5 Tips for Transitioning Back to Work after Maternity Leave

Maternity leave is certainly a time of mixed emotions – especially with your first child. On the one hand, you’re changing diapers around the clock, getting spat or vomited on, and just trying to make sense of your new life with a baby. On the other hand, you’re in awe of this beautiful miracle that God has blessed you with.

Here in Canada, we are very lucky to be able to take 12 or 18 months of maternity leave. Even still, every mother will tell you that this time flies by way too quickly. Just when you feel like you’re getting into the swing of things and forming a routine with your baby, it’s time to go back. A part of you might be really looking forward to this so you can get out of the house more, have conservations with adults, and feel like you accomplish something more than just feeds and diaper changes in a day. But at the same time you might be sad, anxious, and have all sorts of questions popping up in your head.

Will my baby be okay without me? Am I going to hate myself for going back to work and leaving my baby behind?How will I get ready, get my child ready, and also make it to work on time every morning? How will I focus at work when I have so much on my mind? 

I am a full-time working mom (currently on my second maternity leave). My daughter went to daycare for almost three years before starting kindergarten at school. I have asked myself all of these questions. I have cried and been stressed to a level I didn’t think was possible. But I’ve also felt really happy at other times, too, for being able to do what I do.

Besides the obvious question of daycare, which I think is a completely separate topic and blog post on its own, I am sharing with you my top five tips to help make your transition back to work a little smoother. (more…)

How I keep going – Preventing Instagram Burn-out

“Anam, HOW do you not get burnt out? Don’t you need a break?” I’ve been using Instagram every day for two years, making stories, replying to DMs and posting pictures and videos etc. The only time I truly took off was during the three days of my labour and delivery last year (lol!). So when another blogger recently asked me how I do it, I thought it would be a good topic to write abut. Social media breaks are encouraged & known to be helpful after all. So why don’t I take one? (more…)

What to Pack for Kids – Resort Vacation Edition

Packing efficiently for kids is a skill. I always find myself feeling unsure about whether I am over- or under-packing. We recently went to a resort in Mexico as a family and it made me realise how much planning goes into packing properly for beach vacations.

Here is a list of things that I took for my kids (ages 7 months and 6 years). I am basically pasting this list straight from my iPhone notes. I have left only what I felt was essential and removed anything that I didn’t end up using. In short, this is a super list as far as beach and resort vacations are concerned. (more…)

Our Family Getaway to Mexico

Grand Bahia Principe Coba Resort Review

Last week we went to Mexico for an all-inclusive resort vacation – our first as a family of four. If you are following me on Instagram, then you probably saw Story clips from my trip while I was there (early April 2019). The weather was perfect (between 25-30C) and we loved this time off!

With our baby son sitting up now at 7 months and eating solids well, we felt it was a good time to get away from the daily routine of life for a bit. We had done an all-inclusive vacation in Cuba about four years ago, so the experience wasn’t brand new for us. But I have to say that our vacation in Mexico was much better on so many levels! From the food to the resort to the weather and the facilities, everything was great! Let’s get into all the details! (more…)

Work-Life Balance for Working Moms

Work-life balance. I always say it doesn’t exist. At least not in the sense that most people expect. Let me tell you why.

On any given day, I can either be a great mom, a great homemaker, a great blogger, or a great accountant at my job. I can’t be great at everything everyday. If I try, I’ll end up being mediocre. Everything that we do takes energy. If you try to do something really well and put all your focus into it, know that it will take that much more energy. Yes, some people may have more energy than others (combination of body type, metabolism and the foods we eat etc), but everyone’s energy is limited. We all have only 24 hours in a day and need to rest in order to function well.

Once you accept this and know that you can’t do it all, you can go through your days with a certain peace of mind. If you’re focusing on your kids today, the laundry might not get folded and there might be dirty dishes in the sink. If you’re trying to deliver on a tight deadline at work, you won’t have much energy left to come home and spend quality time with your kids.

To me, work-life balance happens over a period of time. There are seasons of life when you put more energy towards your career, and other seasons where family comes first. Looking back at your life as an 80 year old (hopefully), you wanna be able to smile and say, “I did my best every day to do what was needed.” 🙂 And how you spend each day will make up the ‘Story of your life’ ❤️

What is work life balance to you?

My Favourite Baby Products

Hi guys,

As requested on Instagram, I am linking for you a bunch of products that I have bought from Amazon for my baby. A few were gifts. I basically went into my order history and pasted products from there. I have included some toys as well that are actually useful.

I would recommend all of these products as I use them quite often and have no complaints.

Click/double tap on the picture to view the product on Amazon in detail.

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Part I : How to Find & Work with the right Instagram Influencer for your business

“Can you give me a shout-out?”

This is a very common question that I get in my Instagram Direct Messages or email. It is followed by a link to a business page or a Instagram profile, and if I’m lucky, I get a good description of the product, service or project that is being promoted. Sometimes it’s so well done that I want to reply back and work with them right way, and sometimes I am straight up confused as to what my role in such an engagement would be.

I get it. This whole social media marketing business is still fairly new and good resources on how to effectively use social media are limited. If you are a business owner who is looking into utilising the powerful world of Instagram to market your business, this three-part blogpost is for you. I’m writing it from the perspective of an Influencer who has received and dealt with hundreds of collaboration requests and hope that it can give you some good food-for-thought.

In my opinion, there is some homework you need to do before you even think about approaching an Instagram Influencer for marketing. Then, you need to find that ideal Influencer for your product, service or project. And lastly, you need to know what an influencer expects in return from you. Yes, it is always a two-way commitment. Sometimes it’s a barter transaction and sometimes it is monetary and rightfully so. We will get into all the details.

Summary of what you will learn:

I. What you need to know before you approach an Instagram Influencer
II. How to find the right Instagram Influencer for your project
III. How to reach out to and work with an Instagram Influencer (more…)

Mindfulness & a Spiritual Podcast

Anam meditating at great wall of China

As many of you would know from my Instagram stories, I’ve been looking into mindfulness and spirituality recently. I have barely scratched the surface. I haven’t done any meditation or exercise. But just by enhancing my knowledge in this area, I have already noted a huge change in myself. Imagine the possibilities!

Crying, feeling self-pity, being overwhelmed, arguing, experiencing anger and reacting – such moments for me have become far and few in between. Definitely still there but much better. And when I do feel such emotions, I catch myself, reflect & learn from the experience.

I’m a lot more conscious of what’s happening around me and inside me. I have learned what can trigger me and feel better equipped to manage it. I find it harder to rant or complain about situations or to roll my eyes at someone’s seemingly ‘ignorant’ remark. Mindfulness has allowed me to come from such a great place of understanding and I’ll forever be grateful for it. (more…)