Tuesday 19 February 2019

Gadgets That Made Motherhood Easy For Me

I think I have mentioned it on social media before, that all my life I feared motherhood because, I thought delivering the baby would be the most difficult part. But I was so wrong. Turned out that was the easiest. What I didn't know or expect was that what follows was even more difficult.
Sore body, sleepless nights, chipped/bruised and leaking nipples, a colicky baby and my Post Partum hormones...everything just made it look like hell.
I really thought, I would never be able to come out of it, my life was over and I couldn't run away from all this.


Time heals everything, and of course you have friends to knock some sense into you. A little bit of rest and loads of TLC from your immediate family, goes a long way in making a new mom confident and independent. But along this journey, there were a few things or should I say gadgets that made my life easier and hence I wanted to write about them.
These gadgets aren't path breaking or new, but they are not very popular in India and I wanted to create awareness about them for the sake of my Indian readers. This is not a sponsored post.
So, here goes. A list of gadgets that made motherhood easy for me.

Fisher Price Swing and Cradle:

This is completely 'God Sent'. In the initial weeks, my baby hardly slept longer than 30 mins. I tried a number of traditional swings for my baby and she hated them all. And then finally we bought the Fisher Price Swing and Cradle, and it was like the best investment we made. Now, our baby was taking naps as long as 3-4 hours and this new mom couldn't have been happier. We used the swing until our baby was 13 months old, everyday for her day naps and it never disappointed us.

Chico Sterilizer:


My daughter wasn't a boob sucker, she was a boob chewer. Breast feeding her was too much pain. I don't think I have cried so much in my entire life. So, I had resorted to bottle feeding her, either with my expressed milk or formula early on. The thing with bottles is that they are really easy to use, but it's so important to keep them clean and sterilized. For the first week or two, we would sterilize the bottles in a pot of boiling water. And it was just too much work. But after my sister gifted me the Chicco Sterilizer, life became so much easier. We still use it, to sterilize my daughter's bottles, and sometimes even her teethers and utensils.

Baby Monitor:
 
If you live in India or like in my case Mumbai, buying a baby monitor doesn't make much sense.
Why? Because you are probably surrounded by a dozen people who help you take care of the baby, or because you live in a tiny one or two bedroom apartments and spend most of the time close to the baby. So why need a monitor?
I would have never bought one myself. But the baby monitor that I use was a hand me down from my Sister in law who lives in the USA.

We did not use it until my baby was two months old even though we had it. I spend majority of the time with the baby, either feeding her, putting her to sleep and even doing other stuff in the baby's room while the baby was sleeping. All this, actually overwhelmed me.
Like I have mentioned before, the post partum blues or whatever you may like to call it, made me more and more anxious. I seriously wanted to run away to catch on some me-time. But after we installed the baby monitor, I couldn't believe how good I felt. Just being able to escape the baby room and read a book in my living room watching the baby on the monitor helped me tonnes in getting my sanity back. I was watching TV while keeping a close eye on the baby without disturbing her. I was drinking my coffee, in the favorite corner of my house watching the baby on the monitor. This may sound silly, but it felt liberating. We still use it to when our baby takes her naps.


Google Home:


I always thought that when I have a kid of my own, I wouldn't want to expose them to too much screen time. But little did I know that it would be so tough. However, let me tell you that it is possible. We exhausted all our creativity and energies, but have successfully been able to keep our daughter off screen time. But one gadget that really helped us in the process is Google Home. It not only plays her favorite nursery rhymes on our request, but also plays sounds of animals, birds and musical instruments. My daughter lovingly calls it GuGu. And we couldn't be more happy and proud.


MyBaby SoundSpa:

This was a gift from my colleagues at work, and it came in really handy to put my baby to sleep.
It plays soothing music and projects fun images on your ceiling/wall; wherever you project it. The fact that my baby is a music lover really helped. My daughter still falls asleep with the SoundSpa. And the projector has helped stop her tantrums so may times. She waves to all the animals/moon/stars that it projects before she goes to sleep and then we turn the projection off and just play the music until she falls asleep.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Let me know, if you have any gadget that made motherhood easy for you. I would love to know about it.

P.S. I do not own the product images used in this post.

Friday 8 February 2019

Ethnic Style with Brijraj Fashion

I am not sure if this was a conscious decision or a lazy co-incidence, that I haven't shot for a single outfit post after my baby was born.
Like every average woman I put on tonnes of weight and in the past 1.5 years I manged to lose some. But there's still so much more that needs to go.
All the weight that I put on, made me really uncomfortable shooting for an outfit post, because I genuinely believed my readers would hate it. Post Partum blues can be nasty.
But now that I am over all of it, I am ready to flaunt my bulges and curves in all its glory.
Today's post was long due. Not only because I am dying to flaunt a gorgeous outfit from Brijraj Fashion but also because, I want to document how I look 18 months post delivery.

Having worked with Brijraj before, I wasn't surprised when this unstitched suit reached home. The fabric is really gorgeous and the finishing impeccable. Very few sites deliver what they promise, and Brijraj is definitely one of them.

I paired this gorgeous green dress with Earrings from PreciousYou ; another brand that I recently discovered, and I was ready to shoot my first outfit post post baby Ishanvi.




















































Don't forget to check out for their gorgeous ethnic wear from
Brijraj Fashion

Photography: Abhijeet Kank

Sunday 3 February 2019

Product Review: Oriflame Love Nature Face Mask Cucumber

Being a parent comes with its wins and loses. While you win a truck load of cuddles and kisses you lose out on your sleep and me time. Being a hands on mom can not only rob you of your sanity but also take a toll on your skin, hair and overall health. It becomes all the more necessary that you take care of yourself once you become a mom, because let's not forget this ever. A happy mom = A happy baby.
And babies follow by example, so if you take care of yourself, so will your little ones. I was never a person who followed a beauty regime even before I had a kid. But one easy fix that I really vouch by are face masks. Hence, I am always on a lookout for face masks which not only work wonders on my skin but are affordable also.

One face mask that I recently used was the Oriflame Love Nature Face Mask Cucumber.


The mask comes in a tube and is green in colour with clay like consistency. It is easy to apply and spreads evenly on the face. I prefer to air dry face masks rather than sitting under the fan. After the mask dried off, I washed it off with water. It washes off pretty easily with little effort.


I love the packaging of the mask. It's easy to use and store. This cucumber mask feels soothing when applied and after washing off, the skin feels smooth and supple. It did not dry my skin like most face masks do. I really liked the after effects of the mask and wouldn't mind using it again. The 30 ml tube costs Rs. 199, which is quite affordable and a total steal.

Do you have any favourite face masks? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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