The Day I became a Mama! (Best Day Ever)

This weekend I am excited to be celebrating my second official Mother’s Day! This year will be extra special as I’m 21 weeks pregnant with my second bundle of joy, and perhaps thats the reason I’ve been alll nostalgic at how quickly the last two years have gone since my first baby (now toddler!) was born.

With that in mind, I figured it was a good time to sit down and write about my first pregnancy/birth story to remind us all just how special our Mum’s are. For my fellow Mama’s: I’m sure you’ll all giggle/wince in pain as I remind you all of your own stories! For those of you who haven’t experienced the ‘miracle’ of childbirth yourself: Don’t worry, mine’s a good story and there’s no mention of blood or guts or Vagina’s* I promise!

*That’s the only time I swear!

You’re Pregnant

I remember when I first found out that I was pregnant with Violet. Trav and I had recently gotten married in Central Park in New York City. It was literally a dream come true!  We then travelled to the Caribbean for the worlds best Honeymoon, and then ventured home via Miami and Dallas.  We’d been gone for 4 weeks all up, and it was the most surreal, wonderful time in our lives. We were married! In NYC! We just got home from the Caribbean! It was a lot to absorb, and I felt sure that the deep depression that normally follows a great holiday (let alone a wedding!) was about to sink in.

Getting hitched in NYC (image: Benj Haisch Photography)

Trav and I decided when we were on our honeymoon that we might be ready to start trying for kids. As much as I’d always wanted them, it’s such a huge decision and some moments I was convinced I was ready and then others I was like WHOA! I’m only 19! (Note: I wasn’t 19, I was 29 but I felt like I was 19….you know what I mean?!) So anyways, being in the Caribbean where there’s nothing to do but drink rum alllllll the days meant that we weren’t really thinking all that straight and logic went out the window.

Suffice to say, the day we got back to Australia I knew. I woke up super early the day after we’d flown home. I had this niggling feeling that I was pregnant, so I did a home test just to put my mind at ease.  It was positive. I did another one because there’s no way you can try once on your honeymoon and fall pregnant. It was positive too. I felt numb. I remember walking out into the kitchen with the tests and showing Trav. His reaction was total shock. I remember that I had no idea what to say or feel…..and so we just kind of hugged awkwardly cos we assumed thats what people in this situation did. We were both SO tired and SO shocked! We then made an appointment to see the GP straight away because I was sure they’d need to do a proper blood test which would probably turn out to be negative.

The drive to the Doctor’s seemed to take ETERNITY. I remember I almost fainted when it was time to get out of the car. When we saw the Doctor she asked “So, why are you here today”. I said “I think I’m pregnant”. I expected her to say “OMG! You’re so young! What are you thinking?!” She didn’t. She asked if I’d done a test. I told her I had…twice. “Ok then great. Let’s start doing some referrals and I’ll give you some forms for blood tests and hospital admissions”. Just like that. We were pregnant.

The ‘Joys’ of Pregnancy

The next few months were crazy.  I told my sister before I’d reached the 12 weeks mark because we were talking one day and I was convinced that she ‘knew’ (despite the fact that it was way too early and I wasn’t remotely showing or suffering any symptoms). She was excited! That made it feel so real. I wasn’t excited, more like terrified.  I also thought everybody at work knew, and that all my friends knew….in fact it was all I thought about ALL THE TIME. Then the sickness came, and it was hard to hide.  I remember one day a colleague was commenting on how strange my eating habits had become, and she said jokingly ‘You aren’t pregnant are you?’. I burst into tears….so that pretty much answered her question!

23 weeks pregnant with Violet. This was probably taken just before/after throwing up.

My pregnancy with Violet felt long and hard.  I was throwing up most days, sometimes once, sometimes several times a day.  I craved all kinds of stuff: potatoes, oranges, and for the first four weeks all I ate was kale (I have not touched the stuff since!).  I got hot easily, and this always led to me being sick.  One morning I was at a packed bus stop waiting for a peak hour bus to the city.  It was hot, and there was nowhere for me to sit.  Before I knew it, I was vomiting into a shopping bag in front of about 50 shocked onlookers.  No one said a word, they all just stared in horror.  I tied up my shopping bag and went straight home to cry and eat biscuits.

Other than the constant sickness, and the heartburn, and the leg cramps, I had a pretty normal pregnancy and was looking forward to meeting my baby for the first time.  I wondered what it would look like, if it was a girl or a boy, and whether or not the birth would  be as awful as everybody makes out.  Trav and I decided pretty early on that we wanted to find out the sex, even though I was convinced I was having a boy! The day of our 20 week scan rolled around, and I remember being in the shower that morning and thinking ‘How exciting! I’m going to see my baby today!’.  As I stood there, I had this massive wave of realisation: IT’S A GIRL.  I don’t know where it came from, as I had always wanted a boy first and had my entire boy nursery theme pinned on Pinterest!  I decided to ignore the premonition and off we went to the scan.

It’s a WHAT?!

Lo and behold, the premonition turned out to be correct.  It was a girl! Trav was excited.  The guy doing the ultrasound was excited. I was NOT EXCITED! We were then told we’d have to wait a while whilst they printed up the report. Trav and I went for a walk outside.  I cried. Like, bawled my eyes out. I cried because I was having a girl, and then I cried for being so awful about wanting a boy instead. I WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A BOY!!!!!

Later that day we went to IKEA to look at nursery furniture.  I cried there too, as I looked at all the cute boy stuff that was supposed to be in my nursery.  Yep. I was a pregnant hormonal mess and the only thing I thought I ‘knew’ about this baby turned out to be totally and utterly wrong!

Now before you all have a go at me for being ungrateful and anti-girl, I have to say that with a bit of hindsight the way that I behaved at that news was ridiculous and if someone else told me that story I’d be all judgemental too, but I promise you all that once that news eventually sank in I let go of my boy baby obsession and started focusing on all the excitement that a little girl would bring (pig-tails and ballet!)  It was also a good lesson for this soon-to-be Mama that babies are not predictable, or something you can control and I quickly learnt to just roll with punches for the remainder of my pregnancy!

Hello?

For the months leading up to my birth, I met regularly at my midwife clinic with a group of about 10 women who were all due to have babies in the same month.  It was great and enjoyed talking to other first time Mum’s who were experiencing some of the same symptoms, emotions, fears and general craziness that I was. I remember the last few sessions I attended were getting smaller. Some of these girls had already had their babies! I was convinced that I’d be giving birth around 38 weeks. Once again, I was wrong.

40 weeks pregnant. She’s never coming out!!!

39 weeks came and went….nothing. 40 weeks came and went….NOTHING! I figured this baby was just going to stay in my belly and we’d just continue living our lives.  Eventually, the midwives starting talking about inducing me and this terrified me. I asked to wait as long as possible for this to happen so that I could hopefully kick things off naturally, and they agreed.  During the next few days I did it all: Acupuncture, raspberry  leaf tea, Clary sage oil (which smells like shit by the way) and eating copious amounts of pineapple.  Well I’m pleased to say, that the day after I consumed an entire pineapple whilst perched on my fit-ball (nothing to do with fitness, it was just the only way I could sit comfortably) I woke up the next morning to the early signs of labour! It’d been 41 weeks and 3 days and the little pudding had decided she was ready!

Go Time!

It was still pretty early in the morning (about 4am from memory) and I woke up feeling weird.  I’d had Braxton Hicks before though, so I decided I’d go get into the bath to try to make myself more comfortable.  Trav got up and was getting ready for work, and when he came to say goodbye to him I gently suggested maybe he should just stay home today.  Within a couple of hours, it was pretty clear that today was the day!

Things are a bit of a blur from here on in, but I remember calling the mid-wife, and then my Mum and Sister turned up for moral support.  Things seemed to progress pretty quickly and before I knew it, we were headed to the hospital.  I was kneeling on the back seat of my new car, thinking Christ I hope I don’t ruin the leather seats! I also remember glancing out the window when we were stopped in traffic, amused at what at the people in the cars next to us must be thinking.

By the time we got to the hospital, it was ON! I remember it feeling like an outer body experience, walking into the foyer in my Peter Alexander cupcake nightie and thongs (a ridiculous vision in itself), looking at all the families holding balloons and flowers, all who seemed to recoil in horror (or worse: amusement!) at my appearance.  We hadn’t even made it to the reception desk to ‘check in’ before I had a huge contraction and I had to hold on to a hand rail along the wall and try not to have my baby on the linoleum.  Trav later told me how horrified he was to look over at me in this position and how embarrassing it was.  I can honestly say that at the time, I wouldn’t have cared one bit! If only he knew what was coming!

We’d arrived at the hospital around lunchtime, and by the time I walked into the examination room to check how dilated I was, the midwife on duty took one glance in my direction and said “Oh, she’s in labour! – take her straight to the labour suite!”.  This was a little surprising to me, as I’d understood labour could take days….but hey, it’d been 41 weeks I was good to go!

Our first family photo taken moments after Violet was born.

I remember the labour being fast, and thinking that it wasn’t as painful as I thought it’d be…but it was so difficult!!! More than once I thought that perhaps she just wasn’t coming out, but then all of a sudden she was being held up for me to see! I was so relieved that she as here! I remember thinking she was red (overcooked) and HUGE (9lb 8oz) and the most beautiful potato-like creature I’d ever seen!

I remember the midwife putting her on my chest, and me thinking, I guess I should probably cry now?  I think perhaps I managed a few tears but the whole thing was so surreal: I had a baby. I was a Mama! They asked us what her name was and we proudly told them that it was ‘Violet Mae’. A beautiful name for our beautiful blonde bombshell of a girl. They told me to try breastfeeding her. ‘Ok!’ I said, whilst I secretly thought how the hell do I do that? Turns out I didn’t have to know, cos that teeny tiny (gigantic) baby just went for it by herself! She’s good like that.

I remember feeling happy that everything had gone how I’d hoped.  I managed the whole birth without any drugs or intervention and I felt pretty good actually! I felt proud to be a woman and marvelled at how clever we are. We’re freakin amazing! Then they told me that actually I’d had a third degree tear and that I’d need surgery right way. Farrrrrrrrk! Still, even with that fun curve ball, I still remember the whole thing rather fondly and once again felt grateful that for me it was overall a positive experience.

My blonde bombshell Violet Mae.

The After-math

After surgery, I remember waiting in recovery for the all-clear when Trav came in with our big chunky baby. That’s when it all hit me! I’d only known that baby for a matter of hours, yet I’d missed her terribly while she was away from me! It made me so happy to see Trav as well. He was a Daddy now!  He’d taken care of her whilst I was in surgery and that just made my heart so full. He’d already bonded with her and was pointing things out to me, like her long fingers or her mop of blonde hair. The two of them were already buddies and it was the most beautiful thing to see.

Shortly after, they transferred me to my hospital bed where I was to stay for the next few days while I recuperated. My sister was standing at the end of the bed holding Violet while the nurses were fussing over me and getting me sorted.  I looked up at the two of them and at that moment Violet turned her big potato head and looked right at me! It was the freakiest thing ever and both my sister and I were like Did that just happen? I didn’t think newborns had head control! (To be fair, she was practically a toddler when she was born so I guess that explains it)

My beautiful baby girl with toddler-like head control.

The next few days, nights and weeks all seemed to fly by/drag on and to be honest the after-birth hormones are worse than the pregnancy ones! I remember watching Despicable Me and crying through the whole movie despite it being a very funny children’s cartoon.  I remember being tired and wondering if I’d ever sleep again. I remember worrying about every mark, rash, spot, or any other change in Violet’s appearance.  I remember my milk coming in and thinking it was WAY worse than labour! I remember sitting up at 2am thinking how beautiful and amazing my daughter was.  I remember sitting up at 4am thinking I was going to die if I didn’t get more sleep. The whole newborn experience is magical and horrendous all at the same time, and whilst it feels like eternity whilst you’re in it, two years later I look back and think it was all over too fast!

You’re Pregnant. Again!

It’s crazy to reflect and recall all these details and know that we’re about to do it all over again with our second baby due in September (eek!). Maybe I’m crazy for wanting doing it all again but I also can’t remember what life was like before I was a Mama! It’s a hard, dirty, emotional and often thankless job, but its also the most rewarding wonderful gift and I feel privileged to be a member of such a super cool club!

Baby number two! Due September 2015

So to all my fellow Mama’s:

Happy Mother’s Day!

Remember how amazing you are and how far you’ve come! Remember to celebrate not only your own achievements, but your Mum’s too (clearly she did a good job…look at how amazing her child is)

Are you a Good Mum or a Bad Mum?

Fess up Mama’s! How many times a day do you ask yourself this question? Am I a good Mum?

Lately, I’ve had this very conversation with several of my Mama friends, and it seems to be a common theme with new Mums however the more experienced Mums aren’t immune to it either. Since I’m all about being truthful and not pretending that motherhood is all sunshine and unicorns, I thought I’d give you my take on what it means to be a bad Mum. Or a good Mum, cos the two seem to be get a little confused!

Since I became a Mama 16ish months ago (therefore making me an expert) I’ve learnt A LOT about being a mother. I’ve learnt that I was totally wrong about a lot of things. I have broken most of the Mama rules that I set myself pre-children. I can’t tell you how many times I looked at other parents and said”Oh, I’ll never do that to my kids” or “Gosh, I’ll never let my child do that”. Well guess what? I’ve totally done that to my kid! and hell yes I’ve let them do that! And it didn’t end there either.

The longer that I’ve been doing this ol motherhood caper the more I realise that 99% of us who’ve been lucky/crazy enough to have a child are doing the best that we can, the majority of the time.  Does that mean that we’re all perfect? Hell no! Does that mean we don’t make mistakes? No way José! It just means that if you’re a Mama, you of all people know how hard it is to just get out of bed somedays, let alone parent your children… So why are you standing there, judging another Mum who’s probably doing the best that she can despite the odds (sleep/food/energy/patience/fitness/health) being against her? Aren’t we all in this together? Shouldn’t we be sharing our experiences truthfully instead of constantly sugar coating our own realities? (FYI: The answer is a big fat resounding YES!).

The difference between a good Mum and a bad Mum

Before Violet came along, I totally knew I was going to be a good Mum. I’d always wanted kids, always been good with babies and felt like the practice I’d had with my nephew and niece meant that I’d had a head start…It was in the bag, right?! I even had this vision of the type of mother that I’d be:

I envisaged myself as a relaxed ‘Mother Earth’ type of Mama. I’d take baby for walks to the park and we’d sit and make matching daisy crowns for our hair.  I’d feed my baby only organic nutritious foods, and dress them in non gender-specific clothing and spend my days at mothers groups with like-minded Mums and we’d all be the best of friends. I’d use only natural products to bathe baby in and would exclusively breast-feed because everybody says thats whats best. I’d never use a dummy and I’d never co-sleep baby as that is such a big no-no and I’m far too amazing a mother to ever make such mistakes.

Yeah, we’re all happy and wearing daisy chains and shit. (image: allfreecrafts.com)

You’ll imagine my shock and surprise when motherhood turned out to be NOTHING like what I’d imagined (has anyone ever had an accurate vision of motherhood yet?!) To start with, I had a few complications during the birth which meant I was bed-ridden for 6 weeks. I cannot tell you how devo’d I was that I wasn’t able to take Violet for walks to the park in her fancy new Bugaboo pram (Yes – I was also that Mum who had to have a fancy designer pram).  I literally cried for weeks at the injustice.  As for the Yoga, yeah that still hasn’t happened, I mean I didn’t exercise before I had kids, why the heck did I think that was going to happen after the fact? Derr!

Seriously, the rules were all broken from the get go and I realised that all those Mum’s who’d stuck by their ‘rules’ were either full of shit, or miserable! I’ve witnessed mothers busting their arses to get the breastfeeding thing happening to no avail. I’ve seen Mum’s refuse to give their child a dummy in public (despite giving it to them behind closed doors to soothe them) because they know someone will make a comment like ‘You shouldn’t give them dummies, it’s bad for their teeth’ or some other helpful advice. Being a good Mum, in my humble opinion is doing your best to make baby (and yourself) happy and healthy. If it makes them happy to give them a dummy, do it! If it makes you happy to not have to go through the agony of breastfeeding to make yourself happy, then that’s ok too!

A more realistic portrayal of motherhood: Note there are no daisy crowns to be seen. (image credit http://www.funnypotato.com)

I once watched on as one of my Mama friends struggled with a toddler and a newborn whilst we were supposed to be enjoying a picnic lunch. The toddler kept insisting that he wanted some of the soft-drinking that she was drinking. I watched her resist over and over and over and OVER. In the end,  she snapped. She was over it. She gave him a sip.  Just as she did she noticed me watching, and said “I swore I’d never do this. I know! I’m such a bad Mum”.  It broke my heart. I did my best to not make her feel bad and said something along the lines of “A sip won’t hurt him! At least he’s happy now!” and he was, and she was able to re-group, calm down and continue enjoying the picnic. Don’t get me wrong, I know its not the best parenting technique to just give in to your kids every time they want something, but sometimes, on those days, you need to pick your battles! And in my books, that doesn’t make you a bad Mum!

I guess what the point I’m trying to make here is this: We’re all different, and we’ve all had our own failures and successes, but at the end of the day we all share many of the same problems, triumphs and memory loss, so why not support each other and tell the truth when another Mother asks you if your baby is sleeping through the night? (This was one that did my head in as V still isn’t a regular sleeper-through-the-night). I wasn’t always honest when I was posed with such questions early on, but now with a little more experience under my belt I’m much more secure in the fact that I AM doing a good job and that these stupid scenarios aren’t a measure of whether or not I’m a good Mum.

Still not sure if you fall into the Good Mama or Bad Mama category?

Here’s a handy checklist for you to find out! (Please note: 50% is considered a pass with flying colours).

Good Mama Checklist:

• You exclusively breastfed your baby
• You bottle-fed your baby
• You fed them only organic food
• You fed them whatever you could afford (organic food is expensive!)
• You gave them a routine from day one
• Your kid is a 13 and still doesn’t have a good routine
• Your kid sleeps through the night
• Your kid has never slept through the night and shows no signs of doing that, ever.
• You’ve never let your child eat fast-food
• Sometimes, when you’ve got a starving screaming child in the car, you get Macca’s to shut them up.
• You prepare special, nutritious meals especially for your child
• They eat whatever the hell you’re having for dinner, even if its pizza
• You never dress your kid in licensed or gender specific clothing
• Your kid could easily be confused for Peppa pig, an Octonaut, or a Barbie doll
• You take your child to the doctor at the first sign of a snotty nose of fever
• You wait a while to see if that rash is just prickly heat or in fact chicken pox.
• You send your kid to daycare cos you work
• Your kid has only ever been cared for by you/friends/family
• Your child sleeps in their own bed
• Your child co-sleeps with you
• Your kid never watches TV
• TV keeps your kid quiet while you shower/cook dinner/clean the house
• Your kid is fluent in Spanish, plays the piano and knows the alphabet backwards before they’re 2.
• Your kid can barely speak english, plays the saucepans and think there is a letter called “elemenohpeee” at 3.
• You used the control-crying method
• You used the ‘If baby is crying pick them up immediately’ method
• Your home is completely clean, safe and baby proof
• Your house looks like a bomb hit it and sometimes your baby is found sharing dog food with the dog

My sentiments exactly!

Did you pass? No? Well that’s ok because this is a stupid made up list! I bet you’re still a great Mama!

So Mama’s, Mama’s to be, or other random strangers who think it’s ok impart wisdom onto others when in actual fact you’re just being rude, non-helpful and passing judgement: Please do us all a favour and shut your gaping trap! Instead, perhaps think about how you could really help your fellow Mama  at the supermarket with the screaming unhappy child. Believe it or not, giving them the evil eye or shaking your head in judgement is not helping! Why not offer them some help? Or be genuine and real and tell them that you’ve been there and that it really and truly does get easier? Sometimes, that’s all it takes to make a Mama’s day!

So in the interest of letting all those Mama’s out there know that they aren’t alone, and that we’ve all suffered from these same problems, I’d love you to share your ‘Bad Mama’ experiences too! Let’s lift each other up and laugh until we pee at our shared experiences shall we?

Have you broken your own Mama rules? Tell us in the comments below!

Some parenting advice from the world’s greatest Mother

Today hasn’t been one of my best as a Mama. If you read my last post, you’ll know that Violet is teething at the moment.  She’s like the perfect child 90% of the time. Unfortunately, the other 10% is when she’s teething, and it ain’t pretty!  Last night she was tossing and turning all night, moaning in pain. In the end, I just let her sleep on top of me with her little elbow wedged firmly into my jugular. Whatever, she was so tired and I was wrecked so we just made do.

As a result of a long wakeful night, this morning didn’t get off to a great start. Today I had a webinar scheduled at 10:00am as part of my Clever Cookie Blog School, so I’d have to find something to distract Violet whilst I sat on my laptop for an hour.

Parenting Tip 1 – Never use the TV as a babysitter

Ok, before I became a Mum, I insisted I’d never use the TV as a babysitter. Well, turns out that wasn’t all that realistic! If I didn’t, it means I’d never take a shower, so whatever! I popped Violet down in front of the TV.  It was Pirate Day on ABC for Kids today so she was pretty stoked anyways.  I’d also set up a ‘snack station’ so she could munch away if she got hungry.  She was totally absorbed in PlaySchool so I left her to it.

Violet ‘helping’ her Mama

Parenting Tip 2 – Supervise your child at all times

Predictably, about 10 minutes into the webinar Violet appeared in front of me, banana in hand, wanting to see what I was up to.  I sat her on my lap, and then she started wiping her banana-smeared fingers all over the laptop.  I put her down on the floor, grabbed a pile of books and toys, and encouraged her to play.  She was quite happy doing this for about 20 minutes.  Next time I looked up, she was walking towards me, chewing.  That’s weird, I thought since her banana was long gone.  “What’s in your mouth?” I asked (seriously, how many times a day do we ask that question?).  She made a weird face, then kept chewing.  “What is it?” I asked again.  By now, she was standing next to me. And thats when I noticed something black on her face. There, on her chin, was a leg. A crunchy, revolting, cockroach leg. “SPIT IT OUT!” I yelled at her.  She calmly put her hand in her mouth and pulled out a wing. Thenk kept crunching. Faaark!

Parenting Tip 3 – Don’t let your child go bare-foot in public

After the cocky incident, it was nap time so I put V down for a snooze. She was awake again after only 45mins, hot, cheeks flushed, and not happy. I tried to give her some lunch but she wouldn’t have it.  I had errands to do so I popped her in the car in the hope that she might sleep on the way.  I arrived at the shops, and realised I didn’t have the pram, OR a pair of shoes for Violet. Shit. Ok, I’ll just carry her! After about 20 mins of wrestling the squirmy toddler, I gave up, and put her down.  Bugger it. She was walking around Spotlight with no shoes on.  And yes, people stared but no, I didn’t care!

Parenting Tip 4 – Don’t feed your child junk food

After visiting the post-office, the chemist and Spotlight, I thought we should head home.  Violet then started cracking it because she was hungry.  I had an organic yoghurt pouch stashed in my bag for this very occasion.  I gave it to her. She literally slapped it out of my hands.  Great. I was starving too, so I thought I’d stop and get something on the way home. I pulled into a cafe, and realised I still had a toddler without shoes.  I scoured the car, and jackpot! A pair of her tiny Dunlop Volleys were on the floor.  I knew they were a bit snug, but I thought I’d be able to get them on.  I crammed her feet into them and then looked at her face. She wasn’t impressed. I looked at her feet. She looked like one of those Geisha’s who’d had her feet bound. Stuff it! I pulled the shoes off and drove to a drive-through so we didn’t have to get out of the car.  I ordered her a tiny fries, scraped the salt off and dabbed the excess oil away, and gave her the packet.  She responded with a big gummy grin and set about stuffing fistfuls of chips into her gob.

Mama…where’d all my chippies go?

Parenting Tip 5 – Take parenting advice with a grain of salt (or even better: sprinkle it on your babies french fries!)

I totally thought I’d be an amazing earth mother that would never entertain any of these things.  My child would only eat organic, nutritious food. I’d never schedule activities that meant I couldn’t be watching her 24/7. Never in a million years would I let them watch TV or go bare-foot in public.  But then I actually became a Mum, and realised it’s not that easy! In fact, its bloody hard! and she’s not even 2! So please don’t judge me…or if you must me, know that at some point, one of these things is gonna happen to you! And guess what? It’s not the end of the world! Cos sometimes you just have to do whatever it takes to get through the day!

Anyone else want to share their own not-so-stellar parenting moments with me? (It’d make me feel better!)

I’m totally a blogger now.

So, I’m totally a blogger now.

Yep, the rumours are true! Since I hadn’t crammed enough into this year already….I’ve decided to add blogger to the list and just see what happens!

Here’s how it started: I’ve always wanted to try my hand at blogging, as I quite like to write stuff down (I have a memory like a sieve) and I thought maybe I could find enough interesting/amusing things to write about for people to actually read it.  Then, the terror of people actually reading it kicked in and I got a bit scared. I mean, what if I’m publicly ridiculed? or privately ridiculed? or another type of ridiculed that I’m not even aware of?!

So I thought about it, and as I reflected I realised a few things. 2014 has been a huge year for me. I was on Maternity leave and due to return to work in April (Yuck!) and just prior to that my brother was getting married in Thailand so we were taking our 7 month old on her first overseas holiday (I know what you’re thinking – her first overseas trip at 7 months old?! Why did you wait so long!)

So off we went on a fabulous family holiday to Thailand and Singapore (where our blonde hair/blue eyed baby was very well received and now features in many random Asian family albums) only to return to Australia and be told that my job of 6 years was no longer there – I’d been made redundant! Not the news you are hoping to receive after a nice relaxing holiday, but I wasn’t all that upset since 1. I wasn’t that keen to return to work anyways and 2. I had a redundancy payout that meant I could stay home a bit longer with my baby! win/win really!

My little family at my Brother’s wedding in Thailand. Unaware I was about to lose my job! (hence the smiles)

Now for anyone that knows me, you’ll know that I can’t be stagnant for too long, and at some point I figured that being a SAHM to a 7 month old wasn’t keeping me busy enough (That’s not true at all obviously, in reality I was probably drunk or something) so in my sleep-deprived state I decided I was going start my own business! (Pineapple Traders – in case you were wondering)  It all seemed so fun and easy at the time.  I look back now and wonder what the hell I was thinking, and I won’t bore you with the details of how I’d child-rear during the day and then work on the business into the wee hours of the night, or how I managed to work out what the heck I was doing since I’d never had my own business before, but guess what? I did! AND I hadn’t failed miserably! I’d worked my ass off and it had paid off.

It was with that victory fresh in my mind, and with a toddler who is now sleeping through the night that I decided wanted to do something that was a bit of fun and didn’t involve me driving to the post office everyday….so here we are! I’m totally blogging!

Now I don’t want this blog to be ALL about me (I’m not that up myself!) instead, I want it to be all about you guys too! I think becoming a Mum gives you a confidence and a courage that perhaps you didn’t possess prior to birthing and raising a human, and that’s what this blog is all about! Being a Mum and everything that comes along with the territory: Happiness, insomnia, boredom, craziness, anger, hunger, weight-loss, weight-gain, fear, guilt, memory-loss (have I forgotten anything?!) and of course, that special badge of honour that basically means you can do ANYTHING!

So let’s all raise our hands to the sky, and let the world know: “I’m a Mama! I’m awesome! I can do anything!” (Except maybe find the time to shave those armpits, in which case maybe don’t raise those hands to the sky, maybe just pop them down instead and sway them with your elbows fixed at your sides? No judgement though!)

Lets start by you all telling me what’s been your biggest victory since becoming a Mama? (It doesn’t necessarily have to be child-related either!).

xo Marns

Ps: How did I go? I’d love your feedback (Read: praise and over the top accolades).  Alternatively, if you read this and thought it was crap…tell me that too, but maybe just open with a compliment first? like “OMG! You look amazing in those tracksuit pants! Oh and hey, how bad was your first blog post?!” Thanks Girlfriends!

 

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