Sleep Like a Baby!

One minute I'm full of energy; feeling like I can complete the 101 things on my to-do-list before lunch and still have time to get some shopping in and perhaps get my nails done. The next minute I am moody - irritated by life itself - because I'm fighting off sleep and loosing the battle miserably! Welcome to the life of me: a parent with a new born!

You know that feeling of waking up fresh and rearing to go in the morning... no? Well neither do I!  (If you do know the feeling, chances are you don't have a new-born to care for, chances are... you don't have kids!) I have forgotten what on Earth it feels like to wake up fully re-charged and ready to take the world on! All memories of being rudely awoken by the 5am alarm and then repeatedly hitting snooze for an hour before stumbling out of bed and getting ready for work, has been well and truly erased.  I am now accustomed to the piercing cries of a human that has only been on this planet for 30 days: that is my wake up call / alarm. It's an alarm with no snooze button! Don't you ever wonder how such an unpleasant sound can come from such a cute looking bundle of joy? I can't be the only one that wonders such thoughts... 

Anyway, if you can relate to the feeling of tiredness and you're a parent feeling like you are running on empty it's ok! Tell guilt to get lost. You are not a robot. It's normal to feel this way at times... just make sure you don't feel this way all the time! I encourage you to do what you can to ensure you get some rest incorporated into your crazy schedule. Here are my top 5 tips that help me:

1. Sleep when baby sleeps - the dishes can wait. 

2. The dishes can wait - do what is most important, don't try to do it all!

3. Accept support from family and close friends. Let grandma hold the baby if it means you can put your feet up for a while. Heck, let grandma do the dishes!

4. If you have a toddler or school aged children in the mix, then Cbeebies & CBBC are your friends! Let the kids load the dishwasher too (if they're old enough). If they can't... the dishes can wait!

5. Power nap! 15 minutes here and there (when you can) means the difference between being mum-zilla and super-mum for the day. You may just have enough energy for the dishes =)

All in all, do what works for you! There is no right or wrong way of doing this parenting thing. Do what works with your family and ignore those that don't help by dishing out negative comments... just like I ignore those that complain about the dishes that I evidently don't do in my house! 

I hope this helps you! Please share with another mum or dad - hopefully they are not too sleep deprived to read it! =)

Instagram - Poetry:         Evangeline_the_poet

Instagram - MumLife:    Being_mum_being_you

Loose Yourself to Find Yourself

Eat, express, feed baby, sleep, do laundry and repeat! This has been my life for the past 25 days. Eat, poop, sleep and repeat! That has been the baby's life for the 25 days he has been on this planet that we call Earth. Mundane much? Don't even get me started! 

You parents out there will know just how easy it is to loose yourself in the mundane day to day to-do-list of parenting. I for one get lost all the time and often find myself spending days just trying to plan a route out, in order to be found again. Let's face it, nobody likes being lost (unless you're a wanted criminal) so why do we allow ourselves to be so?

It dawned on me today that getting lost in spontaneity is the key to staying found. As I walked along the high-street, carrying out a task on my never ending to-do-list (going to the bank) I saw a chic looking café. Stopping in my tracks to admire it and take note of the name - in order to plan a visit one day - spontaneity screamed loudly in my ear. 

"Visit it now!" it shouted. 

"But how can I?" I replied sheepishly. "I have one hundred and one things to do today. I can't possibly sit in a café, drinking tea. I'm not one of those mums. 

"Visit it now!" it exclaimed again. 

After pondering a while, I decided to go with the loud voice screaming at me like an angry dictator. Visiting a café is not something I would normally do, but I am so pleased I did it! Whilst in the warmth of the café, taking in the sweet aroma of coffee and cakes and listening to the Jazz saxophone oozing gently out of the speakers mounted on the wall, I did something I have not done in a while. I relaxed! The business of the world didn't matter, everything paused and my to-do-list was out of mind. I was enjoying sipping tea and eating cake in a café. I was one of those mums!

I felt refreshed and proud of myself for simply living life a little. Some of you reading this may think the idea of going to sit in a café to drink tea is not living life... fair enough, but for someone who is constantly preoccupied with nappies, breast pumps, laundry, sleep deprivation etc ... it is LIVING LIFE. To satisfy those of you rolling your eyes right now, I also went ice-skating, and go-karting earlier this week - getting home after midnight... a different type of spontaneity but spontaneity nonetheless... so you can stop with the eye rolling. 

If you're reading this and you are hopelessly lost in that mundane to-do-list of parenting, please try to find yourself by doing an activity that you wouldn't normally do. It can be an activity with the kids or without... just shake it up a little. Your activity may be go-karting or going to the café like I did ... or it may be going to see a film with the kids or bungee jumping (hopefully without the kids). Whatever constitutes spontaneity for you - have a go. Do something different. Hopefully it will help you find you again. 

Don't stay lost guys, continually search and make sure you find yourself every once in a while! Say yes to spontaneity - it certainly helped me - give it a chance to help you!

-Evangeline The Poet

Hair Raising Outing

18 days post-partum and I took both kids out today... My 3 year old daughter looked lovely and cute in pig-tail bunches and a cute outfit. Little man looked fresh and cute after a warm bath.. I took time with them making sure they were presentable and because they were ready I quickly threw on any old outfit and left the house. As I shut the front door I looked down at my navy blue casual skirt and my old grey sandals and white top... ‘not bad’ I thought. I had managed to pull myself together ... I felt pleased with myself, but the feeling was very short lived. I looked on in horror at my legs that had visible hairs proudly showing themselves off to the world. I hadn’t shaved my legs🤦🏽‍♀️ ... 

Once upon a time this would’ve sent me straight back inside, to the bathroom, reaching for a razor or my electric shaver. I surprised myself when I shrugged my shoulders and began to walk towards the car - baby sleeping in  the baby car seat I was carrying and 3 year old happily in towe. Why didn’t I go back to shave? Well you mums will know from experience that if I went back indoors to shave, my 3 year old would suddenly throw a tantrum about the sky being blue and get annoyed because I can’t explain to her why she can’t change its colour to pink (her favourite colour at the moment). After that, baby would do a random poo explosion and would require a whole outfit change and the cat would’ve eaten the goldfish and knocked over the fish water in the process. I would’ve slipped on the fish water and hurt myself and eventually abandoned the whole outing all together in favour of going to A&E to assess my injuries...By the way we don’t have pets ... but with kids anything can happen lol... 

All in all, going out without shaving my legs was a small price to pay for a peaceful outing with two kids!!! I know some of you mums and dads reading this can so relate! Like if you can relate:) #mumtales #lifeofamum #mumlife #mums #mummy #mumstories #kids #children #kidslife #lifewithkids #babyboy #princess #raisingqueens #raisingkings #mamma #legs #hairylegs #mumofboys #mummies #parent #lifeofaparent #lifeofparents #igmums

Changes - Not Tupac - Just Changes =)

Have you ever felt like you don't quite know who you are anymore? Or perhaps the people around you say that you have changed so much that they don't recognise you anymore? If this is the case... then you're most likely changing or going through a change! Let me shed a little bit of light/hope.

It doesn't have to be a bad thing. Life is about learning. It's a journey we go through and we will develop different view points, ideas, habits as we go along the way. Have you ever heard the saying that change is the only constant in life? Well if you haven't, now you have! If you have changed / are changing ... then embrace it... it's going to happen some time or other!

Of course, when I say embrace the changes, I am talking about positive changes. Any change that doesn't mentally, physically and emotionally make you worse is a good change (in my opinion).

Change is hard to deal with at times. Everybody loves familiarity! Here is the thing, if it's happening then it's going to happen. If you fight it, then it will only make things harder. There have been days when I have been chilling with friends and I feel differently towards them. I feel like we are drifting apart or that they are not part of my future journey. I don't immediately cut them off... not at all, but I don't fight the drifting. I don't try to hold on to people that walk away or drift off. I take it down to change and embrace it!


Take a deep breath, buckle your seatbelt and embrace the ride. Life is to be enjoyed and you must try to find enjoyment in every moment. There is no point in stressing over something that you can not control, so go with it (remember as long as it is not harmful to you in anyway).

View change as a good thing! We change our clothes, underwear, toothbrushes hair styles (some of us) etc. – these are all positive changes! Make the change that you are going through, a positive one too and embrace it!

Just saying =)