Don’t you just love it when you see fashionable people around you, and more so -fashionable moms with their babies? Well, today we feature the stylish duo of Mercy Obiero and her two-year old son Jack K. Junior. See my interview with her below.
Maryanne: How do you like to dress your son?
Mercy: I like to dress my son according to the occasion. If we’re just indoors I keep it simple, but once we hit the outdoors, I try to explore my fashion sense.
Maryanne: Do you consider him fashionable?
Mercy: Yes he is fashionable because at two years he is aware when of what nice outfits are. He always knows when I dress him nicely –with swag.
Maryanne: Where do you shop for your son’s outfits?
Mercy: I buy his outfits from Toi market, Sunbeam, Gikomba and once in a while at Mr. Price.
Maryanne: Do you find it difficult to shop for boy’s clothes and shoes?
Mercy: At first I used to find it difficult to shop for him but once I identified a nice secondhand dealer it became easier for me. Shoes though are still a hustle because he outgrows them so fast! One thing I’d like to mention is that for good quality shoes for boys, you have to dig into your pocket a little deeper. Boys stuff doesn’t come cheap!
Maryanne: What advice would you give other mums about dressing their kids?
Mercy: Fellow mums, you don’t need to spend a lot for your kids to look stylish and fashionable. You can always get nice things around you, as long as you keep it simple and within your budget.
Maryanne: And you? What’s your fashion style?
Mercy: As for me I like to keep it simple but still fashionable.
And that’s Mercy’s fashion story. I love her son’s outfits and hers too! They look absolutely beautiful. And I love her flat tummy too :). What do you think of Mercy and her son’s style?
You can also read other fashionable moms and one dad who I’ve featured on this blog before by clicking on the links below:
“So what does your wife do for a living?” This video is a must-watch. The issues depicted do not only apply to Ethiopian women, but to women all over Africa, and across the globe. How did it make you feel after watching it?
Mariam Mell’Osiime Mpaata, 38, is a mother of four and the Founder of Junior Stars Youth Development Programme based in Mombasa. Originally from Uganda, Mariam has been living in Kenya for 14 years now. She shares her motherhood journey with us, and also talks of how her love for football has enabled her make an impact in the lives of many youngsters.
Tell us about your Family
We’ve been blessed with four children: Imran, 16, twins Aslam and Afraa aged 10 years and our baby Hannah, 4 years. I tell you, being a mother of four is tougher than a PhD! But I completely love it – there’s never a dull moment in my house. I always thank God for the opportunity to be a mother to my own children and all the other children he has put under my care.
When we moved to Kenya from Uganda, I had just completed my degree in Development Studies and was very eager to settle down in a good job. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that jobs don’t come easily, and I ended up being a housewife for seven years!
During my stay-at-home stint, I found myself religiously following my then seven-year-old son through his every passion. His love for football particularly captured my attention. One day, he kicked his ball into the windscreen of our neighbour’s Mercedes Benz and I had to pay for it. After doing so, I decided to enroll him in a football programme. But I wasn’t able to find one nearby, and that’s when I began toying with the idea of starting a small football programme for my son and other boys in the neighborhood.
However, this was the time Kenya was experiencing the post-election violence of 2007-2008, and I was not sure anyone would want their children out in the fields playing. But when the reconciliation process started, I began to realize that football could actually be one of the tools that could get children back to the playing fields. I pursued the idea, and I opened the doors for the Junior Stars Youth Development Programme on 8 April 2008 with 15 boys from different religions, tribes, and economic backgrounds.
Eight years later, the small dream has now turned into something I can hardly comprehend. Junior Stars Youth Development Programme has become a dynamic youth programme that uses football and mentorship programmes to connect with over 50,000 youth. The football programme takes in children aged between 6 – 16 years (both boys and girls), while the mentorship programme is for those aged 11 – 25 years (both boys and girls).
You have helped nurture talents of many young people through football. How does that make you feel?
We have not yet created the Messi’s and Wanyama’s of this world, but it certainly makes me proud to be part of a generation that not only believes in grassroots football. I also feel proud to be among those taking action to fill this gap. Football, like any other talent, requires nurturing the potential of a child from early on. I dream of a modern sports center in Mombasa where potentially talented children will have access to the best training. I am proud that young people are busy spending their time in more productive ways, hence keeping them away from social evils like drug and alcohol abuse, sex and radicalization.
I find my kids to be really creative, confident and funny. They constantly amaze me with the things they say and do. My 10 year-old daughter is good in singing and songwriting. My sons love football and will push themselves to achieve their football dreams. My 10 year-old son has a brilliant way with words, and he thoroughly engages me with his interpretation of life. And baby Hanna is just too cute when she is not throwing tantrums. I am inspired by each of their individual journey and involve them in most of my work so that I monitor their growth.
We love traveling together as a family and of course – playing football. We love road trips, full of real adventure and mischief. As a family we make half a team hence we could play a 5 aside game with me being the goalkeeper!
As a Ugandan who has resided in Mombasa for many years, do you expose your kids to both cultures?
Sometimes I cannot believe we have stayed in Mombasa for close to 14 years. We have embraced the culture so well. We can all speak serious Swahili and we enjoy almost every Kenyan dish. However, we dutifully taken our children back home every December to meet their grandparents and learn a bit of the Ugandan culture. This sure does help us raise Pan-African children in this era.
What are your future plans?
I’m currently writing a book titled “Boots Don’t Lie”. It’s an uplifting life memoir about my life and work. I am working around the clock to beat my 2017 launch deadline. Also, I just started a soccer club called ‘The Soccer Divas’ for amateur women. I am playing football for the first time in my life and cannot believe that I am both the goalkeeper and captain! I anticipate turning the Watoto Africa Soccer Awards (WASA) into an East African event. It involves a series of tournaments and an award ceremony, and we are now in the fifth edition.
Ps: This blog (Mummy Tales) has been nominated for an award in the 2016 BAKE awards – in the Best Topical Blog category. I will appreciate your support. Kindly click onthis linkto cast your vote (number 11 .b). Ensure you click on the ‘Submit’ button at the bottom of the page to complete the voting process. Thank you for your time.
I recently received an invite for a media tour at the BURN factory in Ruiru. You might not be familiar with BURN factory, but you might be familiar with their Jikokoa product. Jikokoa is that cook stove that has Wilbroda of Papa Shirandula on the packaging. Translated, Jikokoa means ‘the saving stove’, and from what I have heard from other women, it saves by using way less charcoal than the regular jiko.
However, I wasn’t able to make it for the media tour, but Sylvia Wakhisi, a fellow journalist and very good features writer – who has written for the People and Standard newspapers, was able to take the tour. At the factory, Sylvia met some of the women involved in the manufacture of the stove. She spoke to two of them – working mums who toil hard to provide for their children. Sylvia shares their stories with us.
“People Think That my Work is too Heavy”
Anastacia Mutoli, a widow and mother of five has been working at the factory since September 2014. In the assembly of the Jikokoa, she deals with the bottom part which is normally placed under the jiko to support the bridge.
Anastacia at work.
Anastacia, who previously worked as a house girl and later in a security firm, says she is happy and loves her job as it enables her eke a decent living.
“The security firm dismissed me because I was not educated hence didn’t have the papers that were needed for me to keep my job. I began the search for another job and when I landed an opportunity to make jiko’s here, I decided to take it up,” she explains.
Anastacia reports to work by 7.50 a.m. so that she can be at her work station at 8.00 a.m. and leaves at 5.30 p.m.
“My salary is able to feed, clothe, provide shelter for my children, as well as pay their school fees. My first and second child just recently joined form one, and that gives me the drive to work hard and educate them because I want them to have a good quality of life ahead,” she says.
This is the job that gives Anastacia her bread and butter.
Anastacia enjoys working at BURN factory because, whenever she has financial challenges, she is able to get a soft loan from them. Aside from that, Anastacia has enrolled for English lessons at her work place where she and other colleagues are taught how to read and write.
One of the most interesting things about the nature of her work is how people react when she tells them she works in a factory – a factory that manufactures jikos no less.
“When I tell my friends that I work at Jikokoa, they become surprised and shocked because they feel the work involved is heavy and hard. They feel it should be a preserve of the men folk. But I always tell them that it’s better than doing nothing,” she says.
“My Goal is to Further my Education.”
Pauline Mawia, a mother of one, has also been working at the factory since August 2013. Her specialty is handling the slip handles-astry and side body handles- and making sure that they are in good form before they are fixed on the jiko.
Pauline at work.
“My typical working day starts at 8.00 a.m. and ends at 5.30 p.m. I am normally given a target which I have to beat. For the astry handles, the target is 550 per day while for the side body handles it is 1,100 per day,” says Mawia.
Is Pauline satisfied with her job?
“I must admit that this kind of manual work is not for the fainthearted. I have a child, and when I was searching for a job, this is what came up and I decided to take it up. At the end of the day, it is my child who matters, and as long as I am able to provide, then I will do whatever it takes,” she says.
Pauline is further motivated to work hard because she is putting money aside that will enable her pursue her dream course -Business Management. She believes the salary she is getting will enable her achieve this goal.
She has some advice to all women: No job is easy. All I can say is that whichever job you happen to get, undertake it passionately and work hard. The results of this will be evident,” she says.
The other day during chama, we were going on and on about all those things women like going on and on about during chama. The chama girls – we’ve been together since our first year in campus donkey years ago, and still keep that close bond between us. Amazing. We call ourselves ‘Mascara’. When we’re feeling hippy, we call ourselves ‘Mascariots’ (don’t ask).
So we’ve gradually transitioned from days of talking about internships and new jobs, to dating, to our first new second-hand rides (Starlets and 110’s), to moving into our new ‘digs’ (one-bedroomed houses in Buru –albeit right next door to our folks), to painting the town red (I should write a novel about this one day), to job losses, to brokenness, to our siblings, our parents, to weddings, to funerals, to taking holidays together, to the blessings in our lives and now, we seem to be concentrated more on our motherhood experiences. I think we’ll be talking about that for many many years to come. Many.
God has been good to us -we have 12 children between the nine of us.
So the other day during our regular chama meet, we got listening to our newest mom go on and on and on and on about how she has not slept in the last four months. Of course, we all understood. And sympathized we her. And even empathized with her. And laughed about it too. Because we’ve been there, done that and gotten the t-shirt. Two t-shirts for me please!
Maaan, those first months can be tough! In between the night feeds, trying to burp baby, rocking him to sleep and the diaper changes, getting a good night’s sleep can actually become just but a dream – and an elusive one at that. But yet, baby must sleep since it’s very critical to his development. Why? Because when babies rest well at night, they wake up feeling happy and bright. And ready for the next feed!
So today, we have a guest – a paediatrician who shares some helpful sleep tips, especially for those of us with younger babies. Dr. David Githanga is the Chairman of the Kenya Paediatric Association, and here are his sleep tips:
Sleeping Tips for Babies
Don’t try and keep baby awake during the day thinking that he will sleep better at night. This usually just makes night sleep more disturbed.
Plan ahead for wakeful nights by having everything at hand that you might need – nappies, bottles, milk etc. Do what you have to right there in your bed so that you don’t have to wake up and start moving in and out of different rooms.
Don’t strive for absolute silence when babies (no matter the age) sleep. Normal background sounds can be very relaxing and reassuring.
Small babies need to be comforted and held close for optimal emotional security and development. If this need is responded to, baby (and mom!) will sleep better and more.
Me holding Njoki -one of our chama babies.
So there you go. By the way that tip of not keeping baby awake during the day so that he can sleep at night rings so true for me. Before I knew better, I would try and keep Kitty awake during the day so that we could all get a good night’s sleep and we would both be happy, but wapi! Nothing doing. The nights would actually become worse when I did so because he would be so cranky and tired and annoyed and I would end up so frustrated and red-eyed and cranky too. Sigh. But by the time baby number two Ello came, keeping him awake all day long was not going to feature in any strategy of mine :).
And while at it moms, remember that a good diaper plays a very important role in ensuring that your baby has a good night’s sleep!
Ps: This blog (Mummy Tales) has been nominated for an award in the 2016 BAKE awards – in the Best Topical Blog category. I will appreciate your support. Kindly click onthis linkto cast your vote (number 11 .b). Thank you for your time.
So there’s this childhood friend of mine called Faith Musau, who will be the subject of my writing today. Faith and I were classmates in Nairobi Primary right from pre-unit to class 8. A good solid nine years. We watched each other grow from little kids, through puberty, to pre-teens to teens.
Faith was this polite girl – very talkative (interestingly) with humorous stories, but yet still polite. And kind. I remember one time in class 7 when I had an excruciating headache and Faith offered to take me to the sanatorium -in the scorching sun. Nairobi Primary’s sanatorium was quite far from the main learning area (about a 10 minute walk –I’m not sure if that can be classified as ‘far’ now, but those days it was as far as Timbuktu). Each time I remembered Faith, that kind gesture came to the fore. Then I also remember this one time we’d both forgotten our home science materials at home (which was such a great crime), and the female teacher wrestled us to the ground, literally! We were really pounded weeeh! Teachers of those days were no joke.
But our school tales with Faith didn’t end after KCPE. We joined State House Girls together. So it was another four solid years of growing friendship, where we transitioned from teen girls to young women. After high school, I would bump into Faith in the streets of Nairobi from time to time, but we began seeing each other a lot more often from 2010 –when we were brought together by our mutual friend Joy. Joy is my Mwarikwha’s sister. Joy and Faith are bosom buddies, hence we’d always meet.
Faith became a mom three years ago to an adorable little boy. I remember meeting her when her son was just a few months old, and she excitedly talking about her new life as a mom, about breastfeeding, about the sleepless nights, and how I needed to share tips with her about how to raise little boys. Which I was very happy to do.
Now, Faith is your typical mom. The kind of mom that loves talking about her child. The one whose child fills up her nights and her days. The kind that is motivated to rise each day and work hard because of her child. Just like you and I, Faith absolutely loves spending every free time she can with her son. She loves playing catch with him, reading him bedtime stories, taking walks with him, taking countless photos of him, chasing him around, kicking ball with him, shopping for him, dressing him up in nice colorful boy clothes, giving him a bath, watching cartoons with him…you know…all those things that we love doing with our babies.
Today though, Faith is not able to do all those things with her son. She is in hospital right now, undergoing cancer treatment. Lymphoma. A cancer that crept up suddenly in 2014. Faith has been through so much in the last year and a half -in and out of hospital countless times undergoing consultations, tests, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hospital admissions…the works.
Faith with some of her dearest friends. “Every girl needs a friend like Faith,” Joy (second right) once told me. Co-sign.Faith with her friends Diana and Juliet.
All the while, family and friends have been filled – and continue to be filled with hope that Faith, who has always been a strong-willed girl, will indeed emerge victorious over her cancer.
Faith is receiving treatment in a US hospital and more than anything, her greatest desire is to see her three-year old son grow up, to be there as he marks his milestones, to be there as he transitions from childhood, to puberty, to teenagehood, to adulthood. Faith is determined to raise her son into a well-mannered gentleman. It is this resolve that has kept her going during her difficult health.
It can’t be easy for Faith right now, but we are all praying for her. Fervent prayers that have been ongoing since she was diagnosed. I know that those prayers have counted for something all those months. And today, I ask you, my friends, to join her family and friends in praying for her recovery. That she will soon return home to her beautiful son who, at the tender age of three years, greatly needs his mother.
At the same time, Faith’s hospital bill, which is growing by the day, is at a level where the family needs help from friends and well-wishers across the globe. The family will appreciate any contribution you can give with this regard, and which you can make through the following channels:
MPESA: Paybill number 985050
Account Number: 0100214905
Bank Details:
Account Name: Faith Musau – Medical Fund
Account Number: 0100214905
Bank: Gulf African Bank
Branch: Upper Hill Branch
Swift Code: GAFRKENA
Faith, my dear friend, I continue to pray for you and wish you a quick recovery. I know how much you miss your son, and I pray you will soon be back home to play catch with him. Hugs.
Update: Faith was called to be with the Lord on 23 March 2016. She gained her wings peacefully, surrounded by her family. Rest in peace my dear friend.
Faith’s family still needs support, and your prayers will be appreciated. The family also needs assistance with regard to the hospital bill. Kindly help where you can. Visitthis pagefor more details.
Elsie Wandera is the Founder of Endometriosis Foundation of Kenya (EFK). I first featured Elsie on this blog in March last year, where she talked about her 20 years of severe period pain, and the initiative she started as a result of her difficult menstruation years.
She said: “The entire school community would know when I was menstruating. I would feel as though the insides of my abdomen were being knotted, tugged at and pulled apart in all directions. It was as though my abdomen was being stabbed by a thousand knives….”Read more of Elsie’s experiencehere.
But first, what is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is a condition where a woman experiences extreme levels of pain during her period. Pain that can sometimes lead to hospitalization. Other symptoms of endometriosis include; heavy periods, pain during or after sex, painful bowel movements and urination, pain in the lower back that could last throughout the menstrual cycle, and difficulty in getting pregnant.
Elsie Wandera.
Today, Elsie is our guest writer and she tells us what activity EFK was engaged in recently.
“On Saturday 5 March 2016, the Endometriosis Foundation of Kenya was privileged to host the 1st Endometriosis Awareness Forum, which was attended by 25 people. We also had the opportunity of hosting Dr. Mutinda Kyama -a scientist who has special interest in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.
As I listened to Dr. Kyama’s presentation, even though it was laden with heavy with scientific jargon, all I could see was the endless opportunities for Kenyan women who continue to painfully live with Endometriosis.
“What if, just what if Kenya leads the world in the discovery of a cure for this disease? What if we discovered new and faster methods of diagnosing this condition without using invasive methods? What if… just what if?”
I was so heart broken when I listened to the many stories that fellow women shared on that day and I told myself, “If this is the reason God had me start this organization – to provide a platform for women to come and share their pain and find solutions for it, then it is all worth it.”
A woman speaks the 1st Endometriosis Awareness Forum held on 5 March 2016.
From my own experience and those of other women, social stigma over reproductive health problems, lack of awareness, and the “normalization” of symptoms results in delay of diagnosis until the time the woman’s endometriosis condition is eventually diagnosed and treated. Many girls and women suffer in silence. It is for this reason that the Endometriosis Foundation of Kenya (EFK) continues to raise awareness about the disease in Kenya. This month, we have heightened our awareness activities since the month of March is recognized as Endometriosis Awareness Month.
Endometriosis Awareness Forums aim to raise awareness about this hidden and often unrecognized condition. My hope is that I can engage with key stakeholders to champion the cause, partner with those in the medical field and spread the word in schools and universities, and care for the women who suffer the effects of the disease.
Elsie Wandera.
The one thing we can do for the women who are out there is to help them be aware of this condition and also give financial support to those affected by it but yet don’t have medical insurance. These women also need counselling because this condition affects not only their physical but their mental and emotional wellbeing.
If men championed this campaign, I believe the stigma around it would reduce significantly. Periods are normal… that is the way God chose to design a woman to enable her do the most sacred of all things…conceive and bring a child into this world. There is nothing wrong with women who are going through this journey except how we treat them during this delicate period.
Extend these women love…extend them care…#SpreadTheYellow by helping us raise awareness in the month of March so that the world hears the voices of women who are suffering in silence.”
Sharing personal experiences during the endometriosis awareness forum is key to helping more people understand the effects of the condition on a woman’s life.Elizabeth Mbogo, Founder and Director of Botanic Treasures Ltd participates in the endometriosis awareness forum on 5 March 2016. The company produces natural health products and supplements through use of among others; the moringa oleifera plant.
Ps: This blog (Mummy Tales) has been nominated for an award in the 2016 BAKE awards – in the Best Topical Blog category. I will appreciate your support. Kindly click onthis link to cast your vote (number 11 .b). Thank you for your time.
In January, I happened to visit the beautiful island of Bali, Indonesia. Bali is beautiful. Spectacular. It’s just ‘one of those places’. Bali is one of the most-loved tourist destinations in the world, and rightly so. However, I had visited Bali to cover the International Conference on Family Planning, and whose activities consumed the better part of my seven-day stay there so I unfortunately didn’t get to tour the island at all, much as I would have loved to. That notwithstanding, the little I saw and the experience I got was nothing short of amazing.
I put up at at the Grand Mirage Resort -Thalasso Bali, which is a 5-star beach hotel in the southern part of the island -in the Nusa Dua resort area. It was a good hotel, though it’s family-friendly nature made me really miss my boys and their father, wishing that they were there with me. I wanted to share some photos of the Grand Mirage Resort that I took so that in case you ever happen to visit this beautiful island with your family, it is a place you can consider staying in. By the way if you know of a couple still shopping around for a honeymoon destination, tell them about Bali. They will not be disappointed. Here are some photos.
The room I stayed at.
There were so many of these at the pristine beach, I thought they were so romantic. Good place for a honeymoon for sure.Dinner by the beach, if you so wished. Too nice.
The aquamedic pool is made up of 100% pure heated seaweed and seawater, with a water station massage and exercise bar. Activities at the pool help reduce excess cellulite and improve muscle tone, flexibility and circulation through a series of aquatic leg exercises. The aquamedic pool stimulates body circulation to release puffiness and encourage burning excess fat. Below are photos of this aquamedic pool.
I lost count of the number of statutes in Bali -from the hotel to the streets, to just about everywhere. They are countless, literally.
So that was Bali. There is still a post on the streets of Bali that I will do, in a subsequent post.
Meanwhile, remember to cast your vote for my blog in the 2016 Kenyan bloggers award by clicking onthis link. My blog is at number 11.b (https://mummytales.com/). Thank you for your time and support.
I met Anne Ngugi while undertaking my internship at Citizen TV in 2001. We used to call her Njambi.
Do you remember your first days of internship? Well, I remember mine vividly. There I was, fresh from Daystar, small girl, scared. Terrified. I had studied broadcast journalism, but I was a very shy girl and I knew that the camera was not for me. Me I like being behind the scenes, not out there. Despite all the encouragement I got from my parents, I knew that I would never appear on screen –either as a reporter or anchor or onlooker or anything. Me, I’m a writer. I like hiding over here behind. Suffice it to say that after my three-month stint at Citizen TV, followed by another three month stint at KBC, I knew without a doubt that TV was not for me. Nope. Not at all. I was done with broadcast. Print was it. Writing was for me. It is my calling. That is why I’m here today. On this blog. But my dad, even though he is very proud of me today, still hopes that one day I will be on TV reading news. Woiyee daddy. It’s not gonna happen. Sob.
Anyway, back to Njambi. I was a very green reporter, but Njambi would always be willing to help a naïve girl out. Newsrooms are not a joke by the way. There is always a rush, people are busy, no one really has time. But Njambi would find time, and sometimes she’d accompany me to the field and guide me on how to conduct interviews (I remember one time I had to interview the powerful cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott, nie reke ngwire I was sweating profusely in my new second-hand chiffon blouse I’d bought at Mutindwa, till I thought I would drown in my sweat. I was so nervous, dizzy and I was hearing ambulance sirens ringing in my head waaah).
Njambi went on to grace our screens for years reading the Swahili news bulletins on KTN and later K24. She became a mom in 2004, but her first motherhood experience turned out to be not quite what she had expected. Her daughter Angel was born with a birth defect called congenital hydrocephalus. Congenital hydrocephalus is the buildup of excess cerebrospinal fluid in the brain at birth. The extra fluid increases pressure in the baby’s brain, often leading to brain damage and other mental and physical challenges. The clearest symptom of hydrocephalus is a head that is larger than normal.
In a 2009 interview in The Standard, Njambi said of her experience with her daughter:
“When I held Angel in my arms (when she was a newborn), I refused to acknowledge that she had a problem and kept hoping that the swelling would subside and that she would be normal like any other baby within the shortest time. In the days following, I would massage her head with Vaseline for two hours daily, but her head kept swelling and the veins were protruding. It was then that I realized I needed to seek medical help. Angel had her first operation when she was only three weeks old. Doctors fitted plastic medical gadgets called shunts in her head that went right through to the stomach so that they would direct the flow of fluids. However, four months after the operation, Angel began to experience hot spells, her head was still big and she could not smile as yet. I could see she was very uncomfortable but not knowing what else to do, I only watched her helplessly. It was heartbreaking.”
Njambi has never shied away from speaking about her daughter, and her experience has often been of such encouragement to other parents undergoing the same. So last Sunday, she shared a message on Angel’s 12th birthday, which I’d like to share with you today:
Njambi’s 12 year-old daughter Angel.
“Today is a very special day for me. It is Angel’s birthday. 12 years ago, on 6 March 2004, she was born. All interpretations about her condition were made but today, all those interpretations mean nothing because she has stood the test of time. Angel has defied neurosurgeons who attended to her wrong. It is just through God’s grace and healing power in her life. It is a testament that by His blood (JESUS) we are healed. It is because of this reason I remember all those who are caring for children with special needs. This is my word: If my Angel has made it, yours can make it too no matter how bad the situation is. Accept your special child and let God be…. look for support and don’t shy away from walking with your child. Be proud because in this life there women who are pleading and crying to God to even bless their womb with a child, regardless of whatever extent of disability they will have. Happy Birthday Angel. You are truly a star!”
That was her message. If you know of any parent raising a special needs child, then encourage them with Njambi’s message. Share it with them.
Anne is today a mom of four: Angel, John Mark (7 years), and twins Precious and Princess (2 years) Aside from taking care of her family, Anne is in the process of producing her own show -one that will be full of inspiration based on her own experiences as well as those of other people she has met. She also trains and mentors young people with interests in the media. She is also setting up ‘Angel’s Foundation’. Her daughter Angel sings quite well, she tells me! Anne can be reached on: annnjambi@yahoo.com
Mummy Talesis a blog dedicated to empowering its readers on different aspects of maternal and newborn health, as well as various issues surrounding motherhood and women. Read more motherhood experiences of Kenyan moms here.
Last we heard from our regular guest writer Ann Wanjiku -a Kenyan-born mum raising her family in Germany, she was telling us about how she used to dry her newborn with a hair dryer after bathing him, and why she had to stop after just two days of doing so. You can catch up with that post here.
Guest writer Ann Wanjiku
Today, Ann takes us through the process of dressing up her son, when he was a newborn. Here she goes:
“Dressing up my baby was something that I also learnt during my first motherhood days. This I did like layers of an onion. I was advised to start with a short sleeved vest first, then a long sleeved top and then a romper suit for the indoors. When we were going outdoors, I was advised to dress him in a snowsuit since it was during cold winter time.
For bedtime my baby’s dressing included having him in a vest, a pyjama with long sleeves and a section for the feet just like a romper suit. Then I would either swaddled him or place him in a sleeping bag. There was then no need for extra covering.
Sleeping Position for Baby
I was advised to lay the baby on his back while sleeping. The midwife also recommended that baby sleep with us (his parents) in our bedroom for his first year. However, she insisted that he must sleep in his own bed. She also told me that ideally the bedroom temperature should be 17°C.
In my next article, I’ll talk about another aspect of baby care – changing diapers. So look out for that post here on Mummy Tales! You can read the rest of my entries by clicking on this link.
