Photo Credit: Wordplay

Happy birthday to my blog, dutdot.com. Happy birthday to me. Today marks my 2nd year in blogging at dutdot.com. The blog is two months older than my first born. I delivered my 1st baby on March 27, 2009 in Kuwait.

Looking back through the past two years, it was a roller-coaster of emotions for a new mom like me. Other than my hubby who stood up with my ups and downs, (trials and errors as a new mom, the period of being nannyless for over a year after giving birth, my work then in a company here in Kuwait which I had to leave or had to let me go, my doubts of putting off my work over my baby, and more), this blog has served well its purpose of being my sounding board. Like a personal coach, this blog has harnessed my talents in writing, in blogging, in making the most of myself – mostly as a mom, and as a business person.This blog witnessed how many times I had been torn between going back to the workforce – corporate world or remain as who I am now: a startup work-at-home mom; a startup founder. UNTIL I realized I didn’t need a job outside home.

We were nannyless, as I  said earlier, for over a year (and having a new baby then as a first time mom) was something that my powers weren’t prepared – overseas. I was even told by my hubby’s relative to just go home and find a nanny back home so I could work at the province. No. It’s not the life that I wanted for my family.

I have a job at home, and it’s not the wrong one for me. Isn’t it true that “life is too short for the wrong job“? In fact, I don’t call it a job. I call it a lifestyle. It’s only lately that I have embraced my new found calling – I now have a WAHM career. I have been doing my business for almost two years as a work-from-home mom, and I am venturing as well into other related fields such as affiliate marketing, and bringing to the next level my Internet marketing skills, but never did I consider it as my WAHM career. I thought then that having a career is something that one would just get at the corporate world. NO. The thought that I have a WAHM career has liberated me more than ever. Along with this is the realization that there’s purpose in what I am doing. More about this topic soon when my new Web site is ready…

…Two years of blogging at dutdot.com and counting!

Here’s to great life ahead. Cheers!

THE 31st LETTER

March 4, 2010 @ 3:26a.m.

Dear Baby,

You’re asleep, baby, and here’s Mommy at the table, tinkering the laptop and doing some research stuffs. I paused to write you a short letter. I felt so sorry for you that we went to Caribou Cafe, and we both inhaled the smoke emitted by those people who were smoking around us. Although we were seated in the non-smoking area, still, we both inhaled the smokes there. Mommy promises that it would never happen again; if we’re going to Caribou Cafe, we’d sit in the corner – away from the open space.

Mommy’s still wide awake at this hour. I just couldn’t sleep. My mind is racing over the business things that Mommy has to do. I know that you’re my priority, baby, so whenever I hear you cry, or whenever I feel that you want to play with Mommy, I do give up everything that preoccupies my mind and hands. Business things could wait at a later time. It would take perhaps another year before Mommy would finally take a full blast in the business.

I take this quote from Zig Ziglar as a guiding principle in Mommy’s life: As I look back now on my coaching career, I think of my family, I think of the days that we spent together. I say this to coaches everywhere: If you ever have a chance to take your kids with you, take them. Don’t miss that opportunity. Because when it’s all over and done with, when you look back, those are going to be your fondest memories….

Tonight, you have been a heavy sleeper. Mashallah. You only cried for two times, and you looked for Mommy in our bed, and you didn’t find me so you started crying even when Daddy was there beside you. Anyway, I pressed the bottle’s nipple into your mouth, and you sucked some milk and started to doze off. That’s when I returned to my blogging mode. Mommy tried to update the Now Reading widget, and I thought of putting the book “Writing a Children’s Book” by Pamela Cleaver in my list. That’s when I was directed to the author’s Web site where I learned that she was an only child. I read her full bio about how she grew up as an only child.

Photo Credit: SPTimes

Mommy was thinking out loud then, “how would you be doing in the future if you’re our only child?”I don’t know why I thought about that. In the past months though, I always had this nagging thought that, perhaps, there would be an only child (you) in our family. Remember, you came after almost six longish years. There are times, though, that I imagine how would life be if you have a baby brother. So technically, Mommy is thinking of having a second baby (a boy, God willing) but Mommy has, still, a lot of considerations. You’re too young to know them, but, I am sure that in due time, you’d ask me about these things. We’ll cross the bridge when we get there. For now, Daddy and Mommy are enjoying you as our only baby. Cheers!

As culled from Pamela’s Web site, “As an only child, books were my constant companions”, Mommy’s certain that you, too, will always have books as your companions. At a very young age of 4 months, you already showed that characteristic: you love to hold books, in particular, those heavy books of Daddy. Until now, your eyes beam whenever your hands could reach and grip books.

A few weeks from now, you’ll be turning ONE. That reminds me to gather the things that I should scatter around you and let you select the sole item that first catches your attention. I learned this from Mama when I heard from her that I picked up the ballpen when I turned one. I’m so excited about the thing that you’d choose. I am thinking of putting in our carpeted floor the following things: your laptop (real and not your toy laptop); your books; ballpens, toys, magazines, and other things that I would think of by then. We’ll see.

This is all for now, baby. Mommy’s eyes are already droopy. Play with you later.

iloveyou,

mommy

THE 29th LETTER

February 21, 2010 @ 10:46a.m.

Dear Baby,

How are you, my baby?

I know you’re feeling happy and triumphant as of this moment. You’re under Mommy’s table, tinkering the laptop cable, and the extension chord. Goodness! You really love such stuffs! Daddy has to give you your own extension chord! What an interesting thing to know about our 10-month old baby, oh, you’ll turn 11 next week! How time flies, baby, and you really don’t seem to look like your age (you’re smallish than your real age, sigh), but, cheer on, your mental development is already that of a toddler!

Awhile ago, you woke up from a little nap of 10seconds after drinking the last ounce of your milk. You crawled towards the cassette player that’s playing Arabic songs. I was amazed when suddenly I could no longer hear the sound coming from the radio. You turned of the radio! And whoala, turned it on again. How did you do that? You are simply amazing. I couldn’t forget the times you taught me a lot of things I don’t know in our telephone when you found out the speaker button on it; the Samsung digicam when you turned it on without pressing the power; and, so many to mention.

You’re still as active as a grasshopper, hopping from one site to another in our room – all of your toys cluttered onto our carpeted floor. I think you’re not sleepy yet or rather you don’t want to sleep yet. I don’t force you to sleep now. I really am sorry for the past days last week wherein I forced you to sleep by rolling you over for three times. I thought that was beneficial to you because you’d really sleep for straight two hours after that. Oh no, don’t get me wrong, baby. Mommy’s not hurting you, I think, because I do that gently. I just stopped doing that when I thought of the book I read about Past Life Transgression. I really don’t want that thing to be a habit, that is, you’re having a difficulty in sleeping. When you were still young, you’d fall asleep at just the sound of Mommy’s lullaby; or the slight brushing of Daddy’s caressing fingers on your hair. But not these days. You need to tire yourself for you to sleep. I saw that when one time Mommy fell asleep waiting for you. I dozed for an hour or two just the other day. When I woke up, fortunately, you’re still playing. I just called on you and said, “Come, baby”. You immediately crawled onto the bed and laid your head on Mommy’s tummy, grabbed that bottle of milk, and fell asleep. Wow. I cried at that moment. How on Earth did Mommy roll you over for the past three days just so you could asleep when all that Mommy could do was allow you to play, play, play until you get tired and your eyes sleepy that you could no longer resist Mommy’s call that you should finally sleep. However, the problem is, you’d oftentimes resist your sleepiness by tinkering a lot of things that you see in our room. Like right now, you just could not seem to rest those sleepy eyes. But, hey, here you are…tugging on Mommy’s legs, begging to be carried…hmmm, you must be so sleepy now.

I carried you and put you in our bed. You cried. You were so sleepy, indeed. You rolled over on your own. Aha! That’s where I got the idea that you wanted to roll over for you to sleep. Maybe it’s why I did that last week so you could sleep. But rolling over should be done by you, and not by Mommy. So here’s Mommy, just allowing you to get tired all by yourself. How many times did you get up from bed minutes ago, and tinkered everything that you saw on the floor, on the bed, on the sofa…then, Mommy went to her table and did her thing. That’s when you begged her to lift you up and lulled you to sleep while the Mozart music’s playing on the background. Glad that Daddy put the cassette player in our room last night. Oh, last night, too, you were amazed at the sound coming from the Bose speaker on the upper left corner of our room. You’re really amazing, baby. You just know where the music or sound comes from. You have this habit of tossing your hand on the air, as if saying, “see?” whenever you sense that something you thought of is right. I am not so sure, too, but there are two occasions when I heard you say, “I know…”

Last night, too, someone called Daddy, and there you were, you were also imitating that you were talking on the phone with someone. You put your hand on your left ear and babbled some words as if you were conversing with a caller. Haha. Just like you did a few minutes ago when someone miscalled Mommy on the phone, and you immediately put your hand on your ear and said “hello”.

Last night, baby, you made Mommy cry. It was past 1a.m. (you were suddenly awaken when Daddy sat beside you in our bed) when you saw Daddy’s mobile phone. Your eyes lighted and begged for Daddy to give you his mobile phone. Daddy finished texting someone and he gave it to you. But he was afraid because you were about to delete Daddy’s contacts so he locked the keypad until such time that the lights of the mobile phone went away. You touched my arms and looked at me with your eyes begging me to open the phone. I didn’t unlock the keypad, but just sort of touched one button to light up the screen of the phone. You were gleeful again! I looked at the screen, and there, you were happy to see our picture together, baby. You were trying to make a signal like “eating” (with your mouth opening and closing and a sound of slight ta-ta-ta). I looked at our picture again and, indeed, you were pointing on the bread on your hand. Daddy forgot that there was even a bread on your hand. He was unsure why you signaled like you wanted to eat. He also forgot that it was the picture he took when we ate at the Kentucky last February 7. How’s that, baby? We were really thrilled that you have a very vivid memory at barely 11 months!

You’re sleeping now, baby, and my heart goes out to you as you sleep. I am completely blessed for having you. There are times though that sometimes you wanted your way out, you wanted to always be pleased (hehe, I guess, all babies do), you wanted to do things on your own. But you know, it really touches my heart whenever you ask Daddy or Mommy for permission before you touch a thing or two, or go somewhere else in the four corners of our room. Well, there are times you’d just slip away from Daddy’s or Mommy’s attention, and you’d find your way towards the bathroom, the hallway, and the kitchen of our new flat here.

This is all for now. Sleep well, baby.

iloveyou,

mommy

I was quite uneasy for the past few days. Baby wasn’t active that much. I didn’t hear her sing, talk, and blabber some baby noises. I was really surprised because she wasn’t like that for the past months. I thought that maybe because she has a nanny, my interaction with my baby has lessened. No. I am still hands-on with my baby from bathing her, to moisturizing her skin, preparing her milk, and more. It’s just that for the past weeks, I had been talking (not in English) with my maid.

Thanks, God, after 15 days, hubby and I heard our baby said, “ako, ok”…again. I’m on cloud 9!

Yesterday, we brought her an Interactive Laptop (toy laptop, of course). She was very attentive to the sounds and lights of the laptop, and she enjoyed tapping the keyboards with her feet. However, as we repeated the activity, she seemed uninterested, or, maybe it was just me who was thinking that way. It’s a challenge for me to be creative in introducing new things to her.