It's been a looooooonnnnnggg time...

It happened to me. I fell into that blogger trap of... not blogging. I cannot even really tell you why. I guess it's that old cliche - life took over. With going back to work last October, combined with the nanny quitting, settling Naima into nursery and fighting the baby weight it's been a pretty eventful year. It hasn't been all good but it certainly hasn't been all bad. The baby weight is just about gone (yay!) and I seemed to be falling back into my groove again. It feels great and look and feel much more like me – but with box braids (Solange how I love thee...) Naima has settled nicely into nursery and has grown into a cheeky, gorgeous, smart, little bundle of chocolate baby...

I never knew my little lady would grow up to be so much work and fun at the same time! Speaking of work, combining motherhood with my job has been... hard to say the least. No one told me trying to do both would be so emotionally and physically draining. There have been tears, sweat but no blood (yet) but every month it gets a little harder rather than easier. Maybe things will get better - I live in hope every day that it does! But I make sure I say to myself every day it could be a lot worse. I work with people I'm proud to call friends who always have my back and listen when I have a wee cry. The Mum Crew are still rolling ten deep every week with new baba additions being thought of all the time. I can't believe we all seem to be talking about round two - are we mental??? Man – it feels good to be blogging again, this past year has seemed to suck the life out of me a little but like I said I feel like I'm getting my groove back. More adventures, more often - this I promise!

The skin's the thing...

Post-baby skin truly has a mind of it's own. I feel like I have absolutely no control over this organism that covers my entire body. I wake up and every single morning it's doing something new. Sometimes it's dry, sometimes it's oily, sometimes both, sometimes there's a wee rash on my nose, on a rare occasion it's absolutely fine. During my pregnancy my skin started out awful and then I got that 'glow'. I say glow, it was more like a fine sheen of sweat from heffing around all that baby weight but either way it was lovely. When Naima came along, thanks to all the breast-feeding hormones it stayed lovely, and luminous and spot free. Fast-forward to post-breast-feeding and I have the skin of a spotty 16-year-old. Breakouts every other day, dark marks and dark circles under my eyes are ruining my hot mama look and it's starting to get a bit depressing. So rather than get down about it I decided to take action and try out some remedies to get my skin back to it's pre-baby best.

Best for irritated skin....Palmer's Daily Calming Facial Lotion, £5.95

Palmer's may be more well known for they're famous luscious-smelling body cream and bump butter but their facial skin care range is fabulous, purse-friendly and best of all it works. It doesn't smell to strong and used after the cleansing this lotion leaves your skin feeling soothed and moisturised without that greasy feeling you get with some face creams. Unfortunately it doesn't have an SPF so layer up with primer or serum that does, and you've got a budget-busting skin care regime.

Best all round regime....Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash, £18.40 , Bliss Fabulous Every Day Eye Cream, £24.60 , Bliss Fabulous Face Lotion £25.60

I discovered this range after a rather decadent evening of pampering and cocktails at the Bliss Spa and I've been addicted ever since. The face wash leaves my skin feeling so super clean without over-drying it, a problem I sometimes have with my combination face. The face lotion was light enough but deeply moisturising enough for my skin and the eye cream instantly lifted my dark circles and reduced my puffy bags. Yes, this may be a little pricey but you don't need much of either creams or the cleanser for them to do the job so the bottles will last for ages. Well worth the investment ladies!

Best for dark marks and spots...Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector, £39.50, Clinique Even Better Skin Tone Correcting Lotion SPF 20, £35

Thanks to my many, many breakouts I've been left with loads of unsightly scars from spots that are really noticeable even on dark skin. They are my biggest bug bear and I'd give anything to get rid of them. Luckily Clinique have come come up with a formula that actually works to get rid of dark spots, like Ronseal it literally does what it says on the tin. Work the Even Better Dark Sport Corrector into your skin day and night and follow with the lotion and in about four weeks your skin will look a little less chicken pox, a little more hot face. Mega.

Mothers Meeting x Nike Sports Day...

What do you get when you throw together a bunch of fitness mad mums, a trampoline installation, free Pimms, Shoreditch’s hippest babies and the world’s coolest sports brand? The Nike Flyknit Festival Mothers Meeting Workout Sports Day – that’s what. Tucked away in a cute outdoor space called Aske Gardens, Nike treated the Mothers Meeting crew to a day of sporting fun along with free Pimms for the mums, beer for the dads, food for everyone – babies included  – and some bouncing beats provided by the Get Some sound system. United Artists created a trampoline installation just for us and boy did we bounce. Our super-fit fitness instructor Mark (aka The Terminator) put us through our paces with a mini-workout before we really put the trampoline to the test. 15 ‘responsible’ mums were suddenly kids all over again as much screaming and bouncing ensued. A few injuries and engaged pelvic floors later it was back down to Earth and on the Pimms. Along with ball pools, face painting, t-shirt making and games it truly was the coolest family day out that east London’s ever seen. The sun shone, the drinks flowed, burgers were eaten and babies were impressed by their mum’s trampoline bouncing skills. Check out www.mothers-meeting.com for pics!

Bye bye...

One of my mama besties VH had always been talking about moving back to Sydney where she was from with her hubby and her little baby M. The thing is when she was talking about it, it always seemed so far in the future, like a distant thing that wouldn't really happen in my lifetime and I wouldn't have to ever deal with it. Boy, was I wrong. The move was upon us like no-ones business and all of a sudden last week she left. Okay, not really all of a sudden but it felt that way. It's gutting for so many reasons, not least because Sydney is so far away but because VH was one of the first mamas I met who was like me. She helped find my 'self' again when I was a bit lost in the world of mummyhood. We've been through a lot in a short space of time - dealing with baby tantrums, husband tantrums, learning to live with your post-baby body, making your mummy self work with your old life, all the curveballs that new mums have to deal with we've done it together. It feels so weird that she's not 10 minutes round the corner or at the end of a text. It's chink in my armour just when I thought I was feeling strong. It also makes me feel so sad that she'll miss so much of Nai Nai's growing up and I'll miss baby M becoming a toddler and a little boy. Hey, perhaps the mama crew will take on Sydney one day in a mass visit! But in the meantime - VH, I miss you and I love you tons. Come back please. 

A change of season...

It's been a few of those mad weeks again, meaning no time to blog! So much has happened and has changed in these past few weeks, it feels like life has kicked up a gear in way. Here's an abridged version of my end of summer adventures...

The mama crew took on Carnival in the only way we know how - complete with Crabbies ginger ale, Ruby Woo-a-plenty and dancing like we never will again (or have before)...this is how it looked...

See if you can spot us skanking for our lives...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kAO7UZBJX8

Little Nai Nai and I decided to get some culture in our lives took on the V&A with my brother aka Uncle K. The V&A is surprisingly baby friendly (getting there really isn't) so we had a gorgeous day of wandering round the exhibitions, showing Nai Nai fabulous ball gowns and great British design before hanging out in the garden and splashing in the water fountain. A pretty much perfect summer's day...

My Mothers Meeting crew have taken on an evening at Bliss Spa (facials, reflexology, cocktails, megatron), countless workouts, a whole festival in our name (see post on the the Flyknit Festival) and Shoreditch House lunches. I've slowly but surely started to love running - a sentence I never ever thought I'd say - and I'm now even in the process of signing up for a couple of runs for charity next year. I really will get fit or die trying. Nai Nai and I took a trip back home to Glasgow for a bestie KS's hen do which involved pink limos and amazeballs party bags and I'm so looking forward to her wedding this weekend. What to wear, what to wear.... The Paralympics has been and gone and along with it came buckets of tears whilst watching amazing and inspirational feats and sporting excellence. It's gutting it's only every four years. My TV seems so redundant now...

So the heat in the air has dissipated and fall is well and truly here. In a way I am so glad! I can go back to wearing loads of slimming black mixed with my favourites -  leather, gold and studs. Summer weather is gorge but fall fashion rocks. This also means lots of new threads for little Nai Nai who is channelling stripes, spots, cute cardies and loadsa star prints. It's hard when your daughter's wardrobe is better than yours. We're all caught up and there's loads more exciting things ahead. This fall's looking very fine indeed...

Good days, bad days...

All I ever wanted was to be a good mum to Naima. All through my pregnancy I worried about eating all the right things, taking the right vits, going to all my appointments, reading to the baby, getting all her bits ready. For some reason I never worried about the birth, I told myself if my mum could do it then so could I. And as for motherhood – I assumed it would just come naturally to me. And it did to a certain extent but nothing prepares you for how hard it really is, for the ups and downs and the all over the place moments. Every other mother told me, "Yes it's hard but you will get through." That's not the whole truth though is it mammas? It's like we're all following the unwritten 11th commandment, "Thou shalt not tell another new mum what it's really all about." There's days I feel rubbish at everything, short-tempered, fat, lazy and slightly alcohol-dependant. The laundry never ends, you're never quite clean thanks to dried baby sick/poo/sweet potato, the exhaustion is bone-deep and teething a nightmare, a God awful nightmare. After Calpol, Calgel, ice cubes and teething toys have been exhausted there's nothing you can do to make your baby feel better and my poor little Naima has really suffered at the hands of her red raw gums. A miserable baby makes a miserable mummy and that's when all the niggling doubts start to eat away at your already over-tired and emotional mind. Am I a good mum? Does my baby hate me? Will it ever get better?

Well it has to - because that's life. With the bad, horrible, lonely days come the glorious sun-kissed, laughter-filled days. And that's what makes it all worthwhile. Here are the top 5 most important things I have learnt since having Nai Nai, the lessons learned that get me from Monday through Sunday:
(1) Everything is temporary. Eventually the crying will stop, those teeth will come in, the weight will drop off, you will get some sleep. Whatever state you are in now it won't last forever. Make sure you leave behind today's issues in today, forget about them the next day. You can't manage them and the new challenges tomorrow will bring.
(2) Cry every day. No matter if you are happy or sad release those tears. It's cathartic and will make you feel a million times better when you've dried your eyes.
(3) Seek advice. Surround yourself with a gang of honeys as fine as mine who are always ready with suggestions and ideas as well as a shoulder to cry on when you just need to talk. Let them be there to boost you up when you need it and it'll make you feel great to be there for them in turn.
(4) Ask for help. Whether it's from your partner, your mum, your BFF, don't be afraid to ask for a helping hand, big or small. You can't do everything yourself so don't try.
(5) Don't feel bad. This is the one piece of advice which is the hardest to take I think. You have to be an inherently bad person to be a bad mother. As long as your bubba is fed, watered, happy and loved then you're doing fine. The laundry will do itself one day, don't sweat the small stuff.

Olympic fever...

The last two and a half weeks in London have been amazing thanks to the Olympics. It was almost like we had the world over as house guests and everyone behaved impeccably. Even the weather played ball. Parks were occupied by big screens and beer trucks, Puma decided to dedicate a whole yard to sport and jerk chicken and even I decided to step up my fitness thanks to being inspired by those beach volleyball players' bodies. Everything that we thought would go wrong didn't and London seemed alive again. It was like we temporarily shrugged off the shackles of every day life, forgot the griping and just let ourselves enjoy the city we lived in for a change. Even Nai Nai got in on the act with some fabulous outfits for her Olympic-watching park action...

I was lucky enough to take in some tai kwan doe at the Excel with Nai Nai and hubby and it was truly an amazing experience. It's great to be able to tell Nai Nai when she's older that we went to London 2012, like she already a little part of history. So now it's all over what do we do? We await the Paralympics of course! Bring on the Superhumans....