Win a Dot.com blogging contest

As some of you know, I have 3 active blogs. Two of them are hosted on blogger and the other on my own paid hosting. I have been contemplating getting another dot.com because its really more beneficial and valuable than a blog on free hosting.

For those of you who are doing paid blogging or considering paid blogging, you need to go dot.c0m. Advertisers prefer those. Despite this blog having better traffic and stats than my dot.c0m blog, I am constantly getting more orders on the other blog. Dot.com is the way to go forward.

So, when I read that 5xmom is giving away free hosting and free domain names in a blogging contest, I jumped and immediately did an entry. Hahaha. I didn't realise that the contest was for those on free hosting thinking of going dot.com. This blog is on free hosting but I already have one dot.com. So do I qualify? Oops!

Please go to her blog and read up this blog post to find out more about the contest: Go Dot.com contest. - 5xmom is giving away 2 free one-year hostings and 7 domains. Closing date is 10th October, so don't procrastinate.

Since I have done up my "entry" for the contest, I will post it up anyway... whether I qualify or not. You are supposed to write one post of about 200 words on why you think blogging is beneficial. Make sure you read her blog post carefully so you understand the rules and criteria. Happy trying! Good luck!

THE BLOGGER'S POEM

I am a little blogger, only 3 years old
How did I start blogging?
This story must be told
I am here to stay, its not a passing thing

I started blogging in '04 September
Though I didn't know what its about
But then I can still remember
At the baby forum 5xmom gave a shout

To lets have fun blogging together
Now thats when I started having fun
To write about life or just the weather
I knew that the fun had just begun

We left comments on each other's sites
That motivated me to blog even more
I blogged through my days and nites
Now I'm hooked right to the core

Then she told us how to Make$ Money$
Blogging had suddenly taken a new twist
The timing was really uncanny
Blogging had slowed but this I could not resist

So blogging took on a new chapter
As I monetized my blog and learned new tricks
I learned to be an adapter
And so begun my new fix

Soon 5xmom said we should go Dot.com
If we wanted to give our blogs more value
It was as if she had dropped a bomb
It was hard work but then I did pursue

And now just as I am trying hard to slow down
She organised this contest on the benefits of blogging
But even as I begin to frown
My fingers begin typing

So what are the blogging benefits
There are so many I can't write them all
Its not just about traffic and getting hits
Its something that can really enthrall

Blogging is about love, laughter, tears and life
It makes me laugh, cry, rant and smile
To see how freely others share their strife
As they walk down life's mile after mile

It helps me focus and be more positive
About the things I want to achieve
It also helps me become more creative
Writing things down can really be a relieve

Our blogs are our virtual real estate
It grows with maintainance and good content
So how could I resist this free domain bait
I assure you 5xmom, your money will be well spent

I haven't written a poem in a long while but I enjoyed writing that. Hehe.

The Best Toys

The Best Toys are cheap

and some of your time

The Best Toys are funny

and lots of imagination

The Best Toys are interactive

and loads of attention

The Best Toys are fun

and full of creativity

The Best Toys are you

and mummy, daddy and baby

The kids just love these origami ice cream cones we made. They use it to "paint" the wall in various colours, feed their toys and of course themselves. Lol! Its cheap, its fun, its interactive, its funny (to me watching the ways they come up with to play with them) and of course they need me to help them fold it and thats the most fun part of all to them (having me pay attention to them and spend time playing with them).

Read more of my poems here.

The Right Balance

The Right Balance

Author: mumsgather

Teaching children is a delicate thing

Of finding the perfect balance

To love and protect our offspring

Versus freedom and disciplining

I love my kids sometimes too much

But loving also means letting go

I have to release my clutch

So they may be independant and grow

My natural instinct is to protect

But sometimes I have to stand back

And let them fall so they learn to stand

Self assured without my helping hand

I have to teach them right and wrong

But my discipline cannot be too strong

Causing the children to rebel

When all I want is for them to excel

And so I give them the freedom

To learn to do things on their own

So they may have the self confidence

To solve their problems when they are grown

While I stand quietly in the background

Always making sure I am around

To love, nurture, support and guide

So they always have someone to confide

What inspired my poem today:

We are currently teaching my girl to eat on her own. And so I have to close my eyes and ignore all the mess and worry about her not getting enough food and harden my heart when we discipline her for playing with her food or refusing to eat. (Disciplining in this case means no dessert and no playing with a toy of her choice or not having mummy play with her after dinner while she whines and pleads endlessly for me to play with her and boy can she plead!).

It is so much easier to do things for the kids ie to feed them, pick up their toys for them, button their clothes and tie their shoelaces, pick them up to carry instead of letting them dawdle. So much easier and faster. But as a mum, my duty is to guide and teach the kids how to do things on their own. This means having the patience to stand in the sidelines and watch them struggle, mess up and play while they are at it, in other words to let them do it at their own pace.

Later on when they face problems at school with teachers and with peers, as a mum I need to teach my children how to solve their own problems and to provide them with the confidence and the ability to do it. As parents we cannot solve their problems for them and protect them forever no matter how much we want to.

This reminds me, at the playground, I often have to close my eyes and let my partner handle the kids as I tend to become overprotective. I'd have palpitations watching them play and have to struggle very hard not to rush to hold their hand. I think dads are much more relaxed and better at letting go then mums. Maybe I'm wrong about this?

I have seen a few parents who love their children too much with my own eyes. Someone I know was loved too much by his parents, so much so that they never allowed him to do anything on his own. Now they are gone and his sisters are still taking care of him and teaching him how to take care of his own ailing health. He never married and he got his first job as a petrol attendant only after his parents died.

Another person I know who is a few years younger than me and the youngest child was loved too much by his parents, they shrugged away and forgave his laziness and tardiness in school and as a result he did not do as well as his siblings at work. He married and continued to live with his parents and has now divorced because his wife could not get along with his mother.

Its a fine line, loving but not loving too much.

Mother's Day Poem

Whats it like to be a mother? I never knew until I became one! This Sunday, May 14th 2006 is Mother's Day. I'm not usually online during the weekends so I'm posting this early. Just wanted to share this poem I wrote for myself (hehe) and for all the mother's who read my blog.

Happy Mother's Day to you all! On mother's day let us celebrate being a mom. On that day let us all go and take a look at our children, spend time with them, listen to them, hug them, kiss them and just love them. And that to me is the best way to celebrate Mother's Day. Much, much better than having a day off (though we long for it!), being treated at a restaurant or getting a gift. Our children are our best gift of all. What better way to celebrate mother's day than just being with them.

Being A Mother
Author: mumsgather

I feel a love so fierce and strong

For my little ones whom I adore

Sometimes I worry about doing wrong

In areas I've been carefree before

I scold, I pamper and I teach

Sometimes I even nag and I preach

All for the hope of guiding my child

So they won't turn wild

I am never too tired nor weary

When my child is sick and teary

Somehow I always find the strength

To carry on and on in length

My babies mummy loves you so much

You are my sunshine and my rainbow

How I love to feel your little touch

Just looking at you makes me glow

You've made me who I am and more

I've learned so much from having you

You've changed me to the very core

Just having you I became strong and grew

Thank you my children my precious gem

On this and every mother's day

As you remind me of how blessed I am

That heaven brought you my way

Just Another Day

Its Just Another Day
Of spit food and messy faces
I struggle with words to say
Till I get sweet smiles and big embraces

Its Just Another Day
Of big pools of pee on clean sheets
I no longer care my home's in disarray
But then innocent faces they look so sweet

Its Just Another Day
Of small tantrums and big tears
I look around in dismay
Then little voices bring me cheer

On my knees from morn to night
Picking toys, wiping butts and stopping fights
Always never far from sight
Its Just Another Day for this mom of might

Feeding, bathing, entertaining
My day is full from dawn to dusk
Chasing, scolding and then teaching
Its Just Another Day filled up with tasks

Dispelling fears and wiping tears
My day quickly passes from day to day
And soon I'll look back through the years
On this day when I'm old and gray


Help! I'm suffering from

Copyright: Mumsgather

(Copy this poem and you too shall suffer from endless mommy burnout whether you're a mommy or not, so there!)

There! I feel better now..... after letting out this cyber scream..... since I can't very well go to a mountain top to scream!

This poem was written yesterday and finished this morning inspired by my inability to provide Mr MG with a peaceful, happy, evening with the kids as I resolved to do since he is having a stressful time at work. Instead what he got was crying kids and a screaming wife and mum. So sad. I think I need a little time for myself again so that I can give the best of myself because I've run out of energy, batteries and patience from my exhaustion just being a mom!

My palm tree

I have a little palm tree,

As real as can be,

It sits on my balcony,

Facing me and my family

I have a little palm tree,

As versatile as can be,

On Christmas its leaves light up,

With pretty little bulbs

I have a little palm tree,

As faithful as can be,

Every Chinese New Year,

Hanging Angpows bring me cheer

I have a little palm tree,

As old as can be,

Can I still hang up lanterns?

This coming mooncake festival

Uhmm.... In case you're wondering whats that all about. Its just me paying a little tribute to my old, faithful, fake palm tree. Its been with us for a while now, as long as the house. But its leaves are fading now and some have dropped off and err... covered with dust (ahem. shy to admit). Might be time to replace it soon. A bit sad. Everything in our house has a sentimental value and a story.

Though I love greens and probably would enjoy doing some gardening, I don't have the time for it. Besides toddler may eat the leaves! The fake tree looks like the real thing, requires minimum care and still look remarkably good even when you forget to water it (or in this case, wipe it). Highly recommended for parents with very young children living at home.

Mummy, mummy play with me

3 years old

Mummy, mummy, play with me :-)

Not now hon, mummy's busy :-)

Mummy, mummy, play with me?

Mummy's sleeping, can't you see?

Mummy, mummy, play with me!

Not again! Please let me be!

7 years old

Mummy, mummy, read with me :-)

Not now hon, mummy's busy :-)

Mummy, mummy, read with me?

Mummy's cooking, can't you see?

Mummy, mummy, read with me!

Not again! Please let me be!

12 years old

Mummy, mummy, talk to me :-)

Not now hon, mummy's busy :-)

Mummy, mummy, talk to me?

Mummy's reading, can't you see?

Mummy, mummy, talk to me!

Not again! Please let me be!

17 years old

Honey, come and sit with me :-)

Not now mummy! I'm busy :-)

Honey, won't you sit with me?

I'm going out mummy, can't you see?

Honey, please sit with me!

Not again! Please let me be!

Moral of the verse: Play, read and talk to your children TODAY while they still want you to!

Credit and copyright: Me, I, Myself on this fine sunny morning

Source and Inspiration: My two lovely children