Diary of a Mumpreneur

As life changes go there’s nothing more monumental than the arrival of a baby into the family.   Having recently given birth to our second little boy, I’m not sure that the equation of double the trouble is quite true in our case, but it’s fairly safe to say that your life (let alone your work life!) will never be the same again.   The juggling act has entered the big leagues! In terms of pregnancy itself, it’s widely recognised that many women enjoy being pregnant and its positive side effects (the stereotypical “blooming”) but I am sorry to say that I am not one of those women.   For me (both times) being pregnant was uncomfortable, and with a string of unsavoury side-effects to try the resolve of any normal person.   Of course, there’s the promise of a lovely baby to look forward to at the end, but other than that the list of pregnancy pros and cons is a miserable one: Disadvantages of being pregnant (not exhaustive) Sickness Weight gain Lethargy Aci...

Most of us parents would be happy to accept that allowing our children to watch copious amounts of television at the expense of more stimulating and enriching activities is not a good idea.   However.   Most of us will also happily admit that kids’ TV does have its place and use, and we therefore allow it to enter our lives, as I have found, with some amusing consequences. Being pregnant with baby number two as I recently was, I found that allowing my two-year-old to watch some TV from time to time would enable me to snatch a desperate daytime kip on the sofa, at times when energy reached an all-time low.   TV (albeit the mobile phone YouTube variety) is also my tool of last resort when all else fails to entertain a toddler in a café or restaurant.   The children's DVD's in our house have been recently moved to a high shelf in order to maintain optimum levels of parental control (and less pestering!)   Toddler - "DVD's... too high up!" Me - "Yes. ...

When juggling a new baby (or children in general) with all of life’s other demands, how much time is there really left for having a beautifully clean and tidy house which is ready to welcome visitors at the drop of a hat? I raise this point in this latest instalment to the Mumpreneur blog as this is an area in which I fail on a regular basis.   And I wonder how many others out there will take comfort in that thought knowing they are not alone!   For my own part, my time is split between looking after my little boy, paid freelance work, volunteering with the NCT, and, as the title of the blog would suggest, running a small business.   In quiet work periods I also have a huge painting and decorating project underway in my house, so by the time I’ve domestically project-managed all of the above, plus made dinner for the family (and done the grocery shopping!), how much time is there really left for cleaning and tidying?!? I have to admit to being guilty of being sp...

Many of us lament the elements of our lives that are no longer possible following the arrival of babies – trips to the cinema, theatre, pub, hobbies given up, expensive activities re-prioritised.   Well, The Times They Are A-Changin’, or rather, as any new parent knows only too well, Mr Dylan, they have already changed beyond all recognition.   My husband and I used to be in a rock band before we became parents.   We used to call it our secret double life (now we call it our secret past life!)   The band was called ‘Action Replay’ and despite sounding like a cheese rock covers band we were an alternative heavy rock band.   We never became famous, mostly frequenting Birmingham’s “toilet circuit” as I used to call it (and I have got changed in a LOT of toilets over the years), but had a string of achievements that I am still proud of today, including an EP and album that is still available on iTunes.   We had the joy of playing to 2000 people at an open-ai...

Let’s face it – being at work is rubbish!   That’s why they have to pay you to go.   I feel justified in saying that being a mummy is the best job in the world.   Being a self-employed mummy is even better – as you don’t have to go to a place of work, with all the stress and groan-factor that comes with it (#RatherBeOnMaternityLeave!) even if it means that sometimes you don’t get paid.   Fair trade-off I’d say. Prior to becoming a mummy I was working at a medium-sized business – the sort that doesn’t have its own facilities or HR department so that when the brown and sticky hits the fan you end up sorting it out yourself at the expense of whatever was on your ridiculously long and irksome to-do list for that day.   (Of course as a mummy, you quickly get used to a very different sort of brown and sticky!)   One of the main problems of my former job (and there were many of them!) was that every time something broke in the building, you would end up havi...

The clue is in the name of the business really, but I am a lover of cats (in case that wasn’t obvious!).   We have three cats in the house, all of which were around and very much established before the arrival of our little boy, or as we refer to him with the cats, “the human baby”.   We have two female cats (who came from Cats Protection as kittens), and a male cat that we adopted as a stray (another story entirely of the shaggy dog variety – the cat is also quite dog-like).   The male cat is extremely docile (or as we call him, bomb-proof) and succumbs regularly to the daily pestering of our 1 year old (who is also quite cat-obsessed, like his mummy, and whose first word was “cat”).   At best this ranges from stroking to cuddling (where he lies his head on the cat to cuddle him) and at worst to the cat having “CAT” screamed in his face at point blank range to having his tail pulled – which we strongly discourage as parents, but haven’t yet managed to eradicate fr...