“Instinct is a marvellous thing. It can neither be explained nor ignored” – Agatha Christie

Its that time of the year again. The time where you get completely bogged down at trying to be the perfect mum. Trying to arrive on school on time with two Little Love’s who you had to drag out of bed. Preparing that ‘perfect lunch box’ for school the night before and really thinking about all the healthy snacks you have scrutinised inside – purely to show the teacher you are a wonderful mum. Obviously it isn’t for the benefit of you’re Little Loves. We all know they will only complain when they get home about the ‘weird stuff they found’ in their lunch box! Drop off seems a hassle. Obviously being over 40 degrees celsius and having to park miles away from the school gate in the desert, walking through the hot lava, I mean sand. Lets face it, that will never be a great start to the day. However finally getting to the gate and meeting mums at 7am looking like super models really takes the cake! Like when do these Mums actually get up! I can barely function at 5:45am when the alarm goes off. I like to think my Little Loves are thankful I brush my teeth and hair before bringing them into their class rooms!

Today I decided to forget about the peer pressure (lets face it, thats what it is) and just BREATHE! I enjoyed my little love’s more and not let the competition of busy take over. Truth be told It is just to easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the daily routine. Before you know it you go from drop off to pick up, commitment to commitment, activity to activity, event to event, all of the days melt into one another and looking at the diary the end is not in sight! Days, months and years are going to pass by and we seem to be on this amazing adventure without enjoying the ride. I know that is all a mouth full, but only a week and a half into the school year, my anxiety is high and this is all I’m thinking about. I literally asked myself today, “Are you happy being Taxi Mam!”

The timing of the reminder to ‘just breathe’ from a friend couldn’t have been better!            I have decided to allow term one to be as it is, the start of the school year. Who is forcing us to start all the extra curricular activities at once? No one! It is just about what you can handle at any given moment. Between Little Red doing Guitar, Glee Club, Musical Theatre, Irish Dancing, Camogie, Football, Swimming Lessons and Home Work – When exactly was down time? When was Aoibhie’s turn at an activity?

It was worth sitting her down and asking her, ‘Are you happy?’ Now of course her answer was yes and she loved all this activities and couldn’t possibly live without them. However, when I sat with her and explained how long Mammy is in the car every day and that I felt she was missing out on some fun adventures, she was very quick to respond with her own requests. From now on Little Red has a new plan for home work (Sunday straight after school), she would love to have a play date once a week, she would love to have time before bed to colour in on her own with music on and she would love time to play barbies with her sister.

I really have realised now that time is going by way too quickly and I would prefer to have less commitments and enjoy the little moments more. If there are times that you feel you have too much going on I think that is the time to take a step back and evaluate what you can take off of your plate. Try finding the time to enjoy some quality fun with your Little Love’s and also figure out a time that you can have YOU time. I am only realising now how important that time is. I am going to enjoy more baths, early nights and relaxing music when My Little Love’s are in bed.

When they are awake I am going to give them more time, not just be their taxi mum!

So a BIG glass of wine tonight as I felt I earn’t it!

Heres to not overextending ourselves and to really appreciate living in the moment…