Love Your Home >> Simple Ideas To Make Your Home Pop - Link Round-up

A home you love reaches out and welcomes you as you step through the door. Relaxation, excitement or inspiration are themes you can work into your personal space. Creating a home you love doesn't mean everything needs to be new or expensive, it just means that your home reflects 'you' and is set up to be your haven. I love the decor ideas in the following link round-up.

Get trendy on a budget with these dipped decor from Kmart. 

I love the dipped decor which are in vogue at the moment because they bring fun and vibrancy into the room without being overpowering.

Personalise your bathroom or powder room with these super simple ideas from Better Homes & Gardens

Wallpaper in the powder room;  framed art; shower curtains; re-purposed vanities or a vase of flowers are relatively inexpensive items that can add that extra pop to your space. 

Does your bedroom need a revival? Try these decor ideas from Temple & Webster

I love how pastel colours bring calm and peace - themes that make for a good night's sleep. 

Need a home office but think you don't have enough space? Think again with these tips from a little opulent

Behind your sofa; tucked away in a box; in a closet or on a wall- there is always a way when there is a will. 

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You Can >> Pull Off Your Best Intentions + Make Your Relationships Awesome.

If you're like me, you wake up everyday with the most amazing intentions for the relationships in your life. Maybe it's the crisp morning air, or the birds singing in the tree, but every morning I think to myself, 'I will be very patient with my husband today'. As I head out for my morning walk before the kids stir, I smile contentedly to myself and think how precious they are and how I'll give them all the quality time they deserve. I say to myself, 'I might even collaborate on an art project with the girls today'. 

By the time I have returned from cloud 'walk' and chased the last born around in a bid to get her dressed in the morning, convinced the middle child {in the midst of her loud heart-wrenching sobs} that she looks pretty in shorts {because I keep forgetting to buy her skirts}, and reminded the first child for the 5th time to put her library pouch in her school bag, all my resolve has gone down the kitchen drain with the leftover milk from the last born's cereal bowl. 

Sound familiar? Do you ask yourself, 'How do I redeem myself and live out the person that I plan to be every morning?' 'How can I make good on the new year resolution to call my sister more often and to be a better friend?' 

Below I will share a few steps that I am taking. If you commit to these, you can be sure that your awesome morning self makes it to bed time. 

Firstly, find time when you are alone and able to settle down with a cup of tea or coffee. Grab a journal and list the relationships that you cherish. For me this list looks like this: 

• Husband
• Kids
• Parents & Mother-in-law
• Siblings & in-laws
• Friends
• New acquaintances
• Colleagues

When you have your list, the second thing to do is to imagine what each relationship would look/feel like if you had all the time, patience, money, self discipline, etc to invest  into each one of them. Write these down beside each item on your list. 

Thirdly, think about 3 things you can do for each relationship that will result in real progress from where you are now towards the ideals you listed in step two. 

The fourth step is very important because it shows a commitment  to make your relationships awesome. Pick 1 item from the 3 things from the previous step, determine how frequent you need to do them, and schedule them in your calendar. Why? 

Because: 

Finally, schedule a time for you to review your progress and to include some of the other actions into your calendar. 

Here are a few ideas to get you started. Diarise {I had to use this word at lease once} the following actions.  

1. Spend one-on-one time with each child (if you have children) as often as possible each week if they are still living with you. At the moment, I have 15 mins for one child in my calendar and then 15 mins for another child the next day. We do age appropriate things like go for a small walk, play a game, read a story book, or teach them words in my second language.
2. Send affirmative messages to your partner every day. Check out Matthew L Jacobson's 103 affirmative words that every man wants to hear and 102 words of affirmation a woman needs to hear. Some times you might feel silly doing this, but practice makes perfect. I remember sending my husband a text with the words, 'your secret is safe with me'. That made for a few chuckles, but hey, we were laughing and laughter is good for the relationship.  
3. Send an email or hand written letter to an old friend overseas.
4. Send Christmas Cards. I am bad at this but this time around, I'm all set to be awesome in time for Christmas. I refuse to be the one feeling guilty again this year by only being a recipient.   
5. Regular Skype & phone calls to Parents & Siblings. 
6. Make a list of birthdays and special anniversaries + put alerts well in advance to remind you to prepare and send a small present or make a call on the date. 
7. Night out with your partner. If you need to call in a nanny, planning even a couple of months in advance is always worth the effort. 
8. Catch up with your friends over coffee or an evening out while your partner (who,by now would be so in love with you after weeks of receiving daily affirmative words) will be only too happy to watch the kids. 
9. Regular quick call to friends to know how they are going. I find it's easy to lose contact with the friends I live in the same city with and I want to change this. Thinking, 'Well why don't they call me' is not the best way to go about our relationships. Let's be the change. Let people know that they can depend on you to check in with them. You might be surprised at how it inspires them to action.

How about you? What other ideas do you have that will make your relationships awesome? 

YOU WILL >> Get To The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

How are you going today? Has this week been good for you or has it been an up and down and all over the place kind of week? If it's a hard time for you this picture is dedicated to you. I snapped this shot today and loved the light at the end of the walkway. Kind of like the light at the end of the tunnel. If we keep walking, we'll eventually get to the light. 

Daily Action

• When progress is slow - Don't despair, remember that one step ahead is progress. Just keep walking. 
• When progress is fast - Don't get anxious about your ability to keep up this pace. Just enjoy today's progress and keep walking. 

The tips that help me through rough patches are: 

#1 Writing down three things I loved each day

 These could be anything ranging from quirky mailboxes to an old couple kissing by the roadside. If I were just writing a list of things I was grateful for, I probably wouldn't think to include these. Take note of the things that made you smile each day. 

#2 Committing to a daily exercise routine

A walk always lifts my mood. Sometimes, I listen to calming music while I walk, or if it is early in the morning, I just listen to the birds and breathe the fresh morning air deep in the lungs. Smiling and saying hello to passersby helps take the focus away from me. I try not to worry as I walk, instead it is helpful to meditate on uplifting words that directly negate the worrying thoughts. 

Exercise helps your body and mind + you always feel better after completing a routine. 

#3 Setting some short and long term goals

New goals give me something positive to work towards and look forward to. It could be something around the house like gardening or starting a new course that will help me achieve a dream. 

#4 Catching up with friends

A good laugh with a friend over a cuppa or lunch always warms the heart. Also, a surprise phone call to a friend on the other side of the world brings them joy and makes for a good chat. There's also the elation of having made someone else's day. 

#5 Hope: Truly truly believing 100% that I will get to the end of the tunnel

Keeping hope alive is hard for various reasons, but it is vital to maintain hope because it helps us to keep going. If it's a hard day, believe that tomorrow will be better. Why not tomorrow? If it's a hard year, believe that the new year will be better. Why will it not be? In the middle of the tunnel, sometimes we get claustrophobic and think, "this will never ever end. My life will remain like this forever". There's no use thinking these thoughts. Fight them with, "I will get to the end of this" "This too shall pass" etc. Begin to imagine how things will be when you get to the end of the tunnel and become energised by this hope to take one more step forward. 

#6 Finding a creative outlet

Decorating the house. A small sewing project. An art project. Drawing. Baking something new. These all present an exciting opportunity to be engaged in an uplifting activity. 

#7 Resting up

Scheduling times for winding down and relaxing helps the body recharge. Have an afternoon nap on the weekends, or curl up on your sofa with a book. A break away from the busyness helps quieten the soul. 

#8 Focusing on being patient

Life takes time. Learning to patiently take the time required to heal is necessary for recovery. 

#9 Letting go

Sometimes, the stress or upset is coming from trying to hold on to something when it is time to let go. Take a break to reevaluate our commitments while remembering that drastic actions should not be taken without some consultation with loved ones especially if something huge like a loss of employment or bereavement has just occurred. 

#10 Committing to healthy eating

When one is down in the dumps, doughnuts seem to be constantly within reach. The temptation not to care about what I'm eating when things are pear shaped is high but taking extra steps to make sure that the pantry and fridge are stocked with the right food is even more necessary. A chocolate here and there and chicken soup for the soul but making sure just to buy a little always keeps me from my reckless side. 

How about you? What tips help you get through rough days? 

Read & Loved // Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life by Sophia Loren

I just finished reading Sophia Loren's Autobiography: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life and I must say it was an inspiring read. Loren was born in 1934 and grew up in Italy during World War II. In this book she shares about living in poverty and hardship, the pain of being abandoned by her father and being raised by a single unwed mother. She writes about her journey through the days she was nicknamed the 'toothpick', through to being a runner-up several times in beauty pageants; and how she rose from a struggling wanna-be actor grasping onto bit parts into an international multi-award winning movie star. Many times she mentions how important  it is to anchor the fairy tales of life to real life and how her difficult early years helped her maintain her perspective of who she really was and where she came from during her years of fame. I found it interesting that her beauty was regarded unconventional in those days and she failed many screen tests. She was told by photographers that it was impossible to photograph her because her face was too short, her nose too long and her mouth too wide!
What I found inspiring was her determination through the difficult times and her diligent work ethic throughout her career. In addition, sharing about her devastation during her two miscarriages and her powerlessness in making her dreams of being a mum and a wife come true as early as she would have wished was a reminder that we all have similar dreams and struggles whether we are at the top of the ladder or at the bottom. I did some extra reading on the web about her and have rounded up some of her favorite quotes.

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Coffee Chat - 10 Candid Answers by A Mom "Winning" With A Health Condition

Not every woman wants to have children. There are so many reasons why people would choose not to be parents, and I understand them one hundred percent. Upon deciding to grow their family, parents literally give everything they are and own to raise a healthy and thriving family. While we acknowledge the dads, it is hardly disputed that the mother's sacrifice is a very personal and physical one, for which she has physical scars as faithful and ever present witnesses. She bears the babies, births them, nurtures them while being a wife in many cases. But that's not all. She goes through emotional and mental stress and works her magic in making sure that the finances can now stretch to accommodate the new growth and this is no easy feat. Every mother should be crowned an all-round warrior. Some mothers, however, deserve a special crown because their equation includes a health condition which they or a child is suffering from. This is the aspect that makes today's coffee chat special.

I was very humbled to interview Zona, who lives in the UK, for today's coffee chat. She is not only a mother and wife who is working alongside her husband to support their family, she juggles work + family while living with a long term health condition. In our catch up, she shares about her challenges and fears but her determination and daily victorious attitude will inspire you to believe that all things are possible. If she can do it, we can do it. 

Who: Zona

Location: Baisldon, UK

Occupation: Public Health Specialist

A bit more please? I am a working mum of two beautiful boys. My job is in public health, commissioning public health services (e.g healthy weight management, 0-19 year old services etc) for a population of about 161,000. I also assess the needs of this population before commissioning these services. I love the gratification my job brings as I see people use the services I have either re-designed or commissioned to live a healthy life. I love being a mum too, the gift of being a mum is beyond understanding and the grace to keep cheerful even in your most vulnerable moment just for them is unbelievable - although I must say I did not anticipate the effort and time it requires to do things for little ones. That said, I will not give motherhood up for anything. I love to cook, travel, read good books I can relate too e.g. Americanah by Chimamada Adichie, going on long walks in nice serene areas. I love nature – water, sand and green.

     1.    What is the hardest decision you have had to make as a mother?

This, I would say, is making a choice between being a full-time mum or going back to work after maternity leave. I have had sleepless nights, long conversations with hubby and deliberation of what is best and it was still a very hard choice to make. Although my family has been, is and will forever be my first priority, we eventually decided it was best I returned to work to help with the finances. This decision took the whole of my mat leave and we do not have any regret as it’s for the family.
2.    What has posed a big challenge for you and how did you overcome this?
My biggest life challenge has been to live with a long term health condition, which I have not opened up about before now. I am humbled to share this as I feel it’s also a testimony that all things is possible with God (which is the meaning of my second son’s name) and I hope it would bring solace to those other mums striving to be a wife and mother while suffering from a long term condition.

Sickle Cell is a severe hereditary form of anaemia in which there is a change in the shape of the red blood cells into a crescent shape at low oxygen levels. This change causes severe pain and other complications which can be life threatening. It is incurable but can be managed. Growing up, I was a very sick child and I didn’t understand very much about sickle cell anaemia. My mum would explain to the best of her ability the cause and what it was but I just didn’t understand how a human should be in such pain. All I knew was that I was in very excruciating pain that I felt no child should ever experience, however, my mum was a great support and carer and many times I could see the pain in her eyes too. When I was much older, I researched a lot about my condition and I was determined to empower myself to live well using the best available ways of managing my health in the midst of my circumstances. These included drinking lots of water, avoiding stress and extreme weather conditions, keeping safe from infections and taking my routine meds. When it came to finding a partner, it was of paramount importance that I married someone who was not a carrier to make sure I prevented my kids from this condition. I’m pleased to say that my heart desire was granted and I now have two sons who are healthy and who do not have this Sickle Cell anaemia. Now I need to keep up with them so I make sure I stay healthy to enjoy the most important thing to me - my family. 
Pregnancy was a brilliant time in my health as fetal hemoglobin gave me a lot of protection from crisis – as episodes of the condition is called. This protection lasted up to a year after birth in my first pregnancy. So for me, that was a big benefit in childbirth considering the fact that I was very scared and uncertain about how my body would react to the pregnancy and childbirth process.  Coping with motherhood is challenging because when I have a crisis, I spend about 5 days at a time in hospital and I miss my kids a lot during these periods. Some hospitals in the UK do not allow children visit so often to avoid being exposed to infection. What helps me cope with motherhood is having a very supportive and understanding husband any woman could ask for. Although I wouldn’t usually hire a live-in nanny, we have had to recruit one because we both work and I need that extra help for when I have to be away to receive medical care. By reducing my stress levels, this additional assistance from my nanny is making it possible for me to stay healthy and live well with this condition. I currently returned to work part-time and I spend my time off with my kids, which is a blessing I cherish.
3.    Take us through your typical workday and weekend.

     My kids are my alarm for the day and once they wake the day begins which is usually 6am. We say a quick prayer - literally 2mins of “thank you Lord”, and since I have a nanny she takes them to get ready for the day while I do my meditation. I get ready for work, then a quick breakfast if it’s not a nursery day drop off or no breakfast if it is a nursery drop off and then I’m off to work. I finish work at 5pm commute back, nursery pick up and back home roughly at 6.15. I try to catch up with my older one in the car on our way back from nursery so it’s easy to catch up with the little one when we get home while he has a shower. We all have a chat while I make dinner, feed the kids and try to start winding them down for the day and bedtime routine. I put them to bed around 8pm and then have dinner and catch up with hubby for about an hour and a little. Then we both do our different things – he runs a business while I gather evidence for my professional registration, research on a project am currently working on, clothes shopping for the kids etc. Afterwards, I retreat to my meditation for half an hour and get ready for the next day – prepare kids clothes for nursery, pack nursery bag, pack lunch, read letters or newsletters from the nursery or I could fit in a little chore during this time.I must say some days are better and other days are just a nightmare right from the start but what keeps me going is the encouragement and support from family and friends.

     4.    How do you fit housework into your schedule?
Housework uhmmm…I do the much I can and give my nanny a schedule of what to do as well. So let's say I practice division of labour. Everyone in the house has a task no matter how little. Hubby puts the bin out and does the laundry, 3 year old helps to load the washing machine and washes up with mum sometimes. I do a lot of the cooking and getting the house organised, calm, cheerful and tidy and my nanny does a lot of the ironing and cleaning.

    5. How do you go about meal planning ? What is your easiest fallback recipe when you run out of ideas?
I still find this difficult. A friend had taught me how to meal plan weekly, write out the weekly menu and do a shopping list from that. Hubby usually likes going food shopping at a particular time as he gets deals at that time. I try to get vegetables from the market and household things, in bulk, from a budget household store.  I try to follow a menu most of the time but other times we all fancy something totally not on the menu for the week. Our easiest fall back menu is white rice and veggies as I constantly have beef or fish stew and soups in the freezer.

     6.    What are your thoughts on choosing Childcare?
Choosing childcare is one of the hardest and most difficult decisions a working parent would make. Childcare involves putting your whole world in the trust of someone who you barely know but have just got to know through an interview or a recommendation. Striking the balance between good childcare, affordability and what works around everyone is challenging but the way I approached it is looking at where the kids would be safe, happy and also develop well. I would also say above all to trust ones instinct as mothers always have that and kids display a certain attitude toward people they are not comfortable with. I also pray a lot before making a choice.

     7.    Would you hire a nanny and if yes, how close would you want them to be to your children?
I actually have a nanny and she lives in Monday to Friday. I love how my kids warm up to her and the way she smiles just seeing them. I do not mind my nanny getting close to the kids in a way they would learn good behavior and how to interact with other adults however I would worry if that closeness drifts to something inappropriate. My husband and I are thinking of creative ways to check this. 

     8.    How do you get your kids involved in housework?

Like I said earlier I practice division of labour and my son would want to help mummy or dad do stuff. It is part of his routine and he also asks for help when he gets stuck. I use characters that he likes to remind him of things to do, for example, I would say, ‘lets go get fireman Sam's fire engine ready for the next emergency call’ – then we would go clean the toys. I find that incorporating things he likes, helps to motivate him to get involved.

     9.    What do you love about what you do?
Being a mum - I love that I can teach my kids and watch them grow. The little daily changes are heartwarming i.e. learning to say a new word, walking or a new set of teeth.
I love my job too – I commission health services for the 0 – 5 year olds for a population of 161,000 and its also delightful to see residents and their families use the services I have modelled and decided to commission to improve their health and well-being.

     10.  What is on your wish list?

 a. Start up a property development portfolio – (I like interior design although I haven’t done any for my      house yet hehe);
b. Find more time to read more books for leisure;
c. Go on a ‘hubby and me’ holiday to an Island (Australia, Bora Bora or the Seychelles); and
d. Get a brand new Mercedez Benz jeep (I need a change of car)! 

For The Love of Colour - 5 Ways To Style In Teal

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A mixture of green and blue, Teal is a calming colour when included in your living space because of the way our minds associate it with with sea, holiday and the tropics. Adding pops of colour to our living spaces and our outfits are simple ways to bring excitement and happiness into our world. Here are a handful of ideas on how to work in teal into a colour pallette in a way that will refresh your home and wardrobe.

1) Teal + Beige & Yellows

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2) Teal + Reds { includes Reds, Oranges, Burnt Orange, & Rust)

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3) Teal + Cool Whites and Grays

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4) Teal + Dark Blue, Chocolate & Blacks

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5) Teal + Breezy Pink, Purple, Coral

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Monday Coffee Chat - 10 Candid Answers By A Leamington Spa (UK) Mum

 I love to catch up with a friend over a cuppa and today's coffee chat is with another amazing mom living in Leamington Spa, UK. I hear your question, 'how do you catch up with someone, on the other side of the world, over coffee?' Well, by simply catching up 'over coffee' J. It's amazing what we can do with technology these days but I digress. So, I had a chat with Milly, an amazing mum of two, and among other things, she talks about finding the courage to make the huge and difficult decision to change her career in a time when others would consider her to be almost at the peak of her career. I found it inspiring that she felt the need for a change in her life and she fought for it and succeeded. 

Who: Milly
Occupation: School Teacher
Location: Leamington Spa, UK
A bit more:  I am 35, married and a mother of two. I love reading, running, travelling and catching up with my family and friends. I am totally dedicated to my family.




1.  Pregnancy – What where the pros & cons for you?

Pros for me were excitement, expectation, joy unspeakable…

Cons were:

a.    Heartburn: remedy was ginger tea 30 mins before I eat and not eating after 4pm.

b.    Morning sickness

c.     Painful Leg Cramps around 7 months every night in my second pregnancy: remedy walking through it; eating bananas (midwife’s advice) to replenish potassium because this was caused by mineral depletion with the pregnancy        

      2.    Tell me about a difficult decision you have had to make and how you worked your way through it?
One difficult decision for me was making a career change from a postdoctoral researcher to school teaching. It all started to take shape when I returned to work after my first child and I didn’t feel that job satisfaction any longer, in addition, I was no longer getting excited going to work every morning. I had always had teaching in the back of my mind as something I would love to try. So one day I decided to get some information on how to change into a teaching career, and after some detailed research I settled on a plan on how to ease into this new career. It was a very challenging time as I had to do teacher training alongside my full-time job and this involved doing assignments by 4am on workdays and on weekends. I also used my annual holidays to do placements in schools so I didn’t actually have a decent break during that period. However, I was very determined to make the change because I was convinced that teaching was my life’s calling, so I kept looking at the light at the end of the tunnel as well as the positive impact this new career would have on my family, such as more time for the kids, spending school holidays together, and a happier me.  These kept me going through those hard times. Now I am settling into my new career and I am very glad that I made the change. All that hard work has paid off and I am ecstatic doing what I love and being there for my family. I feel very fulfilled with my job, I love preparing schoolwork for my students and seeing the transformation in them daily, and I am excited going to work every day.

      3.    Take us through your typical workday and weekend.
No two days are the same for me. I work Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Therefore, I have a work weekday, a stay-at-home weekday and a weekend day. My schedule on work weekdays looks like this:

a.    6am: Wake up

b.    6am - 8am:  devotional time, getting the family ready for the day and packing all the bags needed by myself and both kids.

c.     8am – 8.30am: School & daycare drop off, then commute to work

d.    8:30am – 4:00pm: Work

e.    4pm – 5pm: School & Daycare pickup and taking kids to various extracurricular activities.

f.     5pm – 6pm: get home

g.    6pm – 7:30pm: fix dinner, bath kids, spend some time playing with them, read and pray with them

h.    7:30 – 8pm: Kids bedtime -My toddler goes to bed first and so I get an extra half an hour to spend 1:1 time with my 7 year old.

        On a stay-at-home week day, I get up at 6am and leave home at 8.45am for the school run. The extra  45 minutes I have at home on these days are used to do bits and bobs around the house (e.g. taking out the bins etc). After the school run around 9:30am, I spend about 30 minutes doing some cleaning, washing, folding and ironing, while my toddler plays around me. The rest of the morning is spent with my toddler either at a playgroup, aqua babies or just home playing, singing and reading together. After lunch, toddler sleeps while I either do some work, some exercise, house chores or put my feet up with a book and a cup of tea. After the school run, I spend my afternoon playing with both kids and also assisting with home work as and when required. Dinner is always made around 5pm for 6pm. Bedtime routine is the same as other days. 

      On a weekend, I stay in bed till 7am! Pure luxury! The morning is either spent on children’s extracurricular activities or church. After lunch, apart from a bit of cleaning, and a run, it’s family time of just lounging around together doing nothing in particular apart from being together doing whatever we feel like. It is family time and we play board games, oh and both kids get their hair attended to.    

     4.    How do you fit housework into your schedule & do you get the kids involved? I do bits on my days off work and the big clean is on the Saturday. My husband and I share the big clean between us so it really lessens the burden. He usually does the bulk of it while I am out with the kids for extracurricular activities and I finish off the rest at some point in the afternoon (it usually takes me about 30 minutes so not too much time out of the precious family time).
My 7 year old has specific responsibilities like helping to wash cars in the summer months, weeding and dusting while we clean on a Saturday.

      5.    What do you find hardest and most rewarding about being a mum?The hardest thing for me is having to throw myself into new things and become an ‘expert’ at different things. Amongst many things, I have had to learn phonics to assist my first child at 4 learning to read and write. The most rewarding thing about being a mum for me is seeing my children flourishing and knowing I was a part of that.

      6.    What are your thoughts on choosing Childcare?
We always chose nursery over child minder or nanny. We always visit the nursery and observe carefully. I believe every parent gets that gut feeling and knows when they have found the right place for their child, and of course that is different for each child! We are grateful to say we have always been happy with our choices of nurseries.

      7.    How do you go about meal planning & what are your top breakfast and dinner recipes for busy days? I cook on my days off and on weekends. My easiest fallback recipe has got to be spaghetti Bolognese or any other pasta dish. My quick dinner favourites are:

a.    Frozen soup or leftovers from the day before (I always cook fresh home-made food on my stay-at-home week day)

b.    Sandwich toasties – ham and melted cheese ones are a family favourites

c.     Warburton sandwich squares for ham or chicken sandwiches. I always serve toasties and sandwiches with a generous helping of plain salad or spinach leaves and tomatoes.

d.    A quick stir fry with vegetable and noodles (I use pre-packed vegetables and everything takes 5 minutes to cook)

e.    A couscous meal, which also takes me 5 minutes to make.

For breakfast recipes, I always go for cereals which are healthy, nutritious and will keep them full for longer. My kids love Weetabix and Readybrek, both of which take seconds to make and are low on sugar and salt!

       8.    What ways do you balance work, family & finding time for yourself?

a.    At this stage of my life with little kids, I understand that I can’t stay back at work like some others can because I need to pick up the kids from school and daycare, so I schedule some work for when the kids have gone to sleep.

b.    I try to fit in some exercise on my stay-at-home days by using the stroller to take the kids to daycare and school, this way I fit in a 4km walk into my day.

c.     I listen to my favorite classical music when I drive, this puts me in a nice relaxed mood and makes me feel like I have done something for ‘me’.

d.    Sometimes my husband takes over (on weekends) so that I can get some much needed sleep

e.    I try to fit in some time to read a book with a cup of tea when my toddler sleeps during my stay-at-home days; but I still find that many days it is a struggle to fit in some ‘me’ time. I understand that this will get easier as the kids grow up so I’m not too worried.

       9.    How did you cope with returning to work after maternity leave?  

      After having my first child, I returned to work fulltime. I learnt that it is quite handy to have a contingency plan in place so that your partner can take some time off in your first couple of weeks back at work as kids can get sick within days of starting a new daycare. Knowing that your partner can stay home with the sick kids helps you focus on getting back to your career without feeling anxious about asking for time off just after you have returned from maternity leave. After my second child, I found that it was more beneficial for me and my family if I returned to work part-time. My advice to any mom would be to assess your situation putting childcare fees, full-time and part-time work tax into consideration in order to establish if you will better off returning to work on a part-time or full-time basis.

      10.  If you could change one thing in your life right now, what would it be? I would love to have more time for devotion, reading and exercising. However, I understand I am in a special season with my little people. The day will come when I will have all the time in the world to do those things so I am content and very happy just enjoying my kids for now because their childhood is so fleeting and I do not want to miss any bit of it.

      Wow, it was amazing talking with you, Milly, you are inspiring!