Grubbs n Critters

August 19, 2015

Grubbs ‘n Critters Monthly Feature #3 in World of Moms: Breastfeeding – How Difficult Could That Be?

The 3rd installment of my monthly feature on World of Moms is now out.

This month, I thought I’d commemorate the annual World Breastfeeding Week from 1-7 August (source: WHO), with a post of related to breastfeeding even though I have long retired from it. It’s a subject close to my heart. It’s something I’m really passionate about; so passionate that I balk in disgust when I see companies of infant milk powder continue to deliberately push their efforts to educate pregnant moms about the benefits of infant milk powder even before their babies are born.

While I’m not a breastfeeding Nazi and in no way am I judging/belittling moms who choose infant milk powder, I do think that such marketing efforts to target moms in their early stages of pregnancy are so, so very wrong and unethical. Breast is best. NO question about it.

But! Breastfeeding is hard. It was one of the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and I was not prepared for it. What new moms need prior to giving birth is the reality of how complex breastfeeding can be, not just how wonderful the entire experience is or how every women should be able to do it so very easily.

After what I have been through, I am no longer surprise why so many moms give up on it. I almost did, and I know others who have. It is my hope that every new moms or moms-to-be reach out to understand and be aware of the potentially difficult breastfeeding experience so that they don’t give up so easily (unless of course, they have been diagnosed as being medically unfit for it).

Read my perspective on World of Moms here.

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What is WOM:

World of Moms (WOM) aspires to bring together like-minded women who believe that sharing experiences doubles the joy of parenting, reduces the agonies associated with motherhood, helping moms to find peer moms to resolve their queries, make parenting fun, grow their businesses and create a one stop shop for all their needs.

It is a place to connect, share experiences, give and get advice, vent anonymously and discover all that this place has to offer. And if you have a little time to spare, do browse through the site for there are much more things to be discovered. You may just like what you see! Don’t forget to share them.

A Sad Day

Category: In and around Thailand

Yesterday was a very sad day in Bangkok. An unexpected bomb explosion rocked the heart of Bangkok and left many Thais and tourists dead.

It was reported that the blast came from an improvised device attached to a pole inside the famous and always crowded Erawan Shrine – a popular landmark and a place of worship for many who pray to Brahma (otherwise known as the Four-Faced Buddha) for their wishes to be granted.

Surrounded by malls, office buildings and hotels, the area is always very busy. Right outside the shrine, there stood at least 10 stalls selling flowers and garlands to be offered for prayers. Yesterday, it was chaos. The entire stretch of stalls were wiped out, and I’m not even sure all the sellers were accounted for. The blast also happened close to our home and offices.

If not for an impromptu meeting discussion which I had not planned for last evening, I would probably have been around the area as I intended to leave the office slightly earlier to get a foot massage and a pedicure. It’s a place I often go to for such stuff. Very likely that I would have been done at about the time the explosion happened and I would have walked right on the bridge to the other side of the road to get a taxi home.

I shuddered thinking about it when we found out what happened right after I walked out of the meeting room. My staff were getting all sorts of graphic and horrific images from a colleague who happened to be close to the site. There were many dead bodies, human torsos and human flesh strewn all over the place. It was a jolt we needed to hurry home. The atmosphere was tense.

Nothing of this scale had ever happened in Bangkok before. This afternoon, there was another bomb explosion on the Chao Praya River at Sathorn Pier. Thankfully, there were no injuries.

There must be some very sick people out there! It’s nothing but cold-blooded murder and whatever the motive was, this was just cruel. Innocent lives were lost . It was not even necessary. How could anyone be so, so cruel and heartless?!

All of these happenings make me very uneasy. I feel mad at the perpetrators who caused this. Suddenly, Bangkok no longer feels safe. I don’t really want to be out and about, especially not with the kids. Would it be safe to travel to Bangkok now? I’d like to say yes, but at this time, we really just don’t know.

If you do intend to travel here, I suppose the only advice I can offer is to stay away from crowded, open areas. Let’s just hope we have seen the end of this. The carnage was heart-wrenching.My heart goes out to families who survive their loved ones.

To friends who checked in on us almost right after it happened, thank you for checking in. We are safe where we are and so far, we have not heard of anyone we knew who fell victim. It does, however, feel surreal…like it was a dream.

The heart of Bangkok has never been so quiet and it’s not difficult to speculate why.

A Re-blog: Meet and Greet @Dream Big, Dream Often

Category: Blogging

Danny, author of Dream Big, Dream Often is hosting a Meet and Greet, and because I do not have re-blog button, I have to re-post his content here as a way of re-blogging:

Hop over to his post here to spread the love. He not only does meet and greet, he will also re-blog you your posts. Meantime, here are the rules:

Leave a link to your page or post in the comments of this post and/or in the comments of these MnG links: Meet n Greet from 7/12 and Meet n Greet from 7/31
That means there are 3, three, opportunities to connect. This new comment thread and the threads from 7/12 and 7/31. If you have not left a link in all 3 please be sure to do so as this means more exposure for your page!!!
Reblog this post. It helps you, it helps me, it helps everyone! So don’t be selfish, hit thereblog button.
Edit your reblog post and add tags (i.e. reblogging, reblog, community, meet n greet, link party, etc.), it helps, trust me on this one.
Share this post on social media. Many of my non-blogger friends love that I put the Meet n Greet on Facebook and Twitter because they find new bloggers to follow. This helps also, trust me.
And if you leave a link and don’t already follow Dream Big, how about ya show ole Danny some Follow love