Blog
Faces on bananas and an icy breeze
I’m starting with the whimsy this week:The other day my daughter’s kindergarten teacher said to me “we all loved your banana”“err...excuse me…?”I totally forgot I drew a silly face on her banana. A gesture that took me 20 seconds apparently caused great delight in the...
Rice Owls and River Rats
I come to you this week freshly raw from the experience that is taking two young children to the supermarket. I know that plenty of other people partake in this activity every single day. For me, I avoid it like the plague and get my groceries delivered because...
wonder woman and white boards
I’ve spent the past week trying to get a new veggie garden in. I’d love to show you a finished product, but it’s one of those projects that has its own time frame. When we moved into our house six years ago, I noticed the existing veggie patch was positioned in...
golden retrievers & proctologists: on baby names I can’t use
I’m not one of those people who feels it’s ‘weird’ to give your child the same name as a pet. I figure people name their kids after important people in their family all the time – it might as well be someone you like! So, yeah, my first daughter is named after a...
James Brown is not a Massage Tool
It’s that time of year again. A month until ‘Bowe week’ – the crazy week in my family where we ended up with our wedding anniversary, plus the two kids’ birthdays all falling within the same 7 days. No, I didn’t plan it that way! My oldest daughter’s birthday is a...
the mosquito, the prawn and a coffee
You know how sometimes you will have a moment of doubt and then a message appears at the perfect time? Confirmation that you ARE in fact on the right path? I had a moment of real doubt this week. Doubt about whether I’m doing the ‘right thing’ by sending out a weekly...
Self-compassion for our flaws creates connection
First up, if you want to listen to this week's thoughts, you can do that on the Mum As You Are podcast HEREI’ve recently had a few people ask me about visibility – how do you show up to be authentic without getting too personal? Without all the 1990s sleepover vibes...
So, you want a career in perinatal or birth trauma support?
I get a LOT of emails from people asking for career advice about how to get into perinatal and/or birth trauma work. The short answer is that there’s no direct pathway and it really depends what you want to. This is a LONG response, which, hopefully explains why I...
On Being Wary About Advice (And Why I Hate Baby Showers)
A version of this week’s blog is on Episode 14 of the Mum as You Are podcast HERE I have a slightly shameful secret. I don't like baby showers. So much so, that I refused to have my own. In my girls’ baby books there is literally a blank section where I’ve written...
The Oopsie Baby Incident
First up, no, this is not a pregnancy story!Instead, I’m going to share with you my terrifying experience with a doll in the Eighties. A story my Mum brings up any chance she can get.It was 1988 and I was five years old. There’s an ad for a sweet, crawling doll who...
Dr Suess and the spotted pardalote
For all of you who have done business coaching with me before and heard me stay “don’t waste time agonizing over your website”….here, you can hold my drink while I eat this hat.I don’t usually work in the school holidays, but I’m itching to do some much needed catch...
Bennifer, the Y2K Bug & My Relationship
Forgive me for being a bit behind the 8 ball, but I’ve only just realized that Bennifer aka Ben Affleck and Jlo are together again. It took me down memory lane back to when they got together the first time. I told my husband they were back together and I was actually...
Six Months Since I Quit Social Media
Six months since quitting social media: insights Can you believe it’s 6 months since I quit social media? Here’s a few quick insights and an update on what I’m up to. Ant to listen instead? You can do that HERE Overall, most people have been intrigued and inspired by...
When you Think you Don’t Know What You’re Doing: Who Jackie and the Mandalas
When you think you don’t know what you’re doing (with your business, with your kids or anything else) I want you to remember “Who Jackie?” If you’re not familiar this phrase, allow me to indoctrinate you into one of my favourite pop culture references. Prefer to...
6 things getting me through lockdown #6
It’s a brief appearance from me this week as we do the remote learning + no childcare thing again. If you’d prefer to listen, the audio version of this episode is HERE Here’s 6 things getting me through:1. The sunThe sun on my face. Though in an effort to up my...
Fear of Turkeys and a Grief Ritual
One of my family members is known for their quirky idioms. While arguably less poetic than “one swallow doesn’t make a summer”, one of my favourites is:“It’s hard to soar with the eagles when you’re working with turkeys”Keeping family and cultural traditions alive...
What Rock, Paper Scissors has taught me about switching up Coping Skills
Do you have stress “tells” – little quirks that show when you’re overwhelmed, anxious and stressed?In poker, a “tell” is a change in behaviour that reveals a person’s inner state, and gamblers look for clues about who is holding or good or bad hand depending on their...
When You Feel Like You’re Not Nailing It – Find Stillness
Between you and me, my brain feels like syrup lately. Emails take longer to answer, writing blogs or sections of texts are taking multiple attempts and I’m finding that I’m walking away from podcast interviews feelings like I didn’t hit my points very well.Sometimes I...
What Homer Simpson & Tony Soprano Taught Me About Rethinking ‘Work’
First up, if you'd rather listen to this one? Episode 4 of my new podcast is less than 10 minutes.I was never allowed to watch the Simpsons as a kid. When I was 10 or so we got a new fridge (a Simpson) I drew a picture of the Simpsons family as fridges (hilarious) and...
In Case of Deer: Why You Need Backups
Last weekend our family indulged in one of our lockdown rituals – a therapeutic burn off. Fallen leaves, dead branches get tidied up with a bonfire and then we toast marshmallows. We’d run out of bread for sandwiches for lunch, so I created some novelty by making...
Marketing without social media – what it looks like for me
This week I thought I’d give you a peak into what marketing looks like for me without social media. When More Than a Healthy Baby came out last December there was no launch. No in person events, and I’ve yet to see a copy in an actual bookstore. We were primarily...
I have a new podcast!
I love writing, but I’ve missed chatting. Don’t get me wrong, I loved interviewing guests on the birth trauma training for birth workers podcast, but for this season of life, it was simply becoming too time consuming. So, this second offering is broader in focus, very...
Taking Stock: Midyear Check In
Something a bit different this week. My mid 2021 taking stock post. A few points of ponder anyway. The idea of a taking stock post is something I’ve borrowed from Meet Me at Mike’s – a blog I’ve been readings since…maybe 2006? Here’s a bit of what I'm up...
What ‘counts’ as birth trauma?
There’s a part of me that can’t believe I’m even writing an article on this. For me, the answer to “what is considered a traumatic birth?” is super simple. A birth is traumatic if you say it is. Yet, it’s still the question people ask me in interviews, in therapy, in...
The chocolate game and chubby bunny: Don’t dim your light to fit in
Visibility and birthday parties...there's a lesson in thereMy Mother’s Group is still close some 5.5 years later. We rarely see each other but still check in with milestones and news. A conversation came up about birthday parties in the time of covid-19 and how much...