Tag Archives: maternity leave

9 Months Later

Posted in Being a mum, Life, Motherhood by

A is 9 months old today, time really started flying once she turned 6 months old, it feels like the quickest summer ever!

Back in October, my first day of maternity leave, I really didn’t know what to expect, one thing I was totally wrong about was thinking my baby would be on time ” I am convinced she is trying to escape so I don’t think we will have to wait until her due date of November 12th to meet her”, I had to wait until 2 weeks after her due date to meet her!!!

One thing I was right about was that things would change at work “I do wonder what I will come back to, how the company will have changed and how I will have changed, who knows how I will feel in months to come”. I don’t go back until November 2nd but I know things will be different. My brain is definitely different and not in a good way!

As for me, have I changed? In what way(s)?

My addiction to social media has gone through the roof, it’s all that spare time you see…Also my blog has gained a lot more readers and some exciting things have started happening (the Mirror published an article about my experience of tongue tie, its been shared more than 300 times!), I really need to make sure I stick to it when I go back to work. its the one thing that has just been “mine”, I know I write a lot about baby related things but it gives me “me” time.

Unfortunately I don’t think blogging has stopped my brain from shrinking 😦 maybe I should stick to making tea the first week I am back at work because I am seriously unsure of how fast my brain can process things nowadays. The lack of sleep doesn’t help, I can really feel like it has slowed down. This morning I thought we were being burgled and then realised it was the cleaner coming in…I had forgotten we have a cleaner that comes every Wednesday, she was off last week and boom: my brain completely forgot about her! I kept thinking: who has the keys? who could it be? Embarrassing.

I’m less judgmental now, once you’ve had a baby you learn not to judge a book by its cover and unless you’ve been in the same situation you can’t always understand people’s actions.

Here are some other things I’ve learnt:

  • I don’t actually need to buy as many clothes as I used to nor spend as much money as before to be happy
  • Never moan about bras again, maternity bras may be comfy but make your boobs look awful
  • Having a husband that cleans and is tidy is life changing
  • Love for your child is not something you can imagine until you have one
  • I think I’ve become more assertive and would stand up for myself more than ever
  • My body is stronger than I ever thought
  • The importance of friends and family is much greater once you’re a parent
  • Parenthood can be all consuming and affect you more deeply than anything else
  • Instincts are seriously powerful
  • The sound of your baby laughing is the best in the world

Happy 9 months Bella-Roo! Looking forward to making the most of the end of maternity leave together!

How My Life has Changed in 7.5 Months

Posted in Being a mum, Motherhood by

Back in November 2014, out “popped” Bella-Roo and as the cliche goes “our lives were changed forever” but how so? Here are a few insights into my new life…

I am now thinner than before I got pregnant but my boobs will never be the same again, this is very sad as they used to be one of my best “assets”, I need to think of what my new “thing” will be and probably have to wear push up bras for the first time in my life. Sigh.

We no longer regularly eat in restaurants, again I am thinner (I’m not saying thin, let’s not get crazy here) but we spend less money.

I get excited when Bella-Roo sleeps past 7AM, I have indeed learnt to take pleasure in the “little” things. Indeed I now love Lidl chocolate, good bye Paul Young, hello SMP and Lidl.

I have an excuse to have beauty treatments at home in the evening, however this happens once about every 2 months (see SMP above).

Going to a bar on a Saturday night and being asked for my ID was probably the highlight of the year but then once I was in said noisy bar, I just felt like a MUM.

I have plenty of time to buy clothes online in the sale for Arabella for when she is older (this is called saving money Mister B), yet this means she has about as many clothes as me, good for any friends having a girl in the future bad for my wardrobe space.

I have a lot of time to read things on my phone so am quite up-to-date on current affairs, however I am getting tendinitis, yep life is hard.

The good times (her giggling, smiling, playing with her, teaching her things, putting her in cute clothes, seeing how she loves the bath etc) do make up for the bad times (the crying, dirty nappies, whining, trying to do everything with one hand, the mess from feeding her, the list goes on…). I’m definitely trying to make the most of it before I have to go back to work, oh no I won’t have to because I AM GOING TO WIN THE LOTTERY.

Day Dreaming

Posted in Life by

One of my favourite things is to imagine what I would do if when I win the lottery (those who know me well know I am sure I am going to win big on the lottery one day, believing is the first step to winning in my opinion). So in order to not waste time or forget anything when the day comes, here is the list (this assumes a win of 10 million pounds or more, the list might have to be reduced for smaller gains…).

  1. Pay off our mortgage and rent the flat out
  2. Move into a hotel whilst we choose a new house in London (most likely in Islington)
  3. Buy all parents and brothers and sisters a house each (some might have to have flats as we have a big family!).
  4. Spend December and January in the mountains, I have always dreamed of Christmas with all my family in a chalet in the mountains
  5. Buy a house somewhere hot
  6. Buy Orford house in Walthamstow and transform it into a “Shoreditch Walthamstow House” -this, along with charity work, would be my job
  7. Spend a year travelling the world eating in 3 Michelin star restaurants and doing cooking classes along the way. In particular spend time “eating” in Thailand, Japan and Italy
  8. Learn Italian
  9. Spend the summer somewhere hot with different friends and family visiting each week having amazing pool parties
  10. Pay off quite a few friends and family’s mortgages/get them somewhere permanent to live
  11. Spend a week every “season” shopping in New York with a personal shopper with my best girlfriends
  12. Get a personal reformer pilates trainer to come 4 times a week and make my body HOT.
  13. Fly back to Bali in Singapore airlines first class on the A380
  14. Go to the South Pole
  15. Go to the North Pole
  16. Have a massage and facial every week
  17. Get involved with a few different charities
  18. Buy my mum a horse
  19. Buy my husband a cross fit gym
  20. Never have to learn to drive

That’s all.

keep-calm-i-m-a-millionaire-3

Maternity Leave Day 1

Posted in Uncategorized by

I’m back! After not blogging since May, I am now determined to at least stick to my “Monday night blogging” routine if not blog more frequently (this might not be very realistic for once the baby is here…).

A lot has happened since my last blog post. Here is a recap:

-We moved into our very own flat in May, we now live happily in Walthamstow

-We went through some pregnancy ups and downs and I am now 36.5 weeks pregnant, the big day is approaching!

-We had a great holiday in the US

-We went to an amazing wedding in Sweden

-Mister B passed the CFA

-We did our NCT classes

-a few friends got pregnant too

-Saturday was my baby shower, it was amazing and deserves its own blog post just like most of the above topics.

Since I have been pregnant I have put on 12.8 kilos and wonder how many more I will put on over the coming weeks, I’m totally happy with this and would be even if I had put on 20! There is so much to say about pregnancy and how Mini B already entertains me a lot, I am convinced she is trying to escape so I don’t think we will have to wait until her due date of November 12th to meet her, to be honest I don’t want to wait until then! I wait to see her, cuddle her, kiss her, dress her in all the extremely cute clothes she already owns etc.

 

Anyway back to today…on Friday it was my 10 year anniversary at work and my last day, I was very happy to leave 🙂 For me it’s too tiring mentally and physically to work full time the past few weeks and I definitely could not do ONE MORE DAY!

I did wake up this morning thinking, what am I going to do…I ended up spending hours on the internet looking for nursery décor stuff, having  a nap and then a quick trip to the supermarket. I have things planned for the coming days so it was good to relax. I had a sneaky peak at my emails once or twice and realized I still had quite a few things to unsubscribe from and that was that Work will survive without me. I just hope the baby is not late because I think I might get quite bored (or bankrupt due to internet shopping) if I have to wait for more than a few weeks.

I do wonder what I will come back to, how the company will have changed and how I will have changed, who knows how I will feel in months to come. It’s crazy how unpredictable pregnancy and becoming a parent is so I am not making any bets on what will happen next year, who even knows how the birth will go!

I have one last pilates class to go to tonight  then Monday nights will definitely be blogging nights.

In the meantime, here is a pic of me + bump from Saturday:

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