Yesterday was Friday, and we had a power interruption in our area. Good thing I managed to finish washing all my used clothes before it happened, since I don’t have time during the weekend. Today is my great-grandpa’s death anniversary, and tomorrow I’ll be attending mass at the church.

Since we didn’t have power yesterday, my older sister invited me to go with her because she was planning to travel with her son, my 5-month-old nephew. She chose SM City Urdaneta since it’s the nearest good place to visit. It was my nephew’s first mall experience, so I agreed to come along. Besides, I didn’t have anyone to be with at home, and being stuck there for 13 hours with no electricity would’ve been so boring.

My grandparents are still at our uncle’s place in Rosales because his wife just gave birth to our younger cousin. So honestly, I didn’t have much of a choice—I went for the sake of my nephew, not really because of his mom. Besides, my older sister pays for everything for me.

We arrived around 9 AM at Crossing Esperanza to wait for a bus. Luckily, we didn’t have to stay too long under the hot sun, especially since we had a baby with us. Just as we got off the tricycle, a bus bound for Carmen arrived right away.

My nephew fell asleep right away, even though we had just sat down. I guess traveling can be a little boring for kids, especially once we’re in the middle of the trip.

We arrived around 11 AM in Urdaneta, and here he was looking innocent because it was his first time seeing the real world and how polluted it was outside of our house. LOL the last time we went here was when my older sister was still pregnant with him. Now, he was born and can see it where we always go after checkups. 😂

When we go inside the Mall, the first thing we noticed was the Christmas trees placed beside the escalator. Of course, I took a picture of my nephew because he found the Christmas balls so amusing HAHAHA (a nervous laugh though 😫 what if he accidentally pulled one of them? I was like, "Don't pull it baby 🥹 because we don't have money to pay for the damage!" 😭😂)

After we were satisfied with the pictures, we headed to the second floor because my nephew needed a diaper change.

And that’s when I realized how tough it is to be a nanny—I was the one carrying his bag filled with all the things he needed. He had so many essentials packed, and it was such a struggle to get things out because his bag had such a narrow space.

After that, we walked to the other side and found a place where my nephew could play. We went to FunTime since it was smaller and less crowded, unlike Timezone, which was packed with kids and students playing.

My older sister bought a token so my nephew could ride something. We chose this little jet (I don’t even know what it’s called! 😆). Just look at how curious he was about it—his mouth wide open. HAHAHA He looked so cute here! 🥹 He even held the steering wheel on his own and played like he was really driving while riding.

While my nephew was playing with his mom, I decided to check out the machines and play too. I took the extra tokens that my nephew still had, since my sister said he couldn’t ride the other rides yet. They’re not suitable for his age. And guess what? I actually got something for him! HAHAHA

After so many tries... I finally won! 🥱😏 It’s just a little sad though because the pig plushie I got has a hole on its chin. I picked the pig because I told him that whenever I’m not beside him, he can play with it and think of me whenever he sees this toy. 🐷

After that, we decided to go find something to eat for lunch, but first, let the Tita take some pictures too. 😆

We decided to eat at Greenwich. But after we order our food, while waiting, we let my nephew drink his milk first.

I make him smile and laugh because he is crying. We don't want the other people to disturb their peace.

My nephew finished his dede, and our order arrived. It wasn’t a peaceful meal at all because my nephew was being so stubborn. HAHAHA! he kept grabbing the chair and looking at the people behind us.

Eating with a baby is a whole different level of challenge! 😭

After we ate, we decided to go to iSports, where the kids can play balls and use an indoor trampoline playground. However, the staff said that an age like my nephew's is not allowed yet inside.

So, my sister decided to have a spa massage because she has been complaining about her back and waist for months from taking care of her son. I let her do it so she could regain some energy for the coming days. That left me with my nephew for almost an hour. The staff told us we could sit inside while waiting, but since my nephew couldn’t sleep there, I went outside instead.

I carried him in the baby carrier, danced a little, hummed a lullaby, and gently patted his legs to calm him down. While doing that, I noticed some students passing by and staring at me. Then I overheard one of them whisper to his friends, saying that I looked like a 'batang ina' (young mom). I was stunned… I blinked my eyes many times, and my jaw literally dropped. 😭

After my sister finished her massage, she saw us being like this outside, so she took us a picture, but the Tita looked exhausted already because even though he was in the carrier, my shoulders felt sore from the strain.

My sister gets him to me because I can't handle the pain anymore. Then we go to Miniso to find something that she can buy. And I saw this One Piece merch!!! Wahhh! Tita don't have extra moneh for this~ 😭

We can't find anything that he needs, so we just get out and find something to eat again. We go to Zark's Burger because

this is just the nearby restaurant that is near the exit and just has a few customers. We just use that as an excuse so that my sister can feed my nephew again.

We didn’t waste any more of our time since it was already around 3 PM. We decided to take out the food we couldn’t finish and went to wait for a bus going to Baguio, since that’s the same route that passes through Crossing Esperanza, where we needed to stop.

It was difficult to catch an air-conditioned bus at that time, so when only an ordinary bus arrived, we had no choice but to ride it. After all, we needed to head home early so we wouldn’t end up arriving late.