Maternity fashion peg

For some women, they love being being pregnant. They say that it's that time when you have an excuse of wearing body hugging clothes and showing off your growing tummy and not feel guilty. However, for me it's the other way around. I don't feel my best and I feel like I'm such a BIG whale!
There is this old saying that when a woman loathes dressing up during her pregnancy, it's a boy. This being my second, I am inclined to believe that it's true (baby number 2 is another boy!). However, lately I am having this urge to dress up and celebrate my pregnancy - or at least I am trying to. I have been inspired by these pregnant women to strive to dress better. I love the blazer and red jeans combo the best. I both have these but they no longer fit me. Too bad. Now those two are on my shopping list, again! But hey the aim here is to look good an feel good- haha excuses!

Toddler dilemma: dealing with a semi-picky eater

I never thought the day would come when my son would be picky with his food. It was not difficult to feed him anything until he turned 19 months this month. Suddenly, he would refuse to eat his meals, specifically his lunch. With breakfast I don't have any struggles making him eat even if he just drank milk. Lunch time is a hit or miss thing which stresses me out. Dinner time is a little less stressful because most of the time he will eat. I noticed though that if I give him fruits, biscuit, bread or anything sweet he'd eat it. However, I don't want to make it a habit to just give in and not feed him real food. I'm pretty cautious of the food that he eats. I don't want him to get used to eating too much sweets and junk food. So right now, I'm still experimenting on what will and will not work. Spaghetti bolognese is so far his favorite, and he"ll eat it anytime. But that can't be his meal every single day. So now, I have started looking for recipes online for picky eaters to add variety and to lessen my stress.

I sure hope that his is just a phase and he"ll get his groove back. Any tips you can share?

Mommy bakes: Oreo cheesecake

For the longest time I have been dying to try this cheesecake recipe that I found in the net. I compared it to the other recipes I found and it seemed that Chantal's New York Cheesecake had a lot of positive feedback and was rated 4.5 stars. I just substituted the crust with Oreo and added Oreo bits to the batter since I had a pound of crushed Oreos waiting to be used. I baked it for an hour and left it in the oven for around 2 hours and had it cooled at room temperature for 5 hours.

The verdict? It was good. So good! I think I gained a few pounds eating it for 3 days (hahaha)! Though the next time I need to lower down the temp to around 325F (against 350F) and line the pan with aluminum foil since the sides were a little toasted. I will also use low fat cream cheese and Splenda to make it less fattening next time. I forgot to mention that I totally forgot to grease the pan! Lazy me! I was lucky that the cake did not stick to the pan when I transferred it to a plate and there were very few cracks.

This will definitely be a recipe I will keep and will surely keep making.

I finally found THE one

Yes, I have finally found the milk for me! I have never been a fan of drinking milk even when I was pregnant with Rocco. The milk that I have tried just tasted awful. It's actually the same reaction that I got from some of my friends who (had to) drank those brands. So when my sister in law told me about the milk she is drinking, I had to give it a try. Thank God for Nestle's MOM and ME milk! It's the first maternal milk that did not make me feel like vomiting😊

Take two!

Being a second time mom, I could say that I have learned my lesson (hopefully). There are things that I would not and will continue doing, things that I will never buy again and will buy again, and so on. So here are some of the lessons I have learned having my first born:

1) Breastfeeding

I will commit myself to breastfeeding. I always thought that breastfeeding was easy so I never bothered to research and attend breastfeeding seminars. As early as now, I am arming myself with information, psyching myself and my hubby to be committed.

2) Eating habits

We have trained Rocco to always eat with us, sitting in his high chair without watching any television. So far I can say that he has been a good boy, eating without the need of entertainment. No TV. No cellphones. No ipod/ ipad.

It is also my fervent wish that Rocco does not develop a sweet tooth like me and that he will not enjoy snacking on junk food. I know this will all depend on what food we give him. I am keeping him away from junk food and fast food food. I want him to eat healthy so he can stay healthy.

3) Sleeping habits

I have never been a fan of letting the baby cry it out. There have been studies showing that it adds stress to the baby. This is the reason why I also researched on other options on how to help Rocco establish sleeping habits. I came across Elizabeth Pantley's No cry sleep solution through my cousin in Law who was reading it then. I got curious and got hold of the last piece in the bookstore. I liked her concept, although I really did not strictly follow doing journals and stuff.

Sleep training was not easy. I used to envy my friends whose babies would already pull an all nighter at a very young age. There were days wherein we were successful and there were a whole lot of days wherein I wanted to just give up. But one thing I realized is that for it to work, you have to be consistent and make it a routine. Before we knew it, Rocco was already asleep by 8pm. I am proud to say as well that to this day, when the clock hits 9pm, he's a goner. I will definitely train baby number 2 the same way.

4) Baby/ Toddler room

I guess you will never know how it really is once you have a child of your own. Once Rocco learned to roll over, that was when I seriously started to worry about having a baby proof space. All the more when he started to walk and climbing furnitures. If I have a lot of money I would love to redecorate his room and make it more toddler and baby friendly.

Just recently, we decided to dismantle the daybed since Rocco loves jumping on the bed. It just scares the hell out of me because he might hit his head on the bed railing or fall from the bed. So having the mattress placed on the floor was indeed a good idea and my son loves it so much.

There goes some of my lessons learned from my first born. What about you?

It has been a while...

I have been away for a while mainly because our household help went on vacation for a month and I was having a difficult first trimester. Although I did not hire a yaya for Rocco, our angel helps me with Rocco especially on weekends when we go out and bring her along with us. Gosh, I never realized how difficult and challenging it could be when you are alone. Hats off to my friends and relatives abroad who do it all by themselves.

Moving on to my pregnancy, I feel much better now. With Rocco, I rarely experienced nausea and when I did get the morning sickness, it was nothing compared to what I went through the second time around. I'm off to my second trimester... Please, please be good to me😁

Confessions of a soon to be second time mom

We are expecting! It came a bit of a surprise to us but nevertheless we are so thankful for another blessing! When Rocco was still not yet active, I wanted to have another baby before the year ends. When he learned to walk and turned one, I changed my mind and decided we will wait until he turns two. I was also contemplating on going back to work. But God had better plans. I took it as a clear sign that I will focus on my growing family an be there for my second child full time, similar to what Rocco experienced.

Things feel quite different with baby numero dos. I feel nauseous, sleepy and hungry all the time! My morning sickness and cravings are much worse! I can't wait for my first trimester to be over!  On a lighter note, I feel I am more emotional, especially when I saw the tiny little bean for the first time in the ultrasound.  I am not sure why but probably it's because I am just so amazed that I am going to be a mother the second time around.  I now know how it feels to hold that little bundle of joy and see him grow and discover the world.

Now that I already have 'experience,' I have made a promise to myself that I will do my utmost best to exclusively breastfeed baby number 2 this time around. You see, I was not well informed about breastfeeding when I had Rocco.  I was only able to do my research after I had him.  I was immediately disheartened when he could not latch properly.  I was not that well informed, so we did mixed feeding an I gave up on pumping and breastfeeding him on his 3rd month.  I was exhausted and desperate and the easy way out was to give up.    I never thought that breastfeeding was this challenging.  I always thought that the baby will just automatically latch and that's it!  Easier said than done, but now I know that you have to be informed, determined and have the support that you need especially in times when you feel like giving up.  As early as now I have been doing my research and prepping my hubby to support me with breastfeeding our baby especially when there will come a time that I feel that I am going to lose the fight.

Honestly I am so excited to fulfill this goal of mine because I know it's for the good of my child.