My Experience

How I write NorthHantsMum in 2013

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NorthHantsMum 0 Comment

People frequently ask me how I have the time to run NHM. I spent three months on my maternity leave setting up NHM on WordPress, and although I’ve learnt a lot since then, I only really dedicate about 2-3 hours a week to blogging.

I am organised To the hilt!

We don’t have a TV. Yup, that’s right, no TV. We do watch DVD’s as we have a computer in the living room which functions as our TV and we have Lovefilm membership, so watch a lot of series or borrow box sets from friends. So, when you would sit down to watch TV in an evening, I’m normally on my computer, catching up with people on Skype, working, organising things or doing NHM work. I am very strict and try not to let NHM impact my family life.

I’ve mentioned before that I work four days a week, so whilst my daughter is awake and not at nursery, I’m spending as much time with her as I possibly can. I do most of my NHM work on Sunday nights. However, my husband works shifts, so when he is working a night shift, I often spend the evening working on my PC.

I’ve mentioned on NHM before that there are two apps that are fundamental to my organisational skills. Evernote and Remember the Milk.

Evernote

I use Evernote to draft out each post. I have two specific folders for NHM. One which has post ideas organised by theme and one which has posts organised by month. In each month, I draft out one note which shows the schedule of which posts I plan to feature each day.

Evernote syncs to my iPad, my PC and my phone. So I can literally update a post when I get an idea and it syncs to all of my technology.

Remember the Milk

I also use Remember the Milk to organise my life. I use this for all of my “to do’s” as well as NHM. It’s a great reminder tool.

Google Calendar

I also use Google Calendar. I have several different calendars set up, including one for NHM, one for my husband and another one for my daughter. Each month I spend about 10 to 15 mins thinking about which posts I want to add into NHM for that month and add in a calendar notice for each day, showing this. Then, if I don’t get around to updating Evernote, it doesn’t matter as it’s in my calendar. This also syncs to my iPad, PC and phone.

Flipboard and Goggle Reader

I read a lot of blogs via Flipboard, an app you can download for the iPad and iPhone. It sets up blog posts in a newspaper format, which means I can flick through posts very quickly. I get a lot of inspiration from all of the blogs that I read and for those posts which I think might be useful at a later stage, I copy them across to Evernote.

I use Pro feeder to do this. I have an inspiration folder on Evernote which is where these posts go. Every so often I sort through them and move them to the relevant folder.

I’m absolutely gutted that Google Reader is being closed, so I’m trying to find a suitable replacement. I’ve just created a Bloglovin account, but from what I can see, it doesn’t work with Flipboard. I will be so upset if I can’t find a replacement for Google Reader on Flipboard. If you know of any other alternatives, please do let me know!!!

Facebook

I’ve “liked” a lot of Facebook pages. I’ve set things up so that I get notifications (not emails!) every time specific pages post something to Facebook. This helps me stay on top of what is happening in the area, and ensures that I can keep you informed.

I delegate and outsource everything that I can!

If there is something that someone else can do to save me time, then I’m all for it! We have had a cleaner for the past four years, but have recently decided to share the cleaning between us. This is because we are both home a lot, with my husband working shifts and me working from home most of the time. We’ve worked out that we can split the cleaning, he does downstairs and I do upstairs, and then split the money we would have spent on a cleaner. I think it’s working… so far!

I work at odd hours

I find that I’m better at writing posts first thing in the morning or last thing at night. I do all of my blog work in advance, and schedule them in on wordpress. So, I don’t actually get up at 8am every day to publish posts! 😉 I also use other tools, like Siri on my iPhone to take verbal notes when it’s not convenient to write something down. I also get my best inspiration when I’m distracted, away from my desk and thinking of something else.

Twitter

I created a Twitter account on Wednesday. I finally succumbed. You can find me here. I have no idea what I’m doing with it, but it seems to be pretty intuitive so hopefully I’ll have it sussed very soon! 😉

Anyway, not sure if you find any of that interesting, but I hope you do! I think it’s always nice to see how someone does something behind the scenes. Let me know your thoughts…

Why I started NorthHantsMum…

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NorthHantsMum 0 Comment

My little one was, and still is, a sleeper. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is great and I’d rather she was a sleeper than a non-sleeper. However, when I was on maternity leave I found being trapped at home for several hours a day very frustrating. I managed to get out and about a lot, but in the afternoons and evenings when my little one was sleeping, I needed something else to occupy my time.

I graduated from my MBA when I was six months pregnant and I had spent the previous 8 years studying for my MBA distance learning, in my “spare time”. Fifteen Hours a week, for 6 years (I took some time out in between each stage of the MBA) were dedicated to studying.

So when the initial shock of my little one’s arrival had passed, I found myself with huge chunks of free time. I wasn’t working or studying and we don’t have a TV at home so I really did have several hours in my day with not much to do apart from stare at my sleeping baby. (Which rocked for the first month! lol)

I’d been reading a lot of blogs for a while. I stumbled across the blogging world via Little Red Boat, still one of my favouritest blogs. So, I decided I might just try it. I did start a personal blog which chronicled the first few months of my little one’s life, but I found that NHM was where my heart lay.

Information was sporadic in the beginning

I also found, in those first few frantic months after my little one arrived, that I was given so much conflicting advice. It was also a huge struggle to find out any information about what was going on in the area. So, NHM is my attempt to pull it all together, for new parents and parents of young children in the area.

I often think that we, as parents, are under represented. There is so much information out there about our children, but very little directed at us as parents, other than to tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing. There also doesn’t seem to be many ways for us to meet each other, as parents. Everything is directed at our children. The classes are for children, the playgroups are for children.

NHM is my attempt to help parents in the area and to share information with them that I’ve found useful. I hope you do find NHM useful! 😀

Next week I’m going to schedule a post about How I  write NHM. I hope you find it interesting, especially those of you who are thinking about starting a blog yourself.

SPD (PGP): My experience

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Health, My Experience, New Parents, Post Natal, Pregnancy 0 Comment

I was diagnosed with SPD when I was 5 months pregnant. I had actually developed SPD much earlier, but hadn’t realised. It was only when I attended my first ante-natal class and mentioned that I couldn’t lift my feet more than an inch off the ground, that the Ante-natal teacher suggested that I had SPD and would need to see a Doctor. Within a month I was on crutches.

SPD, also known as PGD, happens when the weight of the baby becomes too much for your hips. Some say the pain is also caused by the loosening of the ligaments, in preparation for giving birth. All I know is that it hurt and it was progressive. Apparently SPD is more common these days because babies are heavier due to Mum’s having better diets. My little one wasn’t that heavy when she was born, she was just under 8lbs.

The last four months of pregnancy were a blur of pain for me.

I went to physio at the hospital for a few weeks, but when I was 7 months pregnant they said there was nothing more they could do for me. I spent the last two months of my pregnancy signed off work (oh and they made me pay back a month’s wages). I could barely manage to get off the sofa.

I would get up in the morning, try to shower (which was unbearably painful as I had to try to crawl into the shower) and would spend the rest of the day recovering, waiting for my husband to come home from work to help me back up the stairs. I even tried not to drink too much as we don’t have a toilet downstairs, so I would literally crawl up the stairs to go to the toilet. It was a 20 minute process to get up and down the stairs.

I cannot describe how painful the grinding of my hips became. As my little one became heavier, as she came to full term, the more pain I was in. It was impossible to walk, let alone drive. Two years later I still have flashes of pain and still remember what that intense pain was like. I still can’t push a trolley, so if you see that Mum struggling in Sainsburys with a toddler who keeps wanting to run off, it’s probably me! 😉

The reason I am sharing this is because, if you are like me,  you may not have realised that anything was wrong. I found a great physiotherapist, Ian Harrison, who managed to keep me mobile enough so that I could get up and down the stairs in the last few months (even if it did take 20 minutes each time!). If you are pregnant and can’t lift your foot more than an inch off the ground, you need to get this checked out as there is support for you.

I also found a fantastic website: The Pelvic Partnership

However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel if you are suffering. Two days after the birth of my little one, I no longer needed crutches. Last weekend, I actually sprinted (little one likes to run off!) for the first time in 20 years. It is likely that you will get your mobility back, and possibly very quickly, but it depends on many factors.

If you suffer, or have suffered, from SPD, you have my sympathies! I urge you to get some kind of support if you are suffering with this pain.

Nearly back to “normal” on NHM… ;-)

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NorthHantsMum, Things to Do 0 Comment

It’s the last day of school today for two weeks! Yay! Or not for some Mum’s :-D.

I’m working on posting up a “Things to do for Easter holidays” for tomorrow morning, so hopefully that will be useful. It will have suggestions for posts to read for Activities at Home, Indoor Places to visit and Outdoor Places to visit. Just in case the weather for Easter turns nasty, as the lovely weathermen are predicting.

(I can’t wait for Spring to get here, and if it doesn’t arrive this year I’m maxing out the credit card and going somewhere hot in summer!)

This has been one of the most bizarre weeks of my life. Yes, cryptic, but will share more as, and when, I can.

NorthHantsMum’s 1st Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NorthHantsMum 0 Comment

A WHOLE YEAR!!!! NorthHantsMum has been running for a whole year! YAY! A couple of points to note at this momentous and poignant moment… (well it’s a momentous and poignant moment for me even though it isn’t for anyone else! lol)

Thoughts  (in no particular order)

How can it possibly be a whole year since I started NHM? How?

I have learnt so much in the last 12 months some of which are:

  • how to be a better parent
  • how to set up a successful blog
  • how to type single handedly
  • how wonderful it is to introduce other people to each other
  • and many, many other things.

I never, ever expected NHM to be as successful as it has. I couldn’t have done it without all of the support and encouragement from you all. Thank you.

Extra specially BIG thanks go out to my husband and daughter. Without them I never would have had the inspiration for NHM or started the blog. They are my world.

(Yes, I appreciate this is starting to sound like an Oscar speech but I will stop in a minute! lol)

Special thanks to all of my friends who have supported NHM, written posts and given feedback (whether they wanted to or not!): Sophie, Abigail, Claire, Jo, Su, Kate, Laura, Mel, Hilary, Martina and everyone else who has supported and encouraged me.

Milestones

  • Over 800 readers and still more every day.
  • 262 posts published
  • Three different interfaces that people connect to NHM via:
  • 22 “Lists” set up on Facebook (under the NHM Friend), ranging from “Toddler Classes in Basingstoke” to “Local Mum Businesses”.
  • 9 Guest Post’s and several more lined up. (Thanks to all of the business people for your continued support!)

So, here’s hoping to at least another year of NHM! Hopefully you will still stick around for whatever comes next!

(I am now going to go and sob quietly in a corner and drink a very small bottle of champagne to celebrate!! YAY! Normal service will resume on Monday.)

Happy Weekend to all you wonderful NHM Readers and thank you again for reading and contributing!

Products that I love (that make my life a little easier!)

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Mum "Top Tips", My Experience 0 Comment

There have been a few products that I have fallen in love with since having my little one. I thought it might be useful to share these with you, as you might find them useful too!

One Line a Day Diary

One Line a Day Diary

I was recently talking to one of my Mum friends who works full time (total respect to all Mummy’s, but a little extra for those who work full time). When she was on maternity leave she had planned to keep a diary of her little one’s development and progress. She bought a lovely leather bound book and had the best will in the world but when she went back to work she just didn’t have the time to sit and write.

The One Line a Day Diary is the perfect way to keep on top of a daily diary. You have just five lines to update daily. Perfect for the busy Mum (and which Mum isn’t busy!?!?!) who wants to try to keep a record of those special moments. It’s not too expensive either, at £7.50 from Amazon. Could also be a great present for a new Mum who wants to keep track of everything that happens in those first manic months.

Oxo Tot Whale Pail

Oxo Tot Whale Pail

I LOVE this bath toy holder from Oxo Tots. It’s quite pricey but I managed to get it for cheaper than this when Amazon were doing a deal. It’s great as you just use it to scoop up all the bath toys out of the water, which then drains out of the bottom of the scoop. Brilliantly innovative and much sturdier than the string bath toy bags that seem to be the only alternative.

Taggie’s

Butterflies and Cupcakes

I’m sure every other Mum knows about these but I only discovered them by accident when I went to visit a “seasoned” Mum. My little one loved them immediately. She’s always been obsessed with labels (material not designer!) since she was very tiny so the Taggie’s have kept her amused for hours on many an occasion. They are quite expensive for what they are but you can buy something very similar for a far more reasonable price from a lovely little local company, Butterflies and Cupcakes who advertise on Facebook. I’m hoping to get some in for future “newborn” presents.

Evernote

Evernote

You could argue that this isn’t a product as it’s free but I wanted to recommend this computer tool as I am completely addicted. I use it for recording recipes, travel plans, product warranties, storing business card details, blog inspiration, networking and a multitude of other ways. It’s very easy to use, free to download and if you love organising like I do (you may have picked up on this from the blog :-D), then it’s the perfect tool. You can create multiple notebooks, I have one for each year, for my work, for travel and for NHM among others. You can also sync Evernote with all of your applications, including mobile phones. It has an excellent search function and has saved me on numerous occasions when I’ve had a “Mummy brain” moment. Can’t recommend this tool enough!

Are there any products that you love that you would like to share? Please add a comment below. Thanks!