How I deal with my anxiety

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog if you are new then please come on in get cosy. My name is Charlotte I run a YouTube channel called"The Honest Mum" please check it out and subscribe, I also run this blog. 

Today I am going to be talking about something that affects so many people daily and that is anxiety. I suffer from anxiety and have done for a few years now and never really talked about it with anyone. I kept it in the dark and thought that people would judge me and think I was weird for being scared to go out. This made things a lot worse and its only recently where I have been reading about other peoples battles with anxiety that I do not feel alone and that lots of other people also suffer from it.

I don't take medication for my anxiety as I feel it wouldn't help and also my anxiety isn't bad everyday that I feel I need to be taking daily medication. Some days are better than others as you will know if you have anxiety. So because I don't take medication for it I decided that I would share with you all my no medicated ways of helping me deal with my anxiety so here goes: 

1. Downloading the app Head space- I downloaded an app called "Head space" I was skeptical at first to wether it would work or not but so far so good. I can go on the app every day and it will give me a 2-3 minute breathing exercise to do to try and control my anxiety. I really enjoy this app it is simple to use and only takes 5 minutes of your day and really relaxes you (also its free!) 

2. Anxiety journal- I recently have started writing an anxiety journal to help track my anxiety. I start of by writing how I felt when I woke up, something that has made me anxious today, something that has made me feel better today, rating out of 5 for anxiousness that a day, something I am proud of and lastly how I feel when I go to bed. This works really well as it lets me vent out my feelings and I can look back and see my progress of my anxiety. 

3. Pushing yourself- Another thing I have been doing which has helped is pushing myself. Some days I don't leave the house at all and that makes me feel worse. Recently I have been pushing myself to leave the house more, go to a baby group or to the shops even if I don't want to. It is important to push yourself further because it is no good staying in your comfort zone or you are never going to be rid of your anxiety. 

4. Planning and organising- Lastly I have been planning and organising my life a little better recently. I have a list of jobs for the day that I have to achieve. I make sure I get up and dressed and eat three solid meals a day too. Since having more structure in my life my anxiety hasn't been as bad because I find when I sit in front of the TV all day in pjs I feel 10 times worse.

So there we go my 4 top tips for kicking anxiety's butt. Do any of you have any tips for dealing with anxiety? I would be interested to know so comment down below! Thank you for reading and I will see you next time. 

The Honest Mum 

xoxo

Why I left YouTube

Hello everyone and welcome to a new blog post, if you a new hello and welcome to my blog The Honest Mum its great to have you. I have two things to address with you all today. The first thing is Blogmas, for those of you that are wondering what happened to blogmas this year I ended it. I ended it because Alice got ill and so did me and James, I got really behind and he stress of trying to catch up with it was not worth it. I hope to be able to do it next year but for that reason I have decided to stop this year. Secondly I would like to address why I left YouTube. I have made a full video on this which I will link down below for you so please check that out and subscribe to my channel it would mean a lot.

I have always had a passion to do YouTube and blogging for many years now. I started a YouTube channel when Alice was only 3 months old and I did upload a few videos on there however they were not the best quality or content I could of produced. I then started slacking and I had no enthusiasm or inspiration to film and I had a new born baby which I was focusing all my attention on so I gave up. Fast forward to present time and Alice is almost 1 and I have my mojo back. I feel inspired and ready to go back to YouTube. I have lots of great ideas and I am so excited to get back out there and show everyone my content. It has definitely been a rollercoaster but I am now ready to get on the roller coaster and ride it. Linked below is a link to my latest video if you could please watch it, like it and subscribe I would be very grateful. Thanks for reading this post and I will see you soon!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXGND0ie2xs

The Honest Mum 

xoxo

Alternative advent calendars for children

The festive season is upon us and I am going to bringing you 25 days of blogmas. Everyday I will be giving you a christmas themed blog post revolving around motherhood and lifestyle. I am really excited to start this as I have so many creative ideas to share you with you all so check back everyday to see more! So without further a do I give you post number one!

When I was a child I remember being so excited for December to start partly because it was nearly christmas and for the simple reason that I got to eat a little piece of chocolate every morning. Now if you are sitting here thinking I am not sure I was my child eating chocolate every morning because they will be bouncing of the walls, or that you want to give them an advent calendar that is different than anyone they have had before then here are some ideas of different ones you could do!

1. 25 books- This year as Alice won't even be 1 we decided that we were going to do a book advent calendar. We got 10 books for £10 from the works so in total spent £25 altogether. This is a great idea as you could get christmas themed books and you and your child could go up to bed every night and unwrap a book and snuggle into bed.

2. Story of Jesus- Another advent you could use is a story of Jesus advent calendar. This advent tells the story of the day Jesus was born in little books that you and your little ones could read every night and they could learn all about the birth of baby Jesus.

3. Pound shop toys- This idea works really well if you have elf on the shelf in your home. You could purchase 24 toys from the pound shop, hide them around the house and leave trails and clues to find them.

4. 24 films- For the older children you could buy 24 christmas themed films for them to watch every nights. This idea is great because its not just for the children its fun for the whole family!


All these ideas are great to mix things up this christmas but I feel that each year the lead up to christmas is getting more expensive. Elf on the shelf leaving special presents, LOL dolls, Play Mobile and advent calendars all cost at least £20. It puts a strain on parents because they feel that because everyone else child will be getting an expensive calendar they feel they cannot deprive their child of one. I personally feel that a normal chocolate advent calendar is fine, when I was younger thats all there was, kids these days are spoilt for choice. However that is just my personal opinion, let me know what you think in the comments, are children's advent calendars too expensive? And what alternative advents are you doing? I would be interested to know! See you tomorrow for another post on 25 days of blogmas!

The Honest Mum 

xoxo

6 luxuries I took for granted before I became a mum.

From the moment you find out that you are pregnant you are labeled as a "mum". Once your baby is born thats it life is never the same again. Things that you took for granted before are now suddenly a luxury. Things you never even thought could be a luxury. So I thought I would share with you all my 7 luxuries now I am a mum...

1. Showering for more than 5 minutes- Once you have a baby it is pretty much guaranteed that you are not allowed to wash for more than 5 minutes. Fact. After 5 minutes your child will be screaming like the spawn of satan causing the neighbours to consider calling the police. Now I know what your thinking shower when they are asleep. I tried that but they know. They have some sort of weird sixth sense where they detect us going in the shower and think its time to wake up! 

2. Eating a hot meal- your baby can be the most content baby in the world but as soon as you sit down to eat your dinner it is the perfect time for them to; wake up, be sick, do a poo and want a bottle, meaning that you've abandoned your dinner to go cold again and are pandering to their every need.

3. Having a wee in peace- When you have a baby it is a well known fact that for the sort of next 5-6 years you will not be able to go to the toilet in peace. The only time that is possible is when they are asleep and as soon as you sit down on that toilet I can almost guarantee that they will wake up and need your undivided attention!

4. Sleeping a full eight hours in my bed alone- Sleep is a vital part of life and when you have a baby you get next to no sleep most of the time. Although it doesn't last forever at the time it seems like the sleepless nights are never going to end. In a bid to get some sleep you let them sleep in your bed and you say just for one night and then 5 years later there they are still taking up the majority of your bed most nights!

5. Not having endless rounds of washing and cleaning- I feel like since I had a baby all I do is wash, wash bottles, wash clothes, wash the baby. It never ends. It doesn't matter how many times I clean the house always looks a mess and the washing basket seems to magically refill the second I empty it!

6. Watching my own TV- I used to watch TV before I had a baby most days and I really took it for granted. Now all that is on my TV is Bing, The Twirlywoo's and many other mind numbing children's shows. I long for the day Alice outgrows CBeebies and the day I get to watch my TV for once!

I may be first and for most a mum but I was a person before I became a mum. I didn't watch CBeebies and play with toys. I didn't change endless nappies and wash bottles, I stayed up late watching Netflix and got up when I felt like it. There was no 5am wake up calls.  It was just me myself and I. I did what I wanted when I wanted. Now my life consists of CBeebies, nappies and bottles and I wouldn't have it any other way. Well maybe once in a while I would like to have a wee in peace but a mum can dream right?

Comment down below something you used to enjoy and took for granted before you came a mum, I look forward to reading them all!

The Honest Mum

xoxo

Review: AngelCare monitor

As a mother the most important thing is to ensure that your child is safe at night  when they are sleeping. In order to reduce SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) it is essential that you pick a baby monitor that is going to alert you at crucial times. The baby monitor that we use is the "AngelCare baby movement and sound monitor and its great!

The monitor comes in three parts: 

part one: 

An under-the-mattress movement sensor pad comes with the set. You place the mat underneath the mattress and plug it in. Once plugged in and switched on, on the monitor when your child next lays on it if there is uneducated movement and breathing the monitor will alert you immediately. This is a great feature as it gives you peace of mind all the way through the night. 

part two: 

The Angelcare parent unit. This part of the set is the portable parent unit, it projects the sounds coming from your child's bedroom. You control all of the functions on this part. Furthermore it also tells you things such as temperature in the child's room. The device is portable so you can take it around the house and has a good signal range. 

part three: 

AngelCare the nursery. The nursery part goes in the child's bedroom and picks up any detected sound or movement. The nursery works in co-operation with the parent unit.  The nursery also allows the sensor pad to plug into it so it can work. 

The best thing about the AngelCare monitor is that all three parts work together to make sure that your child is safe at night. The sensor pad gives parents peace of mind when their children are peacefully sleeping. The monitor allows you to take it with you round the house so if your child wakes you can go see to them immediately. The monitor also has a temperature gage on it and will also alert you if it is too hot in your child's room. The monitor takes 4 standard double 8 batteries. The average battery life is around 3-4 days, we buy rechargeable batteries and change them when they run out. We have used this monitor since Alice was born and we love it. The monitor cost around  £80 and is currently on sale on Amazon, although it may cost a little more than other monitors it is certainly worth the extra pennies to ensure that your child is safe at night. Like I stated before we have used this since Alice was born and we have never had a problem with it, it has been a great reliable monitor and has really made us feel at ease. 

If you would like to purchase this monitor then here are some links below: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angelcare-AC401-Movement-Monitor-Sound/dp/B0013FW5G8

https://www.johnlewis.com/angelcare-movement-and-sound-monitor-ac401/p231136658

For information on more products made by AngelCare visit their website: 

https://angelcare-baby.com/UK/

The Honest Mum 

xox

Review: AngelCare bath support.

Bath time used to be a nightmare for us, Alice would scream and scream until we got her out. One day a friend suggested using an AngelCare bath support and since then bath time is one Alice's favourite times of the evening and its all thanks to the AngelCare bath support. For those of you that don't know what an Angel Care bath support is, it is a special seat designed for babies to sit in when in the bath, you can buy it in pink, blue, grey or green. Here is our one as you can see Alice loves hers!

What I love most about the AngelCare bath support is that it allows my child to sit in the bath without the worry that she is going to drown. Alice can comfortably sit supported in the seat and has done since she was 2 months old. The design of the seat allows you to fill the bath up higher than usual as it is angled so they do not lay flat in the water. The AngelCare bath support is perfect for families who don't have space to store a baby bath or would prefer to put their children in a big bath from a young age. The seat itself is made from plastic so is easy to clean, it also has holes to allow water drainage.  The price of the support is around the £20 mark which to me is a great price for a great product that will be used regularly. Alice has used this since around 2 months and is now almost 7 months and still fits in it comfortably, however now she is getting older I am thinking of purchasing the AngelCare bath seat as I loved the support so much. If you are looking for a sturdy, comfy bath support for your baby I would definitely recommend the AngelCare bath support.

Places you can purchase it from: 

1. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angelcare-Soft-Touch-Bath-Support/dp/B00AWMV9CY

2. https://www.mothercare.com/supports-and-mats/angelcare-soft-touch-bath-support/LX5061.html

3. https://www.johnlewis.com/angelcare-soft-baby-bath-support/p231850148

If you would like to check out any of the other products produced by AngelCare then check out their website: https://angelcare-baby.com/UK/

If anyone else has used any other products by AngelCare then let me know as i'd love to try them out in the future. Thats all for now thanks for reading!

The Honest Mum 

xox

Easy recipe for busy mums!

 Anyone who knows me will know that I am not all that keen on cooking but quite recently I have decided to take it up. I have never been good at cooking in my life but now we are weaning Alice I decided to start teaching myself how to cook. I have only made three meals so far but they seem to be a success so I thought that I would share with you a quick and easy recipe for busy mums, because lets be honest we haven't got all day to make a five star 3 course meal right?

Recipe: Chicken and bacon pie

Ingredients: 

1. Half a cooked chicken or frozen chicken chunks 

2. Half a packet of bacon 

3. Mushrooms 

4. 1 onion 

5. Vegetable stock cube 

6. A tbsp of olive oil 

7. Frozen pastry (or make your own if you are clever!)

Method: 

1. Heat olive oil in a pan 

2. Prepare and chop the onion and mushrooms

3. Chuck the chicken in the pan (if uncooked) along with the bacon, cook until browned. 

4. Add the vegetable stock cube

5. Throw in the onion and mushrooms 

6. Roll out the frozen pastry into a rectangular cooking dish 

7. When the onion is clear and the mushrooms are cooked spoon out the ingredients into the dish on top of the pastry 

8. Roll out more pastry and lay gently over the top 

9. Put a cross shape over the middle of the pastry with a knife to vent the pie 

10. Heat the oven to about 280 degrees, place the pie in the oven until the pastry is golden on top and slightly browned. 

11. Let pie cool down for about an hour, using a serving spoon dish pie out on to plate with either chips or mash and vegetables its your choice and your done!

Overall this pie takes about 45 minutes to prepare and make therefore making it a quick and easy meal for the whole family! Like I stated before I am not the greatest at cooking but this was very simple to make and didn't take much time at all and tastes delicious so why not give it a go you might be pleasantly surprised.

All the best (has anyone else gone Mrs Hinch mad?)

The Honest Mum 

xox