In conversation with Mummy Miller

I love doing the odd guest post, so when I read Geraldine from Over Heaven’s Hill  blog and saw she ran the ‘In Conversation With’ series, I knew I had to get involved.  She has a fab set of questions, and I really enjoyed answering them for her.  Here are my answers, and you can find the interview over on her blog, along with all the other In Conversation With’s she has previously done with other bloggers!

How would your parents have described you?

Kind and laid back. I have always made sure I’m kind. When I was little my best friend was autistic, I hated that all the other children were nasty to him because he was different.  They teased him and I hated how unkind other children could be. I suppose that’s how I ended up in nursing, I always wanted to help people. I’ve always been very laid back, nothing really bothers me and you’ve really got to upset me to get a reaction! At work, people can’t believe how laid back I am. I can keep my cool in the most stressful situations!

What family tradition do you cherish the most?

Probably that we always get together for important occasions, Christmas, Easter and Birthdays. We will always do something to celebrate!

Did you enjoy being pregnant?

Yes, other than the sickness in the early weeks, I was lucky enough to have a relatively straight forward pregnancy. I think I suited being pregnant! It was hard in the final weeks.  It is pretty exhausting growing a baby and I definitely got plenty of sleep.

What was the hardest part about being pregnant?

Not being able to eat paté and soft cheese! My one demand when I gave birth was that someone had to bring me pate.  Luckily my lovely mum kindly obliged and I had a lovely bit of pate on french bread… yum!

What’s the one thing you would have done differently as a parent?

To make sure my son would take a bottle and that he was able to go to sleep without me being there. Having been breastfed I never really needed to give him a bottle, but when I have wanted to go out I have had to schedule it around feeds as he point blank refuses a bottle. Now I am trying to begin the process of weaning him off the boob it’s really difficult! His sleep has always been pretty poor, not the amount of sleep, just how he goes to sleep. He will only fall asleep if I am lying next to him, it’s a nightmare as I didn’t realise what I had done before it was too late!

What is the one thing you never had that you want for your kids?

To have a happy home. My parents split up when I was 16, but they had been unhappy for a long time before that. We weren’t a typical unhappy home, but my dad worked away a lot of the time and he found it difficult readjusting to family life. My parents bickered a lot when he was home. I don’t want that for my children. I want them growing up knowing their parents are happy and love each other.

What do you miss about your life before you had kids?

A full nights sleep! I love my sleep so I have found it difficult having a years worth of broken sleep. I used to sleep for 12 hours or more!

What is the best thing about being a parent?

The unconditional love. There’s nothing quite like the love you feel for your child and you can see that they feel for you. Now I completely understand how my mum feels about me. I would do anything to protect Oliver!

What advice would you give your younger self?

Work harder for my exams. I did really well in my GCSE’s but when I got to my A-Levels I didn’t put enough effort in. I got an unconditional offer for my place at university so I didn’t bother doing lots of work to do well at my A-Levels. I passed them but not with great grades. If I did it again I would have put the work in.

You’re in the store with a full cart and your baby starts crying

I give him his dummy. If that doesn’t work, then I pick him up and carry him around, whilst attempting to steer my trolley. Generally that works as he usually is just bored of sitting in the trolley!

So that’s it, thank you to Geraldine to let me feature in her series, please go and check out her wonderful blog and see her other interviews!