Single mother life - The perks, the jerks and the what nots

Holy Mother of God! 

Here I was comfortable with my life, writing blogs, running a kids music tutorial studio, spending time with Summer (Miss ALMOST two). Then ...... One day... I found out:

I'm PREGNANT! !! !! Again!!

Excitement, tears of joy set in with such a lot of Happiness (and hormones I guess).

Turns out someone else didn't want another one. ......

So after a long and exhausting relationship, I packed up the car, packed up Summer and....


I bloody well left that jerk. 



It's now almost 3 months later and Holy Mackerol am I having fun!!!!

I've taken up studying full-time, moved into my little flat with Summer and found out:


ITS A BOY!!!

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I thought I would share some things with my fellow readers, mums and such that I have learnt from single motherdom:

• You are it -- there is nobody else to take over mum duties
• Mothers do not get sick
• If mothers do get sick, they can't stay in bed all day
• Bed is a forbidden place between 7 am - 7 pm
• There is no paper, scissors, rock --- You ARE getting up
• You are "Dead on your feet" 5 seconds after you put them to bed
• You will develop more patience
• Friends will appear when you thought you had none
• Other Friends won't want to know "a single mother"
• The same applies to family
• Life gets harder
• Life gets easier
• You will cry more
• You will smile more
• You will love more
• You will make more effort 
• You will worry more
• Child-free weekends will consist of house-work and sleep
• You will be able to fit more into your day than Jack Bauer

Just remember, most importantly:

You can do it! 

Lets see if I hold the same opinion in 18 weeks when child #2 arrives!

DIY for your kids!

New Zealand is a nation of DIYers! (Do it yourself). If we can't afford something we make it by ourselves using itts and bits from around the house and LOTS of Duct tape (as essential as watties tomato sauce in NZ home)

There are various ways you can search for DIY tutorials: 

Tutorial via Youtube
Tutorial via blog
Tutorial via pinterest
Tutorial via instruction manual
Tutorial straight from the horses mouth (A fellow DIYer)
No tutorial at all (Using your DIY creativity)

There are so many other examples but these are my favourites!

What have I DIYed for my daughter?

Her dresser- I bought a set of drawers from the local recycle center before she was born for $5 and a sander from the warehouse $10 and sanded the rough polish of the drawers. It came out with this beautiful wood. So I left it like that! We were bought up in a house of wooden walls and I love the feel and look of it!! 

A new dress- Head over to my Stitch Witch blog if you want to learn how to make a strapless dress I designed for your wee girl.

Playtoys and blankets- Taggy cubes, blankets etc are huge at the moment. They are simple to sew up and you can fill them with all sorts of things to make them even more exciting for your little one!

Decor- I am a big fan of upcycling to create gorgeous decor. I follow a page on facebook, Oh Em Gee and they not only sell decor but show really creative ways to upcycle and decorate your home, nursery etc. It's not often I find a page I check daily but this is one of them. 

Towels-  Hooded towels are expensive and good quality ones are hard to come by. However I found a great tutorial of how to make Hooded towels in less than 15 minutes over at True Aim and Parenting Education Blog. Make sure before you fork out for those expensive towels, you give this beginner sewing tutorial a shot.

Good luck on your DIY journey!!! And remember it's completely normal to start 10 projects at a time and maybe only finish one! It's part of the fun!!! :) Please share any of your DIY ideas or tips with us!

WAHM--- The 10 fulltime jobs they actually do!!! :)

What is the meaning of WAHM?

WAHM means "Work At Home Mom"

An extended meaning ---- not only do WAHM's work every hour of the day that their child/children are awake, entertaining, feeding, washing and cleaning between the daylight hours or sometimes not so daylight hours. When they are entertained, fed, washed and cleaned and mothers have a quiet minute, this is when they morph into their secret identity "The WAHM"! Their powers are super sensitive hearing incase the child/children are up to something they shouldn't be up to and they grow a pair of eyes out of the back of their head so they are able to split their attention between the child/children and whatever task they are trying to complete. 

Once the other half arrives home, WAHM needs to get tea cooked, dishes completed, child/children bathed and bedded, then return to the task at hand. This means that she might not finish until the early hours of the morning. 

WAHM's generally work 7 days a week and do it all for a particularly low return.

Why would anyone want to be a WAHM?

I sometimes wonder this? My organisational skills are excellent and I still have trouble making time for everyone and everything! However, even though we get a ridiculously low hourly wage, it's enough income to help make ends meet at the end of the week. I worked a full time job just last month for a while and it pained me every time I walked away from Miss 1! I also realized nobody else wanted to hear all about Miss 1 in all her excitement, so it turned out that I really had nothing in common with any of my colleagues. Being a WAHM is sort of an inbetween compromise for those mums that can't handle "Just being mums" but also want something for themselves! 

How to become a WAHM?

I could give you a step-by-step guide but where is the fun in that. However I will give you a little advice.  Find an idea, and run with it. Don't give up! Realise that it might be slow to start of with but you just grow and grow and grow and look forward to the exciting times. Support other WAHM's! In fact as long as you aren't in the same industry as them, I'm sure you could probably give them a message to hear their story or advice on how to become a WAHM. 

NZ WAHMS-- that you need to visit--

BABY BANZ NZ- Run by Andrea Little- sun & sound safety gear for babies & kids

 

Pepi's Boutique - Handmade clothing for girls!   & Mano Rato - Handmade clothing for Boys! Both run by Krystal Pires

Baby Life Magazine Bizzy Shopping and 2cute - All run by the wonderful Jackie Procter

Bubs Bibs n Bobs- Run by Cushla Jaquiery

Olly Polly- Run by Tess Burnett - Olly Polly is a Merino baby wear company that will keep your little ones warm and snug in Winter and cool in Summer.

Timmy and Tilly's Preloved Kids Clothes and Accessories- Run by Jo Hardie 

Red Riding Hood Yarns- Run by Hannah Gordon

Or head over to the Hive -  a buzzing online shopping experience showing off small kiwi businesses (mostly wahm  ) 

Online resources for mothers

One useful thing for mothers is to build a positive community of online resources to gain knowledge and advice to help us through this magical period. I have collated some of favourites, mostly New Zealand based online blogs, magazines, links and websites that provide a range of opinions, facts and community between mothers.

The Domestic Wannabe-
A blog I follow religiously! WARNING: This blog contains photos of some of the cutest kids ever! You have to read this blog for some amazing insight into motherhood and the joys it contains. I highly suggest for tips and advice to add this to your favourites. I think with the combination of amazing photography and highly relatable stories, this is fun and inspiring to read for any mother.

Baby Life Magazine-
I can't recommend this place enough. It doesn't just focus around baby necessities but also includes a directory of other useful thing like Health and Wellbeing businesses, Learning and education centres etc. I love the website (Click here to visit) because it is easy to use and holds an array of great information. I highly enjoy their status updates on facebook as it is always different, inspiring and interesting, I would suggest reading everyone of them just for entertainment.

The Baby View-
Wow! I have been a facebook fan of The Baby View for a while now and have only visited their online business directory for some contact details. However I just finished scouring their website (Click here to visit) and couldn't be more impressed at the range of helpful advice and tips that this website offers. It has a big focus on baby related businesses which is really helpful for mothers wanting a certain product, they also have recipes and a list of articles. A website definitely to store for a later read, but  like their page on facebook as it will provide a lot of resources that might make your life a little bit easier!

These are just a few of my favourites, and I am pleased to let my amazing fans know that the awesome "Jackie" from Baby Life Magazine has taken time out of her busy schedule to write a blog for next week's entry! Make sure you take a listen out for her expert advice!!!