Frannywanny

When I got married 8 years ago, I was one of the lucky few who didn't had to worry much about running my own household. It's because I was first asked to move in with my in laws for the first 5 months of our married life and there it was easy breezy for me. I literally would wake up in the morning with a wide breakfast spread lovingly made by Manang on the table, I'd go to work while being driven by Kuya M and after a long busy day at work, I'd go back to my in laws' house with dinner waiting for me. The only thing that Paul and I had to worry then were our basic toiletries. After 5 months, we gave in to my mom's request and moved in to my family. It was even much more easier for me as I didn't had to adjust at all. It was simply going back to the house where I grew up in before I became Mrs. Ang. Likewise, Mommy and Papa had everything ready where we had our reliable helpers to do our laundry, cook our meals and so on. The harsh realities of being marrie...

It finally happened. Yaya D left us last Sunday. After 8 months of being our helping hand in watching over my twins. She left. The downside? She left without a proper notice..much less without even saying good bye. *sigh* My pride and joy ♥ ♥ ♥  I won't lie. My heart sank when I read her vague message of her telling me that she won't come back from her supposed 3 days day off as she wanted to rest some more. Her excuse? She got a really painful lump in her throat and according to her, it's making it really hard for her to breathe. Well, I asked my brother-in-law E who's an ENT to look into this week ago when she first complained about it and he saw...nothing. Absolutely nothing. A quick check on her Facebook page over the weekend also saw her singing her heart out with her boyfriend. For somebody who has a lump on her throat, it's amazing how she can still belt out those high tunes. Well, at first, I panicked. Then I felt really sad. More than the frighten...

My twins turns 9 months today. WOW . I've been a proud Mommy for 9 full months already! If you put things into perspective, 9 months is how long it takes for a baby to form inside a Mother's womb. It still feels like yesterday when I was wheeled into the delivery room and I heard the cries of J and L for the first time. I can still remember how small and fragile they were. How we would carry them so carefully to support their necks. Today, both are talking, crawling, rolling over, attempting to climb, eating solids kind of toddlers already. They're no longer considered newborns but they still do smell like one so I'm totally fine with that. Aside from this, this also means that I've been breastfeeding them for 9 full months already. It was no easy feat so please allow me to beam a little and give myself a small pat at the back for going this far. I'm not going to lie though, I came this far because I got help . Help from close friends who offered to share ...

I still can't believe it. I was having dinner with my family last night when my brother-in-law shared a link with me. Anthony Bourdain is found dead at 61 . I immediately thought it was a fake news as that's pretty rampant nowadays then when I showed the link to Paul, he pointed out that it was from CNN and they can't possibly come out with fake news. Then reality set in. WHY? This was the main question we all had around the table. He was at the top of his TV and food career, travelling the world, eating in all the most sought after places, he was leading the game. HOW? He died by taking his own life..his own precious life. A few days ago, fashion icon Kate Spade  also passed away due to suicide. Mental illness is no joke and it's one that we all can play a role to fight it. Let me tell you something that I have kept a secret for 7 months. L's little hand holding on to me I almost fell into what they call " post-partum depression ". I never though...

"Wait till they start crawling!" I still remember my Mom telling me this when I once told her how excited I am for my twins to grow faster when they were just newborn. I still get scared carrying newborns..most especially tiny babies as I have this great fear that I might accidentally drop them. My Mom and other Mommy friends would tell me to take it slow and savor that moment as a new challenge would arise once my babies would start crawling..or would start walking or worst..running. Well my friends, the time has come when both J and L are now considered crawlers. Actually, they're more like tumbling tots who would go from one corner to another by tumbling all over the place. It's scary though as they have no concept of pausing or slowing down thus my fear of me dropping them has been quickly replaced with the fear of them just falling off the bed one day. For the past months, I've been bugging Paul that it's time for us to scout around for a good playmat...

"Fed is Best" This is one thing that I constantly remind myself ever since the twins were born. Let's admit it, from the moment you deliver your baby, the hospital will constant encourage you to breastfeed. Okay, so breastfeeding sure has a lot of benefits both to the mother and to the baby. I personally felt so glad that I was able to express my colostrum as soon as my twins were born. Somehow, it gave me this sense of validation that I am doing a good job as their Mommy. Fast forward to today, my twins have been latching on to me and I've been pumping for 7 whole months. I never thought I'd come this far. Breastfeeding sure has its benefits and it has its downside too. One is my mobility as a mom. My twins are so used to having me around that L, for instance, would scream her head off at night if she doesn't sleep latched on to me. That said, I haven't had a decent night out since they were born. One time, Paul and I went out to attend a friend...

I still remember the first time I packed my twins' diaper bag. It was for an hour check-up with their pedia and I think I must have brought the entire house with us. I didn't want to take any chances for the possibility of one getting hungry or another having a poop explosion. I brought as much sets of clothes, wash clothes, receiving blankets, cotton balls and swabs, even a bottle of water, a pack of diapers, breast milk in a cooler pack, bottles, colic ointment, bonnet, mittens, booties, the list just went on and on! I think if only my bag could still accommodate, I would also have brought my nursing pillow. As a result, we were painfully carrying our super heavy bag all the way to the doctor's clinic and back. As my twins grew, the contents of their diaper bag has changed too. Gone are the booties, mittens and bonnets which are now replaced by extra bibs, socks and toys. I noticed also that we've become more efficient in packing that at some point, Yaya D even told...

"To be a Mom." To most women my age, they probably have big ambitions and dreams such as to run their own company, be the CEO in a multi-national corporation, to fly to the moon, to perform at the Carnegie Hall, go to an ivy league school and so on. Growing up, I had my share of dreams too such as to work for the biggest magazine publication company in the country (✓), to travel the world (working on that), to meet the man of my dreams (✓✓✓) and lastly...to be a full-time, hands-on mom. For many years, I've enjoyed a smooth and gradual climb in my career and I'm lucky to have Paul and my family by my side too. However, as the years go by, I can't help but notice that there's one dream left unfulfilled. Clearly, some things were indeed beyond my control and after 7 long (yet happy) years, I am able to put a bold ✓ mark beside the last item in my dream list. This was when my beautiful twins, J and L were born. Motherhood is indeed another ball game. It...

If you're someone who's just as OC (obsessive - compulsive) and a neat freak like me, then let me tell you this. Expect this OCness and neat freak-ness to escalate to greater heights once you have a baby. I've honestly lost count of the number of times I've cleaned my hands with soap followed by a splash of isopropyl alcohol in a day or how much I value our UV sterilizer that I would literally sterilize everything within arms reach from my twins. From their toys to their bottles, I would make sure to sterilize them most especially at this stage where they're teething and would put everything in their tiny mouths. When it comes to their milk, then that's another level of sanitation. My twins were exclusively breastfed for the first few months of their lives but lately, we're starting to introduce formula milk as the pedia wanted to "bulk" them up. Not wanting to fully wean them off my breast milk yet, I would just give them formula 1-2x in a day ...

During one of our recent meet-up with friends, some of them gave us sweet encouraging messages on how they're at awe on how we're raising our twins and still look human during the day. Well aside from the fact that they didn't get to see us during the first two months of being twin parents, we're also blessed to have very disciplined kids who can now sleep through the night which allows us to have better sleep or at least some quality evening time. There are still fussy nights but they come rarely and we get over them quickly. Modesty aside though, I never felt like what Paul and I are doing is something out of the ordinary. To us, this is our NORMAL. For us, it's normal to repeatedly change two sets of diapers each time, it's normal to prepare two bottles every time, it's normal to tandem feed, it's normal to deal with two crying babies, it's normal to put two babies to sleep at the same time, the list can go on and on. I guess we're also lu...

"Twin A out at 6:36AM" "Twin B out at 6:37AM" Despite how groggy I was so early in the morning of 25 October 2017, these two statements were heard loud and clear by everyone in the operating room and these marked the start of a new chapter of my life. I'm finally and officially a Mommy. For months leading up to my delivery, I would try to imagine how that moment would actually be. I honestly thought I'd cry. Well, I didn't. In fact I didn't say a word as I was barely conscious but I caught Paul's eye right at the moment we first heard J's cry followed by L's and all I saw was love... pure, unconditional love and happiness. Our first month as parents was unfortunately not an easy walk in the park. It began with our babies having to be admitted in the NICU for two weeks as they were born underweight. I was on my one-month ge lai where I wasn't supposed to go out and I have to keep myself warm but I seriously pushed all these prac...