Things I Googled When I Was A New Parent

Like I wrote in a post last year, part of my maternity leave was spent on Google (Is it normal if my baby ---?). I'd like to say the Googling stopped after my maternity leave but it didn't. I would still spend the night Googling away the minute the twins fell asleep. Haha. Did you do this too, mamas? What stuff did you Google as a new parent? Here are some of the stuff I can remember:

10 New Year's Resolutions I Wish My Two-Year-Old Twin Toddlers Will Make

1. Master potty training
2. Beat our plain pasta food addiction.
3. Let mommy and daddy use the bathroom in peace.
4. Work on our indoor voices.
5. Stop scribbling on furniture.
6. Sleep / nap more and shorten our bedtime routine. Two bedtime stories and saying good night to the 4 Mickey and Minnie stuffed toys on the bed will do.
7. Learn to share.
8. Keep our toys organized.
9. Stop swallowing the toothpaste. 
10. Let mommy and daddy tie my hair (Audrey) and wipe my face (Antonino) especially when we're outside so they won't be judged as parents.

Think these will hold through to the end of the year? What resolutions do you think should your kids make?

Stocking Stuffers for 2-Year-Olds

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin Patricia (aka Ninang Pat) surprised Antonino and Audrey with their very own Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Christmas stockings. The moment they saw them, they squealed with delight and began shouting "Mick-eeeeeey!" and "Min-nieeeee!" while hugging their stockings. Ninang Pat then explained that mommy and daddy will fill their stockings with small gifts for Christmas. Although I'm pretty sure I can get away with putting crinkle paper in those stockings and they will still feel like they won the lottery because they're Mickey and Minnie stockings!

12 Reasons Toddlers Cry

Audrey and Antonino are not even 2 years old yet but I feel like they've discovered so many new skills. They're now more confident on their feet and walk at full speed. They've already started stringing words together to form short sentences like "Put it here, mommy" and "Take a bath." We do our best to encourage them to use their words to describe their feelings. But then again they're still very young so there are times when they get frustrated because they can't have everything their way or they simply can't tell us what they want. The result? A temper tantrum. As with most parenting conundrums, Joey and I try to keep our sense of humor or else we might end up crying too! So today I'm sharing with you a dozen silly reasons why our twin toddlers cry:

5 Random Things My Twin Toddlers Love

It's funny how toddlers are attracted to the most random household items. I mean, yes, the twins love their board books, puzzles and cooking sets, but there are also times when they would rather play with stuff that's just lying around the house like these:

Toy basket

The first thing the twins do when they get a basket of toys from the shelf is dump everything and then just play with the basket!

Toys That Are A Hit For One-Year-Olds

When Audrey and Antonino turned a year old, they were both very eager to walk and raring to talk. They also showed a lot of interest in throwing, toppling, and banging stuff. Then after a few months, they wanted to climb all over everything. When they turned around 1 1/2 years old, they also picked up the habit of copying us - we sneeze, they fake sneeze, we scratch our heads, they do the same! Needless to say, the twins are in a very active phase right now. Oh and let's not forget the times when they would prefer playing with boxes over the toys inside. That is, except for these toys which they absolutely love:

Thank You, LaMom!

Audrey and Antonino are so lucky to have LaMom in their lives. We cannot thank her enough for everything she's done to make our lives better but of course, I'd like to try. So in honor of Grandparents' Day, I would like to list 5 reasons why LaMom is the best!

5 Things You Need for a Plane/Road Trip With Your Toddler

Last weekend we went to Ilocos to celebrate my Lolo's (grandfather) 90th birthday. It was Audrey and Antonino's first out of town trip. My Lolo is based in Ilocos Norte but for this special occasion, he treated us to a vacation at a resort in Ilocos Sur. This meant that getting from Manila to the resort involved a one-hour plane ride and a three-hour road trip. For the longest time, Joey and I have been really intimidated by the thought of traveling with twin toddlers but of course, we couldn't miss my Lolo's milestone birthday.

2018 New Year's Resolutions I Wish My One-Year-Old Twins Will Make

Don't you love the clean slate of a brand new year? It makes you want to examine the things you want to do differently and really try to be a better version of yourself. In that spirit, here are five resolutions I wish my one year old twins will make:

2017 Favorite Things

I cannot believe the twins are turning one this month! After all the sleepless nights and tears (the twins' and mine), we're finally near the one year mark! In celebration of this milestone, I wrote a list of my favorite things that I used during my first year of being a twin mommy. I wish I could do an Oprah and tell all of you that I will be giving each one of you all of my favorite things but for now, I'll just share my list and hope you can find something you like too.

5 Things I Never Thought I'd Do... Then I Became A Mom!

To say having twins turned our lives upside down is an understatement. Joey and I went from being a newly married couple to a family of 4 with 2 newborns requiring our undivided attention.  Parenting twins has brought about lots of surprises and I found myself doing unusual things that pre-baby me would have never thought of doing like...

5 Surprising Things About Babies

Babies love being swaddled. They also need to be burped after each meal and only sleep two hours at a time. These are some of the most common things people tell you when you're going to have a baby. So you try to perfect your swaddling technique, read about the best ways to burp a baby and sleep in while you still can. You think you've prepared enough but there's still so much that will surprise you! People who've been there probably don't tell you about them because they're kind of gross and embarrassing to share. As for me, I've gotten so used to talking about icky baby stuff so here's a list of 5 surprising things about babies that you won't read in pregnancy books:

Top 5 Things Sleep Deprivation Has Made Me Do

Sleep when the baby sleeps, they say. Well, I don't know about that because that's the only time I have to shower and do other chores. So yes, the twins' first four months have made me really tired but on the other hand, I ended up doing some pretty funny things like: