All About #ThatMomLife

Anyone who’s ever had an animal best friend knows that pets are a wonderful addition to a family. My parents had a penchant for raising a variety of furred and feathered babies, from the long tailed macaque my Mum rescued from a petshop, to the Amazon parrot that travelled from Switzerland to Malaysia with my Dad. I had terrapins and hamsters growing up too, as well as a stray neighbourhood dog that I used to feed and play with but could never officially adopt as my parents wouldn’t allow it. However, the number one constant companions throughout my life have been cats. The only time I did not have a cat in my life were the two years that I was in university in Melbourne. As soon as I got out of student residences, I adopted my furbaby, Smokey, from the RSPCA. Yuki followed shortly after, and I brought them both over from Melbourne when I moved back to Malaysia.

These two furbabies have been with me for the past eight years. When I got pregnant I worried about how the change would affect them. Especially Yuki, who is quite an anxious cat, so I did a lot of research on how I would introduce a new baby into their lives to make it a happy occasion for everyone around.

The endemic is finally here and international & local travels are safe for everyone! Cue all our Malaysian mums googling best hotels and destinations for their own families. It can be an overwhelming experience to vigorously research and not know if it's a suitable place for your family to visit until you’re actually there! Well, Boss Mama has got you covered with this article where we share with you some amazing hotels that will make your trip extra special with your little unit. Let us know if you’ve visited any of these places and share your experience with us.

When I became a mum, I didn't know if I was going to breastfeed or bottle feed, baby wear or not, co-sleep or sleep train? There was an overwhelming surge of opinions and information and I was overwhelmed. 

But the second time around, I was more prepared and confident of what I needed for myself and baby. I know we all always get our babies the best bottle, stroller, cot etc. But what about us mamas?

That's when I fell in love with Boss Mama. Boss Mama is a brand made by 2 mamas who were sick and tired of not getting the best of things when it came to pregnancy and postpartum needs.

'Breast is best' left me broken, overwhelmed, ashamed and exhausted. Those feelings, echoed by thousands of other women who struggle with nursing, explain the growing backlash against the exclusively-breastfeeding environment.

It was only a few hours after my C-section, and the difficulty to direct latch was something I did not expect. I had imagined that direct latching would be a natural experience, and milk would flow out of me as easy as water flowing out of my Coway machine.

Boy, I was wrong!

The practise of wearing babies has been done throughout the ages and across cultures. It’s a beautiful, natural way to create a deeper bond and give your baby the care they need by being close to them and still being up and about.

I started babywearing pretty early on, when my little one was only a few weeks old and I took her on walks with me. In the first few months, she would almost always fall asleep while I was wearing her. She also didn’t like being left lying down even if I was still in the same room, so sometimes the only way I could get anything done around the house was if I was wearing her. 

It’s been 2 years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. We’ve been through multiple lockdowns. Fear and uncertainty has become an unfortunate norm, especially for those of us who are of the vulnerable population, or with loved ones who are. I was pregnant in 2020 and gave birth mid-2021 so I was constantly worrying about getting sick, and then worrying about my newborn getting sick. After 2 years of making sure we took the best precautions, and with the disease getting closer and closer to us, I started feeling like I was playing dodgeball with COVID-19. I also started feeling like it was only a matter of time before we did get it.

And then it happened.

“Please don’t touch my baby!” I said loudly.

The woman threw me a dirty look as if I was the one who had committed a grievous offence, not her. Maybe she thought I was being racist? I made a face. “There’s a pandemic going on, hello?!”

Her face changed. She dropped her hand and walked off without a word.

Let me momsplain something here, “daddy privilege” is a term to describe the double standard that exists in parenting – praising dad for doing expected/normal duties. Is it new? No. But it is getting called out with more and more moms and dads (you go dads!) coming forward with the disgusting truth of how our society upholds such low standards for dads while expecting greatness from moms.

Honestly, my “bra energy” was low at the beginning of my pregnancy. Wearing a bra during the first trimester wasn’t so bad, it was going into the second and third trimester where wearing a bra felt suffocating and just downright uncomfortable.

Was I the only one who felt this way? Nope, turns out a lot of preggo mommas felt the urge to just rip off their bras in the middle of the day and let their “hoohas” hang. How could we not? Our body was expanding, the skin stretches and tight constrictive clothing will only cause farther irritation and none of us, wants to find ourselves scratching our boobs in public.

As a first-time mother, I naturally wanted to be as prepared as I could. I read all kinds of articles, attended webinars, spoke to other mothers, and eventually got to a point where I felt confident in visualising the ‘perfect’ birth. So when I found out at 34 weeks that my baby was breech and I was asked to consider a C-Section if she didn’t turn, I was more than a little thrown.