The Articulate Pen

“Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (February). For this month, we focus on back to basics. Participants will share advices – either the best breastfeeding advice they received OR/AND the best breastfeeding advice they can give to new moms.  Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries.”

Breastfeeding can be a lot of work, and yet, it can also give you the utmost joy. I enjoyed breastfeeding my son when he was born 3 years ago; sadly, I only breastfed him for 8 months before I stopped due to reasons that seemed important at the time.

Now, I am once again breastfeeding my 7-week old daughter. It’s been a beautiful yet tiring journey, but I am loving every minute of it.

If there is one advice that I would like to give soon-to-be moms out there, it’s to…

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• Comments 21 Comments
• Categories Breastfeeding, Parenting, Personal
• Author Helene

Ever since I got pregnant again, I’ve enjoyed browsing through the nursing wear collections of different online stores. This is because I plan to breastfeed my baby when she comes out, and I do love how versatile and convenient nursing wear can be. But the problem for me is that most of them can be very expensive, with prices typically ranging from P1,500 to P3,500. Though some say they’re worth the expense, it would still be nice to have affordable options for nursing mothers out there.

And then I discovered Latch A Babe Nursing and Maternity Wear, who offer a range of nursing and maternity tops and dresses that are both nice and affordable. Prices range from P550 to P1,200. There are even some pieces that can take you from pregnancy to nursing, so they really make an excellent investment!

The Lazy Mama is currently holding a Latch A Babe Giveaway, and you can win a Latch A Babe nursing top of your choice or a discount coupon worth 20% off the quoted price of any Latch A Babe Wear.

I know I’d really love to win one of the prizes! I was actually considering buying some of the tops already before, but it would be so much sweeter to win a top or a discount. Here’s one of the tops that I’d love to get:

So head on over to The Lazy Mama if you’d like to join the giveaway too.

• Comments 0 Comments
• Categories Breastfeeding
• Author Helene

I keep meaning to update this blog, but it’s weird how I keep hesitating and then forgetting about it altogether. Sometimes it’s like I have so many thoughts in my head that I want to write about, but when I look at the screen, they just don’t consolidate, so I end up postponing once again. But I really don’t want to neglect this blog, because it’s become an outlet for me, somewhere I can write my thoughts and feelings down. It can be tiring to always write for others (due to work)… sometimes I need to write for myself too.

Anyway, here are some random thoughts and life updates.

Preparing for the Upcoming Birth

My second child’s due date is this December, and I’m feeling quite excited and impatient! Honestly, I just want to get it over with already… I do dislike all these aches and pains that are part and parcel of pregnancy, especially during the last trimester. And of course, I’m just excited to feast my eyes on my baby girl… yes, my second baby is a girl, according to the last two ultrasounds. We really wanted to make sure, so we even had a 3D/4D UTZ.

Here’s a 3D picture of her smiling…

Everyone says she looks like our son, Mari. I actually wouldn’t have minded having another baby boy… Mari is just a wonderful son, though lately, he’s really become assertive and stubborn, so it’s been a challenge disciplining him. But it’s really nice to be having a girl. I just hope and pray that she comes out healthy.

Today, I washed the clothes and stuff that she’ll be using when she arrives. It’s rather fun shopping for a baby girl… a lot more fun compared to shopping for boys, definitely. But I didn’t really do a lot of shopping since my oldest sister is planning to lend us her daughter’s old clothes… and there’s a lot of them! My other sister will be bringing them when she goes home this December. Girl clothes are just sooo cute! I’m crossing my fingers that Baby Haley comes out on the first week of December. Mari was born December 2.

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• Comments 0 Comments
• Categories Personal, Pregnancy
• Author Helene

My dearest Rogel,

It’s been three years since we got married, and everyday with you has been a glorious experience.

Though we still have our share of arguments and quarrels, I’m glad that we’re able to get past them quickly, making our relationship stronger and better than ever.

Sleeping and waking up next to you is truly the most wonderful feeling in the world. You always make me feel loved and cherished, and I feel so safe and complete with you next to me.

Thank you for your patience and endless support, for being the rock I can always rely on to hold me up, for the joy and sweetness you bring to my life.

Thank you for being you, for three wonderful years of marriage, and two years of togetherness before that.

I look forward to the future, knowing that you’ll be there by my side. Together, I know we can face anything.

All my love,

Helene

• Comments 0 Comments
• Categories Uncategorized
• Author Helene

Not so long ago, I got into a rather intense debate with another Pinoy freelancer at the odesk community forum. Well, the original post was about enforcing a minimum wage, but our debate kind of evolved into something different. Basically, he liked the idea of a minimum wage to help those he called “low-skilled contractors” to make a good amount of money, but I argued that the nature of freelancing is the fact that these “low-skilled contractors” cannot really survive in this market. The honest truth is, freelancing is NOT for everyone, and clients look for skilled contractors that can deliver what they want at the rate they can afford, not unskilled contractors who cannot do the work.

He called me “harsh” for pointing this out, saying that my view is like the “survival of the fittest” where only those who are skilled can succeed. But honestly, that’s the truth about freelancing. Harsh or not, it’s just not for everyone. Freelancing is not a get rich quick scheme where people who don’t have the skills can make money. If you really want to survive as a freelancer, you have to have the skills, the talent, and the determination to succeed, and you’re going to have to work hard and give it your all.

Sadly, if you’re a “low or unskilled contractor,” then you’d probably be better off working in the real world rather than dabbling into freelancing. It’s a competitive freelancing world out there, so if you can’t compete with others in terms of skill, then you’re just going to fade into obscurity.

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On a different note, one of my favorite old clients has contacted me again for another project, which I’m happy about. It’s always a nice feeling when you get repeat clients, isn’t it? It means they really like the work you do for them, ‘coz why else would they rehire you for another project, right?

It’s been almost a year since I started my journey as a full-time online freelance writer, and I’m happy to say that I have no regrets. I only wish I decided to do this earlier… maybe then I’d have more savings, haha.

• Comments 0 Comments
• Categories Freelancing, Thoughts
• Author Helene

A recent picture of me at 5 months pregnant with my cute son.

Okay, so why am I writing about maternity and nursing clothes? Well, these have been prominent in my mind lately, because I’m pregnant again. Yep, I’m at my 5th month now, and the baby is due on December. My first son was actually born on December 2, so it seems my husband and I are fond of December babies.

Now, when it comes to being pregnant, clothes can be a problem. Though you can probably fit into your regular clothes until about your third or fourth month, this really depends on how fast your tummy grows and how loose your regular clothes are. For me, my regular clothes are mostly these fitted blouses, dresses and jeans, so even at my third month, I already felt squeezed into them. I do have some empire waist blouses and a couple of loose tops, which I still use even now.

But anyway, this leads me to my topic: maternity clothes. The great thing about being pregnant nowadays is the fact that there are a lot more options for pregnant women. There are lots of stores in the malls that carry maternity clothes, and there are even online sellers nowadays! So it’s really a great time to be pregnant – there’s no reason to look ugly or frumpy since you have a wide variety of clothes to choose from.

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• Comments 2 Comments
• Categories Breastfeeding, Pregnancy, Reviews
• Author Helene

Being a freelance writer has been amazing. It’s been 6 months now since I resigned from my nursing job to focus on writing, and it’s been quite a journey. I’m still working for my first employer (whom I started working with at the end of last year even when I was working as a nurse), and I continue to get new clients in odesk. Most of them do get my services on a per project basis, so the job is typically short and sweet, but I’m happy that I still have one or two long-term clients who assign work to me every week.

Just recently, someone invited me to a job at odesk to do some nursing article summaries. I was wary at first of accepting the job as the client was new to odesk. What I did was request for an upfront payment, and I explained to the client that it was for my protection since I was an established contractor while she was a new client. She understood my reasoning, and even went the extra mile to get my services: she offered to pay me 100% of the contract as an upfront payment, and then promised to double the payment if my work met her expectations. She asked me if that sounded fair, and I was truly stunned. I said that was more than fair, and was glad to accept the job.

The job is now completed, and she really did pay me double of what we agreed upon because she was happy with my work. So I’m very pleased that another contract has been completed and paid for (extremely well). It’s truly a pleasure working for clients who are willing to pay for quality work.

But anyway, I’ve gotten off-topic. I actually wanted to talk about the loneliness of being a freelancer, as you can see from my title. Well, though I’ve really enjoyed being a freelancer who gets to manage her own time and resources, sometimes, I do occasionally feel quite lonely.

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• Comments 0 Comments
• Categories Freelancing, Thoughts
• Author Helene