Take Care of You

'Person or dragon, tiny or tall. Sometimes we stumble and sometimes we fall. Everyone gets hurt sometimes.'

Yes, the wonderfully poignant line above comes from the ever-charming Disney cartoon 'Doc McStuffins', a television show aimed at pre-schoolers about a little girl who is a doctor to toys. I learn a lot from Doc and her little gang of stuffed comrades, but today I want to talk about something that even I needed reminding; how to take care of myself.

Any parent will know that when you have a baby, you lose your marbles a bit and forget things. When it's a subsequent child, double that confusion and general uselessness! As I've mentioned on here before I have become slow, unorganised and my life has been thrown into chaos. Utter chaos. Where before my kitchen was spotless, my daughter's room tidy and my laundry neatly folded, I now forget to have a shower on occasion. 

But it's so much worse than this.mif you follow me on Twitter then you might've seen that I was recently quite unwell. From dehydration and exhaustion. Yes, the latter is to be expected with a breast-fed newborn who feeds loads, but the former? Well yes...you guessed it. I was forgetting to drink. I was so wrapped up in looking after my two little angels, showing them off, keeping up with my friends (most of which have one if any children) that I was forgetting to look after myself. It took me over a week to get my fluid levels back up to where they should be and the headaches and dizziness to stop. A one point it was so bad, I fell down the stairs at 5am with Bear in my arms. Both of us were unharmed for the most part; I sprained my ankle and knee...Bear thought it was great fun!

I'm twenty-seven years old, how can I forget to drink? Everyone asked me how I could possibly of just not been drinking? I really don't have a valid reason. My children just became too important for me to look after myself properly.

But that's the problem. My children are my world, I would literally do anything for them, like any other parent, but what use to them am I if I'm so unwell I can't do anything for them? If I can't play or read to them or even bend down to give them a bath?

That's why, taking care of yourself when you're pregnant, a new mother or an old hand at parenting, is so, so important. You are not neglecting your children by taking 'me' time. You're doing them a favour. I needed to learn the hard way that in order to put my children first, I had to come a close second!

Take care of you!

Clare