Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 13th, 2008 in Baby Basics, Family Quirks, Mom Entrepreneur, Proud Mommy
As I told a new friend, I am not a materialistic person. I am mostly content with what I have and won’t go out of my way to buy stuff that I deem “unnecessary” according to my strictly frugal Ilocano upbringing, which mandates that I must always save the bigger portion of my earnings in a bank account.
Motherhood changed me a bit when it comes to shopping. Suddenly, I am more aware of the trends, looking through color combinations more, and spending a lot more time in online stores such as Amazon and Buy.com’s best buy section.
Hubby tells me that I always had that in me and that I must have secretly suppressed my inner shopping diva to satisfy the guilt that overspending brings. Momhood has unleashed my commercial drive, and now I feel the urge to excel in that aspect of womanhood too, as I excelled in other aspects.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 10th, 2008 in Proud Mommy
This is the once a year day where mothers can be the Diva that they are and get away with it! Kisses, hugs, sweet nothings, more kisses and more hugs… you name it. This is the day we are gettting so much of it!!!
We are going out tomorrow. It’s going to be a dinner for la mama de sutil (the mom of the little pinoy devil), and I expect all moms to be in whichever restaurant we go to, strutting their best clothes, and celebrating the day that is rightfully ours. I expect tables to be fully booked and lights to be as bright as the vegas hotels we see on television.
The yearly happiness of celebrating this day with billions of moms around the world is sooo worth the hours of sitting in a chair with stir ups for hours with a bulging, moving tummy and a fetal monitor strapped across it.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY EVERYONE!!!
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 10th, 2008 in Mom Entrepreneur, Mommy Alert, Mommy Thoughts, Pregnancy
My preggy best friend is really preggy now. I say “really preggy” to describe the really big state that becomes our reality during the second to third trimesters.
The best advice I can give a really preggy girl? Exercise, walk, don’t eat junk food and put your feet up. I have viewed like a hundred videos and how-to guides on pregnant women exercising and how successful their births are … testimonials of course from students of gym coaches and personal trainers. Did I exercise when I was preggy? Err… can you consider malling as an exercise? I do! It means walking and walking is good! It also means getting tempted by soda stands and candy shops that seem to sell ‘live’ candies that whisper “…eat… me… buy… me…”
it’s almost funny how some of us go through gazillions of diagnostic tests and expensive consultation fees just to find the safest diet pills that we can use, when we can exercise anytime and get the same results. XD
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 9th, 2008 in Family Quirks, Mommy Thoughts
When it comes to window decoration, there are only 2 types of people: curtain people or blinds people. The curtain people are the sentimental, finicky types who don’t mind changing curtains every now and then as long as they maintain the ability to choose what design they want next for their window. Some curtains are extremely high maintenance, in that they cannot just be laundered in the washing machine, one has to bring them to the dry cleaners. The more romantic ones use layers upon layers of curtains; experimenting with the colors and color combinations.
Blinds people are those who don’t mind installing the blinds and be done with the window issue once and for all. The blinds are easy enough to clean, using a feather duster or a wet cloth. These people see the convenience of not changing window accessory as a good deal, when compared to the hassle of laundering the heavy drapes every week so they won’t collect dust.
So what type are you? I think I have undergone a transition from being a curtains person to a blinds person, just because I have to launder the curtains myself.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 9th, 2008 in Mommy Thoughts
Some people ask me why I never bought a car. I flippantly tell them that I’m an avid commuter and I’d miss sleeping inside a bus if I buy a car; not to mention the ever-entertaining bus videos of course.
Seriously though, it all started when we were kids. I never really made the effort to learn driving because driving then meant being the one obligated to help out in deliveries (we are in the food business). I was content enough reading a book while ’supervising’ the employees, then taking calls for my mom over the landline during hectic time (when clients check if their food is ready).
I chanced upon some Cadillac photos, with their fancy Cadillac grills, and suddenly I feel a twinge of regret that, even when I can afford a fancy car like that, I can’t even use it like it deserves to be used. Ah, the power of having a magnificent vessel responding to your every command.
This post is me saying “Do not follow my example. Learn how to drive and drive well. Do not fear the responsibility of having a car, even if sometimes, it’s more needy than a newborn baby.”
On second thought, with the EXTREMELY high gas prices now, you’re probably better off buying a bicycle.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 8th, 2008 in Family Quirks
I’m sure every mom has had bad days when exhaustion just gets too much and you want nothing than to sleep it off to prepare for the next round of busy days ahead.It’s hard to carve out time for romance and kisses when the kids are screaming and the casseroles are boiling over, but investing on the love between you and your husband will be well worth the effort in the long run.
Don’t get overwhelmed. Start off with small gestures to get the ball rolling. If you have been stuck in the mommy rut for a good amount of time, he won’t even see it coming. Like when we were younger, we scribbled the name of another kid that we liked on our notebooks. Being a kid again and doing little puppy love things we all used to do will remind the men in our lives that we are still there. Blow him a kiss now and then, even if your big chore for the day is just moving your home office furniture.
Slip a note in the pocket of his pants secretly before he goes to work. But don’t write the chore list! Instead, write some verse from a poem you both liked or a bible verse, to inspire him during the day. Through the note tell him one thing that makes you love him.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 8th, 2008 in Mommy Thoughts
Arranging the home office for the day.
I notice how loyal I become to the stuff I use to work. Examples include my pens. for as long as I can remember, I’ve been loyal to bic pens, even while still getting my degree at the university.
Some weird consumer phenomenon that keeps us going back to the products that did us well in the past maybe? I go out to buy office supplies every two months and I buy the same things over and over; same brand of pens, highlighter, organizer fillers, scotch tape, duck tape and even stationeries.
I wonder if it’s just because I’m obsessive about my stuff.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 8th, 2008 in Family Quirks, Mom Entrepreneur
I’ve been watching Asian Novelas, the soap operas that are in Chinese but dubbed in English or edited to show subtitles. Sometimes my baby will let me watch these things but will look like he’s timing my watching time. Nonetheless, I often wonder what would happen if people put closed captioning in their homemade videos and send them to a reality show.
I mean, soap operas are stuff that we watch because we can relate to them right? So why not make a reality show where people can send in their own? The subtitles are there for the versions to go international.
Stardom dreams are fun sometimes.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 8th, 2008 in Mommy Thoughts
Nostalgic mode.
I adore wooden furnitures and sculptures. In fact, I go out of my way to find them in galleries and thrift shops. The more quality the wood is the more I drool for them. It’s something that reminds us just how nature takes care of us.
I have been looking at some teak furniture over the net, and I’ve seen one shop that sells hardwood mahogany furnitures near my place. Then a pang of guilt hit me. I haven’t planted a seedling in years.
I would love to have my son enjoy the things I loved when he grows up. Sadly, with the rate of how people denude resources to please the ardent artistic people like me dictates the future of these hardwood trees that please me so much.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 7th, 2008 in Baby Basics, Baby Quirks, Family Quirks
When people told me about this child’s phenomenon called “terrible twos” I always thought it can’t be that bad. I was wrong. This is the time when the baby seems almost grown up, with the same disposition as his future self: sometimes moody, sometimes super happy, very hungry for attention and sometimes too selfish to care about your feelings.
The main difference is, of course, at two years old he cannot express himself well. You, the parent, have to guess what his cries mean, taking into consideration the time of the day, the habits, the toys that he likes… etc.
About television. This is the time when I really wish we allotted enough money to buy an lcd mount, one we can hang where he could not reach. Sometimes, even when we are busy, he won’t keep still watching television. I already taught him how to change channels using the remote control, but then he insists on manually changing channels, the results of which include the channel changer on the television being so worn that we may have to change it. Of course, for 1/4 the price of a regular television set! If it gets too worn to use, we might have to buy a new television unnecessarily.
Now, how to explain that to a moody two-year-old…
As I told a new friend, I am not a materialistic person. I am mostly content with what I have and won’t go out of my way to buy stuff that I deem “unnecessary” according to my strictly frugal Ilocano upbringing, which mandates that I must always save the bigger portion of my earnings in a bank account.
