5 Tips to Get Your Baby Sleep Through the Night

When Sophia was one month old, whenever I'd feel like crying because I don't know what to do with a wailing infant at 2 in the morning, my mama would be in our room to rescue her granddaughter from the crazy, clueless me. Nine years after, now with Samantha, I am practically on my own. Well, I love my baby bear so much but I have to be honest, it's exhausting! So much so that my backpain's agreeing as I write this. Sure, she doesn't wail like her big sister but gosh, putting her to sleep is such a big production number! Fine, let's be fair. It's only tough in the beginning. Once she gets in a deep sleep, she lets me sleep, too – like a true caring boss. Ha!

So how do I do it? Here are my simple but very doable Tips to Get Your Baby Sleep Through the Night that actually work! 

Chicken Tinola

Having a child who's now in her big kid years surely has its many benefits. One of them is no longer needing to make her food cute just she'd eat it. We are now done with broccoli trees, rice mountain and scrambled egg sand. Well, the baby will soon eat solid food but not those I've mentioned yet so I'm now enjoying the freedom to serve real adult dishes. I'm glad my daughter eats most veggies that I serve her. I trained her to eat whatever's on the table, that's why. It wasn't a walk in the park; there were soooo many table discussions about how blessed she is to have me at home, how blessed she is to have warm meals and how blessed she is to eat more than three times a day. I think it got to her. She now eats well like a sensible adult. I mean, there are older people than me who decided to be picky eaters for the rest of their lives. 

Anyway, one thing that a lot of parents are wrongly doing when preparing food for their kids is serving them a kid-unfriendly dish. And they'd be mad all of a sudden 'cause they expect their kids to eat and like it! So cruel. Folks, food has to be pleasant to the eyes and the palate of a kid, okay. They will eventually learn to love what you love to eat now. Just train them gradually but not in a forceful way. I did that and guess what Sophia's first favorite real ulam that has veggies? TINOLA!

So if you're always lost in the kitchen but wants to sometimes impress the fam with a warm Filipino family dinner, here's my recipe to help you out –

#MyBabyMyWay Should Be the Official Hashtag of Your Mom Life

My firstborn will be turning 10 on September. That also means, I will be celebrating my first decade as a mother. I claim no expertise on parenting yet but if there's one very important thing that I can impart with new and upcoming moms, it will be this – refuse to raise cookie cutter kids. While it is best for baked goodies, it isn't for children. There is no exact formula on how our little humans should be reared. Each family has its own way, each family is different. However, I strongly believe that our choices as parents reflect the way our kids will be in the future so I hope that we will be more careful in giving what is "best" for them.

How about I share my stories about some of the controversial parenting topics that actually caused a lot of mom battles, caused so many mama dramas? Are you ready to fight me – er, read it? Game. 

Pork Adobo with String Beans

Sophia and I were cleaning the house when she requested her ultimate favorite ulam for lunch. And since we still have veggies left from our Nueca Ecija trip, I cooked Pork Adobo with String Beans! You might have already read or seen a hundred ways to cook this super easy Pinoy dish but if you want a base recipe that you can always go back to for days when you can't think of anything to cook, here it is. 

So I Just Finished Watching the First Season of Santa Clarita Diet

Although my mom brain isn't working as it should be right now, I will write about this (whatever you call it – review, sequel excitement, Netflix addiction) before my own thoughts pass me by. Fine, I'm cradling my baby to sleep and won't put her down even if she seems to be snoring already. Yes, it's a lame excuse but blogging keeps me sane. This blog is where I can write my insinuations about life that I can't tell anyone but I wish I should. Like, my husband brings his phone with him to the bathroom. You hear me? Err, read me? Non-issue basically but he poops more than two times in a day and it's not cute anymore especially when he will suddenly stand up, declare he'll go number 2 when I'm about to tell him to do something for me (i.e., a house chore). LOL. Please tell me your husband does that, too so I won't feel so bad about myself. 

I love that my husband is a responsible provider and a loving father but that little I-will-poop-with-my-phone-several-times-in-a-day excuse just keeps me off sometimes. I let it slide all the time, though 'cause again, it's a non-issue! Humans are made to defecate and I completely understand that. Plus, arguing about poop doesn't sound like what two matured people should be doing. 

Today Could've Been My First Year Back At Work

One year ago today was my first day back at working away from home. I remembered how excited I was! I wore a chambray longsleeved shirt from H&M (a gift from my husband) paired with black leggings and simple black flats from Zalora since office dresscode is basically casual. I had soooo many plans as the new Marketing Manager of an iconic clothing brand! Some were approved; like the website campaign, where my blogger friends happily helped me out with. But of course, a lot were also shelved and ignored due to its ambitious nature, which needed a big budget that our department unfortunately does not have. 

One the girls from my team doing her magic. 

Oh, how I miss working in a big company and please the bosses who are paying us. HAHA! Seriously, that's what working there made me feel like. If some of you are serving your customers or clients, I did that with our bosses – make them happy at the end of the day. I didn't mind that, tbh! It still fulfilled me, anyway. My goal was to do my job and earn money. Simple and real and brutal. 

But a month after, I got pregnant. 

R's Birthday Lunch at Sambo Kojin Eastwood

If there's one thing that can make my husband R forgive me should I made him mad, it has to be my laing or some fresh,  raw and expensive fish. With my homecooking, I guess you already know that by now especially if you are one of my longtime readers but with fish – well, yes, he has deep appreciation for sashimi. It's safe to say that it is his ultimate favorite food! So for his birthday last month, we went to where he can eat a lot of it without spending a lot.

The sashimi monster was overjoyed, apparently.

I asked on my Facebook page and IG stories for suggestions and recommendations on where to go. There were a lot who suggested Sambo Kojin because of food variety and having the birthday boy eat for free. Well, after some research (aka checking its rating in Zomato and reading other people's experiences), we went to Sambo Kojin in Eastwood City a day before his actual birthday.