Favorite Recipes from My Food Blog

Because I love cooking, I'm gonna share with you some of my favorite recipes as well as those frequently searched for by my blog readers. If you love cooking, please visit my food blog. It's called I Love. Therefore, I Cook.

Our Baby's First Gadget: LULLABELLY PRENATAL MUSICAL BELT

According to BabyCenter.com, some studies show that fetuses can hear and react to sound by moving but that no one knows what those movements exactly mean. The website also says that while kids get smarter in math when exposed to music, these studies are focused on kids or older children, not fetuses. Still, there are some who say that newborns can recognize music their parents played for them when they were in the womb and even perk up or fall asleep when they hear a familiar song. However, some psychologists believe that these are purely anecdotal conclusions and aren't based on true research.

What then is the proven connection between music and the baby in the womb? The answer to that is that there's no proven link but that it is a bonding moment between the mom-to-be and the baby. 

BabyCenter.com further says that playing music to the baby in the womb must be done with caution and in moderation. Moms should not push too hard in creating a genius. It says that we should play music because we enjoy it and not because we're trying to make our baby smarter.

Because I love music and I want to bond with our baby, I decided to get a prenatal musical belt called Lullabelly. We ordered it online via Amazon.com and we had it delivered to the New York office of Johnny Air. In turn, Johnny Air-NY shipped it to their branch in SM Megamall and that's where we picked up our Lullabelly package.

Lullabelly has been featured in NBC News and Fox News and there are a lot of good reviews about it. Our package came at the right time, i.e., when we're on our 20th week. It's just about the time when the baby can hear noises from outside the womb.

The package came with the belt which is of soft material. It is lightweight, machine washable, and easy to wear. There's a large pocket inside where you can put in the portable music player or other accessories. I just use my iPhone 4S and it fits just right. It also comes with earphones and a splitter so that you can also listen to the music. The earphones have built-in control dials to adjust the volume. They say that when playing music to the baby, the volume should not be louder than 65 decibels which is similar to the volume of any background music played in a music store, or in terms of household sounds, it should not be louder than the sound of a vacuum cleaner or a hair dryer.

As for the music, I have in my playlist the songs from Lovely Baby Mozart and I use the Lullabelly daily for about 30-45 minutes. I haven't experienced anything unusual but that it's a relaxing routine which is perfect around bedtime. I started feeling my baby's kicks as early as the 16th week but they became more regular beginning my 22nd week. I can't tell for sure if it's the Lullabelly working because I read that fetal movement becomes more defined and frequent around the 20th week.

Regardless of whether Lullabelly actually works or not, I'm just happy bonding with my baby through music. I just trust that the reviews and testimonials about Lullabelly are true and that they also get to benefit our baby.

What about you? What are your prenatal gadgets? Do you also use musical belts? Please share your story :)

Hello, Hello

taken from myswirlybrain.blogspot.com

I've been blogging since 2005 but I abandoned and deleted all my old blogs because I can't seem to find the topic/s that I have the passion to write about. Fortunately, I gave in to my hobby, which is cooking, and decided to basically write about what I cook at home. That happened in 2010 and it was then that I started my food blog called I Love. Therefore, I Cook. Recently, I've been adding some travel posts to that blog too. If you happen to love cooking and some DIY travels, you might want to check my food blog.

Primarily though, I am a lawyer. And I only get to do cooking and blogging during my free time. I work as a lawyer in Makati for 8 hours a day and I also get to assist my hubby in his law practice. But, that is only whenever my expertise in contracts/corporate law/taxation is needed and of course, whenever time permits. I don't get paid for it, I just help him... at our home office... out of love :)

As if being a lawyer/food blogger is not enough, I decided I want to have a business too. Just early this year, I was invited by a friend to join her in running her bakeshop in White Plains, Quezon City and along with two others, I accepted the invitation and we're now business partners in this growing cafe/restaurant/bakery business. We make the best Spanish Bread and Breadsticks in Metro Manila and I am excited that we are challenging ourselves to continually improve our products and grow the business.

My duties, however, don't stop there. At home, I am a loving and supportive wife to my hubby and it's a blessing that despite how busy we are, we never run short of quality time together. I'm also a daughter, a sister, and an aunt, and I make sure that above all else, my family always comes first.

And in 3-4 months from this post, I'm going to partake on the new role of being a MOM to our very first baby. I'm not even bothered with the thought of having more duties and responsibilities at home. In fact, I longed [and toiled] for it because this baby will complete me and the family my hubby and I are building together. We're really very excited with the arrival of our precious cargo!

I could probably say that at this point in time, my hands are full. But that doesn't mean that I will stop pursuing other plans. Hubby and I haven't even started our plan to help the less fortunate. We also thought of putting up our own business and that will probably come in the near future. There are so many things we want to do and we hope to start them while we're young [oh yes, I'd like to think that 35 is still young].

I guess I can say that I really am a multitasker because I perform different roles at any given day. True that, sometimes, sheer tiredness kicks in, but most of the time, a little hug  from my loved ones can  already soothe aching muscles and take any soreness away. And I'm pretty sure that things will get even better when our baby arrives and that I'll just be more inspired to work harder and be a better person.

So, hello and welcome to my blog! 

Here's where I'll share the happiness that comes with performing multiple tasks at a given time and hopefully, make you a part of my little bit of heaven on earth ~ my career, my hobbies, my family, my home. And don't be a stranger, okay? I'll be happy reading your comments, your stories, or your emails :)