Mummy Dates Project 2017 | Rugby!

Oh Hai,

Thank you so much to everyone who read the start up post to this project and decided to join in! Don't forget, you can join in at any time and all the details are in that linked blog post. If you're new, my Mummy Dates Project is a way to encourage us all to spend more quality, present time with our littles, doing something fun. 

(Everything snapped on my phone. Didn't want to take my big camera, just wanted to be in the moment)

This weekend my friend Clare (who's Husband, Mark, was once my Fusband- remember him?) offered Darcy and I great tickets to go and watch the rugby. With Mark coaching there, she goes regularly but I'd never taken Darcy so decided it might be a fun afternoon for us to go out as a duo. We do so many playdates or trips with Liam that I want to ensure I continue to protect our Mummy/Darcy time in 2017. 

I've never been big into sports but Liam's enthusiasm for the rugby (he used to play and now lurves to watch), I've sort of been sucked in and to my surprise, really enjoy it! Honestly, I never ever thought I'd say that.

We hopped in a cab on Saturday afternoon (parking there is hard work) and picked up our tickets from a really friendly lady on the front desk. What I will say about the Northampton Saints ground is just how friendly all the staff were, really great service at every opportunity. 

As ever, I bumped into my Dad and Tina. You'd be amazed how many times I bump into my Dad (once I bumped into him in an American airport when we were both on separate business trips, once I realised I was behind his car on the M1) and he kindly took our Mummy Date snap for us. 

For the game we sat in one of the boxes which was perfect for Darcy. A lot of the players families use these as a little hub to socialise, they have food & drinks facilities and toys for children etc so Darcy really enjoyed getting stuck into those.

The game was exciting. Darcy didn't fully grasp the rules but cheered for her team and enjoyed the atmosphere. I loved that Clare was there with her little girl too so it was like a double Mummy Daughter Date. 

On the way home (thanks Dad for the lift a million miles across town!!) Darcy looked through the programme and chattered about the experience. 

It was so nice just to get out and do something a bit different for the sole purpose of just enjoying it. The only downside was how envious Liam was of us doing his favourite thing without him haha! Sadly, he had to work, we weren't just meanies leaving him out!

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I would love to hear about what Mummy Dates you've been getting up to. Lucky for us, some people have already gotten involved in the project and posted their adventures too. I'll link them below for you to go and enjoy. 

Hayley Sarah - "ARTIST, AUTHOR AND MUMMY RECENTLY DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER AND BLOGGING ABOUT MY JOURNEY THROUGH MY MASTECTOMY, CHEMOTHERAPY, WIGS AND CHANGING MY LIFE."

Ashely Jay - "Here you will find I cover a variety of topics from day to day life to beauty and fashion. So grab a cuppa, get ready to read and feel free to leave a comment."

If you would like to share your Mummy Dates, please do. Simply head to the original blog post, read the 'rule's (lol, v flexible) and leave your link below on that blog post (not this one). Next time I have a Mummy Date I'll share your post and a little bit about you (most likely taken from your bio or you can write something in the comment you leave me) and we can have a bit of community love and support going on. 

Please do head over and give the very gorgeous Hayley some TLC- it looks like she had a great day after a pretty rough year. Big loves. 

Toodlepip!

xx

It's On! | Motivational Monday | 2017 #1

Oh Hai,

Merry Monday to you! I hadn't planned to write this blog post today because I thought I'd be short on time but here we are at 6.15am- amazing! Darcy is still asleep (I'll wake her at 7), Rocket and Zula are on my bed purring and the house is still. 

(image originally from Pinterest but traced to this lovely blog. Not sure if it is there original or not)

I never get up this early but let me tell you, it's so good! 

Normally, I wake up to my alarm at 6.50am and feel groggy for a good 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes however I do my bathroom things (loo, brush teeth, contacts, wash face etc), wake up Darcy, give her her clothes, get myself dressed and help her bathroom time. All that in 20 minutes and feeling like utter bin juice. Frankly, it's horrible. 

Waking up 50 minutes earlier today though has allowed me some time to 'come round'. The slow start to being fully awake has been much more palatable when all I've had to do was snuggle the cats and put some warm socks on. I feel happy and relaxed and actually, really excited for my day and week. I'm feeling productive (hello, I'm writing this at 6.19am) and motivated and my spirits are high. 

This week, I know this sounds hideous but trust me, why don't you try getting up 30 minutes earlier each day and allow yourself that little bit of extra time to come into the world and see if it makes a difference? Take that extra 30 minutes for you. Do very few things and relish them. You are important. You are worth your time. 

I'm really looking forward to my week ahead and I hope you are too! Let me know in the comments what time you get up and how long it takes you to get ready- could you add more time in there? 

You can follow all of my week over on Instagram.

Toodlepip!

xx

Mummy Dates Project 2017 - Join In Too!

Oh Hi, 

As part of my New Years Resolution to continue blocking off strict Mummy Time with Darcy, I thought I'd write about it here because, as ever, I plan to document it. You might be new round here so let me tell you, I LOVE TO DOCUMENT THINGS. 

A lot of things that I document go on my instagram, glitter channel or chatter channel (click on the words for the link there) but often I will snap photos for my private collection (that sounds so seedy, it's not. I just take a LOT of photos every day!), write lists of special things that have happened or journal things on paper. 

To me, documenting is saving memories. I can relax knowing they are recorded somewhere tangible rather than worrying my brain might let them fade away. 

I want to document my Mummy Dates but I'm in a bit of a conundrum because I'm being very firm with my time allocations this year. For example, today is a Saturday and I've marked it as a 'No Filming Day'. I vlog all week to make THESE weekly vlogs, plus I make separate videos for my glitter channel. It's important to have a couple of days not being 'on'. 

Today for our Mummy Date we've kindly been gifted rugby tickets by our friends so I'm taking Darcy to watch her first live match! My friend Clare will be there with Baby Hope (you might have seen her in vlogs) and we're going to get some street food first. It's Darcy's first experience of live stadium sports so it should be a really nice afternoon. 

For me, I think the best way to document it whilst still being completely present in the moment is just to take a few pictures on my phone when the moment strikes and then write a blog post. I'm not going to put put great pressure on myself to take the most amazing best shots ever or to get lots and lots. If I do manage to then hurrah, but if I don't, I won't beat myself up over it. My main goal is special dedicated time with my babe, if I can take a few snaps then hooray! 

Mummy Dates are very fluid. Some weeks there might be lots and it might be big and exciting, but some weeks it might be low key, like watching a film at home on the sofa with laptops closed and social media shut down. Over the year, I'd like to try and blog about it and, if you're a Mama, why don't you as well? A little Mummy Date for you and your little one/s?

If you'd like to take part in this year long project and be supported by this lovely community, here's all you need to do-

1. Do something lovely with your little and document it for your blog in your usual style - no rules, just do your own thing. 

2. Copy and paste the below photo at the bottom of your post with, 'Mummy Dates 2017 Project' linked to this specific blog post. You can make the image tiny or massive.

3. In the comments of this post, link below your blog post and the month you did it in so that in my next Mummy Dates, I can add all the people who are also taking part in the project. If you want to leave a bit about you (eg, Hi, I'm Louise, I love blogging and I'm a Mother of one little girl) then that would be great but you don't have to. 

That's it really! Anyone can join at any time of the year, just include the link and month below so I can keep track. I'll be linking each blog in my posts but if your blog is vulgar or contains themes of an adult nature (you know what I'm talking about), then obviously I'll just be leaving that off and wishing you all the best. 

I love the idea of all of us doing something together, sharing ideas and working on such a heart warming project. 

See you soon with an update of how the rugby Mummy Date went!

Toodlepip!

xx