Frannywanny

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...

I still can't believe it. I was having dinner with my family last night when my brother-in-law shared a link with me. Anthony Bourdain is found dead at 61 . I immediately thought it was a fake news as that's pretty rampant nowadays then when I showed the link to Paul, he pointed out that it was from CNN and they can't possibly come out with fake news. Then reality set in. WHY? This was the main question we all had around the table. He was at the top of his TV and food career, travelling the world, eating in all the most sought after places, he was leading the game. HOW? He died by taking his own life..his own precious life. A few days ago, fashion icon Kate Spade  also passed away due to suicide. Mental illness is no joke and it's one that we all can play a role to fight it. Let me tell you something that I have kept a secret for 7 months. L's little hand holding on to me I almost fell into what they call " post-partum depression ". I never though...

I still remember the first time I packed my twins' diaper bag. It was for an hour check-up with their pedia and I think I must have brought the entire house with us. I didn't want to take any chances for the possibility of one getting hungry or another having a poop explosion. I brought as much sets of clothes, wash clothes, receiving blankets, cotton balls and swabs, even a bottle of water, a pack of diapers, breast milk in a cooler pack, bottles, colic ointment, bonnet, mittens, booties, the list just went on and on! I think if only my bag could still accommodate, I would also have brought my nursing pillow. As a result, we were painfully carrying our super heavy bag all the way to the doctor's clinic and back. As my twins grew, the contents of their diaper bag has changed too. Gone are the booties, mittens and bonnets which are now replaced by extra bibs, socks and toys. I noticed also that we've become more efficient in packing that at some point, Yaya D even told...

"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...

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...