For Every Mother

I just finished a book by Janene Baadsgaard called, "For Every Mother." My dad gave it to me as a random gift. I liked the book in that the stories were short. There were so many wisdom learned as I read from a fellow mother who's been where I am now, have raised ten kids, and are now enjoying her grandchildren through them.

I will post quotes from her books every day (or whenever I can) on my blog as part of my thoughts, but here are some things that stuck with me from her book that I may or may have not already known in my early motherhood stage:

* Our family is the most important thing in the whole wide world.

* Being a mother is the most important role in life one could ever have. Every woman in this world is a mother in many other ways other than having children.

* Every good thing we do for our family now as mothers may not be noticed immediately and sometimes it seems like they are in vain, but don't give up. Someday we will see the fruit of our labors.

* Memories made in the home are more important than acquiring current and trendy things, or keeping the house "up-to-date" with modern designs.

* Time really flies. You barely had a newborn in your hands, and then he'll be leaving home before you could even blink.

* We never have to do it alone. We are never alone in this journey. Our Savior will always be there for us if we just turn to Him & let Him help.

If you don't have time to read a long novel, this is a good book to read. Even just one story a day is good enough. It kept me in the good mood, and motivated me to be a better, non-materialistic, non-whining mom, and made me appreciate this gift of motherhood so much more than I ever did before.

PRODUCT REVIEW - THE Best High Chair We've Ever Had!

Presenting... THE best high chair we've ever had:

Graco 4-in-1 Seating System.

Here's why we like it: IT'S A 4-in-1 SEATING SYSTEM!!! (Hehe!)

1. You can have it as a high chair:

2. Or a toddler booster:

Booster seat with and without the seat back.

3. Or infant feeding booster:

4. Or a youth chair (whatever that means). This is how our toddler is using it right now:

Youth chair without the seat back.

It has different height positions (I think 6) and 3 different recline levels:

I love the removable tray and that it's easy to pull-out and put back in. It's also dishwasher safe but I've always just hand washed it.

I don't know what that little table is for.. but we've always used the bigger one which snaps on top of the smaller one.

The "thing" where they lean on to (I don't know what it's called, sorry, my English is running out. For now I am calling it the "seat back"... hehehe!) is also adjustable and removable for both the toddler booster seat and the youth chair:

Adjustable seat back on booster seat

Adjustable seat back on youth chair.

It has a 5-point harness system too (which we never really used). We always just used the bottom harnesses, the ones that go on the waist:

I didn't take a picture of it but it has 4 wheels and the two back wheels have locks so your child won't roll off. I love how it's easy to clean. I just wipe it with Lysol wipes all the time and the dirt and grease comes off easily. The fabric material is machine washable, too. 

This high chair was a little bit pricey when we looked at it (and bought it) at BabiesRUs last year, almost close to $200. But it was worth the price, what with our second child is now here who will start spoon feeding this month. Now we don't have to buy him his own infant seat. His "kuya" (older brother) can stay in his youth chair and we can use the infant seat to feed our baby, or he can have the high chair and his kuya can use the booster chair. So cool huh! Definitely a great item to have around the house!

PRODUCT REVIEW - Dex Dura Bib & Munchkin Sprout Drying Rack

I want to write a product review once in a while for a change. Some of the things we use have lasted for a while so that made me think of writing product reviews in my blog.

The first today is this bib:

Dex Dura bib (grabbed from Google images)

My son has these exact two bibs for more than a year and a half. We used to have a set of four bibs for very cheap - and the material were cheap, too. The print faded/came off within just a week. Plus, it was a wee bit too small. 

These Dex Dura bibs, however, were big enough to grow with our son. The prints didn't come off. I love the "Catch-all" design (the pocket). The opening was wide enough to catch all the food, and the neckline was wide enough as well to protect the child's clothing. Another thing I liked about it is the option you have to remove the pocket by unsnapping the buttons.

(grabbed from Google images)

Our son liked seeing the printed animals on it, too. When he was finally aware of "Blues Clues," he used to always tell me that he found a clue on his dog bib. Haha!

It's sturdy because the bib wasn't made with just plastic all around, which had its ups and downs. The positive side to that is that it was really easy to clean - at least the front side of the bib where all the food drops. The only downside I saw was that the back side of the bib (the non-plastic material) was hard to wash, thus some mold tend to form on it. But other than that, we loved these bibs.

Second on the list (images grabbed from Amazon.com):

Munchkin Sprout Drying Rack

I love, love, LOOOOVE this drying rack! It's been my first (and so far the last) drying rack, ever. It's been with us for a long time but it's still holding up great. I took it with us whenever we drove up to California to be with my in-laws. And it never broke on my luggage. It holds a lot of bottles and its accessories. I have the Playtex VentAire bottles so this rack was even more perfect. What I did was that the bottles go to the bigger "branches" of the rack, and then the accessories with holes go through the smaller branches (with the bottle nipple on top of it, just like the picture above), and the base accessories of the bottles (the ones without the holes, the vent part) go on the base of the rack. The rack held so much more stuff that way. I put the bottle brush on the cup of the rack.

I like how it catches all the water that was dripping from the bottles when they've just been washed and trap it inside (some racks can't do that). It also rotates, so you can grab things pretty easily. It's easy to assemble as well as to disassemble (for storing and/or cleaning it). If you're looking for a bottle rack, this is the one!

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

I think most, if not all, parents out there experience

having their toddlers use the walls

and everything else in the house as their personal

gigantic canvas.

We have recently joined the club.

But at least our son's writing instrument

wasn't something like a permanent sharpie,

paint, crayons, or other things that can be hard to erase.

He used a standard ball-point pen...

("some" of C's artwork on our wall)

I couldn't upload the pictures of the other "scribbles" that C did

so I'm just posting this one.

Well, most parents out there probably know the trick

to get rid of their toddler's masterpiece.

But I didn't know until it happened to me and
a couple of mothers told me about this product:

IT.WORKS!

I can't find my pictures of our wall before and AFTER my husband

used this magic eraser thing.

But it definitely works!

The wall even became whiter than it was before.

I'm impressed!

You just wet it with water and then scrub it on the surface.

Pretty cool, huh?

My sister-in-law said she actually was able to erase her son's

permanent sharpie markings on their wall.

So if you haven't heard about it and you need something to fix the

masterpiece of your little Michaelangelo,

try this one.

P.S.

yikes! Now I'm really sounding like a momma blogger.