me to be comfortable. I was thinking I can buy more nice things with the money we can save like a new LED TV (lol).

We set aside a budget from our Christmas bonuses the previous year. We found out I was pregnant December so it was timely. There were some left over but we decided we didn't need a new television set and we can use it to add to baptism expenses.

How about you ladies, how did you choose where to give birth? For those on the way still, you may want to check out this list from Smartparenting. It lists maternity packages for 30 hospitals in Metro Manila.