Yesterday we celebrated 9 months of our little human! I think that's a pretty cool milestone because now he has officially been earth side for longer than he was mummy side if that makes sense? This last month has been one of the hardest for me. I wasn't really sure why but after some reflection I think I've worked it out. 8 months was the month of movement for us, okay more like speed crawling. The month of my little snuggle bug actually started zooming around our house and has now became quicker at crawling than I walk most of the time. Something really changed for me this month! I guess I thought his new found movement was going to mean new found independence but actually what I've encountered is a weird type of regression. It's almost as if now he can move around where ever he likes he's decided he doesn't want to that much. Instead he just wants to attach himself to me at all times like a little limpet. It hard, it's physically and mentally dr...

This week has been a tough one...   I knew it was going to be tough after talking to some friends on Sunday night and trying to decided whether or not I had 'normal' mum stresses going on or whether or not I needed to think about it possibly being more than that. Let me explain... My little boy has been grizzling pretty much non stop for the last two weeks. He's been absolutely obsessed with learning to crawl and he does it all day and part of the night. It's the grizzling I cant stand! The constant grizzle of frustration. He even makes this annoying sound with a smile on his face sometimes. It's pretty bizarre and utterly infuriating for both of us. Grizzle, grizzle, grizzle that's what my life had resorted too. It just burrows deep into my soul like a tiny jack hammer and somedays it becomes utterly unbearable. I had a moment on Tuesday where I called my husband crying down the phone "It's 2pm and he STILL hasn't slept and I'm doing a...

I haven't had one in awhile now but this one was very much needed. How can some people still think this way? insert Mum Rant!   Recently I met up with a friend for coffee and her friend was there too. I didn’t know this lady and I'm guessing that she doesn't have any mum friends because she said to me "I often wonder what Mums even do all day? I mean aren't you bored just doing house work and stuff?" I almost fell off my chair. Housework! I would love to have the time to do some housework I thought to myself. On the odd occasion that I do manage to put a load of washing out or vacuum my house I feel like it’s my achievement of the day but wait... Isn’t my achievement of my day keeping my tiny human alive?! Making sure he's, happy, fed, somewhat well rested and not stinky? I naively thought that I’d have time to do stuff like that too. I thought my house would be sparkling and I’d have an empty laundry basket, dinner on the table and homemade snacks a...

Since becoming a Mum just over 6 months ago I have come to realise that some of the most common things people say to you about Motherhood are in fact just myths. Who came up with these things? I guess they could be relics of the past? common thoughts that have traveled through the ages? Past down from person to person? Anyway! However they started I'm here to bust some of them and I'd love to hear your thoughts.... Mermaids could be real...As real as babies sleeping when they are tired. "Sleep when your baby sleeps" Ha! This one is one of my favourite parent myths. Yes, I can see how this is good in theory but when your baby only sleeps for 20 min increments during the day you either have to get practiced at quickly falling asleep yourself in lightning speed or your going to have to try and wash all their bottles/ or eat your own lunch with them in a sling. I honestly couldn't work out any other way of getting chores done that were essential. I do think s...

Our sweet baby boy is coming up 6 months next week. Yep! that's almost an entire half of a year. I'm so proud of him and proud of us. It's been one crazy roller coaster ride so far and I'm sure it's not going to end anytime soon. As time ticks on I've come to realise that I haven't always been in such a good place mentally. I mean I have my ups and my downs at the moment but on the whole I'm really, really happy. I know this definitively because before our baby was born I was really not happy… My friend sent me an article yesterday about (PND) Post Natal Distress and it got me thinking about my own anxiety. I've had a lot of anxious moments in my life and some trauma but the weird thing about anxiety is that you often don't know just how bad you are really feeling when you are in that anxious place. Looking back on my final 6 weeks pregnancy I can now see just how scarily anxious I was.  I was lucky to have two of the most lovely and jus...

I've decided to start a new series in my blog called Mum Rant. It's basically just me having a bit of a rant about something that has upset me recently and which I'd like to get off my chest. I also thought it might be amusing or entertaining at least for those of you are are currently going through challenges of being a new parent. So here goes Rant #1 in what I predict to be a lengthy series. Today I was doing my grocery shopping with baby boy aka my 'sweet little man'. Everything was going along swimmingly or seemingly until I reached the frozen goods isle. I had given my sweet little man a packet of chippies to play with (don't worry they were a closed packet). He loves the sounds and sensations of new textures at the moment and so this had kept him amused pretty much the entire half an hour trip around the supermarket- winning! That was until the frozen foods isle where I meet a very rude old lady. She looked around to the crinkly noises of my litt...

With the Election looming I have been thinking a lot about what things I value and what is important to our new little family of 3. Housing.... As many of you know we've been looking to buy a house for over a year now. It's exhausting and time consuming and we've put in a lot of offers and keep missing out. We've saved up our deposit ourselves and we want nothing more than to have our own little piece of NZ to call home. The problem is...so does everyone else! We just can't seem to get in and it's pretty devastating. Sunshine, space and no mould please... We've been living in a really dark flat for the past 18 months. Not only is it dark but it's also damp. The outlook is beautiful (we can see Wellington harbour and lots of bush) but the lack of light, the damp smell and crying windows really gets you down! I found this especially depressing when I was working full-time. Coming home in daylight savings to a cold, dark house. It's not a 'f...

1. Your hair falls out! I'm not sure if it happens to everyone but apparently the changes in your hormones can cause all kinds of weird stuff to go on and one of those things is that your hair falls out. I'm not just talking a little bit here. A LOT!! I have a lot of hair anyway but everyday i brush my hair  now and a rather alarming amount is in my hairbrush. It is also getting everywhere and on everything in my house and on my clothes *sigh*. I mean it's not like you had enough weird body stuff to deal with already... oh wait! You do!   2. You never really knew the concept of 'Tired' before. I'm an Early Childhood Teacher so I used to be pretty tired before becoming a Mum. I used to come home from work somedays and go to bed at like 8 o''clock because I worked shifts and somedays I was just really physically drained. Those tiny humans can really take it out of you! Then I became a Mum....Being a Mum is a new level of tired. You're so t...

Since becoming a Mum I have been through some trying times. In fact even for this qualified and experienced Early Childhood teacher I have had days where I threw my hands up and wanted to cry. Being a Mum is HARD! It's so hard, it is the hardest job I've ever had and I'm still learning everyday on the job! Lately I've been reading a lot online about Mum's who feel guilty for their parenting decisions for whatever reason. Maybe you forgot to boil some pumpkin for their lunch so had to give them baby rice again (shock horror) or perhaps you are beating yourself up about not letting them sleep longer because you want to meet a friend for coffee (and end up feeling like you're such a bad Mum!)  One of my Dream catcher creations a made for a beauitful friend of mine. Also a good way to unwind after a tough day. NEWSFLASH! No you're not! I have a lot of knowledge around educational psychology and philosophies after almost 9 years of teaching and I ...

I've been thinking about starting this blog for awhile now. I wanted a place to share my crafty projects, experiences and mostly just document my journey as a new Mum.  As some of you know I had a pretty non traditional start to 'Mum life' and now that I'm through the pain and trauma of my birth I wanted to celebrate this new chapter by making this blog. I've been through a lot in the past 4 + months and through it all I have learnt a lot about myself, my family and my little boy. Come along on this ride with me and I promise I'll be real, open and creative (because that's just who I am).  I hope you enjoy it as much as I think I'm going to. Stay tuned... X SR