THE JAMES CHARLES EFFECT

Unless you've been hidden under a rock this month (like I was for the first five of this year) then you will almost certainly know what I'm talking about by just the title of this post, and that is this culture that seems to have emerged for indulging in drama and gossip online. If you're thinking this is something that solely happens amongst the 'beauty community' you'd be very wrong, I'd class myself as sitting slap bang in the middle of a parenting world across social media, yet I see this thing every single day, it's sad, especially when it's coming from those of us raising little ones. But I think it's a big part of our world today and I really wanted to address it on my blog given how the James Charles saga has really brought it all to the forefront.

FINDING MY IDENTITY AS A MUM

Becoming a Mum for the first time is overwhelming, of course it is, it doesn't matter how many months of cooking a baby in your belly you've had, how many antenatal classes you attended or however many little blobs of black and white scan photos you collected, it still somehow comes as a shock doesn't it? I remember pinning all these mood boards on Pinterest to cover exactly how I envisioned myself as a parent, of course it didn't quite go to plan and I'm not sure if I could look further away from any of those images I had in my head. The truth is you never really know how motherhood is going to affect or change you, until you're amongst the waves and suddenly you're not really too sure who you're meant to be anymore.

THE NATIONAL SPACE CENTRE FOR KIDS

The National Space Centre isn't too far from us, situated in Leicester but we've always gave it a miss before of fear the boys are too young and there wouldn't be much to do. However when the lovely guys at License to PR invited us along for a PJ Masks Supermoon Adventures day, we just couldn't pass up on the chance for the boys to meet their favourite superheros again, as well as joining in on all the spacey fun. So we made the small journey and hoped that now aged 5 and almost 3 they would have a little bit more to do and play with, Noah is well into everything space right now as they've touched upon it at school so I knew it would be a great chance for him to learn a little more.

BANISH BOUNTY REPS AFTER BIRTH

In the hours leading up to and then following child birth I think it's probably a time when as women we're most vulnerable, we're hormonal, emotional, tired and generally don't really have a grasp on much. Who can blame us, it's the toughest thing we go through right? So what baffles me is why the NHS deem it appropriate to bring what is effectively doorstep sellers, to your hospital bed, with your precious newborn bundle used as a tool to lure you into spending hundreds of pounds. I honestly don't even know where to begin with this post, it's one I uhm'ed and ahh'ed over writing for so long, because I do think the NHS is an invaluable service. However when I touched upon it in a previous post, it seemed fitting to explain just exactly why I detest Bounty reps on maternity wards.

MY WILD CHILD

Patrick is three next month, which still seems pretty unreal to him, didn't I just give birth to him a few months ago? We're at the stage now when I can look at older pictures of him and really see the difference, he's lost all of that baby chub and he's taller, thinner and has a mouth that never seems to close. But there is one thing about my little sweet Pip that hasn't changed from day one, actually who am I kidding, he caused havoc before he was born as you'll know if you've been around long enough. He is our wild card, the baby that I truly didn't see myself being a parent of, after having Noah we really thought the fact we had such a sweet and calm child must be a reflection on our fantastic parenting (I'm rolling my eyes at former me too). Turns out it's absolute pot luck and if Pip had of been our first child, he'd have probably been our only child because he is crazy. Would we have him any other way? Absolutely not.

LET PARTNERS STAY ON MATERNITY WARDS

When we give birth it's without a doubt one of the most memorable moments of our lives. I know not everyone has it easy and there's a lot of Mums' out there with some stories that they'd rather forget, but for the most part if you ask a parent the best day of their life they're going to tell you the day their child was born. I say parents because I don't think that those magical moments differentiate between Mum and Dad, or anyone else that's in the room when their loved one gives birth, I think those minutes and hours change everyone involved incomprehensibly and if we could remove the little problem of pain - I'm sure we'd all relive it over and over again. But unfortunately for some of us, myself included, it's a time lottery on whether or not you can bask in that joy with your partner in the hours after giving birth, thanks to quite honestly outdated rules on partners remaining in hospital outside 'visiting hours'.