I love casual clothes. When I worked in magazines I loved how the dress code was casual. No stuffy suits for us! In fact it was our job to wear the trends and I loved watching the girls from the other magazines arrive to work in all their fashion glory, very Devil Wears Prada.  Fast forward to Mumlife and I’m an activewear and top Mumma, Zara is still my go to. Functional but make it fashionable! Zara, H&M, Bonds, Cotton On are on constant rotation, with some random pieces of Kmart thrown in when I’m on a toy mission, in both summer and winter. These shops were amazing when i was preg ..read more

Let’s talk about childcare. My kids go, and I love it. They learn how to be independent without me or their dad to help them do certain tasks, it’s something I can’t teach them. They go 2 or 3 days a week for about 5 or 6 hours so we keep it to a minimum. They get time to socialise with their buddies, they get taught things that I don’t know how to teach and they do craft! I’m not a fan of craft, I can’t make a mess, I just don’t have the patience for it. I love to colour with them and play with play doh but anything that’s super messy and tricky to clean up is not my strong point. At school t ..read more

I’ve avoided the subject of pandemic parenting as I think there is so much chat on the topic that we’ve become numb to it. Unfortunately with Australia in the thick of the pandemic again it’s unavoidable, and a year on from the first major lockdown our lives have changed. Kids are older, we’re older, we’re wiser, we’re tired and we’re numb too. There’s a sense of “here we go again”; but also a sense of we know what to do, we did it last year and we can do it again. I think deep down we can all appreciate the downtime with our families even when we feel like it’s Groundhog day. In our house the ..read more

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The day starts at 7am. Well that’s the official time. Unofficially it can start around 4am when I wake to hear either Mr 2 having a nightmare or Mr 4 crying because he’s cold so I go to settle whoever it is or both. I say unofficially as usually I can go back to sleep but some days the mind starts and the anxiety kicks in. I start to think about the million things that happened the day before or the million things I have to do that day. If I’m lucky Mr 2 will wake me chatting to the still asleep Mr 4 around 6.30am and I’ll mentally prepare myself for the day ahead.  If it’s a preschool da ..read more

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Offside Mum (@offsidemum ..read more

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Offside Mum (@offsidemum ..read more

I gently grab my 2 year old from the steps to the slide and say “I’m so sorry” to the parent next to me. My 2 year old has just smacked another kid on the head as he pushed past him up the steps. Now to the 2 year old that he just smacked, this was nothing, the other kid had just stolen the hat from another kid’s head. But as a parent we have to apologise, teach our child what’s right and wrong. Some days however I pick my battles, at home this is ok but in the playground I have to go through the motions to appease the other parent. Playground politics is real and for some this is not an issue ..read more

It’s a thing and I’ve felt it. I’ve felt it from friends, parents, friends without kids, my own family. From the lady behind me in the queue at the shops, the person serving me. A mum friend at the gym, a parent in the playground. Everywhere. You try your best to ignore it and 99.5% of the time I’m successful, but sometimes it hits hard and it can upset your equilibrium and disrupt your mental health.  Pandemic parenting has been hard, an understatement, and we’ve all questioned how we do things. Is it the right thing for me, and is it ok for my child? Will this affect them in later life ..read more

I love to sleep, I love when my babies sleep and I love when the world sleeps, it’s so quiet. Sleep is a big business, especially with babies. As adults we don’t appreciate how much we know about sleep and our ability to sleep “through the night”. But as parents you suddenly learn how much you like to sleep because you’re not getting any. Over the years the sleep business has evolved and become something some parents are willing to pay top dollar for. Once when extended families lived together and space was limited babies slept in bed with their parents initially and later with siblings, every ..read more