SUPER WAYS TO Enjoy Your Maternity Leave

Prearrange at Least Three Days of Help Line up your help, and play to each person’s strengths. For example, your mother might be great at grocery shopping and cooking, but virtually useless when it comes to waking up at night for a feeding. Your friend might be great at entertaining you with “Sex and the City” DVDs and keeping you company when you get lonely, but be hopeless at diaper changes. Getting help early makes it a lot more likely that you’ll feel energized and ready to have fun later on.

Accept The First Weeks Will Be Hard

Those first few weeks with a newborn are a shock to everyone’s system. You’re getting used to being a sleep-deprived, milk-leaking mom; your baby is adjusting to living outside the warm comfort of your womb; and your husband is adjusting to being a dad.

This is not the time to pressure yourself into running around being social or productive. Simply walking around the block can feel like a major accomplishment. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t make plans; just make sure the fun is on your terms and works for you. That cute little bistro where you and your best buddy used to brunch may be too cramped for a stroller.

Make Mummy Friends

Brand-new parenthood can be lonely, especially after your help has departed and you’re facing time alone with a helpless baby. So if you see another pregnant woman at Starbucks every day, strike up a conversation.

WILL YOU GO TO WORK OR STAY HOME?

Another vital issue when it comes to choosing new mommy friends is whether you’re planning to go back to work or stay home. Here’s the problem: If you’re going to stay at home, no matter how much you bond with the working types, you’re not going to see each other much once leave is over.

So it’s best to find a mix of both mums you’ll see at the playground every day, and mums you can walk with on weekends. Working mums can really benefit from friendships with other working mums because they often have the same schedule and experience similar issues.

Test Gear

I lived in fear of the BabyBjorn. Never mind that it’s hands down the most convenient way to carry a newborn.

There are so many straps and buckles, I was afraid I was going to hang myself or that the baby would slip out through a leg hole onto the road.

The lesson: Try out the gear you fear before you have the baby so you’ll have the hang of using it by the time he’s arrived. Return any stuff you don’t like before you break it or baby spits up on it, whichever comes first.

Me Time

Allow yourself some ‘me’ time!

Try to give yourself some down time between leaving work and the baby’s arrival. Ideally, you’ll have finished your baby shopping and can concentrate on the important things like sleeping, reading and watching Mad Men – those simple pleasures that are soon to become precious luxuries. Oh and triple checking you’ve packed your hospital bag.

Make the most of your baby nap gap. Forget Facebook and Homes Under The Hammer – use your baby’s nap times to do something constructive. Whether it’s writing that novel, researching youramazing business idea or teaching yourself how to knit, maternity leave is the perfect time to let your creative juices flow.

Spend the day in your PJs Why? Because a) you can and b) you deserve it!

Mums-to-be Bucket List

1. Eat the entire confectionery contents of a corner shop.

2. Go to the cinema, loads.

3. Get a completely useless, expensive beauty treatment.

4. Treat yourself to a beautiful, very small, impractical bag.

5. Take a day trip ALONE.

WORK OR A FAMILY? OR BOTH?

This is a question Beth Follini from Ticktock Coaching gets a lot. She’s a life coach who helps women decide whether or not they want children. “If work is your passion and you don’t have a strong desire to have a child, do you have to give up your life’s work for motherhood? My job is to show people their choices –it might be difficult but they can make it work.”

Follini asks clients to identify senior female role models in their industry and analyse how they manage career and children. She also cautions against caring too much about what everyone else says or does. Since becoming a mother I know I’ve been guilty of urging friends wavering on the issue of parenthood to go for it – I love it, so they will, right? But doing it before you are ready could cause resentment towards your new lifestyle, partner and baby. “I would never tell people to just do it,” says Follini. “Women can feel overwhelmed by everyone else’s opinion. Listen to your own voice and feel confident in it.”

Joolz re-introduce

A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION OF ITS ALREADY MUCH-LOVED AER BUGGY

I had no inkling as to how much becoming a mother would change my life. Four years ago, I had a glamorous senior job on a fashion magazine in London, I travelled extensively, I went to parties with the A-list, I wore Louboutins. Now I have two small children, I work freelance three days a week, and you’re more likely to find me on a bouncy castle in my Converse. My life in 2012 is not better or worse than my life in 2008, it’s just different. You find a way to make motherhood work for you; you get on with it. I didn’t ever get the corner office in New York, but I still visit on work trips. I’m toying with Glastonbury sans enfants next summer, just like the good old days (but I’ll have to go to bed earlier).

My advice? Ditch the pre-baby bucket list. Don’t do it unless you feel ready but don’t ever expect to feel completely ready. And if that thin blue line comes out of the blue?

If you find out, unexpectedly, that you’re pregnant? Take a deep breath, take 100 deep breaths if you need to, and don’t panic. I promise that you’ll make it work, if you want to, like you always do. Your life will change, but you won’t.

Joolz, the stroller brand putting parents in control and the planet first, is thrilled to unveil the evolved Aer+. Adapted to further support the modern family whether popping to town or travelling on their first family holiday, the elevated and eco-conscious new design offers the ultimate ride for adventures near or far. Light as a feather (weighing just 6 kilos) with the ability to fold (and unfold) in just one second, one handed. Made from 100% recycled fabrics and now with a number of exciting updates, Joolz is continuing to take strides to ensure the Aer+ is the buggy for families today, and the future.

The evolved design of the Aer+ includes all the features the predecessor is known and loved for, but now features further innovations to make families lives even easier.

Some new and improved features

• Bigger ventilating SPF50 sun hood to provide even more protection

• With a swift adjustment, the ergonomic seat can be brought into a full lie flat position.

• New wheels with LED light* for safety

• Bigger basket (17L)

• Peek-a-boo window on the Aer+ cot

• Improved folding button.

• Unique one-piece fold design enables parents to pack away the pushchair without having to remove the cot - genius!

• More spacious seat

• More advanced harness for well-being and safety.

• Seat liner and backrest will offer more support for upright sitting.

Still fits perfectly in an overhead locker so is ideal for family adventures and city trips, without having to compromise on comfort.. In addition, as the buggy weighs only 6 kilos, it can be easily carried with its very handy buggy strap.

What is truly unique about the Joolz Aer+ is that every element of the design has been created with sustainability in mind. From the fabric of the buggy that is made from recycled PET bottles, the recyclable and reusable packaging and the new and unique 10-year transferable warranty (which means it can be passed to another family in the future), right through to the brand’s promise to plant a tree for every pushchair sold, this is a brand that is helping to build a better world for the next generation to inherit. Every step (and stroll) counts!

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