MomMye
Just the other day, I was touched when I read the following excerpt from the book "You can make your life beautiful" :

Tracy is already a young woman.
But her head is bent downward, drool flows through one side of her mouth, and her face is berof any expression. She can’t speak. Or move by herself. Every once in a while, someone has to shift the
position of her head, her arms, her legs—or else they become painfully sore. (Doctors painkillers.)
And the hand I hold is small for her age and contorted. Her limbs are terribly thin, twisted
abnormally short, and have to be strapped in a special wheelchair. She doesn’t eat the way you and I do.
She’s fed through a tube attached straight thrabdomen. Some would call her a vegetable. I wouldn’t.
Because her name is Tracy!
And there’s one thing she does well, despite all these. Tracy smiles.

This serves as an eye opener to me since I realized that I hardly smile for the last two days.. So today, I decided to start the day with a smile. It's a usual thing for me and my Matthew to argue about finishing his breakfast before leaving to school because his first period starts at 7:00am. I smiled more when he said, mother, what's the matter? why are you smiling? feels good huh and feels so light as I do the scheduled household chore for the day.


As I fetch my kids from school at 12nn, Matthew noticed it again and commented, "hey, it's nice to see you smiling..." (seems like it's so unusual to see me smile hehe) then while walking they both shared the news that their report card was already given. Honestly can't help but feel nervous although still managed to wear a smile while saying "Good!". It was really unexpected that he passed all his grades, in fact his average got higher than the last grading period. Though his Math grade drastically changed, his other subjects show significant change also. In my previous post, I have mentioned that I'm worrying so much that he might failed in Math. God was really good, and I'm so thankful.

When I was young and this what me and my husband were teaching our kids now, that "Smile, and the world will smile to you!" Call it just a coincidence but today I got so many reasons to be happy. And I guess it started when I chose to make my life beautiful. Smile!



Wear a smile often, and see the difference!
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MomMye
A former officemate chatted me today asking how I was after more than three months of being out of the corporate world, and as the conversation goes.. he then teased me that this coming Christmas I would miss two things terribly..I would miss receiving Christmas gifts and financial bonus from the company. Truly this is one the most awaited part of the year for most of us back then because it's the part of the year wherein the employees are being rewarded for the exemplary performance during the year. So I guess, this was the fulfillment of having a job and also a time to be happy.

This Christmas, I still have a bonus! just.. not the usual material thing. Nothing can compare to the happiness whenever I saw my kids being happy with me all the time. And whenever I joked that I will work again, they would beg not to and promise they would always be good. And oh, I get this bonus all year round!

My point of view right now is "Being happy especially during Christmas is not about having lots of material things but more of the happiness that makes me feel so fulfilled."
MomMye
Do you ever feel like you' re in a traffic jam? ... where everything’s a standstill and every road to your destination seems blocked? This is what I'm feeling for the last two days, find my life too difficult because of my son Matthew. Were always engaged in discussions about finishing his school duties on time and finding it hard to accept his reasons for not following my instructions that often results in me yelling at him most of the time, and spanking sometimes. Little did I know, my problem is not being solved but just aggravating the situation. Making me feel guilty after a great confrontation with him, and feeling so stressed and wanting to give up.. and yet it's like, nothing for him..

Today I started my day feeling as light as possible, and managed half of the day already not getting mad or even yell. I prayed to God to give me more strength and the will to survive. I'm holding on to God as the one who makes a road through the wilderness and one who makes way where it seems impossible. Just have to trust and be committed to connect with Him daily.

"God's expertise.. is the impossible."
MomMye
In these days, we are often challenged to have a good ability of managing our financial aspect. This makes it difficult especially for those who are Stay-at-home moms. Of course we need to make sure proper balancing for us to avoid that health and wealth be compromised as we are into the verge of budgeting.

Since I resigned, I've been into constant search for ways on where to invest my retirement pay... and it started with attending a seminar about investing in the stock market which led me to the discovery of this great and wonderful money saving tip. This was discussed first since they are offering a long term investment program that requires to save money to increase the investment on a monthly basis.

Here's how the system goes, the salary will be divided into five envelopes namely :

1st envelope : Tithe
Tithing teaches us to be generous because it is an act of gratitude and faith. We do give thanks for the blessings and have faith that we will be provided for. My goal is to allot 10% of the earnings for I personally believe in the power of tithing!

2nd envelope : Expense Fund
This is what we spend for our daily needs including the monthly bills. Just the right discipline and you will learn how to live a simple life. Simplicity is the key..

3rd envelope : Support Fund
Fund used to support our extended families on their untimely needs.

4th envelope : Emergency Fund
This fund teaches how to be prepared for anything that requires spending money.
5th envelope : Retirement
The real savings according to Financial experts. There are several ways to prepare for the future, and one of them is investing in the stock market.

"Saving is not just for now but for the future."

 TrulyRichClub.com - Do You Want to Gain Financial Wealth and Spiritual Abundance at the Same Time?
MomMye
Today, I reached the lowest point of my life as a mother... (as a stay-at-home mom) when I received Matthew's exam results.:-( I assume he will get a failing grade in Math due to failed quizzes and exam). This is going to be the first time to happen since he started schooling.

"High Expectations can move you into danger"
Before I decided to stop working for good, I got so many high expectations for my children especially on how they do in school. They are both intelligent kids and sometimes included (not consistent) in the achiever's list on the past. With these I thought, when I'm home already they would greatly improve. But to my surprise, the biggest contrast happened to my eldest. Feels like focus is already out of sight. Well, it used to be a problem for him even before but it's getting worse now. He always got a failing grade in quizzes and seatwork most of the time, not because he doesn't know the answer (I knew because I'm used to giving him exercises on his everyday lessons and he was able to answer without my help!) but he's unable to finish answering all the questions. He would normally talk and talk and talk until his classmates were about to finish. Then that's the only time that he would start aswering. Isn't it frustrating? I guess, I expected too much that's why I do feel like this.
 
After reading the exam paper, there was an hour of moment wherein I'm starting to ask myself, "Am I a bad mother?", "Is it my fault?", and "Where did I lack?" ..negative feelings that I know if not managed properly could make my life miserable the whole life. After this I cried for an hour just to release my sentiments and now, as I follow the Stop, Look and Listen (as mentioned in my previous post) in dealing with anger and problems in life. I'm still struggling to accept that things like this happens for a reason and that i should focus more on "Hows" rather than "Whys". I'm positive.. I can make it! (so help me God!)


"When there's intense pain in your life, you can respond in two ways. You can have a breakdown or you can have a breakthrough."  I chose breakthrough... and I trust God that whatever comes to me today is something that I need to make me grow...


                                                




MomMye
Today's the 17th birthday of my niece Agnes, so I (and my kids) thought to give her something. Since we have many cookies given by a friend, we decided to give her one. Then my eldest suggested to create a note along with the cookie.

Then after doing all this stuff, the three went to their house which is around 2 blocks from ours. About 2 1/2 hours that passed, Jom came rushing to get some clothes. Their aunt is inviting to join them at church and eat out later. I even joked at him, oh why are you leaving me here alone? don't you want me to be here anymore.. then he said, "no Mom it won't take long, will be back in a short while, just can't resist Aunt's invitation". That was just a joke but honestly I felt a little sad when he left. It's not that I don't want them to be with them, but I'll miss them. I'll be left alone here at home.

At 6pm, my other Sister-in-law came asking me to join them, but I alreary started cooking our viand for the night and still up washing the clothes. Alas, but this is the consequences of poor time management during the entire day. Today's not that good for my kids, I'm so short tempered due to stress.

But then again, as I stay here alone now, I realized that sometimes it's nice to be away from each other for a while to feel missed. For sure they would miss me too! Can't wait to be with them, the house is so lonely without them.
MomMye

I was shocked when I heard the news today about the passing of my favorite child star (now an actress), Princess Sarah-Camille Pratts's husband. He was so young at the age of 31 to die of cancer and I felt so sad especially for their 3years old son. Not only were their ages but also their relationship was too young. But I believe that God has reason for allowing this to happen.

This strucked me to remind me at most to take care of myself well. When I was about to resign from work, a lot of people are kept on telling me that staying at home could make me look 10 years older than my age and I also knew lots of women who really became that one too. But now that I experienced to be S-A-H-M, my new point of view is that, how you look is a choice. If you want to look good at your age then you must act, still be responsible on keeping yourself healthy. As much as possible, make eveyday an enjoying day and you must like what your doing to be happy. I think that's the key, be happy. Whenever I encounter problems in life, aside from asking God to be by my side, I used the internet technology to search for the best technique on how to deal with it. And I now drink lots and lots of water everyday, for I believe in the healing power of water.

Even if you're not a stay at home type, if the attitude and outlook in life is not good, it can happen to look 10 years older than the age. So start now, make a choice!
MomMye
The weeks that past is so frustrating for me as i always lost my temper almost every day. I don't know why... But now i finally said No.. a BIG NO to anger, I promised myself to stop from getting mad. I think what's missing is that I forgot to ask help from God. Then I remembered that I received an email from Bo Sanchez last August entitled "How to Deal with your Temper".



I want to share again the article that says, I need to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN! (just as I do)

STOP when I'm about to explode already, count from 1 to 10 if necessary or just go for a while to do some inhale and exhale to relax myself and most of all Pray before I face my kids again. This is really hard but yet effective.

LOOK for God in every situation especially on dealing with kids, imagine God loving You at the moment of testing and look for God's presence in every irritating circumstances. This one's very soothing..

LISTEN to God's instructions by asking self "Whats the wise thing to do?" Evaluate the root cause and think, think, think. One phrase that struck me is that Children don't listen to anger, they listen to action! By the way, I have just downloaded the e-book Have a New Kid by Friday by Dr Kevin Leman as suggested. Will keep you posted on my learnings there.

Truly, the big learning here is, IMPATIENCE comes from lack of trust in God's Love... Thank God for bringing me back to my own self and able to change for the better.
MomMye
 Today, I have two reasons to be really happy...

 


My daughter Sam's exam results were all given today. Out of three subjects, one is perfect and the other have just very minimal mistakes. It's her first time to attend school that's why I'm so excited and so very happy because she didn't disappoint me. Kuddos to my girl! 












Another reason is, I was able to cook nice tasting food!  I could say it's nice because my kids loved it, i could tell because if they like the food.. they eat more than the usual serving. And it'a already an achievement for me whose not a great cook.

When I was still single, Kitchen is my most hated part of the house but since I got married I've been forced to like the Kitchen because I need to prepare nutritious foods for the kids. Especially now that I'm the one personally handling this. Thank God I do have a PC/internet and recipe sites (with video) are available on the net to view and  that I can follow.  Just sharing my happiness..

The Best 30-Minute RecipeRachael Ray 365: No Repeats--A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners (A 30-Minute Meal Cookbook)The South Beach Diet Cookbook
MomMye
While we were walking as we go home after school, my son announced that two of his exam result was released already! I was so excited and rushing to open the door.. after getting in and check his papers, I was so shocked and couldn't speak because he got only half correct answers in English. During our lunch, my tears could't help but fall and my children saw it, especially him because he was sitting in front of me. I told him that I was so disappointed and that was the very first time I experienced total sadness.

My son is an intelligent boy and this was the lowest exam rating that he got since he started schooling, and I find it so hard accept it. Actually, it's only a matter of following directions, putting punctuations and sentence capitalization that made him wrong. There's no problem with his ability to understand the lessons, just following what is being told to do so and focus that is needed.

One of the reasons why I decided to stop working is to have more time on tutoring him. I noticed that when the lesson is repeatedly told to him and when he committed mistakes (except in Math) , he learns... he learns from his mistakes. I just hope he learned his lesson in this exam.

After so much thought, I think I should be partially be blamed for this. For the last 3months before my resignation, my focus was only on my work turn over.. to finish all my pending projects for the company before I leave. Maybe my time for my family especially to my schooling kids was sacrified. And I think what happened is just a consequence of having a wrong priority and poor time management.

My other lesson learned here is that, prayer is not enough ... I should really act, and again have a refurbished daily schedule that includes more time for him to study his lessons in advance.

The Pray! Prayer Journal: Daily Steps toward Praying God's Heart
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MomMye
Like most moms who had three children, I also have  a problem in having a bulging belly. Oh if only I could have enough money now to finance procedures like lisposuction, I think I would do just to get rid of this the fastest way.

Just last weekend my husband joked that my belt bag is getting bigger.. I just smiled but deep inside I said to myself "hmmm, on Monday I'll begin to search for ways on how to diminish".

Since I can't buy those expensive excercise equipments, I am forced to just search the internet. And so, here's the Top 3 Stomach Flattening Exercises that I found and now sharing to those stay at home mom like me.


#1 The Bicycle Crunch


Start by doing 5-10 reps and build up to a maximum of 20 reps in any one set. You can also work to time in circuits (i.e. 20 seconds exercise, 30 seconds rest).

  1. Lie on your back on an exercise mat, hands by your ears (elbows pointed to the sides), hips and knees bent at 90 degree angles (feet off the floor).
  2. Straighten your left knee whilst bending your right knee further up. Use your abs to lift and turn your upper body to bring your left elbow towards your right knee (don't cheat by bending at your shoulder!).
  3. Then slowly come back down and repeat with the opposite knee and elbow to create a bicycle kicking action and simultaneous body rotation.
  4. Repeat until you complete your reps.

Tips:
  • Breathe steadily, try and get into a rhythm.
  • Keep your core muscles braced throughout, this will ensure your lower back stays pressed against the mat.
  • Focus on making your abdominal muscles do the work.
  • Don't push your head forward with your hands, this will put pressure on your neck. Lightly support your head with your fingers behind your ears.
  • Your elbows don't need to touch your knees.
  • Don't lose form just to complete the set. If you're struggling then stop and rest.
captains chair abs exercise

#2 Captain's Chair Abdominal Exercises

A very effective routine for getting six pack abs and exercising the obliques. I like this one most because I can do it all the time.
  • Starting position: Sit on a comfortable chair with your back vertical and feet flat on the ground. Hold the edges of the chair just at the position of your hips. Rest your palms on the chair and keep your elbow slightly bent.
  • The exercise: Exhale while you lift your knees towards your upper body and hold the position for 2 seconds while keeping your back straight. Lower your legs to the starting position and inhale.
Tips: Keep the motion controlled as you raise and lower your knees. Don't swing or use momentum to raise the legs. You can do the captains chair exercise beginning with 2 sets of 10 reps and work your way to holding the position for longer and increasing the sets and reps.

Vertical Leg Crunch

#3 Vertical Leg Crunch

Another very effectuve stomach flatenning exercise which can be performed at home is the vertical leg crunch. This ABS exercise focuses on the rectus abdominis and obliques.

  • Start position: Lie down on the floor (or exercise mat) face up and lift your legs to a vertical position.
  • The exercise: Slowly lift your hips from the floor towards the ceiling and hold for 5 second. Lower your hips slowly back to the starting position.
  • Repeat for 2 sets of 10-12 reps. With more experience increase to 3 sets and 12 to 15 reps.
Tips: Remember to use your abdominal muscles and not your hip muscles.
  • An alternative vertical leg crunch is to perform the exercise with your knees crossed (from the same start position).
  • Now suck in the abs and lift your shoulder blades from the floor (instead of the hips) moving your chest towards your feet. This should cause your belly button to move towards the spine.
  • Important: Maintain a vertical leg position throughout the exercise.
These are just an alternative, but in case you want to spend and speed it up you may click below to search for the right equipment for you.

Search Amazon.com for exercise equipment for home

Drive Medical Pedal Exerciser with Attractive Silver Vein Finish, Silver Vein (Knock down)
Sunny Health & Fitness Mini Cycle
The Bean Elite Kit Ultimate Abdominal Exerciser, Including Guide and Pump


Barry's Bootcamp Complete Workout System
Resistance Chair Exercise System
The Bean Elite Combo and Flex 10 Ultimate Abdominal Exerciser


Happy exercising!
MomMye
Whenever my husband feels so stressed at work, he would usually open the computer and sing all the songs of Elton John. That's how he loved Elton and his songs! I think he would never get tired of listening to it, anyway I've heard all his music already and it's all nice. That's including those songs that for me is not that popular just as the song Daniel ;-)

Last night, when we were about to start our dinner, my husband said "I'm so tired today". Upon hearing this, my eldest son rushed into the computer and opened the Karafun -- a videoke software that I downloaded from the internet..then shouted C'mon Father, let's do the Karafun! Oh how I'm so touched by his gestures, he's so caring. If there is one thing that they enjoy doing both, it's singing! And it's always the song "Your Song" by Elton John of course to start off. Here's the video link from youtube that we never get tired of listening -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTa8U0Wa0q8  Just sharing...

So, right after our dinner they started to sing.That's including my two younger children whose just humming. That's so nice to look at, seeing that alone is already a stress reliever for me. I also joined them after washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen.

I always thank God for being so blessed to have children that really cares for me and my husband well, they make my career transition smooth and easy. Whenever I feel tired, I tell it to them. And one by one, they do make things that would make me happy and would later ask, Mom do you still feel tired? And of course, even if I'm still tired, because of their relentless effort (I think no Mother would say NO to this, agree?) I would definitely say a Big YES!

MomMye
Six months ago, the whole family started sleeping in just one room -- our room for we only have two rooms in the house. This is to accomodate my mother who will be staying with us to help me on taking care of kids while I'm working. Honestly I did feel a special bonding with the kids with this setup because normally we do lots of hugging and cuddling before we go to sleep. And besides I think that I need to do this to take full advantage of them while they were still young. Sooner or later they will request to sleep on their own room, have their own likes and dislikes and many things will change.. They will no longer be mamas boys and girl.

And now that I'm already a full-time mom and my mother no longer lives with us, my husband decided that the kids will sleep on their room. His explanation was, he just wanted them to grow up and start to learn how to be independent. I feel happy about that but sad somehow because I will miss them. It's different that I know they're just beside me while sleeping.

This morning when my youngest son woke up, he sad mom.. I feel sad last night and can't sleep.. I want to be beside you but afraid to go out for fear that dad might get mad at me. Oh I just hugged him tight and assurred him that things it's okay... everything will be alright, maybe we have the same feeling last night that's why we both can't sleep well.

Tonight after praying the rosary at their room, we will let them sleep first before we will go to our room..
MomMye
It's been a week since I started on being a stay-home-mom, and i feel so happy now that I was able to do one of my dreams--that is to personally take care of my three growing up kids. One adjustment for me is sleep... I'm no longer used to rise early as 5:15am to prepare breakfast. For how many years there was always somebody to do this for us. But even i do lack of sleep i'm so proud because i was able to manage those days well and peaceful.

One of the things that i feared before in having this career is that i might not be patient enough to handle them well. It's not easy to be with three kids aged 7, 4 and 3! But as of my self evaluation, i usually get short-tempered when I'm tired. So for my first week, i did not push myself hard to do all the things that i wanna do like cleaning etc. According to some of my friend's experiences, i should avoid becoming too tired of the household chores to stay in good shape..not just for the body but also for the mind. At this point I want to establish a daily routine, schedule or plan for everything (to become more effective!) and imply what i have learned while working - Time Management.

On the coming week, I'm planning to change a bit... and be more serious about my new responsibilities. I will now start the day by praying and reading the bible for more blessings to come our way.