Regular Guest Blogger Chelle McCann is back with tips to stay happy!

This week I have really been tested. With so many projects on the go this had to be the week where our little one was sent home from nursery with conjunctivitis and a chest infection. Already feeling like bad parents for not realising that it wasn’t just sleep in her eyes or just the usual teething cold myself and hubby got to see what stay at home parent life is like again.

Fizz was ill but hyperactic, two stressy parents with work to do too really did not help but later in the week I had the sense to stop everything and be a child again.

I watched This Morning who were doing a feel good section involving laughing therapy and Diva Dancing. It looked fab! So with baby wanting to shake her maracas we ran into her bedroom, danced around on the futon making loads of noise and jumping around finally giggling with an average age of ohhh 17 months fell onto a bed for cuddles. It was the most fun I have had in ages. I embraced motherhood again and vow not to be such a work junkie in the future.

So how do you stay silly/fun? How do you balance? Let me know as for me the jumping up and down and tickles with my daughter continue to ground me when I seem to be floating away!

Now really why are the 39 steps so important? Tauting itself as a modern guide for school leavers are we trying to teach our young the right needs for a modern society or are we being a bit pretentious? I really don’t think the 39 steps are the must know list and neither are the ones I can do appropropriate for the life I’ve grown into over 32 years. My ones mainly come from a mix of a university education, love of literature and things I’ve just picked up along the way.

The 39 steps are hideously out of date and although they are focused on a particular class of people they don’t really show any fun in life do they? Are they really life skills and should we just be keeping it simple?

I can so 11 of the steps in the article but to be honest none of those things make me a better, more knowledgeable person then someone who has less or more. Should we keep it simple with 5 simple steps to a better life?

1.      Giggle/Smile

2.      Make time for you and loved ones

3.      Support others

4.      Support yourself

5.      Work hard for the things you want

What would be on your steps for a better life?

I’ ve had two life coaching sessions so far and they gone really well. I thought it would be nice to share what I have learnt so far and whether it could help your life, family and business too.

1)It’s not about doing anything right or wrong – it’s about organising everything to make sure you can be more efficient and gain a good work life/balance

2) Sometimes the scales will tip from one side to the other. That’s ok but make sure you take control as soon as you or your family notice

3) Keep a diary for a week of all the things you do each day seperating each area of you life with colour. At the end of the week review how much you have achieved and whether you can be more focussed the following week

4) Prioritise per day. If you’ve only got 20 mins to spend on social networking make sure you maximise it. Use a mix of scheduled tweets and interacting. I remember that in 2010 @babysigningmummy gave herself a 20 minute allowance for twitter and facebook each day.

5) Life isn’t meant to be easy when you’re a working mummy so make sure you have time to have FUN. There is no better stress relief than rolling around like a child ;)

We’ve got a guest blog from one of our own clients today, Dean & Steph from Daddynatal and Bump, Birth & Beyond. They’ve had a brilliant week, going from teaching local classes, to national coverage via a TV appearance. I thought it would be really helpful for other people who have small businesses to hear that opportunities for national coverage are out there, if you’re prepared to work hard and make the most of the opportunities available….. 

While everyone else seems to be winding down for Easter things have never been busier at Bump Birth and Beyond Ltd. It has been a hectic week, but a very positive hectic week!

Our busy week kicked off on Saturday, listening to the first interview Dean had recorded for The Baby Show broadcast on Star Radio. The interview was focused on the role of the dad in pregnancy, and very exciting for us, as it was the first ‘official’ interview Dean had done, and it definitely was a great learning experience.

Then, Sunday saw us officially announce our partnership with Peterborough City Hospital at Peterborough Baby Show. Bump, Birth and Beyond are now running DaddyNatal and Active Birth Classes, on behalf of the hospital, free to parents. How fantastic to have a Head of Midwifery who is so forward thinking, she really is one of the first in the country to recognise that fathers/birth partners have huge antenatal education needs which have never (until now!) been met.

There was an excellent response to the news of the classes, with signups both on the day and since. Both courses are already 10% full, and we are still awaiting the formal press release and for the community midwifery team to start promotion yet!

Sunday also marked the completion of the first part of training for our new Daisy Birthing teacher, Alison. Courses have been so successful that Steph cannot keep up with demand on her own, so we are extremely excited about Alison’s arrival. She will commence teaching in June which will allow us to offer more courses in even more locations.

On Monday and Tuesday evenings, Steph was out teaching her regular Daisy Birthing classes in Peterborough and St Ives. Steph teaches classes to around 40 pregnant ladies a week, as well as managing all the bookings and day-to-day admin of the company. And she looks after our two toddlers full time as well!

Little did we realise what more the week still held in store… At 10pm Wednesday evening, Steph arrived home from yet another Daisy Birthing class to the news that Dean had been invited down the next day onto The Vanessa Show on Channel 5 to talk about fathers at birth. Turns out a producer had heard his interview on The Baby Show website and wanted him there for a discussion segment about birth! How could we refuse…?!

So scrapping all previous arrangements for Thursday, Dean travelled to London to record the show. To say he was nervous would be a major understatement! He was petrified to be doing his first TV appearance only a few days after his very first ever live media interview! But, of course, he was also really excited. The people were brilliant and he had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Pearl Lowe and Christina Hopkinson, as part of the segment on the discussion of fathers at birth. They were lovely and certainly put Dean at ease (although nerves kicked back in once the cameras started rolling!). You can see his appearance here and judge for yourselves how Dean got on at The Vanessa Show.

Feel free to comment as we would love to hear your feedback. It was a long day though – Dean left home at 11.30am, and didn’t get home again until 8.30pm (luckily Thursdays are Steph’s evening off!)

But there was still work to be done… Friday saw us at a meeting at Peterborough Hospital to discuss some of the logistics of our partnership, and then followed by an agreement that we would produce contact and reference packs for the community midwives, so that became our focus on Saturday!

However, the support and excitement of what we are doing, coming direct from the midwives is so refreshing. It really is a pleasure to be working with them all.

And finally, we finished the week on Sunday with one of our Couples Antenatal Workshops in Kettering. Our classes are jointly run between the both of us, to make sure that we cover all the essential points from both the mum and birth partner perspective. It was a really great class – we thoroughly enjoyed it, and then arrived home in time to spend the remainder of the afternoon in the garden with our two children.

So a busy week made busier by some unforeseen media appearances! A great experience though and we look forward to seeing what the next few weeks brings us.

So that was our hectic week how was yours?

I’ve started working with a life coach. I’ve started to notice since having my daughter that my concentration span is minimal and that I have become rather scatty.

Before having my daughter I was the organisational queen, Monica from friends wasn’t a patch on me, my OCD cleaning and my role as a Personal Assistant to a Head of Service within local government meant I was the ultra PA – I organised everything, even my knicker draw was laid out in a particular way and I’d organise husband’s draws too!

So when the offer came of working with a life coach in return for using me as a case study came along I jumped at the chance!

The first of my six fortnightly session was spent talking about where I thought I was going wrong. For me my organisational skills had disappeared. It took this person to show me what I already knew but also what I’d been missing.

My first task was to get diaries for different aspects of my life – family life/work life/business life  (I have my own business as well as having a 30 hour a week job). I was to give a set time to my own business in order to focus more clearly on each client, I was to put family appointments and diaries in order, I was to write a to do list everyday.

Now not all of this has worked but I’ve come to a happy inbetween to start with.

1) a family diary that has all birthdays/flat related items/important dates in

2) a rota for cleaning so that as a family we don’t waste a day tidying up at the weekend

3) A colour coded diary – so each area of my life has a colour and with my to do list I organise each day

Now – this has started to help, I feel I have more control and am starting to relax from the panicky state I got in if I didn’t do everything all at once. If something doesn’t get done it goes as a priority on the next day. I’m hoping to get to the stage where I’m not wading against a tide but am in fact focussed and more methodical. To be honest I’m starting to find it clearer now. Not so foggy and I can see the sunshine of my business blooming within this first two weeks.

The one I now need to plan out is my set times for business. This proves hard when I work with other people like me – mums who need to chat after the kids have gone to bed. Between 8 and 9pm is always the best time.

I’d love to hear suggestions on how you time manage and what tips you have!

Tonight it’s Earth Hour where many people will switch off their lights and other energy powered items to make a stand against climate change.

For our family we’ve decided to have an hour in candlelight with a board game. I’m hoping this will remind us that we can spend an hour without either the TV or the radio on. Just appreciating family life without any electrical distraction. The laptops will be switched off, the phones too. I wonder how long it will be before one of us caves to twitter?

In all seriousness though please get involved and do something for Earth Hour.

‘Earth Hour 2011 will take place on Saturday 26 March at 8.30PM (local time). This Earth Hour we want you to go beyond the hour, so after the lights go back on think about what else you can do to make a difference. Together our actions add up.’

Hello, good evening, and welcome to the nut house…

I’m still here – I’m conscious that I’ve not been blogging that much on here recently. I promise it’s not the novelty of www.cambridgemummy.co.uk  In fact,  it’s the opposite. There’s so much I want to blog about and get your opinions on that I could write for days. But it’s all top secret so I can’t. And I don’t want to be that really annoying person who says “it’s top secret” – anyone who knows me well, knows I’m not a tease. That’s far too much like hard work…

So instead, I’ll tell you that I’ve been reading a fair bit of pregnancy related materials recently (NO. I am not.) and I have to say, that as a mum of two, I’m now wondering why people read some of it. Why did  I lap it up so readily first time around? Because all it does is scare monger and put the fear of god in you, some of the things just aren’t helpful. Why do the women with the worst birth stories come out and volunteer to tell them?

"idyllic" family image - we don't hold hands like this..

Why can’t we hear more of good, positive, inspiring experiences? I think there’s a book waiting to be written – birthing positively – yes, it hurts like you’ve never known it before, but it’s all so worth it, and your fandango heals and you move on as a family together,  having for the most part, the best experience of your life, which you wouldn’t change for the world. Maybe it’s not a book, maybe that’s all there is to it??

There’s an opportunity here for businesses in the sector to do more to sell on a basis of enhancing experiencess. Though the problem is that fear sells, doesn’t it – baby proofing your home is the first thing I thought of. And there’s a huge market in that isn’t there?

Am I being naive in thinking that we could be a bit more positive about what we are adding to the lives of a new family – more sleep, less trips to A&E, happier meal times, more durability out of clothes that babies wear when weaning and ways to learn cool stuff together?

It’s already out there, I just want to see us phrase it more positively to families. What do you think?

I asked Sally Limes, a mum who I’ve met on the networking circuit, to write a brief post to show us how big things can be done even when you’re running a small business or charity. She’s doing amazing things with Ford and Ford, for their part, are being incredibly smart in partnering with Sally and LIME as everyone is talking about their partnership – both online and offline…  I think what I love most, is that other people pay agencies – like us – to get them into partnerships just like this, and she’s doing it all very nicely, all by herself! Brilliant stuff…

Everything we do...

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I am the Chief Executive of the registered charity ICT4Autism and the Editor in Chief of The LIME Magazine for Parents and Carers of Children with Special Needs. I contacted all the car manufacturers asking for sponsorship, citing the link as being Motorbility. All the car manufacturers told me they weren’t interested. Except Ford.

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I have been in discussions with Ford’s Marketing Director over the last few months. We finally met in London yesterday. We had a big meeting to discuss working together as a partnership. The Director was a very friendly and approachable guy. The meeting was relaxed and easy and I enjoyed myself. The conference facilities were fabulous and we were treated like royalty.

The upshot of the meeting is that Ford are going to provide the charity with a marked up S-MAX. It is going to have Ford sponsoring ICT4Autism written down the side. The idea of this is that I will take the vehicle to meetings and conferences and special needs schools. This will give maximum exposure to special needs families, who may be in the market to buy a motorbility vehicle. Ford are also going to purchase advertising in The LIME Magazine in order to part fund the venture to allow us to provide for more children’s centres across the UK.

This will also reach families of children with a disability, so Ford are savvy as it is an excellent partnership for them as well as for us. We also have entered into an arrangement where we have brought some new technology to Ford which we will offer exclusivity to them which is top secret and under wraps at the moment.

Suffice it to say that they are very excited by this and we have probably just entered into something very big and very lasting. To link the charity and the magazine with a company which is such a big household name and a family name is smart advertising and we are thrilled to be a part of this.

Please check out our websites www.limemag.co.uk and www.ict4autism.org

This coming week it is International Women’s Day and it is the centenary year.

Sometimes themes are selected to celebrate, sometimes not but each country hosts events to celebrate this day.

In 2011 the theme is Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.I find it amazing that we even have to discuss that women may not have access to these things as I believe they are right of every woman, man and child.

It makes me very grateful for what I have had the opportunity to do. I went to School and University, a financial struggle for the latter but not a gender struggle. I have access to the technology I need to run a business, entertain me and interact.

Am I equal to a Man in the same area of work, maybe not but do I want to be? I am striving to be the best I can be myself whether my gender predetermines this or not surely that I am following my own path is what matters completely?

For other cultures, countries this may not be the same so I encourage you all to think about what equality means to you and how we can improve it for others.

What will you be doing on 8th March 2011?

What were you born to do?

What were you Born To do? The new campaign from Save the Children has not just caught my eye, it’s got into my head. Not least because I’m working for the PHG Foundation on the Born Healthy project, which is working in a very similar area.

But there’s another reason too. I’m trying to work out what my purpose is right now. DH and I are shattered, the boys are pooped and we’ve not got back into a routine since the Christmas holiday – and it’s March next week. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN????

So much good stuff has come our way since the start of 2011, but I don’t know, I’m just not sure what to do – I’m near capacity from a consulting perspective and that’s good, but it means I’m going to end up turning work away soon, which is something I don’t want to do.
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A big organisation is interested in outsourcing lots of their printed publications to Weston Communications. Another one is interested in bringing Weston Communications in to take their online and social media engagement  strategy  forward. And then there’s the New Baby Guides, and the Young Families Bump, Baby and Toddler Shows! As well as my usual smaller clients. Something’s got to give, but what? So going to the Born To bloggers conference today was the perfect opportunity for me to take some time out and think about it.

What was I Born To Do?

I’m using thinking about what I was Born To Do to help me focus on my life and where it’s going at the moment. I was born to be a mummy. Not just a mum, or parent, but a mummy. To me, I’m parenting when I’m teaching our boys how to do things, being a mum when I’m sorting out logistics for birthday parties and a mummy when I’m giggling with them when we read a book on the sofa, or letting them climb in our bed in the middle of then night. In ten years time, there won’t be much mummy stuff left that they want  from me, so I want to try and be as  much of a mummy as I can, right now, whilst it’s still wanted.
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But how do I do that whilst working full time? I don’t know if it’s possible, because I’ve been really struggling with it recently. Honestly, I don’t if it is possible….

Watching the videos today at Save the Children, I looked around at my fellow attendees and thought “Is anyone else finding this really hard?  Is anyone else on the verge of tears? Does anyone else want to stick their head in the sand and run away from this because it’s such a big thing – and I don’t  know how I can contribute to it?” I wore mascara today – so I didn’t sit there sobbing. But I wanted to. I had tears in my eyes. I felt so small, so inept, so, I  don’t  know, lost, I suppose. I felt so overwhelmed with thoughts of my family, the families I was watching, the families of the Save the Children staff who go into these countries to help people and children in need – and the families of the people who go to film, shoot and relay the situations back to us in real time.

It was upsetting. I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t. But what it has done, is give me hope. If #blogadesh can get a message to 10 million people about what’s happening in the world, if the Make Poverty History Campaign ensures that countries are relieved of their impossible to repay debt, and if Save the Children can get into stricken countries and set up safe play centres for children within hours, then I’ve got to be able to work out what I was Born To Do, haven’t I?

I wonder how I can be what I was Born To Do – be a mummy, a worker and someone who makes a difference. I’m going to keep working at it. Thank you #bornto and Save the Children for giving me insights into your campaign and the inspiration to keep working at what I was Born To Do.

Please comment below and tell me what you were Born To. And vist the Save the Children Born To site, so you can learn more about this brilliant, challenging, amazing opportunity we all have to contribute to making a positive change in our world…