Tuesday 18 February 2014

The Mummy Tag

I’ve been tagged by the lovely Lara from Adventures of A Mum Brilliant opportunity to be nosy and find out more about my fellow bloggers!
1. Are you a Stay at Home Mum or a Working Mum?
I’m on maternity leave until July so am at home at the moment but I will be going back very part time in July (2 days /week) then back to normal (4 days/ wk) in September when my son goes to big school. (Where did THOSE years go????)

2. Would you have it any other way?
Honestly...there are days when I wish I could go back to work right NOW. I struggle with motherhood sometimes. I find it hard work, sometimes boring and sometimes anxiety-attack inducing (not actually exaggerating here!).  But then other days I love it and it feels surreal that I will ever go back to do an office-based job! When it’s good, it’s really good, when it’s bad, it’s horrid. And by horrid....I’m talking about the anxiety. Of course it’s hard looking after 1+ kids and even if they are having a complete meltdown and you’re screaming your head off at them (oh, just me?!) that’s absolute BLISS in comparison to 10 seconds of panic feeling. If I could know that I was never going to have anxiety ever again then I think I would be ok with never going back to work.

3. Do you co-sleep?
Not at night (i.e. yes for the very occasional nap!). I actually don’t share a bed with my husband which sooo many people find shocking! I think they think our marriage is doomed!!!!!! But we’re both light sleepers and keep each other awake. So we have cwtch times before bed every night instead and then he goes off to sleep in the room the baby sleeps in. He can sleep thru her snorts and snuffles whereas I would be awake all night. Obviously if she’s waking up for a feed then we take it in turns. I can still hear her wake from the other room. But not in the same bed. That was a long-winded answer wasn’t it?!

4. What is your one must-have item for your baby?
Baby swing! I actually panic if it runs out of batteries! We got it when my first was a baby and it actually gave me freedom to go for a wee without worrying that he’d cry if I put him down. Baby girl’s getting a bit wise to it now tho and if she thinks she’s being dumped in there whilst I go off and do something more interesting (like make my son some lunch, wipe his bum or do some other essential job) then she kicks off! If hes is pratting around in front of her tho, she’s quite entertained.

5. How many kids do you plan on having?
Originally, Emlyn and I discussed this when we’d been together a matter of weeks! We SO met each other at the right time in our lives! J I said 6 and he said 4. We’re actually (since having them!) settling on 2. I had NO idea how much emotional energy you’d need, let alone physical! Plus I am too old. If I was younger and we had more money I might consider having another one. But I am very, very happy with my two lovely babies.

6. Date nights? How often do you have them? 
Not many. We’re a bit rubbish at it. We went out for our anniversary last year whilst my mum had my son overnight and we ended up coming straight home after the restaurant and snuggling up on the sofa. We’re more than happy just to watch a DVD with wine & pizza. So long as our babies are asleep. Which does not seem to be happening anytime soon.....(hence how long it’s taken me to write this blog post....DAYS)

7. Your child’s favourite show?
The baby is obviously is too young....My son is currently obsessed with Wreck-It Ralph. Like 100-times-a-day obsessed. (If we’d let him watch it that often). Usually I use it as entertainment whilst I rush around getting ready for the school run and in the evening when we want him to calm the f*** down before bed. :D

8. Name one thing you brought before you had the baby and never ended up using?
Baby sling/carrier. I got rid of my son’s because it wrecked my back to use it...then I borrowed a couple again for the baby but haven’t really used them. I carry too much weight on my blubby body anyway and any more is too much for my frail spine (!). I do a lot of sitting with them on my lap! Ahem, I’m really aware that I sound like an awful mum....swing being my fav thing and sling being my worst! It’s like “anything to get this thing off-of me!”.... The polar opposite of attachment parenting?! God, my poor kids are going to hate me....

9. Your child’s favourite food?
My son, just like his Momma, loves the pizza! And anything sweet of course. Baby girl is just experiencing baby porridge and enjoying muchly.

10. How many cars does your family have?
One. Shamefully, I can’t drive. I know, I know. It’s a disgrace and boy am I regretting it now.

11. Weight gain, before pregnancy, during, after and now?
Well I am a massive heifer anyways but in my first pregnancy I actually lost weight. I was sick from day one to the very last day. 2 weeks after giving birth I was 10lbs lighter than the start of the pregnancy. However, when you start off at 40000 stone, this isn’t much. ;) With my daughter, I put on about 2 stone but I am now about 9/10lbs away from getting back to my original weight. I didn’t mind that I didn’t lose weight in the last pregnancy because anything was better than perma-puke!

12. Dream holiday with your kids?
Um, something beachy? I went to a grotty Spanish resort as a kid and I LOVED it. Me and my brother spent hours building castles, snorkelling and rock-pooling whilst my mum read books, drank sangria and my dad wind-surfed. I’d love that for my kids. Perhaps whilst they are so little just somewhere hot with kiddies pools and a night time babysitting service!

13. Dream holiday without your kids?
Well I LOVE travelling and despite doing a fair bit, I still have hundreds of places I want to go. Even tho I love a beachy, do-nothing holiday, I love love LOVE exploring new cultures. My husband really wants to go to India tho so that’ll be first on the list when we’ve retired and the kids are in Uni! J
Pre-kids....hence the lack of grey hairs and wrinkles!
14. How has your life changed since having kids?
Hugely. I think because I’ve had kids so late (I’m 37 now and was 34 when I had my first) I was very much used to being independent. Even being with my husband and not out partying til 5-6am every weekend was a shock to my system. I was very immature when I met him. But I wasn’t happy (before I met him!). The partying was filling a hole. Despite the shock of responsibility of looking after kiddies 24/7 I absolutely feel complete now. And so, so lucky to have met my husband. Ugh, am I making you sick?!

15. Finish the sentence “It makes heart melt when…”
My son does this noise, when he’s half asleep now but more so when he was a toddler, which is a half laugh/half cough. He does it when he's happy....it’s really difficult to describe. But it’s completely the cutest thing in the world. And I heard the baby do it the other day....aw god, I go gooey just thinking about it. 

16. Where do you shop for your kids?
If I am spoiling them: Jojo Maman Bebe/Mamas & Papas/Pumpkin Patch. If it’s everyday stuff then George (Asda), Tesco & Mothercare. Oh and sometimes H&M/Primark if I get into town or remember to look online!

17. Favourite make-up and skincare products?
I also have awful skin (like Lara said in her response to this). I have the worst of all worlds...dry, sensitive, spotty, and rosacea. I find Laura Mercier really good for skin make up; Dermalogica for cleansers/scrubs and moisturisers; Max Factor 2000 calorie lash which has served me well since I was 16 (!) despite trying many many more expensive brands; Urban Decay for eyeliner; Bourgeois for shadow; Boots No7 for long lasting lips & Nails Inc for Nail Varnish.

18. Huggies or Pampers?
Again, as with Lara, Asda's have been fab. A friend told me they were good nappies before I had my first. I was arrogant and ignored her advice, thinking that they couldn’t possibly be better than the expensive branded Pampers and Huggies....I was SO wrong. He’d be wet thru with both. Asda's nappies won, hands down.

19. Have you always wanted kids?
Yes! I feel really, really lucky I’ve been able to have them. I've been broody since I was 13. I used to fantasize about being a teen mum. Thank GOODNESS that I didn't have the opportunity. My parenting skillz are questionnable now but as a self obsessed 17 yr old, god knows how much therapy my kids would be forking out for! 

20. Best part of being a mum?
The hugs/cwtches, crying with laughter at their silliness, learning new things from them every day, having 2 little beings that we made! The extra love...it's just amazing. They are completely a reason to live the best life you can. Which, when you've had nihilistic tendancies in the past, is a revelation. 

And in completely separate sense...I love that it feels like you’ve joined this little exclusive club of shared experience with other parents. I find myself discussing all manner of really intimate anatomical details with other parents in really random places (library, doctor’s surgery etc) which would NEVER happen if we hadn’t had kids. And most of my readers know, I LOVE to overshare.....

Hope I haven’t completely bored you to death. I am tagging the following lovely mummies…
Georgia

Hope you enjoy looking at their responses too! 
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