The Mummy Tag

1. Are you a Stay at Home Mum or a Working Mum?

A bit of both really. I gave up traditional work in an office when I was pregnant with my second child, because I wanted to spend more time with my children and the logistics of juggling was all getting too much with my husband’s job too. But I do have a small home business and I do some freelancing writing and social media, as well as this blog of course.

2. Would you have it any other way?

No. There are moments when I miss it and I have the odd pang when I see colleagues being promoted on LinkedIn. I used to be pretty ambitious you see. But these are precious years with my children and I don’t regret it at all. As someone said to me, you will never regret not working, but you may very well regret missing out on watching your children grow.

3. Do you co-sleep?

I’m not a huge fan of co-sleeping myself, although i have nothing against parents that do. I never sleep whenever one of the children are in bed with us. We did for a while with my daughter, but that was out of necessity really as she had silent reflux and she would cry all night otherwise. But as soon as we got to the bottom of the problem we transitioned her to the cot. That being said both children slept in the room with us until they were at least 6 months, albeit in a cot.

4. What is your one must-have item for your baby?

Hmmm. Nappies ha ha. We have a vibrating bouncer we used with both of our children which was brilliant. One night when I couldn’t get my son to sleep, I put him in that for a while with vibrate on and he was asleep within minutes. But when they were awake the children also really enjoyed making it make different musical sounds too.

5. How many kids do you plan on having?

Not totally sure really. This one is up for debate!

6. Date nights? How often do you have them?

Not very often at all. We try to do date nights at home, have a nice meal and have social media off time. But the last time we actually went out on our own was back in December, so about 6 months ago.

7. Your child’s favourite show?

For my daughter it has to be Peppa Pig! For my son anything dinosaur related, also Paw Patrol, Transformers and Star Wars.

8. Name one thing you brought before you had the baby and never ended up using?

Good question, I’m struggling to think of something though. For my daughter it would be bottles as I never could get her weaned onto them even when I wanted to give up breastfeeding. For my son, I honestly can’t think of anything because if I bought anything I was pretty determined to use it!

9. Your child’s favourite food?

My son is crazy for vegetables and will eat them first off his plate and gets very excited about raw carrot! My daughter in the opposite. But they both go crazy for chocolate. Who doesn’t?

10. How many cars does your family have?

We have two. The main family car which is a Honda CRV and an older run around with is a VW Polo. Although we have actually just placed an order on a new car which is quite exciting.

11. Weight gain, before pregnancy, during, after and now?

I have polycystic ovaries which makes it more difficult for me to conceive. So I have had to lose weight in order to conceive. Weight gain after, let’s just not talk about that! And I am quite literally going on a diet tomorrow. I struggle to manage my weight full stop.

12. Dream holiday with your kids?

I really, really want to take my children to Lapland to meet Father Christmas. I want to see the wonder on their faces, go on a sleigh ride, see the Northern Lights. I want to do this more than Disneyland.

13. Dream holiday without your kids?

I would like to go back to the castle hotel we got married in. We didn’t really get to explore or enjoy the amazing room we had in the turret. It would be awesome to go back there for one of our wedding anniversaries. It’s ten years next year Ben… hint 😉

14. How has your life changed since having kids?

Fundamentally. I had no idea how much having children would change our lives and me as a person. My husband and I often joke that we don’t know what we did with our time before children, because we had so much of it! But it has changed my entire outlook and made me reassess what is truly important in life.

15. Finish the sentence “It makes heart melt when…”

When I watch my children sleep or they tell me that they love me.

16. Where do you shop for your kids?

Next. I love Next children’s clothes, pretty much three quarters of their wardrobe is from there. With a bit of Sainsburys and Marks and Spencer thrown in.

17. Favourite make-up and skincare products?

Bare Minerals. I love their foundation I think it’s the best I have ever used. I also love a bit of Bobbi Brown, Mac and Benefit too. I do love make up!

18. Huggies or Pampers?

Of the two brands I definitely think Pampers are better. Huggies leaked for us. But actually we use the Aldi nappies, so much cheaper and they’re brilliant.

19. Have you always wanted kids?

Yes, but for a long time it was I wanted them later / in the future. In my 20s the idea of getting pregnant freaked me out, until we decided we wanted to start trying and then of course it didn’t happen and only then did I realise just how much I wanted them.

20. Best part of being a mum?

Those magical moments when you see them achieve something, be it walking those first steps, building something with Lego it’s such a blessing to witness.

I’m tagging the following people if they would like to join in:

Angela at Days in Bed, Sarah at Twins Make Five, Shona at Training Mummy, Emily at A Slummy Mummy and Eilidh at Mummy and Monkeys.