You & Me & Mommy Event: We all support our breastfeeding mommies!

Last Friday, I was blessed to have been invited to the You & Me & Mommy Event at the SM Megamall Event Center. The breastfeeding event was organized by SM Supermalls in cooperation with The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and NGO Beauty Brains, and Breastfeeding to remind families to support mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies for six months.



"SM Supermalls is working to create and promote a breastfeeding culture in the country. The pioneer breastfeeding stations in our malls have helped 63,000 moms switch to a healthier and more economical feeding option for their infants," said Ms Bernadette Velasco, Programme Director of SM’s breastfeeding advocacy programme.



While 88% of mothers in the Philippines begin breastfeeding their babies, only 34% of this number feed their babies with breast milk exclusively. The Department of Health (DOH), UNICEF, and the World Health Organization recommend that, in the first six months of an infant's life, only breast milk should be fed so as to get the full benefits of a mother's milk. That means no formula milk nor water, mommies! Mixed feeding, as well as being nutritionally deficient, can lead to health problems in young babies such as allergies, respiratory infections, diarrhea, dehydration and even death.

Breastfeeding mom, Patricia Bermudez-Hizon, hosted the event. She regards her breastfeeding her children as one of her proudest achievements as a woman. It is also interesting to note that her husband, hard court hunk and PBA player Vince Hizon, has supported her breastfeeding advocacy all the way. She related how Vince even fed their sons in the night with her breast milk while she slept. Now that's one cool dad!

Ms. Nuriza Abeja, of the NGO Beauty, Brains and Breastfeeding explained that new mothers approach breastfeeding counsellors, with problems that stem from a lack of confidence and support for exclusive breastfeeding.


Mom and dad attendees had a mini-seminar on various infant massage techniques from Johnson & Johnson midwives.


Other breastfeeding advocates also shared vital information about breastfeeding and how moms can easily adjust their lifestyle while breastfeeding. These included certified La Leche League Leader Abbie Yabot, working mom Jenny Ong, mompreneurs Janice Villanueva of MommyMatters and Audrey Chua of Au Lait.






Dads who supported their wives while they were breastfeeding also spoke about their experiences and how they helped nurture their babies during this period.


Blogger and new dad, Azrael Colladilla, teamed up with 2 other dads and showed his skills in a diaper changing game. The dads were really a comic sight to watch during this game! Imagine, 3 dads in a team are needed just to change the diaper of one baby, hahaha! Nevertheless, I'm sure Lace is very proud of Az especially after his team won the game.


Mompreneurs who support pregnant and breastfeeding mothers exhibited their products at the Event Center while the event was going on. Exhibitors included Indigo Baby Inc., Mama.Baby.Love, Mamaway, Moringana, and Next9.




Breastfeeding is an advocacy close to my heart. Actually, I envy the new moms of today because I didn't have the chance to learn more about breastfeeding when Rap was born more than a decade ago. In fact, my doctors discouraged me to breastfeed since I am a diabetic. But I did breastfeed him although I regret that I didn't exclusively feed him with my milk. I was ill-informed and we didn't have events like this one back then.

Thus, with all my heart, I salute SM Supermalls, UNICEF, and Beauty, Brains, and Breastfeeding for organizing this event. May more mothers be informed about the benefits of breastfeeding!

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SALE ALERT: SM Megamall's Mega Shoes and Bags Sale Starts Today!

I'm hitting two birds with one stone today, haha! I'm attending the Bosom Buddies this afternoon at the SM Megamall. Other than that, I'll be also "taking a peek" in the Mega Shoes and Bags Sale happening today! This is gonna be at the SM Megatrade Hall 1 and 2 and will be on till August 30, 2010.

Deym! I'm crossing my fingers that I don't do any impulse buying. But then again, I think I can splurge a little and charge it on my HSBC card to get the free movie voucher for Dadijun. Every 1,500 minimum single receipt purchase gets this freebie!

Hmm... I wonder if they have Prada shoes in there. There's no other way to find out but to go there! Speaking of which, I need to get up and get moving, as in now! Tata!


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Win 15 Cups of Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly!

Remember the fun Laughter Yoga event I attended a couple of weeks ago? It was there that I discovered the new Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly! During the event, we played the Portmanteau Game where we formed a new word by blending two words that described how we felt after eating a cup of Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly. An example of this is "Jellicious" which is coined from the words "jelly" + "delicious."

Get the chance to win 15 cups of this jelliciously good and healthy Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly by creating the most creative portmanteau that you can think of aside from "Jellicious." Here's how:

FOR TWITTER USERS

1. Describe your Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly snacking experience using the portmanteau game. Was it fun, cool, odd, amazing? We want to know!
2. Tweet your entries using this format: @mauieflores (my tweeter username) word 1 + word 2 = your portmanteau #NestleFruitSelectionYogurt
   
   
   Ex. @mauieflores jelly + delicious = jellicious #NestleFruitSelectionYogurt
NOTE: Please don't forget @mauieflores to mention me in your tweet and leave a comment to this post so I can check your entry. Don't forget to put the #NestleFruitSelectionYogurt hashtag, too!

FOR FACEBOOK USERS

• Post your entries in your wall by tagging The 24 Hour Mommy and Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly using this format: “Hey, @The 24 Hour Mommy! I just had a cup of @Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt + Jelly and it’s so (word 1) + (word2) = (your portmanteau)!”
  
  
  Ex. “Hey, @The 24 Hour Mommy! I just had a cup of @Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt + Jelly and it’s so jelly + delicious = jellicious!”
  
  NOTE: You have to LIKE The 24 Hour Mommy Facebook page and the Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt Facebook page first for your tags to turn blue and appear in our Facebook walls. Your post should also be visible by EVERYONE so please edit its privacy setting before posting. Also, please leave a comment to this post so I can check your entry.
  

We will be picking 3 winners with the most creative portmanteaus. Each will receive 15 cups of the yummy Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly. This contest will run from today, August 26, 2010 until noon of September 5, 2010. Winners will be proclaimed the following day. Prizes must be claimed, within 1 week of being proclaimed, at the Ogilvy office at 25F Picadilly Star Building, 4th Avenue corner 27th Street, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. As such, you must be a resident of Metro Manila or must be willing to personally claim the prizes at the Ogilvy office. The products are perishable so I don't think that we can ship them.

You can send as many entries as you want to have more chances of winning. So grab a cup of Nestle Fruit Yogurt with Jelly and start making portmanteaus now. Special thanks goes to the Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt (NFSY)Team of Ogilvy for making this contest possible. :)

====================================

UPDATED!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS: Julie Fuertes, Nicely Rom, and Leira Pagaspas. Please wait for the confirmation email of Ogilvy on how to claim your prize. :)

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My First Artscow Orders

The orders I've been waiting for for weeks now have arrived a couple of days ago. These are the photo prints and the personalized mousepad I ordered from ArtsCow.com. A few mommy blogger friends raved about ArtsCow.com's product offers and it got me interested to sign up, upload, and order photo prints from them.

The 52 4"x6" photo prints that were delivered were part of the free prints that I got upon signing up. Members get free prints and other personalized photo product orders the whole year round. I just had to pay $4.49 through PayPal for shipping fees. It turned out to be cheaper than LBC's Digiprint so I ordered them right away.

The mousepad, on the other hand, was absolutely free. I didn't pay anything even for the shipping. It was a promo for members who have ordered prints and have promoted ArtsCow in Facebook. It was a long shot, actually, since the promo was only open to US, Europe, and Australia residents but I still got my order! Cute noh? I designed it myself. Now, I don't even want to use the mousepad. The quality is so good that I just had it put it on display in my mini-office in the kitchen. Sayang naman kung daanan lang ng mouse ang mukha ng anak ko! LOL!

I'm now making photo books of our family's digital photos. Honestly, I stopped making scrapbooks after we had our first digital camera. ArtsCow's photo book maker got me back in the scrapbooking groove. I'm trying to beat the Sept. 2 promo deadline so I can order 5 9"x7" photo books for free and just pay $7.99 each for shipping.

Interested in making photo creations with ArtsCow? Visit www.artscow.com now.

===
This is not a sponsored post.


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Keeping your kids safe online

My husband and I grabbed the chance to attend the free Keep Your Kids Safe Online parenting seminar organized by Web Safety Philippines last August 14, 2010 at the Victory Center in Greenhills. Most people in our circle of friends think that I and my husband (who's in the IT industry, by the way) are already that tech-savvy considering what we do for a living. Nevertheless, we were surprised to learn that we still had much to do in terms of keeping our son safe in his online activities.

Remember when I posted about Omegle.com? Well, that isn't the worst that our kids can encounter in the Internet. In the seminar, I was able to discover Jessica Slaughter and how cyber bullies tortured and changed her life. See the video below:



Three speakers shared their insights that day: Sonnie Santos, future Pastor and founder of Web Safety Philippines and Business Values 2.0; Carlo Ople,blogger, avid online gamer,and marketing consultant; and, Chay Mondejar-Saputil, founder and principal consultant of Chimes Consulting.

Photos courtesy of Business Values 2.0.

I learned a lot about techie internet security stuff but I won't elaborate it here because I know my boy reads my blog and I cannot let him discover the security filters and parental controls I made in his computer. Anyway, as shared by Sonnie, the acronym FEEDS aptly describes the entirety of the seminar.

Here are the things we need to do to protect our kids and secure their safety in the online world:

F - Filter

Here is where all the techie stuff that Chay shared to us comes in. As parents, we are responsible in keeping our computers updated with virus and malware protection. Use only genuine operating systems and softwares to benefit from the regular security updates that are being sent by its manufacturers.

E - Engage

Be involved in their online lives. Know their online friends and talk about their online activities without sounding snoopy. Make kids realize that relationships in the real world are more important than those in the virtual world. Carlo shared that he got addicted in online games when he was younger because he felt empty in his own home. According to his experience, kids get hooked inn online games to ESCAPE their problems and to SUBSTITUTE what they lack in the real world with what they find in the online world.

E - Educate

Teach your kids not only about internet safety but also proper internet etiquette. To teach internet etiquette, you must set the correct example. Did you see how Jessica Slaughter's dad react in the video? His violent threats only made the cyber bullying worse.

D - Discipline

Set clear rules and time limits. Rap is only allowed to use his computer on Saturdays. On school nights, he is only allowed to use it for research. My TV rule also applies which means no skipping meals, water breaks, baths, chores, and homework when he's using the computer. I should also be able to see what's he's doing so his door should be always open. Sometimes, I work in his room. Chay suggested that the computer should be in a public area in the home like the living room or the kitchen but I don't have the extra space.

S - Spiritual

Instill in your child a good relationship with Jesus (or your religion's god if you are not Christian). I personally believe in the power of prayer and that a prayerful parent will never go wrong. I feel blessed that our son is even more prayerful than we are and I know he has his values intact.

I highly recommend this seminar to parents and educators alike. Head on over to the Web Safety Phiilippines site to learn more about their upcoming seminars. You may also inquire about having the seminar conducted in your community or in your child's school.

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Kids Play Day 3!

Good news to Sky Fun Club members! Sky Fun Club and Skechers Kids invite you to Kids Play Day 3 happening on Saturday, August 21, 2010 at The Decagon in Silver City Mall, Ortigas (near Tiendesitas)!

There's gonna be puppet making, canvass bag painting, live animal displays and a lot more! Expect to have fun in the games, magic show, and interactive storytelling during the culminating program at 3pm. Registration starts at 1pm. Also, don't forget to visit the Skechers Kids booth to have the chance to win fun prizes when your kid or pamangkin gets to find Hydee Hytop, Twinkle Toes, Kewl Breeze, or Z-strap in Skechers' own rendition of "Where's Waldo?"

So make it a date and have fun with your kids at the Kids Play Day 3!

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Helping kids with their school projects: When to help and when to stop

This has been the busiest weekend I ever had in terms of helping my kid in his school assignments and projects. We've been working the whole day today and I'm glad we were able to finish everything!

Do you help your child in his school requirements? I know, I do. As much as I want him to do everything on his own, there are times when I know that I need to lend a helping hand. In helping my child with his school projects and assignments, I follow these simple rules.

• I don't do the research and reading. My boy's big enough to Google. I just wait when he needs clarifications. I am lucky that my son is a voracious reader so his book report wasn't much of a problem. He's the one who typed his book report, too. I'm glad that he knows how to use Microsoft Word already. I just edited it, did some formatting, and printed it.
• I still do the cutting. He needs more work on his motor skills, lol! I can't risk an injury. Aside from that, I let him do everything else but I supervise because he's not that neat. You know how boys are ... argh!
• We exchange ideas. I remind myself that it's my son's project and it should reflect his own personal style. The Charlie Chaplin theme for his skeleton project was his idea while the collage style on his bookmarks were mine. We both agreed on how the styles were done and we're both happy with the results.

It's not bad to help our kids as long as we live by the limits. Teachers know when parents do the project and they give grades accordingly. I should know, being a former preschool teacher myself. Conversely, teachers also assign projects that would encourage parent-child bonding. I won't advise you to follow my rules because our kids are different. Nevertheless, just remember that we need to teach them independence while they're still young. We won't be around for them forever, anyway.

Happy parenting!

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When kids tease

I grew up having classmates call me negra and it has been my source of insecurity even until I was older. Even when I tried to achieve in other things, I didn't feel content because I know other people think of me as ugly. It was only after graduating in college that I regained the self-esteem I once lost.

Is your child being teased a lot? He may not show it, but he may be really hurting inside. Help your child properly respond to these name callings by first understanding the reasons why other kids tease. Kaboose, a parenting resource site, lists 5 reasons:

• The kids feel inferior. Teasing gives them a sense of power over other kids.
• These kids want to accepted. Unfortunately, they think teasing is a cool thing to do and that it will help them look cool to others.
• These kids have the wrong role models. They may see teasing as a normal thing in their homes or neighborhoods.
• These kids are unhappy or scared. It helps them to feel a little better about themselves when they belittle others.
• These kids are just being playful. They actually do not realize that they are hurting their playmates' feelings.

How can we help our children address this? Here are some tips:

1. Teach your child to just ignore and walk away. Tell your child to count to ten and breath deeply until the anger subsides. I know it's hard to do but we have to remind our kids that fighting back is not a wise choice.
2. Teach your child to assert himself and make a strong statment. Tell him to go to the person teasing him and just say, "I don't like what you are doing and I want you to stop." Then, the ignore and walk away move should follow.
3. Think of comeback remarks to counter each teasing. When Rap was branded as "nerd" by his classmates, his usual comeback remark would be, "matalino naman" ("at least, I'm smart"). Just make sure that the comeback remarks are just witty and not hurtful.
4. Ask your kid to stay in the company of his friends. "United we stand, divided we fall," so the saying goes. A naughty kid would think twice before teasing another kid who's with his barkada.
5. If teasing persists, seek help. Talk to your child's teacher or the school administrators about it. You can also opt to talk to the other kid's parents about his behavior. In doing so, you will not only be helping your child but the other kid as well.
6. Lend a listening ear and a warm hug. Make your child feel better by communicating to him. Avoid prejudging him by thinking that he may have done something to make the other kid get mad at him. Just let him spill the beans and listen. Show him affection so that he will feel a lot more secure, accepted, and loved.

It's important to help our kids cope with teasing. Teasing brings emotional wounds that take years to heal. Let us help them to be confident enough to grow up to be achievers in their own right.

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Celebrating Snoopy’s 60th Birthday Moleskine® Presents Peanuts Limited Edition

Any Snoopy fan out there? Here's a collectible for you! Moleskine®, the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers, presents a new 2010 limited-edition notebook commemorating one of the most well-known pop-culture icons of the 20th century: Charles Schultz’s Peanuts gang.

Featuring exclusive cover art, interior art, stickers, and packaging, Limited Edition: Peanuts is available in a variety of sizes and rule types to accommodate any Moleskine devotee. The notebooks will be available in the Philippines and other Asian countries by September 2010. Special thanks to our Moleskine Asia friends for this heads up.

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The 24 Hour Mommy was at The Mommy Milkshake Marathon 2010

My boy and I ran last Sunday morning along with other mommies, daddies, kids, babies, grandpas, grandmas, and yayas at the Mommy Milkshake 2010. Now on its 4th year, Mommy Mundo's fun run for breastfeeding was as fun as ever! We ran amidst the rains brought by Bagyong Ester. In fact, it was the first time I saw happy parents letting their children run in the rain, LOL! My boy enjoyed his run, too. Well, actually, we walked most of the time, hahaha!

It was a pity that my husband had to be at the office that day. We were at the Bonifacio Global City as early as 5:30 am because my husband's shift started at 6 am. After breakfast at the Jollibee branch in front of St. Lukes, he dropped us off at the NBC Tent where the Mommy Milkshake Marathon 2010 registration took place.



After signing up beside our names in the registration booth, Rap and I headed over to the different sponsors booths that gave freebies for everyone. Aside from our take-home loot bag after the run, we also went home with Lactacyd Baby Bath freebies, magazines, and other what-have-yous. I was glad that everything fit inside the backpack that I had on me that day.

A few minutes into our 3k route, it started raining. I hurriedly brought out and used my umbrella just to protect our bag. Rap, well... you know how kids love playing in the rain!



We didn't win any special prize that day. Nevertheless, both of us were happy to finish the race and support a good cause. Till next year!



See more of our Mommy Milkshake Marathon 2010 photos here.

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It's Jelliciously Good and Healthy!

Are you a yogurt lover? Are you a fruit lover? Ok, last question, are you are jelly lover? If you answered YES to all three, then Nestlé's new Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly is perfect for you!

Yesterday, I was invited by Nuffnang Philippines to attend Nestlé's Laughter Yoga blogger event and it was where I was introduced to this jelliciously good and healthy new product. Before we actually had the chance to taste it, we were first entertained by the hilariously funny comedian, Mike Unson. This man is good, I tell you. No green jokes or slapstick comedy. What made us laugh was just his wit and intelligent humor.



Then, we were introduced to Paolo Martin Trinidad, a certified laughter yoga instructor. Paolo has been doing volunteer work by teaching laughter yoga in the Mandaluyong City Jail and other jails in the metro. He also supports these prisoners by patronizing their handicrafts. (Read more about my laughter yoga experience in this separate post.)



Then came the jelliciously yummy part, yogurt tasting! Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly comes in 2 flavors: Strawberry and Buco Nata. I'm familiar with the taste of both flavors since we regularly buy Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt. My personal favorite is the Buco Nata flavor so it's the flavor I tasted during the event.  (I ate a strawberry-flavored cup when I got home.)



Both are yummy as I have expected them to be. Nothing much has changed with regard to the flavor and the bits of fruit mixed with the yogurt. The jelly on top actually made yogurt eating more exciting. Honestly, I'm guilty of getting bored in eating yogurt at times. The jelly in the yogurt gave it more texture. It gave me something more to chew on if you get what I mean. I think this product will be more friendlier for the yogurt-phobic. By the way, you can eat it in whatever way you like. During the event, I chatted with some of the girls about how we can observe one's personality by the way he/she eats this yogurt with jelly. Well, this was after I already dunked my spoon right into the cup, crushed the jelly, and mixed it with the yogurt. The girls thought I have an aggressive personality because of that! LOL!

Hope you can try and taste the new Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt with Jelly for some healthy snacking. Each cup has over a billion live microorganisms that are good for the tummy! My boy loves it, I swear. He says its the "binata" version of his Nido yogurt. Special thanks to Nuffnang Philippines and Nestlé Philippines for the invite and for introducing me to this wonderful product and to laughter yoga as well.

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Standard Dorsal Format for Philippine Checks

Upon returning from our Bacolod trip last April, my husband and I immediately headed to the Pag-IBIG head office in Makati to issue post-dated checks for our housing loan. We were greeted with this sign on the door.

As it turned out, instead of issuing post-dated checks good for a year, we were only able to issue checks up to July 2010. Our personal check still bore the old format which looked like this:

We were then advised to order a new booklet of checks from our bank. By the way, our bank officer was clueless at first about the dorsal format. I had to tell her that it's the one with the boxes, LOL! It was only after receiving our new booklet that I discovered how the standard dorsal format actually looks like. See the photo below:

As you can see, the new format has those boxes drawn behind each check. Nothing much has changed in filling up the form, though. We were asked to write my husband's name (he's the one who made the loan by the way), our contact details, and the housing loan number. I don't know if the our old checks will still be accepted by other banks or institutions. But since it's the Philippine Clearing House that has supposedly required this, I think it's logical to assume that the new rule applies to all.

We also had the chance to ask about our home's fire insurance. Thankfully, we were advised not to inquire about fire insurance quotes anymore since the loan amount we are paying already covers fire insurance fees until the end of our loan's term.

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Mom's Purest Love at Eastwood City Mall

This month is World Breastfeeding Month. Breastfeeding advocacy group, LATCH (Lactation, Attachment, Training, Counseling and Help) and Megaworld has prepared a special week to help celebrate the occasion. Hope you check out the wonderful activities they have lined-up for us moms. The schedule on Sunday, August 8, 2010 will be the following:

• 1-2 pm -> Talk on Breastfeeding and Babywearing by LATCH
• 3-3:30 -> Yoga demonstration by Jornada Yoga 
• 3:30-4:00 -> Cooking Demonstration by CCA
• 4:00-4:30 -> Make-Up demo by Face Shop
• 4:30 pm -> A celebrity fashion show featuring Bianca Araneta-Elizalde's maternity/nursing line called Eden. The children will be dressed in Periwinkle and Baby Fashionista. Accessories by Tweetie de Leon.

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