Baby Archives | Mommy Plannerista

What We Bought at the Baby Company Grand Baby Fair 2017

March 2, 2017 · 34 Comments

Last January 29, hubby and I, together with our two boys, trouped early to SM Megamall to purchase some baby stuff at the Baby Company Grand Baby Fair 2017. Baby products can be so expensive and so we really look forward to events such as this in order to take advantage of huge discounts.

This year wasn’t the first time we attended this annual event. But, it was the first time we were really able to make the most out of what our money could buy.

Let me share with you what we were able to purchase.

Mamas & Papas Baby Bud Chair

Our baby Zander will be eating solids soon and so we needed a chair for him. We didn’t want a typical high chair so we chose this one from Mamas & Papas instead. You can place and strap it on practically any chair, on a bed or on the floor. This is my most favorite find because I think the material is really sturdy compared to other similar chairs available that time at the fair. Plus, we got it for only Php 3,120.00 down from Php 3,900. Not bad, right?

UniLove Baby Wipes

We go through so many packs of baby wipes and so we really wanted to find a good deal on them at the fair. This is normally not the brand we use at home but the Buy 2, Take 1 deal on these UniLove Baby Wipes was hard to pass up because it only cost us Php 165 for the 3 packs. So, we got two sets. I’m happy to report that we ended up liking it and will not hesitate to buy this again next time.

Looney Tunes Nursing Pads

I’m exclusively breastfeeding Zander. Instead of using the washable type of nursing pads, I prefer the disposable ones because it’s more convenient for me. I go through a box of these Looney Tunes Nursing Pads every week so we were happy to see them on sale at the fair. We got six boxes at only Php 125 each. The regular SRP is Php 169.75.

Cusina Dishwashing Liquid

This is one of our favorite dishwashing liquid brands, especially because it’s safe to use for baby bottles. While Zander rarely uses bottles (he drinks expressed breast milk when I need to go somewhere without him), we still use dishwashing liquid to clean my breast pump as well as his toys. This was such a good deal because this set of three bottles only cost Php 170.00.

Goon Premium Diapers (Medium)

This is not normally the diaper brand we use for Zander but I’ve heard such good reviews of this Japanese brand that we decided to try it out. It didn’t hurt that they offered a good deal during the fair too. This pack of medium sized ones (38 pcs.) only cost Php 299.00, down from Php 420.00. We bought four packs of this and we haven’t consumed everything yet as of today and it has been a month already since the fair.

Smart Steps Fabric Softener

While we still had stocks of baby laundry detergent, we were running low on fabric softener so I decided to buy two of our favorite brand, Smart Steps. It only cost Php 100.00 each.

Bloom Nursing Top and Dress

I’m always looking for nursing clothes because I never feel I have enough. Haha! But clothes can be quite expensive so I normally only buy when there’s a sale. Luckily there were lots of nursing clothes on sale at the Bloom booth. I was so excited to try their nursing line because I was happy with the maternity skirt I bought from them when I was pregnant. At the fair, there were racks of nursing clothes at 50% off so I bought a top (white) and a dress (blue). The top was on sale at Php 280.00 while the dress was sold for Php 770 only. Such great finds! These two are actually favorites of mine now because the quality of the material is great plus the nursing access is discreet too.

We were really, really happy with everything that we bought. But we were happier when we computed our purchases and they reached a total of Php 7,000+. That made us happy because those Baby Company Mom Card holders who were able to buy at least Php 5,000 worth of products were given a swag bag full of baby stuff and I really, really wanted it.

Here’s what’s inside the swag bag that we got.

There’s so much stuff inside! I kept some of them for Zander and gave the others to a nephew of ours.

Overall, our Baby Company Grand Baby Fair experience this year was a really worthwhile one. For those of you who missed it, don’t worry because you can still go next year. Just try to go early to avoid the SM Megamall traffic. We arrived at the mall right before they opened at 10 am and were out of the fair by 11:30 a.m. Because we were early, we were able to park our car easily and also avoided the long lines at the fair.

Also, if you’re planning to bring your baby, it would be best to babywear instead of bringing your stroller so that it will be easier to shop. If you’re a breastfeeding mom, you’d be happy to know that the organizers also had a nursing area for nursing moms at the fair too.

If you’re on the market for baby stuff, the Grand Baby Fair is really the place to find the best deals. Looking forward to shopping again at the fair next year!

Philips Avent Celebrates Today’s Moms

June 8, 2016 · 16 Comments

Today’s moms face many new challenges, which makes our lives as mothers even more difficult. Because of these challenges, we need solutions and partners that will help us make the right choices from pregnancy to playground and this is what Philips Avent aimed to accomplish through an activation dubbed as “Today’s Moms: The Joys and Challenges of Motherhood”.

The week-long celebration, in partnership with Baby Company, culminated in a free admission event at SM Makati featuring the Philips Avent Studio – a showcase of Philip’s diverse range of healthy lifestyle technologies for moms and their babies and toddlers. The aim was to equip moms with lifetime parenting tools and guidance with the use of healthy and innovative solutions from Philips Avent.

True enough, I was able to find Philips Avent’s product range of baby bottles, breast pumps, and other baby feeding and health accessories in the various display booths. Some were even on sale!

There was even an expression board where guests posted colorful sheets of paper sharing their fulfilling motherhood experiences.

Aside from that, guests were also able to enjoy free hairstyling makeovers and healthy refreshments such as this delicious and refreshing banana shake that I got to try.

The event was very educational too since Philips Avent invited speakers to educate guests regarding various topics on effective motherhood while promoting the wellness of their young children. The first speaker was Dang Arias, Chef Instructor at the Metropolitan Occupational Science and Technology Institute, who shared healthy homemade baby food cooking tips using the Avent Combined Steamer and Blender (not on the picture though). I just find the product so amazing because you can use it to steam fruit, vegetables, fish or meat and the simply lift and flip the jar over to blend it. Easy!

Chef Dang also made these yummy carrots cake bites for us to try.

The second speaker was the managing director of Baby Signs Philippines, Sharon Agoncillo, who talked about how parents can communicate with their babies even before they can talk. This was my second time listening to her presentation and I love that she’s always so animated!

Lastly, one of my favorite bloggers, Frances Amper Sales of Topaz Horizon, shared tips on how moms can still stay chic and positively beautiful even as they go about their mundane daily tasks.

It was indeed a fun and informative afternoon for us moms!

For more information about Philips Avent’s full range of products, log on to www. philips.com.ph.

We’re having a baby! Here we go again!

February 4, 2016 · 15 Comments

If you follow me on my two Instagram accounts, this one and this one, you’d have seen the announcement I posted last Sunday. If you missed it, well, don’t fret. Here’s the photo I posted then.

BabyAnnouncement1 — Posted on IG on January 31, 2016: “@joncarlmarinas and I were supposed to wait to make the announcement…but I’m too impatient! Lol! We’re adding a new twist to our roller coaster ride, ETA September 2016! Here we go again! ?? Of course I already have a baby journal in my #fauxdori. Haha! #BabyMarinas2016 #babynews #planningforpleasure”

Yes, we’re having a baby – again! This is the second baby I have with Kai but in total, this is my fourth (we’re a blended family, if you didn’t know yet!). Although this was definitely an unplanned addition to the family, we’re excited about it and have started planning for his/her arrival already.

We actually first found out last January 23rd, the day I went to attend an event for Cream Silk. My period was already a few days delayed by then and had decided that if it didn’t arrive that day I would go ahead and take a pregnancy test. The event ended that night and my period still hadn’t arrived. So before we went home we bought a pregnancy test already and I took it immediately after we arrived home. And the test was positive!

Oh my gosh, although I was half expecting it already I still couldn’t believe it. I had been wanting one last baby for a couple of years now and was beginning to lose hope that it would actually happen. So, for months now, I’ve been trying to accept the possibility that it just wasn’t in the cards for us and just continued planning for the life that we had. But as the saying goes, life happens when you’re busy making plans. And life DID happen! Surprise, surprise!

I also recently had to give up my major client, which is a huge sacrifice to us financially. I gave it up without a new client to replace it yet because I just couldn’t take the stress anymore. Several things certainly pushed me to go that direction but it wasn’t clear to me why. But I’ve always believed that things happen for a reason and that whatever it was, God would reveal it to me eventually. Just a couple of weeks later, we found out that I’m pregnant! Now I believe that God wanted me to let go of the stress first because it wouldn’t be good for the baby, especially because it played a huge role on why I was put on bed rest twice back when I was pregnant with Ziggy.

Anyway, we’ve already been on our first prenatal check up. No tests have been done yet because my OB thought it was still too early at 4.5 weeks (by now I’m already on my 6th week). But I’m now taking my prenatal vitamins and taking lots of well-deserved rest and relaxation. I’m super excited for the first couple of tests coming in a couple of weeks.

Our other kids are taking it well too. Ziggy kind of knew already. He had begun playing with a small teddy bear weeks ago pretending it was his baby brother. He even told me he thought I already had a baby in my tummy even before we actually found out for real. Some intuition that boy has! He’s really excited now and keeps hugging and kissing my tummy already. He’s going to be a big brother for the first time and that’s a big deal for all of us.

We ended up telling our girls the news over the phone last Saturday. We were planning to tell them face-to-face when they were supposed to stay over for the weekend but that didn’t work out because Zoe had a case of roseola prior to that day and my OB advised me to stay away from them for the time being. Apparently, it could harm the baby at this early stage of pregnancy. They both cried in shock when they found out. Haha! But they were laughing afterwards and made me tell them the entire story.

Anyway, I guess this marks the start of another one of my preggy diaries. It’s so surreal that I initially started this blog 5 years ago to chronicle my pregnancy with Ziggy. Now here I am 5 years later doing the same thing again!

Please help us pray for a healthy and safe pregnancy guys! And stick with us as we add another twist to our roller coaster ride!