Frannywanny

My twins recently turned 6 months. To be really honest, I think celebrating their monthly milestone is really more for me and Paul rather than for the kids at the moment. Perhaps, for them, they get to discover that they can do something new each day and most especially for this particular month, they finally got their first taste of solids. However, for us, their parents it's all feeling triumphant over surviving twin parenthood for 6 whole months (and still counting). It's all about still not having 8 hours of sleep since the twins were born, it's about double the number of diapers that were worn and thrown away, it's all about cheering and doing happy dances every time we witness a new milestone, it's all about gaining that extra arm muscle that we never thought existed as our twins are really gaining more weight. I can't help but look at their photos back when they were a day old up until the photos that I took of them today. They've grown so much and ...

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 ...

Lately, I always find myself running out of time. Do you have those moments too? In fact, my day starts earlier than usual as my twins are now extra playful and they're usually wide awake before 8AM. Despite how hard I try to keep my eyes shut, I can't ignore their playful kicks and non-stop babbling with high pitch shrieks here and there. That's how my morning begins and this is followed by a more regular schedule of feeding and napping. Sometimes we would go out either to the mall, to play with their Achie A or to visit my in laws. Before I know it, it's close to dinner time and we have to prepare them for bedtime. Add to the fact that good help is so hard to find and we take turns in doing a couple of chores to help lighten the load for our current staying help. Eating out or ordering food may be the best option to go for but we also miss that homey flavor of our home-cooked dishes. Thankfully, I recently received a 700g pack of Original Angus Beef Tapa (Php. 6...

Do you still remember the time when I attended my first ever Mommy blogger event with Mothers Who Brunch  for Mustela ? The event began with us standing up to introduce ourselves and to share with the group one of our guilty pleasures. I was halfway through my pregnancy with the twins then and I remembered that I shared that carbs  and chips  were definitely my guilty pleasure. One thing that I also remembered is that a number of moms mentioned that online shopping  is their guilty pleasure and while I chuckled together with the group, I couldn't relate with them then. Yes. I wrote that in the past tense and it's simply because things have changed greatly since my twins were born. Being a new mom entails a lot of work, that's a given but with that temporarily goes your freedom. Forget being able to leave the house as that won't be possible for at least their first two months of life.  Then comes bidding adieu to 8 hours of sleep. Now, we're talking about short...

What?! Just when I thought we're over the salted egg phase, a big basket filled with bright yellow bags of potato chips suddenly arrived on my door step. I was seriously so surprised to received this as I didn't know a delivery was to be made and I've never seen this specific chip variant ever before. It's the new Oishi Gourmet Picks Potato Chips in ... *dan dan dan dannnn* ...Salted Egg Flavor ! If you remember back when I was still residing in the Lion City, I got into this major salted egg craze starting from that memorable dinner at Irvin's Live Seafood House . Yes, that popular salted egg chips that got the entire region hoarding actually had a full service restaurant before and that's where those chips were born. Two years after that visit, the entire Lion City went Salted Egg crazy! From the traditional liu sha bao (salted egg custard bun) to all sorts of creative salted egg infused dishes from Chicken Cordon Bleu stuffed with Salted Egg, Salted Egg...

Do you ever have those moments when you'd wonder where did that time go? I do. Every. Single Day. Since I delivered my twins, I would always have an early start in the morning where I'm awaken by either L or J. It really depends who wakes me up. L would normally wake us up with a sudden high pitch scream followed by minutes of whining. J, on the other hand, is the jollier twin and he would start babbling really loudly. At times, to get my attention, he'll start kicking too knowing that that will really push me to stand up and pick him up. One thing they do in common is as soon as they see my face, they'll give me the cutest, most adorable toothless smile ever. This is followed by changing their diapers, playing with them, feeding them, getting them to nap and the cycle goes around about 3-4 times in the day. Before I know it, it's 6pm and we start their bedtime routine by giving them both warm baths, turning on their sleeping music and putting them to bed. Yes, f...