Saturday, August 31, 2013

The End.

That's it. My maternity leave is now over. I am back to work on Monday morning.

I cannot quite believe how fast it has gone. It has been the most amazing time of my life in fact, which I know sounds a bit cheesy, but it has. When Charlie was first born, it was still pretty cold, so for the first couple of weeks we spent most days snuggled in bed under the duvet, watching Jezza and This Morning. Then, once the weather got better, we have been out and about most days; meeting other mummies and babies, wandering around town, walking along the promenade and doing the odd bit of shopping! It has been wonderful and I am genuinely sad that those lovely days are now over.

I do think it's time that Charlie starts to be with other people, I feel that being around other children, particularly, will help him grow and learn and he needs new experiences. But I am still sad that from 8am-4pm he will be with someone else. I am very aware that I could miss him first crawling, or later on walking and talking. But, when we planned a baby, I knew that when he would be six months I would have to return to work.

I do, however, feel grateful that I have had these six months. I know not everyone  has this opportunity and has to return a lot sooner than I have, so I know I should feel grateful. At the beginning I worried how Charlie would cope without me. I was at the centre of his world back then. But now, as he's getting a bit older, I see that actually, he will cope without me, he will be fine. He doesn't need me as exclusively as he did when he was tiny and only feeding from me. He's eating food now as well as still taking milk. But that makes me sad. He's growing way too fast and me being at work will miss a lot of this.

However I am staying positive; I have some lovely friends at work, it will be nice to see them and talk about other things than baby TV and what Charlie had for lunch that day. It will be nice to use my brain again. I am though, aware of the irony that basically I am leaving my son with someone else so I can go and look after other people's children!!

Because I am going back to work and am a slightly different shape than I was before being pregnant, I of course, have had to buy a few new bits for work! Such as this gorgeous dog jumper and this lovely dress.
And of course I had to buy a new bag! I chose the Zara office bag that I saw Charlotte with from writelikenooneswatching. It's a fabulous bag and I love it! So these things are easing the pain of going back to work, but I am still sad.

I will cherish our weekends together and our evenings and I know that I have his lovely smiley face to look forward to when I pick him up. And I know he will have lots of fun with his new friends.

But I will miss him...

mummystartingout x






Monday, August 26, 2013

Wriggly Rascals - bump, baby and toddler!

I can't actually remember how or when I came across Wriggly Rascals. But, one day I had a tweet that I just thought was another one of those unwanted spam things, until I read it properly and it was a message from Shona, who runs the website, asking me to write a little blog post for their website. There was a choice of topics and I chose 'Alcohol in Pregnancy' - if you know me personally you might understand why haha!

A little while later I was asked to write another and then came an invitation to join the site's bloggers and I was thrilled!

Wriggly Rascals is a site set up by Mum of twins, Shona, where other mums and mums to be (or even Dads!) can go and ask advice or browse the articles already there for information and support. Articles range from pregnancy questions to weaning your baby and beyond! It really is a wealth of information and what's even better is that all the answers are written and provided by other mums, so it's advice you can trust.

You can also complete a survey yourself on a given topic and earn 'points' to spend on the pop up shops that they have every so often. The more surveys you complete the more points you get! You can also read their results of the surveys, however, if you subscribe you get more detailed content from the results.

You can also join their affiliate scheme, where you earn more by referring your friends or you blog readers.

If you want to find out more then hop over to their website and have a little look around! Click here.

mummystartingout x

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Some things that I love #37

Happy Sunday people!

Once again, I am linking up with butwhymummywhy to share some things that I've been loving this week.

Here goes...

Something I read


Hmmm... this was tricky, as at the moment, I am finding it very hard to find time to sit down and read! Charlie is certainly keeping us busy! However I am slowly working my way through From Notting Hill to New York Actually by Ali McNamara and it's actually quite good. My Mum bought it for me for Christmas and I had saved it for my hospital bag but I never got round to reading it.

Something I watched


Sorry to say it but Big Brother! Every year the hubby and I convince ourselcves we won't get in to it but every year without fail, we do! I have actually really enjoyed it this year, the arguments have been hilarious!

Something I wore 


I am loving my new dress from Topshop.














Something I listened to


Once again, not finding much time to listen to anything! However, I have been listening to the Les Mis soundtrack! I love it! 

Something I cannot live without


Charlie of course!


If you want to join in, just hop along to butwhymummywhy and follow the link.

mummystartingout x