I’m super duper excited today to introduce you to a Real Mom and my first co-host for the We Are Real Moms Challenge – Perzen Patel.
I met Perzen on Instagram a few months ago and it wasn’t until recently that we met in perzen 😉 Anyway, my poor jokes aside, my first impression after looking at her insta feed was – yummy! Her instagram is filled with pictures of the amazing Parsi food she makes as well as pictures of her cute little boy who is just a few days younger than Baby S.
Since then we’ve been having our Insta-chats about baby bathtubs, cloth diapers and Baby Led Weaning and before we knew it, our conversations moved from Instagram to Whatsapp and then eventually, phone calls. What I love about Perzen is her witty writing, her parenting philosophy that’s very similar to mine, and the fact that she is REAL.
So when she asked me if I wanted to team up to do something together for Mother’s Day, of course I said ‘yes’ without a second thought. And this weekend, together we will bring to you, a fortnight-long Photo Challenge celebrating Mothers and Motherhood.
But before that, here’s a little bit about her, interview style. 😉
Tell me a little bit about yourself, Bawi Bride and Bawi Mummy.
Perzen says:
Well, I am a lover of food and travel since birth and I’ve lived in NZ for 10 years before moving back to Mumbai when I got married. I came to be called Bawi Bride because of my Parsi food blog that I started in 2013 – mainly because I didn’t know how to cook any Parsi food then so it was a bit of joke. Once I started my husband encouraged me to start selling the food I made as well and things took off from there. In 2015 I started my dream of quitting my job and working on my business full time. We now not only do catering but also have a central kitchen through which we do online lunch deliveries of delicious home cooked Parsi food. For me, writing has always been my meditation and a safe space where I get to express myself. So, when I found out I was about to become a mom, it felt like a natural extension to also start a blog documenting my journey as a mother. When I got married, my mom gave me a diary filled with notes she had made as she brought me up and I want to leave behind something equally special for my son. I hope that this blog is it.
You recently did (in fact it’s still on) the A-Z blogging challenge. How do manage your mommy duties, your catering business, and still find time to blog?
Perzen says:
I honestly don’t know where I find the time but what I do know is that if you asked me to give up any of these things I wouldn’t. I started the A-Z blogging challenge because as much as I love writing I have never managed to write everyday and this was a bit of a personal goal for me. Though there have been a couple of days where I have posted my blog post with 5 minutes left on the clock I am proud that I’ve managed to not skip a single day so far.
When it comes to juggling the rest, I’ve found that it pays to be organised and also delegate as much work as possible. Here are a few tried and tested tricks:
1. I’ve negotiated with my husband to give me one clear day when he is at home when I am free from a majority of mommy duties. This means that he takes the bub for a bath, changes his diapers, plays with him and also takes him for a walk. All of this gives me 3 – 5 clear hours where I can complete all the weekly tasks like accounting, etc. which needs my full focus.
2. I also have no shame in delegating baby care so if you come and ask me can I hold your baby, the answer will always be yes. And then I will quickly jump on my phone to accomplish whatever little work I can get done in two minutes.
3. I keep a running list of things I have to do in my Evernote (absolutely lifesaver of an app!) and this way I have already thought about the work that needs to be done. So, when I get time I don’t waste time thinking what I have to do but simply do it.
4. All my reading, blog writing and social media work is done while I breastfeed or am trying to put baby to sleep and when it comes to the A to Z Challenge, I’ve been known to hide in the bathroom while I try to edit and make my post look pretty.
Do you remember how you and I met on Instagram?
Perzen says:
I found you on Instagram – which as an aside has always been my favourite social media platform – when I stumbled across your profile through another mom friend of mine. It’s when we started following each other that I realised we had a lot in common in that both we and our kids are practically the same age and we share a lot of common beliefs when it comes to baby wearing, breastfeeding and natural parenting. I am super inspired by the creativity you bring to Instagram and so when I was thinking of what to do for my very first Mothers’ Day, it felt natural to work on something fun together.
Awww… thank you so much! ❤
Have you been able to make any real connections online? How has the experience been?
Perzen says:
Absolutely!! Since I lived in NZ for a long time when I moved back here making friends was tough, especially so because I used to work from home for my last job and then started my business which has very unsociable hours. Establishing my food blog helped me meet so many new people in the city and some of my very close friends today are those I met through the blog. With the Bawi Mummy Blog, even though it has only been four months since I started, I’ve already been introduced to so many amazing moms on Instagram. Even though we have not been able to meet physically, we interact with each other daily, support one another and ogle at the cuteness that is our kids. If that is not ‘a real connection’ I don’t know what is!
Share something real about your motherhood journey so far.
Perzen says:
Only seven months into the gig, I’ve realised that this motherhood gig is the hardest thing I’ve done yet. Raising a little human being is a big responsibility and every minute I spend on my phone working or on TV is riddled with guilt. But I wouldn’t change a single thing. I am a firm believer in ‘Things only happen when the time is right’ so I keep doing all the little bits I love to do and the rest I leave to the universe.
What are the Top 3 must-read posts on your blog?
Perzen says:
I would love it if you could start with these three:
Thank you so much, Perzen, for taking the time out for this. I really appreciate it. I can’t wait to co-host this challenge with you!
Love,
Mamma Bear | Nikita.
Being Mamma Bear 