Of first haircuts and traditions

I had this post in my draft folder since October when my son had his first haircut. Last January, he had his second cut three months after the first one. Due to insistent demand from Mr. S's family, I finally agreed to have his head shaved in hopes he'll have thicker hair. 

Anyway, below is my post about his first haircut drafted four months ago. Hehe!

My son turned a year old almost two months ago. His hair has gotten pretty long on his first year but was still relatively manageable. We rarely experience the dreaded knots that are so tangled you need to cut them off.

He lost all his hair at around three months (around the time I also lost a bunch of mine) so it's really just nine months of outgrowth for him. I wanted to keep it growing until it reached at least chin length before we got his first haircut. See, he is genetically predisposed to be bald. I just want to give him a chance to experience having long hair while he can. Mr. S started losing his hair in his mid 20s so if he follows that time frame, it's not a very long time for him to enjoy his hair.

Mr. S does not agree with me on this. He wants to get our son a haircut soonest time we can. Still following tradition, we waited for my son to turn one before we had his first haircut. Our son has thin, fine hair. People say that if you cut the baby's hair really short (read: skin head or semi-kalbo), it would grow fuller and thicker. I suggested we take it slow and cut his hair short instead of just getting a trim and then we'll go from there.

One Sunday morning, we trooped to Cuts4Tots at SM Megamall. The shop is at the 5th floor near the chapel. We were there a little after 10 AM and we were second in line. Mommies, try to be there soon as the mall opens if you're planning to have your kid's haircut on a weekend. Other customers started pouring in at around 10:15 AM and it got crowded. Babies wailing stresses other babies (and mommies) out so it's best to be the first and get the haircut done as fast as possible.

We were there about 20-30 minutes since there was only one barber at that time (the other one arrived as we were leaving though) so we had to wait for the other baby to get his haircut first before we got our turn.

We chose Cuts4Tots since we live nearby. Also, read good reviews about the service plus the fact that they print certificates and attach a lock of baby's hair with it. They took before and after shots of the baby's cut which they draft into the certificates too. This service costs Php 525. You'll have to come back after a week to pick it up.

While waiting for our turn, Datu was oblivious to the other wailing child. He sat in the (car) barber's chair and was busy playing with the steering wheel. He very rarely cries and has almost zero stranger anxiety so I was confident that there will be no drama here. Boy, was I wrong. He started crying soon as the barber started on his razor. I ended up having to carry him for him to stop crying and I got his hair all over me. Mommies, bring extra shirt or make sure before you carry your baby, ask for a cape (or whatever that is called) so you won't get hair on your clothes.

That's where the babies get to sit. There is also a regular chair for bigger kids. Stations have a monitor where you can request your kid's favorite show to be played to help calm him down. This didn't work with my baby though so I had to resort to carrying him.

There are toys in the waiting area your kids can borrow to occupy them while waiting for their turn.

Before the barber started to cut D's hair, we made sure to follow one tradition, to have an intelligent person cut the baby's locks. They say that if someone intelligent gives the first haircut, the child will also grow smart. Not sure where that came from and obviously, there was no scientific basis to that but it won't hurt to follow. Who got to cut his hair first, you ask? I was the designated person. I guess I was the smarter one. I got Mr. S to marry me after all :p

How about you, what traditions did you follow when your baby had his/her first haircut?

Here are my son's before and after photos.

I was kind of emotional while my son was getting a haircut. He felt like a different kid to me. As if he suddenly grew up. I don't know, I guess I was just being sentimental or hormonal or both. Doesn't he look so grown up after the haircut? Oh, babies grow up too fast.

Biggest Loser: The Lunchbox diet review

As with a lot of people, my one new year's resolution is to lose weight. My son has turned 17 months and I really do not have any excuse to be carrying all this weight.

I have always had a hard time dieting. I would prefer to exercise than to follow a strict diet. Problem is, I don't have as much time these days. Ok...I admit, I'm just too lazy (kung gusto may paraan, right?). I have a lot of other excuses but really, I think it boils down to laziness as far as exercising is concerned. But I promise, I will exercise...someday...haha! Soon...some time this year...Mr. S and I promise that we will exercise once the gym at our place finally opens.

While waiting for the gym to open, I decided to try dieting once again. As part of my wedding preps five years ago, I dieted. Mostly, I counted calories and lost about 15 lbs over 6 months. I went to the gym over that time too so that helped tone muscles too. I was dedicated to my goal to lose weight and look good in my wedding gown. This time, I do not think I have the same discipline. For the sake of trying, to jumpstart my weight-loss and fitness goals this year, I employed the help of a food delivery service that would take away having to count calories.

Lunchbox diet is a food delivery service that promises to deliver 3 meals and snack(s) per day that will only total 1200 calories. This is good. Based on calorie counting apps, this is the amount of calories a lazy me should be consuming (based on age, height, current weight and daily activities-which is zero exercise). I found out about them through Facebook. They post their meal plan for the week in their FB page and if you like their menu you can place your order. You will need to fill out a form through their page and you will receive a text message to confirm if they deliver in your area. Once confirmed, payment instructions will be sent to you. After you have paid Php 1,700, though BPI or BDO, you will need to send a copy of the deposit slip through their email address to finally confirm your slot. Then, wait for Monday for your first delivery.

Because of my schedule the next week, I requested for my food to be delivered at my place on Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday deliveries were at my office. They were great with accommodating my request that way. On the first day, they delivered the food at my house around 8:30 AM. I was told that I was at the bottom of the list. I did not have expectations really, but I was really hungry at that time already since I am an early riser. I requested for the deliveries for the next couple of days to be earlier. They were were able to accommodate that too. Tuesday came, it was already 8:45 AM and I still didn't have my food at the office. I was really hungry already. I called them up to ask where my food was. I was told it was delivered to my house contrary to my instructions (which they approved). They apologized and I was told that they will bring my food to the office and pick up the one they delivered at my place. I though it was going to take a while so I decided to buy myself a sandwich lest I faint. After about 10 minutes, I got back to my office and found the delivery guy already waiting for me. So in their defense, they were quick to rectify their mistake. After those incidents, I never had a problem with them. In fact I went through the diet for two weeks. I lost four pounds the first week, gained a few back over the weekend. Lost a few more the next week. The total lost weight was six pounds over two weeks. I think that was a great accomplishment since I kind of cheated on the diet. I would probably total 1500 calories a day. Yes, I ate at extra 300 calories because I was hungry. I couldn't take it. I had to eat. Anyway, I still think 6 pounds in two weeks is great, considering normally, we should really just be losing 2 lbs per week. I would have probably lost more if I really stuck with it. I think the 4 lbs I lost the first week was partly water weight since the food was a little on the bland side for me. Take note though that I tend to be heavy on salt as far as flavoring in food is concerned. What is bland for me might be just right for most. After a couple of meals though, I got used to the lightly salted food that when I went back to my usual diet, I found myself using less of it. And this is generally good for my family.

Anyway, this is what was delivered to me on the first week of my diet. Sorry I forgot which days correspond to which pix. I think overall, the food quality was great. For 1700 per week, that means Php 340 per day for 3 meals and snacks. I think there is value for money as far as taste is concerned. Also, apart from the food portions (of course that is controlled), you really don't feel you are on a diet because you still eat rice, pork and beef. There is also the occasional sweet treat. I love their oatmeal cookie. I'd buy a whole pack if they sell it on its own. The only big thing I didn't like was they claim they serve red rice but to me, this is more brown than red.

Upper left corner: Savory French toast. That's one of my favorites too. I didn't think it would be so tasty so I was pleasantly surprised. Bottom left: Oatmeal cookie. Super love this. One of the best oatmeal cookies I've had. Lower right: Meatball pasta. The meatball itself was pretty tasty but the sauce was not enough to coat the noodles.

Upper left: Forgot the exact name but that is pork medallion with some sauce and jalapeno corn bread. The corn bread was really good. It has a little bit of kick to it. Upper right: Peanut butter and jelly oatmeal. I thought I wouldn't like it since oatmeal was my least favorite diet food. Surprisingly, I liked the hint of peanut butter in it. Middle right: Lemon cupcake. I have a sweet tooth so I guess that is why the desserts stick to me. This one was also a winner. Bottom right: Fish fajitas were alright. Nothing to rave about. Same with the beef and vegetables on the left. The beef was a bit tough to chew on.

I forgot to take pictures of the rest of my food for the day. Left is daing na bangus. It was delicious. To the right is a sloppy joe sandwich. The texture of the bread they used here is a bit weird. I am not sure what brand they used but it's a bit different from Gardenia. This one was too soft for me. The sloppy joe was not saucy and a bit of a challenge to eat. Not one of my favorites. 

I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture before a took a bite of the pandesal with scrambled tofu. (upper right). it was surprisingly tasty so I liked it. Only the pandesal and fruits stood out to me on that day.

I was not able to take pictures of my food the following week as I was not able to follow the diet as "strictly" as the first week. I think I was invited to eat out a lot of times and I couldn't say no to the company. Friends before diet (excuse nanaman!Haha!). I still lost weight though which is the important thing. 

One thing I noticed though, it seems that the food on the second week wasn't as great as the first one. They also use caramelized onions a lot to make them tasty. If you do not like the onions, you can always lift them with your fork. There are times when it feels like one or two meals tasted the same even if they were called differently.

Of the three similar diet food delivery services I follow in FB, LBD is the cheapest. If you want to try out the no fuss, 1200 calorie diet, you can start with this one. Based on other reviews, weight loss range from 2-5 lbs per week. Again that would depend on your lifestyle as well as your age, gender and height.

I will be trying another food service delivery soon so keep posted.

Hiatus

I know I haven't been writing for a while but didn't realize that my last post was actually four months ago. I was looking for an old post last week when I saw that the last thing I wrote was in October last year. It wasn't an intentional break. I was just swamped with a lot of different things towards the end of the year and blogging just had to take a back seat.

For the most part, what kept me from my writing was our move to our new place. Our condo unit was turned over third week of October. Though we actually moved in December, we had a lot of packing, fixing and cleaning we needed to get done before the big move. I had my birthday and our 4th wedding anniversary in November. We finally moved in December and the holiday season got the best of us.That's basically what happened to me and my family in a nutshell. 

I do have loads of drafts and photos for future food posts and recent family getaway. Excited to publish them soon!