Evie's Dream

It was my Evie's first Birthday today! "Happy Birthday Peanut!" I seriously can't believe she is 1 already- I have no idea where the year went! I remember her being born like it was yesterday. We've had an amazing year & it almost feels like I've been on a rollercoaster for the majority of it- not kidding you- its been a whirlwind of highs & lows, stops & starts, laughter & tears but WOW what an experience & I wouldn't change anything (apart from the birth!). Sometimes I still have to pinch myself that she's mine :)

I've been wanting to paint her a picture ever since she was born & last night I finished one- just in the nick of time for her Birthday. I've called it Evie's dream & I'm so pleased with how it turned out, it makes me smile when I look it so I hope it will make Evie smile too.

And I've not forgotten that its also Mummy Monday and I thought why not start with me? So here is a typical day where I am juggling work alongside being a Mummy:

7-7.30am Evie wakes up so I give her some milk and then we play with her toys in bed for a bit

8.00-9.00 Make & give Evie her breakfast & get her ready for the day.

9.00-9.40 Evie is playing whilst I take a shower & answer emails or make/finish any orders I have from Not On The High Street or Etsy that I want to post that day.

9.45-10.45 Take Evie to Hartbeeps - a fun, sound play class.

10.45-11.00 Bring Evie home, give her, her milk & put her down for a nap.

11-12.30/1.00 Whilst Evie is asleep I either work on any outstanding freelance briefs/finish orders/create new ideas.

1-1.30 Give Evie her lunch.

2.00-3.30 Either run some errands in town/take Evie for a walk stopping at the playground/meet up with a friend.

3.30-5.00 Come back home, give Evie her milk then we play, juggled with housework

5.00-5.30 Make & give Evie her tea

5.30-6.30 Either go out for another short walk/play in the garden or play indoors/watch some of the baby bedtime hour on CBeebies.

6.30-7.00 Daddy comes home and gives Evie a bath whilst I get on with any day to day housework/tidying up Evies toys etc

7.00-7.15 Give Evie her milk, read her a story & put her to bed

7.15-8.30 Carry on with some design work or house work.

8.30-9.30 Eat & relax in front of the TV

9.30-11.30 Carry on with my design work. If possible I try & make 11.30 the cut off point because personally I struggle to function on less sleep!

So there you have it- a day in the life of me :) I think seeing your day laid out like that really helps to put into perspective what is actually physically achievable in one day. Mummy Monday will be back next week!

For more information as to why I started Mummy Monday please click here. And if you would like to take part send me a message :)

Pretty Things

I've got a wedding to go to next weekend & I have nothing to wear......until now. This normally never happens to me but the second shop I went into I found a dress (that fits!) & then miraculously found shoes (in the sale!!) & a gorgeous bag to match in the next shop after that! Not bad for half an hours shopping me thinks :)

Dress is from Oasis

Shoes are from John Lewis

Bag is from Coast

Gorgeous!

This arrived in the post today and I just had to share it with you- is it possible to be in love with a sketch book?! I stumbled across it whilst searching on the internet. You can find it here.

A Summers Walk

It's been a while hasn't it :( & I can only apologise for the promise I made not so long ago that I would blog at least once a week! Tut, tut! It would appear that looking after an 11 month old, planning a wedding and freelancing is leaving me with no free time at all. And it feels like the only time I get to relax is out on my walks with Evie where I really make an effort to come out of my head so to speak, forget about work/wedding business, breath deeply & pay attention to the beautiful surroundings.

I've also been doing quite a bit of soul searching lately as I've been feeling disappointed with myself for not accomplishing the amount I want to during the day. I've been comparing myself to other mum bloggers, those in a similar position to me and I find myself reading their posts & thinking how on earth do they get so much work done in a day when I can't? I physically can't get any more squeezed into my day unless I get some more help or I don't sleep- so how on earth are these other people doing it? Then I realised I had already answered my question. Sleep less or get help- its that simple! I regularly end up going to bed at 12 or 1am just to keep on top of things so surely other people must be facing the same issues? I think they are but they are just not blogging about it. So I've decided that I will blog about it. After a little researching I found that there are Mummys out there struggling to maintain a balance between being a mother & running a business. I have also just finished a business e-course with Creative Thursday & I got to read about other mum's experiences on this topic & it confirmed my suspicions that I was being too hard on myself. This in turn has inspired me to do a series of "day in the life of" posts whenever I can on a Monday- Mummy Monday :). I have found these sort of posts comforting and inspiring in the past where I get to glimpse into other people's daily lives and see what a typical day looks like for them. The first post will be this Monday & if anyone would like to participate it would be great to hear from you!

I also have some new work to show you- a new card range I've been working on so I'll be posting again soon. Hope everyone's having a good week & thank you so much for bearing with me, I appreciate it :)