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.

How to Raise Well-Rounded Achievers

[You may also view this article on MomCenter.com.ph.]
For the past couple of weeks, I've been seeing a lot of Facebook friends posting graduation and recognition photos of their children/nephews/nieces/grandchildren.

I posted one myself of me and my daughter Nini, who was awarded second honorable mention and was named Most Cheerful/Most Gentle in her first-grade class (so proud of her!). One of my Facebook friends, whose daughter took home tons of academic and extra-curricular awards after her high school graduation (and is an incoming freshman at the University of the Philippines to boot), caught my attention. I wondered, "How do you raise an achiever?"

What's the History Behind Your Child's Name?

Your child's life on this earth begins with his name. A name is the symbol, the identity which a person carries throughout every chapter of his life. His family, his friends, his enemies, his mentors, and up to the very last stranger he introduces himself to will recognize him by his name.

This is how important choosing a name for my daughter was to me. I wanted her name to be perfect and beautiful as it reflects how beautiful and special she is to me. The problem though is that choosing a name out of the millions of possible ones out there is just too difficult for me.

Keeping Buried Treasure for Your Children

This is a photo of a 1995 playbill of my performance in a major kindergarten play. The title is Daughters of Mohamed and I played the main role as "Kadiga", the handmaid servant of the 3 princesses of Mohamed.
Fast forward to 2011 and this playbill is still around, with the handwriting of my grandmother still intact and readable. She kept this copy in a photo album stored inside her own treasure chest in her room, and thankfully I didn't accidentally lose it or throw it away.

Summer Activities for Kids: Kick Balls at Futbol Funatics!

The month of March is almost over (which reminds me, a very belated Happy International Women's Day to all!). For us moms with schoolchildren under our wing, it offers a slight relief from having to wake up very early in the mornings, preparing baon, and paying for tuition fees and school expenses because finally, summer vacation is at hand! Our bodies and our wallets could rest for a couple of months before a brand new school year starts.

In the meantime, families are starting to plan beach holidays or vacations in the provinces, especially for Holy Week. You might also be thinking of signing your children up for summer activities that would keep them happily busy.

When Freelancing and Motherhood Isn't Always a Good Match

I'm an active freelance copywriter and blogger, and one of the things I realized only recently is that freelancing and motherhood don't always go well together.

You'd here people saying that freelancing has helped them by giving them the opportunity to be with their families while working, but what you haven't heard are the trials, challenges, and even failures that come with the ability to work from your own home.  I've experienced these failures in particular for myself and to be honest, I still haven't come up with a better solution than to hire a yaya or to cut down on your workload.

Doing Both Can Be Just as Stressful

Here's what I think:

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

(Still) Tangled Up!

"Tangled," although sure to be enjoyed by all kinds of audiences, also deals with the trappings of mother-daughter relationships. It is about the story of Rapunzel, a character Ninipie knows too well from her bedtime stories. In the original Grimm version, the reason why the witch kept Rapunzel in the tower was because her parents "owed" her after the couple stole her medicinal plants. Disney gives the story more depth by supplying a more feasible, magical, and rather believable reason. (I'm not telling. Watch the movie! J)

A Special Moment with My Daughter

I've experienced one-of-a-kind moments and instances with my 11-month old daughter from time to time, which sometimes gives me an idea just what is in her heart and, hopefully, what type of personality she has as a person.

Today, I saw once again one of her most beautiful qualities that makes her lovable and special: her ability to lift my spirits and make me smile.

A Brave Little Girl

I was crying today because of a fight I had with my husband. I guess my yelling woke the little one up from her morning nap, because she was awake when I stepped out of the bathroom.

She didn't cry a single tear due to the sudden noise. She just lay on her back and looked intently at the moving figure that was sniffling and crying her eyes out on a blue towel. She then sat up and stared, wondering what was wrong with her mother.

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.

My Plea to All Would-Be and First-Time Moms

It was a Sunday morning when my husband's little sister knocked on the door and relayed heartbreaking news.
A baby girl of about 3 months was found abandoned in her parents' house, alone with her tiny legs full of rat bite marks. Someone had informed my father-in-law, a Kagawad official of the barangay, about it, so he asked for the baby to be brought inside our home.

10 Important Tasks a First-time Mom's Gotta Do

Just found out you're about to have your very first baby? Congratulations! Those 2 red lines represent the start of a journey that will forever change your life.

Let the feelings of euphoria and nervousness sink in. Allow yourself to bask in the realization that in the next 40 weeks, you will be experiencing a miracle that only we women are blessed with.

But this miracle is a precious one, something that you don't just toss from one hand to the other. And because it is precious, it can break at the slightest sign of carelessness and neglect. Don't ever allow this to happen to you! Start taking good care of yourself and your baby by keeping these 10 important tasks in mind: