Becoming a parent is one of the most incredible experiences I have had in my life. The creation of human life, and watching a little person grow before your eyes is absolutely wonderful and I feel so privileged to have a little girl who I am able to care for. However, it is not always wonderful. It is also hard, very hard. There are sleepless nights, tears and...
Do you remember how travel changed after 9/11? Suddenly security was much stricter and we were made to put all our liquids into clear plastic bags. Then there was the shoe bomber incident shortly after, which meant everyone was taking off their shoes and various other items of clothing to be scanned. That was back in 2001, and granted I wasn’t travelling that much...
I started writing some reflections about what I have learnt through the lockdowns in June 2020, and now suddenly it is March 2021; one year since the virus started wreaking havoc globally. Phrases such as covid, lockdown, new varriant, tiers, and social distancing are now all part of our everyday language. Sanitiser has become a staple in our handbags, that is when...
Just like with our first experience of travelling with our newborn, our first experience of air travel with our baby gave us mixed feelings. Excitement at the fact that she would be going on her first flight, but nerves at how it would go. Normally I love air travel and airports (even those early morning flights). I love getting there and sitting in departures...
As with many stages of parenthood, I dived into the weaning stage with a mix of anxiety and excitement. I remember saying months ago that I couldn’t wait for our little one to try ‘real food’ mainly as I had hoped she would need less milk feeds, and therefore reduce the amount I would need to express milk for her. Starting to wean Initially we had...
Self-isolation with a baby. What a title for a blog post, and one which I had never thought I would be writing. 4 weeks ago, I was in Mallorca and excited to be writing things such as “flying with a baby” and “Mallorca, Spain: our first family holiday”. Hopefully, I will write those posts one day. Somehow it doesn’t feel that appropriate to be writing about travel...
Before having a baby, my daily essential items would more or less consist of my phone, purse, keys and a bottle of water. If travelling I’d also have my camera and passport. When preparing to have a baby, we looked at a number of lists of so called baby essentials (google it, and you’ll get one hundred and one different lists). We also talked to friends...
The fourth trimester; that period of time (of approx. 12 weeks) after you’ve given birth to your baby and are thrown into the wonderful world of parenting and you have absoultely no idea what you are doing. Although we planned to have our baby I am adamant that nothing will ever prepare you for one coming into your life. Unless that is, you have on average 2...
Prior to the birth of our baby girl, my husband and I had no hestiation in travelling anywhere. Often I would discover a cheap flight and equally affordable accommodation, and would then figure out the rest as the time approached, or even when we got there. During my pregnancy, we travelled a lot and in preparing to have our baby, we discussed about how we would like...
When I found out I was pregnant I was full of mixed emotions. I was overjoyed, but equally petrified as I thought about the birth. I had spent many evenings in watching episodes of one born every minute to know what it could involve. As I began telling people, I inevitably began to hear stories of their own birthing experiences. Many of these sounded negative and...