The Modern Mom

Reg and I have been trying to lose weight to better control our sugar intake. We ate out a lot when I was still pregnant so he gained "pregnancy pounds" as well. Haha! I have been going to the supermarket to buy 3 weeks worth of dinners the past 2 months and I have been making weekly menu plans to help us achieve our goal. Honestly, I have always felt lazy to do this menu because the meats available at the grocery varies every week. I tend to buy what looks good so I can't stick to 1 set of menu come marketing time. First, let's start with the supermarket. We are closer to Unimart Greenhills but I feel that prices there are higher and there are times when their stock delivery is delayed. I always end up not being able to buy everything that I need. In order for this menu planning to succeed, I now go to my trusty Landmark Supermarket in Trinoma. I used to shop there when I was still single but I stopped going when I moved after getting married because I hated the ...

So here's a very controversial topic about motherhood: BREASTFEEDING. The dreaded B word that makes new moms run to the hills! I have heard a lot of friends rehash their breastfeeding journeys, from the sleepless night, to the endless crying, to cracked nipples and to PPD! Having heard so many horror stories about it, I have decided early on that I will not pressure myself to breastfeed. If I am blessed with breastmilk as soon as my baby comes then that would be wonderful! Problem solved before it even begins, but if I don't then I wouldn't sweat about it. You see, my siblings and I were not breastfed and we all turned out fine. We all went to good universities and had our own "thing" that we were good at. My husband and I talked about it before I delivered and we both agreed that feeding our daughter well is better than forcing something that leaves her hungry and makes me depressed. We packed a small can of formula and feeding bottles in our hospital bag as ...

Of all the adventures and misadventures that I have had in my life, being a new mom takes the cake. It has only been two weeks and two days to be exact but I feel that my whole life has changed. Not to sound too dramatic but as confident as I am about my decisions about her, looking at this tiny baby girl makes me doubt everything. I just keep reminding myself that I'm doing the best that I can for her with the most of what I have and with the best of my abilities. I'd do another blog entry about this. My little E is not fussy. She's a good baby. She only cries when she's hungry. She doesn't even cry when she has poop in her nappy. Most of the time she's asleep so we're always excited when she's awake. The first four days at the hospital was a challenge. We were still adjusting with the change. The lack of sleep affected my blood pressure which gave me migraines in the day. When we were finally able to come home, I was determined to establish a rou...

There are things in life that makes you want to give up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not currently depressed. 😅 I was out with my mom the other day and chanced upon a dance store. For some reason, I always try to look for a white tutu even when I don't plan to buy one. You see, when I was in Prep-1, I joined a dance program in school. The teacher told us to bring white tutus and white ballet shoes. My parents and I scoured many SM Department Stores but all we could find were pink tutus and shoes. Remember that this was in the 90's so there were limited malls in Metro Manila. The usual next step is to go back to school and tell my teacher that it was impossible to find one, right? Well, that's what all of my classmates did. My parents? Impossible was (and still is) not in their vocabulary. My mom designed and sewed an all-white ballet ensemble just for me! I was the only one who came to class with what the teacher asked us to bring. Everyone else brought pink. And even ...

When I was in high school, I watched this movie entitled, “The Joy Luck Club”. I think I was with my mom and sisters when we watched it. The movie tells the story of four women who escaped their difficult lives in China, went to the US, had daughters who all seem to inherit their weaknesses and how they all were able to rise up to their shortcomings and get better. There was this part where everyone was having dinner and they were eating crab. June, who thinks her mom always compares her to the beautiful Waverly, got angry at the latter because she thinks that she is never good enough. Her mom told her that it’s not true and uses the sample of the crabs they had for dinner to emphasize. At the table, Waverly immediately gets the claw, which is the best part but June gets the smallest piece because she wants others to get the better ones. Her mom says that it’s because June has a good quality heart. It has been a running joke in our family that my eldest sister, Cla, is June because she...

In welcoming the new year, I try to clean the house and get rid of the junk I've accumulated throughout the past year.. and by get rid, I mean put them in boxes and store them. Hehe. In our household of two humans and two dogs, we hired a full-time helper (FH) to assist us in our daily chores. The dogs require constant care and since hubby and I both work, we decided this is the best way to keep our sanity. We also have a stay-out helper (SO) whose (real) primary job is to keep our helper company every other day. SO was our saviour when our string of helpers quit one after the other so when we were able to hire someone full-time, we continued her services, thanks to H. :) This has been our set-up for the past six months and it has been smooth sailing until the holidays. Because SO couldn't come, FH was left to clean the house for the past two weeks. Mind you, I do the cooking of main meals at home and I don't expect the house to be sparkly clean but she didn't even try....

We harvested okra today from our mini garden! I was so excited to see that they've grown so big over the past few weeks! While they are still fresh, I decided to hit two birds with one stone and empty out leftover vegetables from the crisper. This recipe can be adjusted based on what you have in your refrigerator. :) I chopped 1 small white onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 tomato and some leftover meatballs we had for dinner yesterday. I also diced 1 whole green bell pepper and included this leftover sweet corn kernels we used for pizza. I cut the okra into approximately 2-3" pcs. Procedures: 1. Sauté onions and garlic until translucent. 2. Add the bell peppers and stir. 3. After about a minute, add the meatballs. I added freshly ground pepper at this point. 4. Add the okra. Stir well to make sure there are no areas burning. 5. Add 1/4 cup water and cover. 6. Once the water has evaporated, check if the okra is cooked. If not, add another 2 tbsp. of water and cover. 7. Add the toma...