TOPAZ HORIZON

Hi mommies! Just wanted to share my latest mommy find—Security Bank! I've been meaning to open savings accounts for my boys for a while now but something always comes up and going to the bank to wait for my turn and fill up lots of forms, not to mention the traffic I'll put up with, just didn't appeal to me. So when a mommy friend told me about the online and home services Security Bank has, I signed up immediately when I opened Junior One savings accounts for all my little boys.

Yes, you can open an account online (click here). Or if you're a diva like me, you can try out their new Human Switch Kit service. Hehehe, no I'm not a diva! I really just wanted to review this new service and asked Security Bank if that could be my specific topic! Why? The Human Switch Kit means I can make the bank go to me instead!

Let me give you a step-by-step guide:
1. Go to https://www.securitybank.com/.
2. Click on Accounts on the menu.
3. Look at the bottom right of the page and you'll see a little window there that says these:




4. Click on that window and you'll get directed to the Human Switch Kit window.
5. Leave your name, number and email address, and indicate the branch nearest you.

That's it! You'll get a call or an email within the day and you can schedule the visit. We met at my home. This is Xyla. She brought with her the bank forms, and I was so grateful I was able to fill them all up (they were a lot) in the comfort of my own home, in the comfort of my house clothes, with one eye on the form, the other eye on my super kulit kids!


That's it! Xyla can't accept money so I still needed to visit the branch and deposit the money myself. She said I had two weeks to a month to do so. Because I was so busy, my schedule freed up after three weeks! I went to the branch with Iñigo and after just a few minutes, all three bank accounts had money. Hooray!


We opened a Junior One Savings Account for each of my boys because at .50%, the interest is higher than other banks. To open a Junior One Savings Account, you'll need:
1. One (1) valid I.D. of the parent.
2. One (1) valid I.D. of the child. In our case, we used the passports of the boys.
3. Birth certificate of the child if they are 5 years old and below and if they don't have I.D.s yet.
4. Initial deposit of P100.

That's it! I really loved the ease and convenience Security Bank's Human Switch Kit for opening the kids' Junior One accounts. Thanks so much for this service! Moms, if you're too busy to open a savings account for your kids or for yourselves, do try the Human Switch Kit service. They can go to your office or your home. They can go any time of any day (well, a reasonable time and day!). I highly recommend it!

For more information, visit the Security Bank website.

One of my recent yummy discoveries in the candy world is Vita Cubes. Okay, this isn't new candy. My kids and I have been seeing the TV commercial for months and months, and they've been begging me to buy Vuta Cubes but I always say, "Nope," because I thought they were vitamins.

No, Vita Cubes isn't vitamins in candy form. They're candy... with vitamins. There's a difference! And I only recently discovered this because I was looking for candy for my boys for Halloween (the most exciting holiday of the year for lovers of sweets) and for the first time ever, actually read the label.

Read the label, moms.

I usually do. I read the label, compare volume vs price, check where the product was produced, stuff like that. But candy, well, we usually just grab the most colorful and most popular ones. So I'm glad I took the time to finally check out the label of Vita Cubes when my middle child (the one with the sweetest tooth and disposition) reminded his Papa to buy Vita Cubes. It's really just candy!

Pretty candy, too. Look at how happy they make me:
The red is strawberry, the orange is orange, the yellow is mango, the green is apple, and the purple is grape. Don't they make you happy just looking at them? Yes? Then you oughta try popping them in your mouth!

Here are the reasons why I, as a mommy, now prefer Vita Cubes for my children:

1. Vita Cubes are candy—not vitamins. 
I don't like vitamins in candy form because the dosage indicates you can only give one a day. Two max. And anyone who ever gave candy to kids knows that you can't give just one piece of candy to kids! They will ask for more and of course, because you have to follow the dosage, you can't give in to their requests, and so for me vitamins disguised as candy is a bad idea.

2. Vita Cubes are better than other candy. 
What makes Vita Cubes better than other candy is it's fortified with vitamins. Okay, let me walk you through the reason why it's not a supplement—the vitamins in Vita Cubes are all water-soluble. That means you can never overdose on them. Each colorful cube is packed with Vitamins A, B complex, C and E, plus Lysine and Zinc. These are good stuff for growth, immunity, and healthy body. But let me reiterate—Vita Cubes are not vitamin supplements!

3. Vita Cubes are better for teeth than other kinds of sweets. 
Kids and candy go together like peanut butter and jelly. So I'm not that strict when it comes to sweets. I give them to my kids in moderation, I don't make a big deal out of it (I don't use it as a prize nor do I ban them), and I make sure the kids rinse their mouths after eating sweets, and of course brush their teeth every day.

It helps that our kids' dentist says that candy like Vita Cubes are better than sweet treats like cake or cookies—these get stuck in between teeth. Vita Cubes basically melt away in the mouth so, after a drink of water or a mouth rinsing, your teeth are good!

4. Vita Cubes taste great!
They do! They're jelly candy that's soft yet firm. I prefer them chilled so that they're firmer. I also find that chilled Vita Cubes taste better—the juicy flavors of strawberry, mango, orange, grape, and apple are magnified. So yum! My kids' favorites are strawberry, apple and orange. I like grape and mango. I love the mango actually—it's like a juicy dried mango. You gotta try it to know what I mean!

Last Saturday, I had such a fun time sharing with other moms why I love Vita Cubes. Hi, mga mommies!!! It is always a lovely occasion when I meet other moms especially when they are Loyal Readers!

With Neri Ann of Nheng's Wonderland.

With Nedy Clazo of Nedy.

With RJ Dancel of The Millennial Panda.

At the Vita Cubes 2 Good Fun Day, mommies, daddies and kids were treated to fun games, lots of activities, play time, good food, and of course tons of Vita Cubes! Thanks so much, Vita Cubes, for inviting us to a day of good fun. I had a good time meeting moms and their babies, plus chatting with many other mommies. An afternoon well spent talaga!

Anyway, if you haven't tried Vita Cubes, please do! Especially since Halloween is right around the corner and wouldn't it be nice to celebrate the candy holiday with the better candy? It's so affordable at just P12 a pack. You can find it everywhere, too—Robinsons Supermarket, SM Supermarket, Waltermart, Landmark, Pure Gold. Even in Mercury Drug and Mini Stop! You can also check your nearest sari-sari store because there are P1 individual packs. Bili na for Halloween!

I've been called supermom by a lot of people and I always ask, "Why do you say that? You don't live in my house!" I laugh. The person I'm talking to laughs and I sometimes get these answers:

"You cook!"
"You have no yaya!"
"You work and you're hands on!"
"You don't look like a mom!"

So, moms, if you want to be a supermom, you can't look like a mom. Whatever that means.

So, moms, if you want to be a supermom, you have to have a career AND be the sole caregiver of your kids.

So, moms, if you want to be a supermom, fire your yaya right now. Pati yung katulong at driver!

So, moms, if you want to be a supermom, you have to do all the cooking yourself.

I'm not ungrateful for having my efforts as a mother praised. Thank you. But you don't see my struggles, my laziness, my impatience, my temper, my self-pity. You don't see me when I'm crying because I got caught up in work and lost track of the time and suddenly it's lunch time and I'm running around the kitchen feeling like an absolute failure. You don't see me when I'm yelling at the kids because they just won't stop fighting and hurting each other. You don't see me in my ratty shorts and shirts with breastmilk stains and wondering when I can take a shower.

But who wants to see that? Even I don't want to see myself that way. It's just not... super. It's all sorts of sad and frustrating and exhausting.

This photo is from a previous oh-so adowable post!

And yet today, I will agree that I am a supermom. Today, I woke up after just a few hours of interrupted sleep to make breakfast for my kids. I did two loads of laundry (whites and uniforms first, colored clothes next). I washed the dishes and cooked lunch. I breastfed the baby and put him down for a nap. I set the table, ate lunch with my family, then helped Vito with his homework. Then after a little rest, I slapped on foundation and kilay, threw on an old shirt and comfy mommy jeans so that my family can troop to the mall and have a snack. Oh, and get food for a school picnic and buy a steamer, too, because I absolutely hate ironing.

It's Sunday. God calls it rest day. But no mother rests on a Sunday. Every supermom I know gets up every single day and gets through the day. Whether she has a job or not. Whether she has household help or not. Whether she's married or single. We take care of everything. We're supermoms. Every mom who works hard to make her family happy and healthy—though there will be times she will fail!—is a supermom.

And if you're a mom and you don't think you're super just because you don't look the part, or because you don't cook, or because you have a career, or because you need a village to help raise your kids, think again. Your love for your babies is your superpower.

Now isn't that super?