I was at the Smart Parenting Baby Shower event!

The whole point of my blogging is for documentation and community. Although I have to admit that it hasn't always been that way. When I first started blogging, I was doing it mainly for myself and myself alone. I've been blogging for a long, long time but I've resisted the obvious direction of growing my blog because it didn't matter much to me whether people read my blog or not. As I said, I was just blogging for myself.

And then I became a mom. And my world turned upside down. It was right around the time I gave birth, the excruciating first few weeks, when I realized I can't do this alone. That's when it occurred to me to join a community of mommy bloggers. So I did and they've been of so much help! Even if I wasn't an active member, just reading their blogs and reading about how they raise their kids gives me an idea of what and what not to do.

Mommy bloggers are a different kind of specie, I tell ya. They're honest and tough and brutal and they take no shit. I think it's because when a woman becomes a mom, having merely undergone the process of childbirth really changes her. Suddenly, all the trivial things in the world fades away. Breastfeeding in public? Sure! Blouse has spit? We didn't notice! Hair unbrushed? Messy pony's the look of the season! And no, we really didn't mean to fix it that way.

You see, a mother is kind of like an events coordinator. Except that we don't plan that much but the show goes on 24/7. We don't plan much not because we don't want to but because we don't have the luxury of time! And so most of the time, we just wing it. We improvise!

Being a mom is a lot of different things too. Crazy, lovely, amazing different things. We are actors and models and heroes. We are that person a little child just wants to cuddle with when they're sleepy or happy or hurt. We are the arms in which a little child just wants to run into when they cry. We are everything in the eyes of our children. And that feeling of importance, that feeling of indispensability, is our reward. It is what keeps us going on and on and on. It is what makes us forget ourselves and put our family's needs, our kids mainly, first before ours. And that is enough. Their love is enough.

So imagine a community full of these superwomen. Their inputs, their comforting words, or just merely the feeling of many someones standing by and going through the same journey as I am in is such a joy. My mommy community makes me feel that I am never going to be alone in this ride. And I won't. And that's a good thing. No, that's a great thing!

And so I am really pleased to discover that Smart Parenting holds an annual baby shower event for soon-to-be moms! It's a great place to build a community of mothers who are in the same stage as you are. Imagine having mommy friends before your children are even born! You can exchange ideas and opinions and yes, even product reviews! "That stretchmarks cream is so dope!" "I use this and that, it works for me." "You don't really need this and that." "This will be enough." Mind you, these information are valuable! Actually, just having someone to TALK WITH who doesn't get tired of us blabbing about our pregnancy and labor and other mommy whatsits is already a big bonus.

A mommy who belongs in the same community I am in (Hi Que!) was invited to speak about baby sign language at the event and she was kind enough to extend the invite to a handful of moms. Lucky me, I was one of them!

Here are the pictures I took of the event.

The registration area and the lovely people from Smart Parenting

Clearascar's photobooth at the registration area

Baby Care Plus, one of the event's major sponsors

I was seated at Table 12!

Simple (but cute!)  table centerpieces

Smart Parenting's Editor-in-Chief  Mia Fausto-Cruz opens the event

Lunch

Here's Que's talk on baby sign language

Mommies of Mommy Bloggers Philippines
Clockwise from left: Que, Paulline, me, Celerhina, Bave, and Baby Zylar

The icing atop the cupcake, I won in the raffle! Php1,500 worth of GCs!
Thanks, Smart Parenting! Thanks, Que!  #SPBabyShower2014

Do not underestimate the importance of community. Especially a community with a strong and united voice. It's a very powerful force to be reckoned with.