Mum's at war...

So I saw a story in a national newspaper and it really hit me like a ton of bricks - a newspaper article about the rise of the "Slummy Mummy". The mum who posts about sticking fish fingers in the oven or having a glass of Gin to wind down after a particular rough day!!!

This really bothered me. Who has the right to judge someone on how they parent their child? If I choose to parent a certain way, or choose to do something differently to another family that doesn't make what I do wrong. It makes it different. If your child is healthy, happy, clean, fed, clothed and educational needs are being met; then who is to say you are not a good enough mum? Just because you don't have the time to prepare a home cooked meal, or you forget to sort an outfit for world book day! 

It really bugs me that people cast these unrealistic expectations on mothers and fathers these days. So I don't get dressed some days and hang around in lounge pants. I work full time, and then come home to look after my child. Jesus Christ I am lucky if I get a shower during the week! Never mind anything else.

The other day I had a panic about the safety of shopping trolleys designed to seat a baby with no brakes on it. So I made a post on a group I'm in and was literally torn to shreds. I was told I had no common sense, that I was endangering my child by leaving her in the car seat to get aforementioned trolley (which was in front of the car BTW it was less distance to reach the trolley than the back door). I couldn't believe it. Why hadn't I carried my child to the trolley, done my shopping and then unloaded it and then carried her back to the car.

Whoa whoa whoa! I was worried about the trolley rolling while I had my back turned (which it did as I took my daughter out of the car) I had to then chase it into oncoming traffic to stop it hitting another car. My worry was what if she'd have been in the trolley?

Regardless of what could or couldn't have happened, who gives these people to judge how I care for my child. She was never in danger, and although I struggle with everyday tasks due to constant pain, I'd have thrown myself into the path of an oncoming vehicle to avoid anything happening to her.

But I felt I had to justify myself to these people I don't know! I saw a chance to improve safety, and I was ridiculed, bullied and laughed at for not being able to juggle my daughter, shopping bags, a trolley and the straps on a car seat! Fuck you! Who sets these standards and says everyone has to be a perfect mum? I'm sure if the trolley had crashed into someone's car and scratched the paintwork it would have been a different story. 

Name me a mum who has time to groom themselves every morning? I mean my work trousers today are so creased. But trying to silently iron them this morning so as not to disturb the sleeping baby in the next room because she'd scream all morning for daddy. Who cares? because I don't? Not anymore? There is something hugely more important in my life. I rarely wear make up. My hair is always scraped back and I'm about 5 stone overweight! I'm a slummy mummy! But hell I get up every morning and go to work to provide for my daughter and the love of my life. 

No one is perfect, everyone has flaws and everyone is entitled to them. I will no longer look to others to see if I am doing things right. I will go with the flow and trust my instincts.

I wish women would just band together and lift each other up, rather than taking every opportunity to pull shreds of each other. The media does a good enough job of body shaming, mummy shaming, shaming people on their postcodes and so on.

Women need to stick together and be kinder to each other. I'm writing this in solidarity with "The Unmumsy Mum" an other real life mummy bloggers like myself.

We don't have access to house keepers! We don't have nannies! Personal Chefs etc. Personally I get woken around midnight to feed my baby, 4am is her new playtime - so I have to try and settle her too. 7am is when I leave the house to got to work. 5pm is usually when I get home, then I try to cook a meal for myself, feed my daughter her tea and then it's bedtime. Where over the course of that day do I get time to prepare lovingly home cooked meals, or hit the gym for an hour?

I get maybe 2 hours maximum to myself a day during the week. Some days I look at the laundry, the pots on the side. The recycling that needs putting in the bin and feel energetic enough to tackle it. Others I just grab a glass of wine or a gin and tonic and head for the sofa!

Discount Code for Babies R Us - until 14/5/17

Just spotted this,

£10 of £50 spend or £20 off £100 Spend until Sunday 14th May!!!

Visit the website HERE

Summer Infant Wideview Baby Monitor

I have decided (after realising that this is something I rely heavily on) to review my Summer Wide View Baby Monitor (Currently £99.99)

I love it. True Love, Actual Love!

You plug the camera in upstairs and direct it towards the babies sleeping area. It has a built in thermometer that gives the room temperature, but I have to admit it usually displays warm in comparison to the Gro Egg - but that will likely be because the camera is plugged in generating heat. The camera has full colour capability and also shows picture in night vision. The camera has a little green light to indicate that it is on, and this doesn't disturb sleep (at the moment).

On the monitor itself it has good sound quality, the ability to speak to baby via the monitor and also the ability to zoom in/out and change the contrast of the picture (I have found this handy when baby is still to monitor breathing). It is also a big enough screen that I don't really have to worry about watching my daughter as I see her move easily enough on it.

It is also possible to buy extra camera's (though I have yet to find one) to wire up different rooms or vantage points. I would be very eager to do this.

Good Points:

• Big screen for easy viewing
• Sound bar flashes when noise is heard
• Wireless and wired function
• Ability to zoom in and out/change contrast
• Two way communication.
• USB Charging cable for ease of use.

Bad Points:

• Sometimes wireless products (phones/iPads etc) can interfere with the signal of the camera to the monitor, causing the sound to cut in and out/ picture to freeze momentarily (it has in rare cases lost signal all together for a few minutes, but switching on and off resolves this).
• Battery Life - when viewing the image on screen even in night mode, the battery drains very fast so it needs to be plugged in most of the time.
• Difficult to locate cost friendly additional camera's.