Posts from — August 2007

Yes, out of all the people in the entire world, we had to be the chosen one. Allow me to be more specific. Last Wednesday evening, J brought home some bad news. Part of our car’s window (that small triangular piece) in the backseat on the right side was broken. It looked like someone intentionally smashed it, with the objective of stealing something within or probably the car itself. J didn’t notice it until he was at the petrol station where it’s well lighted.

We think that the perpetrator/s could have been drug addicts, out to steal whatever they can so that they can afford to get their regular fix of drugs. Or they could have maliciously done it for no apparent reason, maybe just for the fun of it. In other words, napag-tripan lang yung kotse namin. Our car was parked outdoors (therefore no security cams, etc) at that time so there is no way for us to catch the bad guys.

And since it is something that we just can’t ignore, J had to take the car this morning to have the window repaired.  *sigh* There goes 120 bucks down the drain.

I got this in my inbox today:

DVDs to help babies learn ‘may hinder skills’

Researchers at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute found that for every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and video – which often feature disconnected images and scarce dialogue – infants understood an average of six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them. Baby DVDs and videos were found to have no effect on the vocabularies of children aged 17 to 24 months.

Frederick Zimmerman, lead author of the study and an associate professor of health services at the university, said of the paper, published today in the Journal of Pediatrics: “There is no clear evidence of a benefit from baby DVDs and videos and there is some suggestion of harm. The more a child watches baby DVDs and videos, the bigger the effect. The amount of viewing does matter.”

A spokesman for the Educational Institute of Scotland said:

“While we would not wish to comment on the suitability of any individual learning aid product, the EIS would support the view that there is no better method than interaction with parents or other carers in assisting young children in language acquisition.

“Visual aids such as CDs and DVDs are no substitute for genuine interaction with a parent or carer. Active parental involvement is a key to effective learning.”

Read more »

Who would have thought eh? It’s all hype on those baby DVDs I tell you. It even got me hounding after this Baby Einstein DVD set for weeks on eBay but for some reason have never won it. It looks like my losing on those auctions is a blessing in disguise! I’m switching back to the basics.

Muchos gracias to Jean for naming me as one of her picks for…

I’ve never gotten a title that’s blog-related before so to get this is really cool.

Ok, here’s a little summary to my blogging history:

• I started blogging in late 2004, when I started documenting our wedding preps online for friends and family to read. It was (and still is) a trend among brides-to-be from a support group called WeddingsatWork. Prior to this, I have been keeping a journal since I was 10.
• This wedding blog of ours has underwent several facelifts as well because I got interested in html and template designing. It soon developed into a more comprehensive site.
• I then transferred to bloxster after I got my visa to migrate to Australia. Unfortunately, they provided terrible service to their bloggers (I lost dozens of entries there). That’s why I  migrated to WP.
• Like the rest, I am also trying my hand at making a little money with blogging. I’ve put up a separate blogsite for this. 

Alright enough blabbering. Time to get down and list my 5 rockin’ girl bloggers. I’m picking out those who haven’t been tagged yet (as of this writing).

1. Jannah – My idol mommy. She has 2 beautiful daughters, a great husband and is currently finishing her studies. And she still has the time to blog! I met her at w@w.
2. Abby – the girl from NY. She’s also from w@w. She writes really well and I enjoy reading her entries. She cooks good food too (as if natikman ko na! the photos she takes of them just make you want to drool).
3. Via – my classmate back in grade school. She’s been a good friend ever since. We kept in touch through snail mail when my family moved from Manila to Cebu. I found their blog (with husband Noel) accidentally while surfing the net.
4. Iris – She was a co-therapist at the hospital where I used to work for. We also went to the same college. She is an avid writer and is good at it too. Iris is now based in Texas.
5. Kat – Fellow Australia-based blogger. She writes articles for several online magazines. She loves reading like I do and is a self-confessed romance novel junkie.

Okidokie girls, now it’s your turn to spread the love.

I’m tired. As in, dead tired. If you have been reading my previous posts, you’ll know why. Being a new mom to a young little baby does not actually mean I’m all blissed out by it. Since not all babies are the same (as with us adults), not all families get to sleep peacefully at night. And we are one them.

It’s been almost five months now since I’ve had a decent sleep. By this I mean at least 8 hours of uninterrupted shut-eye. I’ve learned to be more awake instead because of Erin’s erratic sleep pattern. During those rare instances when she does sleep well, I find myself wide awake, my entire body tense with absolutely random thoughts racing in my head. Maybe I am too tired to even sleep!

I have to give credit to J though. J can be quite a lifesaver when we’re having another sleepless night episode. He takes charge of Erin and orders me to get some rest. He has gone from the clueless father who can barely hold her daughter because he is afraid he’ll squish her tiny body to the daddy that can actually settle his kid and even get her to sleep when I can’t. Yes, we are the ultimate tag team!

Anyway, I digress. Last Saturday night was one the worst because Erin was having trouble sleeping. Being puyat from Friday’s “bout” (and from other nights), I just broke into tears in the midst of it all. J came in and took charge. It was 1:30 AM when I slept and woke up at around 5:30. I got up and saw Erin fast asleep on J’s lap, while he was surfing the net to keep himself awake. He told me that he could still take care of Erin until 7AM just so I could rest. Awww… I took Erin from him and went to bed and just allowed him to sleep until noon.

Thank God for wonderful and thoughtful husbands! I cannot imagine new mothers who do not have support systems in times like these. No wonder postnatal depression is so common here as most parents in first world countries like here are on their own.

-o-

Speaking of husbands, happy anniversary Beh! It’s been an awesome three years*. Three years pa lang pala. It feels like decades already.

* since we first got together.