A TML Mother’s Day Post

Posted on May. 14 in Mommy Stories with no comments

While the entire nation is still reeling from yesterday’s elections and awaiting the official results, TML will not let another day pass without a Mother’s Day post. Albeit the delay in greeting, still, sending our love and honor to all mothers out there is never late—actually, it should be a daily habit. For they truly deserve it.

Many words have already been quoted about the nobleness of motherhood. And we, ourselves, have experience how selfless this calling is. Looking back, we really didn’t have any idea how beautiful this experience would be. And we are grateful it came to us in our lifetime.

TML1We were young and carefree, minding only ourselves…

TML2Then we met wonderful, godly men and married them. Overflowing love and a few months later, we were on family way.

TML3After giving birth to our beautiful babies, the happiness on our faces multiplied a hundred times—even the eyebags won’t be able to contest that.

TML4Yes, motherhood has taught us many lessons in such a short period of time. We are honored to be given this wonderful privilege.

TML5But we won’t even know how to be good mothers had it not been for our own mothers who nurtured and loved us with everything they have. We praise the Lord for you Mommy/Mama!

Indeed being a mother is a tough role to fill, but we thank the Lord for through his grace and wisdom we are able to step up to it everyday. I believe, you really won’t know the maximum capacity of a woman until she becomes a mother. Oh the extent they will go to for their children!

So to all the mothers—be it biological, foster or spiritual—we honor you not only on Mother’s day, but every single day!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

Doing Baby Signs

Posted on Apr. 25 in Mommy Tips with 2 comments

Crying, as Riz pointed out here, is a normal expression babies do. But there are moments when the crying is beyond the hunger-wet nappy-sleepy route and when it happens you feel helpless trying to understand what your baby is communicating to you. If only they can talk already and say out loud what they need…

But then again, they actually can!

When I learned about Baby Sign Language, I immediately tried it on Ziki and he was around 4 months old at the time. I started him on the usual baby signs that are regular in his schedule like eat, milk, more, book, daddy and mommy. And how long did it take before he picked up? It was when he can somehow control his hand-eye coordination which was around 7 months old. However, we didn’t really master the baby signs, except for “eat” and “more,”  because mommy was not consistent (bad mommy!) and Ziki was already able to point to what he needs before he began saying his first word.

Still, I was ecstatic when I saw Ziki do it the first time. We were eating breakfast and his bowl was almost empty when I asked him if he wanted more and he signed for “more.” I was so thrilled that I asked him to do it again and he did it twice. Unfortunately, when I took out the camera to video him, he was too lazy to do it again. Though we don’t regularly use hand signs, it helps me understand Ziki better when  he does it. I can easily tell what he needs without him crying too much.

You may want to try it on your baby too. You just have to be patient in teaching him and even more patient in waiting for your baby to do it. But it is so rewarding and it can actually help lessen your frustration in understanding your little one.

Here’s an easier Baby Signs reference I found here. But you can head onto this site to see how the hand signs are done. :)

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Gone are the days when mommies have to wait for their babies to speak to communicate with them. Thank God for baby sign language!

{TML Tip} Planning your baby’s first birthday

Posted on Apr. 17 in Mommy Tips, Party Ideas with 4 comments

Hello there TML readers! You may have been wondering where this mommy have been? Well, if you must know, I have been quite busy preparing for my son’s first birthday, aside from taking care of him and my husband and keeping the house in order. But I won’t be talking about the housewife stuff in this post. It’s all about birthday planning!

zikibdayweee

Our happy little man on his first birthday! :)

If you’re like me, you might have been pinning tons of party ideas in your Pinterest boards and saving birthday pegs months before your baby’s birthday. While it is fun and exciting, you may find that pulling off these ideas can be pretty arduous. And for a hands-on or working mom, that can be quite stressful. But you can have it two ways; either you shell out tons of money and hire someone to get everything done for you or you can put a time table to it and plan the party out closely without spending so much.

Well, given that you landed on this page with this topic, simply means you are the latter mom. So let me give you some practical tips—which I have realized and applied as well—that can help you throw a pleasant and memorable first birthday for your baby.

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Hero’s Kate Spade Inspired 1st Birthday Party

Posted on Apr. 16 in DIY Projects, Party Ideas with 1 comment

We’re addicted to DIY birthday party pegs! Normi is doing a series on how she DIY-ed her son’s birthday party over at her blog, and Kesler’s birthday party from last week was a sure hit too.

Why, here’s another one which caught my attention: Hero’s first birthday party, DIY-ed by her mom, Fozzy. Yup, THE Fozzy. (I’m an avid fan of her calligraphy!)

Hero's Kate Spade Inspired DIY 1st Birthday Party

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Cyber Window Shopping at Ava’s Baby Boutique

Posted on Apr. 12 in Product Reviews, Websites with no comments

I think I may have outgrown buying clothes and bags and shoes for myself. Instead, my need for retail therapy has shifted to baby stuff. That’s why it makes me really happy seeing that Ava.ph finally launched their very own Baby Boutique. I’ve been an avid follower of Ava and its flash sales since the beginning of time. I love that their products are not like anything you’d see in department stores, but when they do have popular brands in their inventory, you can get branded items at super discounted prices during flash sales. Win!

And so, today’s (cyber) retail therapy happens to be Ava.ph’s Baby Boutique! Check out these yummy looking stuff I have in my wishlist:

Ava's Baby Boutique

And it gets even sweeter. Ava has a simple rewards program that regular online shoppers will surely love. By inviting your friends to shop, you earn shopping credits which you can use to buy anything in the Ava inventory.

You see anything you like? Feel free to shop now at Ava.ph using my referral link. ;) CLICK HERE!

How about you? When was the last time you had a shopping spree for your little one?

Kesler’s Lemonade Stand & Bowtie Themed Party

Posted on Apr. 05 in Party Ideas, Photo Inspiration, Photography with 1 comment

Children’s parties make me happy! Once I just love pinning DIY children’s party ideas, just because they’re pretty. Now that I have my own babies to organize parties for, I have every excuse to keep finding ideas :D

I don’t know Kesler and his parents, but these photos popped on my FB news feed a few weeks ago through photography genius Joel Garcia. I immediately fell in love with the party details and the love that shines through every snap shot!

Kesley's First Birthday!

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The Gift of An Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison

Posted on Apr. 03 in Books, Inspiration, Mommy Stories with no comments


MUST WATCH!

The Gift of An Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison, An Excerpt

“Learn the art of letting go by practicing it in the present. Instead of regretting what’s over and done with, savor every minute of the life you have right now–of family dinner, you and the kids all squeezed onto the couch to watch a movie, a cup of tea in the kitchen before bed, saying good night in person.

If motherhood teaches us anything, it’s that we cannot change our children and only change ourselves. So instead of wishing that the children could be different somehow, try every day to see what’s already good in each of them and to love that. Because any moment now you’re going to be hugging your daughter who’s turn into a woman, or standing on tip-toe saying goodbye to your son who is suddenly 6 feet tall and heading off to a college halfway across the country.

And then too soon, they really are gone. And the house rings with a new kind of silence. The gallon of milk turns sour in the fridge because no one’s home to drink it. The last ice cream sandwich is all yours. Nobody needs the car. And you look to your husband across the dinner table which suddenly feels way too big for two and wonder, how did it all end so fast?

The bookshelf in my own living room is full of photo albums nearly 20 years worth of well documented birthday cakes and holidays, piano recitals and little league games. But the memories I find myself sifting through the past to find, the ones I’d give anything now to relive, are the ones that no one ever thought to photograph. The ones that came and went as softly as a breeze on a summer afternoon. It’s taken a while but I certainly do know it now. The most wonderful gift I had, the gift I finally learn to cherish above all else was the gift of all those perfectly ordinary days.”

Thank you Katrina, for eloquently putting words together to describe how it feels. And for reminding us, new moms, to treasure this season in our lives—to laugh louder, smile more often, and embrace our children as much as we can.

Hey Mommies, It’s OK to Cry

Posted on Mar. 21 in Inspiration, Mommy Stories, Mommy Tips with 5 comments

And I mean that for you and for the babies.

If you’re connected to me through Facebook and/or Instagram, you must have seen gazillions of cute photographs of my twins—smiling, laughing, staring at the camera, sleeping peacefully. But because you’re special, here’s a never-before-seen picture of our twins crying, posted for the viewing pleasure of ThisMommyLife readers. You’ve seen it here first. :P

It's ok to cry

Confession: Sometimes, I kinda like watching these babies cry. They’re soooo cute when they’re crying, I sometimes take a moment to watch them cry before I make a move to carry them or soothe them. Oy, if you’re a mother, I’m sure you’re guilty of that too!

So what do you think about crying babies?

I hear people label babies as “iyakin” like it’s a bad thing. Sometimes people would describe my babies as “iyakin” or “bugnutin” (word to the wise, don’t dare using those words to describe a baby, especially in front of their mother!), which of course makes me feel a little annoyed. There came a point when I blamed myself for not being able to train them to not cry too much.

The thing is, babies cry, that’s what they do. Maybe it becomes a totally different story when they’re toddlers, only then it becomes partly an issue of discipline. But for newborn babies, crying is a natural thing. Since they don’t know how to talk or how to express emotions just yet, crying is the only way they know to communicate, to tell us of a discomfort or a need.

Isn’t her first cry what we loooong to hear the moment a baby is born? A crying baby is a good sign. It’s the first indication that the baby can breathe and that she’s alive. It’s her way of telling the world that she has arrived.

When you look at crying that way—as their means to communicate—then you stop feeling bad about all the crying and start being more attentive to what they’re trying to communicate instead. In fact, when I started seeing crying as my babies’ way of telling me that they need something, I learned to appreciate that they’re being assertive about what they need.

Thus, rather than calling a baby “iyakin”, I’d say they’re being “assertive” instead. ;)

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Hats off to you, Mom!

Posted on Feb. 27 in Inspiration with no comments

Kudos to those who were behind the conceptualization of this ad. Since it was aired (for last year’s London Olympics), many moms felt valued for the unseen things they have done in the lives of their children. Thank you for letting the world know of the heroic acts that we moms do everyday for our children.

“The hardest job in the world, is the best job in the world”

And I wouldn’t want it any other way. :)

To my own mother, thank you with all my love.

Hats off to you moms!

Deciding to breastfeed

Posted on Feb. 24 in Mommy Tips with 12 comments

One of the many things I heavily researched on when I first became a mom was breastfeeding. I was really bent on nourishing my child with the best, so formula was never an option. In fact, I never bought feeding bottles and did not include it in the gift list during our baby shower.

My husband was so supportive of it because not only will it make our baby healthy, but it would also save us from a huge chunk of baby expense. So even when Ziki was still in my tummy, we would pray that God fill my breasts with so much milk to feed our baby until he needs it (God did grant exactly as we asked because I had hyperlactation! Haha!). And until now, ten months after giving birth, I still directly breastfeed my son. He was exclusively breastfed for six months and though he had started on solids, his appetite for breastmilk did not dwindle.

feedingNursing one-week old Ziki

Why breastfeed? Read more →