Family

What to Buy to Help You in Breastfeeding Your Baby (plus my first blog give away!)

July 2, 2016 By Kathleen 33 Comments

One of the best decisions Michael and I made as parents is to breastfeed our children. We believe that breastfeeding is the most natural, most nutritious way to feed our child. So we researched, shopped and geared up to make our breastfeeding journey easier. Of course as parents, we know that even if we think we are prepared and have done our homework, it won’t be a guarantee that it will be easy. In my case, it was not easy at first – heck it was very, very, very difficult – but I was glad I did not give up. I breastfed Mia until she was 2.5 years old, and we only had to stop because I was having contractions when I was pregnant with Mika. Now with the little one, I have exclusively breastfed her until she was ready for solids.

Because I’ve been breastfeeding since 2012 – 4 years already! – I’ve had the chance to research, scout, and try different items related to breastfeeding. I’ve bought breast pumps, nursing pillows, nursing bra, cover, storage bottles and milk bags, galactagogues, breast creams, pads – you’d be surprised how much breastfeeding-related products are available in the market! Here are some of the items which I can recommend to moms who are planning to breastfeed:

Breast Pump

One of the most expensive breastfeeding product that we’ve invested in is an electric double breast pump from Medela. Although the Freestyle Double Electric pump cost us a few thousand pesos, I believed that it has returned our investment a hundred fold. I also bought a manual pump for back up, just in case the electric one failed or low in battery charge. Although moms can opt to manually express milk since this is the cheapest but most effective way to express, I found it very time consuming when I was still working (in a regular office) as I had to express more than 30 minutes during my scheduled milk breaks. With the pump, the time to express was cut in half as it can express at both breasts at the same time.

Now that I work from home, I do not need to express milk regularly and there was no pressure to build a milk stash since I can just let Mika latch whenever she wants to. I still use the pump though to keep my supply up, I express whenever Mika misses a feeding schedule or I feel that my breasts are full.

A related post on this breast pump can be found here.

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We Caught a Bug! Home Remedies When Kids Get Sick

June 26, 2016 By Kathleen Leave a Comment

It was Mia’s first week of school last week and what better way to end it than taking home a virus.

We already knew pre-school and play school is a wonderland of viruses and kids there can just exchange colds, coughs, flu, stomach bugs and what-have-you but I wasn’t expecting Mia to get one early in the game. 🙂 Well I’m not really sure where she got it but that was the only place she went to last week without us. Anyway, she showed signs of colds Friday night (which we thought was just allergies) and it turned to a full-blown snot-fest on Saturday. So we loaded her up with Vitamin C, increased her fluid intake and prayed hard that the little baby won’t get infected – but of course that’s almost impossible -at the end of the weekend, Mia, Mika and I were all down with colds and cough.

How to Survive When Kids Get Colds and Cough.

When Mia was a baby, we dreaded her getting anything close to colds because it would mean crying bouts and sleepless nights for us all. She just couldn’t sleep when she had it. Until now, it’s still fairly difficult when she’s sick because she tends to get very cranky especially during the night and Michael will end up carrying her and rocking her to sleep (very hard since she’s almost 18 kilos now. We really had to look for ways on how we could make her better or at least feel a bit better. Here are some tips we got from research and from family/friends that worked for her, and we’re now doing for Mika too:

Number one remedy and cure is still increase water or fluid intake. Fortunately for Mia, this is not hard, we just have to keep reminding her and offering her to drink water and give her fruit juice every meal and snacks so she can get rid of the virus. When she really loads up on fluids, her colds would leave after three days or so. A lot of parents I know have a difficult time giving their babies or kids water since it’s tasteless and uninteresting but you just had to try and look for ways which would make your kids drink. Try different temperatures, ice cold, tap, warm – and find out which your child likes – in our case both kids like it cold. Also, choose a water container that fits your kid – better yet let them choose what they like! Although I believe it’s still best to get a water bottle since it’s less prone to spill, and very handy. Sippy cups for little toddlers are too difficult to carry along – once Mia learned how to drink from the straw we just got her a bottle with a built-in straw….

Look! Our Amazon Loot Came in on Father’s Day.

June 20, 2016 By Kathleen Leave a Comment

Mia has long been asking me to buy her bath paint – she started to do so after watching those toy review channels in YouTube. She would be very creative in asking me to look for it, by telling me that she can learn mixing colors, painting, etc, while taking a bath. However, this “bath paint” is not available anywhere here in Manila – I tried looking for it in Toys R Us, Toy Kingdom, but all I got were blank stares. So Mia suggested that I ask my friends if they can buy it for us at Amazon, yes, she’s smart like that. Good thing my mommy-friend Mica, who happens to own an online shop (how convenient!), has an open box and an Amazon Prime account (thank you, universe). I searched for bath paints at Amazon – Mia wanted the Sofia the First kind but it was out of stock so we had to settle for Dora and Friends. While searching, I saw very cheap Crayola add-ons which I purchased too, these are items Mia would need in school. Amazon Add-ons are the best! I also bought my husband a pair of shoes and packs of boxers – which became our Father’s Day gift to him. 🙂

Mia’s Dora and Friends Bath Paint, Crayola Markers, Bath Drops, Pip Squeak Markers, Paint Brushes and Smocks. Michael’s Calvin Klein shoes and Hanes and Fruit of the Loom Boxers

We’ve been buying from Amazon for quite some time now, it’s our go-to shop for hard-to-find items (like that bath paint) and cheap supplies. We also usually purchase shoes for my kids and husband there since most of the brands they carry have wide sizes (W). It’s fairly difficult to find the right shoe size for Mia and Michael here since their feet are wide. Toys, costumes and party supplies are also very cheap at Amazon especially if they go on sale – that’s why we time our purchases during holidays (think Black Friday and Cyber Monday after Thanksgiving)

Here are some tips if you plan to buy from Amazon:…

Mom’s Quick Cooks : Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu

June 17, 2016 By Kathleen Leave a Comment

Because this week was Mia’s first week – yes, she’s already a pre-schooler – I had little time to prepare dinner. This is no excuse though, I still had to prepare and cook dinner – moms don’t get days off!

Here’s one of my no-fuss dinner solutions:

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients

Chicken breast fillet (butterfly)
Quick melt Cheddar Cheese (cut into sticks)
Honey cooked Ham
Parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lemon or calamansi juice (optional)
Paprika (optional)
Flour
Eggs, beaten
Japanese bread crumbs (panko)
Oil

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Shopping Mom Loves to Cook Too! Recipe: Fish Fingers with Tartare Dip

June 8, 2016 By Kathleen Leave a Comment

Aside from shopping stuff for our house and kids, I also enjoy cooking for our little family. We obviously love to eat (our physique is a giveaway!) and I’m happy that my family appreciates the simple food I make at home. Except from the cooking class I had back in high school, I just learned how to cook from my mom and relatives – so don’t be misled that I cook gourmet meals. 🙂

I usually try to cook healthy as much as I can, and it helps that the supermarkets we buy our groceries from have a variety of healthy options like lean meats, free-range poultry and fresh seafood. I posted our dinner the other night on Facebook and some of my friends asked me to share the recipe so I decided to post it here. I will try to post as much recipes as I can, and provide information where I buy some of the ingredients so I can share it with you.

Fish Fingers with Tartare Dip

1 whole Medium-sized Sole fish fillet (Dapa in Filipino) or Cream Dory cut in finger-sized pieces
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
Japanese Bread crumbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lemon or Kalamansi juice
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
Dip:
5 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of pickle relish
1/2 table spoon minced onions
white vinegar or lemon juice

How to prepare and cook:

Season the fish with salt and pepper. Put a little lemon or calamansi juice (just one calamansi will do), make sure not to put too much because the type of fish used is bland in nature and putting a little too much will make the fish taste sour.
Quickly dredge the fish in flour
Dip the fish in the beaten eggs
Dredge in the Japanese crumbs
Heat the oil in a medium-sized pan and deep-fry the fish until golden brown. Just leave the fish to cook, turning it once if needed. If you turn or move the fish too much, the coating will fall off.
Set aside the fish and drain in paper towels so it will not be soggy with oil
To make the dip, mix the mayonnaise, pickle relish, minced onions. Add in vinegar or lemon juice and salt to suite your taste.
Garnish with Lemon and celery

I usually buy our groceries at Rustan’s Fresh Supermarket at the Grove or Robinson’s Supermarket in Eaastwood. It’s because these two are the closest to our home and most of our staples and our favorite brands can be found there. For this recipe, I bought ingredients at Rustan’s last weekend – I had the fresh fish already cleaned and deboned in the store. If sole is not available, you can always opt for Cream Dory or Pangasius- there are lots of brands in the market but the brand we always buy is Sea King.

To make the fish crunchier and tastier, it’s best to use Japanese-style bread crumbs instead of just plain flour. I keep a few bags at home for quick-to-cook viands like Pork Tonkatsu, Prawn Tempura or Chicken Crispers. You can get this at any supermarket.

If you are pressed for time, try to cook this recipe, it took me less than 30 minutes to prepare this. I’m sure your little kids would love it – Mia loves these! Serve with coleslaw, or shredded cabbage with thousand island dressing for a balanced meal.

Happy cooking!

Family Time: Weekend in Liliw

June 5, 2016 By Kathleen Leave a Comment

At least once a month, we visit my parents in our hometown – Liliw. My sister and I try to schedule going there at the same weekend so the kids will be together. This weekend, Mia got lucky – as soon as we arrived, she was given a surprise loot!

Mia’s present from Achi Mara and her friends!

Mara and her friend, Irish from HK, gave her Disney Princess Frozen Castle Lego, Gelli Baff (turns bath water to goo), and Crazy Soap Colour Changing bubble bath. Mommy April also gave her a big bag of Skittles.

We can’t wait to play with these! Thank you! 🙂

Disney Princess Frozen Lego, Crazy Soap, Gelli Baff ad Skittles

Mika and Ate Celine playing

Family time is love.

Skip links

Family

How to Survive When Kids Get Colds and Cough.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients