My fun afternoon at Baby & Breakfast's Mom-ME Time 2014

Look at that gorgeous space, mommies. That's where I spent one magical afternoon with some of the most amazing women I've ever met. Many of them are already my friends. Many of them, I only know online. Some of them are celebrities. All of them—all of us!—are moms. And all of us were invited by Baby & Breakfast, together with Rica Peralejo-Bonifacio, actress and author of the blog Wanders & Wonders, and Spaces by Babyland, to spend an afternoon of loving ourselves.

Rica came up with the theme of Mom-ME Time because we moms often put ourselves last. It's natural, of course. We love our kids and so it's only expected to put them first. Sometimes, even if we don't feel like serving our kids (admit it!), we have to anyway because their needs are urgent or they're whiny or you just want peace and quiet. The fact is we moms are so caught up with the needs of others that we forget that we need to be filled up, taken care of, and loved, too!

Rica hands out one of the giveaways: a Ni-QUA clutch, each personalized with our initials!

I have often blogged about how important it is for us mommies to prioritize our needs. How can we give when we're empty? But I will confess that many times, I myself find it hard to follow my own advice. I wish I can eat uninterrupted, sleep for 10 hours, take a looooong bath, go on a date alone with my husband, read a thick novel straight, travel on a whim, go to the spa for one whole day, go on a shopping spree for myself... Sigh!

I haven't been alone in forever, moms. And for a writer and introvert like me, that is extremely exhausting. To be on all the time. To give and give and give. I'm not complaining. I am in love with my life! I'm just tired a lot. But will I give all this up, will I give up my kids, for all the stuff I wished for above? NEVER! For my kids, I would gladly give up sleep, books, baths, shopping, everything!

But to be honest, it hasn't come to that. My kids may demand, "Mama, look at me!" or "Mama, I want to eat ice cream!" and all that, but they never say, "Mama, don't take a bath because I want you here." They've never said, "You must never buy anything for yourself because I want all your money." Come to think of it, my kids may ask a lot of me but they give me so much in return, too. And they also never demand for unreasonable things, so I shouldn't feel guilty if I pamper myself a little, to care for myself more, to be with my husband or my friends or even to just be alone.

And that afternoon with the other mommies at Mom-ME Time was just what I needed!

Delicious food by K. by Cunanan. Me and Piero with Cristina Garcia-Long and Monica Eleazar-Manzano.

Moms with babies! Jennifer Tan-Chi, Monica and me!

My seatmate Danica Sotto Pingris with Nikka Martinez, who kindly helped me look for my seat.

Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan talked about the importance of being whole so that we can always give and give to our family.

Definitely a delightful afternoon of fun activities, good food, soul-baring conversations and making new friends.

Kaity Boo of Snap Play Love, Lilian Yeo of The Go Mom, Rissa Mananquil-Trillo with Piero, and Rica.

Jennifer, Janna Simpao of Baby & Breakfast, me and Piero, Stella Pastores of Misis Teapot, and Martine de Luna of Make It Blissful. Why are we all leaning to the right?!

I grabbed all these photos by Happy Folks Studio from Baby & Breakfast. Now that I bring Piero along everywhere, I don't bring my camera anymore. I might drop it... or Piero! Anyway, there are lots more gorgeous photos from the Mom-ME Time event at Baby & Breakfast so do check them out. You'll be amazed at all the gifts we got from the generous sponsors!

Finally packed away (such a mommy term!) the giveaways all the moms got at the fabulous #mommetime2014 event of @ricaperalejobonifacio, @babyandbreakfast and @babylandph! Thanks so much for the goodies!

A video posted by Frances (@francesasales) on Oct 10, 2014 at 6:31pm PDT

Here's a list of what every mommy took home:

1. Beansprout laundry bag
2. Celebrity Home magazine
3. Cookies from The Delightful Miss Joyce
4. Cookies from Lovelots Cakes
5. Cycles Baby samples
6. Cycles Sensitive samples
7. Dr. Brown's muslin
8. Elin breastfeeding wrap
9. Fruit Magic kefir drink
10. Give In To The Glitter necklace
11. Huggies diapers
12. Jamie & Baby Lifestyle Photography gift certificate
13. Lulu DK tattoos
14. Messy Bessy samples
15. Ni-QUA monogrammed leather clutches
16. Okiedog bag
17. Shoo! Anti-Mosquito stickers
18. SnapperDoodles tote bag
19. Urban Ashram gift certificate
20. Yosi Samra flats

I think we got more. I'm still overwhelmed by all the goodies we got! There were raffle prizes, too! I won a beautiful tablecloth from L'Indochine. Someone won a crib! I feel like every mom won something!

Thanks so much, Janna and Rica, for inviting us mommies to your Mom-ME Time party. I made many new friends! Oh, and I like that you hashtagged it #MomMeTime2014. That means there will be a 2015! And so on and so forth!

I think more moms will definitely need that reminder to just focus on themselves, not as a selfish act but as an act of giving to oneself so that we can give more to the ones who need us most—our family.

Looking forward to next year!

Mom-ME Time 2014 would like to thank...
Co-Presenter: Rica Peralejo-Bonifacio of Wanders&Wonders and Babyland / Speaker: Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan of Mommy Maricel / Media Partner: Celebrity Mom / Photographer: Happy Folks Studio / Stylist: Gideon Hermosa of The Events Studio / Rental Chairs: Botafogo Event Rentals / Caterer: K. by Cunanan / Cake and Lace Cookies: The Delightful Miss Joyce / Cookies: Lovelots Cakes / Invitations Design: Natural Selection Design Co. / Invitations Printing: CEVA Designs
Sponsors: Babiators / Beansprout / Boba / Boon / Brolly Sheets / Cradle Natural / Cycles Baby / Cycles Sensitive / Dr. Brown’s / Elin / Fruit Magic / Give into the Glitter / Huggies / Jamie & Baby Lifestyle Photography / JoomaJam / Kameraman / L’Indochine / Lulu DK / Mamas & Papas / Meeno / Melawares / Messy Bessy / Minui / NiQUA / Okiedog / RuMe / Shoo! Anti Mosquito / SnapperDoodles / So Young / Stabilo / Tonga / Urban Ashram Manila / Yosi Samra


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