With your first child, you aim to be the perfect parent and you do some crazy things that you'd never repeat with your second or latter children.Read “what to expect” book from cover to cover and every weekly pregnancy newsletter from babycenter.com. You make a list of questions filling up a letter-sized paper before going to your ob-gyn. … [Read more...]
My life without Facebook
I deactivated my personal Facebook account more than a year and a half ago. We were on vacation. Wi-fi was only available in our hotel lobby and nowhere else. I preferred to sacrifice social media for a week, instead of soaking the sun on the white sand beach on my vacation.After 3 days, I realized something that blew my mind.I was still … [Read more...]
Back to school, back to blogging
It's been 3 weeks since we've returned from our month "long" vacation and children started school. Between a month which I wouldn't get myself to sit in front of the computer to blog because I was vacationing and another month I couldn't sit in front of the computer to blog due to back-to-school craziness, it was one of the longest blogging hiatus … [Read more...]
Eight
Every year, writing a birthday post gets harder. Explosion of feelings that my children ignite inside my chest, every minute, every hour, cannot be explained in one post.I am definitely one lucky mother, of two of the greatest kids ever.And my firstborn, my son, is turning 8 today. I am in total disbelief that I am a mother of an 8-year … [Read more...]
Her brain vs. his brain
I like yoga but I can hardly meditate. I cannot empty my mind. I never understood how one could not think about anything. A big example: my husbandWhen I and my husband first started to date I would talk and he would listen. (Later on, he figured he needed to talk to shut me up) There would be long pauses of (awkward for me) silence, when I … [Read more...]
Tired of thinking
I get tired of having to think and having to make decisions on many small things, every day, instead of the actual physical chores and errands. I feel like my brain is steaming from all the thinking:what to prepare for breakfast what to prepare for snack bag what to put in the backpack for activities of the day how to answer "I don't … [Read more...]
Practical Parenting in Real Life
This blog, like many other parenting blogs, is like a small stage of our real lives. Especially Practical Mama, not being a personal / diary blog, reflects very limited portion of the daily hustle. I share tips and tricks that I try and find helpful after so many trials and errors. That means there is a lot of trial and error going on behind the … [Read more...]
Luck, be a husband…
I read "Choosing my own's" Jamie's Love letter to her husband. I was thinking about writing something similar recently, because I think I am one of these lucky ladies. Knocking on wood, really, I think finding the perfect someone whom you can share life, love and kids is pure luck.I feel like he's a part of me. But not like I am totally … [Read more...]
Craving
I am terribly craving to read a book. I have so many waiting for me on the shelves of my library. Childcare and child psychology ones, books about plays, novels, books in foreign languages - which if I don't practice soon enough, I'll forget. And I am about to order another batch from Amazon.com, after a long long time. I was able to get by, by … [Read more...]
Up and down
These last 2-3 weeks have been full of ups and downs like a roller coaster. I console myself continuously saying, "this is nothing", "these will go away" and "we can take care of this". I am also grateful that we are in good health (at least nothing untreatable, god forbid). It is kind of a test, I guess. Here is a list of my ups and downs for the … [Read more...]
A great quote to share
My daughter is still incubating and - thanks to my mom and husband - I am enjoying my time before the baby by reading more books. Here is a quote I wanted to note from the book I am reading now, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers, an addition to the Baby Whisperer books, which I highly recommend.“You can, and should, be in charge, but … [Read more...]
Evidence that reveal you are a new mother
The time flies by. It's already February and I wish, I can just slow down the time.Time seems to go faster after being a mom. You wake up, then suddenly it's night. You go to bed, then it's morning. Sometimes an angel stops by to help you for few minutes to give you a break, time seems to slow down a bit. Or you go to work, or have a night out … [Read more...]
Why?
…. is a license (education) not required to have and raise a child for a mother and father, even though a license is required to drive or to get married?….care all kinds of adult education classes, such as sewing or make up courses easier to find and more popular than child care classes?….do public schools and colleges not offered courses … [Read more...]
Motherhood by the book
I read one too many parenting books during my pregnancy and the first months after my baby was born. I thought if apply all the rules and lessons I've learned from the books, motherhood would be a breeze but real life taught me otherwise. As much as I learned from all those books. every child is unique and they come without a manual. In addition, … [Read more...]
Exciting Beginnings
I was told, “children turn parents’ lives upside down” by many "experts" while I was pregnant. It was a completely different story before that, but the moment you announce you are pregnant, everyone starts to advise you to “enjoy these last quiet moments”. Being obnoxiously positive-minded, I never took these in a pessimistic way. Life changes, … [Read more...]