1. Give yourself grace: It's important you give yourself grace. You just had a whole baby, bask in it. Don't be in a hurry to "get back on track" enjoy life as it is now, it's a season. It will pass.

2. Every opportunity is a learning opportunity, live and learn: I know first hand you'd be tired to your teeth, take every opportunity as it is, a learning opportunity. Let your other child(ren) learn as they are living. E.g Make breakfast together, Take a walk with the baby, read a book together... Etc. 

3. Bond with older kid(s) when baby is asleep: Trust me it doesn't have to be anything fancy, your undivided attention is all they need. Answer all the questions they have, ask questions about what they are building, give hugs. Look out for the needs of your older child(ren) above your baby's own (except it's life and death 😂) because the baby will be fine...

4. Let their curiosity guide what you do: Have you seen kids? They have questions per second, what questions is your older child asking? Let it inform what you do per time. 

5. Do what you can, leave the rest: if you use boxed curriculums, do what you can. The fact that you think you have to go through a certain number of things in a day can stress you out so, do what you can and leave the rest. Did your child learn something? That's good enough. Don't think your child is "behind" because what are we measuring by? Whose calendar? There's no rush. 

6. Use the great resource - OUTDOOR! This is a saving grace. Go somewhere together, explore, experience new things, and have fun. Watch out for opportunities to learn and latch on to it. 

7. Use the other great resource - SCREEN TIME: When all else fails, When you need that nap when you need that break... Well, you know what to do. and if you are not into using screentime as a tool, skip this step

8. Brush off the guilt: The guilt can creep up on you, but don't let it win. It's a new experience for everyone in the family and learning is taking place even for your older child. They are learning to be more accommodating, gentle, responsible for another member of the family, be loving, disciplined, patient, kind and these are relevant skills too. 

I plan to spend 20,000 every month on our outing and 24,000 on transport because I currently don't have a car. How did I come up with this figure? We go to an average of 2 places per week, so that is 8 places in a month.  For kids to enter a place is either free or 2,500 on average. So, I plan for more places that are free like 6/8, and 2 places where they spend like 2k+/child. 

So, this is a worst-case scenario but ideally, it shouldn't go past this. With this in mind let's look at how much we spent in January on outings (We started 3rd week in January) 

Week 1: We went to National Museum & Freedom Park 

Transport to Freedom Park: N2,100 

Freedom Park to Museum: N500

Museum - Supermarket: N1,600

Supermarket - Home: N700

Food: N3,200

Ticket: N1000 (Freedom Park - 2 Adults) 

N1,200 (Museum - 2 adults 1 child)

Ice-cream: N500

Fish Food at Freedom Park: N1,000

Total = N12,600 

When I was doing the breakdown I quickly saw where I goofed, I went and bought food outside that day but it was our first outing of the year so we took the plunge. 

Week 2: We went to Bubbles Play Kingdom and Landmark Beach 

Bubbles Play Kingdom

Transport to Palms: N1,800 

Palms to Home: N1,400 

Ticket at Bubbles Play kingdom: N2,500 (Child)

N1,000 (Adult) 

N1,000 (Socks)

Landmark Beach 

Transport to Landmark: N1,400 

Transport to Home: N1,400 

Ticket: N4,000 (2 adults) 

Total for week 2: N14,000 

January Total:  N27,100 

Budgeted: N 44,000 

Actual: N27,100 

Which is absolutely not bad.  We will look out for February since we have a full month. 

Do you budget your children's outings?

I visited @landmarkbeachlagos last in September last year and we visited again last week.

Quite a number of things have changed and I thought to share here so you are not angry like me. Lol.

A lot of the things are really eye-rolling but Hey na them get business, what is my own.

1. They are doing construction on what used to be their massive car park and guess what? They decided to move their ticketing booth to the FRONT of Landmark, so you are either dropped at the car park or drive to the car park then you have to walk backward to get your band. 🙄 You see, eye-rolling things. When you could've put it close to the entrance easily ooo. Again, na them get business, lol.

2. They don't have a free kids' play area again. It's not paid for, they partnered with maxitivity so you need like 2 - 8k depending on what you pick for the play area. There's a swimming pool too.

3. They still ask you to pay 3k to sit down on their chair on fewer traffic days 🙄 they did not even look at the baby we are carrying o, they asked us to stand up when there were plenty of empty chairs 😩

4. You still travel 360 degrees to get out of their facility after being exhausted at the beach.

Anyhoos.

They are a family-friendly beach, I'm just happy to see cuddles playing in the water, and until we find another one that is close by we go they manage them like that.

Have you visited Landmark Beach recently? What was your experience?

It's that time of the year when I share my blog progress and blog goals with you.  Here is the link to 2021 blog review

what I proposed as my goal for 2021

• I would love to create more valuable content - sharing more of what we do with homeschooling and encouraging other SAHMs - I did abit of this but more on Instagram than on the blog
• I would love to collaborate with more brands using my video skills and photography skills - I did a collaboration 
• I would love to get an assistant as soon as I can afford it. - I finally got one in 2022 Whoop 
• I would love to finish the project I am working on - I couldn't 
• I would love to continue the work we are doing with Homeschooling conversations - We did it!!! 
• I would love to update my Canva course and launch my blogging course on a decent platform to consolidate it - I couldn't 

 A Gem!

Our National Museum! 

In July 1948, the first architectural sketches of the museum were submitted to a conference on museum policy in Nigeria. The museum was founded in 1957 by the English archaeologist Kenneth Murray. The purpose with the construction of this museum was to preserve different historical artifacts of Nigeria. Kenneth Murray had collected several traditional masks from Cross River State, these masks were displayed in the museum. During the first decade of the museum's existence, the British Museum gave the Nigerian National Museum two plaques and other artifacts. Souce: Wikipedia

The museum houses the richness of Nigerian culture. It displays the cycle of life, Birth, and death. There is a display of all things culture around the birth of a child, carvings, royal crowns, masquerades, etc.

When we were done with the tour I had to say "Our culture is so rich"

It's just amazing how without enough sensitization for the public the said culture will not be on display for people to see. In all my 30+ years of living in Lagos, I've never been to our National Museum.

What I love about the place: It's neat and you can tell that they are trying to improve the appearance of the place. I loved the richness of the culture that is displayed. Love that you have diverse cultures within Nigeria on display. 

What I didn't like: You can't take pictures. Why can't you take pictures? It's 2021! There's a way pictures are allowed in these kind of places... They will tell you to ensure people are in the picture and not take the artifacts alone. I had to ask, how will people know if we don't take pictures? 

I also didn't like that there was no tour guide, the lady just said "read it, it's explanatory" 😂 what? In a national museum. [Update: they now have tour guides]

I also didn't like that they did not have a Pos again it's 2021 and Lagos is the champion for cashless so why? Had to go and look for cash with my child before we could pay. 

Things to note: 

Take Cash with you.

Pictures are not allowed. [Update. pictures are now allowed]

Your child below 5 probably doesn't want to hear the history, find simple points to pass across.

500/adult

200/kids

Cuddly Rating: 

4/5 Cuddly loves

Location:

Onikan, Lagos Island (right beside TBS and Lagos City mall 

Update: They now have a lovely playground 

Have you been to the National Museum? What was your experience?

We're so excited to start our outings again and we went to freedom park.

For those that don't know, Freedom Park was formally a prison in the 80s and the park was created to preserve history & promote culture.

I know once upon a time it was a place that is perfect for children and adults because they have a playground, they do shows, theater, there's a food court, statues that have different facts about Nigeria and our culture, a museum, a pond and where to purchase souvenirs but now...

... The playground is definitely a shadow of itself, there was no one to direct us per seeing the museum, the pond was dirty, however, the place is clean and they continue to put make-up ( and keep the space alive.

If you're going to go with your kids, only the swing and trampoline work but one has to be careful on the trampoline because it has no guard, there's space for your children to run around and a ramp cuddles enjoyed running up and down on. The pond has beautiful fishes and your kids will love feeding them and seeing them jump. I also hear there are fishing classes Saturdays and Sundays which should be exciting.. You can catch a fish and purchase it and if you're in luck and catch a show, even better. They can also learn a bit of history through the statues and writings around the park. 

What we spent:

500/Adult to access the park 

Free for kids

We also paid 1000 for fish food so we can feed them (It did not make sense to me too but the guy said that's how they roll) 

Cuddly ratings: 3.5/5 Cuddly loves

I would recommend for you to take your kids but managed your expectations. I would also suggest coming on a Saturday so the fishing can be a highlight for your kids and you can explore the park but I'm sure weekends will be busy. 

Location:  Lagos Island aka Isale Eko, Freedom Park is accurate on the map.