Babies are blessings from God, and what a great joy, love and bond they bring! These days with photographers, who show case stunning and breath taking baby pictures on social media, one just feels like having a baby every day.

As cute and wonderful as it is to have a child, one must note that it comes with a lot of responsibilities, speaking from experience babies change your entire world, from the pregnancy stage to their very arrival, so it’s of utmost importance that you are ready or at least know what you must have in place before having a baby.

1) The state of your relationship- as you know it takes two to come together and have a baby, so it’s very important to consider the current status and state of your relationship.

Never try to use a baby to make a relationship work; this is because the stress of having a new born could even break a healthy relationship if not properly managed.

Talk with your partner to know if they are ready, babies are blessings and so their coming should be received with all happiness and joy.

If you currently live apart, or are having issues it’s best to wait and sort all that out first before bringing a child into the picture.

2) Your Financial state- You must have heard that it’s expensive to have a child, this is as true as you will only want to give your child the very best.

From getting a good hospital, to buying the essentials for welcoming a baby, adequate health care and welfare, all these takes a toll on your bank balance, so you have to make sure that either they both of your are working or having a major source of income and that way you can plan towards your baby, this will help reduce frustration when the baby arrives.

3) The mental health of both partners- Not much is said about this and that’s why am drawing attention to it right now. Having a baby can affect you mentally in ways you never imagined, so if of you is having issues mentally, like been stressed out or depressed you will need to seriously get a doctor’s advice on whether having a child at this moment is a good idea.

A child doesn’t solve depression or mental health and the reason this is important is to avoid post natal depression or a complete fall out of the relationship or the mental health of either of the partners.

This is because with a baby comes, lots of sleepless nights, constant crying and a whole lot of stress work that could be very stressful for even the most sane person.

4) Your support system – The saying that it takes a village to raise a child couldn’t be more real than when you have a child and realize that you actually need all the help you can get in taking care of your baby.

You must consider if you have a support system to start with, do you have a friend, sibling, mother or mother-in-law that could easily jump in and assist you? Or are you going to depend on nannies which could be very expensive not to talk of the fear of them not giving adequate care to your baby, this is why it’s always important to have this checked off your list before the baby comes.

5) Your age- A lot of times we concentrate on careers so much that we forget to plan on having kids, no matter how much you might want to ignore it, age plays a very important role when it comes to having kids.

Medically a woman’s fertility starts to drop from the age of 32 and for men it goes as far as 40, this is not to put pressure on anyone but to serve as a reminder that if you know that having kids is what you want to do at some point in your life, then it makes A lot of sense to think about the age factor and plan accordingly.

I hope this post had been helpful to you and please you know I love to always read your comments so let me know what you think in the comments section, as well as other points you think I should add .

Babies are nothing short of blessings so it makes a lot of sense to plan adequately before having them.

Xoxo. See you in my next post.

Congrats on the birth of your baby, as with every mother, what  is paramount to you now is the well being of your child which primarily means what will my baby eat, how often should I feed, is my baby getting enough and so many other things are going through your head, and for you who has chosen to breastfeed I say welcome to the gang.

Having breastfed my babies I can comfortably tell you the in and out of it. I will be sharing with you tip three tips that has made my breastfeeding journey a smooth one.

1. To start breastfeeding you have to have prepared by your breast before your baby was even born, strange? No it’s not, while in the last four weeks of your pregnancy you have to prepare your breast by cleaning and pulling out the nipples with cotton wool dipped in olive oil before every bath. This helps to cleanse your nipples and freeing it from dirt’s that might have clogged it up. Skipping this won’t be nice as you will struggle with having milk come out once your baby arrives.

2. Taking lots of water and fruits, yes I know you hear this all the time but you might not know exactly how this would help you, now am telling you it’s the best foundation for breastfeeding. Drink lots of water and take fruits that are high in water content as breast milk is made up of over 85% water. Another thing you can take once your baby arrives is Pap (made from corn) this helps to produce milk very fast after the baby arrives, it makes it easy for you milk to flow and that way you don’t have to wait for days before you milk comes out.

3. Resting a lot, as much as you want to be up and doing after your baby, not having adequate rest would affect your milk production, being tensed or angry or even unhappy affects milk production, so you have to take out time to rest, it doesn’t mean sleep but just relax your mind and body and you will have ease with milk production.

4) Take breastfeeding supplements, they are not just a hype, it really helps when you take breastfeeding supplements, this helps to balance your hormones during breastfeeding making sure that you are well nourished, as you might not be able to eat all classes of food that you need for your new baby, these supplements also help you be stable, you know those dizziness and tiredness you feel? It will be taken care of once you are on these supplements, we offer times don’t give out body credit or adequate care for all that it goes through, this is one sure way to reward your body and set you on a right path to healing from child birth

These are my top four  points on easing into breastfeeding as a first time mum. Let me know what has worked for you with your babies or if this article was helpful, see you in my next post…..

So it’s Valentine day around the corner, the season of love, oh I remember those days in secondary school, when February 14th was the day to look forward to, all the big girls in school will start to talk about their plans and how much they will enjoy themselves that day, chai, all we could do was wonder when it was going to get to out turn, you know those rubber Rose flowers and tiny teddy bears that come with them, oh we would just be dying to get it as a gift as if those things meant anything, the good old days, now I look back and just laugh like really laugh, anyway back to this time and age, why do men shy away from been romantic on Valentine’s day and cover to up with the same talk of everyday is Valentine day.

As much as we know there isn’t just one day to show love and be loved, we just still want a bit of pampering on that day and not feel left out.

I figured since the atmosphere is filled with love stuff right now, this is the best time to talk about reinventing the intimacy bond in our relationship. The stress of everyday life and kids can take a deep toll on our lives and as such our intimacy, because our bodies go through a lot every day and often times you just want to hit the bed and sleep off, well we can’t always do that, we have to remember that we have ourselves to take care of and the bond in your relationship doesn’t have to suffer.

Now to some tips that would help bring back the fire in the bedroom department.

1) Decide that you both need this, marriage is hard work, and it’s what you put in that you get out, you have to decide and make conscious effort to stick to your decision regardless of the situation. When you have done this, the next step is to find a way to be together alone in a neutral place that inst your house, you will be amazed at how just going out for a few hours together could change your mood and thereby create a new found or remembered bond that you share, don’t get choked up in the house, step out and let some fresh air penetrate your relationship.

2) After you must have gone out and you feel like a new couple again, you need to try something spontaneous, like kissing in public, taking a long walk together, holding hands and just taking about how much you love and cherish each other, and while at it get naughty with your words, now intimacy is not only about the actual sex, it’s the whole package, that feeling of wanting, the butterflies in the belly, the sweet nothings that help build up the excitement for the sex later on. So take advantage of the walk and do something new that you never imagined you come do, remind yourselves of some of the best times you have had together. And work it up from there.

3)Try out a new place to get intimate, spend the day preparing  for it with your words, actions, dressing and body language, let the heat build up so hot and when you are ready, try a new location.

4) Delay sex for a few days, this helps to build up anticipation, you start to long for it more because it’s been a while and when you can’t take it anymore go all out for it like your life depends on it, go into it with the intent to pleasure yourself and your partner with all of you and no reservations.

So guys these are a few ways that you can use to bring the heat back in the bedroom and sustain it, feel free to share with me your tips on spicing it up, and it these tips worked for you, kindly let me know in the comments section. See you in my next post