manilamommy.com - Motherhood is one adventure after another. I live, I learn, I write.
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Motherhood is one adventure after another. I live, I learn, I write.

## Hello!

July 22, 2018 By neva Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since my last post. I have been AWOL on Manilamommy because I have just been so busy with work lately. My free times are spent with the kids or just resting. My favorite form of self-care right now is binge-watching true crime documentaries on Netflix and catching up on sleep.

I post more on IG but I post about just once a week over there too usually when something significant happens. My last post was about “Ang Huling El Bimbo” which I loved! (Go watch it!! Support local arts!)

Before that was Noah’s last assessment with his developmental pedia. Noah’s doing well, he’s in school and is thriving. David’s a well-adjusted grade 4.

“Too blessed to be stressed” – that’s a bumper sticker cliche if I’d ever seen one hehe. But yes I am hyper busy with work but I am still here and maybe someday I’ll post more but today, I just wanted to drop by, say hello and hope you guys are safe, dry and doing great.

See you soon!

## Choose Kindness

March 17, 2018 By neva Leave a Comment

Disclaimer: I found this in my draft folder. Probably drafter after a stressful work day in one of my former jobs. I always believed in kindness especially when things don’t go your way. I value people who choose this whether consciously or subconsciously. Reading this post, I can still remember how I felt and how I had to comfort a teammate. Last time I heard that person has not changed at all. Oh well, may the odds still be in his favor

Today is a Friday. Towards the end of today I witnessed again how a stressful situation can turn people into curt, judgmental beings. It takes grace and conscious effort to choose kindness because I think it’s very easy to give in to one’s “id”. I have had my deal of a**holes and they always turn up amidst challenging scenarios. I now know better though and I have warned my teammates about this person’s behavior, one of whom was at the receiving end of this person’s unfounded berating rant.

As if I don’t have enough stress with work, I now have to deal with a toxic and duplicitous person.

But dear Lord, always grant me the strength to choose kindness. As in, I will be kind enough to report him to my boss and our HR. Heh.

## The Unfinished Short Story

February 18, 2018 By neva 6 Comments

Work has been relentless since January 2. I work from 9 am to 2 am. I sleep 5 hours a night, that is if I can sleep at all. I go to bed tired and I wake up tired.

If I’m not working Saturdays, I spend the weekends cleaning up and spending time with Dan and the kids. Two weekends ago, while cleaning up a cabinet that was stuffed with documents, I found file folders of Noah’s admission and discharge procedures. There was a time that we were admitted every quarter for pneumonia. Thankfully those episodes have lessened as Noah grew older. As his files grew thinner, I felt gratitude for a little boy who has grown healthier.

I saw David’s certificates from pre-school and his art projects. He attended a neighborhood progressive pre-school when he was 2 1/2. He sang the whole Bahay Kubo for the directress and breezed through his teacher evaluations. David has always been very easy with school. I filed his folders away, thankful for our precocious kuya.

I wasn’t expecting to see a small brown envelope from the Ayala foundation. I opened it and how I reacted took me by surprise.

Tears welled up and I just cried. My whole body shook. Dan got concerned.

Three years ago, I enrolled in Jessica Zafra’s writing workshop. It was a big leap of faith for me. I have always loved writing and Ms. Zafra is one of my literary idols. To attend her workshop is building on my dream of someday becoming a published writer.

I developed a short story based on David’s Star Wars day dreams. Noah was his padawan and they went on adventures together in our living room.

Ms. Zafra encouraged me to develop the story and to find an illustrator too. She even suggested that I submit it to the Palanca Awards.

I have to admit that I got drunk on those comments. I promised myself that I would push on and get this story off the ground.

3 years later, all I have to show is the story with Ms. Zafra’s comments and the certificate.

It hurt that I had to shelve this little dream of mine. It hurt that 3 years has passed and the rigors of daily life have buried my little short story.

Maybe, someday I can work on this again.

I wish that someday would come soon.

## Let Love Flow With Babyflo

January 18, 2018 By neva Leave a Comment

My search for gentle bath products for David and Noah continues with my recent discovery of Babyflo's line of mild and gentle cleansers for our little ones. I'm always on the lookout for bath products that protect and keep the boy's skin moisturized and I love it when I find projects that are well-formulated and priced very reasonably! My favorite finds are always a balance of these and so when I find products that hit the sweet spot, I just have to share it with everyone! So how does … [Continue reading]

## Home Hack: Getting rid of crayon marks on walls

November 6, 2017 By neva 1 Comment

Like any young kid Noah loves doodling and coloring. We have boxes of crayons stashed for him and his kuya. We have one box in our room so Noah can just easily ask for it when he's in the mood to doodle. Sometimes he'd just play with the crayons, by emptying the box and then putting back the crayons one by one. Noah also has this habit of waking up early on weekends and holidays and sleeping in on weekdays! So one early Saturday morning, our little dude woke up at 6:30, he then tried to wake … [Continue reading]

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