I'm a full-time mummy

Sorry but I'm not trying to make you say a tongue twister or anything. Just writing this post to remind myself in case I feel down or depressed in the future.

You see, I was chatting with my fellow SAHM friend (it's you Miki! :P) during our recent MSN chat and I told Miki that I was recently emailing a blog follower of mine (am not sure whether she wants to be known so I'm just gonna nicknamed her as 'E')

So anyway, E was asking me how I managed to get the contacts for the product reviews I do on my blog and one email lead to another and next thing I know, E was telling me that she got inspired after reading my blog and she was determined to fully breastfeed her 2nd child.

Oh my... never did I realised that I can be a source of inspiration to others!

Really?

Me?

Me?!

So anyway, I was telling Miki that in the midst of me suffering through my initial tandem nursing aversion, never would I thought that there are other people out there reading and following my blog and looking up to me and wanting to follow my footsteps.

So this post is to remind myself not to give up easily as there are others who are looking up to me.

To E, thank you for telling me that I've inspired you, I wish you all the best and pray that you will achieve your goals.

I feel so inspired (really!) and proud of myself (after the initial shock died down..) and I promise myself, I will soldier on and not give up easily should I fall back and feel down in the future. 

As a SAHM for 2 years now, I would like to share how finances affect our parenting. Before I begin, I would like to clarify that we're not that dirt poor until we can't afford to buy anything, but as a parent now, we think the following items listed have indeed helped us save lots of money, enabling us to spend it on items which we really need and are of better use.

1. We gladly accept hand-me-down items!

Since we became a parent, we really love getting hand-me-downs from our relatives, friends and even ex-colleagues. You have no idea how much we save from not needing to buy bath tubs, toys, books, clothings, shoes, sandals, playpen, even a baby crib (which we used less than 1 week for Ben before we decided to co-sleep). All the money saved from not needing to buy things like this are better use to buy better quality food and necessities for the family.

* Our Point: You don't need to buy branded or new things when you can still make use (reuse) of old things. Recycle, recyle, recycle! And just because you are using hand-me-down stuff doesn't mean you are poor, just that you'd rather save the money for something better and appreciate that the old stuff can still be reused!

2. We are into DIY-ing some of Ben's stuff!

My regular blog readers would have read my post about my hubby's 1st DIY playmat and 2nd DIY playmat for Ben. Initially I was thinking of learning to make it using felt but that would take time (to learn a new craft) and money (to buy the supplies). In the end, hubby decided to use cardboards instead and we saved money from these DIY projects! My MIL also made and sewed some of Ben's pillows and bolsters herself.

* Our Point: We don't always have to buy new toys for our kids. We can make it ourselves and cultivate a sense of independence and creativity in our children to imagine and create things themselves! Also, by DIY-ing the toys, we are also recycling products like cardboards etc.

3. We are into preparing and making our own baby foods

When Ben was ready for solids at 6 months old, we bought a small tin of Nestle rice cereal  to mix with my breastmilk for him to try out. After that, we decided to prepare Ben's food ourselves. Meaning, we buy the ingredients from the grocery store and prepare it in batches and freeze it. It saves us money and we are more at ease knowing what went into the food Ben ate.

* Our Point: Just because it is soooooo convenient (I know this cos we bought that 1 small tin of Nestle rice cereal to try out. Guilty I agree!) to get baby food outside doesn't mean we should just buy it to save time and work. If you can, make and prepare the food yourself and it will save you more money and you will have peace of mind knowing what goes into the food that you are feeding to your child!

4. We are into breastfeeding

Seriously, breastfeeding really helped us save LOTS of money. We don't have to think of what formula powder, what bottles, what steriliser, what utensils etc etc to get. Of course, I am so thankful I am able to breastfeed Ben (he's 31 months old now btw) for so long and even now, by tandem nursing him and baby Alyson!

* Our Point: If you can, do try to breastfeed your child, no matter how long you can do so, just give it a try! I get really frustrated hearing new mums (or mums to be) giving up or not even giving breastfeeding a try! Such a waste!!!

** Read: Ecclesiastes 7:12 (NIV), Hebrews 13:5 (NIV), Psalm 4:5 (NIV)

I first heard about cleft lip and cleft palate when I was pregnant with Ben in my 2nd trimester. Our gynae mentioned that in one of our monthly check-ups, he will do an ultrasound scan to check whether our baby is normal, in terms of whether he/she has Down syndrome and has cleft lip/palate condition. I was like 'Huh? What?' and read more when I got back home. It is heartbreaking for any parents to see their children having this condition. I came across this website and would like to share with you about "Operation Smile".

Some info about "Operation Smile":

"Operation Smile is a charity organization healing children's smiles, making the world a better place. Every three minutes a child is born with a cleft — often unable to eat, speak, socialize or smile. In some places these children are shunned and rejected. And in too many cases, their parents can't afford to give them the surgeries they need to live a normal life. 

Since 1982, Operation Smile — through the help of dedicated medical volunteers — has provided more than 2 million patient evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. Thanks to the generosity and spirit of volunteerism shown by our supporters, we heal thousands of children per year. With your help, how many lives can we change tomorrow?"

If you have any relatives or friends who are in college, then this is one of the many ways you can help in supporting this great cause! All you need to do is to rent text books! Yes, you read it correctly!

Some info about CampusBookRentals.com:

"CampusBookRentals.com began renting textbooks in August of 2007. They served thousands and thousands of customers on more than 5,000 different college campuses in the fabulous USA. You can be confident in their customer service and reliability and they work like maniacs to get books to their customers on time, make things right when something goes wrong, and provide fast and responsive customer service.

Every rental comes with a worry free guarantee within the first 30 days of your order if you drop your class or change your mind, you keep more cash in your pocket up front, you can order from the comfort of your home or office, it doesn’t cost a penny to return your rented textbooks when you're done with them (they even provide the package), and you don’t have to worry about disappointing buyback prices at the end of the semester."

The awesome thing about this company is they have officially teamed up with Operation Smile for their 2011 Making a Difference Program. So for EVERY book rented starting now, they will donate a portion of those proceeds to Operation Smile.

Awesome right? So, do go ahead and spread out this news!