Our Family Adventures PH

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MOOD. Wake me up when it’s February already. ⚠️Warning: this is a slightly long read.

This was my mood yesterday and pretty much the days before that, hence my absence online.

NYE and New Year’s Day were great, but it turned a little bit different immediately after.

There was covid positive in the family.

I struggled with insomnia, for weeks.

Felt sick and low.

Felt a sense of anxiety and panic due to another wave of the pandemic. No thanks to Omicron.

Even until last night, I didn’t get to have a quality sleep…

BUT…

As soon as I woke up before 6 this morning, I chose to fully wake up and stand up.

I woke up with my (supportive) husband, kept the veggies I ordered from our neighbor yesterday.

I cooked us some omelets for breakfast.

And Brian made us my requested banana-kiwi smoothie.

Then when Bryce woke up, he called us for some morning snuggles in bed.

Made him his favorite chocOats (chocolate drink with oats) for breakfast.

Danced to 12 songs as my workout which lasted for about an hour. Woohoo!

Then Bryce and I watched Encanto, which made me ugly cry, it was so good!

And ate lunch with my boys! I’m feeling a bit more of myself, and I am grateful.

Jaycelle — This was the mood I’m aiming for!

I am taking my time to heal and recover.

All this is to say that we have the power to break the bad pattern, and change the course of our day, our weeks, and even our lives!

But in the meantime, take as much break as you need —to heal, to recover, to reassess. Whatever it is that you need to do to feel a little bit more of yourself.

In case you needed to hear this, YOU can do this TOO!

Written by: Jaycelle Playda-Sahagun

Jaycelle, Bryce and Brian before our balcony family date. June 7, 2020

We all took a bath and donned our going-out clothes plus I put on some make-up too. Bryce said, “It’s like we’re going out.” Yes, except that we are just going to our balcony to spend our Sunday family date “outside”. Brian already cleaned and set-up our outdoor table and chairs ahead of time. Thanks, my B! We had snacks —we ate the cheese and Spanish bread from Pampanga which we bought from a Flairmate (a term we used to call our neighbour in our condo) and also a cold brew from another Flairmate Community Market vendor which we bought some weeks ago. 🙂

Jaycelle with the Spanish and cheese bread; Bryce with the chair cushion as his “apron”; and Brian offering me cold brew coffee.

I pulled out my golden spoons, golden tongs, Noritake and Narumi fine bone china small plates and teacups in a cream colour to be used as our “basic elevated” tableware, which I plan to put in our cupboard for easy access. You know I love to elevate everyday living.

Cheese and Spanish bread from Pampanga and cold brew from Kape’Tara. Fine bone china from Noritake and Narumi from Jaycelle’s collection.

Jaycelle with one of her favorite teacups 🙂

Brian pouring the cold brew to my teacup.

Cheers! I’m excited for our family snack date outside.

Of course, our family adventures and dates would not be complete if we don’t capture them in photographs. We did our solo, couple and family portraits to document our Sunday afternoon bonding. 🙂

Jaycelle in “4 Pics 1 Word”

Bryce being his usual “kulit” self!

Brian featuring his “Quarantine Hair”

The original “Team RainPlay, Brian and Jaycelle 🙂

I am feeling my hair at that time so I even requested another set of “4 shots” photos from Brian 🙂

I also asked Brian to take photos of our newest Johnson’s and Johnson’s baby powder in Summer Blooms, Blossoms and Active Fresh variants.

Bryce and Mommy Jaycelle with the newest Johnson’s and Johnson’s Baby Powders 🙂

Another major agenda is our family activity this weekend —which is a video interview of each of us! We want to capture and verbalize our thoughts especially in this #LifeInTheTimeofCorona or #LifeInTheTimeofPandemic. We asked questions which are at the top of our minds. No structured list of interview questions. We did it spontaneously. And I really am happy with how Bryce answered Daddy Brian’s questions. I’m grateful to hear my toddler’s thoughts and how he feels, especially at a time like this.

Bryce, Jaycelle and Brian — Our Family Adventures Team

We started with Bryce, then me, then Brian. I’m excited to watch it and share the video once Brian is finished with the editing.

Update (12 February 2022): added the video interviews! 🥰

Bryce’s snapshot during our “interview” activity 🙂

I’m grateful that we’re able to make this happen. It’s very easy and very common to let the time pass us by just doing things for survival —like work and maintaining a home doing chores every day. But for me, it’s important to pursue a creative project that doubles as a quality family bonding time at least every weekend. I’m glad we took the time to #MakeTimeforWhatMatters and #MakeTimetoCreate.

I definitely enjoyed being spontaneous —both in asking the questions and in answering the interview when it was my turn. It’s like creative writing but in the form of speaking. I’m excited to get organized in planning our weekly family bonding activities that are both fun and meaningful.

Team Our Family Adventures in our balcony 🙂 Brian, Jaycelle and Bryce

Family bonding goes a bit deeper as emotions are involved. This type of bonding helps family members to learn more about each other’s likes, loves and passions. It helps solidify a love like no other person or group could ever provide.

Our Family Adventures PH

Proof of Life

Fixing Chuckie

Sunday Family Day in the New Normal

Video Interviews