Tag Archives: parks

33 times when you know you’re a mum

You know you’re a mum when:

1 The supermarket checkout looks like this:

2 You come home from visiting your best friend, your partner asks how she is and you have no idea. You’ve spent the afternoon breaking up fights, cleaning up spills and interrupting every sentence with “NO! Don’t do that!”

3 Your washing line looks like this: 

4 You start referring to 7am as ‘a long lie’

5 Your reflexes become superhuman – you can catch a small child as they run onto the road using only the sound of their footsteps.

6 You think this is totally normal: 

7 Nakedness is no longer odd, sexy or even slightly unusual.

8 Every time you open a kitchen cupboard, a packet of Hula Hoops falls out.

9 Every time a packet of Hula Hoops falls out a cupboard you catch it with your superhuman reflexes.

10 You have a playlist called “Chillout” and you play it top volume to drown out the screaming.

11 Your own parents start putting up signs: 

12 Your car, once your pride and joy, smells like McDonalds, has at least three jackets in the boot and has snacks stored in every pocket.

13 You no longer buy heels. Or anything white.

14 You spend a lot of time sitting in your car, eating snacks, because someone is finally asleep in the back.

15 You don’t even look in H&M adults any more, you go straight to the kids’ section and spend more than you ever spent on yourself.

16 You’ve started visiting Poundland because they have cheap stickers and no one cares if your kids run riot.

17 You used to go to parks for a run – or, centuries ago, to have a sneaky fag or snog. Now you’re there every day, bargaining with a toddler who’s stripped half naked and lain down on a bench.

18 Even though you’re finally realising you’re an adult and should have a Drinks Cabinet – the booze never hangs around long enough for you to create one.

19 You’ve become very tidy, simply because your children eat mess.

20 You used to eat out frequently, now you’re lucky to eat a McDonalds with a decent view.

21 You are obsessed with keys.

22 Any dreams you had of a flower-filled garden have been crushed.

23 You’ve stopped buying newspapers (no time to read them), watching the news channel (drowned out by wails for Peppa Pig) or even listening to it on the radio after your child started paying attention and asking awkward questions you’re so not ready to deal with.

24 Even though you never used to particularly go out for cake, it’s now your Friday saviour (or Tuesday or every damn day): 

25 You’ve mastered that quiet scary voice your mum always used to make you shit yourself.

26 You get overexcited when you finally get a night out and inevitably get too drunk and slightly disgrace yourself.

27 You are no longer woken by an alarm clock. You’re woken by a headlock.

28 You don’t even put up a fight any more when a small child wants to do your makeup.

29 You always carry wipes – even to business meetings. Hell, especially to business meetings. Is that banana or shit on your sleeve?

30 You bribe your children for the smallest thing – even five minutes of no fighting is totally worth two brand new bumper sticker books.

31 Interiors decisions are no longer based on aesthetics, they’re based on durability, wipeability and whether they can be glued back together.

32 You pick your battles wisely: 

33 You do occasionally get overwhelmed with love:

If you liked this post you should check out

20 Life Hacks for Stressed Out Mums

8 Stress- busters for Busy Mums

How to tidy – in 13 steps

 

 

 

 

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Filed under Edinburgh, entertainment, home

Dear green places

Don't worry, the brake is on!

My life used to have two speeds: stressed and bored.

I set up my business after walking away from a job after months in which the petty politics had stressed me to breaking point. Finding clients and building my reputation in my new role was both exhilirating and exhausting. When I ever gave myself time off, I’d get restless and worry that I should be working. When I was in work mode I crammed my days full of meetings, research, work and networking. Even when I was pregnant I didn’t really slow down and worked on projects until 11 days before my due date.

Now that I’m “off” the pace of my life has slowed dramatically. I walk everywhere, I haven’t set my alarm for weeks, I rarely plan beyond tomorrow and I have rediscovered my love of parks.

Glasgow means ‘dear green place’ and the place is full of them. It helps that the weather has been Mediterranean for the past fortnight. The blossom has burst out, the trees are suddenly dripping with acid green leaves and the sky is as blue as the wee man’s eyes. I have been absolutely loving having the freedom – and the time – to enjoy the great outdoors in the middle of the city. I have even learned the muslin-over-the-shoulder trick so that I can subtly feed little F in public. I’ve been doing that American thing of saying hi to everyone I pass and feeling lucky as I push F by the workers scoffing their sandwiches on benches. That used to be me. But mostly I’ve been loving discovering a new speed for my life: peace.

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Filed under hello World, work