Moments that have made me happy lately

Horrible Histories, the Macarena and new wellies - an eclectic mix of happy moments in my family this week! Plus my latest podcast episode and Substack posts I've loved recently.

Last week was a rough week - 4 nights of just rubbish sleep with my youngest because he’s teething. Just being that exhausted affected everything really, and in my sleep deprived state, I’m more likely to focus on the negatives, feel anxious, get overwhelmed very quickly and just generally feel like the world is against me.

So, to get me out of my funk, I thought about all of the things that have made me happy lately, and it turns out there’s quite a few things! I wanted to share these with you:

Moments that have made me happy lately

• Listening to my audiobook and crocheting my blanket at the same time

• Watching my daughter cosy up with a crochet blanket that I made when I was pregnant with my youngest

• Having leftovers in the fridge - especially this recipe from the new Taming Twins recipe book.

• Getting my youngest his first pair of wellies - and watching him look at them like, ‘What are these things on my feet?!'“

• My youngest trying to talk and saying 'yep' a lot

• Wearing new clothes and feeling good in them (especially when my daughter says ‘I like your look Mum’!)

• Watching the kids play in a new park

• Seeing my daughter engrossed in her Horrible Histories book - reminds me of myself being lost in a book when I was younger

• My daughter’s love of history and how enthusiastic she is about it

• Meeting new friends with kids the same age as my youngest

• Getting new library books for the kids

• Seeing the leaves fall from the trees

• My youngest bringing his Digger library book over to me to read

• My youngest being mesmerised by the diggers at work in the park the other day - he kept pointing and shouting at them!

• Watching all of my kids play together on a sunny Sunday morning in the playroom - making up games with their millions of Squishmallows and cuddly toys and playing ‘Teachers’

• My middle son doing the Macarena to make me laugh - my favourite part is that it ends with 'Alriiigggghhht' and a wink

• My kids all eating my homemade Spaghetti Bolognese - everyone eating the same meal and liking it is very rare here!!

• My middle son in his Pokemon onesie

• My daughter telling me she wants to be a historian/synchronised swimmer/hairdresser when she’s older

• My youngest smiling and pointing at photos of the family

I hope these moments have made you smile - I’d love to hear what moments have made you happy lately.

Season 2 of The Inspiring Mums Podcast

In amongst all of this, because my brain is just focusing on what I haven’t done, it’s forgetting what I have actually done - which is launch Season 2 of The Inspiring Mums Podcast!

I’ve really been enjoying recording these, chatting with mums I’ve been really inspired by myself, so it’s amazing to get the chance to talk to them as a guests on my podcast.

One of these guests is Dr Jemma Andrew-Adiamah - Empowerment Coach for Mums, who was my first guest for Season 2 of the podcast.

We had really good chat about Jemma’s motherhood journey (she’s a mum of 4 including 17 month olds twins) and how becoming a mum of 4 has meant that she’s more self-compassionate, lets go of things more and doesn’t worry about things as much.

Jemma also talked about how her business saved her sanity, especially in the newborn days with her 2nd child and how her motto as a mum is “ I can do anything, but I can’t do everything”.

You can listen to that episode here - let me know in the comments your thoughts on this episode:

Revisiting Season 1 of The Inspiring Mums Podcast

Behind the scenes, I’ve moved my podcast host over from Podbean to Substack which got me in a bit of a pickle, but I managed to do it - I’m quite pleased with myself!

That means that all of my podcast episodes from Season 1 now appear in my list of posts on my home page. If you fancy listening to these, here’s a round-up of all of the episodes from Season 1:

• Episode 1 - My Story

• Episode 2 - How have your priorities changes as a mum?

• Episode 3 - Totally do-able self-care for busy mums

• Episode 4 - 10 minute mini retreat for mums

• Episode 5 - Conversation with Jane from Wild Moon Wellbeing

• Episode 6 - Books I’ve Loved Lately

• Episode 7 - 3 ways to change your limiting beliefs

• Episode 8 - Conversation with Kate from Dairy Free Mum

• Bonus Episode - How journalling has helped my mental health

• Bonus episode - Your intuition is your superpower

The solo episodes are all around 10 mins long, so perfect if you haven’t got much time.

If you like any of these episodes, I’d be so grateful if you could share my podcast with your mum friends who you think may like a listen too - thank you!

My favourite Substack posts recently

As always, I’ve read some really good posts lately, here are a few of my faves:

• Each post that

  Kylie-Ann
  writes is so honest, so relatable and she articulates her thoughts in a way that inspires me. I read her posts and think, yes, that’s exactly how I feel. Her latest post on ‘What is rest anyway?’ and navigating the work/life balance as a mum, is such a relatable read - this quote especially encapsulates that frustration I feel so well of having all the ideas but no time to act on them:

“Frustratingly, motherhood has made me busy but it has also made me feel so much more creative. I have ideas of things to do all the time. I often mull over ideas for this newsletter or how I can develop the novel I am (still) working on, yet the time to work on it never appears. I have thousands of notes on my phone, which no longer make sense to me having written them so long ago. Moments of inspiration are literally evaporating before I get a chance to grasp them.”

• This post by

  Thrive in Chaos
  on celebrating little moments of creativity in early motherhood

• This list of October delights from

  Nurture & Delight

• This post by

  Lyndsay Kaldor
  on ‘Weaving everyday magic: a reimagining of my creative motherhood’ - especially this quote:

“As the months passed and I was able to carve out some time on my own, I felt drawn both to my creative projects and by the invisible thread pulling my heart to my daughter’s — needing space but wanting closeness. There, evolved a dance of stillness and movement, creating with her in my arms and resting when I could.”

• This post by Laura from

  Destination: Balance?
  on ‘The honest inconsistency of a true multi-hyphenate’ is so relatable - I have these same thoughts myself and also hold off from showing up on Substack too.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading - I’d love for you to share in the comments:

• a few moments that have made you happy lately

• your favourite Substack reads this week