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“Mirror mirror on the wall, will I ever get my former figure (before pregnancy) back?” These words I muttered to myself on the days I was brave enough to pause in front of our mirrored wardrobe. Crashing back to reality after our honeymoon bliss accompanied with overindulgence resulted in my husband and I signing up with a Personal Trainer to whip us back into shape. With A LOT of sick, sweat and tears, together we achieved our fitness body peak. I’m not going to lie, it was incredible! I honestly felt on top of the world, I had even more energy after the gruelling workouts and I wasn’t starving either – BOOST!!
...When I first set out on my breastfeeding journey I thought we wouldn’t make it to 6 months. If you told me that not only would I nurse through one pregnancy and then tandem nurse after that, but that I would go on to tandem nursing through a third pregnancy and then triandem nurse, I would have laughed. But here we are, three and a half years after I had my first child, still nursing her, her two year old sister, and their 4 month old brother. Turns out I’m not alone either! While triandem nursing is a little more on the rarer side, tandem nursing isn’t THAT infrequent. I have found however that many women have felt that they needed to wean before nursing another, even if this wasn’t really what they wanted to do.
...I’m not sure if that’s a woman nature but we often tend to look after everyone around first before thinking about ourselves. Especially moms like us, doing everything for, around and with kids, completely neglecting our needs. No time for healthy food choices, no energy for exercises and no way to pamper ourselves whatsoever. Well, sometimes we don’t even have time to think about it all...Can you relate?
...What, when, and why of breastfeeding!! I come from a LONG line of breastfeeding mamas. I breastfed all 3 of my boys, my mama breastfed all 3 of her children, my grandma breastfed all 4 of her kids, her mom did the same thing and so on and on!!! So let’s talk about the basics of breastfeeding.
...The other day my three year old looked at me and said: “Are you happy Mama?” I responded with “of course I’m happy love!”, and she went back to playing. But I know the phrase wasn’t an innocent one, as my eldest is very observant and in tune with the emotions flying around her. So I started to ask myself if she possibly thought I was unhappy... I’m not unhappy, not at all, but I do have a lot of anxiety that I repress as much as possible, and there has been a lot going on over the past few months: new baby, new home, some financial struggles, my partner working two jobs, and then starting the therapy process for my eldest’s own anxiety issues. Her simple question really got me thinking about how we communicate with our children and how this may or may not affect them adversely.
...The holidays are a fun time for everyone. Families come together, memories are made, and of course the food! But while the kiddos tend to make a list of presents they want for the holidays what about dad? If you have a father like mine, then you know he’ll play his cards close to his chest and never tell you what he wants. But I’ll let you in on a secret, get him the right gift and he’ll probably jump for joy higher than anyone! So here are 5 gifts that are sure to make any dad on your list one happy camper come the holidays.
...My whole world as I knew it was flipped upside down when I was gifted with the precious responsibility of Motherhood. “Congratulations Charlene, you will now be known as Elijah’s mummy” the Health Visitor said. In that moment I didn’t realise the fear this instilled in me. The loving bond I have with my son is nothing I’ve ever experienced before but does Charlene just disappear? What about my life goals and dreams that I still want to accomplish?
...Which of my traits do I hope my kids will pick up?
I don't have kids yet, and honestly I probably won't for a few years. But I think about my future kids fairly regularly.
It’s all over the news: Weinstein, Spacey, the president, the #metoo campaign, and people speaking up and speaking out about sexual harassment, assault, and violence. Now is the time to not only talk about what continues to be normalized behavior in our society but also to talk about how we can make REAL change. As parents we talk about looking for signs of abuse, and preventing abuse, but how can we actually help our children see and know the signs of danger? How can we also help our children to NOT become perpetrators of assault and harassment?
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1:(r)An employer shall provide—
(A) a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk; and
(B) a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.
2: An employer shall not be required to compensate an employee receiving reasonable break time under paragraph (1) for any work time spent for such purpose.
3: An employer that employs less than 50 employees shall not be subject to the requirements of this subsection, if such requirements would impose an undue hardship by causing the employer significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s business.