Mummies have no time to be ill

A week past Wednesday I was busy making some calls for a wedding I'm currently planning and I felt an 'oh so familiar' feeling...sore tonsils. I've been bothered with tonsilitis since I was a kid and was on the waiting list to have my tonsils removed when I was round 15 but I never got round to booking the operation.
Ten years later and my tonsils still bother me a few times a year. It hit me bad this time and took over a week to clear. I felt like I was coming down with the flu, was aching from head to toe, all my glands in my neck were swollen and tender, I had a nightmare of a headache and guess what...I never got five minutes to sit down. That's whats different about being ill pre-baby and being ill post-baby. That's also whats different when its a mummy thats ill and a daddy. Mr L felt ill after the zoo the other week and went to bed and slept from 3.30pm in the afternoon.

As well as being ill, work has sky-rocketed with lots of enquiries for weddings, parties and booking tables at the spring wedding fayre I'm organising...and studying for my business degree has been tricky too. The Open University advise twelve hours of study a week. Busy times but you know what...I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hope you're all keeping busy with both your family and your career

Love and kisses,
TM <3

Autumn day at the zoo

Last Thursday Mr L had two days off work so we decided to have a family day out and hit the zoo. We'd never taken Little K before, I used to get anxiety thinking about being far from home and letting Little K slip out of her routine. She is a very 'routine' baby and has been since she was a couple of days old. When she was very little if she was out of her routine by even half an hour she would scream uncontrollably so I have always been quite strict with what she does and when she does it.
This day, however, I realised (and felt guilty) that Little K had missed out on days out to the zoo etc all because of my anxiety so we packed the car with lots of yummy snacks, toys and cosy clothes...and yes, you guessed it, she fell asleep within 10 minutes and didn't wake until we got there!

Firstly we went to see the panda's then made our way round the monkey house, big cat area, hilltop safari, snakes, more monkeys, meerkats, sun bears, penguins, rhino's and much more. We all had a blast. There was a hell of a lot of walking but Little K managed to walk loads so was super tired on the way home. She especially loved the toy shop and all the cuddly animals.

After seeing what a good time we all had my anxiety has completely gone and we are already planning loads of family days out, next stop, Deep Sea World.

Work wise, I've been at a lecture for my Open University degree. I was one of 10 students who went, the other 9 were all very quiet with their little highlighters and notepads...I was my usual over-confident self and think I said what everyone wanted to say when answering questions from the tutor. I remember I used to be one of the quiet ones in class...how things have changed!
I've also been busy planning a Halloween Party and researching different party trends in the US to see what I can bring over here. New business cards have been ordered too so I can start to get in touch with wedding venues soon too.

Love and kisses,
TM <3

Time-out

 

Little K is generally a very well behaved little lady but she experienced her first ever time out yesterday, followed by another today. Twice in the past two days she has grabbed my face and nipped me. This has only happened if I picked her up to do something (change her nappy etc) when she wanted to play instead. I half expected her to run way each time I sat her on her 'naughty spot' but she sat still for the 60seconds I asked of her. Lets hope she learns her lesson and stops nipping! No idea where she has learned that from!

I've been struggling to fit in time to study for my business degree this week. The course has only recently started but I already feel like I've taken on too much. I need to study for 2 hours each day but some days this just isn't possible and I'm afraid I'll fall behind. I'm at a lecture on Saturday so will see how that goes. I really want to continue on my course for many reasons but one being that my own mum doesn't think I can do it. I have the determination to show her she's wrong, even if it does mean giving up that extra hour of sleep.

Love and kisses,
TM <3

Tears, tantrums and torn biceps

It was a lovely day today, a nice crisp autumn day. Little K spent the morning in the creche at the leisure centre as I worked out in the gym. I've been pushing myself recently as I love seeing quick results. Only problem is my body obviously wasn't quite ready for it as I've torn fibres in my biceps. Fantastic! This has resulted in me being unable to straighten my arms fully without being in agony. Hope it heals soon as it's so inconvenient!

Little K and I were playing in the garden this afternoon after I done some studying (not sure if I mentioned it but I'm also studying for a business psychology degree part time). Everything was perfect - Cody was running around, I was struggling to hang some washing out, Little K was wandering around...all three of us were enjoying the peaceful setting. Within minutes Little K was heading for the part finished back garden and towards a big pile of mud. As I took her hand to turn her around she screamed (and I mean SCREAMED) and was in floods of tears. When I put her down again, she was totally fine, heading for the mud again! Every time I turned her around she would howl and cry...even lying on the ground face first screaming at one point! I decided to take her to the drive so we could walk to the end of the road and back. The tears stopped and the soft giggles started, she seemed so happy. Ten minutes and about 200 baby steps later we reached the end of the road, I turned Little K around to head home and the tantrums started again! Screaming, crying and wanting to lie down on the road...not ideal! So much for the peaceful setting! After 5 minutes or so we finally got home again (had to carry her) and Little K was still howling. Even after being in the house for 5 minutes she never stopped. Eventally when she did she walked over very slowly and wanted a cuddle and that's all she's done all evening, want cuddles from me and Mr L. I knew the tantrums came with the terrible 2's but Little K is only 1! Oh dear!

I'm also busy planning a Halloween party for Little K and her friends. I always go all out with parties as it allows me to take photo's for my business website and hopefully gain more business. I'm all about building my portfolio at the moment and I'm proud to say its coming along nicely. You can have a look at www.elweddingsandevents.co.uk

Love and kisses,
TM <3

Santa Express

Insomnia got the better of me again last night...well this morning actually, 3am. I've no idea why it has made a nasty return - just typical that as soon as Little K starts being a super sleeper mummy turns into an insomniac! It gives me peace and quiet to reflect on everything though so I don't mind.

At 3am this morning I got over my itchy feet and wanting to go on holiday. We'll get away in March/April as previously planned. Instead, I decided we should treat Little K to a super special winter and do lots of nice, wintery, festive family things...so I booked the Santa Express for 22nd Dec.
For those of you who don't know, this is an old steam train which departs from the north of Scotland and travels through the highlands for a couple of hours. It's usually snowing so will make a nice festive setting, parents are treated to a mince pie and drinks and kiddies get a visit from santa and a present. To say I'm excited is an understatement!

This Christmas we're all about the family photo on the cards (which we shot a few weeks ago with a local award winning photographer), matching pyjamas to open on Christmas Eve, wear to bed and stay in all day when we wake up on Christmas morning, sprinkling reindeer food in the snow and looking into the sky for santa before bedtime as well as lots of homemade goodies such as cranberry and chocolate cookies....for santa of course!

All this drama from my side of the family and Mr L's side of the family has brought us so much closer as a little family unit...just me, Mr L, Little K and Cody.

Love and Kisses,
TM <3

Change of scenery

After all the family hassle we've had recently, Mr L and I really wanted to take Little K away for a weekend, somewhere not too far where she can play in new surroundings, maybe go swimming, visit a zoo...anything, just somewhere away from here.

I've spend ages searching online and I just can't find what I'm looking for. We'd need to take Cody too as have no-one to look after him but I can't find anything suitable. It's either too far away, doesn't accept pets, is stupidly expensive, doesn't have nice accommodation, not enough for Little K to do...so it looks like we'll be staying at home once again! That will be two years we've not been out the country on holiday.

All we want is a change of scenery and to get out of our same old daily routine...but somethings telling us we're not meant to go.

Love and kisses,
TM <3

New Hair

 

 

After uploading an old picture of Little K and I yesterday I realised how much weight I'd lost since then and how much I've physically changed. My blonde hair has been my trademark for the past 9 years but now I feel more mature, more grown up and motherly I decided to ditch the blonde and go back to my natural colour, which as it turns out, is pretty much the same colour as Little K's hair.

I was nervous as I was getting it done but now I love it, I have that feeling that nothing can stop me. Taking risks can be good every now and again.

 

I also got an interesting email yesterday from a potential bride and her soon to be husband...and as it turns out the couple have now booked me as their wedding planner! Delighted! Lots of work to do over the next 12 months for them but I'm more than excited!

 

Love and kisses,

TM <3

Baby Names

Thinking of Little K's name was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. Mr L and I were agonising over it for weeks. The only reason we finally came to an agreement on her name was because we were driving down to Sheffield for our first wedding anniversary and I read out pretty much every name from a baby name book on the 5hour drive! Mr L wasn't amused! Finally we decided on her name which is a perfect blend of both of our initials although we double barrelled it with another name I love, we chose Angel for her middle name after my late dad which we thought was a nice touch.

Even though I have so much going on right now I was procrastinating beyond belief the other day and we came up with the perfect boys name and the perfect girls name. We're sticking with the K and C names...my name begins with a K, Mr L is a C, Little K is obviously a K, the dog is a C...and our next two favourite names are also K names. This will make signing our Christmas cards just lovely!

And back to making the most of every opportunity...instead of puting Little K into the creche at the leisure centre and me trotting off to the gym..I'm sitting on the cafe working while she is playing. I must admit, it is nice to have an hour to myself to get on with some work without a little monkey battering on the keyboard!

Love and kisses,
TM <3

Making the most of every opportunity

I have so much going on at the moment I can't seem to find enough hours in the day to fit it all in. At the moment I'm sitting in my driveway in my car with my laptop as Little K is snoozing in the back - I must make the most of her naps and try and get through my 15mile long to do list. Being a busy mumpreneur isn't easy and it also means my free time is zero but I'm not complaining.

On a Friday and Saturday night I see loads of facebook status updates about friends going on nights out, tottering off to parties etc but you know what...I might have only had a couple of nights out since Little K has been born but I love it. My nights are spent working at home while Little K sleeps and my husband watches the millionth episode of swamp people or whatever it's called. Sure, I may not get to sit and chill in the evenings or go out and party the weekend away but I'm building an empire instead and I get to spend my days with Little K. I still get time with my friends and we still have a fantastic social life, we just involve the little ones too.

Fingers crossed, but we're hopefully going to get a little holiday before Christmas comes around. We usually go abroad at least once a year but the girl who usually looks after Cody is in Australia until January so looks like the hairy pooch is coming too. Hopefully we can get a nice lodge somewhere and have some awesome family time. No doubt I'll take thousands of photo's, memories are far too precious to forget.

Anyway..enought rambling...

Love and kisses,
TM <3

The Simple Things

As a working mum...or more importantly a mumpreneur...my mind never seems to stop. No matter what I'm doing or what time of day it is my mind is always on what I have to do next. I used to think this was great as it meant I was always so organised.

While giving Little K her bottle of bedtime milk tonight I was thinking about my new business idea (which is **way** down the line yet) . I was thinking about when I could do it, how it would work etc, totally oblivious to the fact I had my beautiful little daughter lying in my arms, eyelids getting heavy, just about to enter dreamland. When I snapped out of my business mind I felt guilty. How many precious moments like this had I wasted because I was so caught up in my business world?

These moments are so few and far between, Little K is growing up so fast.
My lesson for today is to appreciate the simple things in life.

Love and kisses,
TM <3