Amaya Isabell: The Youngest

April of 2006 when period didn't came, I bought a pregnancy home kit to see if my hunch is correct. And it was. I was pregnant. After 7 years and I was 32 at that time, I am pregnant for the 3rd time. Both our families were happy with the news. Since Francis and I already have two girls, I've prayed so hard that this time it will be a boy.

The first trimester was the most difficult for me. I usually throw up every after meal. I hate clothes that has been washed with fabric conditioner, I easily throw up. On June of 2006 I underwent an ultrasound just to be sure that my baby is okay. And the baby was just fine. October 20th 2006, I had another ultrasound. This time the sonologist told me that I will be having a girl. Again. It's not that I am not happy. Let's just say disappointed BUT in the end all of us are happy because another angel has been added to our family.

December 20, 2006, Amaya Isabell was born. She weighed 2.4 kgs. Among my 3 daughters she was the smallest in terms of weight. After 3 days I was allowed to go home leaving her at the NICU for 2 more days.

December 24, 2006, I have asked pediatrician, Dra. Elizabeth Javillo, if we could bring her home already in time for Christmas and she agreed. It was a wonderful Christmas for us because finally we are complete already. I decided to breast-feed her as long as I can, and in fairness, among my 3 daughters, she was the longest to be breastfed.

By December 20, 2011, which will be 3 more months, she will be turning 5. She is very talkative, very playful, likes Justin Beiber and Taylor Swift. She loves her 2 older siblings which she fondly calls: Ate Arielle and Ate Joie.

It may be the most difficult pregnancy of the three but it is worth it. And we are excited for her when she goes to school next year. Amaya Isabell will always be our precocious youngest member of the family and for that alone, we love her.

Katherine Arielle: My Ate

Over 13 years of being married, Francis and I were blessed with 3 intelligent, beautiful, and loving daughters. Let me introduce you to each of them. Let me introduce my eldest.

August 28, 1998 Katherine Arielle Q. Racal came into our life. Our eldest and we fondly call her Ate. When she was 10 months old she already knew how to say the alphabet, knows how to count from 1 to 20, she could show the different parts of her body.

When she was 3 and a half years old we enrolled her to the nearest day care center here in our place. She was the most talkative of them all and every time I pick her up from school, there will be stars stamped on both of her hands until on her arms.

But she wasn't able to finish her daycare because her tatay, as my kids fondly call their father, was admitted in the hospital and stayed there for almost a week and a half. So my daughters, Arielle and Joie had to stay with my parents back in Calamba, Laguna. She developed a separation anxiety so the teacher and I agreed that Arielle has to stop.

Fast forward to today, last month, August 28, she turned 13. My hubby and I have a pre-teen already in the house. I'm both excited and has this fear for her as well. Excitement because this is a new chapter in her life that she has to discover on her own, of course with my help as well as the help of my hubby. But there is definitely some fears as well because I know that the world we live in is full of people who are not honest and good.

I know she will make better decisions when I was her age. I just hope that she will choose friends that will help her grow to be a good person, inside and out.

I just want my Ate Arielle to know that no matter what happens, her father and I, will always be here. And that she will be forever our Ate Arielle...