Last Minute Plans?

Last Minute Plans?

If you’re like me and always have last minute plans and you only trust your children with certain people, finding childcare, especially at short notice can be a bloody pain if not near impossible.

Now I love my kids don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t exactly angels all the time. They need attention, conversation and most of all to be looked after safely when either myself or Alex cant be around. Finding a trusted babysitter takes time, much like finding that hairdresser that actually does what you asked for or the nail tech that can actually recreate that picture you found.

It’s like dating, you have to try a few before you find what works for you as a parent. Now i’m not suggesting you date your babysitter, this isn’t some kind of reality show, but when it comes to your kids you want to make sure its right.

I’m a working mum, as anyone who follows me on social media will know, working and managing (well attempting to manage) three small children and a baby is nothing short of chaotic to say the least.

I have one babysitter at home but there are times when she isn’t available and I have work or other commitments. This is why I use Bubble, which is an app that allows you to search for a babysitter that your friends or connections have used and left a review about, so you know if they are trustworthy and safe.

( https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/joinbubble.com )

I use the Bubble app when I have last minute work, where I can take the kids, but I need someone there with me to manage them whilst I work. For example, when I am on the radio and the kids can be there but just not on the radio, or when I am on This Morning or GMB – it means I can take the kids with me, and when I’m actually on air for that 10-15 minutes, I know they are safe in the green room, or I can see them through the glass.

The creators of Bubble are parents themselves, they understand the pain of the dreaded ‘sorry can’t get a sitter’ text. They also understand that when you are looking for a babysitter, the first people you ask for recommendations are your friends and family – which is what Bubble is, an app to ask for recommendations from people you know.

I love being a mum, I love my career, and I have no issue whatsoever saying I need help getting on top of both.

I’m also a human being, I need me time, a bath, a haircut, sometimes self-care is the best medicine when life gets overwhelming. There’s a massive stigma about working parents, and parents asking for help. However, getting that extra bit of assistance can actually help you be a better parent, it gives you more time to get organized and spend the quality time with your children that they actually need. Happy parent, happy child, happy life.

Of course, the key to an App like Bubble is trust, we’re talking about our kids here, so who we hire to take care of them is one hell of an important choice. 

Bubble simplifies the whole shenanigan, you get to see all the sitters around you and read their reviews from other local parents and crucially, see which ones are known to and used by your friends and community. You can see which other parents from your children’s school use the App and see which sitters they use, making Bubble easy to talk to and connect with other parents in the same situation as yourself. Bubble isn’t like the usual childcare agencies as it prides itself on finding the best sitter for you within your own social circle.

I’m not sure if its a mum thing, but I never do anything without reading the reviews, and the feedback on this App has been absolutely incredible! Each and every sitter you will be able to view has passed an online ID check, an online background check and is also insured. If you’d also like your sitter to have a DBS check, you can make this one of your preferences when you search!

Bubble independently verifies this too so you know you can trust it. I don’t think there’s anything quite as stressful as trying to find childcare cover, especially at short notice. As every mother/father knows, taking care of children is  incredibly demanding both physically and mentally, I’ve used Bubble to get a sitter to pop round for a couple of hours just so I can have some time to work or tidy the bloody house whilst she entertains (confines) the kids in one room.

Taking care of children is as much about looking after yourself as them, there’s no way you can give your kids 100% when you’re running on empty.

These everyday things that I definitely took for granted before the kids came along. With Bubble I get to choose exactly which sitter is right for me, with a full profile, and list of information about the person who’ll be watching my kids, who better to make that decision than me right?! Its all about freeing up that extra bit of time so I can be the best version of myself to raise my kids, now that’s something I’m passionate about.

You can check them out here:-

Insta handle is: @bubblebabysittingapp

www.joinbubble.com

Apple:  https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bubble-find-a-babysitter-now/id1089980698?mt=8

Android:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tribo.bubbleapp&hl=en_GB

BOOK NOW

BOOK NOW

CLICK HERE TO BOOK

 

Mother Of Maniacs Jessica Cunningham (BBC Apprentice, ITV Good Morning Britain, Loose Women) presents an intimate, inspirational, high energy mental, #mindset workout with some of the UK’s most successful, celebrity influencers and entrepreneurs.

At the stunningly decadent venue, Menagerie Manchester; Visitors will hear and learn some incredible motivational stories and techniques from our panel of MINDSET ambassadors, LIVE on stage, featuring;

  • SAS superstar dad of five Ant Middleton (C4;SAS, Who Dares Wins/ Mutiny)
  • West Londons’ finest Mumtrapaneur extraordinaire Binky Felstead (C4 Made in Chelsea)
  • ITV’s resident Psychologist Emma Kenny (This Morning)
  • Author & Business guru and mother of three Noor Hibbert

CLICK HERE TO BOOK

In addition to the talks, during the three-hour event; visitors can mingle with a host of successful parents/bloggers and celebrities who will be sharing their pearls of wisdom, offering advice on how they juggle parenthood with a successful career.

Whether you want to learn how to turn your social media into a money-making-machine or simply uncover the self-belief it takes to start your own business or create that product you have been dreaming of, this is the event for you!

If you genuinely want to get out of your current situation, want a better life but feel un-motivated and don’t know where the heck to start, or just want to be within dancing distance of the stars or meet some of the UK’s hottest business talent, then join us at:

Menagerie, Manchester M3 5JL

Wednesday October 24th 6PM – 9PM

Those looking to continue the party and dine at Menagerie and enjoy a 25% discount off food.

 

CLICK HERE TO BOOK


UPDATE – FINAL FEW TICKETS REMAINING!

Crystal life

Crystal life

So, I haven’t wrote a blog post in quite a while, slightly embarrassing. So i thought the best way to start it up again would be to start with a new energy, and my crystals give me a new energy! Now i know some of you reading this may think that i am bat shizzle crackers, the truth is, i probably am a little!
 
People use crystals in all different ways, perhaps they hold one whilst meditating, create a grid with them,  create beautiful spaces in their homes, carry them with them on a daily basis or place them on their bodies to balance their energy or bring them luck, money, love, friendship, positive vibes, or whatever it may be for that person.
 
The Crystals i bought were to give me motivation, energy, and positive vibes, as for the past week or so, I have just felt Low energy! Sometimes all you need to have is a comforting Crystal inside your pocket to remind you that everything will be ok! To some of you, that may sound bonkers, but to those who know, you know what that feels like. When I feel emotional, stressed or overwhelmed, a little special Crystal
inside my purse that I can hold in my hand, is all it takes to feel calm & at ease!
 
I wanted to write this blog post, as i honestly feel different when i wear, hold or meditate with Crystals. I know that to some people even a small everyday task is a lot to bare, this last week i have felt like that, the stresses of work, kids and not eating right. This morning, I opened up my little delivery and as crazy as this sounds, as soon as i held my new bracelets, and scented Crystals, i felt calm, OK, recharged, energized and as if a new lease of confidence had entered my brain! The strange thing is, i haven’t wrote a blog post in around 6 months and the day I receive my Crystals, I feel motivated to take on the day and get writing.
 
Maybe you are an avid crystal fan, or just want to know more, I’ll be honest I had always felt compelled towards crystals but I didn’t have a bloody clue what they all meant, or what they all were,  or where to bloody well start with them! Then on good old faithful Instagram laid me the way to two amazing girls who run www.crystalharmonyuk.co.uk ! It also helps that the two girls are very trendy and relatable!
 
Honestly, if you want to know anything about crystals and what they do, contact them or follow them on Instagram crystalharmonyuk
 
If you’re just starting out, here are my top 5 crystals and what they do:
 
Rose Quartz – Think LUUUURVE! This crystal is
bursting with love so if you are looking to attract
a love partner, or add more love into a current
relationship … or maybe you need to love
yourself a little more, this is the crystal for you!
 
Wear a bracelet to surround yourself with love, or
pop a rough piece in the bedroom for loving
energy!
 
Clear Quartz – If there were a hierarchy within
crystals and it was the royal family … this would
be the King! The master healer, and the
strongest energy amplifier on the planet! Grab
this beauty when you need an energy boost or
feel your motivation waning.
 
Amethyst – Know that feeling when you walk into
a beautiful health spa, knowing you have the
entire day to float around in a robe and do
nothing but zen yourself out … well that’s what
this crystal embodies!!! This crystal is chilling to
the max! A calm and peaceful delicious crystal!
 
Black Tourmaline – Ok, we all find ourselves
starting a day super positive and owning life, only
to be met with a complete mood hoover!!!! A
Debbie Downer! However you describe them,
they are everywhere! And if we are not careful,
their negativity can rub off onto us and lower our
mood! Carry black tourmaline to put a
metaphorical bubble around you so other
people’s negativity just bounces off and doesn’t
drag you down.
 
Citrine – Money money money! This is your
manifesting, hip-swinging, luck attracting,
buzzing with happiness crystal!!!! This attracts
If you want to know more about any of the above or what i use my crystal for, please message me! Or message the experts actually. hahahah 
 
 
Pregnancy – It’s ok to feel like a ratty dragon chicken.

Pregnancy – It’s ok to feel like a ratty dragon chicken.

Am I the only pregnant women that seem to feel that looking incredible naked is the new pregnancy trend? I’m starting to feel it’s all the rage to ‘embrace your body and post in a sexy negligee’ because you should ‘still feel sexy’ and ‘confident’ because ‘pregnancy is beautiful’.

There are endless streams of ‘Hot Mammas’ plastered on my social media feed, pregnant women in lingerie looking sexy and embracing their bumps and all the lumps that come with it. Whereas when I am looking in the mirror naked, all I am seeing is a reflection of myself that resembles some form of human chicken.

(By the way, I am slightly mortified that I agreed to do the above, this was me doing the classic “love heart hands on baby” pose…..looks good yeah? COUGH)

Now don’t get me wrong, I think pregnancy is one god damn beautiful thing, I feel so gratefull that I am pregnant, especially after a misscarriage and I say my thank you’s every single day that i have a healthy baby inside of me. I love the feeling of actually growing a baby, keeping it safe and experiencing a life forming inside of me….But I am also 33 weeks pregnant, so I’m calling bulls#*t on anyone who thinks becoming a walking talking human incubator should make you feel sexy! My poor Alex gets secretly freaked out that he is poking the baby, sometimes I get secretly freaked out he is poking the baby.

Here’s the truth, pregnancy with your first child, is new, can be exciting, and you can make you feel sexy.

However, pregnancy in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time round is not hot. If you disagree feel free to imagine me laid like some kind of upturned turtle, with 10 day old hair, out of breath from trying to reach the Amazon Firestick whilst trying to type around the ever-growing collection of biscuit crumbs on my laptop. Beat that Demi.

Now please don’t think I hate being pregnant because I don’t, I mean I get to grow a little combination of Alex and me, in me! And god I feel so lucky to be able to do something as incredible as this, but the only ‘glow’ I’m getting is the headlights from the DHL delivery guy stocking me up on my nursing bras, breast pads, nappies and baby grows, that I’m now on first name terms with. Shout out to Steve if you’re reading this!

I am all for self-love, embracing your body and everything that comes along with it, but all I am seeing in magazines is this constant fixation that pregnant women should look/feel sexy?! I think I have seen 80% of celebrities naked, with a spray tan, a full face of make-up on, fabulous hair and airbrushed skin…THIS IS NOT THE EFFING REALITY OF PREGNANCY. 

The focus is wrong, the emphasis on sexualising the pregnancy body is weird to me. Jesus, I used to enjoy sending races pictures to Alex, now, I cant get half an angle, never mind a good angle!

I don’t like how I feel, or how my body looks. I feel huge, my boobs are sore and jiggly, my ovaries feel like they are stretching and my high waisted jeans are high flying.  This time last year I was a size 8 with a six pack, and now … well I’m like some kind of permanently uncomfortable seal.

I also feel that I have lost my identity whilst being pregnant, but that is a whole new conversation. I lack energy, I lack patience, and I seem to lack any form of good mood – all of which I didn’t lack only a mere 33 weeks ago.

I want to take away this pressure, sure, you may be absolutely loving pregnancy, but there are a hell of a lot of women who are not. I know that I cannot be the only one, and guess what….THAT IS A-O-KAY!

Let’s look at the facts, I am exhausted, all the time, and not in some cute kind of ‘oh I’ve only been to the gym 9 times this week, made a home cooked meal every night, packed healthy smoothies for all the kids and now I’m a bit too tired to solve world peace today’ kind of way.

I’m talking I walked upstairs to take a shower and had to sit down halfway for a time out while I got my breath back kind of exhausted. Oh and I ache, oh my god I ache, you know I don’t think I’d mind as much if i’d actually done something more than sleep, walk and talk! I want to make this clear, pregnancy does not have to make you feel beautiful or confident  and you do not have to enjoy it, everyones journey is different.

For me, the magic of pregnancy is about the moments when you feel that little bundle of life move inside you? Isn’t that the beautiful bit? I mean yeah it does kinda look like there’s an alien squirming around in there, but honestly watching my girls and Alex get excited about the new baby gives me a feeling that just doesn’t compare. The beauty in pregnancy for me is all about the first times. The first flutter, the first time you hear a heart beat, the first time you see the baby at the scan not the first time i get a decent picture of me naked.

Yes, there’s days when the sun is shining and your heartburn subsides (for a few hours) and everything is all rainbows, puppies, adorable baby outfits and you kind of feel like you’ve got your shit together, but the next day you wake up to this insane back ache, accompanied by the fact you can no longer see your toes, shave your bikini line (God help the midwife), the kids need dressing, feeding, taking on the school run and the reality settles in.

I don’t want the added pressured to feel I have to look good, or embrace the way my bloody body looks or feel pressured to feel a certain way about pregnancy. I want to look exactly how I feel on that day, which is usually some combination of a ‘Ratty dragon” and ‘my hair hasn’t seen a hairbrush in days’. But this is bloody normal!

We are incredible women just growing a human, that is enough in itself. We don’t have to look hot off the catwalk, we don’t have to love pregnancy, it doesn’t mean we love our baby any less, or we are any less of a mother. It just means we look REAL and are HUMAN!

Lots of love

Jess

Jessica Cunningham enlists celebrity mums to celebrate mumpreneurs

Jessica Cunningham enlists celebrity mums to celebrate mumpreneurs

Jessica Cunningham enlists celebrity mums to celebrate mumpreneurs

The Apprentice star set to host an exclusive business event for fellow mums.

Heavily pregnant Jessica Cunningham is hosting the very first Mother Of Maniacs Bloggers/Press launch with fellow celebrity mums Stacey Solomon and Jacqueline Jossa as well as hugely successful parent bloggers Jessica Jones and Mre.Souer.

 

The Apprentice and CBB star, who is expecting her fourth child this summer, will be sharing stories on how and why you should always follow your dreams, improving self-confidence, tips on juggling the work/family balance and how to cope with negativity online.

 

The event, which takes place on the 30th May at Beaufort House in Chelsea is expecting a host of celebrity names and influencers to help other mums get into or improve their businesses.

 

Jessica said, “I meet so many fellow mums and dads on a daily basis who talk about how they wish they could start their own business, or take the first step in monetising their social media that it felt like the perfect fit to create a business event for mums and parents who really want some business support but aren’t sure where to turn”

 

The event, which is being supported by businesses run by mums or parents such as Shnuggle, Babycup and Gummee will be a one-stop shop event in helping ‘Boss Mums’ make their mark in the business world.

 

Jessica said, “Being a mum is a full-time job in itself, yet there are thousands of mums and dads at home with the best ideas for new products but no idea where to begin. 

 

Some of my favourite products such as the Zip Us In, which is a jacket appliance that makes your coat into a maternity coat, Bambizi which literally sell the most gorgeous nursery furniture, and Fill N Squeeze are now absolutely invaluable to new parents but the ideas behind each had to come from the fellow parents behind them, as we’re the ones who know exactly what’s missing for us on the market, one of our Boss mums run Planet Mermaid – A mermaid inspired swim tail!”

 

Jessica also added “I also think so many working mums and dads underestimate the power of well-being and how that is linked to success. A lot of parents feel they can’t have time to themselves, they feel guilty for it. We can’t be the best version of ourselves if we are tired constantly, energy is a huge source for success. I know the importance of taking 30 minutes a day to reenergise myself is. Whether that is an Iroha facemask in the bath, a coconut water whilst meditating or a bit if Sienna X fake tan. I always take 30 minutes a day to reenergise, we need to let parents know that is ok.”

 

 

 

The event is expected to host famous faces including Leanne Brown, Jess Impiazzi, Dawn Ward, Kristina Rihanoff, new parents Portia Jett and Ore Oduba and many more.

 

 

 

 

Editors notes:

 

What’s available for media?

 

  • Quotes from Jessica Cunningham and hugely successful Mum Boss CEO’s
  • Interviews with successful online influencers
  • Interviews with successful Mumpreneurs – all the above mentioned run a hugely successful business whilst being full-time parents
  • Interview with event organizer
  • Press Passes for the event for the press to attend