Del Monte Bone Smart

Since I am on my second pregnancy and I should be taking more calcium now, I was really hesitant at first because I am not a fan of vitamins. Tamad akong uminom ng mga gamot lalo na at ang gamot ng mga buntis ay nakakatakot sa laki. Haha. Thanks to my sister-in-law for introducing Del Monte Bone Smart to me because I get to enjoy juice drinks and get calcium at the same time. The one on the photo is their new flavor. They now have pineapple and orange flavors. 

It says on the package that drinking this is equivalent to 2 glasses of milk, oh diba bongga?! This is really good for those who are like me na takot sa gamot na malalaki. Haha. One can of Bone Smart is 25 pesos in grocery stores, not bad naman since this is for you and your baby. :)

Pregnant!

I am so back! Ilang buwan akong hindi nakapag blog dahil sa "hormones" ko. Hihi. 

I am happy to announce that we are expecting our second child! Kaya pala tamad na tamad akong magkikikilos, dahil pala preggy ako! Yay! I am on my 5th month na. Wow! Time flies so fast talaga. 

I learned I was pregnant back in July. Nag suggest ang hubby ko na magtest daw ako kasi two months na akong delayed. Well, at first naman kasi hindi ako natatakot dahil may PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome) ako kaya minsan normal na hindi ako magka period. Then nung nag test ako, boom! Positive nga! Thank you Lord! In all honesty, ready na kameng mag asawa na sundan ang four-year old daughter namin, kasi hindi na siya ganun ka alagain, plus I guess four years is enough to try to give birth normally (I was CS on my first baby).

Now, I'm on my 5th month and hindi pa ganun kalaki ang tummy ko compared nung unang pregnancy ko. Plus, wala masyadong complications, dahil na rin siguro sa nasa bahay lang ako ngayon at hindi araw araw nagta-travel. We are praying for a normal delivery and for a boy, but whatever is God's plan for me, this baby and my family, we will accept. Blessing na nga ang bigyan kame ng isa pang anak at saktong timing pa, kung kailan ready na kame. I believe talaga na when you're ready and your heart is ready, God will give you the desires of your heart. Tiwala lang. :)

I will posting in the coming days a lot of photos from the months I was not able to blog. Marami raming blessings din ang natanggap ko for the past few months, I want to share them with you not to boast but to inspire you and believe that blessings are really overflowing. :)

Will be back soon!

I am happy to announce that I will be back to blogging real soon! I just completed my first trimester and on my second trimester this week so all the pregnant blues are slowly disappering. Yes! I am pregnant with my second child! Thank God! Will have more baby stuff reviews soon and I can't wait to share with you the reviews I've done in the past, plus will be tracking here my pregnancy as it progress.

Blogging again soon!

Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all awesome Daddy around the world!

We celebrated Father's Day last Sunday at SM Mall of Asia and ate at Burger King and the highlight of this was when we went to Swensen's, I won a gift certificate from Instagram! Yay! So timing for this celebration!

This is the Hurricane Ice Cream! We didn't finish this 5 scoop ice cream but it was so delicious! It's not too sweet. I think this is good for 3-5 person already. I forgot how much it cost but I think it's around 400 pesos, but we got this for free! Weee!

We had so much fun eating here and every bite is so worth it! 

Blessings!

I recently won on Cream-O's Race to 300 followers and also on Fiesta Pasta's Like and Share contest on Facebook. I got the prizes today, went to their offices in Boni (Cream-O) and in Magallanes (Fiesta Pasta).

Got 3 packs of Cream-O in different flavors! Yeay! Shared with nieces and nephews and some kids.

Got 1 kilo of pasta noodles and pasta sauce! Looks so yummy! We will cook and share with nieces and nephews and the people here in our house! :)

I always get so excited and super happy whenever I get picked for a prize on Facebook or Instagram. It's a different feeling when you win something, even a small token of appreciation for participating in the contest or anything. I don't usually join this but when my SIL told me about this and made me realized that they are legit and true, I tried and actually won myself. Thank you Fiesta Pasta and Cream-O!

Note: I am sharing this not to boast or anything, I am sharing this so that you can also try joining online contest and promos and you might also win just like me! Also, we should never forget to share our blessings! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all awesome and great mother around the world! This is such an important day for all moms out there. Though my family does not celebrate this day with lots of food and all, this day is surely filled with love from people around me. 

I only understand now why some moms are strict, busy with almost everything, gets mad when you did something wrong and when how happy if you get a good grade from school, that is because a mother's love is unconditional. Some may not understand it, not until they become a mom to their own kids.

This morning at Sunday service our church, (Living Faith in Jesus Ministry) all kids were given white rose to give to their moms. They were brought to a small room and some kids made cards for their moms with drawings on it. My daughter didn't want to go there at first but was able to get a white rose for me. :)

It is such a blessing to be a mom. It gives us the privilege to raise a kid the way God wants us to raise them. It is an honor that God has given us little people who can change our lives forever and so we should treasure every moment of our motherhood.

When I got pregnant with Amber, I had to make a lot of adjustments and changes with my life, I mean literally changes. I stopped smoking and since I am a first time mom, I was so excited to make her big inside my tummy. When she was born, the instinct of being a mother came to me all of a sudden. Sleepless nights when she was still really small, visit to pedia when she's sick, give her toys, buy her clothes, give her healthy food, all those things. Those were such precious moments and memories for me being a first time mom.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone again! May God continue to give us unconditional love to give to our kids and family. Today is no work day! Yehey!

The Amazing Spiderman 2

Okay, this is not a review of the movie The Amazing Spiderman 2. I want to share with you my experience when I won 2 tickets to the block screening of The Amazing Spiderman 2 from Magnavision Home Video.

I was actually not expecting that I'd won because there were a lot of followers who also wanted the free tickets. My sister-in-law just tagged me on it and I just commented that I also want to have free tickets. It was also my sister-in-law who saw my name as the lucky winner of the 2 free tickets from Magnavision Home Video. This was an event of AXN for the movie and I was just so happy that i won two tickets for this event. By the way, this is my first time to win movie tickets, so you could just imagine my happiness here :)

I went to this event with my best friend and since we are both not familiar with Makati and where Greenbelt is (don't laugh! haha) we planned to ride a cab instead but to our surprise, the day we went there was payday and it was the opening of Spiderman 2 and the next day was a holiday so you could expect everyone was out and enjoying their hard earned money and taking all the cabs! We took a bus ride instead, and when we got to Ayala, we walked to SM and asked the guards how to go to Greenbelt 5 where we need to pick up the tickets. We arrived there 15 minutes before 9 o'clock but Astrovision was already closed! I signaled the lady inside that I will be claiming my tickets so she let me in and there were also some people who were claiming their tickets. :)

So after we got the tickets, we had dinner and headed to Greenbelt cinemas. We were again surprised on how long the line was! All have their complimentary tickets from Ayosdito.ph, some from Globe and from BPI. It was a long line but it was worth it because we get to have a photo with Spiderman! Haha.

Okay, I am not a fan of Spiderman but seeing him there roaming around and taking photos with just everybody, I just had the urge to have a photo taken with him too. :)

This was before we enter the cinema. It was so nice of the photographer to take a photo from my camera before we enter the cinema.

Here's what we got from the movie. I really love getting free stuff! Upon entering, they gave us a bottle of water and a slice of Papa John's pizza and a shirt from Papa John's too. They had raffle inside too for selected participants and said that if you wear the shirt on a Thursday and you decide to eat at Papa John's, the person who is wearing the shirt will get 50% off on his/her personal consumption. However, the size of the shirt is large, for kids. It would not fit me and my best friend. Haha. We also got free photo souvenir when we went out when the movie was done. 

Thank you so much Magnavision Home Video for picking me to win The Amazing Spiderman 2 tickets, because of this I get to bond with my best friend. We haven't done that for such a long time! Thank you so much for the blessing and we had so much fun watching the movie!

Likiriki Store Giveaway!

Have you noticed that a lot of people, companies, shops and even blogs are giving away free stuff and all you have to do is like and share their photos? Well, my SIL who happens to be a very lucky person who always wins online especially in Facebook has influenced me to join to. :) She started tagging me with the contests and promos and giveaways and I got curious and tried following instructions on how to win and all.

One day, I received an personal message on my Facebook and told me I was one of the winners of their 1st year giveaway promo! I won a toy from Likiriki Store and this was the first time I ever won! Haha. And take note, this toy costs 600 pesos on their shop! I was just so overwhelmed, but there is one problem: my daughter can't play this because this is for boys, and I don't know who to give it to because it is dangerous for little ones because of the tiny balls like pellets inside. 

So I decided to give it to one of my inaanak who I am sure would love this! Thanks to Likiriki store for my first time to win on Facebook. I actually won another prize but I will post those when I have my prize. :)

I so love free stuff! :)

Big Better Burgers!

I just want to share with you one of the happiest day of my life as a blogger. :)

We went to Big Better Burgers last month and as a blogger, I posted it on my food blog, you can check it here. I posted the blog on Big Better Burgers' Facebook page and they replied asking when will we visit them again. I jokingly said, "Are we getting free burgers on our next visit?" and no reply. Haha. After maybe three days, I saw my Facebook Inbox a message from one of the managers of Big Better Burgers, thanking me for the blog I made and as a way of saying thank you, they are giving me THREE free burgers on my next visit! Yeay! So I said me and family will be there the next week. So next week came, we claimed out free burgers, me and my husband are one of the happiest people on earth. :)

We had the hahalapeno burger, the mushroom loco and triple cheese explosion. I only get to taste the hahalapeno and small bite of mushroom loco. Their patties are really the best, super juicy! This has become our favorite burger place. :)

I almost feel that I won something out of blogging and I was so glad I posted my foodie blog to their Facebook page because I was finally rewarded for being a blogger. Thank you Big Better Burgers!

WAHM 101: Food Storage/Container

Don't we all love storing food like cookies, crackers, or chips? Me, I love it! I didn't experienced it when I was a kid. My mom does not store food when we were little and when I visit a friend's house and every time I see their table filled with cookies and stuff, I always like to hang out there so I can eat what's on their table. Haha.

Now that I have a toddler who is super active and loves munching crackers and biscuits, whenever we go to grocery to buy and store food for her, we always buy those who are packed individually like Rebisco crackers or Cream-O that is packed with 10 biscuits on it. Sometimes my daughter has left over cookies and a few hours the cookie becomes soft. So the other day, I had a brilliant idea! Haha. Last time, I bought small containers originally to be used for storing meat, but it was too small for meat containers.

The other day, I bought packs of cookies for Amber.. and me. :) These cookies are the ones you can buy for 80 to 85 pesos, the plastic doesn't have the name of the cookie but you will see them on the cookie itself. :) Now when you open it and take some cookies, you have to seal it carefully so the cookies will not be soft because of the air. So I remembered the containers I bought and then I put the cookies there and voila! We were munching and just refilling the cookies once they are all eaten. 

I super love this idea though the containers are not so eye catcher when you first see them. But anyway, I love this idea because it's so handy and very light to carry. I think I can even bring this every time we go out because I always bring cookies for Amber when we go out.

From now on, I will always have these containers and I will eventually replace the containers with cuter ones. Haha. I am planning to buy more containers to put some candies on it too.

Babyflo Shampoo

Last Friday, me and my daughter went shopping for her stuff and we were looking for her shampoo. I spotted this Babyflo shampoo and smelled the green one and the red one (those were the ones available). Me and my daughter agreed that the red shampoo smells so good. It smells like candy, for real! So we got the small bottle. I forgot the exact price of this but it ranges from 50 pesos to 60 pesos  for the 125ml bottle.

I noticed the first time my daughter used this, the smell and scent lasted the whole day and even the next day. I am a happy mommy! I even tried it today and I am super loving the smell of it. This is tear free by the way so this is safe for babies too! I will definitely try other colors. They have red, green and yellow. 

According to Philusa's website, Regular (yellow)- nourishes and freshens baby’s hair, Conditioning (red)- makes baby’s hair soft and smooth, Natural (green)- makes baby’s hair healthy and bouncy. 

Go try this on your baby! You will really smell the goodness of this shampoo! :)

Update: Accomplishments!

I didn't realized that I haven't blog recently. Well, just to update my readers, the last time i blog about what I want to accomplish this year, I am proud to say that i have accomplished THREE things as of this month! Woot woot!

The first accomplishment is the replacement of my laptop. I bought a netbook, not brand new but a friend offered me to buy her Acer netbook because she does not use it anymore and had used it few times just for browsing. I bought it from her for 5,000 pesos only! What a deal! I just had to have it formatted since applications were not updated. I started using this netbook last week and have transferred files and now I'm using this when I'm working. Here it is.

The second accomplishment is buying a bag. Okay, this is not a very expensive bag and not a chic bag, I consider this as an achievement because this is the first time I bought a bag in 2-3 years. It's just a tote bag haha. since it's summer and I will be attending a wedding -- oh by the way, I will be hosting a wedding with my friend this March 22, that's why i bought that tote bag to put my clothes and shoes there. I actually think it's big since I don't really like carrying a lot of stuff when I'm going out but I like the idea of carrying a big tote bag. Hihi. Here it is. Photo not mine, got it from Natasha website.

The third accomplishment -- and I am so proud to share this with you, my relationship with God. Remember that on my last post, I mentioned that God had a sneak peek of what he wants me to do to participate in our church and do what I love. Next week, March 16, I will song lead in the morning and evening service! I am just so happy because this is just one of my greatest dreams! To be able to sing to God with other people and be able to really enjoy worshiping God by singing songs of praise. I am just so happy. I am really looking forward to that day. 

I hope to achieve more this year and hopefully be able to accomplish other things that are not on my list last time. Oh, I'd like to add that side line of hosting special events and my target is hosting a kiddie party! I hope to get a chance to host one or two, or as many as possible this year, God willing.

Weaning a Toddler from Bottle Feeding

It was the same time last year when I potty trained Amber. I trained her for 3 days only. It was really successful and from then on, I don't put on diaper on her if we're here at home. 

Now that she's 3 and will be attending school this year, I decided to wean her from drinking milk from her feeding bottle. A few months back, I gave away 2 bottles to my nephew and we were down to 3 bottles. The other day, I just decided to wean her right then and there. I remember posting on Facebook asking moms like me how to successfully wean a toddler from drinking in a feeding bottle and there were a lot of suggestions from my friends. But again, it still boils down to how the child will respond to this change, right?

Day 1: She still used her feeding bottle to drink water. She was used to this when she's lying and playing on her tablet or whenever she drinks water. Then when I decided to start weaning her, I told her that she will now start drinking milk from her cup. And as many toddler will respond, she cried and said no. There were few attempts to ask for milk in a bottle but I always tell her that if she wants milk, I will have to use her cup. And then another loud cry from her. 

And as for me being a "grumpy" mommy, I also prepared myself for this training, haha. Training talaga. I have to have a lot of patience with this because it is already given and expected she will cry if I don't give her what she wants. So Day 1, she did not drink milk, the whole day. I tried feeding her rice and ham (she requested) but didn't even finish eating it. 

Day 2: Around 2am to 4am, she woke up asking for milk. I asked her, "Gusto mo timplahan kita sa baso, Amber?" And then she insisted, "Gusto ko sa bottle!" And then I told her again that there are no more bottles. I haven't said the reason why there were no bottles anymore. She cried for about 30 minutes or less and then fell asleep again.

When she woke up past 6am, I asked her if she wants Milo and bread with cheese and she said yes. So I made her Milo and tasty bread with cheese. She was able to finish 2 tasty bread with cheese and Milo too. For lunch, I cooked Tinola because it's one of her favorite ulam. Unfortunately, she only had about 3-4 spoon of it. Then she requested for milk, this time she's requesting for milk in a cup! Yay! I was so happy when I heard it and I said I will make her a cup of milk. When I handed it over to her, she said she doesn't want it full so I had to drink some of it to make it half full. She wasn't able to finish it but it was still fine. Baby steps. :) I again gave her milk before she went to bed and she was able to finish it. Ha! (Had to make "uto" for her to finish it. Haha.)

 I made this yesterday when she requested for bread with cheese. I am not really creative and this is all what I came up to, but to my surprise she actually loved it, she said to me, "Mommy sarap ng heart na cheese!"

What made me so happy was when I realized this morning that she was asleep the whole night, she didn't woke me up to ask for milk because she was full that night before she went to bed. Ha! I also made a story yesterday afternoon about her feeding bottles. I told her that a mommy snake came here and asked her Daddy if we have feeding bottles because the baby snakes needs the bottles and so her Daddy gave it to the mommy snake." Haha. I guess it made her think why it has to be the snake. Haha. I also heard her say to her cousin, "Hindi na ako iinom ng milk sa bottle." Hahaha. 

We are now on Day 3 and I bought her Bear Brand Choco Milk and likes it very much. I can say we are successful on the 3rd day just like when we did the potty train last year. Oh by the way, we also stopped giving her chocolates, candies, cookies with fillings. I bough crackers only to stock in her "baunan" so she'll get used to eating those. I admit that I made a lot of mistakes in the past because I thought that giving her want she "wants" will be good for her, I was totally wrong. We always give her chocolates, candies and other sweets in the past whenever I do groceries for her but now, we limit the sweets we give her.

This is her lunch today. I had to buy cheese powder so she'll eat these nuggets. The nuggets I bought doesn't come with free cheese powder which she loves. She finished her food because of the magical cheese powder. :)

To all moms who are reading this, I'd like to know how you were able to successfully wean your toddlers into a life changing moment such as this. I'd like to hear good stories because I am a first time mom so it would be a great help if you share your stories too!

Christmas Shopping Online

I know this is a very late post but I want to share with you where I bought most of my gifts last Christmas. Since they say that Christmas is enjoyed most by kids, I didn't spend much on giving gifts to grown ups except for my husband of course. Haha. I did online shopping of clothes for my daughter and some of my inaanak. I have a lot of inaanak na pala and I lost contact with some of them.

Anyway, I seldom give toys to kids on birthdays, christening or Christmas. I make sure that I give something that they can use like clothes. Now, I was browsing through Instagram -- let me remind you, I am purchasing most of my stuff here as well and I am getting addicted to this, I came across this seller @rileyraye_mustloved who sells cute ternos for kids. (Check out her page) This seller is so nice and we get along very well. I did a last minute shopping, I thin ordered a week before Christmas and I had to wait for some orders that she need to buy for me. This is what I bought from her (first batch).

All of these clothes only cost me P1390.00 and she gave me free shipping! She even gave my daughter a free sando and hair clip which my daughter really loved wearing. What a great deal, isn't it? Yay!

And then, since I became a fan of the clothes she's selling, I ordered again this week. She had a clearance sale and dropped prices on most of the items which I grabbed hurriedly! Haha. Here it is. I just got this yesterday.

As always the clothes were really nice like the first time I ordered from her. I got the 3 pieces of sando for 100 pesos, the stripe dress also for 100 pesos, stripes green terno sando for me and Amber also for 100 pesos and a sando set (not in the photo) for 85 pesos. She gave me freebies again, this time 2 hair clips. I am super happy. :)

You may check out her IG profile for clothes she's selling, you might want to order too! Haha. She's became a friend of mine already because we've been vibing almost everyday. Haha. Check her out @rileyraye_mustloved.I will definitely buy more from her because I saw another seller who sells the same clothes for kids but the price is almost twice the price of what she's selling. I'm with the right seller, thank God. Really good buy!

What would you like to accomplish this year?

Happy New Year everyone! It's been a while since I last visited and posted on this blog. Like everyone else, I've been busy with the holidays and work, hiring new people to work for me.

Anyway, I'd like to share with you some of the things that I want to accomplish this year.

1. Replace my laptop. 

- This is actually a thing I've been meaning to do since last quarter of the year. The laptop I am using right now was given to me by my father way back in 2008. It's been 5 years. There were signs of aging (haha!) with this laptop. I am looking to buy a netbook this year because it is handy and I don't have to buy a work table that is so big.

2. Organize my time more.

- This year, my daughter will be nursery. I have to organize and manage my time so I can attend to, as much as possible, to all the things I need to do for a certain day or week.

3. Improve my relationship with God.

- I just realized that I had been Born Again since 2010 but then it seems that there were only few changes in my spiritual life. With that I mean, I also have to improve my attitude towards people. I am a certified moody and mataray and I need to really do something about it. I want to participate to the church I am attending to right now and want to share what I love to do. God has showed a sneak peek of it. Back in November, I started being an emcee with 2 Sunday service and hosting our Christmas party. It was a good start for me and I am claiming God has a lot of things in store for me this year.

4. Learn more new recipes.

- I want to try out new recipes this year and try new restos and new food this year. I'd like to cook for my family more this year. 

5. Save!

- Okay. Don't judge me on this. I am a person who does not save at all. I am used to spending all my money until there is nothing left. And now that my daughter will be in school this year, I am obliged to save for tuition fees, for field trips, extra curricular expenses at school, and other things. So I am determined to start saving small amount at a time. I have yet to figure out how but I'd like to do it.

6. Write more.

- I had been a WAHM for almost a year and all I do at work is type, type, type. This year, I'd like to go back to writing journals, writing stuff everyday and so on. I am thinking of buying a small, handy journal to fit in my purse or bag.

7. Buy a new bag.

- I am not a bag person and by this I mean that I can go out of the house with just the stuff of my daughter inside HER bag. I don't bring my own bag. I just find it too heavy to carry two bags every time we go out. So this year, I'd like to invest to a new bag, not that expensive, not that big, but a bag where I can put the journal, lipstick, purse, wallet, napkins for emergency, first aid medicine like Biogesic, perfume and so on.

8. Be more cheerful and less stress.

- This is the last and best thing I'd like to accomplish this year. Don't we all want this? :) I'd like to be less mataray, more cheerful, happier, less stress and just enjoy my life as a WAHM.

There are a lot of things I'd like to accomplish this year but these are the main ones I'd like done as soon as possible. I will go back to this post from time to time so I can remind myself (and will post in my laptop's notepad as well)the things I need and want to accomplish.