Friday, June 12, 2015

Tot time with my daughter

My Milly is turning 1 year old in few weeks’ time which means we’re close to starting our informal home schooling! (yay for me) I refer informal homeschooling as Tot School Time. According to 1plus1plus1equals1 website, Tot school is the idea of learning through play at home during younger years. This is where we provide materials and prepare age appropriate activities that are exciting and appealing to them. You can choose makeshift toys, materials you already have in your home and any activities that you think that your children would love. With that, we can expose them to learning a lot of things even at an early age.

As early as 6 months, I started exposing different types of age appropriate activities to my daughter. After my work, I always make sure to play and read some of her books as she sits on my lap. While some parents are against letting their kids watch iPad, I allow Milly to have her own screen time for about 15 minutes per day. (no to fast paced cartoons; I just let her watch Baby Einstein and some educational videos). 

That’s actually the reason why I think homeschooling works with my schedule. I firmly believe that as long as you manage your time properly and have a schedule; homeschooling is possible even if you’re working full time.  The maximum number of hours per day you need to allot to toddlers & preschoolers is 2 hours so that wouldn't be a problem for me. It's actually an advantage for me that I work at night, because I get to play with her, feed and bathe her, sing nursery rhymes, cuddle and do our tot time together. This is now a part of our daily routine and we usually start our play/learn time before she takes her morning nap. One hour before her nap and one hour after she takes her lunch. I actually do not mind how many hours of sleep I get each day, but to give you an idea of my day to day time allotment for my daughter, I only sleep 2-3 hours per day. :) It may sound tiring for a full time working mom, but I'm telling you, it is really fulfilling to see how my daughter learns and appreciates the time I always give her.


Here are our typical daytime activities: 


Sing ABC's and some nursery rhymes. Read aloud books. 
Play time with wooden Numbers.

Letting her roam around the room

A video posted by @kc_alcantara on
Story telling as she starts to fall asleep :)
I remember when I was a kid, I've always loved playing teacher-teacheran. Actually, I wanted to be a teacher; it was my dream job. Due to some circumstances, I was left with no choice but to follow someone elses dream for me. Maybe that's the reason why I've always enjoyed teaching Milly. Now I know I can fulfill my greatest dream and that is to be the best teacher to my daughter. ❤️ Thanks Milly for reliving my dream and turning it in to reality. You really are my dream come true. 

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Things I miss before I became a M-O-M

Time’s flying really fast and few weeks from now, my daughter will celebrate her 1st birthday. Sometimes, I feel like I am on reverie; I couldn’t believe that my husband and I already have our own bundle of joy. She was a dream came true, and God knows, even my closest friends, how much we both wanted to have our own child. Every time we look at her, we always praise God for giving us a healthy, makulit and beautiful little girl. We must have done something really good for giving her to us.

It seems like yesterday when I found out I was pregnant, and I must admit that I am missing a lot of things that I used to do before I became a mother. 


Don’t get me wrong, I love being a mother, but you know that feeling when you realize you have given so much time and effort for your family? That sometimes, you feel the need to take even just a little break from reality? Mother’s deserve a little break too, but we’re too selfless and we’d rather spend our days nurturing and spending time with our family. That’s why I admire some moms who get the leisure to spend quality / me time for themselves - I don’t know if it’s just me, but no matter how much I find time to pamper myself, I just can’t fit the “I-want- to-do-things” on my schedule. It’s as if one day isn’t enough to do all the things that I need to do for my family. I feel like I am always cramming to go home every after work just to spend time with them. But no matter how much I love and enjoy being a mom, sometimes I’d like to spool back my life even just for a day or two.




Here are my top 8 list that I miss doing before I became a busy-mom

    1.       Me time - before, I could spend one day on the salon having my hair permed while I have my nails manicured and pedicured. But right now? I couldn’t stand sitting on the salon chair for more than an hour. I’d settle myself for a simple haircut.  I couldn’t even believe that I used to spend so much money with my hair. (Pero ngayon, I’m fine with a 49.99 haircut. Hehehe!)

    2.       Rest / Sleeping - this is what I call luxury right now. I’m always sleep deprived. Before, I could spend my rest days lying on my bed sleeping all day but right now? 3-4 hours of sleep is my daily routine. I also missed waking up whenever I want to. Before I became a mom, I could wake up whenever I want to, but now that I have a daughter, I wake up between 4 to 5am during RESTDAYS.

    3.       Shopping - yep, I missed shopping for myself. I could spend half of my salary shopping for myself but right now, every money I spend is all for my family. I always think that the money I could be spending from shopping alone can save up for Milly’s future.

    4.       Reading - I used to read all sorts of novels before a became a mom, but I don’t know if it’s just me or my time management, but I couldn’t even get hold of my e-book  these days. From novels, I am now down to reading story books and all sorts of baby books. :D

    5.       My old figure - I really don’t mind wearing size 40 and XL tops at all, but every time I look at my old pictures, I feel bad for gaining so much weight after I gave birth. No matter how much I try to lessen my food intake, my bulging tummy just won’t return to its old state. It will never be the same again.

    6.       Watching movies/series/television- call me OA, but I am no longer updated with current events! My daughter hates noise and she easily wakes up every time the TV is turned on. So ending, whenever our TV is turned on, expect that the volume is too low or no audio at all.

    7.       Clean room - Our room is always messy. Start with the dresser down to the cabinet. Toys and books are always on the floor and I’ve realized that having a clean room is close to impossible. :D I spend time picking up things when she’s asleepm waiting for the same thing to happen again once she wakes up.

    8.       Quality time with my husband - I am a wife before I became a mother and it’s a must that I spend quality time with my husband. But there are times that we can’t even do the things we used to do before. :D Oh, how I missed going out on a date with him. (We better work on this) Good thing, we enjoy spending time with our daughter by playing and cuddling with her. Now, that’s a great bonding time.    

These are just some of the things that I missed the most before I became a mom, but I do not feel any pinch of regret having my family even for one second. I may have sacrificed a lot of things for them and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Everything I do for them is all worth it. 
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