What I Like... and Dislike About Being a Hands-on Mama

It's been four months since I gave birth to my darling son and so far I'm surviving. LOL! Motherhood is such a lovely experience especially when your child makes eye-to-eye contact with you or clings to you and would never let you go. But honestly, it's not a walk in the park thing. While there are lots of wonderful things being a hands-on (and yayaless) mama gives, there are also some things I dislike about it. Here they are:

1. Lack of sleep

Like most mothers, I find the first couple of months difficult. Aside from having to deal with my CS pain and recovery, I also kept on waking up to feed my child (breastfeeding mama here!), make sure that he is not cold or overheating, check for soiled diaper, and often, to check if he is still breathing (yes, I'm one paranoid mama). Lucky if I can get a three-hour uninterrupted sleep but that is not the case usually. Thankfully, now that my son is a bit older, he no longer needs to be fed every hour or so. Additionally, the number of times he poop has now decreased to once or twice a day from around five times a day when he was younger.

2. Lack of or less me-time

When you become a mom, the concept of "me" seems to disappear instantly. Almost everything you do is dependent on your child's needs, schedule, likes, etc. For moms like me who doesn't have a helper, it is already a luxury if you can enjoy a 15-minute bath time and surely it is hard to find time for a waxing session, bonding with your girlfriends or other activities you used to do before the baby. And now that my son is already four months old, there is nothing in the world that he wants but to be with me, to latch, to see me, hear my voice and maybe even just to smell me. If there is no trace of my presence around, he becomes fussy and will eventually cry. My husband suggested that we get someone to help me take care of him so that I will have time for myself but I think I am not yet ready for him to develop strong attachment to people other than myself, my husband and our families. :D Anyway, this phase won't last long (maybe just five years or so) so I'm willing to sacrifice. I know I can get as much me-time as I want when he is already of school age.

3. Can't leave the house immediately
Mothers are emotional human beings particularly when it comes to their children. Being away, be it for an hour or a day, can be a real struggle and that makes leaving the house difficult. Additionally, it is motherly instinct to ensure that everything is in order before leaving - sterilize feeding bottles, prepare milk, give bath, feed, etc. So when I need to leave the house by 9 am, I should be awake not later than 6:00 am to give me enough time to do all the things that I need to do.

Motherhood is not just about dislikes though. The likes actually outweigh the dislikes in my case.

Althea Korea Haul

Previously, I talked about my shopping experience with Althea Korea. This time, I will be blogging about my haul. My Php 1509 got me the following items:

• Nature Republic Aloe Vera 92% Soothing Gel - ₱245 ₱180
• NellaAura B.B Foundation - ₱720 ₱270
• W-Lab Sebum Out - ₱560 ₱280 
• Etude House Baking Powder Pore Cleansing Foam - ₱390 ₱270
• Elizavecca Skin Liar Primer - ₱1,000 ₱280
• The Face Shop Bamboo Soothing Gel - ₱348 ₱270
• Etude House Drawing Eye Brow - ₱178 ₱160
• Elizavecca Black Head solution 3-Step Nose Pack - ₱140 ₱60

As you can see, the items I got are all on sale and I love it! The total cost of the items should be Php 1770 but since I used the Php 150 discount/points I got by subscribing to their newsletter, Php 61 discount of new arrival items and another Php 50 due to the coupon code I used, the amount due was reduced to Php 1509. And since my purchase exceeded Php 1500, shipping fee is waived.

Althea Korea Shopping Experience

It's been three months since I gave birth to my son and being a hands-on, still "yaya-less" mama, I have been out of the house twice or thrice only - either to shop for the most basic needs or process some documents like my SSS Maternity benefit. I haven't had the chance to do my usual "check check" of items like beauty and skin care products, shoes, clothes and household stuff since each time I go to the mall, I always hurry back home to be with my bundle of joy.

So what's a busy mom who needs her beauty supplies got to do? Online shopping! I was supposed to shop from a local vendor but for some reason, their system will not accept my credit card number and I didn't have paypal funds that time so I went to look for other sites. I chanced upon Althea Korea and upon checking, I learned that they offer a wide range of Korean products at a lesser price.

Filling my virtual shopping bag is fun but confusing since I'm only familiar with a few Korean brands. Reading product reviews helped a lot though.

When purchasing, one needs to have an account with them. Creating an account is very easy. You just have to fill out the form below and submit. Also, if you subscribe to their newsletter, you will be given Php 150 points which you can use when purchasing.

Once you are sure of the product you want to buy, all you have to do is simply click the "BUY" button on the right side of the screen as shown below. When you are done choosing the products and ready to pay, you just have to click the "CHECKOUT" button on the right side of the screen. If you have a discount/coupon code, you need to enter it before checking out. You will also need to decide whether or not to use all your points (Php 150) for this purchase. As for me, I decided to use all as I'm not sure when I will be purchasing again and the remaining points, should I not use all, might be considered expired by then.

SSS Maternity Benefit for Separated (from Employers) Members

During the early stages of my pregnancy, I thought of leaving my work in a BPO company to focus on my pregnancy but I was hindered by a misconception that I can only avail of the SSS Maternity benefit when I'm employed. However, upon reading some forums, I learned that every pregnant member, whether employed or not, is entitled to avail of the maternity benefit. So after careful consideration, I handed my resignation letter to the company's HR officer and a month after, I bade good bye to the company after almost nine years of love-hate relationship.

Separated members shouldn't have hard time processing their SSS Maternity benefit if the HR officer is well-informed regarding this matter or if their is enough information available online. In my case, the HR officer from my former company haven't experienced a case similar to mine and the SSS employee in-charge of receiving the documents is not clear with his instructions regarding the requirements, so it took me a little longer to finish processing. But I wouldn't rant about that since the purpose of this post is to share information to other members whose situation is similar to mine.

So here are the requirements/documents separated SSS members need to submit in order to be granted the SSS Maternity benefit:

Hello from the Other Side!

It's been a while since my last post and you probably know why - motherhood! If I've said this before, let me say this again, "It's the most exhausting activity I've ever took." It entails lots of sleepless nights, changing of soiled diapers, feedings, carrying a 13-pound baby and a lot more motherly duties. When you become a mother, you start doing some things you haven't done before and stop doing (at least temporarily) some things you used to do before.

No, I am not saying goodbye to this blog. This is too precious for me to abandon. This post is simply meant to let you know that I'm still alive but is too busy to write relevant articles to be posted. I cannot even work on my tasks for three straight hours. I have to squeeze in breastfeeding or changing soiled diaper in between. Truly a big chunk of my time is spent on motherhood - especially that I did not hire a helper for my son. It is indeed a 24/7 job, no rest days or vacation leaves. But I am not complaining. Seeing my son smile each time he sees me is more than enough to pay off my effort. And I am thankful for the opportunity to earn while at home to be the primary person to care for my son.

Here's hoping I can find a way to update this blog regularly (even if not as often as before) but if if not, I'm sure you will understand that I am having a time of my life with my 2-month old.