Expo Mom 2012
Now, what I love about bazaars is how there's a lot of interesting stuff! There are products being sold that you'd normally have to travel some distance to get to or some things that you're hard-pressed to see elsewhere. If you're lucky, the stores, run by "mompreneurs" -- basically mommies who've seen the lack of something essential in the local market based on their experience and have decided to take it upon themselves to make it or bring it over -- will have consignments in specialty stores, e.g., Mommy Matters in H.A.B. (That's where I got my Belly Belt, which has served me and my stinginess -- because I didn't want to spend on new pants -- well.) But most of the time, they're internet-based.
I worship the internet, but despite being online for 1/3 of my life, I still haven't gotten the hang of e-commerce yet. So I like it when events like this bring those shops and their goods out of the virtual and into the real world. Anyway, here's my little haul from Expo Mom 2012!
I guess you can see Mom and Dad's orientation in these onesies bought from Silly Monkey Clothing and Tiny Tots. The "Future Iskolar ng Bayan" is to replace the "Anak ng Iskolar ng Bayan" onesie I got from a Christmas bazaar the year we got married that's now too big for Munchlax. "Rockstar in Training" because we have friends who are in bands and because we joke a lot about how kids in our circle have rockstar names -- Chase. Sedriel. Alvaro. Kaeli. Future banda. (My mom cringed when she saw the skull and crossbones design though.) And "The Force" because Daddy's a big Star Wars fan.
And yes, I got a shirt for when he outgrows the other onesie. LOL. Start the brainwashing young.
I hope I remember all the shops I got these from, but if not, I'M SORRREEE!
Some of my favorite purchases:
Motherlove More Milk Plus - I'm determined to breastfeed my baby until he's 2 y/o so I panicked when I noticed a drop in my supply, which is why I was quite intrigued when I saw this at the Hatch and Latch booth. It's an herbal supplement that has fenugreek, something I frequently encountered in my research on the internet on how to address low milk supply. Thank you to the very nice and approachable shopowner who entertained my queries and related her own experience with the product!
Aden & Anais Swaddle Blankets - They're like really big cloth diapers with designs that can be used as a nursing cover, for swaddling and as a blanket. I LOVE blankets and the designs were simple and cute. (I wanted the one with pink butterflies but I don't think my husband would have liked anything pink touching his son. LOL.) My mom also loved it when I showed it to her, and said it's just the right size to cover both her and my baby when she's carrying him. These were from the Bambino Baby Shop booth.
Another on my mom's plus points list were these cotton back covers, or whatever they're actually called. (The packaging they came in was in Japanese. ^^; ) Earlier in the day she told me she meant to cut up some of my son's cloth diapers into smaller pieces to place on his back, for when he's perspiring. So when these were shown to me by one of the booth owners, I thought they were perfect! Perfectly-sized, too. They're like little capes, except you place most of the material inside the back of baby's shirt/onesie, and just leave the decorative flap out.
Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the name of the shop who sold me this. (Wah. Sorry!) However, I do remember they were booth #35. (See Expo Mom's exhibitor's map.)
Other purchases:
Lactacyd Baby Bath from the Lactacyd booth. My mom likes this for baby because it doesn't smell overly perfume-y.
Bandeau nursing bra and electric socket covers from Momtrepreneur shop.
Reindeer bib from Tomatoberry. Funny, I checked their multiply site and they have this bib tagged "Moose" and I keep calling it reindeer. (In my defense, the horns look more like reindeer antlers instead of moose antlers.) I bought this to match a pair of reindeer booties gifted to my son.
Not in the pictures:
Patchcare Buzz Away Anti-Mosquito Patch. Also forgot the booth I got this from. :(
Little Friends Blue Owl squeakie toy by Spinkie. I unwrapped it and gave it to Munchlax as soon as I got home. We call it Hedwig. :)
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I don't really like shopping, but I love buying stuff (within reason) for my Munchlax. I'm glad I was able to make it to Expo Mom this year. Here's to the next one!
For a while, I contemplated buying a supplement when I thought my supply was dwindling. After much research and talking to those mothers in the hospital with so soooo much milk, I decided to just stick with plain malunggay. There was this one mother whose colostrum filled a whole 8oz bottle...just colostrum! Wow! She told me that, since she was 7months with her baby, she made sure she had malunggay with every meal she ate. She added malunggay to her nilaga, to sinigang, or if eating fried, she'd make soup out of malunggay and some other ingredients. So I took her advise and ate malunggay with every meal. I always had malunggay cooked with water and egg and some salt to taste at every meal.
ReplyDeleteAfter a few days of that, I was pumping way too much milk that the NICU asked if I'd give all excess per day to the other babies. I was still producing too much milk that,in a day, what I pumped at home and brought to the hospital was all given to the charity ward (except for one or two 8oz bottle). After the stop at the charity ward, I'd pump at the NICU and leave the fresh milk for Brie for that day and any "old" frozen milk they still had would go to other babies in the NICU. Hehe.
She stayed in the NICU for 2.5 months so that was a loooot of milk! When we brought her home, I disn't pump as often and whatever I got was frozen and given to the charity ward when we went for her check-ups. :)