Let’s Plan and work for a productive Living-January

Welcome to my FIRST post of 2018-Goal planning post for 2018! I am really excited that you have hopped in to read this special post of mine. Since December, I have made it mandatory to write my monthly Goals as it’s really difficult for me to work on daily basis without planning. So with the Planning, I am accountable and when looking back I will know if I am doing my things right.

To know about the December month Goal you can click here!

So how did December Goals Go?

• Concentrate on Health- Alhamdulilah trying to eat healthy but I was unable to concentrate on workouts as we are in the 18^th month regression stage.
• Build a Strong Relationship with Almighty- I failed here as I wasn’t able to read a juz per day as decided. In shaa allah will plan better which is feasible for now. Taking baby steps is really good.

January Goals

          I am breaking down my categories into 5 areas:

 Religious; Parenting; Family; Alizehmysoul blog and Learning a new art.

Religious Goal:

          I want to build a strong relationship with Almighty,

• So to Pray 5 times a day with full concentration In shaa allah
• memorise a surah a day.
• Try to read a page from Hadith with meaning.

Parenting Goal:

• I am Planning to concentrate this month with simple play-based learning.
• Try to involve her in making the bed. You might laugh but she loves helping me so she can pull the sheet, arranging the pillows etc.

Family Goal:

          I need to work on this. My motive is going to be “Do It on the Spot”. A task to be done whenever need arises. With a toddler around my home will be spread with toys, balls, spoons, etc. So whenever I cross the spot clean it then and there so I can relax.

Have No Laundry to fold the next day

Have to go through the stuffs and donate them In shaa allah as we feel the more we donate, more the Gratitude behaviour grows within you.

Read stories and speak lot as a family

Alizehmysoul Blog Goal:

• December was good in terms of writing. In shaa allah have to plan quality articles this month.
• Have to collaborate with a blogger to exchange a guest post or two.
• Link up my articles.

Learn a New Skill:

     After babyA I started taking photographs. So In shaa allah I am going to capture a special moment or anything which amazes me and make an album of it. In shaa allah I will become a skilled photographer:p

I don’t know If I would be able to complete all of these and I haven’t planned things before babyA but doing now just because of babyA’s presence in my life. It might be a simple thing for you but it’s a huge list for me and In shaa allah as planned I will have to work on it.

Please do encourage me and if you really wish you can join our journey too by sharing your plan for the month January! Come let’s begin a well planned fun filled Winter Season!

Welcome to the Monthly Goals Blog Hop! Do you plan your month ahead? Have you anything in particular that your looking forward to this month? Is there anything in your life that needs focus? Kids, family, self… what is your motivation?
This blog hop and link up is to help you make new friends and find a partner to stay accountable to. Every month, a group of us get together to write our monthly goals. This helps us stay connected, accountable as well as inspire other moms to know how we do it all.
This month the participating blogs are:
Jeddah Mom – Confident Parenting | Deliberate Motherhood
Multicultural Motherhood
Mommy’s Next step 
Alizeh My Soul

Peek-a-P(b)oo

If a person talks about poop often he probably would be a doctor or a mother. If you speak about the poop without any shy then you are a mother ofcourse.

Discussion about poop may happen anywhere and infact everywhere. It might be on a dining table, date nights or even during hangouts.

We mothers wake up thinking about shit, if the baby hasn’t pooped a day anxiety arises and then we literally will be behind the baby to check if he/she has pooped.

Here we are going to check on the role of Poop from pregnancy till the end.

During Pregnancy 
All forms starting from constipation to diarrhea will happen in this stage. Whatever it is poop topic won’t be a conversation topic here. The topic will be zipped one not even to husband or to the doctor due to hesitation fearing bully. But seriously she wouldn’t have a clue that a big list is in wait thereafter.

During Labour
It’s a default that when you push out the little human in you, you invariably push out the poop too. Its a very common embarrassment that every mother faces. Its science of nature and none can escape from this incident.

After Labour
After the baby is out, the last thing which will happen is the bowel movement. From now ON everyone will talk about the poop. Few will get constipated and the whole team will speak about the steps to stimulate  the bowel. When you get your first poop after birth that’s where you will start thinking about poop. The word poop would have become a part and parcel of your life by then.

Newborn Poop
This is where you don’t care about embarrassing moments or comments regarding poop anymore . It becomes a norm. Starting from the meconium which is black tar sticky substance to the mustard coloured one. From now bum cleaning,becomes a skill and you would wait for the baby to poop. Poop becomes a point to track the jaundice level in baby and recording how often the baby poops. I still remember noting down the poop records in a book and eventhough i kept a track digitally  i was asked to track down in a paper by my cousin who happened to be a doctor.  Then the conversion of mustard colour poop and then comes the stages of poops where they will be frothy and not frothy. If its frothy how to overcome that. Its the relation between the foremilk and hindmilk.  You will save the pictures of the poop to show to the doctor to know the reason. Thanks to the family with years of experience who will easily give thousands of poop clarifications stories. History of gas issues. Massage stories what not. I luckily had my sister who took care about the poop job where she also discussed about it to her doctor friends to find a solution and the phase definitely consists of innumerable sleepless nights. Your sleep will be lost until they don’t poop. Its very common for breastfed babies to not to poop in their initial days but luckily we were in this stage for a day or two and we were back in track but in those two days i would have gone mad.
Just like the days move out the shit stories also move out and then comes the next stage of poop.

Blowouts
This is what worried me a lot when i was conceived looking at the blowouts the other kiddos had and the face of mommies went strange looking at the condition the baby was!. Luckily i hadn’t faced this condition as babyA was either in a nappy or a cloth diaper during this stage. Where we safeguarded the cloth she wore during the poop blast. As it was cloth the blast didn’t happen like it occurs in disposables. In the meantime there will be tension about the diaper rashes. Luckily our diaper rash history was minor. Even Before her bum cheeks becomes bright red or severely erythematous on  I would apply coconut oil or diaper cream to make her feel comfortable. Mommy anxiousness right! Luckily we crossed this stage and landed into the real poop phase.

Real Poop
Once my baby reached a stage where solids entered the real poop comes into picture. Since she eats cultural food her poop is going to be like adults. Since its a cloth diaper the smell is going to be natural without any fragrance. It will be so pungent. I din’t find it awkward because most of the time it’s only me and my kiddo. I myself at times  feel nauseated due to the pungent smell but above all if i don’t sniff it a single day it becomes a matter of anxiety and stress. Luckily I am happy we don’t face this issue frequently .When speaking about it to other mommy friends i feel better as obviously the baby poops only when there is an intake. But a watch should be kept about the consistency as that conveys the status of baby’s health.

Though we are not in the process of potty training we make sure we are in cloth nappies or undies so we don’t have poop accidents soiling the floor, carpets, beds etc. Poop becomes a part of your life in your motherhood journey. You become obsessed more with the poop history where you will walk , speak, sleep with the poop. I went a step ahead and got a poopy print diaper from the Superbottoms. You will understand me only if you are a cloth diapering mom!!

As every phase goes on this phase will also move on. It’s afterall a small experience and every Mom would definitely go through this atleast once in their life !! After all life is all about finding happiness and cheer in every minute things happening dawn to dusk !! Happy peek-a-p(b)oo mommies !! 😉

Colour Themed Sensory Basket

When babyA was around 5 months she had an urge to pull the stuffs around her. That is the phase where I felt to collect the stuffs she will be interested in and put it in one place like basket or a tub or box so that she can explore and I can get some ME time when she does that. So I started searching and found the treasure basket series from the imaginationtree and I really enjoyed collecting stuffs for her and even I do play at times; being a mommy I behave like a kiddo part 2.
So now I’m in the phase of introducing colours so I took up the Colour pink now.

The baskets can be done quick and it’s very simple to create with the stuffs we have around home. Not only with colours we can create the treasure basket to teach the shapes, texture, sizes, rhymes, stories, etc. Now let’s see what all We have collected in the Pink Basket

Pink Saturn ribbon
Hot box cover
Pink spoon
Plates
Baby high chair support
Teddy

Baby shoe

Blue Basket

Foam Letter 2

Cylinder shaped

Her playset cups

Saucepans

You can also use the coloured rice filled in a bottle.

It’s really fun to sit back and see how the kids explore depending on the age. They touch, feel and explore each and every stuff in the basket.  Their imagination grows based on how to work on this. They can take it out and put it back into the bin. They may even use the property without teaching them. They may even discover a new method to use them. They will chew too as that’s their routine. So with the basic basket the baby/toddler is getting an opportunity to learn the colour, explore the stuffs and knows about the methodology to use a particular product.

Did you like this? Please do let me know about your experience with the sensory bin if you had made earlier and if not make it and share your experience

Baby-A Turns ONE

While thinking about these beautiful words “Baby A turns One” a mixed feeling comes within me joy, tears, how the time flies?, etc. It’s really amazing to feel that I am a mommy of an 1 year old now. My baby is no more a tiny squish who is pink in colour. Missing those newborn moments of course. This One year had too much to handle like so many hugs, kisses, cuddles, maturity, patience, anger what not? This one year not only alizeh has grown up but also we the family members. Happy birthday to all of us!!

                As baby A turns ONE the first and foremost thing which comes in mind is “THE FIRST BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS”.I can hear you guys what will a 1 year old girl understand about the celebrations? Even I thought about it a lot but she really understands something special is going to happen and was excited just like her mumma and papa. It’s more of a celebration for a family that they have crossed 1 year of parenting, risks, joy, happiness etc. As you guys know that we have recently moved to Denver we really missed the family back in India and had oscillations whether to celebrate or not to celebrate but with our family’s encouragement madeup our minds to celebrate the birthday. As we are here wanted to celebrate simple as we really didn’t want to leave the family unattended. So the planning started a month back. My mind was working on possible decorations, what should her attires be? What accessories should baby A wear? Will she cooperate with the head band or will she throw it??  And the big day was nearing and I had to do lot of planning. As a new mommy who is new to DIY and arranging a big event for the first time felt my jotting down would help other fellow mommies to plan a DIY Birthday Party.

Planning for a Date, Time and Venue:

                Being a Long weekend, we didn’t want to plan for a weekend as we didn’t want to collapse others plans and We wanted to happen it on the same day so fixed the party to be on her Birthday 29^th June. We wanted to be in sync with the families in India [her grandparents] so fixed a time based on that so it happened to be 7.30 to 10 p.m. and the venue we booked a community club in a neighbourhood as we didn’t want to pack the house with people and make babyA to panic. This clubhouse had a hall attached to pool so if at all babyA cries we could move to the pool to calm her down. This was our plan and everything went as per the plan.

Theme

I was too specific on a theme but since we didn’t give her screentime till now she wouldn’t know about the cartoon characters and she won’t be able to relate that. And I too can’t decorate the hall with the theme so for easy job took a simple colors theme. Fixed purple as her dress was purple and ended up adding small inclusions which would complement the colour purple. And we didn’t want to trouble the guests by asking them to dress based on the theme so it was colour themed party.

With the theme in mind my lovable sister designed the party invite and once approved it was circulated to the guests. If you are really impressed and if you would like to get one made for you I would recommend you guyz to my sister to make one for you.

 

Guest List

                One fine day we happened to sit and jot down the tentative guest list mostly it was new friends who are close to our family right now as you guyz pretty well know that we moved recently to Denver and online guests[her grandparents and aunts] Mainly based on the availability of the day we finalised closed circle of friends to make the event more memorable one.

Budget

                Once the guest list is finalised we made an approximate budget which is the duty of babyA’s dad as I am a shocker in nature. Still didn’t come out of the Indian scenario and still keeps on calculating and converting the currencies so strictly moved out of this and BabyA’s dad made a perfect budget and planned accordingly. It included our catering, DIY decorations, Cake, travel, etc.

Decoration

                As the clubhouse was little bit of grand in nature didn’t want to decorate more to spoil its beauty. But as I wanted to do something for my daughter I made it a point to work on this. Made a centrepiece with blocks and it rocked the décor. My sisy helped me in giving the embossing effect on the letters and faru helped in wrapping the boxes with wonderful gift wrappers and it is rocking even now. A birth wreath was made with the thin details of babyA and it was placed in the entrance of the hall and it was spoken by all. Then got few readymade swirls from the partycity and hung up them here and there. Made giant flowers with tissues and pompoms and decorated the hall great. All happened only because of the support from my husband and his friend. Made a Chalkboard chart which was incomplete and it rocked :p

CAKE

                A cake is the heroine of the show next to the Heroine of the day. First I planned to bake A cake for her but with time constraint ordered the cake from SAMS CLUB. Planned for a 10.20 theme cake as she was born by 10.20 p.m.; but later changed to the Paris Love cake which rocked the event. Everyone spoke about the beauty which was a three tiered cake where chocolate layer was sandwiched between Vanilla layers. Letters A and E was placed on the top of the cake which was the icing on the Cake’s beauty.

I wanted everyone starting from my family to the guests to be a part of the birthday celebrations. As its her first birthday felt she shouldn’t miss the love of India and her family. So asked the family back in country to write letters for her and messages for her to open up when she reaches an age where she is able to understand how much they love her. Even her apartment friends made a video to wish her on her big day.

Friends Became a part of Family

                There is a saying when we are in a different land friends become family members and it has been experienced by us through my daughter. They all love my daughter a lot and helped us in arranging the event just like their family. Two people volunteered to take the pictures on the birthday. One person took care of collecting the cake. One welcomed the guests and made the rest comfortable till we reached the venue.

                Totally both Faru and I are satisfied to make this as a family event with the limited time we had in our hand to make it grand. Certainly we miss our families but happy that we were able to do live streaming and make it happen. Thanks to almighty to make it happen.

We had few fun entertainment too and we all enjoyed as planned and babyA’s reaction while cutting the cake was priceless. Instead of looking at the cake she looked at the people which made me feel bad for the care she has for the crowd. We were able to relate how she missed people and family back in India. In shaa allah we will meet soon and celebrate grand events in the near future.

Totscart Handmade Fitted Diaper Giveaway

Have you tried Fitted Diapers? If not then you need to right now. To try the fitted diapers baby A and I have teamed up with Totscart to bring you a giveaway.  Scoot to my Instagram and Facebook page, look for the Totscart Handmade Fitteds Diapers Review posts to take part now.

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