After getting married a couple years after law school, my husband and I decided to start a family, but before then, I already knew that there were things on my pre-baby bucket list I had to enjoy before taking on the challenges of parenthood. We didn’t call it a “bucket list” back then, but the concept was the same.
I was one of the first among my friends to marry and would be among the first to have kids, still I had a few other law school buddies who had children so I knew of all that was involved in child rearing.
Being the eldest of 4 children in my family, I had spent a substantial amount of my pre teens to college years babysitting, looking after my siblings or helping relatives and family friends care for cousins and other children in their family. So, I had an inkling of what was involved with child-rearing. I was well in the know that I had to get my free-spirit on before joining mommyhood.
Here is a list of things I did before jumping into the parenting pool.
1. Traveled on a moment’s notice – Back then and still today, last dirt cheap minute fares to far off places, spas and other locales came easy. Once you signed up for last minute deals emails, you could get an alert in your inbox on Thursdays, for example, purchase your ticket by Friday and be in the air after work. After children, the opportunities for such impromptu adventures are near impossible.
2. Spend Freely – Owing to number #1, most of the money you earned belong to you so you could splurge on a last minute trip, buy that expensive handbag, go out to eat twice a week because there was no other person’s college fund you needed to be saving for or some baby’s 1st birthday party you needed to use up all your rainy day fund to plan and throw.
3. Sleep in– Before kids, Sundays meant sleeping in. Saturdays wouldn’t yet involve games, practices, rehearsals, recitals, trips to the zoo, museums, and festivals. While all of those things are fun and I really enjoy cheering my children on and watching them perform or enjoy themselves at a craft fair, sleeping in and reading the Sunday paper in bed all day was a luxury too I enjoyed pre-having a family of my own.
4. Not have to clean regularly – After children, you no longer have the privilege of cleaning your home on Saturday and not have it messed up again until mid week or well into the following week before needing a new cleaning. Having a family of three or more means having more people to clean up after and less uncluttered spaces because families can be messy.
5. Take adult classes – I didn’t grow up in a family where we could afford classes, so before having kids, I enrolled myself in a host of fun classes: ballet, tennis, adult gymnastics, pottery, painting, cooking, whatever was available, I did. And again, having disposable income for myself, I could afford to!
Having enjoyed that life, I wouldn’t trade in the one I have now for anything in the world. I am glad my husband and I had a chance to grow a little nest egg so we could buy a home for our future kids to grow up in. Today, there are more resources, inventions, services and products available to parents that I wish I had available to me.
For example, I recently learned about Happy Mama which is the first organic baby food to expand into the prenatal category, offering Mom and Baby an easy nutrition solution throughout the First 1,000 Days, by starting as far back as the womb. How novel!
You know like before, most of the products available aimed to give newborns, infants and babies a healthy start at birth.
But, the NEW Happy Mama® Prenatal collection is changing the trajectory of children’s health through nutrition by getting to baby before birth and making sure mom is in optimal health from the beginning of her pregnancy journey. We were gifted a generous package of the products to sample out and really enjoyed them!
The Happy Mama Prenatal collection includes a host of nourishing and healthy products including; Fruit + Veggie Blends, Probiotic Supplements and Gummies.
Another great thing about the collection is that it offers extra vitamins and nutrients that moms-to-be need like DHA, Choline, Calcium and Fiber, which they may not get from their diet or prenatal multi-vitamin alone.
When you can’t keep foods down because you’re suffering from nausea or morning sickness, these vitamins will come in pretty handy!
The Probiotic Supplement is flavor-free and easily dissolves in water – plus it’s a taste-less addition to soft foods. The supplement helps support Baby’s developing immune system. As you may know, probiotic supplements are also great for keeping one regular and are great for digestion and easing heartburn and other digestive woes that increase during pregnancy.
We’ve gone past the days of the ginormous yucky tasting pre-natal vitamins. Thank God!
Companies have gotten more inventive and are taking mom’s taste buds into account. Happy Mama’s Prenatal Gummies, for example, provide extra essential nutrition for Mama-to-be, such as Omega-3s, DHA, Choline and Vitamin D, with each bottle containing yummy gummies in three flavors: lemon, berry and orange. They are deelish! We tried them. Yummy!
Better than candy because the prenatal gummy is a supplement to your daily prenatal/multi-vitamin and it’s needed because the top prenatal vitamins on the market do not provide you with the recommended value of DHA, Choline or Vitamin D.
The Happy Mama Prenatal collection is available at Target as part of the Made to Matter—Handpicked by Target™ product collection in the women’s health aisle, but before you buy some, you can win the line from Happy Mama here! Open to US only from Now until November 13. Many ways to enter. Daily Entry options available!
FTC: This giveaway is sponsored by Happy Mama Prenatal