Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 13th, 2008 in Baby Basics, Baby Quirks
Have you ever gone to a store in a mall and thought that not a single clothing item there will fit your baby? This is particularly true when you don’t have your baby with you when you go there. More than once, mothers have blamed salesladies for telling them that the item they bought will fit their 2 year old or 3 year old baby. Is this kid clothes phenomenon common among the awkward ages of 2 and 3? I could think of another age with the same thing occurring again: 6-7 years of age.
The best tip I received from other moms is to find a brand that has perfectly fitted sizes, relative to your child’s size of course. I found myself getting to know baby clothing brands that don’t have exact sizes for 2 or 3 year olds, and also some baby brands that fit perfectly. A nice way to start being brand loyal eh?
Salesladies would ask moms “is your baby fat?” and “is your baby tall for his age?”. While my son is average in size, from a doting mom’s perspective, he could be fat to others and thin to some, which makes the whole buying kid clothes thing a little more difficult.
It’s a good thing that babies grow up so fast that we won’t even have to worry about toddler sizes for long. Soon, we are going to have to worry about bigger kid clothes, and that’s another story.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 11th, 2008 in Family Quirks, Kids' Imagination, Mommy Thoughts, Proud Mommy
Recent video game issues at home provoked the thought of me founding a Family Video Game Addicts Anonymous. Simply put, this organization will cater to families that play video games together!
The biggest video game buff of course is the dad, who gets to learn the ropes first before I and AJ do. We already have the latest gadgets, except playstation 3, which we COULD buy, but we won’t for now because we still have other Nintendo games to discover and play… as a family.
Maybe this video game craze has kept some people apart because one or 2 members are in another world, but I have to say, having similar interests certainly made us closer. 
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 11th, 2008 in Family Travel, Mommy Thoughts
Here’s my attempt at planning for a family vacation using the internet as resource. This is for my pals who may want to go take a drive somewhere or simply want an itinerary for their travels. First stop, Vegas! Vegas vacations don’t always involve going to casinos to gamble, particularly if there are kids in the group.
The best places to take toddlers and infants would be the Shark Reef (Mandalay Bay), and the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat for some underwater fun at the Mirage and MGM Lion Habitat.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 9th, 2008 in Baby Quirks, Family Quirks, Kids' Imagination, Proud Mommy
My resignation in the office is now finalized and I am a free woman. Unemployed, but free. Poor? Hmm… that would depend on how people will define being poor. I”m rich in love and overwhelming excitement about being able to spend more time with my family, particularly during the most exciting holidays of the year. Money poor? Let’s see what tomorrow brings!
We are well into the second half of this year, and so far, this has been the best year of my life. The second part of the year has always excited me, but now that I have AJ, my excitement meter is almost bursting. First there’s Halloween, then Christmas and then New Year. This year is the first year that my son can fully participate in the activities connected with these holidays; because he’s bigger now and can fit into the halloween costumes I’ll make him wear.
The things I must plan for include the birthdays of the most important men in my life; and these entail one major restaurant theme party and one major open house party at home. These event planning things go right up my alley, but my major dilemma is getting the men involved to participate. I may have to bribe them into doing the stuff that I want them to do, like dress up like comic book characters in tandem, i.e. father and son (Superman and Superboy). I used to never understand how stage mothers feel, but now I do! And, hopefully, the little pinoy devil will feel like a star so much that I can continue being one.
One how-to tip on getting the men excited about holiday events and parties told me to center the craft activities around things they like. During Halloween they can cut-out and color the bat and spiderweb decorations together, while I cook the pastries. For Christmas, they can do the tree. My men love to over-think things and I might just get red bats and a multicolored Christmas tree! AJ in particular colors like a crazed house painter, but his color schemes match so well, you can even call them art!
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 6th, 2008 in Mommy Thoughts
This latest Paris Hilton issue tickled me to no end. For those who still don’t know here, she is heiress to a fortune comprising several hotel chains all over the USA. In fact, anything ‘Hilton’ could be hers, maybe even Hilton Head rentals ?
She is just the socialite we love to watch, make fun of and gossip about. But a new tidbit was released and it seems that the Paris that we know could be a put on!
I found this on daily dish. It seems that Miss Simple Life gets paid to party, which isn’t new info really, but in the article she claims that who she is really is so different from her socialite persona. The photo of her on that article shows her in a simple do and with a simple cross adornment around her neck; not much make up; and a gentle smile. Is this their way of saying that ‘THIS is the REAL Paris Hilton”?
If i didn’t know any better, I’d say that the party girl who got imprisoned for DUI is a completely different person, and definitely NOT this simple, blonde and demure Christian girl with the nice smile.
She’s claiming that her dedicated partying was indeed ‘just work’. Then, maybe I have something in common with the fab Paris Hilton. We are both workaholics.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 5th, 2008 in Baby Basics, Kids' Imagination, Pregnancy, Proud Mommy
Finally, the rest of the world caught up. Summer fun is everywhere and for kids, it’s vacation time!
I remember getting all excited about summer, like it really is a big deal, because our teachers always made us list what we wanted to do during vacation. I usually put in picnic, beach and travel. We live in northern Luzon so for sure there are beaches that we can go to any time of the year, but somehow summer beach time is always special. Maybe it’s because everyone else will be there.
The Beach! Usually, going to the beach means getting burnt so as soon as I discovered books, I stayed under shade when the sun is at its hottest, then go swimming only when the sun isn’t too scorching anymore.
Here are a few tips to create summer anticipation in your little one’s heart
- Buy a scrapbook for him which he can fill with all his summer photos
- Collection project. Call it your ‘Summer Shell Collection’, and decorate a glass jar, which you will display when filled with sea shells!
- Teach him how to write a poem about summer. Start by making him describe the sun, the beaches, the flowers, the fruits, the BBQ parties, the lemonade stands. Note: These poetry projects got me into this whole writing thing, so it really works!
- Buy him a small camera to take snapshots with.
Vacation time means going out of town or out of the country. If you are looking for the best vacation deals, Shermans travel is a good place to start looking.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 5th, 2008 in Baby Quirks, Family Quirks, Kids' Imagination, Mommy Thoughts, Proud Mommy
The little Pinoy devil strikes again!
Here’s the deal. AJ loves TV and he is the master remote holder at home. We even have a theory that he’s learning a lot how to count via remote control handling, as he can easily find the channel he wants just by pressing buttons. Or, when he misplaces the TV remote control, via changing the channels on the TV itself. He utters words that ’sound like’ numbers as he goes from one channel to the next. And, he even prefers one language for the TV.
Yep. He configures the television himself, usually while he watches. He adjusts the color and the language right before he watches his favorite programs at Cartoon Channel or Karaoke Channel. He almost always manages to find the configuration he wants, with German as his language of choice.
The only trouble is, because he is Television Dictator at home, I and Daddy can no longer follow our favorite programs and have relied on torrents to watch our favorite series, such as House and Lost. One time, the hubby told me all about home theater seating and how it would be nice if we can all relax watching a big screen television. However, I pointedly reminded him that our son will hog that TV the same way.
But still, it would be nice to watch television in style, even if we have no choice but to watch ONLY Tom&Jerry and Dora the Explorer.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 3rd, 2008 in Mom Entrepreneur, Mommy Thoughts
In remembrance of our friends and relatives in the USA who could be out there planning their Fourth of July BBQ party as early as now, here are some tips I came up with to help you out. Adobo, the Philippine national dish, is not just stewed meat boiled in its own sauce. One nice way of serving adobo is to boil the meat in adobo sauce then grill it.
You will need:
800 g to 1kg Chicken cut up
one cup of soy sauce
half a cup of vinegar
laurel leaves
5 garlic bulbs crushed
whole peppercorns
Salt or Fish Sauce
Five Spice Powder
Sesame Oil
salt
Combine everything except the sesame oil and five spice powder in a bowl and let stand for an hour. Transfer everything in a casserole and boil for 3 minutes before simmering for 15 minutes more. Do NOT stir. Remove the chicken from the sauce, drain and set aside. Add five spice and sesame oil to the still boiling sauce just before turning off the heat. Fire up the grill and arrange the chicken so that the heat sears the outer parts quickly (remember that the inside is already cooked). Baste generously with the sauce until the chicken is golden brown or grilled to perfection!
For a spicier variation, one can add tabasco sauce during the basting phase.
Grilled chicken like these make moms like me carbo load more than any other cooking style. Sticky, delicious adobo can make one forget to take her wieght loss pills. But the heady All-Filipino taste is definitely worth it!
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 3rd, 2008 in Mom Entrepreneur
Meeting my mom again after several months brought up memories of my childhood. I used to think that a part of my growing pains has always been being scolded for not helping out much in the kitchen. Being the family geek is kinda funny in retrospect. My face was almost always buried in a book, while the rest of the family ran around preparing for a big catering event. Every once in a while, my mom will remember to call out and make me do things in the kitchen.
Every few minutes, utensils and bowls pile up in the sinks. This has always been a side effect of cooking. My task was to clear everything from the sinks so that the faucets are free for various cleaning needs. It makes me wonder if heavy duty Delta faucets are better for kitchens. They are usually for big western baths, but then their size could easily be put to use in a kitchen sink that needs water everywhere at the same time.
Once that’s done, I’d go back to my little nook and read the dog-eared book that I always had nearby. I had a few minutes of peace before being asked to get up again and do the same things all over again. Cooking for a big group was always a passion for my mom and my sis. I thought that the same passion was absent in me, being a geek and all, but now that I’m a mom myself and constantly looking for means to earn for my family, I realize that the years of being in a caterer’s kitchen could have planted some thoughts of going for it myself.
Thanks, Mama, for the lessons.
