Candyfloss & Dreams

Tag: Family

  • I’m Excited To Share This…

    I’m Excited To Share This…

    Adam and I have been together for quite some time now. Five and a half years ago we met whilst I was living in a hostel with my then two year old daughter. A single mum, learning how to cope with depression and anxiety. Trying to deal with my new situation of shared residency, homelessness and being on benefits. Adam made that time so much easier and it really wasn’t long before we talked about living together. Since we moved in together Adam has been there for me, the extra help and reassurance, the love and compassion for not only me but for my daughter as well. We talked about extending our little family but it never really seemed the right time. More money, more space, better jobs…the list goes on. The truth is though, I don’t think you’re ever really quite ready for when kids come into your life. I don’t think I was at 21 when I had Evie, and had no idea of all the changes I would make to make sure this little person would have as good a life as possible…right from the moment I found out she was on her way.

    Evie…1 Day Old

     

    So today I am truly thrilled to finally be able to share with you all that Adam and I are expecting a baby. Evie is going to be a big sister (finally..she said when I told her) and Adam is going to make a wonderful dad. I already know because I’ve already seen how he is with Evie, how he too had to become an unexpected parent at 21 despite having no biological connection to her. This baby is making our family bigger and we are all so excited. I’ve just had my 12 week scan which was a little tricky due to my high BMI. I obviously haven’t been able to lose as much weight as I would have liked which has made this a bit risky and made the scan harder to see everything but the good news is that we saw our baby (just the one!) and that they are measuring as expected. Our due date is currently 20th September 2018 meaning Evie will turn 8 just before they’re born. I have to have another scan in a couple of weeks time to get a few more measurements which should be easier with a slightly bigger baby.

    The last twelve weeks have mostly been filled with anxiety, feeling sick, bloated and tired but I’m glad that’s fading a bit now. I am under consultant care due to my previous c-section and BMI but I won’t actually be meeting a consultant until June. We have a picture below which isn’t very clear at all – again, the fat – but the sonographer saw the baby move, heartbeat and was able to measure the baby at 12 weeks 5 days. The blurry picture below is from our very first scan (Adam has lovingly referred to his child as an alien – not as bad as me, I thought the head was where the bum is)

     

  • As Busy As Mums: Kids School Days and Play Dates Made Simple

    This is a collaborative post.

    Running a family requires excellent organisational skills, plenty of patience, an ability to multitask and all sorts of other attributes that aren’t always in the job description but definitely come with the territory of having kids.

    Here are some pointers and savvy tips to help you manage the day successfully and get everything done and the kids to where they need to be all in a day’s work.

    There’s a look at why it pays to concentrate on simplifying the task of planning your schedule, a sensible strategy for making mornings less stressful, plus a tip for checking what the day ahead is offering so that you can dress everyone accordingly.

    One system is the key to organizational success

    Running a family home is not very different to being a PA except that you are not helping a busy executive to run their business and you aren’t getting the same financial rewards!

    However,  you can’t let that get in the way of doing the one job you have the perfect resume for and wouldn’t swap for anything else anyway. So now that it’s established you have all the credentials your first task is to get super-organised and get all the play dates and appointments scheduled and sorted.

    If there is one tip to remember above anything else it would be to pick just one system for all your planning needs and keep it simple by then recording all those events and activities in one calendar.

    Having the information spread across different diaries, reminders on your smartphone and written on a calendar in the kitchen, is going to make organizing your family schedule harder than it needs to be.

    Find a system that works for you and record everything that is going on each week in the one place, as that is definitely the key to organisational success.

    Avoid the blame game scenario

    If you are taking on everything by yourself then this isn’t an issue but if you are dividing up the chores and assignments between you and your partner, grandparents or anyone else you rely on to help with childcare duties, you need to ensure you assign responsibility for each task.

    Knowing that you have to get them there for baseball at four is only the half of it, who is taking them and picking them up is the other key piece of information, so make sure you have that detail incorporated into your system.

    That way you will avoid the almost inevitable conversation where one person blames the other for any mess up.

    Beat the morning rush

    Mornings in a typical family home with young kids is often complete chaos and that means it’s easy to get behind or miss something when you are under such strain to beat the deadline for getting them into the car and off to school.

    A savvy way of coping better with that hectic morning scenario would be to prep the night before and get everything ready to go that you can, like clothes laid out and lunches done and in the fridge.

    An Android app for current weather on your smartphone would also be a good idea as you can get advanced notice on whether you should plan for rain or pack the sunscreen.

    Good communication, a simple but effective organisational system, plus a solid weekly routine that everyone is in tune with, will all help you to be that Mum who always seems to cope with whatever comes their way.