Nov 14, 2009 0

Having Dental Problems Too Early

Categories:  Updates

Last night, just before bedtime, my little Ea squeezed in between my arms and chest for a cuddle.  It feels warm and lovely inside.  She looked up to me and smiled angelically.  I melted until I noticed her teeth looks rough and tinted.   My baby had an early teething and I wouldn’t wonder if she’ll have dental problems early as well.  But as much as possible I want my daughter to have a healthy dental life.  This is why seeing some brown tints on her milk teeth worried me.  I jumped and took her to the sink for a brush and teeth massage.

How early should parents be concerned about their child’s dental health?  As early as they get the signs of teething.  The first set of pearly whites are called Deciduous teeth.   These teeth form during the early stage of pregnancy and come out before or just a little after her first birthday.  Although it will definitely be replaced with a permanent teeth by age 6 or 7, the quality of the growth of permanent teeth would depend much on the spot left by the deciduous teeth.  This is where the formation of the jaw bones depend in order to maintain the proper space for permanent teeth.  Plus, the replacement will develop from the same tooth bud as the milk teeth.   It’s important that kids develop good dental habit early on.  So if you think I was over reacting, think again.

But if you have big kids now, it’s never too late to correct the problem.  What are experts, like a San Diego orthodontist, for?

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Nov 07, 2009 0

Papa’s 59th

Categories:  Updates

My parent-in-laws came over for a visit today.  They often do every Saturday at around 4PM.  Whenever I make our daily menu, I always, always take that sked into consideration.  The dinner lined up for tonight was not very spectacular but I looked forward to it with anticipation.   Maybe because I missed the blend of itlog na maalat in crispy tomatoes and pickled radish.   Yep that was the abre-gana.  The dessert reflected my anticipation even more because I cooked it the earliest at around 10AM: Fruit medley gelatin.  The main course?  A humble Bam-i.  Just in case that sounds new to you, it simply is pancit bihon and pancit canton dancing cha-cha in a wok with chiken, carrots, cabbage and the usual ginisa rekados.  Our soup was yum too!  Fish tofu in spring onions and spinach.  I was happily setting the table when my Jethro asked for attention.  Just in time, dinner is ready.  I called everyone to the dinner table as I stepped aside to feed Jet with his cereal.

Then after saying grace, my ma-in-law sang “Happy Birthday” :D .   It is Papa’s birthday!  How nice.  I’m glad I prepared pancit :) ).  Long live the king!  They both loved the food!  Turned out Pa was missing the maalat and Ma was craving for pancit.  Perfect!

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Nov 07, 2009 0

Worst Toddler Tantrums

Categories:  Baby Care

I was reading this page about toddler tantrums and I was surprised how much disaster some toddlers could bring on the verge of a meltdown. I have 2 babies now and I would like to prepare myself for the upcoming drama scenes. So I was curious as to how other mothers handled each toddler fit. I found these two stories below the most amusing. I think these moms deserve an applause for being quick with a rebuttal.

We were in the supermarket when he was 5, at the checkout line and he said he wanted a candy bar. They were right there at eye/hand level. I said no, too close to dinner and this really sweet little kid said in a very loud voice, “If you do not buy me a candy bar, I will kick your ass.” OMG, it was an EF Hutton moment, everyone went dead silent and turned to watch. I was totally speechless but then drew myself up straight, looked him right in the eye and sternly said, “When we get home, I am going to tell your Mother what you said!” He was so confused he just went with me when I grabbed his arm and marched out of the store.
Just totally denied him as mine, not my proudest moment but did manage to maintain a tiny shred of dignity. Never looked back to see if anyone actually believed my grand statement……

and this one too..

I took my son who is now 9, shopping at Macy’s when he was about 4 years old. I was buying clothes for him and the entire time he was moaning and whining that I was taking too long. He began to yell at me that I was a slow shopper. I was completely ignoring him and saying to him “mmmhmmm”. When we were at the checkout he had about had enough. He threw himself on the floor face down kicking and screaming. I finished paying for my things and said to him calmly, “are you ready to go?” He replied with, “Mommy, your fired!” I said back to him, “I’ve been waiting for you to say that for four years!”

I know I’ll have my own story to share in the future but think I’ll find myself doing the same thing in the future… hahaha! I’m really hoping my kids’ tantrums would be  “manageable” and not violent at all.  As early as now I am teaching them “anger management” in smoothest way I can.

If you read the stories of other moms, you’d be surprised how violent other kids are that they go hurting their moms (or themselves) during a tantrum.  To my opinion, those were early signs of behavioral problems.  I can’t judge the moms nor the kids though..

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Oct 16, 2009 0

Philippine Peso as PayPal Holding Currency

Categories:  Blogging, News
Tags: , ,

Good news to all PayPal users in the Philippines.  PayPal, Inc. has amended their User Agreement and Payments Policy effective 2 days ago, 14th of October, 2009.  The Payments policy and buyer protection policy are modified to include Philippine Peso as a holding currency.  Other currencies added were Taiwanese Dollar, Thai Baht, Malaysian Ringgit, Argentinean Peso, and Brazilian Reais.

This simply means you may now set your main currency to PHP and no longer with USD. Before this amendment, all PayPal transactions done by accounts set-up in the Philippines has to convert the amounts to any of the unrestricted currencies like USD, GBP, AUD or EUR.  PH PayPal accounts are used mainly for receiving USD payments. The sending option is only available if and only if your PayPal balance is funded. But now, we can add a Philippine Bank account as source of funds to facilitate more transactions.  We can now withdraw funds FROM our PHP bank accounts and add PayPal balance to do Mass Payments, issue e-checks, etc. In the past, only USA bank accounts can be used for these transaction types. I’m super excited about this development.  I just created a business account and will now go full swing with my online business.  I believe this is going to make a lot of difference in the Philippine’s web presence.

You may check the PayPal Amendment on Payment Policy here.

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Oct 15, 2009 4

Mommy Pains: Hips Don’t Lie

Categories:  Post Partum, body care
Tags: , , ,
I have 2 kids, the left and the right.
Hold them up high, that breaks my spine.
Put them down gently, they may sigh
Sorry little ones my hips don’t lie!

You can sing along, you know the tune.  I created that rhyme in my head since last week.  For the past week, my lower back was aching.  There is also a vague pain around my upper thigh bone.  I know this is a common mommy dilemma especially for moms like me who has to carry babies around the house, pick up little bits from the floor and has a lot of quick, unbalanced body movements to make at any given time of the day.

I did some research to know whether I should do something about this or just wait until the pain goes away, if in fact this was just brought about by my motherhood routines or caused by something else that I should worry about.  I found out that the hip joint is the largest joint of the human body.  It allows a wide range of motion while still supporting the weight of the body.  It does a lot of complicated work for the body and we should not wonder why it cries in pain when “abused”.  With all due respect to the hip specialists and doctors, I’d like to avoid using “big words” and will share the information in the simplest way possible.

Common causes of hip problem include the following:

1. We may not realize this but the legs connecting to the pelvis are not exactly the same for most people.  One leg may be rotated in or out or one leg may be shorter than the other.  Thus, affecting the person’s manner of walking.  And since the hip joint joins our legs to the pelvis, it takes all the strain and the stresses caused by this discrepancy.  An asymmetric pelvis is also associated with recurrent lower back pains.

2.  A snapping hip syndrome may be caused by a tendon band snapping over the greater trochanter or at the top of your thigh bone, or around the pubic area of the hip bone.  You might be hearing a snapping sound as you walk around the house.  According to medical experts, this is commonly caused by a hip ligament laxity.  When the hip ligament is weak, the hip joint moves excessively causing a snapping sound on the gluteal muscles.

3. The most common form of arthritis to affect the hips is osteoarthritis.  This is associated with degeneration of the joint cartilage and with changes in the bone underlying the joint.  When the cartilage becomes brittle and splits, it loses its ability to cushion the bones, causing inflammation.  Current theory suggests that the cartilage loses its elasticity because of cellular changes.  This must be why most sufferers of osteoarthritis are those that are, sort of, coming of age.

There is a long list of hip problems and the hips can be affected by a wide range of disorders.  I’ve only listed the ones that may be linked to the common experiences associated with motherhood.  Now the solution:

1.  Move with the right posture.  It’s never too late to correct how you sit, stand, walk, pick up the little bits from the floor.  Improper movements yesterday, today and tomorrow may add up.  When you wake up the following day, you’ll be surprised in the most terrifying way with that very sharp pain stretching brings.

2.  Avoid carrying excessive weight, including your own.  Excessive weight puts increased stress on the weigh-bearing hip joint.  So avoid carrying heavy boxes from shelves to shelves.  I also learned to put the baby down and play on the floor instead (feels good to be a child again).  Also, let’s start shedding those weight gained during pregnancy.

3.  Get the right diet.  This is basic.  For time and again we are reminded that proper diet and nutrition are key elements in prevention of all types of diseases.  Get some green vegetables such as parsley, celery, okra, alugbati and moringa.  Spirulina is excellent too.

4.  If you feel the pain is just beyond the temporary, get medical assistance.  There are treatment options for you. Thanks to the advancement of medical technology, it’s easier and affordable to diagnose the real cause and hopefully, cure it.
Options include:
1.  Exercise and self-management programs
2.  Pain relievers and anti-inflammatory creams
3.  Surgery

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Sep 18, 2009 4

Updating to Connect the Dots

Categories:  Updates

If you go check my entries, you’ll notice a wide gap between the dates when entries were created. And as always, I do have an excuse for not updating. But my lack of entries and gaps are not really a biggie because I know I am not causing anyone a problem :D As if people, other than my friends would really bother to check what’s going on. But am going ahead with this entry sporting another set of excuses. Who knows, my sisters or my best friends would come by and wonder what ever happened to their dear deetsieness.

So here goes. The craziness began on our 2nd church wedding anniversary, 9th of Sept. My previous post was saying it was not quite a happy day, at least when I wrote that one. That morning, I asked my husband if he has any plans for the day at all. I heard a “nope”, what do you expect. I understood Jeedo was busy finishing some projects for the new house so I did not demand. Instead, I slept. And after having enough unsold drama, I gathered my stuff, put some lipstick on and I went out to pick up my husband who was then at the new house. There were indeed awfully a lot of things to do. I stayed with him, supervising the workers who were doing some finishing touches on the wall, carport, cabinets and all. We went to a steak resto for dinner and we head home tired but excited to see our babies. We had to come home early because the next day is a big day. The moving out – episode 1.

The next day, we started transferring to the new house. House stuff first. The next day, the babies, appliances and everything else. Forward..forward..forward… we are now in our very own little home. Yay! My hubby and I are blessed to have been able to get our own house at a young age. PTL. It’s tiring but exciting to figure out where to place what. We’re still busy, very busy emptying boxes and filling in shelves and cupboards. And as I speak, Jeedo is in the kitchen installing some sink fittings.

Cut. An emergency. brb!

Ea scribbled on Jeedo’s laptop LCD! My gulai! I hope my gadget OC hub would not be so angry-like-smoke-coming-out-of-the-nose. I gotta go and fix the mess. Tah!

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Sep 08, 2009 1

Blogging Tools

Categories:  Blogging, Browser Add ons, Tools
Tags: , ,

Finally, I found a list of top Firefox addons to make my browsing life much more convenient.   I spend most of my waking time on the Internet, for work and personal projects.  But with my current home life, having two babies at that, my own projects are often pushed back and goals are seldom met due to lack of time and a lot of distractions.  Browsing through websites, logging in on accounts like Entrecard, etc take seconds or maybe even minutes to connect.  The more time is taken when you jump pages to pages just to view credits, and other details you might want to check.  So I thought, if only there’s a way to save those seconds and minutes.  Indeed, there is.  The Firefox Add-ons.  Right now, am using ScribeFire – so that I don’t have to log in to my blogs whenever I feel like writing.

We have different reasons for browsing and staying on the Net.  What’s best for me may not suit you so read on the link above for more info on which tool to use.

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Aug 14, 2009 1

Early Baby Teething

Categories:  Baby Care

Most babies get their first tooth during the 7th month.  Some have those as early as 3 months and some won’t have one until after their first birthday.  Teething usually follows a hereditary pattern.  My little boy Jethro’s first tooth came out a couple of weeks ago.  And he’s barely 5 months old.  It’s not a surprise for me because, as my mum said, I had my pearly whites early as well.  Although genes is a factor, there never is a fixed pattern for babies, even for babies coming from the same parents.  For one, my first baby, Ea, had it on her 6th month.

For other babies, cutting a tooth could happen without pain at all, overnight.  For some, it’s a long, drawn out and painful experience.  Others show a visible lump in the gum while some show no visible clue for all those crying until the tooth actually appears.  This is the time where babies need a lot of care and attention.  When babies wail in pain, it’s important, that we, mothers, should keep our head cool and not brush off any more tension to the hurting baby.

Teething babies have these symptoms:  Irritability, drooling, coughing, chin rash, biting and gnawing, ear-pulling, low-grade fever, not sleeping well, mild cold (like a littler runny nose).  It could be any or all of these.  But of course these symptoms are symptoms of other illness as well.  So it’s best to check all the signs first.

So what shall we do to help when the baby is in real pain?  For my baby, the Teething Gel worked wonders.  I place it in the fridge for cooling.  I tasted it myself and it’s yummy!  It numbs the gums a bit.  What worked for me may not work for your baby so here are more (the natural way) tips to remember:

1.  Teething rings, water filled and chilled rubber teething toys (or mom’s fingers) – to provide counter pressure on the gums.

2. Cold food could be helpful as well.   Chilled applesauce or mashed banana.

3.  Water should be given to a teething baby.  Baby needs plenty especially when he’s drooling a lot.

A professional care is always recommended.  Before giving any soothing gel or trying out things on your own, make sure it’s approved by the Pedia.

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Aug 11, 2009 0

Some Projects coming up

Categories:  Updates

Sometimes I feel like there’s just so much to do in so little time. I have a lot of projects in mind and I just haven’t got the time to set it all up. I have pending sites for Shopping, WOW gaming, online selling of prepaid e-pins for Mobile phones, and a couple more.

I guess I should do this one at a time. haitz.. as I speak here, I suddenly thought of something else to do. So I better wrap up ahahhaa..

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Aug 10, 2009 0

Writing Down the Daily Grinds

Categories:  Updates

I’m moving here to chronicle the daily life of a mother, gamer and an office employee all rolled into one.  It’s a pretty challenging feat but am beginning to love every moment of it.  On most occasions, I can’t be that “three” at once, so you can bet I do it one task after the other.  Or should I say, one quest after the other.  On my coming posts you will (hopefully) understand why I place the title “Deetsie’s Heroic Dailies”.  One post at a time, I will unfold before you my daily grinds that makes mothers like me a hero (to my two babies at least).

Come back again soon!

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