A Tough Decision

It has been a roller coaster ride for me since my son was born.  Accomplishing all the milestones have been a challenge and fun too.  My friends kept making plans to go on a holiday leaving kids back at home but my conscience never allowed me to leave pratham for few days.  He has his Dadi,  Bade Papa,  Nani,  Nana, Masi and Bua who he loves and can stay with them too.  I always preferred to go for a 3 to 4 hours party where I would came back and see him sleeping.  When I wake up in the morning,  I would see him.  So this has been the routine for almost 5 years.
I always read or heard from parents that a break without kids is needed in today's lifestyle.  Main Reasons being :
A)  Child learns to be independent.
B)  the "WE"  time : The couple gets to spend time with each other as they barely talk anything else besides child related things.
C) As parents, we also get a break from our daily chores.

But this never made a big difference as I was never prepared to leave him alone for days. So we missed out on many activities which could be done only as couples.I always looked for family oriented outings and activities. My husband planned only boys trip.  But I could never think of leaving my son back home with his Papa and going on a holiday. 

But then comes up a very good friend's wedding which was outstation. It was important that we both attend it but we couldnt let my son bunk his school.  So after many ifs and buts,  it was decided that only my hubby and I go for the wedding leaving my son behind with my in-laws n my parents. 

Indeed a TOUGH DECISION.

Too many questions going on in my mind.  Is it the right thing am I doing? Will he be OK when I am not around? Will he hate me because I left him and went?
Ufff.. No end to the the anxiousness.

The final day came when we were leaving.  I was scared that he would cry if I left in front of him. So the thought came that I should leave when he is not around.  But then I felt that he should see me going with my suitcase so he knows I amnot around for few days. He was absolutely fine and smiling when I left though I had tears in my eyes. Till I reached airport,  I kept on thinking what he must be doing. On reaching the destination,  I called him up and he was absolutely fine.

We attended the functions and wedding and it was time to be back home.  I was super excited to Hug Pratham.
On reaching Mumbai,  I was thrilled to see his reaction.  Every minute seemed like an hour.  AND there he disembarks his school Bus.  We both hugged each other as if we met after years.  Wow..  What a feeling.

So true," There are lot of things that I am proud of but Nothing can beat being a Mom."

THE NEW PAMPERS PREMIUM PANTS - Product Review

                              

Watching  your child playing comfortably and sleeping well, is every mom’s wish. For many years Pampers has been associated with baby’s happy health development. After attending a superb launch event of New Pampers Premium Care pants, we were given the diaper pants for the review.

I (rather most of the mommies) associate diapers with Pampers. We rarely say diaper. We always say Pampers. It is like always saying change his Pampers or get his Pampers.

My son has over grown diapers. My nephew who is 2 years old came over to stay with us for few days. My sister in law never used Pampers so this was the best chance for both of us.

• ·        The New Pampers diaper Pants has cute and unique graphics on them.
• ·       They are as smooth as talcum powder giving a silky feeling.
• ·       The all around waistband of the diaper pant is soft but at the same time it has snug fit so the fluid does not spill out.
• ·       The baby lotion on it is also very safe.

My nephew is very hyper active who refuses to sit even for a second while awake. So changing diaper while he is playing has always been a task for his mum. But The New Pampers Premium Pants is very child friendly that she could make him wear it easily within few seconds. The wetness indicator on each diaper is so useful that she never had to worry by checking his diaper again. The indicator turning blue from yellow when in contact with fluid is very helpful.

While he was asleep, the wetness Indicator turned blue. It was so easy to tear the sides of used diaper and change into the new one. He did not even move an inch. While disposing it off, it was so easy to roll and put it in the disposable bag .

                                              my naughty nephew

One of the days, we had gone to the park with our kids. Due to lot of traffic during Ganpati festival, we were stuck for almost 7 hours and my sister in law forgot to carry extra since we thought that we would be back in 2 to 3 hours. But my nephew was enjoying the maximum and was not irritable at all. I feel the dryness in the diaper is what kept him enjoying and playing.

The New Diaper pants are also quite economic and easy on pocket. It has few sizes to suit age and weight of the baby.

As rightly said by the brand, “as soft as mother’s touch” that even my nephew enjoyed wearing by himself.

 "This blog post is written for the Pampers #SoftestForBabySkin activity in association with BlogAdda".

THE PAMPERS PREMIUM CARE PANTS PREVIEW

As rightly said, when a baby is born a parent is also born. Pampers has always been associated with baby diapers. Few days back I got a call from #BlogAdda team inviting me for the launch of a Pamper product at J.W.Marriot,Sahar, Mumbai. It was kept under wraps as to what it would be.The only statement I knew was  #softestforbabyskin.

As I reached the venue, I was guided to the banquet by the blogadda team. As I entered, I was astonished by the superb set up of the Pampers. Within few minutes, the event started.

We were introduced to Actress & TV presenter Mandira Bedi, Child sleep consultant Ajita Gopal Seethepalli, Pampers R&D Expert Dr. Wei Sing Long and Actress & Celebrity mother Tara Sharma. This preview was exclusive organised for ‘we’ mommy bloggers and bloggers.

Mandira started explaining to us that how important it is to have a diaper which is soft & dry, which a baby can hardly notice. There few inputs from the other experts too. Mandira & Tara shared their motherhood experiences. Tara also shared couple of her son’s childhood videos. Ajita explained for a baby’s healthy growth, his interaction with environment is very important. But for that the baby needs to be free from that soggy and heavy feeling of the diaper. Pampers is the right product for a growing baby.

On each table, there was a long box which had 3 partitions numbered 1,2 & 3 and next to it was a diaper pant. We were also handed over the voting machine. Now, without looking inside the box we were supposed to touch and feel the diaper and vote which one is the softest. 92% of the bloggers said No2 diaper is the softest. And just after that all the 4 experts launched the NEW PAMPERS PREMIUM CARE PANTS.

                            

 

Pampers R & D expert Dr. Wei Sing Long explained the unique features of the NEW Pampers Premium Care Pants with demonstration. They are called 5 star skin protection   

1.     Soft materials/ fabrics – here she made us feel the diaper from inside .
2.    All around waistband and soft cuffs. 
3.   Upto 12 hours of dryness – here she filled a test tube with a blue liquid and adding some absorbing agent and withing few seconds we saw that the liquid had become like a gel and never dripped out of the test tube. This proves that pampers core quickly absorbs helping keep wetness away from the skin to help skin protection.                           * According to me, this is one of the main highlight and superb feature of the diaper.   
   
    
                                
   
    
4.   Baby lotion –  She demonstrated by applying a small of lotion on a piece of yellow paper and spraying a fluid over it. The part where lotion was applied remained yellow and the rest of it turned brown proving that how lotion protects baby’s precious skin. 
   
   

             

   
   
5.   Wetness Indicator – During showcasing of this feature, all 4 experts moved to the Demo table and showed us that after pouring lot of fluid, nothing spills out and how gradually the indicator outside the diaper turns from yellow to blue and its time for the parent to change the diaper J
   
   
   
   
   

Few questions were asked to the experts by the bloggers and they were answered very efficiently. Later, bloggers were allowed to ask their queries on one to one basis. We were gifted  the amazing goodies from Pampers and blogadda.

I must say the event was superbly organised and beautifully executed. Pampers has taken great efforts in researching and innovating  the diaper.

"This blog post is written for the Pampers #SoftestForBabySkin activity in association with BlogAdda".

Are we really spending time with our kids?

In today's world, Parenting is so challenging. I remember when i was a kid, there were few games which we played at all ages. Games like hopscotch, kho kho, dog and the bone and more like these are just fading away. A week back i met few friends with their kids aged between 4 to 6 years for a playdate. To my surprise none of the kids knew the game Dog and the bone. But all the kids knew games like candy crush saga, subway surfer , fruit ninja, car racing and all the games that we play either on mobile phones or Tabs or Ipads.
Its a new trend where moms are discussing that what all games have they downloaded on their gadgets. But very few or rather none ever discusses what physical activity did her child do except for classes. I mean classes like football, cricket, skating are really needed at the age of 3 or 4 years? Taking kids to parks and garden is alsofading away.

I agree kids are playing football, cricket, Lego. BUT ALL ON THE GADGETS. Why is it that Moms want their kids to attend all those classes which are happening around? Why cant we sit with our kids and play all those games which we played as a child?
I was surprised to hear about a class where the kids of age 6 to 7 years are taught how to increase writing speed. Isnt thats we as parents need to work on?
There are literally competitions between moms as to how many classes her child goes for. I understand in 21st century, kids are super active and absorbs things from their environment faster than how we learnt as a child. But that doesnot mean that we keep sending kids to all possible classes and miss out on "we" time.
The concept of going for Picnics has just vanished. Why are we(adults) not doing all those things which our parents did for us when we were kids?

Hugs only for my dad

Being the eldest amongst the three sisters, parents have always been a bit strict with me. May be because i always respected whatever they told me.

Lets go to almost 15 years back. During this period, i was neither allowed to wear sleeveless in bus/ train nor talk to boys nor stay out of the house after 10 pm. My dad used to travel a lot for work during this time. He used to stay away from India for almost 6 months. He has sacrificed a lot of things for us. But being so young that time, i never realized it. I always complained to mom about his behavior and attitude. But today when i am married and when my husband goes even for 6 days i realise how difficult it is for both of us to stay away from each other.

Papa's reason for not pampering any of us was that we all should be independent and tough. He started believing that we are equal to boys so he made sure that we learn sports too. Till date, i remember papa making me do all the bank work from the age of 15. He never accompanied me to the bank to guide me but only instructed me to follow the signs. He taught me that taking help from the officials is absolutely ok.

I was 18 and yet not so confident while driving car. Papa told me to take the car alone and its absolutely ok to bang the car but just make sure that not to bang into anybody. Since that day, not even once have i banged the car. I love driving and it is all because of him. He has always encouraged me in whatever i did. As the years passed by, he became more open minded and never said a no when it came to learn something new.

Now came the time to get married. Most difficult phase of my life. When i decided to chose a partner, papa was the first one to oppose not because he didn't like him but because he wasn't prepared to send me off.. With great difficulty, mom n me convinced him. First time ever i saw tears in his eyes at the time of my 'bidaai' and that's when I HUGGED and told him that i will always respect and love him for whatever i am today.

Many times i miss being with him. He loves travelling to different places, experimenting new cuisines and exploring the unexplored. And i am proud to say that i am his copy in this.
I just love the way he loves his wife. Even when he is angry, only his love for mom can be seen. 

I really appreciate the way he looks after his parents. He makes sure that he meets them on regular basis and talks to them daily.

My papa is the perfect man who balances between his parents, wife and his children. He is more of a friend than a dad figure to his son-in-laws.

Papa truly believes in living for today and enjoy every moment.

This father’s day, I am expressing my love towards my dad by participating in the #HugYourDad activity at BlogAdda in association with Vicks.