I can’t believe another year is coming to an end already. It’s that time of the year when many people start thinking about Christmas presents. Before I had my daughter, I always left my Christmas shopping to the very last minute. Last week, even the last day or two was nothing unusual for me. But last year, it was our baby’s first Christmas. And I remember I was a bit clueless about what would be the best gifts for her. Apart from thinking about gifts, there are also traditions. Christmas goes hand in hand with traditions. Keeping some from your own childhood is a great way to introduce your baby to your family’s heritage. But as a new family, it’s also time to create new traditions and memories that will live through many Christmases you as a family will have. The little one was only six months old last Christmas, so…

Isn’t this parenting gig an amazing thing? All this responsibility we suddenly have for another human being. One of the first important decisions you as a parent have to make is picking a name. The first name can be a struggle, especially if you are in a multicultural relationship and happen to live abroad as well. Trust me. I never thought picking a name for our daughter would be such hard work. For many parents, it’s not just the first name dilemma. If you are not married or just don’t share the same surname with your significant other, that’s when it may get a bit complicated when deciding on the last name for your baby. This might be a growing issue for many parents these days, as relationships without marriage are quite common. Some women also choose to keep their surname when they get married and when children come along,…

I remember when I was pregnant, people used to tell me to enjoy the newborn stage. TIme flies and things will only get harder as kids enter toddler years. Enjoying the sleepless nights, baby’s colic; a feeling of loneliness and isolation? Not an easy task for a new mum. When my little one was a newborn, and she would cry for hours in the afternoon, I just couldn’t figure out what to do to stop her from screaming her lungs out. I remember how desperate I was sometimes, wishing she would just hurry up and grow. Fast. And boy, hasn’t she grown fast? We’ve experienced all these long awaited firsts and milestones that babies go through in the early stage of their life. From the very first smile while she was still a newborn to the very first baby steps just recently. Now, we have almost a fifteen-month-old lively and spirited…

Mum and baby playgroups are an excellent opportunity to meet other like minded mums in your local area. At least, that’s the idea. And your little one gets to ‘socialise’ with other similar aged babies. Or does she? I’ve been going to a playgroup in my local area once a week since my baby was around four months old. My family’s not around, I didn’t have any mummy friends near me, so I was really looking forward to getting out of the house and meet mums who live in the same area. I was a new mum, and I genuinely thought that I would meet the perfect circle of new mummy friends. Oh, how wrong was I. It’s not been all bad though. There are good, and there are bad points about baby groups. Let me share with you my experience with playgroups. You probably won’t find new mummy friends…

We live in an apartment, not in a house. Not ideal, but at the moment, with a small child, it works great for us. We moved from one bedroom to two bedrooms when I was pregnant to have a bit more space. You know, for the tiny person who comes with a lot of stuff. I have recently visited a friend, who lives in a house and I couldn’t help it but feel a bit jealous of her small rear backyard. I love the fact that you can just open the back door in the kitchen and let your little one run around outside, keep herself entertained for (hopefully) more than ten minutes. I’ve lived in an apartment most of my life, and it didn’t bother me too much when I was growing up. It wasn’t something unusual. In fact, most of my friends lived in flats as well. Of course,…

Reaching yet another milestone in baby’s busy life. It’s been a good few months since she started crawling and standing and cruising around furniture, but finally, she took her first few steps on her own, at just over a year old. I think it’s time for the first baby shoes. Since she took the first steps, she’s been getting more adventurous and brave. Too adventurous for my liking. At first, it was only a few wobbly steps from one side of a coffee table to the other while holding firmly onto it. Ok, the ‘holding onto it’ part only came after a long time trying to convince her that it’s less painful this way. But she learned at last. These days it’s more like a monkey that jumps from one tree to another. She learned to climb. At first, it was a TV stand, then a sofa, and now she discovered that the…