B is for...

Busy Blessings

I know I have been silent for some time... and that's because I've recently received a blessing in my life.  I landed a new job!  It is a totally different field from where I was with before.  I'm in a new environment, new colleagues - and that explains my silence.  I still love to talk about breastfeeding and if you follow me over at Facebook, you'll know that I have a lot to say about it.  I'm slowly getting the pace and feel of my day job and hopefully, I'll be able to write more often.

Money Matters for Kids is back!

Three years ago, I took N to an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila to jumpstart her financial education.  I wrote about our experience here.  N was about 3.5 years old then and admittedly, she wasn't mature enough to fully appreciate the activity.  I wanted to bring her back when she was a bit older but there wasn't any there scheduled exhibit until this year.

Activities for August Breastfeeding Month

Breastfeeding Awareness Month is happening next week!  As always, it is packed with activities to promote, support and protect breastfeeding and further the breastfeeding advocacy.  Let me start with L.A.T.C.H.'s big event this August -- Breastfeeding Uncovered 2014: Mission Possible.  LATCH has expanded to Cebu and Davao cities and we decided to bring back Dr. Jack Newman to visit 3 major cities in the Philippines.

His first visit last year was well-attended and with the release of his new book, we hope that more healthcare workers, breastfeeding supporters and breastfeeding mothers can hear him speak.   

GCDC Philippines' Guinness attempt

Hooray! We qualified for the 2014 Great Cloth Diaper Change Guinness attempt.   This year's event was held at the Blue Leaf Events Pavilion and would not have been successful if not for our partnership with 2 mommy groups - N@W and MCNP.

Thanks to Benz of N@W, we were able to secure a wonderful venue - Blue Leaf's Jade Pavilion!  Incidentally, this Sunday, the Blue Leaf will be hosting "The Big Banquet" - a food-tasting event by the top caterers of Metro Manila.  Click here for tickets.

Photo by Nikz Dizon

Will you join us at the Great Cloth Diaper Change 2014?

I first became involved in Real Diaper Week in 2012 through several small pocket activities.  Last year, we tried to join the Guinness attempt to break the record for the most cloth diapers change.  However, we were not able to register on time and did a commemorative event instead.   This year, we had a longer time to plan and organise.

Together with Next9, TickledMoms and parenting communities N@W and MCNP, we will be joining the Great Cloth Diaper Change on 26 April 2014 and attempt to break the Guinness world record of most cloth diapers changed!

Owl Coffee Now Available in the Philippines

I first encountered Owl Coffee at one of my regular visits to Little Store in Gilmore more than 1 year ago.  I was curious about instant Singaporean coffee.  I've tried the Singaporean style coffee in Ya Kun Kaya and Toast Box but haven't had instant coffee, Singapore style.

I immediately purchased several packs in different varieties - Teh Tarik, Nanyang White Coffee and the Kopi Tiam Roast.  Not bad, not bad at all for instant coffee! I need to have my daily coffee at the office and I was very happy with the wide variety offered by Owl.

so many choices!

Sunday Slowdown at Spiral Manila

Several Sundays ago, N and I were invited to join the Mommy & Me brunch at Spiral Restaurant at Sofitel Manila (Thanks Jackie!).  I had a bazaar that day so I was yaya-less as both my yayas had to set-up for the bazaar.  E had to tag along with Achi and me. Fortunately, he cooperated.

Stan and I spent our last anniversary at Spiral Manila.  I also purchased an Accor Advantage card early this year and in fact, we will be celebrating N's graduation at Spiral this week.   Thus, when we received the invitation from Blessy and Jane of Sofitel's E-commerce group, I immediately said yes and brought both kids along.

Join the Nurture Run for Breastfeeding + Giveaway

Last week, I attended the Bloggers for Breastfeeding event at Recess by Chef Chris.  The event was to promote the upcoming run for breastfeeding - Nurture Run 2014 spearheaded by Beauty Brains and Breastfeeding.   More details in the poster below:

World Down Syndrome Day

Today is World Down Syndrome Day and I would like to share this beautiful video with you:

Mom Pop Up Goes to Rockwell!

Since the success of last year's Mom Pop Up, we had been after Rone to organize another one.  After months and months of pangungulit, this summer's Mom Pop Up is finally happening on 16 March 2014 at Hidalgo Place, Rockwell, Makati City.

What I especially love about Mom Pop Up is that it is an intimate event at a small location.  Plus, the hours are short - so not too tiring for this part-time mompreneur.  There is a fair number of shops who will be participating.

LATCH at NNC-NCR's Breastfeeding Forum

In mid-February, I was fortunate to be invited to the National Nutrition Council - NCR's Breastfeeding Forum and Photo Exhibit held at the Kaban ng Hiyas in Mandaluyong City.  I met the NCR's Nutrition Officer Meren Francia through breastfriend Kate Demetrio - also a Nutrition Officer of the NNC.  Meren and I worked closely on the Nanay Bayanihan project so when she asked me to share about the Milk Code, I readily agreed.

The Breastfeeding Photo Exhibit was the showcase of the various projects of 16 cities and 1 municipality covered by NNC-NCR to protect and promote breastfeeding.  Did you know that each of these cities (and municipality have breastfeeding support groups?  The members of the community-based BFSGs now number more than 3,000, resulting in the gradual increase in breastfeeding initiation and exclusive breastfeeding rates in the NCR.

showcase of LGU's breastfeeding activities

Join LATCH! Batch 5 Recruitment

I can't believe that it has been 2 and a half years since the last LATCH recruitment in Metro Manila!   2013 was particularly a busy year because we organized a symposium with an international speaker - Dr. Jack Newman, no less.  We also published the very first breastfeeding book for kids in the Philippines - Snuggle Wuggle Wee!

Did you get carried away? The F.A.B. Babywearing Fair

What a Saturday!  The tropical storm Santi was within the Philippine jurisdiction and we had 2 events happening that day!  The first activity was LATCH's Save the Best for LATCH which I will post about separately.  This was followed by the F.A.B. Babywearing Fair - Get Carried Away!  Friday night, I was really worried about having to cancel especially since we had paid a non-refundable fee to the venue and supplies.

Fortunately, Santi decided to leave the Philippines earlier.  Weather significantly improved and by Saturday afternoon, it was just drizzling.  Since everything was booked and set-up, we decided to push through with the event.

Thank you Estee Lauder for this Sibling Date

My sister and I are one-year apart and are very close.  In our home in Davao, although we had separate bedrooms, we never slept apart.  Both of us slept in my bedroom until we moved to Manila for college.  We only started using our separate bedrooms now that we each have our respective families.  

Learn this October - breastfeeding and babywearing!

Just like that, the last quarter of the year is here!  Because I had an office seminar for 3 weeks in September, I felt that the month slipped by.  

October is equally busy!  There are several learning events that you can attend this month.  We will be celebrating October 5-13 as International Babywearing Week and the Filipino Association of Babywearers have organized a babywearing fair! 

Behind the Scenes: Breastfeeding Uncovered

I can't believe that it has just been one week since Dr. Jack Newman came to Manila.  It feels like a long time ago and I am definitely ready for him to come back.  You can read about how we planned to bring him to Manila here.  For this post, I'm not going to talk about my learnings from his talk.  I'll save that for a future post.  But you can read fellow LATCHer Eliza Ypon's post about that here. 

More than 300 people registered for the Breastfeeding Uncovered symposium.  I have to say that organizing the symposium was truly a labor of love.  LATCH members stepped up and managed to run the event without any professionals or without hiring any events organizers.  I also want to say a special thank you to Benz Co Rana, Nice Print Photo and Bryan Sales for helping us document the event.

It's N@W or Never: Breastfeed your Child! A Photo Exhibit

This project is a labor of love from dear hubby Stanley Ong Photography and Newlyweds at Work (N@W). N@W was my lifeline during the early days of breastfeeding N. This group started out as an online forum to complement Weddings at Work (W@W) of Abet and Benz Rana. The online forum has grown into a community - with members becoming real life friends! I met a lot of my breastfriends from this group and continue to meet new friends from among the members.

Hakab Na! 2013

Last Saturday, the Philippines held its very first Hakab Na! 2013 breastfeeding awareness campaign.  I was one of the organizers of this event and you can read the background of how we planned and prepared for this event in Rappler.

Busy Breastfeeding Promotion Month 2013

My favorite month of the year is coming up.  August is Breastfeeding Promotion Month and there are several activities lined up for this month!  This will be a long but informative (I hope) post.  I've collated different activities from various groups.  Please contact the organizers directly if you are looking to join one of the listed events.

Mom Pop Up at the Fort!

I started my online store because I wanted to promote a natural lifestyle among fellow moms.  From breastfeeding, cloth diapering, babywearing, my new focus now is having a green or an eco-friendly period. You can see this from the variety of menstrual products I have in my store - ranging from several brands of cloth pads and menstrual cups.