Pottery Barn Kids Manila

Last weekend, we were finally able to check out the newly opened Pottery Barn Kids at BHS Central in BGC. I will be sharing to you a few of the things you'll see but as much as I would like to recommend what to get, I was not able to buy anything because they are expensive! Lol.

On a serious note though, we are lucky enough to have a few pieces of from Pottery Barn Kids all thanks to my in-laws who lovingly sent them over for their grand daughter. :) We got the Kendall crib as well as some crib sheets. We really really love because Ava's crib mattress (from the Baby Company) was the 6" thick type and since the typical thickness of crib mattresses here are just 4", sheets for the 6" thick are a bit hard to find.

Darling Daughter loves her crib so much she even tried to eat it. Lol. Pink Elephant sheet from Pottery Barn.

You The Mom!

Motherhood is a bit overwhelming. Ok, not just a bit but maybe a lot. But if you find the right people to help you or advise you, then it can turn the tables and reveal the real awesomeness of being a Mother. Long story short, I found mine in Mommy Mundo.

Mommy Mundo is the Philippines’ most extensive portal of mom and family-focused resources. Born out of a passion for motherhood, an advocacy for active parenting, and driven by a desire to help and provide support to mothers, Mommy Mundo aims to serve the information needs of moms not only through this online home, but through other forms of media such as print, web, events, and beyond. Mommy Mundo is made up of an active community of more than 30,000 moms. - Mommy Mundo

Mommy Mundo's Expomom "You The Mom!" in Glorietta

Babywearing and Breastfeeding in a SaYa

I think I was more emotional now that Ava turned 18 months old compared when she turned one. Lol. I wonder why. Maybe because we are also celebrating some of the milestones she did at 6 months or maybe because it's Mother's Day. Or most likely, one of those times when I can't help but think that my baby's growing up so fast. #nanaysentiments

Breastfeeding while babywearing my 18m.o. darling daughter. 

So one result of my senti moment, I posted a photo of Ava breastfeeding while I wore her in our much loved SaYa carrier. And the beautiful Miss Buding, took notice and asked if I could make a simple video tutorial. I just love sharing and learning to and from other moms so I told her that I'll surely make one. And this is also my Mother's Day gift to my fellow babywearing Mamas. :)

Celebrating One Year of BLW

It was exactly on Ava's 6th month celebration when we introduced her to solids. Her first food was avocado. That was one year ago already.

When we started out with the whole parenting thing, we were basically relying on our doctors, parents and siblings for advises. That meant doing everything the traditional way. As we adjusted a few months later, we began to have a better understanding that we are already building a family of our own. I, particularly, wanted to break from my family's norm of raising up kids. Don't get me wrong, I am forever grateful to my parents and I respect my siblings' decisions in raising up their own kids. It's just that I think, our generations have evolved immensely and there are significant information that we didn't know back then that we know now. That's where our choice for Attachment Parenting (AP) came in.

Our Darling Daughter's Birth Story

As our toddler turns 18 months old today, I would like to finally share the story of her birth.

October 30, 2012 | Wednesday. It was two weeks before my due date. I was sitting outside my OB's clinic after my office, waiting for Cholo and for my turn to be checked. Ava, like the impatient baby that she is, was kicking and somersaulting like an olympic gold medalist inside my tummy. I was not complaining because any movement was always a good indication for us during that time. Cholo arrived around 7pm and not too long after, it was our turn to be checked. During the ultrasound, our OB told me that she can't seem to scan any movements, apparently Ava fell asleep right before we went inside. She instructed me to turn to my left side so we can wake Ava up. Still scanning, our OB told me that she's gonna send me to the ER if she didn't see any movements so we can have a stress test. A few minutes later, Ava twitched. What a good girl! :) My cervix was also checked via IE, I was already 1cm dilated. But we were allowed to go home since I was not experiencing any contractions yet.

After our checkup, while having our dinner, Mr. T and I were even talking about the possibility of Ava being born on November 1. And we thought we were just kidding. I still have a little blood discharge when we got home, thinking it was from my IE earlier, I went about my nightly routine and prepared to rest for the night. My discharge, though small in amount, seemed to be more than just an effect of my IE so we decided to message our OB. She immediately instructed us to proceed to the ER to be checked. So I took a bath (because if this was really it, who knows when's the next time I'd be able to get a full bath. :P), got our stuff ready and went straight to the ER. When we got to the hospital, the residents immediately checked on my cervix. I was admitted at around 11pm, 3cm dilated. It was a long night.

Back to Basics with a Twist

One year of cloth diapering, we have 35 cloth diapers in rotation, plus boosters and extra inserts and other cloth diaper accessories. And oh, we're still expecting a fluffy mail coming in soon. No, that wasn't bragging. If you've been into the whole cloth diapering community, you'll know that that's the average number for an ideal stash.

Let me share our cloth diapering story. :)

We were typical new parents when Ava came along, we had problems with breastfeeding, we were bickering because of exhaustion from the lack of sleep and other typical issues. Getting myself together after the CS operation, taking care of a newborn without a Yaya, going back to work and managing my milk supply were just some of the things we had to overcome. After a couple of months, we eventually got our rhythm as parents and things started getting easier. That's also the time when I found ways how we can go about the whole new world of parenting.

The answer: Fellow parents, especially Mothers, with newborns and toddlers alike from different online communities. One of them was the MCNP Facebook Group.

Before I gave birth to Ava, I've been reading a lot about cloth diapers but the whole thing seemed to be a little too overwhelming with all the do's and don't's so we decided to just skip the whole thing and go for disposables. We were buying a disposable diaper that was 14Php a piece that only lasted for a maximum of 4 hours depending on whether Ava's gonna poop on a new one or not. After a couple of months, we downgraded to a brand that's a little cheaper but still at 10Php a piece. Apparently, the bigger the size the more expensive it becomes. It was about the same time last year, summer time, and the heat was as bad as what we are experiencing right now. And that, is an instant recipe for baby bum rashes. Ava was five months then. Luckily, an Expo Mom was happening that time and we were able to get 3 cloth diapers for trial. A week later, we were exclusively cloth diapering Ava. And as they say, the rest was history. :)

Summer Time is Travel Time

It's summer time and it goes without saying that family trips are also here. For first time parents like us, travelling with a toddler could be a great challenge. Not that we have been travelling, but I've been thinking about it and thought about ways of how we'll manage when the time comes.

Just recently, we were able to travel and visit my parents in Nueva Ecija. It's usually a 3-4-hour-drive from Manila via NLEX, but it seemed like everybody was headed the same way. It took as 6 hours. Our fambam's first time to travel with Ava the toddler that long.

Luckily, our little happy belle didn't seem to bother the long drive. And it also helped that we brought some stuff that kept her busy.


Here's my take on what you can do while travelling with your toddler:

Carseats

The use of carseats in our country is not as strict compared to others. I am also guilty of this, most of the time, we're good with Ava just sitting on my lap either in the front passenger seat or at the back. But I think we should all practice safe travelling especially when we are with our children. Make sure they are all buckled up comfortable and secured. Unlucky for us, we just realized that our darling daughter already outgrew her infant car seat. So we had to take her out from it and just settle at the backseat while Mr. T drove carefully. That's why we're already looking at getting front-facing carseats so the next time we go for a long drive, Ava is already safely buckled up. :)

Left: Ava in her infant car seat. Right: Britax Front-Facing Car Seat.

Mama Goes Shopping

Now, I truly believe that "Shopping is a girl's best friend." And I also found out how it starts and who's to blame - the Mothers. Hahah! I'm raising my hand here.

Having a baby girl is like having a life-size doll. I remember how I used to play with Barbie dolls and paper dolls. I learned how to sew in grade school because of them barbies. But I enjoyed playing with paper dolls more because I get to easily cut and draw different clothes. Now, I get to dress up a real doll! :)

So I'd like to share with you my favorite brands and shops where I get most of our stuff, not only for babies but also including breastfeeding accessories and other Mama stuff. I included the items we got  and love from them that are totally noteworthy. Here we go.. :)