Parenting a toddler

A day in the life of Mummy the Fibro Warrior

I want this parenting with fibromyalgia blog to be fun, as well as informative and helpful, so I thought it would be good to do a light hearted post detailing a day in the life of Mummy the Fibro Warrior. Follow my day coping with parenting, fibro and all the bits in between!

An outline of my parenting with fibro day

Morning

3 a.m. Don’t let it be…it can’t be the sound of little baby feet running to my bedroom door…!

3:30 a.m. Trudge reluctantly back to his room and eventually think I’ve managed to settle him back down.

4 a.m. However, admit defeat and bring him back to my bed.

7:30 a.m. Henceforth wake up with a dead arm and a cricked neck after an awkward sleep position, curled round my boy. Try and have a sneaky look at my phone before….ahhh the kid’s awake! Let parenting commence!

7:35 a.m. Excitedly, my boy springs out of bed, runs to the wash basket in the corner of the room and proceeds to shout “Daddy!” Obviously, my boy knows who does the washing in this house.

7:40 a.m. Downstairs for breakfast, morning tablets for my health, coffee and of course pancakes for me! Yum! Self care at its finest.

8:15 a.m. Excitedly see my Personal Independence Payment has been approved and subsequently my back pay has gone in to the bank! Woooh!

8:30 a.m. Relax with my coffee while my boy watches Little Baby Bum on Youtube (or Moo Moo as he calls it.) Message my friend about doing a new tattoo for me.

8:40 a.m. Anxiety kicks in and all of a sudden I start to wonder whether I can get a tattoo whilst breastfeeding?

8:41 a.m. Luckily, I conclude it’s safe for me to do!

8:45 a.m Husband leaves for work, so time to snuggle up on the sofa with my boy, breastfeed and read some books which is such a lovely part of parenting.

9:22 a.m Time to get dressed but unfortunately Charlie’s on strike and won’t go up the stairs. Try to think of an inventive way to get him to go up and basically throw a little bottle up the stairs and say “where is it?” Works a treat!

Out of the house activities

10:00 a.m. My boy says out! Since I didn’t have any particular plans for that day, I ask him if he wants to go to the library and he says no. Then I ask him if he wants to go to Costa and he says yes! So, Costa it is. Mummy has a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows and a gluten free chocolate brownie whereas Charlie has a baby chino, some of mummy’s marshmallows and a biscuit. My mum and sister also came along, too.

11:00 a.m. Costa is followed by charity shop bargain hunting where I found Charlie some new DVDs, games and stickers! Unfortunately, Mummy starts to feel a little poorly with the cold she has at the moment and my chronic fatigue has started to kick in and so I conclude it is time for home.

Afternoon

12:00 p.m. Time to play with his new puzzles and educational games and most importantly stickering everywhere. We also put on his new Bing DVD in the hope that I could have a drink and a break. Finding time to rest from time to time in a busy day is super important!

12:30 p.m. Don’t judge but tomato soup from a can today as feeling a little poorly. We had lunch together in the garden where Charlie proceeded to gobble it all up and then we had ice cream afterwards as a treat for my sore throat!

1:30 p.m. After lunch, we decided to head to our local library as I needed some new books to read. Charlie and I had a lovely time playing, reading, eating biscuits and seeing friends.

3:00 p.m. As we were getting back in the car from the library my boy shouted “park, park, park!” Ideally, I wanted to go home but I decided to see if his cousins were about and luckily they were so we had a lovely park trip in the sunshine. Adult conversation for me with my family and playing for Charlie.

4:00 p.m. Given that it was far too hot we start to head home for some TV rest!

4:45 p.m. Oh dear…someone’s nodding off to Chugginton!!! Nothing a quick breastfed and stories couldn’t sort before he was springing about again doing roly polys.

Evening

5:15 p.m. Start cooking tea which is pasta with chicken and bacon tonight, onions, mushrooms and Primula and completely unprompted my little boy runs outside into the garden and brings me the soups bowls from lunch! He also then starts to take the washing off the radiators. Bless him.

5:45 p.m. Seeing that it was nearly time for daddy to be home we head for a quick walk up the street to greet him. Excitedly, Charlie runs shouting “daddy, daddy, hat, bee” up the street as Jamie bikes home from work and wears a helmet (hat) and there’s a bush up the street that’s always covered in bees.

6:00 p.m. Yummy tea but I start to feel the effects of the busy day on my body.

6:20 p.m. Some reading time for mummy, whilst Jamie takes Charlie for his bath.

6:45 p.m. Supper and stories before his bed. Tonight’s bed time will be a doddle she thought…

7:15 p.m. Come on Charlie night night now off the boob

7:30 p.m. Mamma’s feeling poorly night night now…(please!)

7:45 p.m. and we have lift off!

This is a true reflection of my day today. Nothing has been embellished or added or removed. This is meant to be an honest blog that shows you parenting with a chronic illness. I hope this blog has inspired you in some way today.

Summary of my day parenting with fibromyalgia

All in all, a really lovely day today but as always I have done too much! My back is aching and I am in pain, my throat is sore, my arms are sore and I’m super tired. Looking back at this blog post should help me on the road to self improvement when it comes to managing my condition whilst parenting, too.

Mummy the Fibro Warrior Parenting Top Tip:

1. My biggest advice would be to try to find more moments in the day to relax and focus on your physical and mental health so that at the end of the night you are not exhausted and burnt out.

If there is one takeaway I’d like you all to remember today is that each day is what you make of it but you need to listen to what your mind and body is telling you. I need you to know you are doing the best you can, your child/children love you just as you are and you are Mummy the Fibro Warrior.

Until next time,

x

p.s. What does a day in your life look like? What time does your child normally wake you up? How do you find moments for yourself in your busy day? What is your favourite drink and snack from Costa? I’d love to know in the comments below.