Doing it for me!

So recently I have been thinking about how my life has changed since I became a Mother. Care free selfish Sharon loved going out with friends, having random adventures and I absolutely loved pampering myself. After I had Sophia I was seriously motivated to get in shape, so much so that I ended up working in a gym helping other people do the same thing! Then I lost motivation after loosing nearly 6st and piled it all back on, stopped exercising, stopped caring and totally let myself go! As Sophia got older I found it much harder to find the energy to take care of myself. I was lucky that Sophia as a baby loved to sleep and was a very happy baby. Now that she is a toddler, she needs entertained and is a demanding diva. I'm actually more tired now than I was when I had a baby! The black circles under my eyes make that very clear.

Now here I am today, the fattest I've ever been in my life, with the lowest energy levels EVER, the crappiest skin, not caring how I dress and generally just feeling very "meh"! This could be completely unrealistic but I worked on a list of things I want to do for myself, I'm sure some of these will have a positive impact on family life too, so here we go!

1. Improve my eating habits. This is a tough one, I am ridiculously fussy... It won't happen over night but I have hope!
2. Cut out fizzy drinks. Goodbye Pepsi, Irn-Bru you beautiful orange glass of heaven we must part ways! Before I actually has this cool water bottle that totaled the amount of water I needed to achieve my ideal level of hydration... I need to become friends with that bottle again. 
3. Ditch the chocolate. Especially chocolate covered raisins & Terry's chocolate oranges, oh my how their sales will drop!
4. Fit into a size 10 clothes. I was quite possibly a size 10... when I was 10, I got down to a size 14 before which lets be fair, with today's clothing sizes being completely different in each store doesn't mean a whole lot! I tend to shop in Newlook... so lets say a Newlook size 10 for the sake of it. 
5. Get more sleep. I'm positive I'm not the only parent with this issue, even when Sophia is asleep I find myself awake until 3am! Why? Because it's my time, quiet time, I can watch my trashy TV and not be disturbed. Then Sophia comes through for me at 7am and I feel so disgusting and regret staying awake... only to do it again the following night. 
6.  Have more time for myself & Bruce. Date night, even just for a couple of hours at least once a month. Of course I won't turn down Grandparents offering over night babysitting. I miss wakening up of my own accord and just wondering around carelessly in the mornings. 
7. Get a hobby! Don't ask me what! I honestly don't know. Child free Sharon loved to party... now I have no idea what I love. So if you have any suggestions let me know! I need your help! 
8. Make more effort with my appearance. I am not saying I will be strolling around looking flawless all day, every day. I'm also comfortable enough to go makeup free, younger Sharon wouldn't even nip to the shop without a full face of makeup. Now & again it does cheer me up getting to play with my makeup.
9. Do more things as a family. Does anyone else imagine doing all of these amazing activities but when it comes to the weekend you just want to chill? This is perfectly normal... I used to feel so guilty about this. I would see accounts on Instagram where families just look like they are out all of the time, doing all of these cool activities. Truth is, Sophia loves a nap... she gets this from me. Wish me luck with this one, I'm not sure Sophia will be convinced enough to give up her love of counting sheep! 
10. Learn a new skill. Right now I'm leaning towards making bath bombs, I'm addicted to lush but in my head it would be sooooo cool to make my own. They could also help with my  goal of relaxation... self care crazy ideal I have in my head right now. I'm actually crazy for thinking I can relax with a toddler around aren't I!?

So in short I want to be a slim, water drinking, vegetable eating, well rested and well presented Mum who has an awesome new hobby and has enough energy to go on crazy family adventures and from time to time be awake enough to hold a conversation with Bruce. Who the hell do I think I am? Super Woman!? Who knows, I may actually achieve this once Sophia has flown the nest... Either way you are lucky enough to join me through this journey, expect highs, lows, failures and hopefully some success stories! If anyone is in the same boat, perhaps wanting to shift some lbs, figure out exactly when their wardrobe stopped being cool and rediscover the whole fashion thing again or maybe you want to try and learn something new then make sure you get in touch! I would love to hear from you!

Mummy Pamper Time

Hi everyone, long time no see! I have been really rubbish at keeping my blog up to date. I just haven't had much to write about. I blame the colder, darker winter months. Lately it has been the same thing day in & day out. Finally the lighter nights are here, the weather does occasionally decide to treat us to some sunshine and even Sophia is starting to leave her hibernation mode! Over the winter months I've seriously let myself go. Eating uncontrollably, my skin has been a mess, my hair is the worst it has ever looked... like a weird in between colour and absolutely no style. This just isn't like me at all. Once upon a time I looked half decent. I'm not talking weekly manicures, layers of makeup and big bouncy hair decent but just more human.

This could possibly seem very petty to some people but I want to feel more like me, take better care of myself and I think this blog could just be the thing to get my butt kicked into gear. Who doesn't want to feel nice about themselves? I am considering doing a weight loss post once a week... you can all tell me off if those numbers on the scales don't go down! I have A LOT of weight to shift. Also since stopping working I have been feeling so unmotivated so I have been looking into little projects I can do. Some with Sophia, others more grown up based. I have a serious urge to make some bath bombs. Totally random I know but what can I say? I need random little things to do, I am sick and tired of the same routine. Anyone with hobbies/activities they like to do at home feel free to share! I would love some inspiration. Maybe there is something you really want to do? I would really love to hear from you.

We also have the Easter Holidays coming up, Sophia will be off for 2 weeks from the 31st. My goal for the holidays is to be out of the house as much as possible, even if it's just going on mini adventures to places we haven't been before. Sophia absolutely loves being outside and exploring, a happy Sophia means a happy Mummy. 

I'm really looking forward to keeping my blog up to date with all of our adventures. 

Speak soon x

Festive fun

Hi everyone I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I can't believe how busy I have been, I went from thinking "oh these holidays will be nice and relaxed" to crazy regimented mummy in a split second, running around like a headless chicken. This was the first Christmas in four years that my older sister Michelle & her partner Dean had been home so we have been spending a lot of time with family.

Our first date in the diary was going to my partner's uncles Christmas party which was great fun, we sang carols, Santa visited the children and watching Sophia have a ball as well as getting to cuddle into my seven month old Nephew Dylan whilst spending time with my other Niece & Nephew's was brilliant.

Then it all becomes a bit blurry, their was shopping thrown in, visiting family and more shopping... fighting with ridiculously glittery paper from Tesco which all went in the bin and then hunting for glitter free paper happened. Who else decided to purchase the lovely sparkly paper from Tesco and within 5 seconds of opening the stuff was cursing Tesco for making it look like a unicorn pooped all over their house!?

Christmas eve Sophia was a bit under the weather but we managed to do some Christmas themed colouring in and we popped some reindeer food outside that Sophia made with her nursery. Then we had a Chinese takeaway and watched Scroodged when Sophia went up to bed.

Christmas day we got up, had my dad pop round in the morning, opened some presents and Sophia played away until it was time to get ready to head over to Bruce's parents house for more present opening and our meal with his mum, dad & brother. His mum cooked up a feast for 60 people not 6. Seriously she had the choice of around seven puddings!!! Bruce and I are also now proud owners of a Go Pro camera and I cannot wait to start using it. So Dad if you somehow stumble onto my mummy blog then thank you so much we love it!

Boxing day we were the host's and had my mum, older sister, her partner and my younger sister round. Had some party nibbles and opened even more presents. Sophia loved her Cinderella dress from her Grandma. She has also basically moved into this book that converts into a carriage and has decided to live in all of her new pj's.

The past few days we have been watching films, Trolls seems to be the movie of choice and I love it, I cannot help but sing along and have a dance with Sophia, lounging around, eating far too much food and being chased by Sophia and her new Hank toy (Finding Dory). I really need to get off my butt and go and get more party nibbles for Hogmanay (NYE for you non Scottish folks out there). I also fancy another bottle of Prosecco. I have also been working on my new business which you can find on facebook "pearl cove jewellery". It's very much still a working progress but I have a competition running which ends at 8pm on the 30/12/16 so feel free to enter!

I would love to hear what you got up to for Christmas and myself, Bruce and Sophia would like to wish you all a very happy New Years when it comes around!

salt dough fun

December has meant Sophia's nursery hours have been all over the place with Christmas parties, nursery plays and Christmas activities. Usually she is in during the afternoon but this month a few sessions were swapped to morning sessions. Then I get the dreaded call that they had messed up with the dates and could I have her in nursery within 30 minutes. 100% not happening, I'm in my pj's, she is running around refusing to wear clothes whilst occasionally paying attention to her breakfast. Even after being a mother for just over three years I haven't mastered how to get ready and out the door quickly. I need to plan in my head and work to a schedule, it is like a military drill. Instead we decided to do a food shop together and plan some activities we could do. Then the light bulb moment happened and salt dough Christmas decorations were on the itinerary for the day.

If you haven't used salt dough before it's simple, literally salt, flour and water. A cup of each adding the water slowly to get your dough to the right consistency and then it's ready to squish, roll and cut into whatever shape your heart desires. For us it was hearts and gingerbread men shapes. Now I forgot to leave my dough to rest but they are currently in the oven, they have raised slightly but not too much. You can add food colouring to the dough or paint them using acrylic paint. I'm hoping ours can be used as decorations for the tree. 

Sophia had great fun playing with the dough, mixing everything together and getting her hands a bit messy. So there you have it, a cheap, cheerful and easy to do toddler pleasing activity! I would to see some of your creations!

Out of the oven and ready to paint! I am slightly concerned my gingerbread men have grown boobs... cant really see it in the photo and i'm hoping that its not really obvious when we paint them!

Weekend Edit - 11/12/16

Why do weekends fly by? It's been a great weekend but I'm not ready for it to come to an end! Saturday Sophia and I were pretty lazy and lounged around in our pj's nearly all day, Bruce was needing to fix the alarm system on his car, it kept going off constantly during the night/early hours in the morning last week. I'm sure our neighbours loved us, me stumbling out onto the street, half asleep, falling out with the noisy alarm and bright bloody lights flashing on & off. Well in case any of my neighbours read this, I can report that Bruce's car should now be silent! We can all crawl into bed and not have to wonder if the antisocial car is going to rudely waken us all up. Yay!

Whilst Bruce dealt with that we added some finishing touches to our Christmas decorations. Eventually showered and wondered out for a drive down Union Street to see the Christmas lights, Sophia was more fascinated watching the buses and people. This meant I'm driving along going "wooooow" & "ooooo look at that pretty one" for absolutely no reason. Somehow Sophia and myself ended up grabbing a takeaway from our favourite Chinese takeaway place. I just couldn't deal with cooking!

On Sunday we were off out to see Frozen on ice! This was Sophia's first big show, she tends to hate loud noises so we weren't sure how it would go. Thankfully she LOVED it! Sophia's Grandma, Auntie and Uncle also joined us. I actually think I watched Sophia more than I watched what was happening on the ice because watching her little face light up was just priceless. She was dancing along, trying to sing and doing that crazy bounce toddlers do when they are so excited they just don't know how to express it. On the drive home Sophia decided to have a tantrum ALL the way home. So imagine driving round the corner and on to your street to be faced with Santa, bright flashing lights and the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" blaring from a car following Santa and around ten children handing out free sweets. All whilst Sophia is in mid tantrum, you have sat crazily for around two hours singing Frozen songs and now Santa is cornering you. I'm not sure who was more confused... Sophia or myself. Once our brains registered what was actually going it was great fun!

Deck the halls!

I finally convinced Bruce to pop up into the loft and bring down our boxes of Christmas items. Last year it was our first Christmas in our new home and we had ended up with a mash up of bits and pieces from all of our family members. This year however I have been slightly more prepared. What started off as a deep clean of the sitting room turned into a full blown deep clean of the entire house, I got a tad carried away and even ended up sorting through our wardrobes, cupboards and all our little hiding places. Thankfully Bruce was with me to give a helping hand and keep me calm or I think I would still be sat in a pile of Sophia's old toys & clothes now if he hadn't been with me.

This year I got all of our tree decorations from The Range and Homebase, nothing expensive or overly fancy. I didn't want to spend an absolute fortune and end up having a mental breakdown when and if Sophia knocks something off of the tree. Our silver baubles and the fancier ones all came from The Range, even better the large jeweled silver one is an almost foam type material. I've always found that individual baubles can be quite delicate but these are completely Sophia proof! Yay! 

I cannot wait to see Sophia's face in the morning, I also hope Bruce comes to terms with the pink... I did ask him if he had a colour preference and his reply? "The tree is your thing, do what you want!" So I did and tonight he started questioning the pink. Sorry darling but you live with two females and you were out voted! Now all I need to do is convince Bruce that Sophia and I would really love lights up outside too. Wish me luck!

Christmas Candles

Recently I have had the urge to make my own candles, after joining some groups on Facebook and looking around online I decided to give it a try. My first candles were mulled wine scented and in small tins, everything came as part of a kit which was fantastic for a first attempt. They were a huge success with my family but personally I didn't love the scent so it was time for my second ever attempt. 

I bought a soya wax, wicks that were listed online as suitable to use with my wax & jars, the jars and I bought two scents which were cinnamon & apple and cranberry, orange & cinnamon. Now I won't do this as a tutorial because I am figuring this candle making hobby out & they aren't perfect. But I had to share with you how they did turn out because I am pretty proud that my second attempt went so well! 

If you fancy making candles then I really suggest looking on Facebook at different groups, I met people who have have candle making businesses and have done this for years through Facebook groups! Online many manufacturers have q&a pages and if you are stuck I've found when you contact their customer services departments they will keep you right when it comes to purchasing the correct materials. 

Welcome!

Hi everyone, I would like to welcome you to my new blog "Mummy Trials", Some of you may know me from my other blog liner,lippy,life and for those of you who don't I just wanted to introduce myself & my daughter Sophia. I won't go into a huge life story for my first post but if you do have any questions feel free to leave them as a comment and I can do a Q&A style post in the future.

My name is Sharon and I am 25, I live in Aberdeenshire with my partner Bruce & our three year old daughter Sophia. I worked in childcare until recently when finding childcare for Sophia became a struggle so now Sophia is graced with my presence all day every day, apart from the few hours she ditches me for her friends in nursery, I'm pretty sure she is sick of the sight of me now! 

Hopefully with this blog I can share things we get up to, I want to share the good & the bad because lets face it... parenting always easy, I know I had high hopes for always cooking home made meals, doing loads of arts & crafts, having family adventures but sometimes I like to hide in the toilet on my phone, a trip to Tesco is like a holiday and youtube can literally save a parents life with a toddler running around.

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