My Girls Are the Greatest Collaborators of This Blog

Have you already seen my girls in the video we made for BabyLove Diapers? I said we because all four of us are in this blogging thing together. Well, technically, this is my blog. But they fully support this online endeavor of mine that any partnership I get, my husband R and the girls are also involved. Say, I need my signature affixed in a pdf file but I only know editing MS word file (lol) so I'd send them over to my husband. After a few minutes, as if I can already afford a virtual assistant, it's done. But since this is a mommy blog, Sophia and Samantha are my real colleagues here. They are the greatest collaborators of this blog. In fact, one of our major projects was the BabyLove video. Ate Sophia may be its main artist but it wouldn't be as fun if Baby Samantha wasn't there. After all, she's the one who uses diapers.

I'll try to expound my girls' online exposure here and there but speaking of diapers, BabyLove Philippines is giving away Similac Gainschool sample and P500 voucher that you can use on your next transaction for any BabyLove product you purchase! Hurry mommies 'cause this is from May 27 to June 2 only. SHOP HERE! And like them on Facebook, too for promo updates and more details: Click, click!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by BabyLove but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Shared the Importance of Tamang Nutrisyon at RiteMed’s Tamang Alaga Day: Para Kay Nanay

When I became a mom, my cooking skills were put to a test. There was a point when my firstborn, Sophia only ate chicken nuggets, adobo and anything fried, anything processed. So I knew I had to step up; making sure the dishes I cooked are delicious was no longer enough. It has to look happy and be healthy! I will never claim it was easy but let me just say it again in case I have mentioned it before in my previous posts that it's the parents' fault if kids don't eat healthily. Harsh but true. Sophia still doesn't eat ampalaya (just like I sometimes do) but I know that her early training to eat what's on the table is a story of success. And that is what I briefly shared with the mommies who were invited to attend RiteMED's Tamang Alaga Day: Para Kay Nanay last May 20th!

Photo courtesy of RiteMed 

My booth was called the Tamang Nutrisyon booth where I taught them to make Fruit Kebabs. It's an exciting and enticing way to serve fruits to our kids. They learned how to present the fruits nicely, making sure it's clean and still fresh. I also added helpful tips along the way as we went along with our short lecture.

Top Three Essentials You Need to Spend On When You Have a Baby

I was jobless at the time I knew I was pregnant with our firstborn, Sophia, living under my mom's care as my husband and I weren't married yet then. It wasn't what I wanted for my baby but it was what I only had. Of course, having a baby is costly so we had to plan. Even if my heart was telling me to just stay at home and personally take care of her, our finances told me that I had to work. 10 years and a lot of career-shifts after, now with our second baby, Samantha, I finally decided to stay at home for as long as my girls need me. I love working but family first, always. I'm just so blessed that my blog gives me opportunities to still be at home and sometimes earn from it. And I can't thank God enough for that.

But let's be real, this isn't the case for all mothers. Others have to work two jobs or render overtime as often as they should because they have mouths to feed and a family to raise. So if you dream to have babies someday, here are some of the things that you need to financially prepare for:

Motherhood in the Time of Hashtags

I don't know about other moms who are also into social media like me but I am one of those who find joy in using a specific hashtag for my girls. #Sophiabulous for the tweenager, who knows how to work it for the camera ever since, #Samantharrific for the baby, who usually gets a great response from our followers because she's really cute and #SophiaxSamantha for all the times my girls are together in one photo. The latter also has videos, you should check it out!

#samantharrific

Well, I do that to basically collate their photos for easier searching in the hopes of having them printed out in the future. I used to include a lot of unnecessary hashtags on my posts to get likes. It used to be helpful for the community but when I started getting spammy followers and comments, I stopped doing so. I now use ones that are legit and are also used by moms I follow; like #lifewithdaughters, #thebigkidyears, #kidsofinstagram and #babiesofinstagram. I get organic likes from real people. Not that it's rewarding or whatever but I just don't like using hashtags for my kids that do nothing for the post. Unless it's a funny one like those paragraph-worth of hashtags, just use the legit ones if I were you. 

Speaking of hashtags, have you read my post about why #mybabymyway should be the official hashtag of your mom life? You should if you haven't! It's such a controversial topic among moms, especially new ones. Well, I said what I wanted to say in that post so I'll just leave you with this cute video my girls and I made for BabyLove Premium Gold Pants, which by the way has 50% off on all their products for Shopee's 05.05 sale event! SHOP HERE. You can also follow them on Facebook: Click here!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by BabyLove but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sophia's McDonald's Kiddie Crew Workshop Experience

Sophia just finished her first summer activity as a McDonald's Kiddie Crew member yesterday. At first, I thought it will just be an ordinary experience for her but turns out she really had a blast. Sulit our Php 695! She just didn't get her McDo t-shirt, bag, apron, cap, chef's hat and notebook but she got to eat there, too – for 5 days! I thought nga that McDo didn't earn anything from it but naku, the parents and guardians waiting for the kids can't help but buy talaga. Guilty mom here for having iced coffee vanilla and spaghetti and chicken and cheeseburger. LOL.

We enrolled her in the branch near us; it's the most calm store among all McDo stores in Marikina. Not that there's no foot traffic but it's situated beside Palmera Center, an exclusive subdivision in Marikina Heights. I expected the kids (and their guardians) to be just a peaceful bunch. But of course, there will always be rowdy boys and adults who do nothing about it. Ha! And please don't start with families who are always late. I mean, Sophia's schedule was 1 PM but there was one family who just kept on coming 30 minutes after... from Day 1 until the grand graduation. I actually didn't care but they have distracted the kids from what they were already doing for each day they came in late. Worse, they are so entitled to having their kids' photos taken. Sorry if I sound so rant-y, moms! I know this is like a regular thing in your kids' schools – annoying mommies, that is. But I'm not just used to it after two years in Sophia's school. Parents there are empathic and decent.

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 –