Sunshine Award

Thank you so much to Kareen from Pink Heartstring for nominating me for the Sunshine Award!  It really means a lot to me when my itty bitty blog is noticed by, well, anyone!  

So what is the Sunshine Award?  It is an award that is given to bloggers who are positive, inspiring, creative, or whose blog your just really enjoy reading.

Rules of the Sunshine Award: Answer 11 questions with random facts about yourself asked by your nominee. Then forward the recognition by choosing 11 other blogs and ask the bloggers 11 questions about themselves.

Here are the questions that Kareen wanted me to answer: 

1. As a mother, how do you consider blogging? Is it a job, a hobby or a past time?

As much as I would love for blogging to become my job or career, for now it is simply a hobby - a way for me to share my ideas and advice with other Mommas who may come across the same types of questions that I have already learned the answers to.

2. One challenging part of being a parent is to discipline the kids. How do you discipline your kids? Can you cite one example of a situation where you tried to teach them something?

Oh how I wish I had a good answer for this one.  Discipline is still one of those touchy subjects in my house - Dad's point of view is "I was spanked, I grew up fine."  I myself shy away from physical discipline and try to avert disasters before they happen.  On the occasion that "discipline" is necessary, I would rather sit my kids down and explain what they did that was wrong and how they could do a better job next time.  For instance, my three year old has a jealousy problem with my 8 month old daughter, and he will randomly walk up and hit her for no reason.  When this happens, I make him sit in time-out to think about why he shouldn't hit his baby sister and by the end of his 3 minutes of quiet time, he always goes over and kisses Kaya on the forehead and tells her that he's sorry.  It hasn't prevented him from doing it, but has taught him remorse.  So I can't say whether or not my method is successful - but I'm pretty sure that spanking him just teaches him that if someone makes you mad, it's ok to hit them.  

3. Since you are occupied with so many Super Mom stuffs, what do you enjoy doing when your child is not around?

This one may be a little different for me, as my two little ones are in daycare during the day and I have a lot of free time to myself.  During my kid-free hours, I usually work on my class work and spend time blogging.  

4. When you had kid/s, how did it affect your relationship with your husband, family and friends?

I've always been somewhat an introvert and never really spent time with friends, so that wasn't much of an issue.  I have found it is easier to make friends now that I have kids though - something about being able to relate to other mommas that brings us closer together.  As for my relationship with my fiance, we were brought even closer after we had children.  My family relationships have stayed the same.

5. All of us have dreams and aspirations in life. Did you achieve yours? Or was it detoured when you had a child?

My dream was to earn a degree in genetics and work in a lab somewhere.  But I ended up putting school off for far too long.  It was actually having children that opened my eyes and started pushing me toward my dreams again, even though they may have changed some.  I'm now in school working toward a degree in psychology.

6. Are you a shopaholic? What certain stuffs do you always get and can't resist to buy? Did that change when you had a children?

I'm not really a shopper.  Growing up poor taught me to be extra frugal, so except for a phase I went through when I had my first job and no responsibilities, I've never really made unnecessary purchases.  Until I had kids, anyway.  Now I have a hard time resisting the "OMG how cute" baby outfits and "he would really love this!" toddler toys.

  

7.  Did you look into maintaining a good figure, wearing makeup and fashionable clothes after giving birth?

I was one of the lucky ones, and I (please don't hate me for this) lost all of my baby weight right away.  As for wearing makeup and fashionable clothes?  I'm lucky if I have time to change out of my pajamas before starting my day!

8. What do you usually do when your child(ren) get tantrums? Do you yield to their demands or you impose discipline?

My three year old was a very late talker due to being tongue-tied.  Because of our communication issues, he would throw tantrums any time we couldn't understand what it was that he wanted.  It was scary for a while because he started hitting his head on the floor or smacking himself out of frustration.  However, with these tantrums, I neither imposed discipline (he was communicating in the only way he could figure out) nor did I give in to what it was that he was wanting (once I figured it out.)  I never wanted to reward that behavior simply because it scared me and I didn't want him to think it was ok.  Instead, I would hold him close and talk him through his upset until he could calm down enough for a reasonable conversation.  That still works now, even though the tantrums aren't as frequent.

9. My daughter loves Lalaloopsy and we are supportive of that. But we don't buy her every doll she wants. How do you spoil your kids while making sure that they will not get "totally spoiled"?

Cars.  My son loves any kind of car, motorcycle, truck... anything that he can make go "vroom" is something that he loves.  He doesn't go into a store expecting to get what he wants though, toys are for special occasions or special rewards. 

10. My daughter and I loves to eat ice cream a lot like everyday! What is one foodie that you and your kids love to eat together?

This is going to sound silly, but potatoes.  Again, with my little guy's tongue-tie, it was hard to get him to eat anything and I worried all the time that he wasn't getting the nutrition he needed - to the point of having to make him drink the Pediasure drinks to get a healthy amount of nutrients.  Then one day we discovered that he loves potatoes, so he and I will share a baked potato as a snack.

11. What are the crazy things you usually did when you were a teenager which you do not want your kids to do?

The teenage years.  Yeah, I had the full experience - the sex, the drinking, the parties... I think I might home school my kids when puberty hits haha

And now I have the honor of passing on the Sunshine Award to 11 other amazing bloggers who I believe fully deserve recognition!  

My nominees for the Sunshine Award:

Lena at Uncreative Mommy

Jennifer at Double Duty Mommy

Hayley at Sparkles and Stretchmarks

Susie at Not Your Average Mom

Robin at Pink Dryer Lint

Morgan at The Inklings of Life

Bethany at I Was Promised More Naps

Kim at My Life According to Pinterest

Randi at Beautifully Bohemian

Talitha at Your Momstinct

Carmen at Ninja Mom Diaries

And the questions for my nominees?

1.  Parenting isn't easy.  How do you make it through the roughest patches?

2.  Momma, Mama, Mom, Mommy, Ma, Mum... What do your kids call you, and is there a story behind why?

3.  Who is the woman behind the blog?  What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

4.  Bloggers get writers block - more often than not, I think.  How do you combat brain freeze when it comes to coming up with something new and original?

5.  When you aren't stuck listening to "Skinamarink" and "What Does the Fox Say" what music do you turn on?

6.  If your life was a movie, what genre would it be?

7.  I imagine my son as a computer genius and my daughter as a mad scientist - what careers do you picture your kids in?

8.  What topics are your favorite to write about?

9.  What one material possession could you never go without?

10. Are you where you want to be in life?  If not, what steps are you taking to reach your goals?

11.  What does blogging mean to you?