Recently a lot of moms messaged me, a few I am now close to have even Whatsapp-ed me at odd hours asking what to carry and what not while travelling with a toddler.
Firstly, I am so happy and indebted to those who trust my motherly instincts and ask for suggestions.
Secondly, I understand why they ask. My husband and I are very fond of travelling. There are destinations which we visit again and again because we love being there. I have traveled for holidays in my first , second and last trimester as well… as far as 300-400kms without having any issues. Thank you Lord for that… and My first short trip with the kiddo was when he was about 45days old while first big holiday trip was when he turned 6 months old… in between I was either attending weddings or too tired and sleeping on weekends .. lol !
And lastly, I socialize a lot and love to receive or pass on suggestions (not advises) to moms who believe I mean good for her and the little one. I take in suggestions as well, in a healthy way and it has always helped me except weight losing tips.. they never work and I don’t understand why !!
Little D
So lets make a list of major things required by moms:
its been long since i last logged in to this website… i have been either busy or lazy to pen down some stuff that rotates in my mind.and at times either of us are down with a never ending cold and runny nose, although i am quite regular in updating my instagram feed and facebook profile… just in case you want to follow what happens to me everyday do like my page.
so its my anniversary week and we have been together sharing a life since 4 years now. 4th anniversary… seems like such a long time for us two because we are a very boring couple. 4th anniversary means 4 + 1 years together. the ‘1 year’ was all mushy and sweet like a bollywood movie and the other four seems so boring. we watch a movie every weekend like, yes, every weekend. so boring! and we dine-out together every sunday night, so boring. we have different taste buds all together so we never share food at any restaurants but he orders for me and i order for him. because we exactly know what kinda food the other person would enjoy. yet, we do not share meals… so boring! whenever we have a fight we shout at each other and either of us walks away from the location. two hours later we hug and patch up because being angry for two hours has drained us and left only specks of tears and aroma of love leaving behind a trail to find each other… we never do the roothna-manana stuff! how boring ! there are no patch up dates or gifts or roses or blings. yuck!
we never buy each other gifts because we … again .. have different choices!! i go to a mall and send him pics from the fittings room. he gets a cue and buys me that !!! so simple for him na?!
but i have a real difficult time buying him one. he is such a perfectionist… he has the best of shirts in all his favorite colors. he has atleast 4 dozen ties in his wardrobe, and about a few handful watches all from the world of titan, his favorite.
he has a really nice mobile phone and even an ipad and a laptop. he has accessories for both his cars all updated and his favorite songs are always in his pendrive. he never uses any fancy ‘all for men’ creams and he often gets gifted scents of the finest quality from friends who travel overseas or clients who are stinking rich! such an issue – a gift!
he had recently ordered a pen and he also bought himself a blazer while he was at the mall fetching my gift! uff… crazy guy. why is he such a perfectionist ?
i thought of gifting him a life long stock of pudin hara … hahaha then he said he is on diet and the need won’t arise.
i thought of gifting him an arm candy but he said he likes to pick one on his own, and his colleague recently gifted him a citizen.
i thought of gifting him a 50 things we can do in the dark wish chits in a fancy fish bowl but we have a two year old toddler! oh f**k! there is nothing i can gift him.
at the last moment i decided to gift him a dessert goodie basket and take him out for a dinner. i arranged this really cute invitation inviting him on a dinner date…
i dressed my best and called a cousin who makes desserts to swing by with her best desserts. i send her some pictures of us together and she made this for us.
dessert hamper by Femi Vasant
it was the best ever anniversary gift i gave him (us actually, i could not resist tasting it again n again numerous times). loved the rose almond pudding the best…
it was only after the date and dinner and movie was done that i found the best ‘for him’ gift ideas. well, maybe on valentines now but here is a gift list for all you peeps who can plan in advance.
1. these two women make amazing night lounge wear of the utmost luxurious kinds. if your guy is into cottons to bed at night maybe you should buy a few from
bhanumati ka pitara by ridhie
and wink india
the fabrics and designs they use are so so pretty and you can customize it as you like it! how perfect. i love how ridhie uses the cutsie buttons on all #bhanumatikapitara night wear she designs. they along with the fabric is a winner. if your man likes it he is gonna ask you to take care of his wardrobe refills everytime! check mate.
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one more screenshot
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2. PG used to own a royal enfield and we often took those late night vroooommm rides to places with nature surrounding us from the eyes to the horizon. expansion and work load had him lose the love with no time left to look after the mean black babe but in case your guy loves a lady like this one; amazon.in has some really cool gadgets for him and you can gift him that.
app wala screenshot
3. one more instagram page i like is fadjuice for men
they also have a website and one more shirt in his wardrobe with the perfect ink blue shade for a night out with his buddies is always going to be appreciated. i remember when i married PG , all his shirts were blue!! yes. i am not joking. light blue dark blue ink blue indigo blue blue-white stripes black-blue stripes faded blue royal blue! my man will appreciate a blue any day! now he has all colors in his wardrobe and he can always thank me for it!
limited options though
4. the goodie hamper. when i told my husband how much it costed he smiled and said you would have got it at a cheaper rate at any cake shop. i then handed him a pudding bowl and asked him to taste… he was bowled over!!! he loved every bit of it and asked for more once over. no bakery would make me this for sure. a customized flavor in 24 hours!
he simply loved it… u can contact Femi by searching pretty little delights on facebook. she is a fab baker.
my handsome young man was quite impressed with the packaging as well as the contents: the puddings were yummy, i had never tasted a mocha chocolate brownie shot ever! the truffles were right sized too. the winner for me was the almond rose pudding in white chocolate. i am craving for more of it!!
the detailing was perfect
if you have any gifting ideas for christmas or anniversaries/birthdays do pop a mail to us info@awomansays.com and we can feature you here.
Love for food when you are pregnant stays on forever even after you deliver the baby until and unless you are those moms who want to look like Kim Kardashian at her wedding. of course all those cravings go away but you become a food junkie, not because you want to eat all that but also because you are always trying to cook something new and interesting and at the same time healthy for your kid… yes, most of us Indian moms do cook our kid’s food at home with our hands… a few are super broad minded to let the cook’s sweat drip into the food while they prepare and the mom watches tv or signs documents at work place.
i say this out of observation in real life… cannot name her but this new friend i recently made and that too we became friends because we incidentally met and our kids are of the same age was constantly complaining of how she goes to an 8 hour work shift which she cannot leave and behind her back her m-i-l makes no effort to cook good food for the kid… i dont know who to feel sad for, the mother or the child. both of them are losing out on the wonderful meal time that should enjoy while they can. once the kids grow up they eat on their own and once they become adults meals are never at home except some occasions and festivals. why cannot a mother be there just thrice a day for the kid?? is it demanding too much from your professional life? i fail to understand such mothers even when she is a great friend of mine and a wonderful person at heart.
so then i made a food chart and a meal time table for her kid; asking her to put it on the fridge or wherever its easy on the eyes and constant hit on the mind. it included milk-veggies-dairy-fruits and grains.
now, preparing the food is not a big deal.. a complete gujarati thali/meal plate is just the right thing for your kid if he/she has begun eating solids. it has wheat rotis, boiled rice, cooked veggies and necessary spices, protein in form of dal and dairy products such as curd or buttermilk. the right amount of salt and sugar and pepper and lemon and chilli and coriander and turmeric… wow! serving the perfect amount of all of this in the meal plate makes it the most complete food for your growing toddler’s needs.
incase your kid needs some help wiping off all this from the plate, you can decorate the food and add some color to it, beet gives red, turmeric gives yellow, lemon gives whiteness, dry coriander gives brown, curd and beet beaten together gives pink! broccoli and fresh coriander gives green.
sharing pics of a few meal plates i have given my son and REMEMBERED to click a pic before i feed him.
ofcourse with all this food in front of him i have to sit with a bib and a waste cloth and face wipes and lots of patience… at times all this vanishes in the hungry tummy in about 15 minutes. yet i have seen some random moments when the food is tucked under the chair and over the floor and after 30 minutes i thank the Lord for blessing me with only one child and i thank the scientists for technology and smart phones with memory so huge to store and play over a dozen nursery rhyme videos. we talk and play and shout and blabber and i call him cute encouraging names to finish his food. i am cherishing every meal time with him, it gives us both the time to look into each other’s eyes and talk. It gives me moments where i realize what his favorite food is and which are his all time favorite food combinations too. God has simply made a favor to me, my son loves his meals. and i love watching him eat it all and give a burp at last. we sing songs to make his meals interesting at times… what do u do with your kid???
please do share your meal plate pictures with me on my facebook page.. i am running outta options soon. www.facebook.com/awomansays
Oops! maybe i was a bit too harsh with the review the other day But i had to be honest about it. so this time we were called back once again by the owner to have dinner with him and his son abid ali… both are PG’s friends since a long long time. yea, so we did plan the dinner there but with my last time’s experience i had a little something just before i left home towards law garden. good old gujju bhakri and conserve sent by ITC
i wish i had not had this before hand… dinner with the owner uncle was sooo good!
there was a lot laid on the table- the owner’s dinner menu!
but PG mainly had a lotta veg jaipuri and rotis (sans butter… weight concious! as if its gonna work huhh!!)
he polished off his plate in a messy way!
since i wasn’t that hungry… i had a few bites from his plate; abid’s dad ordered a masala coffee for me…
could not have asked for a better drink in this chilly night. wow!! simply amazing. the owner even gave me the secret ingredient- a little ginger and elaichi… perfect combo. and i had never thought ginger in milk would taste so good! this time my experience there has been super cool.
what i learnt from this dinner ? never judge food on its first hand experience. u can always be surprised on what the same chef can do the next time around u are there.
