All-Around Pinay Mama

Why is "Find the Cutes" so Special?

March 15, 2014

On February 6, 2014, I was contacted by illustrator, Vincent Noot, through my Facebook Page asking if I could help spread the word about his latest project with his wife Celestial, a search book entitled Find the Cutes. He said that he would send me a PDF copy on the first week of March for review. I didn't think twice. It's nice to be part in making dreams into reality.

According to Vincent, for the past year they have been putting hundreds of hours into drawing a children’s search book. If you heard of “Where is Waldo?”, theirs is a similar concept, but it’s more focused on kids, with pages that are about a birthday party, petting zoo, swimming pool, playground, etc.

Now that the book is done and they are investing in printing, they need some help.

On March 1st they launched a project on kickstarter.com. As stated in the website, Kickstarter is a crowd funding platform for creative projects---everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Every project creator sets their project's funding goal and deadline. If people like the project, they can pledge money to make it happen. If the project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers' credit cards are charged when time expires. If the project falls short, no one is charged. Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing.

Vincent and Celestial want to achieve their goal, and they need our help.

On March 6, I received the PDF copy, some photos, and a copy of this interview with Vincent Noot about Find the Cutes.

I printed the soft copy immediately, let my son do the activities, and made a draft of my review about it.

Who are the Cutes?

"The Cutes are a family. Their last name is 'Cute' and all the kids’ names start with a 'C': Carissa, Chaz, Cade, Cammy, and Cindy. The story is based on the 'second-mom' phenomenon: As the oldest daughter you sometimes get to babysit your younger siblings a lot. That’s how it can work in bigger families. In every illustration I tried to show their innocence and playfulness."

What is “Find the Cutes - Playtime” all about?

"Children are creative. They have a huge imagination. In society today, despite all the technology and opportunities, the greatest happiness is often found in the home. Children give families that extra enthusiastic energy. 'Find the Cutes - Playtime' is based on that concept. It sparks the imagination, stimulates dialogue without words, educates, entertains, and inspires."

This book consists of 12 pages:

1 Birthday Party
2 Swimming Pool
3 Playground
4 Toy Store
5 Petting Zoo
6 Supermarket
7 Soccer Game
8 The Fair
9 Ballet Studio
10 Scout Camp
11 Art Studio
12 First Day of School

Reasons to buy this book

"The world market is flooded with numerous children’s books, so if we wanted to make it big, we knew our book had to stand out. It had to have that extra something that makes you want it and be impressed with it, so that you recommend it to others personally and in reviews. You need to feel your money was worth it. So why buy 'Find the Cutes - Playtime?' Because it’s not a regular children’s book.
- It keeps you and your children entertained for hours.
- The illustrations look beautiful.
- It’s cute and funny.
- It’s educational."

What inspired you as an illustrator?

"As a child, I was much intrigued by search books. I spent hours looking for the right characters and objects on every page. But I discovered there weren’t that many different ones out there. Over the years, I developed a unique cartoon style that I was able to use for several companies and assignments. Together with my ideas and the concept of a search book, my wife (then girlfriend) and I came up with a search book and a fun family as the main characters."

How did you come up with each page, and how long did it take to draw them?

"Before each page, I brainstorm about as many creative, funny things that could happen. For example, I divided the Birthday Party page into section of balloons, ball pit, presents, etc. Children can be very silly. So I think of what they'd do with a balloon, like rubbing it over their hair, letting it go into the air, binding it to their ears, popping it, etc. Each page took almost 100 hours to sketch, draw, color on the computer, etc. Each person is hand-drawn and colored in Photoshop. My wife, Celestial, did most of the storytelling. The whole book took 1 year to finish. Some drawings are based on real events. Sometimes something funny that happened in our lives, comes back in the drawings. For instance, when I was dating my wife, we both took a bite of the same huge hotdog at the same time. So in the Swimming Pool page, I drew a boy and a girl eating a hotdog at the same time."

Who is the book for?

"Children ages 3 and up. Adults could enjoy it too. With 12 pages of things to search for, kids could be entertained for hours. Not only are we going to make a book, but we are planning on making it a tablet game for the ipad, kindle, and other devices. That will be a stretch goal if we make it."

Are you on social media?

"We have a website, www.findthecutes.com, which will be the means of selling our book once it’s updated with a payment system. We are also on Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr. Feel free to look us up and follow us."

Are you going to make a sequel?

"Yes. We are planning on an entire series of 10 books The next book will be called 'Find the Cutes - Festival Fun' and will have fun search pages about Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, but also about the Tomato Festival in Spain, Songkran in Thailand, and Sinterklaas in the Netherlands. It will also have 12 pages and a storyline. We already started working on it."

When will it be available?

"The book is completed, so we now have a kickstarter campaign from March 1st until March 31st. This is the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/92560380/find-the-cutes-playtime?ref=discovery. You can sponsor/back our project in those 30 days and get discounts that way. We are getting the website www.findthecutes.com ready for ordering, so we are in the process of getting the book printed and attaching a payment system to the website. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions at findthecutes@gmail.com or personally to my account at vincentnoot@gmail.com."

In My Opinion...

Find the Cutes is a good search book for both kids and adults who love challenging activities like my nine year old son, Ross.

Doing the activity in this book not just sparks the imagination, stimulates dialogue without words, educates, entertains, and inspires but also develops problem solving skills, patience, perseverance, and being keen to details. It could also be a fun parent and child activity that promotes the importance of family bonding.

The book also teaches the importance of being a responsible family member. Parents and children should always have a venue where they could talk and have fun as a family.

I think it is great and all worth it to help Vincent and Celestial Noot get more funds to have the book printed. Other kids and families should have a chance to enjoy it too.

I have both PDF and hard copies. I've seen how the couple put their heart and hard work into it. It's pure labor of love. The illustrations are very detailed, colorful, and catchy. Most of all, the story is all about family.

You may go to THIS LINK to know more about Find the Cutes or HERE to back this project for a minimum of $1.00 pledge. This project will only be funded if at least $7,843 is pledged by Monday, April 14, 2014, 3:45 PM Australian Western Standard Time (AWST). Sharing this on your own social media accounts can be a big help too. Your friends might be interested to pledge and get a copy! Thanks!

A Father's Prayer

March 02, 2014

We learned from our Cathechism class during our formative years that "The father is the PRIEST of the HOME.".

Being the priest of the home doesn't only require the father to merely encourage his family to attend mass every Sunday. What matters most is how he teaches his kids to live according to the teachings of the church. It is the father's responsibility to lead his family to Christ by living as a good example. It is seen by how he lovingly treats his parents, siblings, wife, and children; how he deals with other people with respect and honesty; how he exercises the virtues that he believes are right to do. He should walk his talk.

Fatherhood is more than providing food on the family's table and giving his family a comfortable life. It is a sacred vocation with great responsibility. How the kids will grow and become in the future not just depend on the influence of the mother but the father too.

Let me share with you A Father's Prayer. All fathers need God's guidance to make them the best father that they could be.

Oh God, help me to be true to the great privilege and great responsibility which you have given to me. Help me to be an example and a friend to my children, an a real partner to my wife.

Don't let me get so busy with work and with outside things that I am almost a stranger in my own home, and that I take no interest in household things. Don't let me take for granted all that is done for me, and help me to keep love alive within the home.

Keep me from habits which make the work of the house harder, and from ways which irritate and annoy, or which get on the nerves of those who live with me.

Give me health and strength and work to do, to earn a living for those who depend on me and whom I love so much; but help me to remember that love is always more important than money.

O God, You have given me the name of father; you have given me Your own name; help me to be true to it.

This I ask for Your love's sake. Amen.

Adapted from: My Travel Companion "A Prayer Book for All"

Breastmilk is Best for Babies

March 01, 2014

Mommies and Daddies, I would like to share the following facts about breastfeeding that I adapted from unicef.org.ph.

The Miracles of Breastfeeding

Breastmilk, more than anything else, is a gift of life.
UNICEF and WHO recommend that children should receive only this gift for the first 6 months of their lives.
This means that a child should not be given any other milk, liquid, or food but breastmilk from birth up to 6 months. This is called exclusive breastfeeding.
As a natural, living liquid, the breastmilk has all the anti-bodies and nutrients that a child needs in the early period of life.
It contains over 100 constituents that respond uniquely to every child's specific needs.
Infant formula milk and other breastmilk substitutes are artificial, often made from cow's milk, and may have nutritional quantities that are either too much or too little for the infant

Breastfeeeding data in the Philippines

2003 National Demographic and Health Survey
National Statistics Office

Out of almost 7 million children (below 5 years old), 87% were ever breastfed. This figure however includes infants whose breastfeeding may have lasted
for only one hour, one day, or one week only.
In fact, nearly 3.4 million children (49%) were given liquid or food other than breastmilk within three days after being born.
For children below 3 years old at the time of the survey,
barely 6% were exclusively breastfed.
Bottlefeeding was common for almost half of these children.
Although 80% of children started breastfeeding within 1 day of birth, 54% were also given any liquid other than breast milk.
Exclusive breastfeeding lasts only for an average of 24 days.

Mothers did not breastfeed their children because:

She does not have enough milk.	31%
She is working	17%
Her nipples/breasts ache	17%
Her child does not want to breastfeed	11%
Her child is sick	11%
She is sick	9%
Other reasons	4%

Well-off and better-educated mothers
whose children were delivered by a health professional
were less likely to breastfeed their children exclusively.

UNICEF cites urgent actions to revive breastfeeding culture in the Philippines

31 August 2005

Dear Editor,

It has been eight months since I raised the alarm on declining breastfeeding rates in the Philippines. Fortunately, my message did not go unnoticed.

Since then, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Health Secretary Francisco Duque have launched World Breastfeeding Week and the National Policy and Plan of Action on Infant and Young Child Feeding in Malacañang, while the National Anti-Poverty Commission has recognized breastfeeding as a strategy to ensure food security for infants up to six months and to reduce poverty.

The Liga ng Barangay has made a commitment to promote and protect breastfeeding at community level, and the Philippine Pediatric Society has been earnestly thinking of ways to wean itself off commercial sponsorships from infant formula manufacturers.

While these are positive developments, we need to do much more to revive the breastfeeding culture in the Philippines. The most urgent actions we must take are:

1 Seriously implement the Mother- and Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (MBFHI) which is a global UNICEF and WHO campaign to support mothers in breastfeeding.

To become certified as Mother- and Baby-Friendly, maternity facilities need to show that they are fully implementing the 10 steps to successful breastfeeding. These include among others, giving the infant to the mother to breastfeed within the first hour of birth, the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and referring mothers to them on discharge from the hospital to ensure exclusive breastfeeding up to six months and continued breastfeeding up to two years and beyond. Sadly, only half of the infants that are born in health facilities in the Philippines are given to their mothers to breastfeed within an hour, and only 16 per cent of infants from 0 to 6 months old are being exclusively breastfed. Recently, DOH re-launched MBFHI in Cebu City to show its commitment to supporting breastfeeding in health facilities.

2 Sign and put into effect the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of EO51 or the Philippine Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.

The existing IRR are too lax and full of loop holes while the capacity of concerned agencies to monitor code violations and compliance has been inadequate. This results in the penetration of the health system by infant formula manufacturers down to the level of midwives in the remotest barangays. This must stop. Towards this aim, a Code monitoring team composed of Government and non-governmental organizations was trained with support from UNICEF and IBFAN, Penang, Malaysia, to look into all violations and compliance with the Code by both the milk companies and the health sector.

3 Fast-track the amendment of EO 51 to tighten its provisions using the Model law as reference.

Strengthening of the Code can be done by;

covering not only infant formula but all milk products for infants and young children up to the age two or three;
prohibiting any sponsorship and/or partnership between the public health and nutrition sectors at all levels and the milk manufacturers and distributors of products covered by the law and the Code;
banning the advertisement and marketing of milk products for the 0- to 2- or 3-year-old children;
banning all sponsorships and promotional activities of infant formula manufacturers and distributors in all health facilities and contact with pregnant women or mothers;
banning labels with pictures of babies and text idealizing the use of milk formula; and,
providing stronger sanctions to violators of the Code.

4 Inform every parent and potential parent, male and female, that breastfeeding is the natural and ideal means of feeding an infant, and that all other milks are inadequate and potentially harmful substitutes to mothers’ milk.

We should make it clear that breastmilk is sufficient to provide the food requirements of infants up to six months and that the more the infants suckles the more milk the mother produces. We now require tremendous resources to undo the massive misinformation and misconceptions that the public – including health professionals – have been inculcated with all these years. The Makati City League of Barangays recently passed an ordinance to re-orient its health workers and organize mothers’ support groups.

5 Support working mothers in their choice to breastfeed.

Breastfeeding should not be incompatible with women's work. Davao City, for example, has passed a resolution to support breastfeeding women who work, beginning with providing breastfeeding and nursing stations in the workplace for breastfeeding mothers in both public and private offices and the different representatives of partner companies in Davao city, such as Shoemart Davao, have pledged their support to breastfeeding in the workplace.

In addition, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines will lead a study in various work places to assess current practices, with a view to crafting strategies to enable working women to provide breastmilk to their babies.

I trust that we can continue to count on the support of media in these endeavours. If 44 children, all under five years old, died in a bus accident, it would make headline news. That is the same number of children who die every day because they are not breastfed.

Yours truly,

Dr. Nicholas Alipui
Country Representative to the Philippines
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
RCBC Plaza
Ayala Avenue, Makati City

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The government is currently doing its best to implement the recommendations of Unicef but there are still areas that they need to improve.

We are also blessed to have support groups like Medela Moms who teach about breastfeeding - its challenges and joys.

One of Medela Mom's classes is happening TODAY, March 1, 2014 at the Medela House. If you are interested and not able to register for today's event, you may inquire through medelamoms@gmail.com or call 09178110821 for its upcoming breastfeeding classes.

To be very honest, I belong to the 4%. I only breastfed for 90 days. I just stopped producing milk. Maybe I was too stressed. We had no house helper and I had to do the household chores by myself during the day and I was taking care of my baby. I didn't consider attending seminars about breastfeeding. When I thought of doing so, it was too late. If only I could turn back time, I should have done more effort. I really admire moms who are able to do extended breastfeeding.

I encourage expectant moms and dads to take the opportunity and find time to learn the proper way of breastfeeding. It will be beneficial to you and your child.