Blogs

When I delivered my first baby, I went as far as having a birth plan -- whether the hospital followed it or not, I don't know. I was just lucky that I really delivered drug free. I didn't know that rooming in was a must (so we didn't start breastfeeding early!), and so many other things that came with it.

But I'm so glad that the DOH came out with this video on Essential Newborn Care. I believe that hospitals should take heed and implement necessary policies for this.

Watch this video and KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Check out these promos by The Stork Studio for the last quarter of the year!!

I hope the boys are up to a shoot soon, as I want our pictures taken by The Stork Studio!!

I'm sure several of you have read about Kate Ogg, an Australian woman who gave birth to twins at 27 weeks. The doctors declared Jamie (her newborn baby) dead after trying to get him to breathe for 20 minutes. I'm sure it was a terrible moment for Mr and Mrs Ogg.

The doctors handed Jamie to Kate, for her to say her final goodbye, and she chose to unwrap him and hold him close to her, skin-to-skin. The miracle happened after two hours of holding Jamie like that...he started breathing! (Read the entire story HERE.)

This, I guess, is one of the many cases for kangaroo care. Kangaroo care, generally, is when moms or dads put the baby on their body, skin-to-skin. They call it that because that's how kangaroos carry their young. This is highly recommended for low birth weight babies.

I found some explanations of why this works --

I'm a super happy mom today. Kid number 2 just received his grades. I'm proud to say that he's perfected 3 out of 5 exams, and got a minus one for the other 2 exams!

Of course, I announced it to the world. Called Stan first, then sent messages to the rest of the family.

Someone mentioned buying Kevin a prize for his good grades. (Incidentally, Kev is saving up for something at Toy Kingdom.)

What's your view on this? Rewards for good grades?

Stan and I had discussed this once and I was telling him that I didn't want to dangle prizes for good grades. Why? Because studying is a MUST. Whether or not there is a prize involved.

If you are a MomEx frequent visitor you may have noticed our recent 'Sex Education In Schools?' polls. We started the poll on June 22 to run for a month. Here are the results:

Just when I thought that our life as a small brood of three couldn’t get any better, I received a most pleasant and unexpected surprise – a simple yet extremely wonderful addition to the loving family! But alas, I had just begun to enjoy our brand new Ipod Touch Third Gen when my wife broke more important news which hit me like a ton of bricks. “I’m pregnant!”

And as a yellow Angry Bird sped towards the evil pig’s fortress on the Ipod’s screen*, I froze with mouth agape, stammering at my wife. “But, but…why…how…when...???” OK, maybe this isn’t the right venue to discuss the how’s and when’s. I realized, though, that in a few months’ time, the family’s comfortable routine since our firstborn child began sleeping through the night would crumble to the ground like a swine’s castle of wood, glass, and stone*.

Don’t get me wrong. After hearing the news and getting over the initial shock, I willfully entered into a more prepared state of panic. How in heaven’s name could I afford to have another kid? Our eldest has just started attending kindergarten (or the institution I affectionately refer to as “money-siphoning rip-off posing as a fun place to learn”), and now I would have to once again contend with the costs of hospital bills, monthly OB-GYN / pediatrician visits, diapers, baby accessories, and bottles of anti-depressants (for me)?

We think that our eldest is funny in an intelligent way --- he likes using word play a lot (e.g., homonyms). Our youngest, on the other hand, is just plain funny! He's 5 and a half and here are some of our conversations:

(Lupang Hinirang playing on the background.)
K (excitedly): Mommy, mommy! I know that song!!!
Me: Really? So what is it?
K: It's the national item, right?
HAHAHAHAHAHA!

(After having his first ever Filipino class that day at school.)
K (proudly): Mommy! I had Filipino today. I know how to say "mommy" in Filipino.
Me (excited): Oh yeah? What nga?
K: Nanay, right?
Me (proud): Aba, you're right! Wow! How about "daddy", how do you say "daddy" in Filipino?
K (pondering -- as in thinking face): Uhm, is it -- papay?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(over dinner we were discussing languages, and the dogs)
FIL: Galing ng mga aso natin, nakakaintindi ng Bisaya (Waray) at English!
K (mad): No! Dogs speak --- Doglish.
(HAHAHAHAHAHA!)
Me (laughing): Kev, what's Doglish? Give me a sample nga.
K: Arf.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Hi, please see if you are any of the winners below. If so, please email me your contact details at jencctan @ gmail . com so we can contact you about claiming prizes.

Thanks!!

(PS - Suzanne, oks na!)

Jen wasn't available that day, so she sent me to cover a talk held by Norton expert Effendy Ibrahim re the Norton Online Family Report, a local study they conducted online from April to May this year. It promised to reveal interesting results particularly re:

• The gaps between Filipino parents and kids with respect to their online beliefs and behaviours,
• Emotional impact of online experiences on Filipino kids and
• Online ethics or codes of conduct.

Obviously info every parent of a child (specifically, in their report, 10 to 17yr olds), who spends time online should know, so let's get to it, starting with the 'gaps'. A word of warning though: prepare for bad news:

If you're a mom/parent like me, you are too proud (read: mayabang) to have your child tutored. You tend to fix your schedule around the studying time of your kids, in the hopes that this is an investment that they will one day thank you for.

You realize that one is totally different from the other (which reinforces your choice to stop at having two kids), so you end up schizophrenic when you shift from dealing with one to dealing with the other.

Nevertheless, it gives you joy seeing how they finally get what you have been trying to teach them (e.g., "four" vs "for" in math), so you plod on.

My Mom is my idol, so I told myself, no tutors for the boys (there will be a hiccup though, because I will be away for a few days and someone will really have to watch Kevin, so I asked the mom of his friend from school...who's also a tutor, so there's my disclaimer).

There are a few surprises along the way if you're mayabang like me. First is always *always* Chinese. Perhaps the nightmares of being a student in the other school have come back when I see Chinese characters without any phonetics. Yes, I, like most of my peers from school, cannot read Chinese without the phonetics. I'm lost. So when I saw this--