[Zei the MOM] My mom, my role model

Mom, because of you, I know I have the makings of a great mom. :) I learned from the best and it runs in my blood. :) 

Happy Mother's Day Mom! 

I love you! 

[Zei the MOM] My Mother's Day Promise

Just a few days ago, an old video cropped up on Facebook, it was that of a woman purposely beating a baby. I didn’t even play the video and I felt my heart breaking already just by seeing the still shot. Yahoo news reported it since it gained around 16,000 recent views and reassured those who viewed it that the incident happened last year in Malaysia and the crazy woman was given an 18-month sentence. Although I don’t think 18 months is punishment enough, I’m pretty sure the baby is in safe hands and definitely not with the mother.

If I had seen this back when I was single I would’ve shed a couple of tears, but now that I’m a mom to such a darling baby girl, it hits home and I feel anger – anger that there are mothers who can hurt their child that much. I know it’s harsh to say this, but I don’t think mothers who physically abuse their children deserve to be called mothers.

So for this mother’s day, I promise to give Zia nothing but love. I promise not to hurt her and I promise to protect her from any harm as much as I possibly can.

Here’s praying for all mothers on mother’s day, to realize that we’ve all been given the greatest blessing in the form of our children.

Happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow moms! Happy Mother’s Day to the best moms in my world – my very own mom and my mother-in-law!  

I never thought I'd say this...

I never thought I'd say this... not at 27, but can I please please be a stay-at-home mom? Maybe just for awhile. I realized this maybe a week after returning to work. Fast much? Why didn't I think I'd ever say it or want it this much...? Well, I grew up with a lot of strong-willed and very independent women and I've always pictured myself as thriving in the corporate world. But now, almost 4 months into motherhood and more than 5 years of toiling in the workplace, my world has changed, my perspective, with it.

I want to be a stay-at-home mom (I could do freelance writing if needed). I won't waste the privilege, if I were given the chance. I promise. I'll do a good job taking care of Zia. That's more than enough fulfillment I need as a woman. It's a 24/7 job, but it's the epitome of labor of love.

To my mom, one of the strong-willed women in my life, thank you for choosing to leave your budding teaching career to take good care of kuya and I. I will be forever grateful. I know when I was little, I was very vocal about how I wanted to be a career woman and not a housewife, now, I'm taking it back. A housewife and stay-at-home mom sounds more than enough for me. For now, this is my wish. I hope for some reason the cosmos agree with our family and it would be more than okay for me to get my wish and stay with Zia and be the best wife, homemaker and mom the modern world has ever seen. =)

Photo credit: www.briandoddonleadership.com

My mother, the P.O.

P.O.? It stands for purchasing officer, but mom prefers P.O. so it sounds cooler. It was her who gave herself that title, no one else, so I guess with acknowledgement comes acceptance. Anyway, my mother finds joy in shopping, not just for herself, but mostly for my dad, my brother and me, of course and some times for her friends and friends of friends. And now, the tides have shifted and she has found her most beloved client. She proclaimed herself her grand daughter's P.O. (Hooray for me, the mommy). Above is a photo of Zia with her grandma, the P.O. Thanks mom! Keep on shopping! Hehe!

Yesterday's happy list

I finally set foot on mall grounds yesterday after more than 2 months of taking care of Zia at home when my mom obligingly took me shopping mostly for Zia's stuff. And here are just a few things that made it to yesterday's happy list:

This groovy looking elephant microbeads pillow was a steal at just Php 399 from the SM department store. It looks great in Zia's room plus the bold colors will definitely fascinate Zia.

Got some charming coasters for the house too from Papemelroti. LOVE. DREAM. LAUGH. LIVE

Even if the shopping day was for Zia, my lovely mom gave me a strictly Php 1000 ONLY budget for myself at Forever 21. And since we were pressed for time (had to go home to the baby), I decided to buy accessories instead of scouring for an outfit that fit the budget given to me.

And because we shopped quite a lot in Baby Company, they gave me my Mom Card for free. Hehe. I'm not keen on collecting points, but hey, it won't hurt having a rewards card.

My happy list doesn't stop at the finds I got from the mall, this was also waiting for me at home. Zia's 5th and 6th pair of crib shoes from Tot Couture (www.totcouture.multiply.com). Aren't they super cute? Can't wait for the baby girl to wear them.

Also part of my happy list not pictured here is the Milk Tea with Pearls 70% sugar I drank from Gong Cha and of course, the person who taught me to shop and shop til I drop, my mom, who now calls herself Zia's purchasing officer. Thanks mom! Zia says thanks Lola. Love it!

Why don't you make your own happy list? =)

Motherhood just got sweeter

I've been a mom for 2 months and 1 day today and each day that adds on to the next makes mothering sweeter. I actually never thought I'd get into the mother groove this soon - you see, I've never taken care of a younger sibling or a niece or nephew or even a pet - before our baby girl, I've never held a newborn or held a baby below 6 months. My mom pointed that out to me - that I was an instant mom the day Zia arrived - without any prior experience. And now, 2 months into it, I feel like I'm an expert. So far, I now know that motherhood is hard (thank you Mom for everything), but when you see your baby (crying or smiling), everything becomes clear - you'll do anything for her. Right now, it seems like a one-way love, but it doesn't matter - I just love being Zia's mom.

With our baby's smiles, antics and milestones, I can say with conviction, that motherhood is SWEET!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

About a tree

I know it isn't the ber-months yet, but my post is in fact going to be about a tree. Here's the thing, my mom bought us (Rich & I) our first Christmas tree, for our first Christmas as a married couple. It's a beautiful white tree made out of real branches. It was very pretty, especially with all the lights we put up. The tree wasn't the kind that you could disassemble so after the holidays we decided to move it outside. Months passed and the tree has been on a standstill. Anyway, to cut to the chase, just recently, before a get together with friends at our home, I decided to dispose of the tree because the middle part has been rusting badly. It wasn't actually thrown because one of the garbage collectors said he'll use it as their Christmas tree. Apparently, I didn't think of asking my mom first. A bad case of misjudgment on my end. I forgot that it was a gift from my mom. So here I am publicly apologizing to my mom through my post. I just want to say that I'm sorry mom and I've always been grateful for everything you've given me (and Rich). I want you to know that even if the tree you gave us isn't physically present, we're always thankful. Plus, we have photos with our beautiful first Christmas tree and every time we share the photos, we have a story to tell about the tree in the background.

We will say that it was a lovely gift from a very thoughtful mom who made sure that our first Christmas would be as lovely as can be. We will tell Zia when she understands Christmas that for our 1st Christmas we had a different tree, it was very pretty and that it was given by her grandma. I know the apology always comes after the wrong doing, but I hope this somehow shows you that I'm really sorry about my mistake and I appreciate all the sentimental value you put into everything. Sorry mom.

Love,
Lady

Love you Mom! =)

To the woman who always says things to me like 'Leave it to your Mom' and 'Just look at your mom' ever since I could remember and even now that I'm married; the woman who doubled as our dad as well whenever dad's away and the woman who laughed, shopped, cried, ate, enjoyed, prayed and celebrated with or for me and the only woman I'm willing to lose an argument with, Happy Happy Mother's Day!

I love you Mom!

Shoe-in, Baby!

I've always known that when I have a baby of my own, her shoe collection would rock, well, as of this writing, I can't say I'm not giving our little sweet pea a great head start --- or should I say, footstart. Haha. :) I know they say that babies feet grow super fast, so I bought sizes that could be used until 12 months. Hopefully our baby would share mommy's penchant for pretty shoes someday. Thanks to Brusselsprouts (http://www.brusselsprouts.multiply.com/) and Bebe Republic (http://www.beberepublic.multiply.com/) for baby's mini shoe collection.

But there's actually a bit of a history behind my love for shoes, you see I've always remembered having different pairs of shoes for every school day back when I was in nursery - my shoes always matched my uniform (which was a pajama style uniform that came in 5 different colors) because my mom loved buying me stuff. But more than just buying me lots of shoes, this is just one of the many mini stories in my life that show how my parents always made sure I had the best in life. So, thanks mom and dad. :) Will try our very best to give our baby what you've always given us - just the very best. :)

Dear daughter, you'll have one heck of a wardrobe and more

What do you expect from a mom-to-be who's a shopaholic? Well, not much holding back, I guess. Or should I say I know instead. For the past few weeks I have been on a pseudo shopping spree, online and on foot, not for me, but for our baby. You see, I've never denied that I'm a shopaholic - thanks to my mother who introduced me to the happiness that is shopping at a very early age. *Hi Mom!* And now, instead of basking in the glory of Forever 21 or Charles & Keith and VNC, I found myself conquering the baby department of various malls. Just sharing photos of our little darling's loot as of week 21 in the utero. :) Hehe. :)

Quirky and unique onesies from http://www.googooandgaga.com/

Pilipinas onesie from my favorite, SM Department Store

Pretty dresses from local wonder, Peppermint (also in SM Dept. store)
Lisa Frank backpack courtesy of dad Richmond from Toys 'R Us

Manhattan Snuggle Toy and Sleep Sheep Sound Machine ordered from http://www.zebebe.com/ along with the Houdini Woombie

Bestselling children's books from Fully Booked

So that's it so far. As of press time though, I kinda promised the husband that these will be the last of my purchases since we're assuming that a lot of people will give us baby stuff as the due date nears and even after the baby is born. But for now, I just want to tell the consumer world that my foray into baby shopping has begun and it's gonna be another great adventure - for me and for my bank account. Haha. =p