Family Wellness Mama

It’s been a few years since I last threw a party - a creepy crawly themed affair for my eldest in the local church hall - and I looked back at that memory with fuzzy fondness. I thought, heck why not do the same for the tiny man's birthday. We’ll have a little garden party, invite a few of his nappy wearing chums and it’ll be so much easier because we’re at home, right? Wrong! I seemed to have developed some kind of party planning amnesia but the second I clicked send on the e-vites it all came flooding back to me... The 5 stresses of party planning. Have I booked enough, have I booked too much ? Gone are the days when a Spice Girl’s album on repeat and a McDonald’s toy wrapped in 15 layers of newspaper were enough to entertain the kiddies. The party industry is big business and there’s choice, choice, oh so much choice when planning entertainment for the wee ones. In hindsight I’m not sure a 5ft bell tent was necessary but I’m glad I drew the line at a  pa...

The irony of writing a negative post about social media on social media is not lost on me, but I have a Facebook hiatus coming up and I am ridiculously excited. The highlight of our family vacation (apart from spending endless time with my three darlings obvs) has to be the turning off of my mobile phone.  The house is safe, thanks to the in-laws, and the people I generally worry about 24/7 are with me, so off it goes in my case until our holiday is over. Without the tiny blue flashing device to distract me the change is instant:  I’m more aware of the conversations happening around me (as opposed to muffled background noise), I care less about what other people are doing and I realise that right here, right now, the life I’m living - while not perfect - is pretty freaking awesome. The new buzzword being thrown around is mindfulness , feel the moment, be at one with the moment (blah, blah, blah) but it really does pay to take the time out to just be. To ex...

Sorry, I'm sure my pictures are TMI for some of you - it’s certainly too much for me every time I look in the mirror - but public shaming is necessary here folks because my mum pouch (or that saggy flap of skin below my naval) is the bane of my existence.  I suspect people think I’m a bit of a narcissist when I mention the mum pouch but this is because I’ve become an expert at hiding it. High waist jeans and granny knickers are a god a send - the pouch can simply be tucked in and concealed - but I’m the one who has to look in the mirror every morning knowing that I’m not happy with what I see. Weight and shape are two entirely different things and whilst I like what the scales show me, my current shape is similar to that of a deflated balloon. It’s not like I haven’t tried either. I stayed active throughout my pregnancy and regular swimming, cycling and running sessions have helped me to shake of most of the baby weight but this belly won’t budge! I’ve been for...

As a former Early Years professional and a parent, I have to say that Save The Children’s rather sweeping declaration that' 'every nursery in Britain needs a qualified teacher' will feel like a kick in the teeth to many childcare professionals and parents. According to them, no amount of early years training or parenting experience can match a teacher, fresh out of university, when it comes to educating our 2-year-olds. While I agree with Save The Children (and the 13 Doctors, Physicians and Education Specialists who have put their names to the  report ) about the importance of early learning, I do not think it necessary to have toddlers taught by teachers. Children learn the most in the first five years of life. Their brains are like tiny neuron filled sponges with connections and pathways just waiting to be made. The only way this can happen is by exposing them to as much of their environment as possible, particularly through sensory and physical play. If th...

With less than five days to go there’s no getting away from it. My joy filled year of freedom is nearly over and I have to haul my ass back in to work. Ok, it’s just 3 KIT  days, I still have 6 weeks holiday left, but it marks the beginning of the end. No more wearing whatever I can lay my hands on. No more doing what I want, when I want. No more eating whenever I feel like or driving when the roads are empty! No, as of Friday I am once again a working mum and I could cry. Roughly, I think this puts me at stage 4 in the Ending Maternity Leave Grief process – one more to go! If you’re not familiar with the five stages of Ending Maternity Leave Grief I’ve listed them below: 1 .        Denial -  So I've got 12 months to earn enough money to stay at home with my little cherub, that’s doable right? I mean look at this house, I’m practically sitting on a gold mine here - Is that a first edition Harry Potter on the bookshelf! ...

Before I had a C-section  I naively believed that they were a soft option to labour. I looked at the glamorous mums in the glossy magazines, going in with a face full of make-up and not a strand of hair out of place, numb from the navel down while the surgeons slid their babies out of a neat little letter hole, and thought, that looks easy. How wrong I was. Fast forward 6 hours to the agony of the painkillers wearing off, the morphine making you itch like a flea ridden cat and the tiny human screaming for attention next to you, and a Cesarean can seem much less fun. I consider myself to be something of a C-section veteran (though mine were unplanned and both after at least a day of agony and futile hypnobirthing) but even I am astounded by the lack of information out there on C-section recovery. Now I’m not going to patronise you with talk of ‘feet up and rest’ like some of the other helpful (or unhelpful) websites. I’m from the real world where aforementioned tiny hum...

I’ve been pretty vocal about the fact that my current life ambition is to be a work from home mum. Being, say, a freelance writer (hint hint to any passing editors) would give me the freedom to work from the sofa in my pyjamas, with a box of maltesers.  It’s the dream, and a very appealing one since I’d be able to avoid skyrocketing childcare costs and choose my own working hours. So imagine my delight when not one, not two but three lovely people, made me aware of some exciting ‘business opportunities’.  They were opportunities to earn thousands of pounds and work from home, if I wanted more information all I had to do was ask. It all seemed too good to be true, because it was. Upon further investigation these multi-level marketing  companies seemed suspiciously like  pyramid schemes . Now I’m not going to name names, because the triangular shaped fat cats will sue my ass, instead I’m going to write a little list: 5 ways to spot a pyramid scheme:...