20 Questions for the Mum Tag

I was tagged by Bridget over at Bridiebythesea to do the Mum tag. I always like these types of posts purely because I am mega nosey and it’s always nice to get to know people more. The idea is simple, answer the following 20 questions and then tag other mamas. Now I don’t know who has done this and who hasn’t so I tag everyone who is a mum. If you’ve done it before then great, if you don’t want to then fine, if you do then that’s awesome! I look forward to reading your posts.

1. Are you a Stay at Home Mum or a Working Mum?
I am a stay at home mum. I was working up until I went on maternity leave, after many discussions with Jess we decided that I would give up my job to stay at home and look after Clem until the time comes for her to go to nursery/school.

2. Would you have it any other way?
Yes and no. As much as I love being at home every day with Clem I do long for a conversation with someone who can actually put a sentence together. On the other hand I get to spend every day with my crazy little girl and seeing her grow up is amazing.

3. Do you co-sleep?
Yes, we didn’t start off down that route but it’s how we have ended up. It means I actually get some sleep. It’s easier for us because I still breastfeed Clem but now she is getting older and wanting that less, we are planning on getting her a big girl bed soon.

4. What is your one must-have item for your baby?
Muslins. Before Clem was born I had no idea just how handy these would be! I have used them for everything, we even made a hat out of one for Clem once.

5. How many kids do you plan on having?
As an only child I would love for Clem to have a sibling, if it happens then great if it doesn’t then so be it. I think that she would be an awesome older sister to someone, I would love to catch up on sleep before we have anymore though!

6. Date nights? How often do you have them?
Sadly we don’t and we really should. We sit down on a monday night and watch Game of Thrones together once Clem is asleep and that’s about it. We don’t live near family, we’ve never booked a babysitter, if Granny comes to visit then we try and go out then.

7. Your child’s favourite show?
Bing, Peppa Pig and Hey Duggee. Duggee is fantastic, Peppa and Bing can go away if I’m honest. Bing annoys me with his mis-pronouncing of words and never being corrected by Flop.

8. Name one thing you bought before you had the baby and never ended up using?
Her cot. I think she ended up going in it for all of 30 minutes before throwing up every where due to the screaming/crying fit she had every time we tried to get her in it. This is how we ended up co-sleeping, as soon as she was old enough to go in her own room/cot she hated it. We have since taken the cot out of the room, put the mattress on the floor and she has her naps on it no problem.

9. Your child’s favourite food?
Pasta, cheese and vegetables. If it contains meat then we usually have to hide it. Usually it’s the other way round you have to hide the veggies, not with Clem. She loves her vegetables, especially anything green.

10. How many cars does your family have?
None. I can’t drive, Jesse can and we did have a car but not anymore. We live in a pretty well-connected area so having one is pretty pointless. The only time it would come in handy is when we go to Devon and see family, it would certainly cut our travel time down.

11. Weight gain, before pregnancy, during, after and now?
Honestly I didn’t actually gain that much, in fact I think I lost weight! I was fairly over weight before getting pregnant and during my pregnancy I developed a hate for meat. Maybe that’s where Clem gets it from, but I had a pretty healthy diet whilst being pregnant. After I’m doing ok, I could certainly do with losing some but around the time Clem turned 6 months old I was diagnosed as having hypothyroidism and since then I have struggled with my weight.

12. Dream holiday with your kids?
Got to be the old cliché – Disney. I am a huge Disney fan and Clem is slowly growing to like it as well. Obviously if she hates it as she gets older then I’m never going! Failing that anywhere with a swimming pool or beach. Clem is a complete water/outdoors child. So somewhere with lots to do outside preferably with nice weather.

13. Dream holiday without your kids?
I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights, and I guess taking Clem to that when she’s older would be amazing so I would have to say some island in the middle of nowhere with lovely blue sea, white sand, somewhere you can relax and not have to worry about anything for a week.

14. How has your life changed since having kids?
I’m way more tired!! It would be silly to say my life hasn’t changed because it has, we don’t go to as many gigs/festivals/nights out as we used to but we still go to them. Jesse still plays video games, I still listen to rock/metal, Clem even headbangs along sometimes. I guess I’ve grown up (not completely though, having a kid is a great excuse for playing on slides etc..) and I’m always armed with wet wipes now. Those things are amazing!

15. Finish the sentence “It makes heart melt when…”
She runs over and gives me a big cuddle and a kiss. She is getting very affectionate, and developing her own personality. She’s hilarious and makes me laugh on a daily basis with all the silly things she does.

16. Where do you shop for your kids?
Both online and high street shops. I found quite a few awesome online shops thanks to Instagram and a lot of them are run by other mamas, which is great! As for the high-street H&M is my favourite. Closely followed by Primark, Next and Zara.

17. Favourite make-up and skincare products?
Ha, erm I guess wet wipes don’t count here right?! Honestly I don’t wear a lot of make-up if any, as for skincare do lush bathbombs and shower gels count? I like those.

18. Huggies or Pampers?
Pampers. I’m actually not sure why we decided on Pampers, we did try other ones but ended up back with Pampers.

19. Have you always wanted kids?
To be honest no. Up until having Clem I had never even held a baby. I didn’t get all smushy whenever a baby was around. Although me and Jesse have been together since 2003 we aren’t married, we do own a flat and I guess kids was the next thing. We talked about it and then the next thing I knew I was sat in the bathroom holding a positive pregnancy test. The weird thing was that I wasn’t scared, I was excited so I guess the time was right.

20. Best part of being a mum?
Oh wow that’s hard…everything? I actually love being a mum, I was terrified before I became one. I spent most of my pregnancy worrying about what sort of mum I would be. I thought I would be rubbish, I didn’t know anything about being one, but over time I learnt that no one does. Every other mum probably has and will have had the same thoughts I did. As someone who does suffer from mental health issues I really do hope that Clem doesn’t get them as well. Obviously there is no way of stopping that from happening but I can try.

As I said at the beginning I’m now supposed to tag other people to do it, but I know everyone is super busy, has other posts planned so if you want to take part then feel free.