Femme Power

Archive for the ‘Family and Parenting’ Category

Motherhood is not a walk in the park but if you need to take a walk with your little one, get a pram.  Bonding with baby is one of the greatest joys of motherhood that every mom wants to cherish.  While carrying the baby in your arms is a good thing, it could be stressful after a long time.  Especially when you’re taking a long walk.

photo by shopwiki.co.uk

Choose a pram or stroller that best suits you and your baby’s needs.   There are lightweight and umbrella prams good for tots who can already support their neck.  These are easy to pack when you travel and are best for malling and street walking.   Full-featured prams are the most common, are durable, and they have ample room for lots of baby gear.  Travel prams are suitable for kids of all ages and they come with a removable carrier which can also be used as a car seat.

Baby cribs are also essential when you have a baby.  Babies spend a lot of time in cribs because they sleep for long hours so choose a crib that’s comfortable, safe and of good quality.

photo by shopwiki.co.uk

And it wouldn’t be complete without having a playmat or gym to stimulate baby’s mind during playtime. I found some adorable playmats that are colorful, soft, washable, and safe for the little ones.   You can actually find a complete line of baby’s needs in one website, shopwiki.co.uk.

Your bundle of joy will surely enjoy every minute of your bonding time together.

My daughter, a second grader, seems to have problems with saying no.   She shares almost everything she has with her classmates - her “baon” (either money or snacks I prepared for her), paper, crayons, and pencils.  Often, she ends up with just a tiny bit of food for snacks because her classmates eat up much of it.  I also buy her school supplies more often than necessary because her classmates have the habit of owning her stuff after “borrowing” them.

Just how much is too much?  I consider it too much when force and intimidation (bullying) come into play, or when her things are “borrowed” but were never returned despite my daughter’s insistence. It’s too much when some school supplies are stolen and when her packed food for recess is mostly consumed by other kids but her.

If there’s one thing that I observe, it’s that my daughter doesn’t look bullied. I even hear her classmates chant her name when she enters the classroom.  I get to wonder, is this one of the reasons why she seems popular in school? Because she’s known for sharing? Or that she doesn’t seem to get upset when her things end up with her classmates for keeps? She’s always excited to go to school everyday and her grades are high too.  She tells me that at least two of her male classmates ask for her “baon” everyday even if they have their own food.  But she says it’s fine with her. She even struck me once when she asked me upfront “Why, mom? Is it bad to share?”  No it isn’t.  But I’m afraid she’s getting close to getting abused.  Or am I just being paranoid?   If it’s fine with my daughter, should it be fine with me too?

While I’m glad that she loves to share, I’m quite concerned that perhaps she’s being too nice, she doesn’t leave much for herself.   It’s not about the amount of school supplies lost or unreturned.  It’s about “What is given is given but what is borrowed is borrowed and should be returned.”

I often talk to my daughter’s teacher about her performance and behavior in school but I never told her about the one-way “sharing” going on inside her classroom.   I guess this time I have to.

My youngest brother, Ray An, sent me this through YM.  The original source/author of this poem is anonymous but I’d like to share it with you especially to the dads out there.   To my own dad, I can never thank you enough for raising us siblings to be responsible and caring individuals.  We love you a lot!

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle’s flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it…
Dad.

Happy Father’s Day!

It’s been a hell of a week for me that’s why it took me ages to update this blog.  Did you ever have that moment when your writing appetite just go puff because your mind is preocuppied with a whole bunch of other pressing concerns?

My hubby is on his second business trip for this month and I’m left with my 8-year-old daughter.  The problem is, I have to work at night. And leaving my daughter home alone for more than eight long hours is unfathomable. You feel how I feel? You can’t imagine the many “what if” scenarios I have in my already paranoid mind.   What’s a mom to do?

Hoping to juggle both work and family, I brought my daughter along with me to my workplace for three nights under my boss’s permission.  Our workplace has a resting area where there’s a comfy bed that my daughter could sleep on while I work. It also has a pantry full of snacks that my daughter enjoyed gobbling before going to bed. There’s also a cable TV for her to watch until she dozes off. Generally, she enjoyed our 3-day routine.  She loved my workplace.

It was the best option I had on those nights…but not tonight.  Tonight I’m looking at my daughter sprawled in bed so early, looking so tired. I know as a mom, she’s affected by the set up.  I feel mad at myself. Although my daughter was too eager to come with me to work for the past three days (It made her feel she was working too and it excited her a lot), I don’t think she should be dragged into this.  So tonight, I’m taking a leave of absence. My daughter deserves better.  She’s my priority.  We’re both staying home and she gets enough rest.

Call center agent by night, blogger by day, mom and wife 24/7.   No wonder why I’m feeling so harassed lately, all I ever want is a deep slumber.  Maybe some of my friends in the blogosphere have noticed my silence for the past few days.  There goes the explanation.

See, I go to work at 12 midnight just when everyone is asleep or preparing to go to bed.   I come home at past 8 am, cook breakfast, eat some (sometimes not), clean the house, prepare the laundry to be sent to the laundry shop.  Only then can I have the privilege to sleep.  Then I wake up again by 12:30 to make sure my daughter eats her lunch.  After washing the dishes, blah blah (You know the endless chores moms do at home right?), I check my two emails, my two blogs and visit other blogs if I can still hold my head up literally.   Lucky me if I get to catch some sleep beyond 4 hrs in a day.

I even missed an interview with ODesk last week for a 6-month online job.  I couldn’t possibly squeeze it in my already jam-packed schedule.  So I decided to switch my ODesk profile to private so that prospective employers can’t view it unless I apply.

Lately, I’m afraid the daily grind has started to take a toll on me.   But I’m a mom. I can’t complain.  It’s not a bed of roses to raise a family and I’m sure other parents have undergone even bigger challenges in their lifetime.   Nobody forced me to work again anyway, it was my own decision.   And I don’t regret it.   I know I’m kind of spreading myself too thin.  But I’m really stubborn by nature.  I’m staying with my job until the next school year starts.   In the end, my family stays on top of my priority.

I think I’ll still be alive by then anyway, lol.

This kitten just showed up on our gate one day.   Apparently it was lost and hungry.   My husband picked it up and placed it on the rooftop where it could eat and rest.   From then on, it stayed with us.   Despite the neighbors’ prodding to stray the little kitten, we decided to keep it.  I myself can’t stomach the idea of letting it starve in the middle of the street and exposing it to a lot of danger being homeless.

It gives me extra workload, yes - feeding the kitten and cleaning the rooftop everyday to ensure cleanliness and prevent odor.  But I can very well handle it.   What I can’t possibly handle is to kick the kitten out of the house and deny it of protection when it’s even too young to “fend” for itself.

Lately, my daughter has taken the responsibility of feeding the cat regularly. She’s so fond of the kitten that she gave her a name (Kitty), talks to it and checks on it frequently to ensure that it’s well.

So I guess we hit two birds with one stone - saving the kitten and teaching our child to be responsible and compassionate.

Over the past days since I started working again, my responsibilities doubled while my time condensed.   Since I don’t have a maid (and I have no intention of getting one for the nth time) I have to do household chores on my own before I run off to work at night and when I get home in the morning.

I realized my household tasks could be less tedious if I had the right home appliances and tools.

Yesterday I was slicing fruits when the knife caught my finger.  It was viciously painful.   It wasn’t the first time that I cut myself while peeling, slicing or chopping fruits and vegetables and I really should get a food processor before I do myself more harm.

In cleaning the house, I have a dependable mop that’s making my life easier. Yet there are areas that I just can’t reach without moving some heavy fixtures and there’s no way I can clean the rugs with a mop either.  A vacuum cleaner would be a lot of help especially that me and my daughter are both allergic to dust.

Lastly, I’m thinking of buying some fine dinnerware to spruce up my cupboard.   I found all these at ShopWiki.com where there are more and better options because they feature all the products they find for sale on the Web.  Meaning they’re not limited to stores that pay for some ad space like in most online shopping sites.

With these “personal assistants” sans the maid, household chores shouldn’t be that overwhelming.