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Today everywhere I look around on social media, the message I get is Johnson’s Best for Baby. But when the team at BabyChakra got in touch asking if I would like to attend a blogger and influencer event co-sponsored by Johnson’s Baby, my first thought was No. I had not used any JB products on #babyT, several people had told me to avoid them and I used to go around telling other new parents not to do so too. When family around me was told that they would need to chip in and mind babyT while I attended the event and that it was a JB event, many eyebrows were raised, “Oh but you don’t use Johnson’s baby products on babyT! How is this relevant for you!?” Did it make sense for me to attend this then? Is Johnson’s truly Best for baby? I had to find out. Continue reading
Love is a medicine for the sickness of the world; a prescription often given, but very rarely taken.
Cancer. A word that can strike terror in anyone’s heart. We may have never have experienced this disease in our immediate circles but it can still be a very scary & traumatic experience to even imagine. What is more unbearable is to realize that it is innocent children who suffer from Cancer. It really pushes you to question why and what that little child did to deserve a suffering like this?
And when cancer strikes, it doesn’t affect just an individual but the entire family. When a child is the one who has to cope with the disease, it seems so unfair and one cannot even begin to imagine what the parents, especially the mother, are going through. Add to that the burden of poverty which makes the situation even more unbearable.
What the children need besides timely and effective medical intervention is also nutrition. This is to help build their body’s ability to withstand the harsh treatment and build a fighting mechanism. With this view in mind JAMMS – Journey about Mast Moms has decided to associate itself with Accesslife (www.accesslife.org) to ensure that these children get their fighting chance and the necessary food nutrition through the initiative 1100 Meal Mate. JAMM’s network has now been in existence for 1100 days and this initiative is a marker in its history of giving back to society. After all, mothers know about giving of oneself and bringing joy to others.
On completion of this big milestone of 1100 days of existence, JAMMS – Mumbai and Navi Mumbai based Moms support and networking group is aiming to provide 1100 nutritious meals for children suffering from Cancer via Accesslife – a Mumbai based NGO providing stay and support to families with cancer stricken kids.
For these tiny soldiers, healthy and hygienic food plays a very important role to boost their immunity. By being their #MealMate you can be the donor of a meal (Rs. 999 onwards) I have donated to this cause, won’t you?
To donate and be a part of the initiative –
PayTM on 8080222377 or click on the link below for contributions
This is a crowd funding social campaign initiated by #JAMMSNetwork and is on till May 25th.
About JAMMS
JAMM’s network – *Journey About Mast Moms*, is initiated by Ritu (Chief Connecting Officer). It is a multi-award winning Mumbai based Moms support group for networking. It started in April 2014 and has been steadily expanding and evolving since then…
Over 20,000 Moms from various areas connect and communicate online via what’s app & a secret Facebook group + meet offline every month via their complimentary workshops, seminars and events which aid informed/conscious parenting decisions!
Over 365 underprivileged kids received haircuts during JAMMs network first anniversary event – Happy New Hair. 550 needy visually impaired people received white canes & dark glasses during their ‘i-light’ social initiative. The ‘Mast Santa’ social campaign done in Dec 2015 donated unused handbags with goodies to homeless women. ‘Step-Up’ was their April 2016 social initiative where 730 underprivileged children received footwear and over 910 sarees were collected & donated to less fortunate women during their Nov 2016 social drive.
jammsnetwork@gmail.com +91 9930203454
About Accesslife
Access Life Assistance Foundation provides a loving home for the parent or care taker and the child under treatment. Our mission is to offer a home-like environment for these families. We also try to improve the quality of life of these children by providing practical support services. These include educational resources and recreational programs.
We understand the financial pressure children cancer puts on some families. We provide them dignified accommodation at no cost while their child receives the treatment. In a country where care for the needy has long been accepted as dismal, Access Life is working to not only fill in a large unmet need but also to fundamentally change this mind-set. www.accesslife.org
When you are a stay-at-home mom like me, long weekends have no meaning really. I feel only the added stress of keeping up social appearances and finishing off long pending odd jobs around the house. This long weekend I did exactly that, I got my husband to mind #babyT while I took on the Herculean task of cleaning and organizing the baby wardrobe.
#BabyT is now 16 months old and his clothes have taken over almost an entire side of the wardrobe we have in the master bedroom. It started off with one shelf and now it stands at four, all full of his clothes – Tshirts, shorts, trousers, night suits, onesies, traditional Indian attire, and then some related accessories. He has over 30 pairs of socks. (Why?? Because he refuses to wear them when we are going out and I always forget to pack socks and then the mall/ restaurant is cold and we need to run and buy a bunch!)
Also I am not even counting the stuff he got as gifts which will probably fit him nicely on his fifth birthday. Lol. People really do underestimate how small babies are. And I have also added to this kitty by buying clothes online and with no standard sizing they are just waiting for him to grow up, I often look into the kids fashion just so I’m certain I’m buying the right clothes.
But the harsh reality hit when we were getting ready to go meet some of our friends and their new baby for an early dinner, and I realized that “#BabyT had nothing to wear.” (Yes he does take on after his mommy doesn’t he?) He did not have “nice, new” clothes. So I sat down to reorganize and actually separate the junk from the useful stuff. What I did get at the end of this exercise was constant muttering under my breath “This boy has way too many clothes for a baby and I am never buying anything else for him.” and the emergence of 2 sets of clothes – stuff that doesn’t fit anymore (yes this whole big bag of stuff pic below.) and stuff that fits but cannot be worn for outings because of food stains, stubborn marks leached from other clothing or fading and generally not nice.
A bag like this emerges every 3 months.
This got me thinking as to how much we actually spend on babyT’s clothes and how it is still never enough. The only solution was to actually buy more clothes. Yes, as ironic as it may sound, the fact that he had way too many clothes but not suitable ones meant we had to go buy some more. It ached my heart to know that I would be buying something worth Rs. 500 to Rs.1000+ a piece and he would only be wearing it for a short period, some maybe not even more than 2 – 3 times (Indian traditional attire.) I really wish there was someone out there who understood What Mothers Want – affordable quality clothing, so that we could really splurge and buy tons of clothes without feeling the pinch of the pocket and without the need to strip babies before they sit down to eat anything which is like 10 times in a day.
How do you mommies handle this? I am sure your babies too outgrew clothes really quickly. Leave aside the donating to other babies, how did you ensure baby always had a steady stream of affordable quality baby clothes? And how did you make sure you saved money at the same time? Where do you shop? Looking for ideas!
Once you’re a mom … something happens to your brain. The nesting syndrome transforms into the hoarding syndrome and you end up with baby clothes, baby blankets, cloth diapers, toys, baby carriers and baby BOOKS!
BabyT has close to 100 baby books by now. Two shelf fulls and two big Amazon carton fulls. We mostly read just 10 of those baby books very regularly, but we still continue to buy. We are #raisingareader after all and here is how we do it.
Baby books have been a great source of bonding for both babyT and us. Whenever he is feeling bored or wants to vie for our attention he runs to fetch a book from his playroom, insists to sit on my lap and says “Booka Booka” prodding me to keep my phone aside and read to him. As for me, if babyT is edgy and cranky and overstimulated, I know reading a baby book is what gets him to calm down and soothe himself again. Win for both parties. <3 Continue reading
Mommy’s day out… such a rare phenomenon once you have a baby and add to it if you are a SAHM whose baby is so used to having you around the house that stepping out alone seems next to impossible. But leisure time for moms is so important because a happy mommy means happy baby right?
So when Ritu the founder of JAMMS (Journey about Mast Moms) network organised a mommy brunch at the newly opened Sodabottleopenerwala at Powai (#SBOWPowai) I jumped at the chance. I made arrangements to leave #babyT with his maternal grandparents and “dressed up” to go brunching with some fellow mommies from JAMMS. Continue reading
I don’t call myself a seasoned babywearer. I have found my comfort in certain types of baby carriers and some are a total fail (read: Wraps) for me. But that is the beauty of baby-wearing, it is capable of providing solutions for every person, to suit their needs, their babies and personal comfort, budgets and so on. Soft structured or full buckled carriers had found their place in my heart for their quick “wearability” and ease of use. I discovered Meh Dais by way of a travelling carrier program and we had a love-hate relationship with ring slings. I was in my happy place with baby-wearing.
Then one morning, I woke up and with half opened eyes, saw a message from Soul, asking if I would like to try one of their carriers and review it. Would I?? When Soul knocks at your door (or Facebook page) you only say YES! They wanted to send me a 100% Linen Full Buckle carrier and I quickly chose the colour I wanted and the very next afternoon it was in my hands. Wow. Blown over with their promptness and speed of response. Here’s my review of Soul baby carriers. Continue reading
For today’s final post for the #AtoZBloggingChallenge Z is for Zeba our nanny.
Let me introduce you to Zeba. She is a 20 something woman, who manages her own home and mine. She is the reason I am here everyday, with some amount of sanity and energy left in me to blog and to allow me to pee/ poop/ bathe/ have one cup of coffee in peace. Zeba is our nanny. She minds babyT in the day time. To me she is a big savior who has allowed me to bring in some degree of normalcy to my life. Continue reading
Today’s maybe a slightly sensational topic. But I would urge you to read my entire blog post before you make a judgement about the word for today’s #AtoZbloggingChallenge – #Yisfor the #Ychromosome
For the longest time in, our culture predominantly, it was believed that a woman was the determinant of the sex of the child I.e. a male or female child. So if it was a female child that was born, it was totally the mother’s fault. Her body and uterus messed up.
What does science say
Science and basic genetics then taught us that it wasn’t actually the mother’s DNA but that of the father which determined whether the child would be male or female. So the mother’s egg carried two X chromosomes. And the father’s sperm cells carried an X and a Y chromosome. When one chromosome from the mother met another from the father a child was born. And if X met X then it would be a female child and if X and Y met it would be a male child. So it was the Y chromosome who was the hero/ culprit then.
My life is a last minute affair. The entire #AtoZBloggingChallenge has been a last minute affair. I try and look for a word over days and hours and finally around 10 pm a flash of brilliance goes off in my brain (well according to me anyway.) and I have a word which I love and feel so excited to write about. Today’s word is such…
After poring over geeky lists of words beginning with X and getting some scary ideas for blog posts (Xeniatrophobia – the hatred for foreign Doctors. Innocent Dr (Mrs.) Singh from my childhood in the UK was going to get a mention.) I had almost relented my fate and went to clear up babyT’s play room for the night, when my eyes fell upon this Xylophone. (Fanfare went off in my head, really, you had to be me to know it.)
Every house that has a new baby has a Xylophone or two. And of course babies are meant to hit, whack, throw and poke the crap out of it.. they of course cannot play it, unless they are the late Mr. Brahms incarnate. Does your Xylophone really get the due that it is born to do?
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