jill’s

TWO MONTHS AFTER I GAVE BIRTH

Since I gave birth to our third child, life has been more demanding.  Updating my blog has been truly missed yet the joy of being with my little ones every single day is greater than anything else.  At their early age, they need a mother who will care, love and understand their needs.

Thanks to the people at home who can help me do household chores as well as look after my two active kids who are three and two years old.  However, I may say that being a mother to my three angels is irreplaceable.  I know them more than anybody else. I know what they need. May be not all but it’s mother’s nature that is in me.

All I ever wanted is to be with them while I can and while they need me at this stage of their life.   How grateful I am to have the opportunity to be with them every day!

After buying baby stuff, I haven’t really prepared yet for my due.

Days have passed and I am still packing all those stuff only in my mind.  They are still in the closet, in another bag or container.  What have I done?  What do I need to do? At this stage, I am getting anxious that the baby will just come one day while all the stuff are still cluttered all over.

Okay, this is the third time but why I haven’t learned it yet.  Blame it on this pregnancy blues!

There is one thing I am really afraid of.  PRETERM LABOR/BIRTH. This happens when the baby is born before the 37th week.  I had it with my first two.  The culprit: S-T-R-E-S-S. Both were delivered on the 36th week.

I am once again counting the days before that dreadful 36th week.  It really insanes me especially now that I can feel the baby is actively moving inside me.  I definitely do not want it the third time.  I know I have taken care so much of myself from the very beginning and yet it still haunts me.

Maybe blogging might pump me up and help put away those blues.  So, here are some things I’ve done (with **) and I haven’t yet.

**-Request leave from my online job at home.

**-Buy baby stuff

-Pack….

• my hospital bag (includes: toiletries, undergarments, socks, slippers, sandals, going-home clothes, documents, clothing for Chris, towels and towelettes, extra blanket…anything else?)
• baby bag (includes: receiving blanket, going-home clothes and diapers)
• our food bag/utilities (includes: paper plates, spoon/fork, plastic cups, dish washing soap, magazines..what else?)

-Laundry some old baby comforter, blankets and lampin (cloth diapers) that can still be used.

-Prepare my househelper and yaya in the house and with the kids while I am in the hospital.

**-My doctors and the hospital.  They are fixed.  They were there since my first pregnancy.

-Lastly, may I ask you to pray for me and my baby’s safe and normal delivery.  That would be the best blues’ eliminator for me. =)

This is a friend’s dream house came true.  It now gives me inspiration.

17 months in the making, isn’t it amazing?

This Mediterranean-inspired house has everything that would keep the family together.  It has a living, dining, family and music room, library, study room, swimming pool, view deck, a cascading falls inside and outside the house and many more.

But what inspires me actually is not because of all the features of this house or all that she had done for this (such as the research and development, design, interiors and landscaping) for their wonderfully built-edifice.

For me, it’s all about the story behind it.

They had their humble beginnings just like anyone else.  They had their own trials as family and even before they started their own family.  The couples managed it despite the distance of the husband from time to time.

Yet, she remained to be a loving wife and an all-time mom to her two young boys.  The boys are being raised in the church that centers in Christ’s teachings.

The story behind it inspires me that anything can be possible as long as we believe in ourselves and trust in the Lord that He will give us whatever we deserve.

On the contrary, I, or some of us, may not have a house as big and as lucrative as my friend’s dream house but the joy we feel within our families and the truth that guides us are enough to make our dreams come true.

Yes, dreams do come true.  Just be on the right track!  It may be up to us where we want our mansion to be, it may be here on earth or hereafter.

While working inside my room with my Online Tutees, i still get bothered whenever I hear one or both of my children cry. No matter what I need to find the reason  especially that I have a new nannie in the house who still needs to be guided as to how to handle some of my children’s temperaments. I don’t exactly need to see my children, all I really need is TO KNOW what and why it happened.

Today, I heard my daughter crying. As an anxious mom, thoughts keep coming to my mind. What did the new nannie do? Did she not know what my daughter wants or needs? When I got the chance to sneak, I asked my other helper from the other door what happened, he then told me that Sophia cried because she just woke up. That relieved me. =)

In SLP Academy, we are not given any materials for our ESL students. There are no strict rules or guidelines that we follow. Though, we, teachers, were encouraged to teach students answer in complete sentences.

Furthermore, as an ESL Teacher who is assigned to just converse with students may not always be that easy. We have to remember that each student is a unique individual with different interests and their levels vary (others may be beginners, intermediate or advanced). Some like reading texts, using picture books and many more.

Within my first three weeks, I have learned to deal with my different students’ needs and interests. Since my students’ age range from 8 to 16 years old and some are beginners while others are advanced (though advanced may only be few) and I only get to meet my student once a week for 15 mins. so it’s very important to take note of each student’s name, what has been talked about and how is the student like during conversations.

Here are some topics, I have started with the following:

• Week1 (Day 1) Getting to know you. Knowing the student’s name, age, interests and hobbies.
• Week2 (Day 2) What day it is? What’s the weather like today? Days of the Week.
• Week 3(Day 3) Given choices, talk about a place the student wants to go to.

For some intermediate and advanced students, I used the story that was shared to me by one of my students. It’s an Aesop’s Fable entitled, “The Golden Ax and The Silver Ax”. For very young children or for a few beginners who really doesn’t want to talk, I show them a picture book found on Genki English Site.

Of course, being an ESL conversationalist is not limited to the topics I have listed above, one can go a long way from what was started. 15-mins is a lot of time and there are lots of things that a teacher and a student can talk and share about. What else can you share? Can you share them with us? : )