College Kid and the Empty Nest Syndrome

I feel stirrings of the empty nest syndrome. I can’t even do the things that are normally advised to ease the mild depression and loneliness that comes with an empty nest: like get a new job, start a hobby, go out with friends, or go on a trip with your spouse. I still have two kiddos in the house that need caring after.

This is the start of his sophomore year. My “semi-syndrome” is kicking in a year late...

Interesting Facts About Mother’s Day

My own mother will be in Guam to attend the wedding of a niece on the second Sunday of May this year. I myself am not too keen on celebrating the day, except maybe for daydreams of sleeping in and having Rodic’s tapsilog served to me in bed (a logistic impossibility).

However, the concept of officially celebrating motherhood with a special day is an interesting one.  The facts behind the celebration make it even more interesting.

• The founder of Mother’s Day in the United States, Anna Jarvis, never became a mother

• She died in poverty after spending her life fighting against the commercialization of Mother’s Day

Healthy Recipe: Pinakbet

For moms and dads who are looking for healthy food for their family meals, here is a popular Filipino dish from the north to add to your dinner recipe collection.

10 Practical and Affordable Things To Do This Summer

Ever the Azkals fan, Naomi wrote about soccer camp or football for kids this summer. Her blogpost inspired me to make my own version of things for the kids to do during this 2 month long vacation. Here are a few more suggestions for fun and educational activities that you could do with your kids.

Coming from a practical and thrifty stay-at-home hands-on parent, it kind of requires more time & planning than usual. But then again you won’t be spending a fortune on fees and lessons.

Mom Notes Partners with MomCenter

Dear Moms,
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We encourage you to sign up at MomCenter.com.ph, where you could interact with thousands of other Filipina moms (and dads maybe?) in this extensive online parenting community.

Life Is What Happens

I was going to post a series of comic strips based on humorous events around my house with two wild kiddos and their harried homebased writer/artist of a mom. Dad and college kid home-for-the-summer will be playing best supporting actors for a cast of five. I even asked the hubby to do the sketches for me. However, both our artistic mojos have all but been lost in the day-to-day of mother/fatherhood, so that he was able to do only one very lifelike cartoon character sketch of the youngest, and nothing else.

To save the day (or at least the blog post for my scheduled day of posting) I attempted, with my lesser drawing skills, to do ‘em sketches myself. I did make passable drawings there on the sketchpad, I am proud to say. Why are they not here then? Oh, it’s because I lost the drawings in the clutter of my household. I missed a week of posting because of this. Told ya I was harried.

Homeschooling Tips: The Lapbook Project

I’m not the best example of a homeschooling parent, but forgive me if I gloat about this one thing. I’m just so proud of these lapbooks that we made. Lapbooking is awesome!

science lapbook

How I Breastfed Three Kids Til Toddlerhood

First attempts at breastfeeding
 from a first-time mom

I suppose I was lucky the first time. I gave birth in a small, out-of-the-way, but well-maintained hospital. I believe these kinds of places are friendlier to breastfeeding than the big city hospitals. For one thing, there was only one other in-patient during my stay, so there were no viruses and bacteria to worry about. It was a normal birth. The baby and I were roomed-in at once, and I didn’t have to fight for it, or even insist.

New Mom Blogger Kelly: Queen of All Trades

Kelly with little Kaaro

Now that you've met Steffi, let me now introduce our next, new mommy blogger. Mommy Kelly is mother to three boys (four, including her adoring husband, Marlon) with whom she's made a home in Cagayan de Oro.

She and her husband are both artists and between mothering and working online, it amazes me that she still finds time to curate museum exhibits, organize artist directories, spearhead conventions, and who knows what else. She even home-schools her younger boys. Lately, she was just in Boracay, where she attended a tattoo convention and learned about the basics of tattooing.