Very easy Kid friendly Finding Dory Crafts

"Hi i'm Dory! I suffer from short term memory loss"

Every person that knows me well also knows that i'm not a very crafty person [I fake it pretty well though..LOL]. But every once in a while when I stumble across something interesting or a super cute and lovely movie, I challenge myself to bring out that non existent crafty little girl inside me and I have a little fun. Lucky for me, I have an almost 3 year old little girl who is legit into anything that gets her a little messy but produces cute results. Fun and games, right!

So this past weekend we went on a Mother-Daughter date to watch Finding Dory. It was Kbear's first time in a movie cinema and I was both excited and nervous. Excited because finally my little girl is not so little anymore and she gets to experience some exciting stuff, but also very nervous because we were both coming down with flu and I wasn't quite sure that little Miss K would be willing to sit for 90mins without being a little agitated. 

Well, the odds must have been really on my side because all went smooth and she was rather very well behaved. Surprise, surprise!

So when we got home, we were all on the Finding Dory high, thee cutest movie ever!, and we decided to get a little crafty. And of course i'm here to share just how super easy this was.

But before you get started, here's a list of a few supplies you'll need:

• Paint - preferably blue and yellow paint since that's Dory's colours but it's not compulsory also red/orange for Hank
• Paint brushes
• Paper - used plain white paper
• Pair of scissors
• Empty toilet paper roll
• Glue / Cellotape - or some sort of adhesive
• Black marker
• Yellow highlighter

And now you are ready to get started :)

Don't worry, this is very easy to do. Kept my little one busy for about an hour.

• First let the little one paint the page with blue paint - no need to worry about the mess, we need the whole page to be covered with blue paint
• Repeat the above step for the yellow paint as well as the red paint. - i used red because I couldn't mix colours to get orange to make Hank (this worked well as well)
•  Then take your painted pages outside to let them dry

Once all the painted pages are dry, follow the below to make:

Dory

• Take the blue painted page and cut it in half (to have little A5 size pages.)
• Roll it over to have a shape of a cone
• Stick the pointy part with collate to keep it in place
• Then if you want you can put in some more collate where needed
• And then cut the bigger top part of the cone to make it level so it can stand on the table without support
• Then take the yellow paper and cut out 2 shapes to make Dory's fins
• Then cut out 2 circles from a plain white paper and draw black circle inside. This will be Dory's eyes.
• Using your adhesive of choice, stick both the fins and eyes on Dory's body.
• Then lastly draw Dory's mouth with a black marker. PS: You can make it any shape you want.
• And that is your Dory :)

Hank

Making Hank was much easier than expected. Which was a total plus for this non crafty Mama :)

• Take the red/orange painted page and an empty toilet paper roll
• Roll the page around the empty toilet paper roll, using adhesive where necessary to keep it in place.
• Cut out 2 circles from a plain white paper and draw in black circles inside. This will be Hank's eyes.
• Using adhesive, stick the eyes to Hank's body.
• Then take scissors and start cutting out the paper from the bottom up. Stopping just a little bit before you hit the empty toilet paper roll.
• Then use a yellow highlighter to draw on Hank's tentacles
• When finished, use a pen to roll Hank's arms to get that nice finish.
• And with this, you have yourself a complete Hank lookalike :)

I sure hope that I have explained this well. I am thinking now that it would have been so much better to do this on video but it's too late now. Anyway, let me know in the comments below if you'd like to see this in a video format and i'll be happy to film that. 

For a person with ZERO crafting skills, I think this turned out well and for once, my daughter recognised what it is we were doing (called it Dory right away). Normally she sees something completely different from what we doing, thanks to my crafting skills, or lack thereof :). 

Have fun crafting with your little ones and i'll see you soon.

xoxo

Oluv

Experience Disney Magic away from Disney Land

2015 Disney on Ice Program Calendar

I've spent months dreaming about going to Disney Land with my little one; hopping on all the rides, eating ice cream, and having a time of our lives. 

"The happiest place on earth,right!"

But then I get back to reality and realise that it might just not be practical yet. My little one is only almost 3 years old. "No" and "behave yourself" doesn't quite mean much to her and with the level of determination she has, going to Disney Land now might actually turn out to be nightmare. Queues are long, It gets crazy packs, and also, it is quite expensive to travel to Disney Land with little one now when she won't remember a thing in 2 months.

But, with this being said; I have absolutely no problem taking her to go experience a little bit of Disney magic without having to pay for all the expenses that come with going to Disney Land. For 2 hours out of our chosen day we get to sit and enjoy a little slice of Disney heaven. We get to see the disney characters come to live and for me as a mother, I get to see that beautifully joyful smile on my daughter; and the best part is, when it's all over, we get to go back home and relax.

This however is not as easy as it sounds, if you are like me and don't appreciate chaos and don't do very well in crowded places. If you are planning to take the little ones to watch Disney on Ice to get a chance to experience that little bit of Disney Magic, there's a few things you need to know. Things I wish somebody told me before I took my then 22months old baby to watch the show last year. Things that made me almost tear up because I was so irritated and annoyed. Things that I am definitely going to make sure I get right this year. I am putting together a *To-remember-to-do-List* of all things I need to make sure I fully enjoy my 2 hours of watching Disney on Ice beacuse let's be honest

Disney on Ice is as much a show for kids as it is for Parents. We all love Disney Characters!

 These aregoing stright to the top of the that *To-remember-to-do-List*

• Bring cash - they do not take cards for payment on anything and there's just 1 or 2 mobile atm's and hundreds of people.
• Arrive 30-45 min before the show starts - This will give you enough time to look around and try decide what you are buying for the little ones - and yourself :). Also helps with parking.
• Pack some snacks for the little ones - this is totally optional but also very very cost saving. There are little stalls selling snacks (popcorns, slushies etc) but they don't come in cheap. I remember I had to buy small popcorns for R80 last year, chances are prices increased this year.
•  Do not bring Newborn babies or babies in arms with the expectation that they don't have to pay - Every single person inside the show is expected to have a ticket on hand including babies being held by parents.
•  Have pocket tissues handy - It is an ice ring and although it's not that cold for the parents, little ones get runny noses.
•  Rather use the mall parking than the dedicated parking - Makes it very easy to get out and go home once show is over.

I was very naive last year. I had hoped there'll be impeccable order and as it turned out, I was wrong. There was order, just not impeccable but because I had expected more, I was a little disappointed. This however, did not stop me from enjoying the show. It was simply magical! Almost like being in Disney Land - I think.

2016 Disney on Ice poster

Oh and just in case you are wondering; this years's Disney on Ice theme is *Worlds of Enchantment* and the line up includes performances by characters from Cars, The Little Mermaid (who doesn't love Ariel :) ), Frozen (Queen Elsa and Princess Anna), Toy Story, Mickey & Minne, and more. The shows will be running in Johannesburg The Dome from the 24th June - 3rd of July 2016 and tickets retails from R100 - R475 - with a chance of group/family discounts - amazing!.

Funny thing is, it feels just like yesterday when we were watching Disney on Ice with my little one and yet we will be watching it again in a little less than 24hours. I can barely wait!

I hope the *To-remember-to-do-list* will help you prepare for the show and atually enjoy it, if you'll be taking the little ones to watch Disney on Ice and let chat in the comments below about you liked or didn't like about your experience there.

Above all, remeber to have FUN and take loads of pics :).

xoxo

Oluv

Potty Training - My Scary Experience

I am a first time mom! And this means i've been having a LOAD of firsts in the past almost 3 years.  Some very exciting stuff and some of those not so exciting stuff. I was prepared for all the things that come with being a mom. Ready to hit the ground running and be the best mom EVER. And yes, it was mostly peaches and cream - only because I had prepared myself so hard - until I had to Potty Train. Then my cage was rattled. Procrastination hit hard, tears flowed down, and sleepless nights creeped in. Yes, it all seems crazy but this all happened to me. 

Never had I imagined that I would be feeling the way I felt. Not for nothing but I really did not want my Lil Baby to grow up. And yet here she was, showing me all signs that she's ready to potty train and I all I could do was look the other way. One excuse after another - "She's not ready! She's still so little! She's my baby! Let's get through the nappies! I will start in Summer!" - It just kept going on and on.

After having several chats with different first time moms, I realised that this might just be a first time mom thing. Quite frankly, I was so GLAD I wasn't alone in this. The First Time Mom Struggle! *sigh*

So after several months of procrastination and I finally ran out of excuses, I got myself to go ahead and start the potty training journey with my little one. This started in December of 2015. My little Kbear was 2years old and 4months Old and just before she turned 2years Old and 6months, we were done. Honestly, though, I was extremely clueless on what it is I was doing and whether or not I was doing it right, this was by far 1 of the most interesting things i've done with my little one.

As I am writing this post, Kbear is fully potty trained and has been for the past 4.5months. It all started with 1 terrified mom, a very excited lil one in pull up nappies, and a whole bunch of potty training supplies. And it ended with not only a HAPPY mom but also a confident 1, a little lady in cute underwear, and a lot of waterproof sheet liners.

It was a very daunting thing at the beginning. One of those *a blind leading a blind* kind of situations. I had to do a load of research and collect as much information as I possibly can on Potty Training but most importantly, I had to get started.

I spent a lot of time, wondering if I was doing the right thing, if I was encouraging lil one enough, if the bathroom trips were frequent enough, and, and, and! The wondering kept going. Until 1 day my lil girl woke up and her bed and pants were completely dry. Not because she didn't need to use the bathroom, but because she actually got out of bed and used her potty. This was magical and very very reassuring. I knew then that, all is well. That we have been doing it right. All those days that we spent at home afraid to go anywhere (just in case a potty accident happens) were all worth it. Our potty training journey was coming to the end. my girl was now ready to let go of Mommy's hand and be lil Miss Independent. It hurt a lil, because to me that was another sign that she's growing up too fast, but I was also very happy. This was 1 of the exercises that myself and my daughter partnered and actually did together; as a team.

So I figured, there's a very real chance that there's a 1st time mom out there who is going through exactly what I went through and reading this might just make her feel much better and even give a push in the right direction. And so here I am sharing my top tips on getting on with this Potty Training Monster and actually doing it right.

PS: You might want to refer to this video for more detailed explanations on these tips https://youtu.be/FkKTOiHLGhA .

• Commit to Potty Train your little one
• Make sure you have all the Potty Training supplies 
• Depending on whether you are potty training a lil Boy or Girl, you will need the supplies
• Potty seat
• Lil urinal
• Potty Toilet
• Underwear
• Pull-Up pants nappies (optional) - I didn't use these, went cold turkey
• Loads of wet wipes
• Get started - Just begin the Potty Training Journey
• Take lil one with you overtime you go to the bathroom
• Make lil one sit on Potty every 2 hours
• Give lil one as much liquid as possible. This will make him/her want to use the Potty
• Never look back - Keep going strong

Honestly I am not an expert on Potty Training. I have only ever done it once and I do not regret a thing. I only hope that by following the above tips you'll be able to start the Potty Training Adventure with your lil one. And most importantly I hope you will have a ton of fun while doing it.

xoxo

Oluv

Come have Fun with Paw Patrol's Chase and Marshall

Chase and Marshall

Summer is over, Days are getting shorter, The cold is slowly creeping in and it's getting a little bit harder to get the lil ones outdoors to play. So what better way to entertain them  than by taking them to go meet Chase and Marshall? These are two Puppy characters from the TV show Paw Patrol. On the show there's a total of 6 puppies, they live with their guardian Rider in a little town called Adventure Bay and together they *Save the Day*. Literally!! As the show slogan goes - *No Job too big, No Pup to small* ,they are always there to provide help or should I say to rescue the day when needed. This is one of the TV shows that I do not mind my 2 year old watching.

If your lil ones loves puppies, there's a very good chance they'll love the TV show and even better, they'll love meeting the Puppy characters in real life. So come on over to Eastgate Mall on the 23rd of April 2016 [more details on the press release below] and let your lil ones have the time of their lives. This event is in partnership with Hamleys - The finest toy store in the world - and I am not being paid to blog about it.

I must admit, I secretly love the Paw Patrol TV show as well :). There are times were I find myself singing their theme song and without a doubt I get just as excited as my 2 year old when the new episode airs on TV. With this being the case, It goes without saying the I will definitely be taking my Kbear to meet Chase and Marshall and I hope i'll see you there. 

xoxo

Oluv

Meet Chase and Marshall at Hamleys Eastgate!

Date: 23rd April!
Time: 10am & 12pm & 2pm
Where: Hamleys Eastgate!

Hamleys Eastgate will be welcoming, two very special visitors, Chase and Marshall from PAW Patrol!

The PAW Patroller and a few friends have headed out on the road this April and they are bringing everyone’s favourite pups exclusively to Hamleys at Eastgate Shopping Centre!

Chase and Marshall have taken a break from their missions to shake paws and pose for photos with their fans. You will not only get to meet them but you will get to take your photo home to remember the special occasion!
Hamleys is exited to host this incredible duo and looks forward to seeing everyone come along and join the Fun!

Additional Information: The Meet & Greet will be for 20min at a time. All Hamleys customers should expect queues at free events; customers should arrive early to avoid disappointment. Queues will be cut to ensure the event finishes on time. Hamleys standard Ts&Cs apply.

Kbear is officially 2 and 1/2 years Old

My lil Queen

OMW!!! I can barely believe that in just a lil over 5 months my Little Baby will be 3 years old. It's really so crazy how time flies. I remember when she was just a day old and I was fantasising about what it'll be like once she crawls. Then when she started crawling, I fantasised about what it'll be like when she starts walking. Then about what it'll be like when she starts talking. Now she's doing all that. All my fantasies came true and yet I find myself fantasising about what it was like when she was a Baby. It's funny how things work out.

Every day I wake up and I feel so proud and blessed to be this Little Girl's Mother. Watching her grow up before my eyes and turn into a little self-sufficient toddler is a bit heartbreaking but also very very amazing. I can't imagine life without her. She reminds me each day just how blessed I am and she brings out just so much joy inside me.

Yes, she's a typical 2 year old. Naughty! Full of Tantrums! Stubborn and Cheeky! just to mention a few. But you know what, I would not have it any other way. 

Be sure to check out this video https://youtu.be/Ta21DTjVR_4  to find out more about what she likes and her some of her favourite funny phrases. Please leave your comments below with suggestions of what you'd like to read here next :).

Thank you so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon.

xoxo

Oluv

How to keep a 2 year busy || Working Mom - Busy Toddler!

Myself and My 2year Old Toddler

There's been times where I found myself starring at my daughter and not knowing what to do with her. Honestly, this was due to lack of planning from my side and as a result, I just let her watch TV. As a full time working mom, who films Daily Vlogs and Ad-hoc videos that I upload on YouTube, life can get very hectic at times to a point where I live on disaster recovery mode. Of course the planner and organizer freak in me wasn't very happy with this so I got up and I looked for ideas to keep my lil one busy. With this mission, Little Activity Buckets were born. I needed something that I'd be able to plan ahead and something that I knew my Kbear would not only love but also enjoy.

So one day, I took her into her playroom and I asked her to give me her favourite toys. Once she was happy with what she gave me, I went back into the playroom, took out all the toys she gave me and put them aside. Then looked through all the ones she didn't pick and came up with ways to make them interesting enough for her to like them. This helped me get her to play with almost all of her toys without putting up a fight. For the longest time she's had toys that she never played with because she just wasn't interested and we were stuck with a playroom filled with toys and no one to play with!

Something to note: I change what I put in the Lil Buckets every week just to keep things interesting and if I do have to use toys from the previous week, I pick a different day.

The little buckets are 1litre capacity,so they are pretty small. But I labelled them Monday through Sunday, which means, there's an activity for each day. This way, I don't have to worry about trying to figure out what to do for the day. You can put in just about anything inside the little buckets or boxes even and just to give you an idea, here are some of the things I put in the buckets:

• Finger paint
• Colouring pencils
• Pages to colour
• Beads
• Small Board Books
• Little Tea Cups
• Finger Puppets
• Puzzles
• Flash Cards
• Stacking Blocks
• Alphabet Letters
• Stickers and Little drawings 
• There are full sized books we use that cannot fit into the buckets as well as stuffed animals for imaginary play.

Every day is different and she loves opening her lil buckets to find out what's inside. I try by all means to keep it educational as well as fun.  This has been my life and sanity saver. I get to focus at least 30min on prepping dinner while she plays then I join her and we play together. Note, I have nothing against letting my lil one watch TV but I do have a problem with too much TV and very lil activity. I am planning to keep this going for as long as possible but I will change the activities as she grows older to make sure they are age appropriate.

Go ahead, give it a try and let me know how it goes. You can pop me an Instagram msg or Facebook on the below if you want. Would love to see how your Activity Packs turn out:

Instagram : @oluv_ (www.instagram.com/oluv_)

Facebook: Mommy and Baby Approved (www.facebook.com/MnBapproved)

Until then, enjoy playing with your lil ones and remember to not sweat the little stuff.

xoxo

Oluv

When life and Technical Issues get in the way!!!

This has been thee most stressful and frustrating 2 weeks of my life !!!!!

So where have I been? Well, let's just say that technical issues really did get in the way of my blogging life :(. I have been going from pillar to post trying to figure out the settings for my blog URL. Somehow I messes it up and I could not go back to the initial URL. So essentially I was kicked out of my blog :(. Then when I thought things will get better, I got terrible flu and was down for 3 days straight. In those sick days, I did some research on what to do to get into my blog and how to fix the mess I made and yep, I found it. And so here I am, with a brand new custom domain name/URL [www.mommyandbabyapproved.co.za] and I am absolutely happy. I had some a difficult time setting this up and my provider (where I bought the URL) couldn't help me much because I refused to buy hosting services from them... #SoreLoosers LOL

Anyway, I have managed to fix it all and all is in order and working. Some pretty exciting things happened while I was away. I got a few more subscribers to my YouTube channel [www.youtube.com/nearanddearest], My bf is back home living with us (we visit our house every weekend now), and I have a custom domain for my blog. All very exciting stuff, right!. Now that so much has happened and quite a bit has changed, I will be back on schedule for Mondays and Thursdays blog posts. I hope you have been fantastic and thank you so much for the love and support.

xoxo

Oluv

Becoming a Single Mom

Myself and My Daughter

It really is crazy how life works out sometimes! And yes, you read the title right, I am a Single Mom. My Daughter is 2 years old [almost 2 and 1/2 years] and I have been dating her father for 5 years going on 6. We lived together for a little over 2 years and unfortunately he had to move out. And with this, my life got a little bit tilted to the side. I am now Single parenting my Kbear full time and I am crazy exhausted. But through all this exhaustion, I still find time to squeeze in a little baking session with my Lil One :). Truthfully, this is something that we never imagined happen and when it did, both our cages were rattled.

Before we jump into conclusion, let me say that, just because myself and Kbear's Father don't live together anymore does not mean that we have broken up. We are still dating, only difference is that we live apart. See, the thing is, we have a house together that we have been renting out and due to unforeseen circumstances, our tenants had to move out. Because we didn't want to leave the house empty and open to risk of vandalism, My boyfriend had to go back and stay there. To be honest, I feel like this couldn't have come at a much better time. 

We both have been so busy with life that we pretty much almost lost touch with ourselves individually and we really needed the time apart to just reflect on our achievements and assess our goals. This might sound crazy because, being a single parent takes up just about every minute of ones time however, with the right schedule one copes just fine - [Post about how I cope will follow soon]. Don't get me wrong, it is still extremely challenging and energy taxing but I am sitting here writing this post at 10pm at night and i'm just fine. My boyfriend visits and spends every weekend with us and we make the best of that time. Only now we realise the value each one of us has been adding to another's life!

But like they say, You never know what you have till it's gone!

I'm sorry this was a bit of a soppy and personal post. Sometimes I just need to have adult conversations and this is the only place I have to do so. But If you enjoy reading these, be sure to follow my blog on Bloglovin' (https://www.bloglovin.com/mommyandbabyapproved) to get notifications each time I post a blog then sit back and relax because I'm about to shower you with a lot of soppy personal posts. 

However, if you do not enjoy such posts, please just bear with me as I try to wrap my head around my situation and get a grip on being a Single Mom.

Hope you enjoyed reading this and until then, I'll see you later.

xoxo

Oluv

Potty Training - Huggies Nappy Pants for Girls; Pampers Pants for Girls; and Huggies Slip-Ons

So the time has finally come....That long awaited moment where my daughter comes running to me and says "Mommy,toilet" has finally arrived. So to follow suit, I started Potty Training. To be quite honest, I was both terrified and excited at the same time. Terrified because I have never Potty Trained any one before and Excited because now I get to buy cute little toddler underwear :). Of course I had no idea where to begin! I did not know a single thing about Potty Training and I kind of delayed it a little bit because I needed to get myself both intellectually and emotionally ready.

I visited my friend Google and consulted with my Mom and a couple of my friends with Kids. The information was overwhelming but gave me a good kick in the right direction. And so the next thing to do was get all the things I'll need to make the process as smooth and comfortable for the lil one as I possibly can. So I went ahead and bought the Huggies Pants for Girls, the Huggies Slip-Ons, and the Pampers Pants for Girls nappies. These all are pull-up pants and thus far they have truly been a big help in this Potty Training process.

But as the saying goes, *You can't always have the best of everything in one product*!...Wait is that even a saying or did I just make it up?

Anyway, I wanted to write this post so that I can share a little bit of the Pro's and Con's of each of the said Pull-Up Nappy Pants based on my experience thus far.

Huggies Nappy Pants for Girls

These nappy pants recently launched in South Africa and I could not have been more happier. They came in just in time for me to test them out as I was about to start the Potty Training Journey with my lil one. With this being said, It only seems fitting for me to start with the Huggies Pants for Girls because we have used them the longest compared to the others. Also because they have Minnie Mouse Prints :) ......Yaaaaaaaay.

Because I'm such a softy, I always like to start with the good stuff as a foundation for the bad stuff so yep, I'm going to start with the Pro's then follow on with the Con's.

Pro's

*Super cute designs (Minnie Mouse)
*Designed specifically for Girls
*Very nice stretch waist
*Can last up to 12 hours
*Fits very comfortably on Baby/Toddler
*Easy sides tear making nappy change easy
Con's
*Possible leaks on the outer parts of the nappy

I absolutely adore these nappies, they are super adorable, my daughter loves them, they very comfortable however, the one thing I don't like about them is the leak. My lil one's vests are usually moist and smells like urine which to a certain extend is disappointing but I cannot discard these wonderful nappies for just 1 Con. My lil one runs around freely and comfortably in them and when it's time to use the Potty, she just takes them down and pulls them up again when she's done. Pretty amazing, right?

 Pampers Pants for Girls

I searched for thee longest time for these nappies and after about 2 to 3 four months, I finally found them. I need to say though that I was specifically looking for the Pampers Pants for Girls and I was not willing to purchase the neutral pack just to substitute and this is why it took me this long before I finally found them. Again, these recently launched in South Africa and they have been taking my lil girl's breath away each month :).

Pro's
*The have Dora the Explorer prints on them (which is awesome and very age specific for a 2year old)
*Stretchy waist band
*Lasts up to 12 hours and more
*Do not leak
*Designed specifically for girls
*Very comfortable fit on a Baby/Toddler

Con's
*Elastic material on the waist makes it difficult to tear sides during nappy change

These are my absolute favourite. I like that my lil one always stays dry even after 12 hours being in the nappy. My lil goober loves to sleep in during the weekend and I love the piece of mind these pull-up pants give me while she sleeps. I don't have to worry about her PJ's being moist/wet from nappy leaking or anything like that.

Huggies Slip-Ons

Can I just say that I had no idea that these pull-up nappies existed. I've always seen them on the store idles when I do my shopping but never cares to give them a second look. This is until I started Potty Training my lil Goober. So I bought them and decided to give them a try and guess what, I kinda like them.

Pro's

*Do not leak
*Lasts up to 12 hours and a lil more
*Cute Winnie the Pooh designs
*Very easy to tear the sides during nappy change

Con's
*The waist is not very stretchy
*It looks like a normal nappy that's attached on the sides
*They have very pointy corners
*Corners not very comfortable on Baby/Toddler
*Very easy for toddler to take out nappy without assistance

As much as I like these Huggies Slip-Ons, they do have quite a couple of Con's. I have managed to look past the Con's as I continue to use these nappies because to be quite honest, they are not causing any damage. At first it was quite annoying to have my little one take off her nappy whenever she felt like it but we have stopped that habit.

These are in my opinion the Pro's and Con's of the above mentioned nappies. I still continue to use them to this day but I'm mostly loving the Pampers Pants for Girls. They are close to impossible to find in stores but every chance I get, I grab it. The Huggies Nappy Pants for Girls are my 2nd favourite and the Huggies Slip-Ons are my least favourite.

I hope this post has been helpful to anyone who's looking for ideas on which Pull-Up pants to use when starting the Potty Training journey. Just remember that I am in no way an expert and simply because this is how I view/experienced these Nappies does not automatically mean that you'll have the same experiences. Have fun during Potty Training and I hope your lil one will enjoy the prints on the Pull-Ups.

xoxo

Oluv 

 

 
  

Alternative Ways to Celebrate a Toddler's Birthday

2nd Birthday DIY Photoshoot at home - My lil girl

I love all things birthday parties. The planning, the frustrations, the excitement, the clothes, the food, and Mostly the presents/gifts. These are the lil things in my world that make me so very happy. However, for 2 years now, I did not throw a birthday party for my daughter. I know, this is completely contradicting my love of Birthday parties but in my defense, I had good reasons. See, at the age of 1, all my daughter knew was Mommy and Daddy and for her that was everything....It still is.she was happy; in fact we were all happy! But, it's not that easy for a First Time Mom to just look away and not want to plan her lil boy/girl's birthday party. And so as it got closer and closer to her 1st birthday date, I started the planning,the organizing and all that until I had to think about the guests.....this is were reality kicked in. We knew nobody. And No, this is not because we are anti-social people but rather that we had just moved to the new location. So long story short, we kind of decided to put the birthday party on hold. 

On the day she turned 1, we bought her gifts and sang for her and then continued with our routine. She was not even bothered at all. Poor thing had no clue what was happening with all the singing and to toys surrounding her.....*Sigh*

Anyway, fast forward to another year later. Now my daughter is in school, she has friends, she talks way too much, developing an attitude....She's exactly what a toddler is. Again, I spent nights and days on Pinterest pinning ideas for her 2nd birthday party. I swear, those were the happiest moments. I had printed a whole bunch of pictures and drew up a guest list, the works. Until 1 night I decided to have a chat with her dad to actually figure out why we wanted the Birthday party and whether or not it was necessary. 

We are pretty simple parents so we made this as emotional free as we possibly can and at the end, we decided not to throw the birthday party and again, we were all happy. There's some people who are still judging me to this day for the decision but honestly, I'm okay with it but because I know there's probably some parent out there who's in the same situation and trying to decide whether or not to throw a birthday party, I thought I should share our reasons for not throwing a party together with alternatives to do instead of throwing a party below.

• The Guests

We keep a very small circle of friends and out of the people we have as friends, about a single quarter of them have kids. It honestly did not make sense for us to invite all these people a 2 year old's birthday party and have them put up with kids, buy gifts, and pretend to be having a time of their lives. It wasn't going to be fair on them and I don't know about you but we saw a disaster. Unhappy guests, cranky kids, overtired toddlers and just a whole lot of noise. And with this, we got a step closer to making our decision.

• Cost of throwing a Birthday Party

It goes without saying that birthday parties are expensive and irrespective of whether or not it is for your only child, it still does not justify the huge spend of money. The budget we had in mind and the actual amount of money we needed to cover the birthday party were totally different. The actual was way too high and personally, I feel it is ridiculous to spend a lot of money on something that the person you spending it for won't even remember. Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter and I'll do just about anything for her. No amount of money can stop me from doing anything for her but I don exercise a level of discipline when it comes to money.

With these 2 things set out, we were comfortable to decide against throwing a birthday party. But we still needed to do something for our lil girl. Not throwing her a birthday party didn't mean we didn't want to celebrate her and/or with her. So we brainstormed a lil bit and we came up with a few good ideas to do in place of throwing a party. Of course we couldn't do all of them on the same day but i'm going to share the ideas we had with you below in case you are interested :) .

1st Birthday Party for 3 at home

• Throw a party for Immediate Family only [ Mom, Dad, and Baby] - I know this sounds a lil weird after I just spent the last 10min talking about how much it is a waste to throw a birthday party but this is different. When it's just the 3 of your ; or however many you are, it's much more easier and a whole less costly to throw a birthday party. Let's be honest, most of the parents throw birthday parties mostly for themselves rather than for the kid. Now imagine how much fun it'll be when you have only your family there with you and you get to work around your family schedule. For our daughter's birthday party, we did exactly this. We bought a pack of balloons, I baked a cake, we braai'd some meat and had a great time. We worked around her nap time schedule and our dinner time. So by the time we were done, we all took baths and headed straight to bed. There was no mess, and certainly no waste of money. 

• Do a DIY photoshoot at home - Nothing is more special than having awesome and messy pictures of your lil one and knowing that you shot them yourself. Cake smash for a 1st birthday has become very popular and there's no law that says it has to be done by a professional photographer. All you need is a white background, a smartphone or camera, your lil one, a birthday banner[totally optional] and some balloons and you'll be ready to go. The most you can spend on this is R200 since you already have most of the things you'll need at home. But I can promise you, you'll never forget the day.



One of the photos we took during a DIY for her 2nd bday

• Have a picnic at home - Not all of us live/stay closer to the park and not all of us have cars to drive in to go to the park. So having a picnic at home, in your back / front yard is another way you can celebrate your lil one's birthday. You'll need the normal everyday food that you have in your fridge and/or freezer but you'll be guaranteed to have some fun. It really doesn't take much to please a toddler and in their world, as long as Mommy and/or Daddy are there, they'll be happy. 

•  Spend the day with the grandparents - This is of course applicable if you do not stay with your parents - baby's grandparents. I know from experience that my daughter always has the best of times when she spends time with her grandparents. We don't live with them and it's a bit of a drive to get to them but every chance we get, we visit them. So rather than spending money on throwing a birthday party, consider spending the day with extended family. Grandparents are also always delighted to spend time with their grand kids and it's such a blessing for lil ones to have grandparents.

• Visit an Orphanage home - I believe children should be taught early on in life to have compassion and to always appreciate what they have. There's no better way to teach children this than to take them and spend some time with kids at the orphanage. They'll enjoy interacting with other children afterall, which child doesn't love playing with other children :).

•   Have an Intimate dinner date at home - after-all, your child's birthday is the day that you became a parent for the first time and/or a parent to yet another precious lil soul. So why not make it a very romantic family event! You can dress up, have a nice home-cooked meal and at the end have some ice cream - or any dessert - and then open gifts for the birthday boy/girl.

And with this I have come to the end of this post. I am not a cheap parent and I want nothing but the best for my children. I want them to have happy childhood memories and if they can't remember, that's okay because I'll show them pictures. But more importantly, I want my family to be happy.  If there's something else that yields the same and/or even better results at a much lower cost and/or reduced stress levels, I'm much more happier to go ahead and do it. Like they say, a happy mom equals happy family.

xoxo

Oluv

Happy Should have been birthday My Angel Face

My Daughter - Kbear

2 years ago on this day, we woke up way too early with hopes and expectations we've never had before. We had everything ready, the birth pool, the hospital bag, daddy's bag, my mom's bag...pretty much everything was all systems go, except, this lil cutie bear. Both the Gynae and the ultrasound said the 17th of August 2013 will be our lil girl's birthday. So the morning came, then the afternoon followed and eventually nighttime fell upon us and still nothing happened. As we all prepared to go to bed, our hopes were still very high. The midwife was texting us about every 2 hours which, now when I think about it, didn't help all that much. It just made us more excited. But she meant well and I completely understand.

Anyway, I struggled to sleep that night, because I kept thinking that something will happen and I needed to be awake to avoid missing it. Boy, was that a LONG night! Eventually my body gave in and somehow I passed out and the next thing I knew it was 8am in the morning and there was still no baby. The disappointment was even more that the hopes we had on the morning of the 17th of August 2013. Suddenly the house was quiet and the 18th of August felt like a whole week but we did not loose all the hope. We were still very hopeful that lil Beanay will make her way out of mommy real soon and with that, we went shopping and found things to keep us all busy while we patiently waited for her - a whole 11 days we waited, but it was worth it. Happy should have been birthday to you lil one.

Journey to 2 years - 11 days to go

Kbear colouring her Frozen book over the weekend
15 Aug 2015

xoxo
Oluv

A few things Motherhood helped me understand

All my life, all I've wanted was to be a mom. I spent most of my high school days day dreaming about what life will be like after I complete my degree. I had it all planned out with timestamps and everything. To say the least, it looked pretty awesome. So as I set off to University, I worked as hard as a soldier on a mission. I had my eyes on the goal and yep, it kept me very motivated. 6 years later, I was done with my degree, even got a post graduate degree and a good job in corporate. And then of course my lil goober was on her way. I did a load of research to get myself ready for motherhood and by the time my due date arrived, I was pretty certain that I know pretty much all there is to know about being a parent. Oh, how I was wrong!! So here I am, sitting right here today sharing some of the things that I truly knew and understood only after becoming a mother/parent.

• Being a mother doesn't change you, It enhances you

Yes, I know. We've all heard this before. A lot of people say that being a mother changes you. Well, I beg to disagree partially. I strongly believe that being a mother/parent simply enhances who you are. It gives a new sense of responsibility and as such you act and become more responsible. In my own opinion it is fairly difficult to change a person, irrespective of the circumstance and from personal experience, I have not changed 1 bit, just enhanced in so many levels.

• Just because I am a mother/parent doesn't mean I can tolerate bad behaviour in other kids

For the longest time throughout my pregnancy, i've always imagined myself being able to tolerate other kids/children's behaviour. You see, I have never been able to tolerate any kind of bad behaviour my whole life. Don't get me wrong, I know and fully understand that children, especially toddlers, have their very own way of expressing themselves but I also know that there are those that are just down right out of control. Silly me; I thought having a child of my own would help me be able to at least tolerate such. It goes without saying that even to this day, I still cannot stand out of control children and I work extremely hard to ensure that my child fully understands her limits. But I must say, I completely adore those lil goobers who harmlessly get up to their toddler/kid ways of expressing themselves.

• Breastfeeding does not take away the baby weight for everyone

Way before my daughter was conceived, I always took pride in the fact that I can eat whatever I wanted and wouldn't gain a single kilo. And of course, throughout my journey to becoming a mother, I was pretty determined to loose all the baby weight before I return to work. Without even a single doubt in my heart I wanted to breastfeed my goober. And no, this was not because I wanted to loose the weight, but rather for the nutritional benefits. When I found out that breastfeeding helps with weight loss, I was even more happier. I thought, oh, that's wonderful!! I get to bond with my baby, give her nutrition, and loose weight, all at the same time. WOW!! I was completely excited but sadly for me, that was not the case. I breastfeed my daughter exclusively for four months [and continued for another 7 months while supplementing with formula], gave her all the nutritions she needed, bonded beautifully with her, and yet kept all the baby weight. I did not do anything different with my diet but breastfeeding didn't help me 1 bit. So you can just imagine my disappointment when I realised that this is actually not entirely true. Loosing the baby weight is all dependant on how hard you work out post delivery and of course on ones metabolism and what not. Sure breastfeeding might help, but it certainly does not help everyone.

• Guilt has become a part of my life as a mom/parent

Raising a baby is hard work. Raising a well behaved baby is even more hard work. All those moments when you have to say NO and then watch your child scream his/her lil lungs out. Those that you had to start a sleep routine, or even take the lil one out of the bath tub! Who would have thought that this would make a person feel guilty? This is just one of the many perks that come with being a mother/parent. I for one still am struggling to let go of the guilt and to come to terms and/or rather understand that this guilt will all turn to good someday. I mean that is the point right? Feel guilty now, and be happy later - when your child is all grown up with impeccable manners. Well, i hope it is!

• It truly does take a village to raise a child

At first I thought this was a strange saying, especially looking back at my upbringing. It was just my dad, my mom, me and my lil brothers. No village was there to help us or at least help my mom. Anyway, things were different back then and now, I fully understand what this saying means. It has been 22 whole months and all i've got is just 7 nights off. I have no idea what going to the movies feels like, let alone just hanging out with friends for just 1 or 2 hours. I love my daughter and I love that we have become such best friends but a few hours won't hurt. Just time to hang out with my friend without worrying about whether the restaurant is toddler friendly or not. I guess what i'm saying here is that, if you have friends and/or family close by and are willing to help out with baby, accept all that help and go get some air. I wish my family was close but sadly they aren't and as such no village is here to help me raise my daughter.

Anyway, I could go on for days but I think i'm going to stop right here. These are 5 of the many things i've come to understand by just being a mother. Such an incredibly overwhelming task and yet so rewarding. So much guilt and yet so much joy. We all look forward to something happening post delivery and most of us research and get equipped with as much knowledge as possible but what matters at the end of it all is your Instincts. Always trust your instinct and remember that it's okay to change priorities. It is completely normal of find yourself in shock because the 1 thing your thought would happen post delivery actually doesn't happen at all. I have been there and I swear, it is thee most funniest moment ever, close to seing your lil one dance for the first time.

xoxo

Oluv

I miss my Little Girl

Since Kbear was 9 months old, she has been on a sleep schedule/nighttime routine. Every once in a while it changes to adapt to her growth spurts as well as changing seasons but for the most part, we try to make it as similar as possible. It's a pretty basic schedule and takes at most 30minutes before she's fast asleep. But, recently she's been whining before falling asleep. Some nights, it's because she wants to get in bed with a book while other nights it's because she doesn't want me to put a blanket over her. Don't be worried, the whining lasts for 5min maximum and then she settles down. However last night was a completely different story. I read a book with her as usual and put her in bed with bunny. Put on her night light, gave her a kiss and we did our good night routine. I walked out and closed the door as usual. Then carried on doing what I normally do - washing my face etc. - in preparation to go to sleep but for 1 moment I stopped and watched Kbear through the monitor in our bedroom. She was hugging bunny and singing a song, I couldn't tell what song it was, all I heard was cute toddler sounds and in that very moment, I missed my lil girl so much. I turned around and went straight into her room. I picked her up and she hugged me so tightly I almost burst into tears. And then I did it, I rocked her to sleep!! As you can imagine, she's quite tall and so she was struggling to be comfortable but she let me hold her for 15min. Her head lying on my chest, just the way it was moments after she was born. As she was dosing off to sleep, she pointed to her bed showing me that I should tug her in. I complied. I gently laid her on her crib, gave her bunny and covered her with a blanket. As I kissed her, she looked at me with sleepy eyes and touched my cheek and my heart just melted. I don't know where this comes from but I didn't realize just how much I miss spending quality time with my daughter until last night. But most of all, I realized just how blessed I am to be her mother and it gives me such joy to see her beautiful lil face every single day.

This is what it feels like to be in love. Because I am a mother and I am proud.

xoxo

Oluv

Simple meals for a baby

Being a first time mom is not an easy task, now imagine being a first time mom with no family close by that can assist. Yep, that was exactly my situation. I stayed with my mom for only 3 months after my daughter was born but had to back to our house to get ready for work and all of that jazz :(. As exciting as all this was, it was all very scary. 

Way before I even became a mom, I've always believed in cooking fresh meals for my children and I was determined to make sure that I do exactly that for Kbear. Of course I had to wait until she was old enough to eat solids before I started cooking for her. Honestly it didn't take all that long but truly speaking, it felt like thee longest wait of my life. To pass time, I spent my days breastfeeding Kbear, reading through recipes and buying as many Baby cookbooks as I can. When she was ready, around 6 months old, I started cooking her, easy to digest meals. These were mostly fruits and sometimes vegetables. She really enjoyed these and of course I was happy to feed her because I knew they were not only healthy, but also there were no preservatives in them. [see recipe below]

Apple and Pear puree Ingredients

• 2x Pears 
• 2x Apples
• 3 tspn Apple Juice
• 6 tsp Water

Cooking method

Peal your apples and pears and dice them into lil pieces. Place them in a saucepan/small pot. Add water and juice and place on the stove. Cover up the saucepan/pot and let it boil. Check it often to make sure it doesn't burn. Once the water has burned up, check the pears and apples with a fork to see if they are soft. If they are, remove saucepan/pot from the heat. With a hand held blender, blend them inside the saucepan/pot or if you like, transfer them into a bowl and blend them in there. Let them cool and it'll be ready to serve. You can serve this as a meal on it's own or as a snack after a meal.

Chicken and Potato Soup Ingredients

• 1/2 Onion chopped
• Small Knob unsalted butter
• 1 Piece Chicken breast Fillet - diskinned
• 1 Large potato
• Parsley for seasoning
• A very small pinch of salt

Cooking method

In a pot caramelise onions using unsalted butter,add the parsley,salt, and chicken to the onions and continue to fry. once the chicken has fried, pour in a little bit of water. Cover the pot and bring to boil for 10min. Be sure to simmer it every 5 min. Once the water has burned up, add in the potato and a bit of water. Cover and bring to boil. Cook them until the potato is a bit overcooked, this takes about 15-20 min. Once cooked, mash them together or blend them using a hand held blender [choose based on your baby's preference]. Let them cool and they'll be ready to serve.

My daughter really enjoyed these 2 recipes a lot. I used a hand held blender for the chicken recipe because Kbear did not have teeth yet and I wanted to make sure she won't choke on the chicken pieces. 

I hope you will enjoy cooking this for your little ones and don't forget to check back here again soon because I will be posting more of the recipes i cooked for Kbear as a baby.

PS: Both these recipes can be frozen. You can keep them in the freezer for up to 7 days.

Happy Cooking

xoxo

Oluv

Being a Mother

29weeks 4D Ultrasound

It still seems as though it was yesterday when we went to the Doctor's office to meet our Little Peanut for the first time. It was on the 10th of January 2013, a very nice day considering I was still on annual leave from work and I got to stay in bed until the morning sickness subsided :). For the first time in about a week I had a little bit of energy and was beyond excited to get out of the house. Anyway, we got to the doctor's office and she went through all the necessary questions/paperwork while my boyfriend patiently answered....I chipped in here and there but for the most part, I just wanted to get to the ultrasound part...I know, I wasn't very patient...still am not...LOL. So eventually, after the paperwork was done, we did the ultrasound and yep, it showed a lil peanut growing inside me. Needless to say, my boyfriend and I don't know how to read prenatal scans so we just saw a tiny spot in the circle and that just made us happy. To top all this, we got to hear the heartbeat. Thee most perfect lil sound I've ever heard. When we left the doctor's office, we went straight to a fancy restaurant and celebrated with a picture of our Peanut on the table with us :).

Fast forward 7 months later. It's 2am in the morning and I'm lying in bed awake because no sleeping position is comfortable. By this time I am now 10 days overdue and thoughts of induction are invading my mind when suddenly I start getting craps. Honestly, they didn't bother me until an hour later when it hit me that I might be in labour. Then I started timing them and to my surprise, I was indeed in labour. We called our Midwife and headed to hospital - Genesis Clinic. With just a lil over 6hours of contractions, I was 8cm dilated, I thought, this is fantastic!!!. We knew that soon enough, our lives are going to change forever and of course it didn't take long and our BabyBear was born. Minor complications but everything was just perfect.

Just Minutes after birth

She was the most perfect little human being I've ever seen. A lil pale but perfect. And yep, she looked just like daddy, which wasn't surprising to me at all because from the moment I first saw her when we did the 29weeks 4D ultra-sound, all I saw was daddy's lil girl. I remember our Midwife turning to me at that moment  and saying, they grow up soooo fast, cherish every moment. I just looked at her and smiled with appreciation but didn't think that's true.

We took her home after 3 days in hospital, Nerve wrecking but very exciting, and we settled into life as parents. I breastfed her, daddy changed nappies and everything was just great. We had to go home to my mother's for a couple of months - Tradition - and eventually came back to our house when BabyBear was 3 months old. I still could not wrap my head around how quickly she turned 3 months old. I got consumed so much by looking out for milestones and making sure that everything is okay with her that I completely lost track of time. And before we knew it, she was 4 months old. Seriously....what is going on?

4 Months Old

 My heart broke a little because it soon hit me that I'd have to go back to work. Something that I was never prepared to do. I've gotten so used to being at home with our little girl and now suddenly I have to leave her for 12 hours each weekday and go back to work! I guess it goes without saying that I cried myself to sleep just thinking about this but unfortunately it had to be done. I found myself having to literally re-adjust to being at work. when I was home with BabyBear, the first half of the morning was photoshoot time, I dressed her up, took her pictures - which explains why I have over 10 000 photos of her only - and did all sorts of fun things with her before nap time. And now suddenly I had to sit in front of a computer and attend meetings. I remember thinking, Life is not fair and I do not deserve that. I swear I went into mini depression every single time I left home for work in the morning. The only hope I had was seeing BabyBear's glowing face when she sees us after work and that kept me going. Honestly, it still does, to this day.

Fast forward 4 months later and BabyBear is now 8 months old. It's very ironic that i say *fast forward* and it literally feels like everything was fast forwarded back then.
It is such a bitter sweet thing to watch your little person turn out to be independent right in front of your eyes. I wanted to hold on as much as I could, I breastfed her even at odd times and cuddled her and many a times she just pushed me and wanted to play. For a second I thought she hated me because I leave her in the morning for work...Crazy, I know, but I was running out of options and excuses to make me feel better.

8 Months Old

So instead of enforcing a sleep routine, I ended up encouraging her to play at night. Just so I can get some quality time with her. And at that moment, it hit me that in just 6 months, she will be a whole YEAR old. Are you kidding...So Fast!!! I thought this was crazy but I had to deal with it. BabyBear was growing up, a little too fast, and there was nothing I could do about it. So eventually i came to terms with it and I started embracing it. I thought, soon enough she'll crawl and walk, and talk, and the list continued. And strangely enough, I found and still find comfort in knowing that her growing up this fast will give us a chance to be best friends fast :). It made it a little bit easier to know that some mothers are going through the same thing and feeling exactly how I feel. Our babies just grow up so fast and it hurts.

12 Months Old

By the time BabyBear or should I say Kbear turned 12 months/1 Year I was a 100% fine with it. It hurt a little but I was happy. Oh, and by the way, I say Kbear because she's a big girl now, and BabyBear just doesn't cut it anymore :). Kbear is now 18 months old and in just 6 months, she will be 2 years old. Honestly, I don't even know how to handle this feeling. It's all happening too fast and too soon but I'm just soooo happy that every single morning when she wakes up, the first thing she sees is mommy (me) - Daddy doesn't mind :). And I'm planning to keep it this way for many years to come.
It has been an incredible journey and trust me, when people say, they grow up fast, they mean it. One day you have a newborn Peanut tomorrow you have a little Lady telling you *Naughty*. I'm just so glad that I captured each and every moment through photos and I'm even more glad Kbear is our daughter. It still saddens me to think that the growing up won't stop and some day she'll be 6years old and ready for school. It makes me sad when she wants to feed herself without my help. It breaks my heart when she wants to walk and not be carried. But it brightens my heart when she runs to me just to give me a hug. It melts my heart when she kisses me for no reason. And it fills me with such joy when she offers me her saliva-filled snacks simply because she doesn't want to eat when I'm not eating. So even though time flew by so fast, even though I want to turn back time to when she was newborn...I'm just as happy now with her as a toddler and for this, my heart overflows with love.

The joys of being a mother.

xoxo