Maybahay ng OFW
Wife of an Overseas Filipino Worker.
The Joy of being a Mother
I was 31 years old when I first became a mother. I never thought it would be a gigantic responsibility. I never thought that my life would change big time.
When I became a mom, without any lessons, training or proper education on handling children, I slowly learned how to take care of my children. Every single day is a learning experience.
Every child is different. The way we handle them varies depending on their characters. Sometimes, I see my characters in my children. Something that makes my job easier. I know how to handle it.
I may sound like motherhood is an easy task. Maybe it sounds easy on how I am saying it because I am enjoying the tasks. It is difficult, to be honest. There are lots of changes, physically, emotionally and mentally.
It is hard to put back the body that I once had before. I used to have toned body as I was so hooked on going to the gym after work before. I played badminton almost every night. Now, it is more of bonding with my children, cooking for them, taking care of them. I don’t mind if it will be difficult for me to lose weight.. at least I experienced being toned once in my life. Haha..
Emotionally, I became so attached to my children. That my every action always concerns them. Everything must be for their betterment. I don’t spoil them. I should say, I am quite a disciplinarian (like my husband). However, my thoughts always give consideration for them.
I have said this a few times in this blog.. When I was pregnant with my first child, my father told me that I am blessed because not all women could be a mother.
This is one of the reasons why I cherish being a mother. I live for my children, for my family.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! I pray that you find joy on the responsibility that God gave you. You are wonderful.
Spending my Birthday!
Two birthdays of not spending with my husband was quite different.. This is all because of the pandemic. I was really not hoping for us to be together on my birthday. I know my husband works miles from us and so the expectations are not that high.
When Singapore (where my husband works) totally eased the in-and-out of workers in their country, my husband grabbed the opportunity of buying the air tickets. He was not able to come home on my daughter’s birthday because the air tickets were still very expensive.
My children and I were so excited to be spending almost three weeks with my husband. The time he bought tickets, I already checked on Airbnb for a house to stay near the beach. We opted to rent a house through Airbnb because it is very practical and we could also select where to stay.
We decided to spend my birthday near the beach.. We stayed there for four days. It was really a blast. It was quite a road trip. We travelled around 121 kilometers from home. We downloaded a lot of our daughter’s playlists in spotify. On our journey, we kept on singing together.
On our way to the beach we passed a road with the spectacular view of the Taal Volcano. This volcano was said to be the smallest volcano in the world.. The last major eruption of this volcano was January 2020.
My children were so happy to finally go back to the beach. We went to the beach last December when their father came home for Christmas. Obviously, we are beach-goers. We wanted to stay in the beach for a longer time.
It was one of our most memorable trips as my children were able to explore. The house that we rented was near the beach but we needed to cross a small river before we could reach the beach. Wow! It was one heck of an adventure! We saw carabaos and cows nearby and some small fishes in the river.
The beach was near the private resorts. We were so blessed to enjoy the beach every day of our stay for free! It was the same shore line as the expensive resorts.
We were so blessed, indeed!
On the day of my birthday, we went to a restaurant near the house. Food was nice.. We had seafood platter. We enjoyed the lunch especially the halo-halo dessert. This is a dessert with the mixture of Filipino sweets with crushed ice with condensed milk.
After our lunch, we went again to the beach and spent the whole afternoon there.
The amount that we spent for our vacation was not that high compared to the experience that we had. We were able to enjoy the beach with no cost. Cooked in the house that we rent. Tasted the famous Lomi (noodle soup) in Batangas. Road trip with amazing views.
It was really a birthday to remember. I will always be thankful.
Sunday Plug Off
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” – Exodus 20:8
I am a Christian and I have known that Sabbath day (whichever that day is, but for Christians it is every Sunday) needs to be surrendered to the Lord.
So I am much aware of it however, for the past few weeks I was so hooked on the sewing projects that I had and so I tend not to honor what I believe in.
My children and I spent the whole week here at home. Though we are just at home, there are still a lot of accomplishments that we had. My eldest daughter whom I am homeschooling finished a lot of tasks. We were so productive in her school and I am so happy that she is learning a lot. Aside from homeschooling, I did finish some of my sewing projects.
My husband will be coming home from Singapore next week and so I was quite busy too washing the curtains and somehow preparing for his arrival.
To be honest, I became exhausted.
Today as it is Sunday, I intended to pull the plug and rest. My children and I had a long nap this afternoon. It was so refreshing to the body. I was not thinking of anything to do at home. We were busy feeding the kittens and teaching them how to use the litter box.
After dinner, my youngest daughter and I went to her room. She told me to watch my latest favorite show in Netflix which is “Get Organized by the The Home Edit” in her room. I am learning a lot from that show and I am so excited to apply those in our home. My children were so thrilled to also do the same in their room.
My eldest daughter got inside and showed me the new song that she learned in ukulele. “Fools rush in”.. She sang it so nicely. She came back to her room as she wants to practice more.
Then suddenly I realized that I miss writing. Oh this blog is very therapeutic to me. My thoughts, my emotions are laid down in this blog. I don’t really care about the statistics as long as I can let my thoughts out, I feel okay. Of course if you are reading this and you find it entertaining, that makes my heart happy too.
I would like to do this often.. I mean writing here in my blog and plug off during Sundays.
So see you soon!
Why am I Different?
This is a question that popped my mind when my cousins were here in our house last week. I have two close cousins whom I spent almost my entire childhood. We were together during fiestas, attended the same high school, did a lot of get-togethers, had a lot of overnights together..
Since my husband and I lived in Singapore for 8 years, we (cousins & I) seldom had a chance to have a get together.. But since I am already here in the Philippines with my children, I thought of inviting them over to have some chit chats just like before.
Both of my cousins married at their 20’s. Something that I never thought of doing during my early 20’s. They had their children during those times when I was still enjoying my time alone. They had heartbreaks.. separated to their spouses.. which made me decide not to get married.
Yes.. I had that decision before. I saw the excruciating pain from my cousins. How they were so affected with their break ups.. How their worlds turned upside down.. How it ruined their perspectives in life. I witnessed those.
Not until I found a guy whom proved that not all men are the same. Then I decided to get married, though my fear was at the highest. My husband assured that he will not hurt me.
My cousins were so excited to be here in our house. Their children are older now and so they could have their time to sleep over. I was excited too! There are lots of things to catch up.
We literally talked until 2:30 in the morning.. We started at 4 in the afternoon by the way.
My cousins were so amazed on the things that I am doing at home. One of my cousins is a teacher in secondary and she was amazed when she learned that I am homeschooling my eldest. I am doing rubrics and all the teacher’s stuffs. She said, I must be very busy.
Not to mention the gardening, sewing, organizing of stuffs.. They were shocked. I was surprised too on how they reacted. I thought it was normal to have lots of things to do at home. However, they are not like me. They give a lot of time for themselves. Submit necessary things few minutes before submission.. I am not like that.
They are telling me that it is my decision to be very busy. However, I could say that this is me.. I have time for myself now. I mean this is the time of my life when I have time for myself doing the things that I am passionate about. It is just that I am not passionate about taking a nap for two hours. Watching Netflix the entire evening.
I wanted to achieve something within a week. It makes me feel good about myself. I wanted to cook nice dishes for my children because it makes me satisfied.
I love my cousins but we are different. I must say, I encountered few people here in the Philippines doing the same as my cousins. Maybe this is how to live here in the Philippines.. I don’t know.
5 Essential Things to Bring Outside for Kids
I am more than excited to let my children explore the world. The moment my youngest daughter went outside to be with us in a grocery store, I felt like she was deprived of going out. Though it was not really my fault but the circumstances, I still felt what she missed.
Now that everything’s slowly going back to normal (and my children are aware of it), they are very eager to come with me anywhere outside the house.
My eldest daughter is about to have a pictorial for her graduation photo and I needed to buy make-up kit for her. I decided to do her make-up though I don’t really know about it. I am busy watching tutorials about that. Anyway, so I decided to go the mall with my eldest daughter. I felt like my youngest daughter would really like to go with us and so I asked her. Without hesitations, she agreed to go with us.
My kids do carry their backpacks whenever we go outside nowadays. I still need to prepare the essential things that they need to bring.
I would like to share with you the things that I am preparing for them.
- Water – This is one of the essentials that I always asked my daughters to bring. It’s hot here in the Philippines and so water is a must. My children are also fond of drinking water. Sometimes, even if I thought what we brought was enough, we tend to still buy a bottle of water for them.
- Alcohol – Covid is still here. We may not know if there are new variants roaming around. My daughters have alcohol in their bags. I always see to it that they always put alcohol.
3. Baby Wipes – I find this very essential especially when they feel like going to the toilet. I am a bit paranoid because I always ask them to wipe the bowl first before they use it.
Sometimes, I need to wipe their hands also after eating.
4. Small towel – Though we are in the mall, my children still sweat a lot. Especially when they will play in a playground. Filipino mothers put towels at the back of their children.
5. Extra foods – I usually bring some snacks for them. My children tend to ask for something to eat whenever they are bored. Though they rarely become bored, I just need to be prepared whenever they crave for something to eat.
I never thought we will be spending more than 6 hours in the mall. We ate in our favorite Japanese restaurant, bought the make-up kit that my daughter needs, bought some clothes for them, played in the playground and did some window shopping. My children can keep up with those activities. I felt so blessed to be having a husband who provides for his children’s happiness.
6 Signs that Your Cat is About to Give Birth
This is one of our cats, her name is Pink (female). The other cat that we have is Blue (male). In this picture, I was suspecting that Pink is already pregnant… well the father is Blue. They are both Persian cats.
We were so excited when we learnt that Pink is pregnant. I did not bring her to the veterinarian, but I was certain that she already had the kittens in her tummy. I saw the change in her attitude.
Blue and Pink had their mating period on the 1st week of January 2022. I checked in the internet and saw that cats carry the kittens in their tummies for more or less 60 days. I calculated it and expected the date of birth of her kittens would be 2nd week of March. Pink’s kitties were born last March 8, 2022. I swear I was really not ready to see a newborn kittens. I was already anticipating, checking the signs that she will give birth. I checked in the internet and also compared what Pink was actually doing.
Let me share to you the 6 signs that I noticed when Pink was about to give birth.
- Urinating/Going to her litter box often. Pink unlike Blue always goes to the litter box to pee. During the time when she was about to give birth, her going to the litter box became so often. She also wanted her litter box to always be cleaned.
- Eating and Drinking a lot. Her appetite really increased as the kittens in her tummy are also growing. Oftentimes, Pink will still long for food even after she ate.
- Becoming more affectionate. Pink is really affectionate. However, she became extra affectionate when she was about to give birth. I totally understand this because I cannot imagine how hard it was for her to carry a lot of kittens. She often goes to us every time she will see us, sitting or lying down.
4. Cleaning her private parts often. I believe she was having some discharges during those times.
5. Checking for a place to give birth. Days before giving birth, Pink often goes to our room and hides to a corner or a place where she cannot be seen. Since we have a powder room, I prepared the floor for her, put a large empty box and placed it on a rag.
6. Shouting so loud. Hour/Minutes before she gave birth, Pink’s voice became so modulated. She screamed loudly. I am not sure why she was doing that, probably because of the pain she was having.
THE TIME SHE GAVE BIRTH
First of all, I am not used to see blood or big wounds. For some reasons, I cannot hold my breathe and I vomit (sorry if you are eating or not comfortable reading).
I knew that Pink was about to give birth that day (March 8). She was so uneasy, going back and forth, looking for a place to give birth. I already told her that she will give birth to the powder room. There are lots of times that I thought it was the time the kitties will come out and so I hurriedly brought her to the powder room.
That day, I already told my mom that Pink is about to give birth. My eldest daughter and I were in my room as my daughter was preparing for her exam that time. When she was about to go out of the room, she saw a little creature on the floor, with little blood. She got scared and came back to the room. She described what she saw which made me scared too.. I believe that was a kitten. I sent a message to my mom and told her that Pink just gave birth.
Surprisingly, it was also the first time that my mom saw a newborn kitten. It was like a mouse..
Pink was so smart to hurriedly go to the powder room. She gave birth there. I conquered my fear already and monitored Pink’s giving birth. I was updating my husband every 5 minutes or so.. I will tell him, it is already 3, then 5, then 7.
Pink had 7 kittens. However, after two days, the 2 other kittens did not make it. Pink’s milk is not sufficient. We needed to buy a feeding bottle and milk for kittens to help Pink.
After 9 days, her kittens are doing well. Pink is a great mom cat. She is less affectionate nowadays, so concentrated on her lovely kittens.
By the way, she moved her kittens on the back of the couch. I think she doesn’t want people to disturb her as my children kept on checking on the kitties every now and then.
My Eldest Daughter’s Birthday
My husband and I always celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Even in our own little ways, we felt the need to celebrate those because it is a blessing to reach such milestone in our lives. A year full of blessings and love from God is something that need to be celebrated.
Last Friday, we celebrated my eldest daughter’s birthday. She is now 12 years old.. we are now of the same height (5 feet) and I think eventually after a few months she will be way taller than me.
Lau is one of the ultimate prayers to God. She was given when my husband and I were ready. We had a whirlwind love story however Lau was part of our plan as a couple. We never expected that we will be gifted a loving and sweet child. She made us so matured and responsible. I myself changed a lot because of my daughter.
We have some similarities like being boyish sometimes, careless, art enthusiasts, music minded, etc.. She has also her father’s characteristics like being serious sometimes, eating fast, not liking parties and being homebodies.
I am knowing my daughter more now that I am staying at home with her. I can monitor what she is doing, what are her likes and interests. We always wanted her to choose of things that will matter to her. We are just here to guide her. I think my being with her is really helpful especially at this age which I think is critical. They needed to have somebody to guide her.
Since my daughter is really not interested to parties, I thought of us going to a resort instead and spend the night there. My husband is not here with us and so I invited my siblings and my parents. Lau was not interested at first but I made sure that she will enjoy. I prepared some meat and seafoods to grill. We had boodle fight and she enjoyed eating so much.
There were few guests in the resort and so from 3 in the afternoon until 7 in the evening the pool was all ours. My children were so happy to swim. I can see my two daughters had a good time.
It’s an ultimate blessing to be a parent and for God to give me this responsibility of taking good care of two lovely girls. I will forever be grateful for this gift.
Stay at Home Mom Duties After Covid
Hi there! Woooaaahh! It’s been a while since I last posted here in my blog. Time flew so fast. I always wanted to update you guys of what I am doing lately but in a blink of an eye, my children need to sleep and I too need to rest.
If you are new in my blog, I would like to welcome you and I hope you too are having a good time because Covid cases ease. Restrictions lessen and somehow we are free to move. I am a stay-at-home mom from the Philippines.. However, my husband is working abroad and goes home from time to time. Pandemic hit us so hard that my husband was not able to come home for almost two years. It was really hard on my part.
Since I am relatively alone here in the Philippines, managing our house and taking care of our children, the amount of work and things to be done are enormous. The day to day activity is never ending. However, as the time goes by, I learned how to manage my time and pursue on some of my passions.
For those who have been reading my blog since day 1, I would like to apologize for not updating you of what was going on lately. Since the cases here in the Philippines dropped done, the restrictions lessen, I did a lot of errands outside the house.
School for my Children
My eldest is in homeschooling. I am the one who teaches her for two years now (since the pandemic started). She will be graduating elementary this August. My husband and I decided to submit application for junior high school in my alma mater. I submitted documents that they needed and prepared her for an interview. It’s good that she was accepted.
My youngest who is 5 years old needs to be enrolled in school also. I have been looking for a good school nearby but I am not sure of the quality of education that the schools nearby bring. And so, I also applied to the sister school of my alma mater. My youngest daughter needed to be interviewed also. She needed to take an exam. It’s good that she was able to answer well in the interview and in the exam. She is also accepted in school.
My children haven’t seen the schools in person. I am planning to visit the schools with my daughters maybe next week or when my husband will be here in the Philippines.
Children’s Day Out
A lot of children nowadays are going to the mall. When we were in Singapore, our house was very near the mall and so we were always there strolling and having some time together. Since my children had their first dose of anti-Covid vaccine and the number of cases dropped, I asked my husband if we could go out and spend some time in the mall.
When I told my children that we were going to the mall the next day, they were very excited and could barely sleep the night before.
My husband told me to buy them shoes. We bought some clothes also for them. They were so excited to roam around the mall and to choose the shoes they wanted.
We ate in a Japanese restaurant and my children were so happy to finally taste a different cuisine other than Filipino food. They found the ramen very tasty and the meat delicious.
My youngest remembered the time when she was going to a play house (am I correct?). We looked for it inside the mall and luckily there is an enormous one there. I thought my eldest would not be interested to go inside but she also missed the times when she was playing.
The playhouse is so huge.. There’s a lot to do there. There are slides, pool of balloons, a place to run, to bike, to play pretend, to play blocks and a lot more.
My youngest can’t get enough of the time she was there in the playhouse. She wanted to come back when we arrived home.
Sewing Hobby
My husband bought me a sewing machine because I was very interested in sewing. I haven’t sewed in my life. I was so scared to use a heavy duty sewing machine, but now I am use to it. I always want to sew and do a lot of projects here at home. I am doing this on weekends though because I need to assist my eldest in school. My youngest daughter is also so demanding on attention and so I really cannot concentrate.
If you saw on my last blog, I started to do the cover of our sofa. I found it very hard especially because of the fabric that I bought. It was quite heavy and bulky.
In this project, I decided to make a cover of our dining chairs. I bought a different type of fabric which is called cretona. I made pattern for the four chairs so that it would be easier for me to cut the fabric.
I learned a lot sewing in this project. How to sew properly by using the sewing machine well. I chose a yellow fabric because the curtains in our house are somehow color yellow.
The next weekend, I started my next project which is more complicated than the first two. This is really the main reason why I wanted to sew.. to make a cover on our bigger sofa. Reason behind this is because our cats loved to scratch on that sofa. Since, I thought I already know how to use the sewing machine properly, I decided to start making the cover of our big sofa.
My time for sewing is only at 3 in the afternoon as I need to attend to my children’s needs like cooking, bathing my 5 year old. Also to do the house chores like cleaning the house and washing clothes. If I have all the time to do this project, I could finish this easily… Ooooppss, I am not complaining, I am happy that instead of using my phone, I am achieving something during my spare time at home.
This is the finished product. I am so happy and contented at my work. I am quite perfectionist in terms of how it will fit on the sofa. I finally was able to finish it with satisfaction.
So these are the things that I did lately. I felt happy to be achieving a lot of things here at home. I still want to do some things especially in our garden but I am still hooked with the sewing. I have plans on how I will pursue my sewing hobby. I will share that to you also.
How about you? What are the things that you are doing lately since the pandemic eases already?
Children’s Vaccination in the Philippines
Sometime last week, I checked my facebook for any updates about the vaccination of children from 5 to 11 years old. Some of the towns here are already starting the program. I saw that here in our town, our government is asking us (parents) to register our children online for vaccination. I immediately signed in my children as I am a firm believer that this is the only solution to fight Covid.
Yesterday afternoon, I got a text confirmation from our government that my children are scheduled to have vaccine today at 9 in the morning at a designated vaccination site. The text message was pretty precise as they itemized there the needed supporting documents. I prepared the documents last night and asked my children to sleep early.
My children usually wake up at 8 in the morning. Since, I allotted at least an hour for the travel time to the vaccination site, I woke them at 7 in the morning. I marinated the pork for grilling (stove) last night and had it grilled this morning. My children had a heavy breakfast because I planned them to take paracetamol after the jab.
Submission of documents started at exactly 9 in the morning. We arrived early at the site and so my children were so excited to finally be in the mall (the vaccination site is in the mall). My youngest was already planning of what to do after her vaccination. I reiterate to her that we need to go home immediately after they are vaccinated.
The process was smooth though there are lots of children on queue also. We thought we were the earliest but some parents maybe were there before 8:30 in the morning.
My children were so behave and cooperative during the process. I applaud their bravery when they were about to be vaccinated.
My youngest who has some trauma on vaccination as she was once vaccinated for anti-rabies, fought her scaredness.
After the vaccination, it was as if nothing happened. I was observing them both but they still want to roam around. I bought my medicines for hypertension, then asked them if they want to eat an early lunch. They were so happy to be staying more time there. We ate their favorite Chinese wanton noodles. They also ate chicken and rice.
While we were walking towards our car, my eldest saw a Starbucks Cafe and asked if she could have a Frappuccino. I know, it has been ages since she had frappe. We then, spent the next 40 minutes in Starbucks. Bought a “coffee free” frappe for my two daughters and a cheesecake. I was so glad to see them enjoying their time out.
I am still observing them now. My eldest daughter slept this afternoon.. My youngest thought she could go anywhere now because she is vaccinated. Her father convinced her that she needs to still rest for the next couple of days before she could go out.
Making Our Own Sofa Cover
I am really into Arts and Crafts.. This is something that I wanted to indulge but I didn’t have any chance before because I was working. Since I have a little bit of chance now to be exploring on my interests, I grabbed the opportunity.
I have been wanting to make our own sofa cover because of our dear cats who kept on scratching our sofas. My mother kept on reminding me to find somebody to do the sofa cover but at the back of my mind, I really wanted to do it.
I bought a portable sewing machine online.. When it arrived here at home, I immediately buy the fabrics. While waiting for the portable sewing machine, I watched a lot of tutorials on youtube on how to make the sofa cover. Upon watching the tutorials, I was pretty confident that I can do it.
Before I bought the fabrics, I did an initial estimate of how much I will buy. When I received the fabrics, that’s when I started making the patterns of the uneven shape of the sofa.
I was really excited as finally, I will be able to pursue my dream of sewing.. Haha.. I never sewed before. I did sew using hands for some minor repairs, but this big project, using a sewing machine is incredibly new to me.
I used this portable sewing machine that I bought online. I was able to sew a bit, but the thread was often cut. My patience was really not helping as I was also doing some chores at home. I was taking some time from my day to do this passion… Nah!!! I gave up! The sewing was not even and the thread was always cut.. I need to buy a heavy-duty sewing machine.. even a second hand.
And so, I immediately grabbed my phone and search online on where I could buy a “real” sewing machine.. Haha.. I was willing to spend my savings for this as I already bought the fabrics and I have been envisioning doing the project for weeks already.
When I told my husband about it, he was very willing to buy me a new one.. Oh!!! How blessed I am! The new one was quite expensive (for me!) but my husband said, if it is for my passion, he will support me.
Oh my!!!!! The next day, I was so excited! We went to this shop where brand new heavy-duty sewing machines are sold. I searched on what to buy, and one of the most popular is this brand, Juki (Japan-made).
And so the next day, we got the sewing machine, I immediately carry on with my project. Again, I was just grabbing some time within the day to sew. I plead to my children to give me a little time to finish this sofa cover as it is really not that pleasing to the eyes.
I finished the sofa cover after two days. It became easier already as I spent some time using this portable sewing machine. It was a training ground for me.. Haha.. The new sewing machine is “high-speed” and I was quite scared to use it at first.
I am still thinking of decorating it more with pleats. I need to buy additional fabric for that.
We still have one big sofa set on our family area. That would be my next project. Now, I know what to do and how to use the new sewing machine. I also decided to sew on weekends instead as I became so hooked on it, hence setting aside some of the house chores.
I had a lot of projects in my mind already using the new sewing machine. I need more practice so that I could eventually make something that could be a potential business someday.
Maybahay ng OFW 