Happy Holiday's!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! Here's to hoping, wishing, and praying that 2008 brings more luck, health, wealth, and happiness. Cheers!
(For the site where I found the lovely picture of fruit, chocolate, and festively decorated Christmas boxes, click here.)

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

This will be my son's 3rd Christmas and my daughter's 1st. These really are the years where the foundation of wonderful memories are built. I am excited about the season for, what a lot would say, superficial and shallow reasons. Allow me to list them down.

1. I love Christmas because of the lights and the songs and the beautiful decor. No matter how sad I am, looking at such festive designs always lightens my mood. This is given even more emphasis now with the 2 kiddies looking on with me. Two Christmases ago was stressful because we had just moved into our house. Because of that we weren't able to set up a tree or even lights. Last Christmas, we made up for it. I am determined to make this Christmas even better.
2. I love presents. This time, I am looking forward to seeing the joy in my son's face when he opens his gifts.
3. I love the food!! There really is no need to further expound on this point.
4. Finally, I love the general feeling of love and laughter and forgiveness that is present during the Christmas season.

I hope my reasons for loving Christmas don't change and instead just get longer and better.

And the Baby is Born

(this image comes from here)

I am now a mother of 2 adorable children- officially. So many thoughts are running through my mind. Her coming was an unexpected blessing. And I am overwhelmed. Will I be able to successfully raise 2 beautiful kids? 1 is already a challenge. And in today's fast-paced, price- ricing scene- the challenge is an ever-rising mountain. Thankfully I have a supportive husband who deals with my moods, takes my word for it when it comes to mommy tasks (well, most of the time anyway), and just tries to still surround me with humor and light. I am looking forward to my son's and daughter's many tomorrows.

For Nuni and Nunu

And in honor of the resident travelers Nuni and Nunu. Here is a strip that appears to be a visual representation of an entry in their blog.

The Best (Immediate) Boss...Ever!

I love my office. I love my office mates, I love the Country Manager, and I love my QA Boss. She is fantastic!! Where else will you find a boss who finds humor in ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING at the same time can give you really deep psychological insights about random situations? Where else will you find a boss who enjoys food so much it has become another person? Where else can you find a boss who can find everything either online or in Marikina? It's just not possible to have all these traits in one person and yet Livi has them- and she sits right beside me so imagine how fun my time in the office is.
In honor of Livi and her vast sense of humor, I found yet another comic strip that reminded me of her.

Numi Would Love This!

I saw this from my current favorite cartoon strip site and it reminded me of the yin to my yang (or the other way around) in the office- Numi. This was just sooo funny! To go to the site, click here.

Funny!

As a self-professed lover of flowcharts, one has to appreciate the humor in this cartoon! Got it from here.

It IS about me!

Months down the road, I have discovered the joys of blogging. My friend Am said I would. She said that this would be the perfect medium for me because, in essence, blogging is all about ME. And this is so true. Now, at the risk of sounding like a super arrogant, self obsessed person, I am not always all about me but I do enjoy the occasional whine and I've found that I can do so here without censure. This is really so refreshing! I don't know how this will help me be less self-centered though. Oh well.

Missing Old Friends

I've been missing old friends and the UK again lately. I've always said that the 2 years I spent on my own in England were the best, most formative years of my life. I went there a young 17 and left an older, and just a little wiser 19. A lot of people would laugh and say 2 years is nothing but I really think that had I not spent those couple of years abroad, in semi-independence, I would not believe as I do about things or relate to different people as I do today. There really is value in being by yourself and learning things first hand, a lot of times, the hard way. There is nothing like self-discovery. I think that was the greatest gift my parents ever gave to me. I hope that I'll be able to give my children the same opportunity when the time comes that they need to go out and find themselves. And I hope as well that when that time comes I will remember what I am feeling right now and have the strength to let them go to do what they need to do.

Toothbrushing

Don't get me wrong. I am a stickler for hygiene. I am one of the first in line (always after Livi, I'm sure) to get grossed out by an unhygienic person. But I really, truly, find it odd that some people brush their teeth in public places. I don't recall anyone in particular telling me that that's wrong. When you think about it, it makes sense. To keep your teeth clean, you must brush it after every meal. And I love clean. I really don't know why then brushing in the office, for example, is so strange to me. I am surely going to get a lot of flack about this but I am genuinely puzzled.

They say..Patience is a Virtue.

I've heard this said over and over again. And a lot of times, I've heard it referred to me. hmm. Really, let's outline the pro's and con's of patience:

pro's:
1. the people you are dealing with remain in a relatively good mood due to lack of reminding, nagging, however you want to call it, etc.
2. the feeling you get once you receive what you are waiting for is so much sweeter after the wait.
3. you also feel proud of yourself for having the strength to wait and not just jump over steps to get what you wanted.

con's:
1. it's often extremely irritating to wait sooooo long, especially if what you are waiting for is a real want, or worse, an immediate need.
2. the feeling you get once you've received what you've been waiting for can be one of anger and annoyance if the wait was just too damn long.
3. you are in a general bad mood because there are possibly other steps or things on hold because you have to wait for something or someone to realize that you have a schedule too.

Right now I'm at 3-3 for Patience and, to be honest, the con's look weighter by virtue of the fact that they cause so much more stress.
So unless someone can give me good, clear-cut reasons, I am thinking Patience being a virtue is overrated.
Anyone?

'Starter' Thoughts

My friends have been telling me for the longest time to start up a blog. They said that it is, at the very least, therapeutic and relaxing. And for someone like me, who loves to talk and who has numerous, often useless thoughts floating in her brain, this would actually be an ideal medium for me to find some release.

So here I am. Starting a blog.

I am not very 'techie' and so this new project admittedly scares me a bit. But I've decided to try it out anyway and just go where the wind takes me.

I thought, what better topic to start out my blog than some ideas I was playing with earlier about being a mother. To be more specific, I was thinking while freshening up in the Loo early this afternoon (ideas hit me at odd times), 'what really makes a good mom?' I often hear fellow moms say that the best moms are those that are 100% hands-on. Those that manage every single detail of their kids lives. In fact, I was semi-told off by a friend a few days ago about how some of the chores I assign to my yaya's are actually supposed to be my tasks. I've also heard of stories of moms who have been told that because they were not super hands-on in the day-to-day activities of their kids, that their 'mothering' was lacking. Is this really the definition of a good mom? Following that thought to the end, moms who have full-time jobs are not good moms. Even moms who have part-time jobs are not good moms. Being a full-time working mom myself, I didn't like this conclusion. I've always thought that moms need work or some activity to be fuller, more mature, and interesting people and parents to their kids. Aside from the obvious, practical reasons for holding a job, I would always find myself agreeing with friends and office mates that I probably would not want to NOT have a job, even if I could afford this state. And yet I often find myself fighting off feelings of inadequacy every single time I leave to go to the office, or when I would find out amusing stories of what my son did during the day from his yaya, or what new words he's formed, etc.
What then really is a good mom? I still don't have the answer to this question to be honest. What I hold on to every time I feel like a wanting mom is something my very good friend mentioned to me not too long ago. She asked me, one cel phone conversation, how I felt being a mom of 2. I told her how sometimes I just didn't feel like I was doing a good job but that I was really doing my best. And she told me " that's really all your kids can ask for- your best".
So I guess, for now, for me, a good mom is one that gives her genuine and absolute best-however imperfect this may seem to others. I hope I'm not wrong.