posted by Jennie on Jul 25
I love seeing my husband and son bond during bedtime, just before we say our family devotion. Our son loves being read to. Yes, even now that he knows how to read himself. He does read by himself during day time. But now at 5, he either reads with us or prefers to be read to. A habit he got used to. 
posted by Jennie on Jul 12
These are the winning comments from the Share Your Management Tips and Win a Watch from Kids Watch Central: (in no particular order).
posted by Jennie on Jul 7
Here is a website that is currently making waves and parents should be made aware of - Omegle.com. Yesterday was the first time I visited the site and it surely gave me the creeps! All one has to do was head over the site, choose between text or video chatting and you are basically hooked up with a stranger online.
posted by Jennie on Jun 8
We are in a generation filled with distractions of all shapes and forms. This is why it is no longer surprising why the default could easily be to raise up children with short attention span problems. A considerable percentage of attention disorders roots back to the galore of distractions made available to children before they are able to control and make a grasp of the value of time management.
While I do not have anything against game consoles, its potential for distraction is too real when left in the hands of children without giving them limits. This can bring about a barrage of problems, to say the least.
my son wearing his Action Man watch from Kids Watch Central
One thing that has worked right from the time our son was a toddler, long before he became an expert at telling time, was teaching him to keep track of time. How? For example, we tell him that time is up when the long hand is on number 8. The watch is the one tool that has allowed for him to set his mind that there is time for everything. A child should not be left on his own doing what he wants to do until he feels like it.
Now this contest is as fun as fun can be, an easy one at that. 
(Contest will run from June 9, 2010 to July 9, 2010)
posted by Jennie on May 28
Wyeth sent me a can of Wyeth’s Progress Pre-School Gold and a Healthway card for mother’s day last week! Thank you Wyeth!
Committed to helping mothers raise healthy children, Wyeth’s Progress Pre-School Gold now goes beyond providing superior nutritional products by offering superior medical care as well. Working together with Healthway, the joint project aims to provide families increased access to quality maternal and child healthcare services.
posted by Jennie on May 28
My husband and I first reconsidered getting a helper to assist us around the house last year when we first jumped into the homeschooling grind. But as I later went on adapting to our home schooling schedule, we held that thought in and pushed it back down until now, a year later.
Truth be told, I could really make use of a help, being the lone person who takes care of the house, home school my son, while I work from home (as a virtual assistant and blog for a living). There are days that I get pretty overwhelmed and the busyness gets the best of me, which shouldn’t be.
posted by Jennie on Mar 7
Our son here is playing with other graduating kids during their 15 minute break. He easily makes friends, that’s for sure. The hubby and I overheard a girl from the bunch ask Jed if he can be her new best friend. My son was all smiles as they were both on the see saw and quipped, “Why do you want me to be your bestfriend?” The girl readily answered “Because you are the kindest.” Jed answered back, “Wow! Sure, I like that.” All this time we thought he was not paying attention to their conversation and was too busy playing. But after a couple of days, during his random talks with the hubby, he told his papa about this girl in school who wants him to be her new best friend and with all her thoughts, saying that he likes her too.
Time flies by so fast. It was as if it was just yesterday that I could carry him with one arm effortlessly. Now with his close to 55lbs at his age of 4, he is often mistaken to be 6 year old by many. (He sure won’t be a candidate of human growth hormone in the future) Sometimes I wish I can stop time and just relish the moments a lil while longer.
posted by Jennie on Jan 18
When my son and I attended the launch of Pampers Yoga Stretchycise last week at Gymboree in Manila Polo Club, I cannot help but remember the times when he was still the ever so dependent baby. It was such a short, sweet time. Babies grow up too fast, really. My son now is 4 years old and even though he sat down with me for a bit during the talk, he really preferred to be left alone in the play area with the other kids.
The partnership of baby experts Pampers, the Mother and Child Nurses Association of the Philippines (MCNAP) and Gymboree Play and Music, developed the Pampers Yoga Stretchycise. It is a routine that a parent/guardian does with the baby that combines stretching and yoga moves. It is said to help encourage the development of the baby’s mind and body.
posted by Jennie on Dec 2
MarriageandBeyond.com was officially launched first week of December 2007. Posts were live from Nov. 27, but importation of contents from their previous free hosted site wasn’t quite done yet until December. I have been blogging since 2004, so even though MarriageandBeyond is still practically a baby, its contents traces back to four years ago, which you guys will find in this site’s Archive.
posted by Jennie on Nov 29
MarriageandBeyond.com is turning 2 this December with a blog contest and we are raffling off Dr. James Dobson’s Best Seller, The New Dare to Discipline book and P500 worth of Starbucks GCs to one of our dear readers. This contest is open to all Philippine residents. With the consideration that at least 55.9% of our readers are from the United States, and if you happen to live in another country and you have a local address I could send the book to, in case you win, then you’re in!
In celebration of our 8th wedding anniversary, we added the P500 worth of Starbucks GCs that you guys could use to treat your loved ones on a date or even help you grab a hold of that must have planner. We figured what was best to go well with a book and it’s GCs from Starbucks, no less. The hubby and I love to spend time reading our own sets of books over Fraps of our choice.
posted by Jennie on Nov 24
BiblicalParenting.org has once again tackled another controversial topic. They rightly entitled it, “Be Careful with Triangles” and it explains why it is important for the husband and the wife to be a team when it comes to disciplining their child and the dynamics behind the different personalities in one’s family and how to go about them to promote healing, when hurt takes place.
Be Careful with Triangles
Triangles in relationships happen often in family life. Conflict between two people can become an invitation for another person to join in. If parents aren’t careful, and create triangles inappropriately, people get hurt. But if triangles are used properly, they become great opportunities for healing and learning. Here are some examples to watch out for:
• A child who is unhappy with Dad’s discipline may go to Mom and try to get her to overrule a decision.
• A dad may criticize the way Mom is handling a situation.
• A child may go to Dad with a proposal to get around Mom’s instructions.
• A teen may get angry with Mom for the way she’s treating his brother.
• One child may tattle on another.
Each of these situations represents an opportunity. Some advice suggests that triangles are always wrong and warn not to get involved. We don’t believe that’s the answer. Rather we suggest you triangle in as a counselor or coach instead of a critic.
posted by Jennie on Nov 24
I had the most interesting time with fellow mommies last Saturday, November 21, 2009, during the Johnson & Johnson’s Bedtime Discoveries event in Manila Peninsula. It zeroes in on the importance of sleep in a baby’s routine. Right from the moment my husband and I learned that we were pregnant, we were set on doing things right from the beginning. As a newbie parents-to-be, we investigated on different parenting techniques and were sold out to the routine principles of Babywise. We can totally vouch for it even as this little guy we have who is now 4 years old has been sleeping through the night since he turned two months old and more than just that he has been one happy baby since.
the very pregnant and lively Ms. Christine Bersola-Babao hosted the event
The Bedtime Discoveries event affirmed the way we raised our son, even as Dr. Luis Rivera, Vice President of Philippine Society of Sleep Medicine further explained how essential sleep is in a baby’s daily routine. Although we strongly believe in getting a baby into a routine, we also made sure as well that we do not have a rigid one, this is when it comes to feeding and every other baby’s activity during the day. But when it comes to our baby’s sleep routine, a schedule one was essential. This allowed for him to condition himself and anticipate what’s next, over time. We first wash him up before we get him ready for bed, baby massage and then we will read his baby picture Bible. He’s had it since he was a few months old. This routine worked wonders for him.
Dr. Luis Rivera, Vice-President of the Philippine Society of Sleep Medicine
posted by Jennie on Nov 20
We counted three years into our marriage before our son came. One thing my husband and I were set on right from the time we learned we were pregnant was to start right as we parent our child. This is why I have tried to be at my best health ever even from gestation. I made sure there were no missed appointments and we completed our preparation for childbirth classes for Lamaze/Bradley. We even enrolled ourselves in child care classes. There was no way we were leaving parenting to chance. Needless to say, we were really thrilled to welcome our son when he arrived in May 2005.
Even before I gave birth, I was keen on exclusively breastfeeding him and then later have him on a brown rice diet, aside from making sure we don’t miss immunization appointments. These were the least that we could do to make sure our son stays healthy.
with our days old son, Jed
When our son was ready for semi-solid foods, I made a mistake of introducing instant baby foods to him at first. The convenience is there, true. But I can only be grateful enough that we were able to shift to brown rice which I dutifully grind first before cooking until he was ready for solids. I bought a grinder especially for this purpose. Our son easily adjusted to the taste of naturally cooked brown rice, vegetables and fruits. No need for instant cereals or what nots.
Why brown rice, you might ask. Polished rice means that a major percentage of B vitamins are destroyed and that includes 80% of Vitamin B1, 67% of Vitamin B3, 90% of B6, 50% Manganese, 50% Phosphorus, 60% Iron, aside from the benefits of fiber that can only be found in unpolished rice. Although it was a tad more tedious to prepare than giving the regular instant baby cereal, there was no way I’m withholding my son the benefit of eating brown rice. Brown rice has to be soaked in the water it will be boiled in for at least 30 minutes. Nothing instant, I tell you.
cooked unpolished brown rice
posted by Jennie on Nov 18
Last week was an extremely busy day for me. The little guy had to sleep over at my folks thrice. That means I went home late at least three times last week. As much as the grannies love this little guy of ours, there is just something about him being with them that when he comes back home, it’s like he’s totally a different kid! Like seriously. It could also be that he is most likely to have his way with his grannies than otherwise. My folks see the effect and after a while they back off from spoiling him.
posted by Jennie on Nov 9
Toddler sleep regression, is it even the right term for it? My son has been sleeping in his own bed since he turned two. But lately since the storm, we co-sleep more often. His bed was soaked in flood water and had to be thrown away. We all went back to the family bed, which was actually “banig” for sometime, because of our circumstance.
We have since were able to replace his thrown bed with an airbed and his bed box with a double bunk bed. Although he still sleeps in his room at night, he would cry out in the middle of the night and get to our bed. The regression is probably caused by the calamity that befell us but last night he successfully slept through the night in his own bed. Don’t get me wrong, I love him in our bed but aside from those flying kicks and karate chops that I get in my deepest sleep, our queen sized bed just won’t fit the three of us comfortably anymore. He’s growing bigger everyday and his tendency to be like a heat seeking missile since he was a tiny infant is still there. It crams me toward the hubby. I sleep in between them and I actually will not be surprised if dear daddy falls off the bed one of these days.
