I really enjoyed watching Amanda Gorman, the young poet who spoke at President Biden’s Inauguration. I caught myself wishing that my little girl would one day dream big and then work towards achieving her goals and desires. Go girls, go!!

I really enjoyed watching Amanda Gorman, the young poet who spoke at President Biden’s Inauguration. I caught myself wishing that my little girl would one day dream big and then work towards achieving her goals and desires. Go girls, go!!
Posted in Heart matters, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged Amanda Gorman, females, Joe Biden, poets, role model
The little Miss is “reading”:
I am reading this book, struggling to get into it but I really loved Beneath the Lion’s Gaze so I am sure it will be good too.
Of all the things I want to pass onto my daughter, I want her to love to read, read widely.
Posted in books, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged books, Books reading, Lion's Precious Gift, Maaza Mengiste, motherhood, The Shadow King
Recipes
Posted in home, life, madness, Motherhood/ Parenting, working
Tagged Chicken, chickpeas, eggplant, enchilladas, fatherhood, grief, lockdown, marriage, meatballs, mother, motherhood, pasta recipe, Popes, quarantine, Sunday Reads
I love Cup of Jo. The blog content and the community of readers that gather around it. It is a very beautiful space on the internet and what I secretly wish for this here little space.
She recently had a blog post on family rituals and I decided to steal a few to start with my child(ren) as they get older. So here goes and please also check it out.
To keep things simple at Christmas, we each get 4 gifts: something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read. I am planning to use this model with my children (someday)!
My MIL had three curious kids who would shake gifts put under the tree before Christmas day. She invented Christmas “code names” to write on the presents. From then on the kids didn’t know whose presents were whose and would stop peeking. On Christmas day each kid gets to guess who’s assigned to each code name and she reveals the results at the end. My husband is now 33 and the tradition is still alive! She always chooses a different theme. Sometimes they are so abstract we spend hours just trying to guess what the theme is. Last year it was types of dairy cow (Holstein, Normande, Guernsey, Belted Galloway) and the year before it was cities in Ireland (Cork, Killkenny, Limerick, Dungarvan). One year she did locations of WWII battle sites. She keeps us on our toes and I always look forward to it.
“When my (very adult now) kids were smaller, I began asking for their self-portraits as my birthday gift. Many years later, I enjoy the most incredible archive of their growing artistic skills, evolving concepts of self, and interests at the time. It’s still what I ask for, and they happily explore new media, formats and methods each year — often their portraits coordinate incredibly well with no overt communication. Can’t recommend this enough. Only wish we’d begun even earlier!”
A nice tradition I have started with my kids is giving a special book on their birthday. Instead of a greeting card, we pick a book that means something that year (a book we borrowed many times from the library, a little story about a place we travelled to, about getting a sibling, etc) and we write a note on the front page or wherever we can fit it talking about memorable things of that year and hopes for the year ahead. I plan to give my kids a book with a love note every year for as long as I live
She doesn’t know it yet, but I invest money each month for my goddaughter, in the amount of her age. $1 a month when she was 1, $2 when she turned two, ect ect. She will be 11 next month! I plan to give her the money when she graduates high school or turns 18. It is a fairly low financial commitment from me each month, but should hopefully be a very nice gift for her one day. AND it will be a great lesson in compound interest and investing in your future 😉
The night before the first day of school we eat under the dining room table instead of on top of it. My kids are little (4 and 7) so they find this exciting and a wacky way to end summer and start the year!
Posted in home, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged children, family, family rituals, motherhood, parenting, rituals, stuff I like
The lockdown has shown me that there are two types of working people: those with children and those without.
Tweet
I have occasionally thought that of the working parents, some were better than others but today, it hit me as they say in Kiswahili kila mtu apambane na hali yake (each one to contend with their situation / bear their cross). I also read this post that chronicled how some parents are sharing their child care needs – each of us is doing what needs to be done. That is all.
So how are we sharing the responsibilities?
Underscoring all of this is such great privilege that we both kept our jobs and work in fields that allow us to work remotely. Coupled with this is a child who has the beginnings of being resilient and who rolls with the punches given by Mama and Papa.
So how are you coping?
Posted in Heart matters, Motherhood/ Parenting, working
Tagged flexi working, lessons learnt, life lessons, lockdown, Lockdown Joburg, parenthood, parenting, working
In person, these feelings and reflections on the past year are mostly joyful but definitely extremely emotional. I cannot put into words what this year has been like but I would like to try.
Posted in Heart matters, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged love, motherhood, mothers love, parenting, pregnancy, relationships
A friend is waiting to have her first baby any time now and a popular blog I read often asks participants what advice they would give a first time mama and only now am I kind of ready to attempt answering that.
Photo by Ree on Pexels.com
Posted in Heart matters, home, life, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged advice, babies, bath, birth plan, communication, depression, husbands, motherhood, parenting, partner, post natal depression
Posted in Heart matters, home, life, Motherhood/ Parenting, working
Tagged care work, marriage, motherhood, relationships, unpaid work, wives
Over the holiday I got a bit tired of listening to the same subscribed podcast content so I challenged myself to listen to shows I wouldn’t normally do or I had heard but did not want to commit to full subscription just yet. So here are some of those fantastic episodes.
I know it’s a lot but do yourself a favour and just listen.
Posted in books, design, good, Heart matters, home, life, madness, marriage, Motherhood/ Parenting, school, working
Tagged Becoming, Esther Perel, love, loves, Megxit, Michelle Obama, motherhood, Motherhood Sessions, Podcasts, pregnancy, Radio Diaries, Sunday Listens, Sunday Reads, teenage sex, Womans Hour
Recipes
Posted in Heart matters, marriage, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged being married, cooking, female friendship, friends, friendship, ice cream, ice cream maker, marriage, miscarriage, motherhood, pregnancy, Quinoa, recipes, sorbet, TEDtalks, travel, travelling
This being the last week of my maternity break, I thought I would share some of the lessons I have learnt as a new mom. Please share your own lessons in the comments, thanks.
The best part of it all though is getting to know her an experience that I would liken to a slowly opening rose bud.
Posted in Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged baby, bathing, breastfeeding, childbirth, communication, hiccups, husbands, lessons learnt, motherhood, parenting, visitors
Recipes
Posted in home, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged aubergine, baking, children, cooking, Cup of Jo, Heart matters, ice cream, motherhood, pregnancy, recipes
Recipes
Posted in books, Heart matters, home, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged books, Books reading, cooking, Ethiopia, history, motherhood, parenting, potatoes, recipes, time, travelling, yoghurt
Recipes
Posted in home, Motherhood/ Parenting, working
Tagged babies, belief, careers, cooking, faith, Heart matters, parenthood, parenting, Pasta, pasta recipe, recipes, Sunday Reads, women and work, work philosophy, working
Posted in Heart matters, home, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged advice, body issue, books, Books reading, house, language, marriage, relationship advice, Sunday Reads
Posted in Heart matters, home, life, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged children, death, God, Heart matters, parenting, Urban dictionary, words we need
Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com
In this season of late nights and quiet early mornings, of little cries and fussy babies I am learning three truths about God and really reflecting on that.
What does God mean to you as we approach this Easter season?
Posted in Heart matters, life, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged about me, belief, bible god, faith, God, heart, Heart matters
Posted in Heart matters, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged art, beauty, girls, lessons for my daughters, Nidhi Chanani
In light of the new phase I am in presently,I decided to share parenting-related articles
Posted in Heart matters, home, life, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged about me, disability, grandparents, HONY, motherhood, music, sex, snowplow parenting, songs, Special Olympics, stuff about me
Recipes
Posted in home, life, Motherhood/ Parenting
Tagged baking, food, friendship, Johannesburg, parenting, pasta recipe, recipes, salads, Sunday Reads, Urban dictionary, words we need