How to love and own your post baby body

More than ever post baby body transformation is scattered across social media, how to lose your mummy tummy or get your pre baby body ‘back’.

I will admit when I began my new business venture as a pre and postnatal exercise specialist 5 years ago before I had a child of my own it was what I thought people new mums wanted to hear.

I’m really excited to bring you the full list of incredible contributors to yet another incredible issue. This issue is the Balancing Life as a Mum Edition, focusing on how we find some balance in all that we do.

5 Simple Steps to Financial Wellness

Ever feel like you are walking a tightrope financially, teetering millimetres from a steep fall?

Are you fed up of;
Your income just about covering your expenses
A sense of overwhelm with your debt
Being fearful of the future with no concrete savings plan

Pandemic Pandemonium: parenting the kids and thyself

Let’s face it, parenting, in what was deemed the old norm, was intricately laced with so many interwoven layers of emotions, guilts, growth opportunities and, of course, challenges. It’s not always smooth-sailing, is it. Now chuck in a global pandemic and all which that entails - fears, worries of what will be, together with a lack of support and help - takes parenting to a new level.

3 reasons why every mummy should get in the photograph

89.

The number of snacks I have made for my daughter today?
The number of times I have loaded the washing machine this week?
The number of times I have dreamed of sitting on a beach in the sunshine?

When I had my second baby, I couldn’t stop writing poetry. I’d never really written anything before but suddenly it poured out of me. I tapped it into ‘notes’ on my phone while rocking my baby son to sleep. Of course it was all about my children but it was also about how I was feeling that day. It was about capturing, and therefore reflecting on, the day’s moments and emotions and I loved the intellectual challenge of turning that into a poem.

Love your Hot Mama Bod!

Hey Mama, I see you looking in the mirror, sucking in your tummy, telling yourself “I look so fat” – and if I can see you, so can your kids. And I know that you don’t want them growing up feeling the same way about their bodies. Let’s fix that.

#motherhooditsanotherhood

When I first became a mother in 2017 I found it really hard.

Our lives are often full brim with daily activities, trying to make quality time for our family whilst also trying to balance home life, a job, being a partner, friend, daughter, that often time for ourselves falls to the bottom of the pile. So how can we make time for us?

WHY INVESTING IN YOURSELF IS AN ACT OF SELF-CARE

We don’t tend to over-think investing in our children, do we? Swimming lessons, football kits, maths tutors, Summer camps. We do all we can to support their development, health, happiness and wellbeing and provide them with the best possible opportunities in life.

What NICU taught me about #MomLife

I never imagined my transition from woman to mommy would be a walk in the park (baby in tow, suckling on my bosom as she dozed asleep. I knew MomLife would show it’s tides and ripples. But I was totally unprepared for the gigantic mother of a wave it would be. It knocked me off my high heels and left me washed upon the shore- a changed, and stronger (and slightly disheveled) woman than before.

3 signs you are self sabotaging

Let’s get stuck into self sabotage. Self sabotage are behaviours and thought patterns that hold you back and prevent you from doing what you want to do. Sounds familiar?
You may say things to yourself like ‘I’m no good at this’, or ‘why does this keep happening to me’, or even ‘I shall do it tomorrow’.

If you knew how to be happy would you do it?

Firstly, let’s do away with the argument that focusing on your own happiness is selfish. Being happy doesn’t make you blasé and uncaring. It makes it easier to be with other people, including your kids, in an open and caring way, entering their worlds more wholeheartedly than you can when you are unhappy and stressed.
Your happiness is important both to you and to those you love.

How to Find a Nanny that you can trust

Hello everyone! We are Peaceful Learning, an alternative nanny agency that focuses on finding nannies for families who are looking for the best childcare for their children. We understand that it’s a huge undertaking to find a nanny to invite into your home and who will nurture and care for your precious children. It can be especially difficult to know where to start when you’re seeking someone who offers an approach to childcare that is in line with your parenting. To help you with your search, we want to share some of our tips for finding a nanny who is the perfect fit for you and your family.

I’m really excited to bring you the full list of incredible contributors to yet another incredible issue, this time marking eleven issues of Positive Wellbeing Zine for Mums.

Finding the benefits for you in carrying your baby

Carrying your baby as a form of responding to their needs is often cited as being part of building a healthy attachment for your child. But there are some benefits to the parent or carer that are often not explored.

Shopping small and independent is something that is hugely important to me, both in my personal life but also through my business too. So I am incredibly excited to share the Positive Wellbeing Zine for Mums Valentine’s Gift Guide for 2021. Happy Shopping!

How to Have a Positive Birth in a Pandemic

Let’s face it, when you’d dreamed of your pregnancy and welcoming your baby, a global pandemic was NOT part of the plan!

It’s true, Coronavirus is changing the landscape of birth and maternity services, but there are still PLENTY of things you can do to have a positive birth.

Sewing for Self-Care

Before I became a mum, I had a romantic fantasy about being on maternity leave: leisurely lunch dates with other mums, carrying my baby around in a sling all day, enjoying strolls in the sun, attending lots of baby groups and most importantly, I would have endless amounts of time for me(!) Little did I know this really would stay a fantasy.

The vulnerability of Parenting

My oldest is now 14 years old, yet I still vividly recall a conversation with another new mom when our children were both around age 2. She summed up our mutual feelings about being new parents so well.

“No one told me it was going to be like this, she said. You’re told you are going to be tired and work hard and that you will experience unconditional love, but nobody tells you about the fear!”