OUR MIRACLE BABY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY

Hello, dear Hivers! How have you been? I hope you’re all doing well, as today I’ll be sharing with you the celebration of my nephew’s 1st birthday. Behold, as I would initially share a series of events in this blog, and as I’ve highlighted in my title, “our miracle baby,” let me tell you a story why that is.

This baby’s actually the first baby boy in the family! My first nephew, my parents’ first grandson, and my brother’s first boy. We actually don’t mind what the gender of the baby is, a boy or a girl; what’s important is a healthy baby. Until such time, my brother’s wife got pregnant, and the ultrasound results turned out to be a baby boy! Everyone has been so happy, especially my father, who has been secretly hoping to have a grandson. Admit it, fathers do love to have someone carry their names. When he actually had some talking and drinking sessions with his friends, I heard him a lot saying that everyone’s around in the house are all girls, which is so true, hahahaha, and as he gets older, he wants to see a grandson. I would actually laugh at a corner because, among my siblings, we only have one boy, and he’s already married. More than that, my father has four granddaughters. Although I’m sure he keeps it to himself, he hopes to have a boy as a grandchild. His incessant remarks that “it doesn’t matter if it’s a girl or boy as long as the baby is healthy” are undoubtedly motivated by his deep desire for a grandson.

Fast forward: my baby nephew then arrived, and the delivery has been complicated. I’m in the city with my sister when my sister-in-law’s on labor, and at 1 a.m. we heard our cousin knocking on our door, telling us that the baby’s in a critical condition. I called my brother, and he confirmed that the baby’s 50/50. What we did immediately was pray. With my sister and my cousins, we kneeled down and did the chaplet, a prayer for Divine Mercy. We’re all sobbing, and we begged Him to save the baby. I begged Him to have our baby saved and make him healthy, with the promise that we would take care of him and love him unconditionally. Thankfully, the baby’s condition has become stable. They stayed at the hospital for a few weeks and got discharged after everything was fine. The transition has been so fast, and it was indeed a miracle from God.

OUR FIRST MEETING

Maxwell Jaze was born on January 11, 2023, and this was the day when we first met, exactly on January 29. I’m honestly teary-eyed while staring at him. I admired this little warrior so much for being so tough. It’s never been an easy fight for this poor innocent baby, knowing how tiny he is, and he had to undergo that situation. He’s such a fighter.

These photos were taken on February 1, days after, and as you can see, he has already grown slightly—just a little, but quite bigger. We were outside at this moment so that he could get some sunlight because he had just finished taking a bath.

MY PARENTS WITH THEIR GRANDSON

It's already evident that they're so happy! Looking at them, it seems like I’m floating on a sea of happiness. There is nothing like the love of grandparents. I say this because it is true. When I was younger, as the youngest daughter, I actually got jealous of my first niece. Hahaha, I think it’s because I’m not used to sharing my parents' attention with someone. I would sometimes cry dramatically hahaha. But yes, nothing beats the love of the grandparents, because they’re one of the best people in the world.

MAXWELL JAZE’S BAPTISM DAY

Jaze’s baptism occurred on June 18, 2023, and I’m one of the godmothers. He was 5 months old at the time, and we celebrated that occasion with our family, friends, and neighbors.

Maxwell @1

Today, I want to share with you, my dear Hivers, how we celebrated his birthday. His first birthday was particularly January 11, 2024. Birthdays are important events in life; thus, it just makes perfect sense why they should be celebrated, and Jaze deserves a birthday blast! No matter how simple it may be, we did our best to make it memorable.

PREPARING THE DECORATIONS

While everyone’s busy preparing the food, we prepared the decoration. It’s a simple decoration with a dinosaur theme. I’ve done it with my cousins and @fairydimples, my sister-in-law’s younger sibling. We prepared the curtains and blew up the balloons. We sought help from my brother and cousins because we’re too short to put up the curtains.

After working hand in hand, here’s our final output. This might be simple, yet it’s good enough for a hundred snaps in a minute! Hahahahaha.

PICTURE-TAKING WITH OUR BIRTHDAY BOY

Our birthday boy was all smiles as we took pictures. He’s obviously happy with everyone’s company, which makes it an even more wonderful moment. He deserves all the love.

KARAOKE

Again, we had karaoke. Our family loves singing, and at any celebration, we always have karaoke fun. Karaoke is certainly one activity that we Filipinos always do on normal days and on special occasions. It’s our own way of enjoying the day and spending quality time together, and if you get to visit the Philippines, you can figure it out yourself. I swear Filipino people are very fond of singing, regardless of the pitch, hahaha, but yeah, there’s actually good singers here.

TASTY AND CRISPY LECHON

Of course, the yummy and crispy lechon is present. I swear, it’s one of the best Filipino delights. I commend that if you get to visit the Philippines, go try lechon. For sure, you will like it. The seasoning was prepared by my uncle, who just learned after our family has been preparing lechon for every special occasion. The lechon skin is so crunchy, and it’s actually what everyone craves.

BLOWING OF CANDLES

We have four cakes in total. Two for Maxwell Jaze, one for @mejoy, my cousin, whose birthday was last January 14, and one for my niece, who requested in advance for her cake as well, for her birthday this coming January 20. She’s a bit excited, right? Hahaha, yes, she is. Before we ate, we started with a prayer and singing a happy birthday song, followed by the blowing of candles. Right after that, it was already eating time!

All in all, it was a love-filled and fun-filled day for the family. Thank you, dear Hivers, for reaching this far. I appreciate your time and effort to read my blog. Be safe always, and see you around!