Parenting the Shand Princesses

So I have decided to give up my plan to go to university. Before you all scream not to quit, let me explain. Quick re-cap. I had planned to go to university next year to study Events Management, gain experience and open my own business. I started an Access course in November last year and was doing so well. Yes it was difficult but I wasn't expecting it to be plain sailing. I took 3 months study break when I had May-May and then started back. And the stress began. My mind went blank with every assignment, I struggled to understand information and I would stress myself out so much. This continued for 2 months and I thought how on earth will I carry on? I sat down with OJ and he said to me “Mics, why are you still going to university?” I told him I needed to go to open my business and gain more experience. “No you don't. Your business is up and running, you are gaining experience by booking small events. You're only doing this access course to get you into uni,

1 Year 9 Months until the wedding... And I said yes to the dress!! It was so spontaneous too. My sister and I were going to Aldi when we came across a little bridal boutique. We thought it was a warehouse but when we stepped inside it was a beautiful bridal shop. The lovely assistant Jess said we were free to look around, so we made a start. Within minutes I was wowed by some beautiful dresses. But I saw one and it reduced me to tears. There were also 2 other dresses I really loved too. So I made a note of the 3 dresses and vowed to make an appointment to go back and try them on. I went back the next day 😂 I had told my mum about the dresses and she said she wanted to see them. We returned to the shop and I was surprised to see my dad had come too! Jess was very surprised to see me back within 24 hours and managed to do me a same day fitting. How exciting! I filled out a form which asked details about the wedding and then I got to try the dresses on. The first dress was lovely

It all started from a epiphany I had while coming home from work, i just knew in my mind that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with mics. We had only been together for a year and a half and were expecting a baby as well. I was scared she was going to say no as it might have been too soon. So when i got back to mics mums house I told her about my plan to propose. I will never forget how her face changed into shock and excitement. She told me about when she was proposed to and it was around the same time as me and mics. That gave me the confidence to go ahead with buying a ring. When I bought the ring I felt like I wanted to burst with excitement but then I ha d to think how am I going to ask her. I thought of so many elaborate ways to do it. But I knew we were going on holiday to Benidorm for my first time and it felt right to do it there. I brought the ring and I showed it to mics parents and told them of how I wanted to propose and they were both really pleased with the

I recently ran a dad competition to give the winner a chance to guest blog on my page. The guest blog today is coming from R.Y.O.D a.k.a Michael Henry. He is going to give his very interesting insight into parenthood which I'm sure you will all find inspiring . Hope you enjoy his journey that he is sharing. Hi my name is Michael I’m 30 years old and I’m engaged to be married to my fiancé Rebekah and I’m also the father of our incredible beautiful son Mikah.  My views on being a father are simple - I believe it is so easy to be the forgotten person when you bring a new life into the world. We live in a society whereby fathers are seen as the ones that go to work and bring in the money for our family however I like to take a different approach, I believe that being there for my son through every step of his life is so important I made it very clear at the beginning that I wanted to be a part of every thing that he does and instead of his mother doing one part and me doing ano

The countdown to becoming a Mrs is on! There are only 677 days until OJ and I tie the knot and I am now in full wedding planner mode. To be fair we have our wedding "planned" we just have to pull it altogether now. The date is set, the church is booked and bridal party finalised. We have our colour scheme, we know what colours we want our bridal party in and I have a few dress styles in my head (well, in my very large wedding scrapbook!). OJ knows his style of suit too, even which shop he wants to purchase it from (talk about super organised). Now all we have to do is work hard and bring our plans to life. People say weddings aren't cheap and yes they're right. But you don't have to spend thousands of pounds. It's all about budgeting where you can. I have seen some lovely boutiques that do their own range of dresses and they look as good as, if not better, than the top designer dresses. We're also asking our bridal party to pay for their dresses/suits

This week our May May officially turned 5 months old and I couldn't be more happier with how her development is going so far. She is so alert these days and has started to notice her hands and feet more often. It has been a massive learning experience for me as this is my first time being a parent but it has all been worthwhile.  I have struggled with nighttime routines with her as this is when she gets more agitated from teething and growing pains. Its hard to see her in distress and i try to give her as much cuddles as possible which sometimes calms her down but over the course of time she has become more playful.  I love it when I enter a room and she gives me the biggest gummy smile. It totally fills my heart up when she does that and it immediately makes everything else minimal. May May has also learnt how to roll over onto her stomach which is a joy to see and how she has the ability to move her body in different positions while laying on her back.  I still feel

I ran a competition for a business mum to guest post on my blog and the lovely Rafina of Maya's Bows won! This is her first time writing a post for a blog but she's definitely exceeded herself. Read below her very open and inspirational journey to becoming a business mum. Before I begin on my story I would firstly like to thank Michaela Dyer for asking me to write something for her amazing mummy blog The MummyBou Chronicles. I would like to add I am on a  wonderful community group called The Business Mum Network and it is because of this amazing  group that I am here writing my story. Who am I? So firstly, I will tell you a little about me. I’m struggling as to where to begin as life has been a  whirlwind now when I think about it. I have never thought about my life like that until recently  when I actually started pondering where I was. I am a wife and a mum and I have a wonderful family  but it’s not without its problems. I have been married just short of 18

Moving home is never easy and especially when you have a 4 month old baby in tow. After spending the last few weeks looking for our new home,we were split between the final two. We eventually decided on the house we liked. We made an application to the estate agents and when we were approved, I felt ecstatic! The day came for the move and I had butterflies in my stomach and questions rolling in my head such as “will may may settle here?” “is it going to be too far to get to work? “ But I knew that this was for the best. Me, mics and her parents started packing. On the day, the removal men called us while we was at the estate agents, saying they were outside the house. They were two hours early! So we made our way to the house and quickly helped to finish the last of the packing and stored it into the back of the van. When we got to the house it was a great feeling to unpack our stuff into our new home. It is so refreshing to know now that May-May has more space to play and a

As you all know, I am part of a fabulous group of mums called The Business Mum Network  This group has grown so quick in such a short amount of time! There are now over 1000 members in the group and it is growing from strength to strength. To celebrate reaching 1000 members, I thought it would be great for the lovely lady who started this group, Sher Hopkirk, to do a guest blog on why she decided to start the network.  Guest Blog by Sher Hopkirk  Why BMN?   Before I dive into my background and tell you how the idea of how the 'Business Mum Network' came about, I first want to thank the amazing Michaela Dyer for not only asking me to guest blog on her wonderful Mum Blog 'The MummyBou Chronicles' but for her contribution to the BMN community. Michaela is an absolute star and I can't thank her enough for being one of my Head Hustlers and supporting other Business Mums at every opportunity. There is no doubt in my mind Michaela's new events venture will

I heard that Mics cousin Sasha was planning to put together a band for Huddersfield Carnival called Majestic Mas a few months ago. So I asked if I could join as Mics and May May were going to perform already. I had never played at a carnival before and I have always wanted to perform.  So Sasha and her family started to create the costumes for us, working tirelessly to make sure everything was perfect. The theme for this was Black Panther Children of T’Challa. I was immediately sold with this as I’ve always been a massive fan of comic book superheroes and this felt natural for me.  So it came to the week of the carnival and I was feeling so nervous about playing in front of such big crowds. But I didnt want to let Sasha down as I fully support what she was doing. I tried my costume on and it felt amazing on me.  On Friday night before carnival me and my family went to a Glow street party, which is the night before the big day. I  absolutely loved the atmosphere and music th

Every time I think about my engagement, I get so excited! Let's set the scene. Me, OJ, my parents and sister had taken a holiday to Benidorm for the Christmas and New Year period. I was 7 months pregnant and we thought we would take one last holiday before May-May made an appearance. On our second day there we took a walk to the beach front and sat down. We chilled on the beach, everyone with beers, me with orange juice (how fun) and had a laugh. This was OJ's first time abroad so we were in a very excitable mood. But that day he seemed a bit anxious, however I didn't take much notice. He had been doing some research and he wanted to go to the lovely courtyard that looked over the sea and was very eager to go there. Hmmm! The view from the courtyard 😍   After 2 hours at the beach, we walked along the beach front, taking in the sights and atmosphere. We made our way up the courtyard and my dad started to tell OJ about our previous holidays. I took a few pi

Today was the day we took May-May to our first play group. I was feeling anxious as I've never been to anything like this before. When we got there it was like I stepped into another realm where kids had space to run and play and parents got to interact with each other in a open environment.  The staff that work there are so friendly and approachable. I found it easy to talk to them and they made everyone feel welcome. May-May enjoyed the baby play area where there were sensory  and age appropriate toys for her to play with. The parents were also welcoming and made me feel at ease with the surroundings. I was one of two dad's there and it didn't feel as if I was alone. He spoke to me about the group and it was really natural and simple, especially as it was my first time.  The games and songs that the staff used were fun and easy to follow. May-May was engrossed with the staff member with the guitar and could not stop smiling as they went through the songs. Ther

When we started this journey as parents I felt there was a shortage of information or resources for new dads in preparing for a new child. It always felts when it came to dad info it would be very generic and stuff that was common sense. That's when the idea came to me that this needed to change because dads are just as important as the mother and it doesn't help when the materials that's out there is minimal. Plus it's great to have a fathers opinion and feelings in regards to the greatest experience anyone can go through. In a Dad Way is a outlet for me to connect and share my thoughts on being a dad. I would like it to grow into a popular blog for dads and parents alike to connect and share our experiences as fathers. May-May is my world and she is my motivation, my sunshine on a rainy day and I cannot imagine my life without her.

Ah the immunisations! I dreaded the jabs from when I was pregnant. Even when May-May was born and they had to do her heel-prick test, I was so worried! I'm okay with injections - probably because I have had so many! - but the thought of my little girl getting them broke my heart. So to think she needed 7 injections in the space of 16 weeks made me quite anxious! I was already on the fence about giving her the jabs in the first place. So many people were against them. But if we didn't do it and something happened I would never forgive myself! Me and OJ discussed it and decided we would let May-May have them.  The first set were at 8 weeks and I made sure I booked an appointment so my mum could come with me. There was no way I could hold my poor baby whilst they stuck needles in her legs. Luckily we had a really nice nurse and May-May was smiling. But I could see the 3 injections just waiting and I couldn't relax. The nurse gave May-May a liquid to drink, which she

Just over a week ago, I joined a Facebook group full of motivational but down to earth mothers called Business Mum Collaboration Network   This group is for mums who have their own business or blogs and have come together to support each other, share tips and advice and build a great friendship. Since joining this group, so many positive things have happened. My blog is increasing every day, I have been asked to plan some great events among other things. Surrounding myself with positive people really has changed my mindset and shifted my focus. I have always dreamt of having my own events business, but didn't see it happening until after I got my degree. But being in this group, I see mums with their own businesses, all doing so well and I thought why do I have to wait? Why can't I start something now? I have been made redundant, I want to provide for my family too and now is as good as time as any.  These mums are working so hard on a daily basis and I know it isn't e