4 Easy Steps to Motherhood Happiness

I am a planner.

I love planning my week in advance.

I love knowing what my tasks for the week/day will be. That gives me a sense of focus.

I love the feeling knowing that my day will be well-spent completing what I need to do.

Ticking off items from my to-do list gives me great pleasure.

And the best part of all, things will ALWAYS go as planned - at least 98% of the time.

Right until my promotion to MUM status.

I mean, I love being a mum.

I love it to bits.

Really, I do.

But mummy planning is not a skill that comes easy.

It takes practise and a whole lot of adjustments.

It's challenging because motherhood is full of surprises.

Times when you expect your plan to work, it will completely go the opposite direction.

Truth be told, that was one of the main things that put a lot of stress on me as a new mum.

For months after giving birth to Fayrah, I was a complete wITCH with a capital B.

So I sat myself down and tried to find the root cause to my unhappiness.

That was when I realised that I had to plan and think like a MUM.

How do you do THAT?

Let me share with you the minor changes I did that had major (positive) effect on myself AND the people around me - especially my little newborn.

1) Baby Inclusive.In my personal opinion, your children are (and should) be your first priority. But I hate to admit that there are so many times that I would forget to include Fayrah into my planning. Unless you have a nanny, factors like feeding, changing, giving a bath etc MUST be included because all these responsibilities take up a huge chunk of your time.

2) Be flexible.Life is full of surprises and that's a fact we have to accept - whether or not we like it. So instead of getting frustrated about not being able to check your emails because your little one was super grumpy that day, enjoy the time extra time with him/her. Before you know it, they might get too embarrassed to be seen with mummy once they hit puberty.

3) Get back to reality.I was always so ambitious during planning that I would include more than 6 tasks in a day. More often than not, I would end up grumpy because I never usually manage to get through them! Not even half of it sometimes! A simple rule of thumb - 4 tasks (maximum!) that will take 1 hour or less to complete OR 2 tasks that will take less than 1 hour to complete. Now whenever, I plan I choose either one instead of cramping all of them on 1 day.

4) Take care of you so you can take care of them.Even if it's just for a mere 30 minutes, it can do wonders to your well-being - especially now that you're a mum. Most of the time, we are so caught up in handling and fulfilling other peoples' needs that we completely forget about ours. If it's a spa session, a quiet stroll by yourself, a movie outing or even just reading a book (without any disturbances) that makes you happy, I say DO IT! Allocate just 30 minutes of everyday for yourself because quite frankly, if you don't take cAre of yourself, who will?

Carrefour - Free Home Delivery

Grocery shopping has always been my favourite thing to do (Any reason to go shopping).

I used to find comfort in libraries but ever since I became a plus 1 (and now a plus 2), I find great pleasure and comfort in....supermarkets.

Yup, I am a weirdo.

Damn proud of it, thank you!

So when we would go for our HUGE shopping spree, I choose Carrefour.

Why HUGE, you ask?

Because we would stock up on all the household items like toilet rolls, kitchen towels, bags of rice, cooking oil, washing detergents etc.

These grocery shopping trips are our family bonding opportunities (Told you I'm a weirdo).

It's actually fun searching for the items on the shopping list (and usually a few other items. *wink* *wink*).

By the end of the trip, our shopping trolley would usually be full (sometimes "overflowing").

But for a car-less family like us, that would be a problem because the last thing we want to worry about is the hassle of carrying 5 over plastic bags home.

So I am totally raving about the *free delivery that Carrefour provides.

What's more, the service they provide is absolutely commendable.

Not only are they fast (it can be same-day delivery for non-peak season), they are also efficient.

Just look at how the items that we bought are neatly packed.


Amazeballs!

Love, love, love it!

Eventhough our HUGE shopping spree are done every 4 months, it is truly a great convenience for services such as the one that Carrefour provides.

So the next time you decide to organize a HUGE shopping spree (like ours), I would strongly recommend Carrefour.

If you happen to go to the store at Suntec City Mall, we might just bump into each other.

See you there!

*Free delivery is only applicable for purchases above SGD$150. But if you're anything like my family, reaching SGD$150 is not a problem.

Silver lining after my hurricane.

During my 4 months maternity leave, I constantly wondered if I would enjoy being a stay at home mummy (SAHM).

In that 6 months (4 months of maternity plus 2 months of summer holidays. Woo hoo!) that I was at home with my little darling, I did everything!

I cleaned, cooked (at least tried to), do the laundry, cared for our firstborn, socialised (barely because everybody else was at work) - you name it, I did it.

I'm not going to apologise for saying this but I actually enjoyed it.

Some people think of household chores as brainless activities.

But you CAN clean the dishes AND read Shakespeare, no? (Not that I did, though. Heh)

However, I believe the main reason why I fully enjoyed my short SAHM experience was because I was still receiving my paycheck.

Okay, I heard you.

Money isn't everything, you say?

Yeah, it isn't but what do I do when the bills start rolling in at the end of the month?

Money isn't everything but it is essential

That's reality.

But I am not one who likes to dwell on negativities so I had to find the silver lining at the end of the hurricane.

Alhamdullillah.

You can't change reality but you CAN definitely CHANGE your mindset.

Are you a SAHM, WAHM or a full-time working mother secretly wishing to be SAHM/WAHM (like me)?

I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.