Time's up already?

Don't you ever wish there were more than 24 hours in a day? Or that maybe you could be at 2 or even 3 places at once? Or how about if you could freeze time for a few hours while you're working on something so that you have more time to do other things?

I thought being a stay-at-home-mom would allow me a little more time to do the things that I couldn't do when I worked full time with, but I was seriously wrong. Just getting all the housework done and taking care of Raine takes up a lot of time so that "me-time" almost always takes a backseat.

I try to reserve Raine's afternoon nap for my internet time when I can answer emails, blog, surf the net and do some reading. But more often than not I make use of this quiet time to catch up on my chores. Actually, more like rush thru them. Raine is like my little shadow. She follows me around the house constantly. When I sweep the floor, she would walk behind me really closely and stare in awe at the broom. For some reason, she seems to be amazed by dirt and dust. She has a habit of touching it all the time, much to my dismay. As a result, I try not to clean when she's awake because we end up with more mess than when we started. I can't get any ironing done either for fear that she might yank on the iron's cord or something.

Hubby got pretty sick last Wednesday with fever and diarrhea so I had to take care of his needs too. It was a bit of a challenge to be both nurse and nanny especially when both hubby and Raine called for me at the same time. Thank goodness hubby got well after a full day of rest (Am I good nurse or what? Hehe).

We've been here in Marshall Islands for 2 months now and I still have so many things to learn as a new SAHM. I think the most important of all is time management.

Learning to cook well, keeping the house clean, teaching my growing toddler more than just the ABCs, these are just some of the many things on my plate. Let's not forget quality time with my hubby. And time for me too. Balancing everything is one big juggling act I have yet to master.

Kudos to the stay-at-home moms out there who seem to do it all effortlessly. Someday I hope I can be just as organized and put-together.

My First Tags

First off, thanks to Pat for sending me this award. You made my day! I'd like to send this to Mec, Tricia, Leah and Agnes.I will shamelessly admit that I'm such a novice at this blogging thing that I didn't quite know what to do when I got tagged. I'm not much of a techie really, hehe.

A big thanks to my dear friend and kumare Tricia for this really cute domino tag.

I'd like to tag my new blog friends Mari, Faye, Marie, Eileen and Anna.

Eyes Wide Shut

Ever since I found out I was pregnant I knew there were certain things I’d have to give up to make way for having a new person in my life. One of those things was getting in 8-hour snooze fests. I’ve always been used to sleeping late, like past midnight, on a daily basis. But the moment Raine came even that went out the window.

I knew that I wanted to breastfeed Raine for at least 6 months. That meant getting up at odd hours of the night to get her from the crib and nurse her. I was like a zombie for the first month of her life. Raine cried for milk almost every hour on the hour. I hardly got any sleep then. As the months passed though and my milk supply increased, the 1 hour turned to 2 and then 3 and then 4. At last, I could sleep for 4 hour stretches, right? But I had gone back to work and to keep her supply up, I would still get up every 2-3 hours to pump in between baby Raine’s feedings. It was so tempting to take the easy way out and just give her formula then but I wanted to stick to the 6 month period I’d originally set. If I hadn’t gotten sick and had to take a heavy dose of antibiotics Raine would probably have been breastfed longer.

Raine’s sleeping habits gradually changed. Soon she only woke up twice every night to ask for milk. Hubby and I would take turns getting milk for her. Although most of the time I was the one who got up, for some reason I’ve become a light sleeper since I gave birth and have been really sensitive to Raine’s cries. I even hear her turn over in her crib. Needless to say I haven’t had uninterrupted sleep since I gave birth.

My officemates and I went to Boracay for 3 days and 2 nights when Raine was 8 months old. I almost didn’t go because I felt guilty leaving my baby behind. But honestly, I was also looking forward to the 2 nights of undisturbed sleep. Unfortunately, my roommate got drunk and although she passed out at about 2am I couldn’t sleep soundly lest she wake up in the middle of the night to throw up or something. Our second night in Boracay, we stayed up until 4am but although this time my roommate didn’t get drunk I still couldn’t sleep well because I missed Raine. It was my first time to be away from her ever and it was an unsettling feeling.

Today, Raine is 15 months old and she usually only cries for milk once at night. I still get up to give her some. It might be quite awhile until I’m able to sleep for 8 hours straight again, but watching my baby sleep peacefully with a smile on her rosy cheeks gives me enough energy to last me thru the night.

It's the thought that counts (really)

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Being far away from the Philippines on days like these makes me miss all things familiar so much more. After the Christmas decorations are taken down, V-Day is considered the next “big” holiday in Manila. Concerts on every stage, prices of flowers double or even triple in cost, malls adorned with hearts and bows.

I will shamelessly admit that I’m a romantic. Thank goodness so is my husband. Hehe. Usually on this day he sends pink roses to my office and we go out to dinner. Our first Valentine’s as a married couple he surprised me with a dinner-concert at the Westin Philippine Plaza (now Sofitel). It was really nice as it was right by the bay. The hotel is special to us since this is where we held our wedding reception. Little did I know that at that time I was already pregnant with our daughter Raine.

Last year, we simply spent Valentine’s at home. Our baby girl was just a little over 3 months old and we didn’t want to leave her behind. This year we are in Marshall Islands where there are no concerts, no flowers for sale even. But hubby still found a way to commemorate the day by giving me a lollipop bouquet. He even got Raine a little stuffed toy. Later that night, we had dinner at the MI hotel with some friends.
No matter how or where you spend Valentine’s Day, what’s really important is that you get to spend the day with the one that makes your heart beat just a little bit faster.