Meet Mommy

I’m no one important.  I’m no world-renowned author or authority.  I’m not spectacularly rich.  I grew up modestly, attending government schools.  I won’t be found moving in the same circles as the latest celebrities, and my parents are your standard-issue, middle-class, parents-of-the-80s – no legendary musicians or politicians birthed this woman.  In most ways I am superbly normal, some would even dare to say dull.  But allow me a moment, if you will, to introduce myself.  My name is Tamlyn – a 28-year-old wife to Rodney and mommy to a gorgeous baby boy we’ve named Richard.

I’m a person with a broad range of interests who is always up for a new challenge, sometimes to the exasperation of those around me.  I have studied archaeology, geography, drama and, most recently, wedding planning.  I have a number of hobbies, including reading, writing, jewellery-making, yoga, crocheting and cooking; and I love few things more than creating something with my hands, listening to music or watching a great movie or TV show with my man or my bestie.  But as much as I’ve enjoyed my life, there is nothing I’ve wanted more than my own family – and on March 25^th, 2013, that dream came true.

Not too long ago I was an aspiring academic, an archaeology student on her way to a future of lengthy digs in secluded regions, and even lengthier papers to be submitted timeously to her superiors.  When I think back on how my life has changed since then, I can barely believe that is who I was.  My days are now filled with nappy changes and tummy time and cuddles and heart-melting smiles.  And I’ve never been happier.  No one can explain this change to someone who hasn’t lived it themselves.  Something happens to a woman on a very primal level when she becomes mommy.  Deep inside all of us is a lioness who will do anything to protect her young, we just may not know it yet.  But sometimes even a lioness has her doubts.

And so we reach the crux of what I have to share.  In the few short months I have been a mother I have come to realise a few truths.  Life as a mother is an education like no other, with a steep learning curve and no user manual.  All the expert advice and best intentions cannot prepare you for your own special bundle.  There is no fix-all when it comes to children!  Solutions are as unique as the children we bear, it is up to us to find what works, and not feel like we are failing because we do things differently.  Life with children is unfailingly funny!  It is difficult to stand in one’s own lounge, naked as the day you were born because little one chose that precise moment to throw up all over you, and not laugh!  And I have also come to realise that sometimes we just need a place to go to relate to others like us – to find that our irrational fears are not unique to us, and that everything is going to be just fine.  Somewhere we can go for a little practical advice that might just work for our little one, or at least lead us to something that will.  And somewhere we can go to laugh.  This is that place, or at least I hope it will be.

Here I will be sharing my own experiences of mommyhood, the serious and the humorous.  Read about my triumphs and perhaps glean a bit of wisdom from my failures.  Whether you’re a first-timer, like myself, or a veteran of the art of child-rearing, I hope that my journey will at least inspire a chuckle.

Here’s to happy babies, and even happier mommies!

Smiles