Everybody dream to live childhood again. Those were awesome days full of fun, lots of play and zero stress. Actually every day every moment offers us to live one of those fantastic memories but the thing is we don’t notice that!!!  We are really busy with the life full of stress and work load. We say we love rain but when it really rains we think of cold and muddy puddle and so we can’t enjoy it. That’s us grown-ups!!!  Our wish and our thought don’t match with each other. We always ignore the things that can make us happy!!!

When I saw my little one enjoying with water, sand, rain, snow, muddy puddle, fog, butterfly, bugs, bubbles and a lot like this I understood what I missed in my life and I have decided to enjoy all these things again with her.

For my life I would like to say these are the things I forgot to enjoy once I grow up and now thanks to my kid I am enjoying it again. Or in better words I will say these are the things my little one teaches me every day:

Enjoy every moment of life: Kids enjoy everything!!! They become happy for smallest things too. When I looked at my daughter I noticed she becomes happy even with the one small star on her hand!!! And I realized yes we too are getting these kinds of small reasons to be happy but we ignore those. And I have decided to enjoy even smallest thing of my life and my life became much easier and happier.

Imperfection is okay: My days were always shorter than my to do list. I was always running behind the things and result no time for fun or playing with kids. But once my daughter came to me and asked to accompany her and when I replied “sweetie give me 5 minutes I will empty dishwasher and come” she softly replied “why do you want to empty dishwasher now? Any how you will need that by the evening.” And that strikes my mind “ why I am behind work? There will be always something to do.”

It is okay if I can’t finish few things or if my house is little bit messy. And so I set the time for my work and my kid as well as for myself.  Now I try to finish the things during that time and after that I leave it for tomorrow as work will remain same for every day but I won’t get my kid’s childhood again.

Feel Free: The main reason behind the kids’ happiness is they are carefree. They don’t think about people and so they are stress free. Now I like to enjoy the life the way I want without thinking of people. I prefer to leave the people behind when it comes to me and my kid.

Have Patience: Indirectly my kid made me more patient. There was a time when I couldn’t wait for 5 minutes peacefully and now I can. Now I don’t lose my temper soon as I understood few things are not in my control and that won’t be, even if I will lose my temper. Now I believe time will set the things and till then I speak to myself “When we wait we get best.”

Forget and forgive: Kids fight with the friends and after 5 minutes we will see them playing together. They forget the fights, sort out their issues and start new play.  When I thought of that I was really not sure I could do that but when I did I felt so relieved. Sometimes our ego controls us and we can’t leave the things easily. Sometimes things are not good to remember as at last they trouble us only. So forget the things and forgive the people.

We are Family: Family, a word itself is enough to raise our roof. Living with love ones like life partner and kids make us family. Kids make us more responsible more loving more caring more humble and complete. After certain time we don’t seek for friends and relatives, we with kids will be the complete family full of love and happiness.

Image source Google

You are going to be a parent and you won’t think about shopping!!! That never happens…..shopping for a mother and baby is always exciting. If you will visit a baby shop you will be surely lost in tiny things which are really as cute as baby and you may want to put most of them in your wish list for your upcoming baby ……….well no offence you can buy as much as you want but yes if you really want to spend on the things which will really help you in raising your baby then I would like to say out of 100 only 20 things you will be in need. There are lots of baby items which make your life easier and many are just silly. It’s up to you what do you like and what do you want to purchase but if you think how do I know what should I skip and which things are must? When should I start my pre-birth shopping? Then here is your newborn checklist:

When to Buy:

In some family they have ritual like they can’t buy anything until they receive baby and some gives freedom for facility. Well why I used the word facility is 1. I believe you should do pre-birth shopping because it’s good to see kids things around.  It will relax you, give you relief and excitement for something new in life. 2. If you will wait till birth, mother won’t be able to go for shopping so her wish might not be fulfill. 3. After baby you need to take care of mother as well as baby so it double your duty and shopping for baby adds pressure on you.

Well you might think then what shall we do? Shall we buy everything before birth? Or shall we start shopping once we know we are going to have a baby? Then I will suggest best time for pre-birth shopping is 7 to 9 months of pregnancy. Starts at 7 so you can get a chance to see so many varieties of baby items as in this month would be mummy will be healthy and fresh. Wind up before mid of 9^th months so would be mummy can take enough rest too as last month will be really very tiresome for her.

Baby essentials for normal baby:

We will divide baby products in 5 categories:

1. Bathing
2. Diapering
3. Clothing
4. Comfort
5. Safety measures

***Disclaimer: Products and brands name used in following is based on personal choice. I am not advertising any of these brands or products by any means.

 1. Bathing:

Massage mat: Massage mat is a precaution for your bed sheet.  If you will massage baby directly on bed sheet your bed sheet will be oily and so you need an extra cover on that. There is no word like massage mat but there are lots of soft and plastic layered mat are available in baby shops. You can choose your best.

Baby oil: You can’t think baby without massage and so you need baby oil. There are lots of baby oils available in market, select whatever you like according to the weather of your city. Olive oil or almond oil is good option for massage.

Bath tub: Large ranges of baby bath tub are available in baby shops. Check the details and buy which suits you best.

Top to toe: For baby shampoo and soap together is the best option so the Johnson’s top to toe is best. It is very mild and economic too. Aveeno is also very good option if you want to spend some more.

Hooded towel: Kid’s towel with hood is really good to use as its small in size as well as it covers your baby from head to toe.

Cream / moisturizer: Baby’s skin is really very soft so you might need mild moisturizer. Both Johnson’s and aveeno provide best baby cream.

Changing pad: Just like massage mat, I can say it’s just for precaution while changing diaper. So if you don’t want leave it. But yes for outside you will need at least one small changing pad but still I will say if you are planning to get a diaper bag , don’t buy separately as most of the diaper bags provides changing pad with it. Disposable changing pads are also available but I recommend normal one only.

Swaddle: There is a say, when we swaddle babies after bath they sleep well. Swaddle is just a piece of clothes with which you need to tie your baby in particular manner. If you know how to tie, you can use any soft clothes and if you don’t know just pick ready made swaddle from shops which are attractive too.

Baby comb/hair brush: Baby hair brush is recommended as normally we don’t share any grownup things with baby to prevent baby from unwanted infection. Baby brush is very soft so you can use it as many times as you want even if your baby has very light hairs.

 2. Diapering:

Diaper: You are going to need a lot!!! At least 7 to 10 in a day for normal baby in normal weather. You can choose clothes diaper or disposable diaper. Clothes diaper is cheap but you need to wash it. So it will add your work load. Disposable is nice. Best is pampers new born diaper but still you can use your choice of diapers based on cost and comfort. I admire if you will choose best quality diaper as it won’t give rashes to baby but still as I said it depends on weather. The best is use rash cream with diaper regularly.

Wipes: Don’t clean your baby’s personal part with running water only. Either use small clothes soaked in diluted Dettol (Dettol liquid with water) or use wipes. Lots and lots of wipes are available in market, my favorite is newbee.

Rash cream: Use best quality rash cream regularly to prevent your baby from rashes. People says rashes are because of diapers but truth is if you will combine good quality rash cream with good quality diapers and wipes, your baby can put on diapers for 24/7 without any problem. And trust me with that they will be more happy and healthy.

Diaper trash bin: Diapers stinks and so you need a dust bin which can prevent your house from bad smell and this is perfect for it. You won’t get any nasty smell at all. If you will ask me I will say this is must.

Diaper trash bag: This is small perfumed bag to throw the diaper so it will absorb diaper’s smell. If you have diaper trash bin you don’t need this one for home but this is really good choice for outside visits.

 3. Clothing:

You can buy whatever you like as per the weather. Just make sure even if so cold don’t make them wear very hot clothes. Use warm clothes with layers. Normally onsies with pants and top are common for kids. For night sleep wear are available which covers full body and comes with mittens and bootie too. You can buy all these things separately too. 1. Onesies 2. Sleep wear 3. Pants 4. Tops 5. Socks/bootie 6. Mittens 7. Hat 8. Thin sweater 9. Thin blanket 10.Thik blanket for outside 11. Warm jacket for outside. 12. Small napkin for baby.

Mittens are must as kids nails are very sharp and grow very fast so if you want make them wear mittens they will hurt themselves.

For cold warm sweater and layered clothes are recommended. Don’t make them wear hot sweater until its necessity.

You can buy either new born size or 0-3 months. Before baby you can’t decide her size so better to combine both the sizes. Newborn size won’t fit more than a month so better to choose 0-3 months clothes more.

Sometimes baby spit ups and to wipe it you need small napkin or handkerchief for her. Baby napkins are available in markets which are really very soft and gentle to use.

 4. Comfort:

Carrier / stroller: Going out with baby is not so easy. You need to carry baby all the times as well as her essential. For this many products are available in market from which carrier and stroller are best. Carrier is a place where you can put your baby and tie it to your body both the sides front and back. It’s good for first year. After that you have to buy stroller because of weight concern. Stroller is always good option for outing as you just need to pull it or push it. It has extra space for baby essential too so you need not to carry anything and will be useful till 4 to 5 years. For the first year of baby you should use car seat with stroller to support proper position.

Swing / bouncer: For baby sleep is must and for that normally we prefer swing. Automatic swing is also available. If you don’t want to buy a swing, you can go for bouncer. Bouncer has vibration effect and 3 positions. So even if your kid doesn’t use it for nap it can be used as a play seat or feeding seat till 2 or 2 and half years.

Crib: If you are planning to sleep with your baby only then no need to buy crib.  But if you want to put her on her own bed then you should buy crib with proper crib mattress as well as safety essentials for it.

Pacifier if you want to offer: Pacifier is not necessary but it soothes baby. Sometimes baby soothes herself with her fingers or hand which is definitely not good for her health as well as for you too as 1. You can’t clean her hands all the times. 2.  It takes longer time to wean. Don’t forget to check the size of pacifier before offering your baby.

Diaper bag: Going out with baby needs lots of baby stuff and so to organize it properly you need diaper bag. It’s okay if you choose any other bag of your style. The reason to buy a proper diaper bag is 1. It has many divisions to separate kid’s products as per requirement. 2. Changing mat is available with diaper bag 3. Diaper bags are available in all the sizes and beautiful design.

Feeding pillow: Well when we are talking about baby essentials how can we forget the mother’s comfort? Feeding pillow is a pillow which supports your body and baby at the time of feeding. Baby can get perfect position with pillow and provides comfort to mother especially if she has gone through C-section.

5. Safety measures:

Car seat: Car seat is must in USA and UK. In India it’s okay if you won’t use it. Car seat is for baby’s security and if you are thinking to buy it, first check that it fits in all the safety measures. Best place for car seat is opposite side of driving seat in back seat of car.

Audio/video monitoring system: You don’t need this really if your baby sleeps with you but yes if you have separate room for her you must have this device to make sure her safety.

First aid kit: New life is trying to settle down in new environment and so she needs first aid kit ready all the times. Baby first aid kit should contain 1. Nasal bulb to remove mucus from baby’s nose 2. Nail cutter 3. Thermometer 4. Ear bud use baby ear bud and do not exceed its use. 5. Vitamins drops suggested by her pediatrician 6. Any other medicines if her pediatrician suggested you.

Enjoy shopping 

It is a beautiful Sunday and you think of your favorite food in your favorite restaurant. It is a good idea to get ready, go out and have family lunch or dinner with lots of fun and talk. But suddenly a thought of your kid strikes your mind and you drop the idea as you remember, the last time you have visited the restaurant and how he/she spoiled your mood.  And you talk to your self “oh god it was horrible experience, I don’t want to go to restaurant with kid as everyone was looking at us because of our attention seeker ……and the biggest was he didn’t eat properly so after coming back I had to cook a quick egg sandwich for him. If after going out also, I need to do the same then no way; I can’t do this. It’s better to cook something quick and eat at home only!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Well if this is the scene for you too then here is good news for you. As I always say “you are not alone”, once in a while everyone had to pass  through this so no need to worry, no need to drop your idea just keep in mind what not to do and you are ready to all your way to your favorite food:

Here we will discuss the cause of this: Mistakes Parents make while dine out with kids:

Time constraint: Whenever parents plan to go out either they look for restaurant time or meal time for them but not for kid. If your and your kid’s meal time is same then it’s a plus point for you but if not don’t go out at your time. Actually you should go for meal around 15 minutes earlier of your kid’s meal time so your kid won’t be very much hungry as well as not so full. So he too can enjoy the food.

Lunch time is preferable because many restaurants serve dinner really late! and by that time your kid will be either very hungry or very tired. And second restaurants won’t be really full so you need not to worry about surrounding people.

Order kid’s food:  Normally when parents see “kids special” in menu they feel this is nice. My kid may like this and order that too but please don’t. Reasons are 1. If you will order kids food, your kid will always expect something different for him. 2. When your food will come either he will ask for your food or he will play with his/your food. 3. He won’t eat anything properly as kids get confuse with multiple choices. 4. This will add cost too.

Instruct to get food for kids first: Parents think they will feed their kids first then will eat peacefully. But trust me you won’t as if you will feed him first he will be free when it’s your time to eat and free mind especially free kid definitely not good option as they will be surely up to something.

Stack up toys: Whenever parents plan to go out, they like to keep couple of toys handy. Well not a bad idea if you keep it in car but not good idea too if you are planning for meal. Yeah you can take his/her all-time favorite toy (if he/she has) but don’t pack the toys because you are going somewhere. Kids will definitely find something interesting to play when it’s time to wait or just give them tissue paper and pen. That’s more than enough to keep them busy. Still if you think your kid is not really engaged and bothering others then you can play table games with him/her.

Expect over discipline: Parents want their kids to behave the way they are!!!  Well they are kids…. can’t be so much disciplined. No doubt they will talk louder, they will play with their new fork and spoon and tissue papers too so take it easy. You are out for fun (for you and your kids) so enjoy and let them enjoy. Still if you feel you don’t want to bother anyone then prefer kids friendly (little bit noisy) restaurant.

Worried about quantity: Parents will constantly measure how much their kid is eating, whatever he/she had is enough or not. Well no need to think this much because it is okay if your kid won’t eat properly one day and second your kid has to learn to eat all the kind of food. So please forget about quantity and enjoy. And yes if you feel no I can’t accept this then order your kid’s favorite starter or dessert. Also add juice or ice cream in your order. And still if you are not happy then I can say see if it’s a lunch time you have entire day to feed your kid and if it’s a dinner time then you can give a glass of milk before putting your kid on bed and that’s enough for a day. Anyhow kids manage their appetite in weekly basis so they will cover it in later days.

Scold for improvement: Improvement never comes with negativity. If you will tell him you shout there, you didn’t eat well, you spoiled food and scold him then all these things won’t help you for next time reason 1. They got your point that they didn’t behave well but that time is gone and now they can’t change it. 2. They don’t think for future trips like us. So they will forget it and may behave the same for next time.

Well this doesn’t mean you should not utter a single word and let them spoil your meal. Solution is praise for good. Tell them good thing first like you have waited very nicely for food. I like it too much. But you didn’t eat well that’s not good. Why didn’t you eat properly? Don’t you like spaghetti? Be humble be polite and let them understand.

Let them know it is fun to go out for meal as for kids food is food no matter where you eat!!! Ask them what was their best part of that visit as well as tell yours too. Make the Sunday more tasty and funny for both (you and your kids).

Have A Sweet Sunday  

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The journey begins with the day you conceive and touch the end (to the new start) when you deliver. But it just doesn’t starts and ends; the best thing is to pass through the journey as it is full of excitement, surprises, pain and pleasure. It will bring lots of changes to your life, body and mind. And when you successfully handle all these changes you will be ready to get new surprise (baby) with totally new challenges.

Today we will talk about changes in life during pregnancy and due to pregnancy. Pregnancy is 9 months journey and we divide it in 3 set of 3 months period. First three months are known as first trimester, second three months are second trimester and the last three months called third trimester.

First Trimester:  First three months of the pregnancy is known as first trimester. Its starts with the day you conceive. The best thing about this trimester is you won’t even come to know about your pregnancy for first one and half months. Even though now you need to deal with just one and half months from the first trimester it’s a biggest challenge as something new for your body at its initial phase so your body will react. Lots of hormonal changes will be there and so lots of mental and physical changes will be there for you at every rise of the day.

I would like to say whatever changes you feel in your body, whatever changes you feel mentally, both are perfectly normal. Morning sickness, lower abdominal pain, back pain, tiredness, weakness, dizziness, sore breast, craving for certain food, mood swing, dry or darken skin, hair growth or mole on body, sleepless nights, midnight hunger etc are very common here. This trimester can be little more painful than rest two.

For more read Signs that says you are pregnant

This is really very crucial time as chances of miscarriage are at its highest during first three months so you need to take extra care of you and limit yourself from your favorites like high heels, biking or some sort of sports and exercises.

You may lose your weight due to morning sickness but do not worry you will cover it in next two trimester.

Second trimester:  Next three months are known as second trimester. This is known as honeymoon trimester too as now your body has accepted all the changes and behaves normally. No morning sickness, you can eat properly, you can work properly and the best is you can travel for certain distance too. Not much mood swings so once again your body is in your control. The only thing you need to take care is your diet and nutrition as you may need to gain a lot.

Third trimester: Good news is journey is about to end but bad thing is you may get some of your first trimester problems and pain again like morning sickness, abdominal pain but yes this won’t be every day like in first trimester. It will come and go like visitors.

Stretch marks, swollen hands and legs, varicose veins, back pain or full body pain, sleepless nights are very common for this trimester. You may have gestational diabetes. You may feel contraction sometimes. And how can we forget the best part; you will feel your baby (when you touch your tummy) like her legs or her head and most exciting is her timely kicks.

Yes you may feel little bit heavy because now you need to carry yours as well as your baby’s weight. Your breast can be little bit uncomfortable for you as they are ready for the new phase. Long travelling is painful for you.

You may feel so much energetic sometimes and some days will be very tiresome. But try to manage it. Even if you are so much energetic don’t try to complete lots of work, stick to routine only as you need to save this energy for your delivery day. You may be very excited about birth and baby and sometimes tense too. Don’t worry much and prepare yourself for the delivery by relaxation techniques, you will need it at the time of contraction. Think as much pain as you can as delivery pain will be highest. Don’t be scared as it will be just for a day, will come and go by giving you a reward of your patience and stamina.

You will go through very emotional phase once again so don’t get upset with your mood swing and be ready for post pregnancy melt down.

Happy journey would be mummy

Well the word is “Early Readers” and meaning is readers (kids) who start reading in early age. Early means really early you can say even before their first birthday!!!! I remember when my little one has started reading books; she was just 8 months old. You might think “why do we need to introduce books so soon, any how they will learn a lot from school by the age of 4 or max 5” ………then here are the answer of WHY And HOW.

• Sooth their mind: Books work like medication. Kids will be calm and relax if you will read regularly. Books are good option to divert your kids when they are cranky, what you need to do is just get couple of books, cuddle your kid and start telling story very softly. This will ease their mind and body.
• Brain development: If you know in first six years kids can learn much faster than any other time of their lives. Books develop imagination power in kids they can pretend they can think they can understand and they can implement whatever they feel. It makes them curious and improves their attention span and thus increases their concentration.
• Academic success: Early readers are quick learner. They can study effectively and can extract relevant information by themselves and can relate things very easily. And so it will definitely improve their grades in near future.
• Good story teller: Reading is best way to expand vocabulary as well as it develops oral language skills. Kids can express themselves easily so they need not to mug up anything and as a result you will get a good story teller.
• Boost patience: To complete the book kids need to turn pages turn by turn and so you believe it or not but just in a month your kid will become more patient without any effort. You might think my kid is so naughty and will skip the pages and so on but trust me they won’t as kids can’t skip the things!!!
• Easy way to teach manners: Kids always listen to two things 1.Their teacher and 2.Books. Whatever they read, they will try to copy and so books are so perfect to teach them manners as well as to make them ready for something new like school or dental checkups. If you think your kid is not ready to share, read books on sharing, if you think your kid is not ready to go to school read books on school and many more. The best thing is there are lots of books available on all the types of kid’s behavior and manners so please utilize it as much as you can.
• Perfect toy for your kids when they are sick: Books are good time pass and best companion. When kids can’t get up and play or when they don’t have energy to do anything they can read books and keep themselves busy.