Frannywanny

 "Nothing can dim the light that shines from within." - Maya Angelou 2021's entrance was probably one of the most quiet that I've ever encountered in my 39 years of existence. With the absence of massive fireworks and social distancing protocols are still being observed, we gladly bid 2020 adieu and hope that this year will be much better. If you asked me what I was doing as we counted down to the end of 2020, I'd tell you that I was quietly in my study area, working on my laptop. With my twins and my parents sleeping soundly and Paul sitting right beside me, it may not sound very happening but to be, I got everyone who mattered around me and that's just what I needed. Of course, we had a nice family dinner with my sister and her family on video call. I guess this is really the digital age where technology makes being apart physically makes it feel less painful and lonely.  So what do I hope for this new year. I just hope for the pandemic to end. For famili...

Before anything else, let me wish you and your family a Merry Merry Christmas ! I remember that I would always do this Christmas blog post every single year. Except for last year where my days were just so mixed up with my nights and I began to lost track of time, of the day while trying to catch up on sleep, juggling all our tasks as new parents and basically adjusting to motherhood. Things are much better now. Much, much better, actually. We get to sleep more, routines are now in place, my twins are definitely much bigger and their personalities are more defined. I'm not gonna lie. I do miss the scent of newborn babies but I love each day spent playing with them even more. Trying to decipher their baby languages, laughing at their latest antics and a lot lot more. This is our life now. We are now parents of 1-year-old growing babies. Before we know it, they'll turn into full-fledge toddlers, then will transition to school age kids, teenagers and *gulp* move on to adu...

My dearest J & L, You're both a year old today! Wow, I can't believe it has been a year since you both came out from Mommy's tummy and that officially was the start of a brand new (and exciting) chapter in my life. It still feels like yesterday when I was wheeled into the delivery room with my blood pressure going haywire and at exactly 6:36AM, I first heard the best sound in the world -- my little J's first cry. This was followed a minute after with L's slightly delayed but equally powerful cry. Since then, we've been celebrating a lot of firsts. Your first smile, your first babble, your first clap, your first solids, the first time you clearly said "Mama" then "Papa" and a lot more words following that. Perhaps right now, you're still fully dependent on Mommy and Daddy but let me tell you one thing. I am really grateful to be your Mommy. Looking back at the past 12 months, you have thought me a lot of things and I'd lik...

When I got married 8 years ago, I was one of the lucky few who didn't had to worry much about running my own household. It's because I was first asked to move in with my in laws for the first 5 months of our married life and there it was easy breezy for me. I literally would wake up in the morning with a wide breakfast spread lovingly made by Manang on the table, I'd go to work while being driven by Kuya M and after a long busy day at work, I'd go back to my in laws' house with dinner waiting for me. The only thing that Paul and I had to worry then were our basic toiletries. After 5 months, we gave in to my mom's request and moved in to my family. It was even much more easier for me as I didn't had to adjust at all. It was simply going back to the house where I grew up in before I became Mrs. Ang. Likewise, Mommy and Papa had everything ready where we had our reliable helpers to do our laundry, cook our meals and so on. The harsh realities of being marrie...

It finally happened. Yaya D left us last Sunday. After 8 months of being our helping hand in watching over my twins. She left. The downside? She left without a proper notice..much less without even saying good bye. *sigh* My pride and joy ♥ ♥ ♥  I won't lie. My heart sank when I read her vague message of her telling me that she won't come back from her supposed 3 days day off as she wanted to rest some more. Her excuse? She got a really painful lump in her throat and according to her, it's making it really hard for her to breathe. Well, I asked my brother-in-law E who's an ENT to look into this week ago when she first complained about it and he saw...nothing. Absolutely nothing. A quick check on her Facebook page over the weekend also saw her singing her heart out with her boyfriend. For somebody who has a lump on her throat, it's amazing how she can still belt out those high tunes. Well, at first, I panicked. Then I felt really sad. More than the frighten...

Before I start this post, let me tell you that I am no breastfeeding advocate. Yes, I do recognize and believe in the benefits that it bring but I promise that this won't be the type of post that will lecture you on and on that breastfeeding is the only  way to go. I still do believe that fed is best . That said, I do respect whichever way a Mom feeds her kid. Breastfed, bottle fed, formula, pureed solids, baby-led weaning... for as long as the baby is properly nourished and fed, I am all for that. What I would like to share is my personal experience as a breastfeeding mommy to my twins for the past 8 months (and still counting..whew!). It was actually silly of me to think that I won't have milk to breastfeed. Well, I do have some basis. Looking at my genetic line, neither my Mom nor my Ama breastfed and my sister actually didn't had much so I saw how she struggled and persevered to be able to feed my niece A up until she reaches a year old. Pan totally won the determinat...

"Wait till they start crawling!" I still remember my Mom telling me this when I once told her how excited I am for my twins to grow faster when they were just newborn. I still get scared carrying newborns..most especially tiny babies as I have this great fear that I might accidentally drop them. My Mom and other Mommy friends would tell me to take it slow and savor that moment as a new challenge would arise once my babies would start crawling..or would start walking or worst..running. Well my friends, the time has come when both J and L are now considered crawlers. Actually, they're more like tumbling tots who would go from one corner to another by tumbling all over the place. It's scary though as they have no concept of pausing or slowing down thus my fear of me dropping them has been quickly replaced with the fear of them just falling off the bed one day. For the past months, I've been bugging Paul that it's time for us to scout around for a good playmat...

"To be a Mom." To most women my age, they probably have big ambitions and dreams such as to run their own company, be the CEO in a multi-national corporation, to fly to the moon, to perform at the Carnegie Hall, go to an ivy league school and so on. Growing up, I had my share of dreams too such as to work for the biggest magazine publication company in the country (✓), to travel the world (working on that), to meet the man of my dreams (✓✓✓) and lastly...to be a full-time, hands-on mom. For many years, I've enjoyed a smooth and gradual climb in my career and I'm lucky to have Paul and my family by my side too. However, as the years go by, I can't help but notice that there's one dream left unfulfilled. Clearly, some things were indeed beyond my control and after 7 long (yet happy) years, I am able to put a bold ✓ mark beside the last item in my dream list. This was when my beautiful twins, J and L were born. Motherhood is indeed another ball game. It...

If you're someone who's just as OC (obsessive - compulsive) and a neat freak like me, then let me tell you this. Expect this OCness and neat freak-ness to escalate to greater heights once you have a baby. I've honestly lost count of the number of times I've cleaned my hands with soap followed by a splash of isopropyl alcohol in a day or how much I value our UV sterilizer that I would literally sterilize everything within arms reach from my twins. From their toys to their bottles, I would make sure to sterilize them most especially at this stage where they're teething and would put everything in their tiny mouths. When it comes to their milk, then that's another level of sanitation. My twins were exclusively breastfed for the first few months of their lives but lately, we're starting to introduce formula milk as the pedia wanted to "bulk" them up. Not wanting to fully wean them off my breast milk yet, I would just give them formula 1-2x in a day ...

During one of our recent meet-up with friends, some of them gave us sweet encouraging messages on how they're at awe on how we're raising our twins and still look human during the day. Well aside from the fact that they didn't get to see us during the first two months of being twin parents, we're also blessed to have very disciplined kids who can now sleep through the night which allows us to have better sleep or at least some quality evening time. There are still fussy nights but they come rarely and we get over them quickly. Modesty aside though, I never felt like what Paul and I are doing is something out of the ordinary. To us, this is our NORMAL. For us, it's normal to repeatedly change two sets of diapers each time, it's normal to prepare two bottles every time, it's normal to tandem feed, it's normal to deal with two crying babies, it's normal to put two babies to sleep at the same time, the list can go on and on. I guess we're also lu...

Back before I had my twins..even way before I got pregnant, I got to admit that I would scroll over photos of friends sharing their milk and would wonder to myself what the fuss is all about over one's ability to produce milk. It was on my 3rd day post partum when everything just made perfect sense and that was when I finally entered the world of breastfeeding. I got to admit that all throughout my pregnancy, I never really prepared myself for breastfeeding. Paul and I kept an open mind that in case I won't be able to breastfeed my twins, then we are willing to give them formula. I didn't even bothered to join any lactation classes and I barely educated myself about it. In fact, I still remembered that day when I had to ask the NICU nurse to help me express my colostrum as that's one thing that I was determined to give my twins. Luckily, the NICU nurse was super helpful and encouraging. As I tried to express my first amount of liquid gold she told me that I was doing ...

I know it's kinda late to talk about the New Year as in fact we're just a week away from February. I guess this is what first time parenthood is all about. Your days will just roll by so quickly as you busily deal with endless changes of dirty diapers, frequent cries for milk and basically trying to keep your baby (or in our case, our babies) healthy, happy and simply alive every single day. However, as I watch my twins sleep soundly right now I can't help but feel an immense amount of gratitude and happiness. Just a year ago, I made a wish that hopefully on 2017, we will finally have the answer to our prayers. I prayed that we will be blessed with a baby...regardless if it's a boy or a girl, I promise to be the best Mom that I could possibly be and I'll bring him or her closer to God too. Just three months after, our prayers were answered and shortly after that, we found out that we were expecting not only one but two beautiful babies. More blessings and su...