Mommy Blogger of the Month – May

Mic test.
Is this thing on?
You might be wondering why I gathered all of you here today.
Wait, let me introduce myself first.
Hello everyone! I’m Jhanis from The Vanilla Housewife and I am hijacking Mommy Bloggers Philippines today for something very important.
If you’re asking where Lani is, don’t worry. I have her safe and sound (and probably nervous about the fact that I have the steering wheel today bwahahaha!).
Going back to the topic, the reason why I hijacked MBP today is because I wanted to practice my hacking skills.
And to present to you our Blogger of the Month.
Without further ado…
By the power vested upon me, our May – Blogger of the Month is….
Tadaaaaa!!!

Say hello Lani from TweenselMom!

TweenselMom is a blog that chronicles the journey of a work at home mom as she guides her tweenies in their most crucial years before they enter teenage-hood. I think it is very important for us parents to be there for our kids especially during these years, because it is during these times that things can go quite crazy. I know this because I was a teenager once. Not that my mom wasn’t there for me, I was just a… special case. But I digress, if you haven’t had the chance to visit TweenselMom, you should.

Now, if you didn’t know yet, aside from running TweenselMom, Lani is also the founder of Mommy Bloggers Philippines, an awesome group that brings Filipina mom bloggers from all over the world together in one place. Who is a member of MBP, raise your hand!
And because the spotlight is on Lani, I declared myself to be her interviewer (how crazy it would be if she interviewed herself, right?).

So Lani, tell us something about yourself and your family.
I’m a 37 year old mother of two girls, one is 8 the other is 10. I work at home as a PR editor of Online PR Media. It’s a company in US which was also founded by working moms:-). They were my inspiration and I have worked with Tara and Christine since I started being a WAHM. I also work as a researcher for a company which I can’t mention because of an NDA:-) Both full time that’s why I really couldn’t go out that much. But I enjoy my jobs and I learn from what I do everyday. If teaching is someone’s passion, mine is learning. I am always interested to learn something new everyday and it makes me bored when I don’t learn about something new for days.

How did you start blogging and what are your goals as a blogger?
I started blogging when I felt I needed someone to talk to. Not the actual talking but someone or something I can relate with. My hubby has his passion for toys and I got envious of why I can’t find happiness for myself. Through blogging, I feel I have invisible friends who I am able to help and as I compose my blogs, I encounter more mommy blogs out there and then I learn so many things from them which makes me truly happy too. Sharing and learning are two fun things which I love most about being a blogger.

I know you run TweenselMom and Mommy Bloggers Philippines, how do you find the time to blog? Do you still sleep? Are you a vampire that you can forgo sleeping altogether?
I always make it a point to sleep 6 hours daily. TweenselMom is my personal blog while MBP is for the blogger moms whom I love. Actually, MBP takes more of my time than TM but I find real happiness when I feel that I am able to help the moms be happier with their own blogs especially the newbies. I really hope that the group makes blogging a little bit better and more exciting for the moms. I am actually not comfortable being called a founder. I just thought there should be somewhere we can gather and be found easily. Anybody can do what I did. ♥

I know that you are currently a WAHM but we would like to know what life was like pre-kids/family.
I can say that I came from a not-so-ideal family because my parents were not together since I was 5. It wasn’t that hard though since I had many relatives who took care of me when I was young. When I had my own family, the realizations of having a complete family hit me. No child deserves a broken family. With all the divorces, family disputes, domestic abuse issues, a child born to a complete and nurturing family can be considered lucky.

As far as my career is concerned, I have worked with a telecoms company for 5 years before I decided to be WAHM. It was so ironic that our rented house was just recently robbed then, we were full of debts and my youngest was just two months old, when I really decided that I wanted to quit working and stay at home. It was when we were so down when I think the Lord told us that it was time to pause and think of driving another path. We started from scratch again and worked our way up. Well, I don’t say we are living an easier life than before, just smooth sailing and always letting HIM guide us.

Your most memorable experience related to blogging so far.
My blog is almost 7 months old and so is MBP, very young but what really makes me excited is when I can go out to attend to an event and see other moms from the group, I feel hey, here’s a friend from the group and I feel we’ve already know each other for a long time.

Care to share one blog post that you are very proud of?
I think it was my first post on Tweenselmom where you see my daughters’ photos when they were babies and their transition to being tweens 🙂 I think all moms can relate with me on being proud seeing their kids growing fine and healthy. That’s one of the perks of blogging for me, you get to talk about and be proud of your child whenever you want it.

What advice can you give to newbie bloggers?
For newbie bloggers, what I can really advice is to try to not pressure yourself. Blogging is meant to be enjoyed, not pushed. If you don’t feel doing it, then pause, do something else. Eventually, it will call you and you’ll find that you are in your happy place again, writing a 2-pager. Just like me here, LOL.

MBP is doing so well, what are your future plans for the group/site? Can we invite Channing Tatum as our model?
So many 🙂 One is for the group to be involved into something worth remembering, a social campaign which maybe we can start up or support as a group. Something that will have an impact to our children’s lives. We are not there yet but sooner or later, through the support of members, we will be there. We are the queens of the core group of our society. I believe someday, we will all be movers and jump starters of the community too.

But before all those seriousness, honestly, I am looking forward to have our first Christmas Party! I just wish all the moms will agree to be there, exchange gifts with each other, see our kids and moms perform on stage, win prizes! It has been years since I attended a Christmas party like that ♥ What do you think?

Finish the sentence: “I never thought I would be a mom who would….”

—- stay at home, slave herself and be happy about it. LOL!
🙂 🙂 🙂

There you have it my friends! I sure hope you enjoyed and learned something from the interview!
If you are a member of MBP, let us know in the comments how the group helped you when it comes to blogging.
If you are not a member of the group yet (where have you been?!) comment what you would like to see more on MBP.
That’s it! See you on the blogosphere!
Uhmm… Who do I give this mic to???!!
-Jhanis