Thank GOD It's December - A Story of a Blessed Woman

December has always been so special for me and hubby. We both celebrate our birth dates, every 4^th and 13^th, his and mine respectively. We commemorate our anniversary every 14^th and on the 16^th, our wedding anniversary. Being together for 12 years as happy lovers and getting married for eight years are more than a million ways of thanking God and praising His name.

With God’s grace, we are able to sustain and survive life’s trials and tests of faith but as we always say, these tough times were outgrown by the billions of blessings that we receive each day. Miracles are felt and witnessed every time we wake  up and see how beautiful life is, seeing Eieo next to us, happy, witty and healthy.

Many people say that we are perfectly blessed as we have always become a blessing and inspiration to many lives. But you know, though I feel that I really couldn’t ask for more, hubby and I would always love to hope and pray that EIEA will be handed and given to us soon, very, very soon.

Yes, all we want now is a lovely, smart and healthy daughter…

As I end today’s post, I would like to thank my husband and lifetime partner, Ren, for his unconditional love and support, our marriage is so wonderful that would make me fall in love with you over and over again... 

Eieo, for his love and for making us feel God’s blessings every day and of course, for having us experience the perks of parenthood; for our families and friends, for making us feel loved and special each day. 

The power of my three F’s: Faith, Family and Friends, has always been an inspiration… thank you very much. All these things I owe to you and all.

Happy holidays, everyone. May the yuletide spirit bring us the gifts of love, joy, peace and prosperity. 

Season’s greetings from our family to yours… God bless us all.

Thanks be to God Almighty.

Forever blessed,

Mommy Mai

Photo credits go to the links provided. Thank you...

How to Raise a Two-Year Old Child

Eieo at Two
Our little Eieo is growing so smart, healthy, active and so lovable. He makes us realize the fun and wonders of being a mom and a dad. Sometimes he even teaches us things that we could only learn from him and from parenthood. He makes appreciate life more - motivating us to live a healthier and a much happier life.

Spending family bonding moments and quality time together, with him, of course, hubby and I see to it that we always make the best and the most out of it as we believe that his early childhood years would ONLY be once. Yes, indeed. Same reason why we chose and decided to work at home and grab online opportunities. Through this kind of work, we handle our own time; we are our own boss; and we tend to live the kind of life we think we deserve and desire (Thanks be to GOD).

With so many blessings, we couldn't ask for more as what we have right now is the SIMPLE life hubby and I have always wanted and have prayed for. Anyway, I just want to repost something about child development - toddler (a two-year old kid) and hope many mothers out there would learn and benefit from this. Happy reading!

Our Child is UNIQUE.
Every child's development is unique and complex. Although children develop through a generally predictable sequence of steps and milestones, they may not proceed through these steps in the same way or at the same time. A child's development is also greatly influenced by factors in his or her environment and the experiences he or she has.

The information in this guide explains what child development experts consider to be "widely-held expectations" for what an average child might achieve within a given year.

MILESTONES
By the age of two, children's different personalities and skills definitely shine through. The following milestones are meant to give you an idea of the average age that children master various milestones, but be aware that most children will not be completely average. They often excel in certain areas while paying little attention to others at any given time. If, however, you are concerned about your child's development, be sure to address your concerns with your child's doctor.

How your child may develop this year?

• Two-year-olds enjoy using their senses and motor skills to explore the world and are highly curious about unfamiliar objects, events and phenomena. They can solve simple problems with the "trial and error" method and will practice an activity many times to master it. Children this age also pretend more during play, using familiar objects and situations to process their daily experiences.

• New discoveries are also facilitated by a two-year-old's blossoming language skills that prompt many "why," "what" and "how" questions. During the year, children this age pick up most parts of speech to form more complete sentences. They can understand and say hundreds of words, but familiar adults may need to "translate" for others due to immature pronunciation skills. They also understand simple directions and many common phrases used in routine situations.

• Children this age are laying the groundwork for reading and writing. They enjoy having books read to them and may pretend to "read" as they independently look through familiar books. Two-year-olds can sing the A-B-C song, but they don't yet understand that the letter names correspond to specific graphic designs. They also make a variety of scribble marks anywhere and everywhere and may even attempt to write the first letter of their name.

• As they play and complete their daily routines, two-year-olds learn important math skills. They can use a toy to represent another object, recognize patterns with daily activities and understand concepts of time like, "tomorrow" and "yesterday." Two-year-olds are just beginning to use logical reasoning to solve everyday problems. They can sort shapes, complete puzzles with eight pieces or less and stack a set of rings on a peg by size. They also understand addition and subtraction with the numbers "one" and "two."

• Physically, two-year-olds explore all the ways to travel from here to there, including rolling, crawling, creeping, walking, running, jumping and climbing. They can also kick a small ball forward, catch a rolled ball and throw a ball overhand (but with little accuracy). Two-year-olds love finger play activities (e.g., "The Itsy, Bitsy, Spider"), pounding and squeezing clay, shaking rhythm instruments and scribbling. They can turn doorknobs and unscrew lids and have improved their skills using eating utensils.

• Two-year-olds also use their motor skills to explore the creative arts. They make sounds by banging and shaking instruments and household items. They enjoy dancing upon request, doing finger plays and acting out chants and songs. Children this age are also gaining control over their voices and will join in singing the refrains of their favorite songs. With art, they enjoy the sensory pleasures of the art materials and focus on the process of creating art, rather than the final product.

• Two-year-olds enjoy playing alongside other children, but usually keep to themselves. When conflicts arise, adults need to step in to prevent aggression and teach appropriate behaviors. Children this age are beginning to label feelings that they recognize in themselves and others. Controlling emotions is still difficult, however, so frustration may trigger emotional meltdowns. Comfort objects like blankets or teddy bears help two-year-olds cope with new situations or strong emotions.

Read more details here. This post has been a great guide in our parenthood ventures. Enjoy!

Parenting 101

This is how we make our sweet little EIEO, next and closer to perfection.





































Parenting is a tough job and raising our kids is really challenging. With this, hubby and I believe that it is indeed a very noble profession, a lifetime commitment… and of course, a continuous learning process. Our “first-time” experiences are our teachers. And with this, I keep on reading lots of books and posts on responsible and effective parenting. In this post, I would share some nice quotes and even some practical tips that Rainier and I religiously do to our little prince, Eieo. Hope you’ll enjoy and learn from these, too. Happy reading!

Always kiss your children goodnight - even if they're already asleep. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Your children need your presence more than your presents. ~Jesse Jackson

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. ~Robert Fulghum

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. ~Barbara Kingsolver

If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders. ~Abigail Van Buren

The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable. ~Lane Olinghouse

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. ~Charles R. Swindoll

What a child doesn't receive he can seldom give later. ~P.D. James

If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others. ~Haim Ginott

There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. ~Chinese Proverb

When you teach your son, you teach your son's son. ~The Talmud

What's done to children, they will do to society. ~Karl Menninger

In bringing up children, spend on them half as much money and twice as much time. ~Author Unknown

Ma-ma does everything for the baby, who responds by saying Da-da first. ~Mignon McLaughlin (This is very true. Hubby laughs…)

You have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once. ~Polish Proverb

Lucky to Marry My Best Friend...

I am thankful that GOD let me get married, experience to have a family of my own, and celebrate both womanhood and parenthood.

I am grateful that He made me fall in love with the same man over and over.

I am blessed I married my best friend.

I am glad I did, I do and I always will.

I am thankful, grateful, happy and blessed to have Rainier as my hubby.

May GOD bless us as we celebrate, enjoy and spend our marriage together as we oath to have this as our lifetime commitment.

We pledge and we pray.

In HIM, we trust.

By the way, please take time to listen to this duet by Colbie Marie Caillat and Jason Mraz - LUCKY.

I really enjoy listening to it – love this music so much. Hope you'll like it, too.
Lucky Ft. Colbie Caillat – Jason Mraz Music Code
My fave part... (so inspiring and nakakakilig)
I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again.

Lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday.

Training up my sweet bundle of joy…

My life has been changed since I gave birth to our little bundle of joy. I have adjusted my routines, activities, habits and of course, priorities. This has been, I believe, the most challenging yet the most wonderful and rewarding responsibility one may take upon… parenthood.

Being a parent does not require formal schooling and professional training or experience. They even say that it is easy to become a parent but very hard to parent. The responsibilities do not end in giving birth. In fact, it is just a start of a very long journey of experiment, experience and reality.

I can still remember the feelings my husband and I had the moment we saw our bundle of joy: mixed emotions, unexplainable, overwhelmed, and grateful. We can never forget such emotions. However, as we felt the joy and excitement of being a parent, the intensity of being scared and challenged also increases. Fear… that we may not be able to raise him the way he should be.

But, one thing is for sure, we will always try our best to do and apply what we believe is right and necessary.

I have been reading articles, good books and other related references on parenting and I must say that I have really acquired a lot of things. With these, let me share some of the many learnings I had.

• We, parents, should realize that training a child begins at birth and never stops. It is indeed a continuous, ongoing process, which involves the emotional, physical, mental, and most of all, spiritual aspects of our offspring.
  
  
• Remember that as we become their first educator, we are the most important teacher our child will ever have. The teaching of home embraces and includes all the extent and walks of life.
  
  
• Always balance discipline with love. Bear in mind that love without discipline is not love, and discipline apart from love is merely punishment. Discipline is done with loving yet firm correction, reinforcing the total impact of the teaching process. Generally, this results to a child being obedient, respectful, tact, responsible and naturally good.
  

With these, let us all celebrate the blessings of parenthood.

Happy parenting, dear parents!







Myraine