Good News! I still have some more years left to be a lazy wife and mother

It seems like lately, house work has been itching me, lol. It is as if motherhood has brought out one side of me that never existed, and this is very ironic considering my tight schedule. So I single-handedly made baby pap (consisting of guinea corn and millet) for my baby. With the help of my assistants, I did it from the scratch, i.e. buying the ingredients, washing, soaking, grinding, etc. Then I went home and spent three full hours sieving pap, lol. The next day, I ended up with 3 to 9 month supply of pap (I honestly don’t know how long it will really last). I was so proud of myself, I must say.

Anyway, I was feeling like a gee, and decided to make soya bean-plantain nutty meal that would last for about the same duration. In light of this energy, it occurred to me that I have never cooked moin moin since I got married, which is strange considering the fact that my husband likes chattering moin moin outside, and eating at home. So I told my husband that I am on a quest to fulfil his periodical moin moin cravings, and that the one I will make is going to be sweeter and better than the ones he buys outside. All I needed was for him to get me a food processor cos I wasn’t sure the blender I had at home would puree the beans to my satisfaction.

On listening to me, he told me to calm all my initial gra gra down.

The Disturbing trend of Baby Skin-Bleaching

There is a disturbing trend going on amongst new mothers in Nigeria, and it emanated from the glorification of light skin. It comes from the fact that many people elevate people will light skin over those with darker skin. It has always been an issue amongst black African adults, but many of us never guessed that it would be such a cancer that would permeate into the choices we make when we raise our children.

As a mother to a fairly light skinned baby, you get to hear comments like "Oh wow, he’s light. That's nice." To be honest, that is not an issue for me. The issue is when people start to compare their babies’ skins, with inference that the lighter the baby, the more beautiful.

This menace has gotten so bad that mothers are toning bleaching their babies’ skin. Oh yes. We now lie to ourselves saying things like “we are maintaining the colour of the baby’s skin. We don’t want the baby to lose the light skin, and be darker.” But who really are we kidding?

Firstly, if the baby is truly light, why does the skin colour need to be maintained? We know that to maintain the shine and true tone of a skin, what you need is to bathe the baby well, oil well, or moiturise well. A dash of Shea butter here, A teaspoon of Coconut oil there, and you will be maintaining the skin colour well. But when we begin to act like science students, using our innocent babies’ skins for experiment, mixing shea butter with Funbact-A, we are no more “maintaining” jack. Some mothers even mix the shea butter with other bleaching ingredients, while others outrightly use “toning” serums and bleaching creams. What is wrong with us?

My motivation for adopting a Healthy Lifestyle

Hello people. Like I mentioned in my last week's post, I will be talking about why I chose to intentionally adopt a healthy lifestyle, even though it is not the default mode. Long before the fit-fam thing became a craze, thanks to social media, I have always been mindful of my diet. You can read more about it here

For me, it was never about being skinny or losing weight. I have always been petite, and wasn't interested in losing further weight, lest my sexy hips disappeared, lol. In fact, it was the fear of losing weight that delayed me from starting to work out on time, till I gained more knowledge about how to have a healthy work out lifestyle and not lose weight, and started working out 4 years ago.

1. I eat healthy because of my digestive system

As at 2009, my body stopped being compatible with the regular Nigerian carb kind of life. So if I eat bread in the morning, rice in the afternoon or evening (I can't eat 3 square meals), and continue with this kind of life, I'm asking for trouble with my digestive system. My body started being on heavy demand for fibre. By 2010, I had learnt my lesson over and over again that I became a chronic vegetable soup consumer. It was basically small rice, plenty veggies for me. So even if I didn't want to be fit, my body required it from me

Later, my body rejected milk and dairy, cruciferous vegetables, and then some other stuff. The whole story is here.

2. The idea of being sick makes me sick

Intentional Post-Natal Weight Maintenance

It’s official. I am in another phase of my life, and I have admitted it. *covers face*

This is evidenced by the fact that for the first time in my life, I am intentionally going on a diet. I’ve always been a stickler for eating healthy, and have always maintained a good figure and body weight. My stomach was the only thing that grew big when I was pregnant, apart from the time I had water retention issues after the times I got back from the hospital. The saga forced me to increase my intake of fruits and water.

I wasn’t well informed about the things that could happen to a woman’s appetite while she’s breastfeeding. I began to surprise myself when I started craving for sweet and creamy things. I researched the possible reasons, and discovered that it is a pretty normal occurrence in breastfeeding women. I began to be more conscious from then on, and then my body started holding on to water weight. Apparently, I am supposed to wait till I completely wean my child from  breastfeeding until the last water weight drops.

Even though I am not fat, and my wardrobe didn’t change, I am not currently at my pre-pregnancy weight (51kg). I believe that will happen when I completely wean (I just stopped exclusive breastfeeding yesterday). I don't really take a lot of pictures but I was able to find a picture of me wearing my court wedding dress two months ago. And this is how childbirth and breastfeeding has affected me.

Third part interference in Marriages... and other STRONG nmatters

Hi everyone. Hope we are all doing great, and enjoying our Easter Break? Did I abscond from the blog? No! Never! I can’t even try it, lol. Happy Easter to everyone reading this blog. I hope you are enjoying your long break. So with the recent developments around me, a lot of things have been on my mind, and I would like you guys to weigh in on some of them.

I remember vividly sometime in the year 2012, former president Goodluck Jonathan came to Lagos. I was on my way back home from work when I was stopped at the end of third mainland bridge. It was so painful because I was just about to pass when we were all stopped. No one gave us any reasons. I was just looking at the clear empty road ahead of me yet I couldn't go. We were made to wait for over 1 hour before we could pass. You know the funniest thing? The president did not even pass our road. He passed the other side of the bridge, the one facing the island. So why on earth were we who had nothing to do with his route stopped? I was so pissed with that government that I vowed to never vote for them even though I never did before. So you can imagine last week when the whole Lagos was in a chaos because of a presidential visit. I wondered why we operate an oppressive government. Were those complicated logistics really necessary? Were there truly no other ways the president could have come into town with other citizens getting frustrated? Selah

I'm currently wondering when it's time to start being strict and stern with a child.