expiration date 

this little piece of writing was published for The Urban Mama’s 1st Anniversary article last year. today is its 2nd anniversary, so here it is, in this journal :)

Having children is a blessing. Everyone says so. It is a common saying that I’ve heard many times before.

What I didn’t know was the real meaning behind it. Becoming a parent is such a blessing that it has changed me to become a new person. It has pushed me to do wonderful things and experience things beyond what I could have imagined.

If I didn’t have any kids, I probably wouldn’t have stopped smoking. I probably wouldn’t do craft everyday. I probably wouldn’t try to eat salad and vegetables (I hate veggies!). I probably wouldn’t see the need to change myself for the better, if it were not be a good example for my daughter.

I probably wouldn’t be hanging out with Ninit as much as I can remember if we both didn’t have children. I wouldn’t be having play dates with Shinta if there were no Naia and Aina. And that means, we wouldn’t have created The Urban Mama.

When we first created The Urban Mama, we didn’t have much planned. The three of us have such different backgrounds and different lifestyles. We only have one common goal: to raise our kids the best we could. We face different problems and run into different types of obstacles. And even when we were faced with similar problems, we would take different routes to solve it.

Being the eager and inexperienced new parents that we are, hearing first hand stories feel more real and relevant than reading some old textbook by ourselves at home. If the three of us could have so much fun and learn so much from each other, imagine what would happen if we can listen to all of these first-hand stories and experiences from many more parents with different backgrounds.

Thus, The Urban Mama was born a year ago.

Much like having kids, The Urban Mama turned out to be full of pleasant
surprises. I didn’t know that it would play such an important role in solving most of my parenting problems. I found out that I’m not alone in my worries about my daughter’s weight, or the fact that there are other moms facing depression and dealing with similar issues with mine. And I get to become friends with these people, whom I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

To be honest, none of us had the foresight of The Urban Mama’s usefulness; I probably wouldn’t have guessed that a simple idea of giving space for sharing could touch so many people’s hearts and affect so many people’s lives.

So, yes, having children is a blessing, indeed. Not only did I get a cute little girl that makes me smile everyday, but I also got an organically-growing encyclopedia on parenting, two best friends and many, many more new friends from The Urban Mama.

Thank you all for being such an important part of my life.