If you’re a mom, you know just how busy life can get. Between caring for your younger children and ferrying older children to and from school all the way to paying for college, motherhood can cause quite a bit of stress. Luckily, there are some things that mothers can do, even if they are on a budget, to pamper themselves and refresh themselves after the stresses of motherhood get to them. If you are a mom trying to watch her wallet and need a little break from the kids just to focus on yourself, here are five easy ways to pamper yourself on a budget.
1. Find community, advice, and friendship online.
Even if you don’t think of it, having a community online is a great way to feel supported and pampered. Consider joining the community of mothers online at Truly Mama, an online source for news, advice, and parenting tips for moms. Engaging with others who are going through what you’re going through is a great way to rejuvenate your heart and your energy levels. Being a new mom is hard, so make sure you head online to connect with other new moms and compare notes on motherhood, parenting, and childcare.
2. Get all dressed up even if you have nowhere to go.
One easy—and free!—way you can really pamper yourself is to dress yourself up in your cutest or fanciest clothes, don some makeup, and take photos to document the occasion. Even if you have no plans and nowhere to go, our clothes affect our mood, so dressing up can make a difference that can positively impact your whole day. If you have a spouse or partner, make sure to show off your cute look for some extra words of affirmation that will boost your mood as well. Looking good will make you feel good, as cliche as that may sound.
3. Go for a drink with friends, or alone!
If you’re tight on time and cash, skip the dinner plans and go for a drink, either with friends or alone. If you go with friends, you can feel comfortable to vent about whatever you’ve been going through recently in motherhood and know that your words will not fall on deaf ears. If you go alone, it can give you some much-needed time to yourself just to think, reflect, and recharge.
4. Purchase something shiny for yourself.
Buying something shiny and new just for yourself is a great pick me up no matter who you are, but as a mom, these little luxuries can make a huge impact. If you’re on a budget, opt for lab created diamond rings that emulate the looks of natural diamonds but are created in a lab. The naked eye cannot detect the difference between the physical properties of a mined diamond or a synthetic diamond, and synthetic diamonds have a clean origin. That means that there are very few ethical standards you have to worry about when you buy gemstones that are lab-created.
5. Take a darn nap.
One thing that many mothers lack, whether they are new moms or not, is sleep. The cheapest and healthiest treat you can give yourself as a mom on a budget is to take a darn nap. Set an alarm, clear out a day’s schedule, do whatever you need to do, but carve out some time for you to rest and recharge. Having a proper amount of rest will make you a better and more patient mom. Additionally, it will improve your overall health outside of any parenting responsibilities.
Kim Kardashian has finally broken her silence over the birth of North West in a blog.
Kim Kardashian, 32, who gave birth to her daughter with Kanye West at Cedars Sinai hospital in LA on June 15, wrote: “These past couple of weeks have been filled with the most exciting experiences of my life.”
Kim Kardashian has finally broken her silence over the birth of North West in a blog
“I’m enjoying this time to fully embrace motherhood and spend time at home with my family.
“I’ve been reading all of your messages and want to thank you all for your sweet thoughts and best wishes.
|It truly means everything to me. I am so blessed to have the support of my family and fans in this beautiful moment.”
Kim Kardashian says she “can’t believe how maternal she is on her own”, a source told US magazine.
“Breast-feeding is working for her and she already feels she has bonding with Nori.”
And she has apparently made her first public outing following the birth of her daughter.
Kim Kardashian was allegedly spotted as she tried to travel incognito in her nanny’s car in Southern California.
Beyonce took the stage in Atlantic City, New Jersey, last night for the first time since giving birth to daughter Blue Ivy Carter.
Showing off her post-baby curves in a showgirl-style, fringed bra let and tiny shorts, Beyonce, 30,wowed the sold-out crowd on the first of a three-night stint at the Revel Resort & Casino in Atlantic City.
Supporting her from the wings was her rapper husband Jay-Z, who recently returned from the London leg of his Watch The Thrones tour with Kanye West.
Under his Twitter name Mr. Carter, Jay-Z wrote: “I’m gonna say this and then I’m gonna end mine. BEYONCE is the best performer in the world. Period.”
The gig marked Beyonce’s first concert since giving birth to their daughter Blue Ivy in January, following her last gig at the MTV Video Music Awards last August – the same day she confirmed her pregnancy.
Beyonce took the stage in Atlantic City, New Jersey, last night for the first time since giving birth to daughter Blue Ivy Carter
Speaking to the 5,500 fans at the Ovation Hall in the Revel, Beyonce said: “I gotta say, it feels so good to be back home on stage.”
However, she didn’t bring up her new life as motherhood too often, except for a fleeting glimpse of Beyonce cradling her daughter in a video montage on the screen behind her.
Her sexy costumes were custom-made by London design house Ralph & Russo, who used 500,000 Swarovski Elements crystals to create the look.
Ralph & Russo designer Tamara Ralph told People magazine: “Beyoncé wanted us to be really creative and create fun and edgy designs that had an ultra-glamorous feel to them.”
During the set, Beyonce performed a selection of her biggest hits, including Crazy In Love, Love On Top, Irresistible and If I Were A Boy.
The singer paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston with a cover of I Will Always Love You and closed the concert with Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).
Critics and fans were unanimously impressed, with USA Today’s Elysa Gardner writing: “Backed by an all-female band and a tireless posse of dancers and backup vocalists, Beyonce reasserted her unique pop persona; she was at once angel and seductress, cool diva and woman of the people.”
Also in the crowd were Beyonce’s former Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland and Victoria’s Secret model Selita Ebanks.
Ahead of the concert, Beyonce posted a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube featuring her rehearsals for the concerts, admitting she was “nervous” about returning to the stage.
She said: “I’m enjoying being a mother so it’s like going back to my old job, and it’s a little strange.
“But it’s important that you don’t lose yourself and still have your own passions. And so I’m back to work, I’m back to business.”
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a former Miss World, a successful Bollywood star and married to the son of one of India’s best-loved stars.
She found international fame in the Hollywood film Bride and Prejudice, and Julia Roberts billed her as the world’s most beautiful woman.
Thanks to the notoriety such fame and fortune has brought her, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has become one of the most admired and revered women in India, and indeed the world. But such fame has come at a cost for the 38-year-old star.
Since the birth of her daughter in November last year, Aishwarya Rai has been open about the fact that she is in no hurry to lose the few extra pounds she gained during her pregnancy.
The model and actress, who won the Miss World title in 1994, defended her choice, saying she wanted simply to “enjoy motherhood”.
But with the star, who married Abhishek Bachchan, the son of India’s most loved film star Amitabh Bachnan in 2007, tipped for her 10th appearance at Cannes next week, furious speculation is mounting as to how she will look.
Since the birth of her daughter in November last year, Aishwarya Rai has been open about the fact that she is in no hurry to lose the few extra pounds she gained during her pregnancy
Commentators have been unkind, lambasting the star for letting her fans down.
Many have gone a step further, suggesting the star has a “duty” to her fans to regain her pre-pregnancy figure.
One website posted a video of the star looking less than her usual svelte self, flicking between photographs of her pre-birth, and photos now.
Called “Aishwarya Rai’s shocking weight gain”, the clip, which came accompanied by elephant sound effects, has been seen more than 500,000 times.
Dozens more videos in a similar vein have been posted, each with viewing figures in the tens or hundreds of thousands.
Comments left after the video prove that many of those watching have little sympathy for Aishwarya Rai.
“She is a Bollywood actress and it is her duty to look good and fit,” one said.
Another added: “She needs to learn from people like Victoria Beckham who are back to size zero weeks after their delivery.”
It has opened up a debate in the country, and beyond, about the attitudes held towards women in the public eye.
“Aishwarya is like a goddess,” said showbusiness columnist Shobhaa Dé in the New York Daily News by way of explanation.
“She is held up as the ideal of beauty and so there is an expectation on her to look perfect at all times.”
“The role models being held up are Angelina Jolie and Victoria Beckham, but our body frames are different – we have wider hips and curves – so this whole business of looking desperately skinny two weeks after giving birth is a western import.”
Cinema professor Shohini Ghosh added that women in India were up against an almost impossible task.
“There is a glorification of motherhood in India and Indian cinema,” he told the paper.
“But people are confused because they don’t know whether to glorify Aishwarya in her new motherhood or lament that she is not looking like a runway model.”
It’s safe to say that far too many fall into the latter category, judging by the cruel comments flooding internet sites.
Some, however, have come out in defense of the star, saying that she, like any new mother, should be focusing on her infant, not her diet.
“She is a real women looking after a baby. We should be concern for her health and happiness especially if she is nursing the baby. Not the Western belief of expecting people in the spot light to lose all weight in month. If she dieted what will happen to the baby’s diet,”one said.
“That’s because Aish is not one of those selfish ones who puts the focus on their bodies instead of their babies, which makes them moody and ineffective as parents,” another said.
“Kudos to you Aish for keeping it real and letting your baby have all the bonding and attention she needs with you. Enjoy your life.”
A new research shows that the size of a woman’s brain grows after their baby is born with increased growth linked to the mother’s enthusiasm and affection for their child.
Brain scans taken of pregnant women before and after giving birth showed an increase in their mid-brain after childbirth, according to the report completed at Yale University.
“We observed small but significant increases in the volume of gray matter in the brain,” said study co-author Dr. Pilyoung Kim to My Health News Daily.
According to the report published in Behavioral Neuroscience in October of 2010, for adults, gray matter’s volume typically does not change over a few month period, like those new mothers studied, making the findings so out of the ordinary.
Typically that kind of growth isn’t seen without a brain experiencing significant learning, injury, illness, or undergoing a major environmental change.
Specifically the researchers saw its growth to the hypothalamus, substantia nigra and amygdala, parietal lobe and prefrontal cortex.
Those regions are responsible for one’s emotion, reasoning and judgement, the senses, and reward behavior, according to the report.
Brain scans taken of pregnant women before and after giving birth showed an increase in their mid-brain after childbirth
With their findings, mothers who showed more enthusiasm over their birth, describing their child using words as special, beautiful, ideal, and perfect, were found more likely to show an increase in their mid-brain opposed to others.
Dr. Pilyoung Kim, who’s currently with the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, hopes the findings can further help scientists learn what motivates some mothers more than others in caring for their children.
“We’re currently researching whether giving moms oxytocin, a hormone that triggers a reward response in the brain, could influence their response to their child,” Dr. Lane Strathearn, a developmental pediatrician at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, told My Health News Daily.
Dr. Pilyoung Kim’s findings further correlate to a previous report undertaken by Dr. Lane Strathearn in 2008 that showed that a baby’s smile lights up a mother’s reward centers in her brain, like the prefrontal cortex found in the 2010 study.
“A baby’s smile is a very powerful stimulus,” said Dr Stathearn speaking to ABC News.
“It makes sense biologically. Babies are completely and utterly dependent on their caregivers. It makes sense that nature would build in a system that would reinforce that relationship,” she said.
One question researchers on the brain’s growth say they are still working to figure out, however, is the reasoning behind the findings.
“We don’t know whether it’s the experience that changes the brain, or the brain that changes the experience,” said Dr. Pilyoung Kim.
Her team suspects a woman’s increase in hormones like estrogen, oxytocin and prolactin as possible factors as well.
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