Tag Archives: australia

Haute Mom: Mim Jenkinson

Mim 07Name: Mim Jenkinson
Children & Ages: 2 year old daughter and baby son.
Hometown/Current Location: Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
Quick Bio: I’m a 30-something Brit living in Australia and a mother of a 2 year old little girl and a baby boy. I’m an advocate of hypnobirthing, positive thinking and laughing at myself and I’m pretty much making up parenting as I go along. In November 2015 I was annoyingly diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer and after a successful lumpectomy, I’m currently undergoing chemotherapy. Professionally, my career spans creative and business writing, social media management, project and event management, marketing and coaching. Want to work with me?  Find out more here.

I started writing Love from Mim in 2013 on my first maternity leave but more consistently when pregnant with my second baby.  It’s a place for my parenting, pregnancy, travel and home ideas and inspiration. You can get in touch with me by emailing mim@mamamim.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lovefrommim
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lovefrommim
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/lovefrommim
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/lovefrommim
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Mamamimblog
LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/mimjenkinson

 

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Q: What is your “go to” snack/toy/show/trick when your kids start to fuss?
A: Banana and grapes – works every time for my 2 year old. Luckily she eats everything and thanks to baby led weaning with her, she chooses fruit and vegetables over the unhealthy stuff every time. If that fails, we put Frozen on for the millionth time.

Q: How do you balance being a Mommy and keeping your sense of self?
A: I have very little ‘me time’ but I make the most of every moment I have on my own – which is generally when the babies are sleeping. My life has changed in many ways.  I’m a Mummy now, every second of every day and I love it. That said, I haven’t lost all of the ‘old me’ and I still love catching up with friends, laughing as much as possible and I write every day. Blogging has given me a wonderful outlet to write about whatever I want and absolutely helps me stay ‘me’. Country music is also my passion (mainly at karaoke) and listening to that in between the nursery rhymes help a lot too!

Q: What is your favorite piece of advice to new Moms?
A: Be kind to yourself – Parenting is hard, really hard at times. It’s beautifully rewarding too but there might be times you feel like you’re just ‘not getting it’. Ask for help if you need it, especially in the early days when a 30 minutes sleep might just do the trick in revitalising you. Never be afraid or too proud to ask for advice.

Q: Share your best or favorite place for a family vacation and tell us why.
A: We’re so lucky to live in beautiful New South Wales in Australia. We’re surrounded by amazing beaches within very easy reach and we’re only a couple of hours from Sydney. Australia is a great place to raise children with a big focus on being active and outdoors and we’re spoiled for choice with beaches, parks, walks, zoos and more.

Q: What’s your most memorable Mommy moment to date?
A: Giving birth to my beautiful babies via hypnobirthing. I felt completely in tune with my body and their arrival and on both occasions was a truly calm, peaceful and magical experience. At the start of my pregnancy I was terrified of childbirth but studying and practicing hypnobirthing changed my life.

Q: Share something you have learned about yourself since you became a Mom.
A: I can survive on very very little sleep.  Very little!

Family Outing: The Wiggles in Concert

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We took the boys to see their first concert ever — we did bring them to see the circus last year, but this is totally different! We were taking them to see an actual “group,” and not just any crew…but “The Wiggles.” Raef started digging them BIG TIME last year at some point, and so little brother Isaiah has pretty much been exposed to the foursome since birth. So, if you’re not familiar with this group, they are four performers from Australia, 3 guys and a gal… the original crew had 4 guys. So when my boys saw Anthony, Lachey, Simon and Emma hit the stage, they were in awe! Captain Feathersword, Dorothy, Wags and Henry (the Octopus) were also part of the colorful live cast.

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I think they have been so accustomed to seeing them on TV, that they were pretty shocked when they had to process that these characters they sing and dance with everyday were in the flesh, right in front of them. And — as any “wigglers” parent knows, the songs and tunes are extremely catchy, so you will know them ALL and be able to sing right along and join the fun. It really was a good show and once my duo warmed up and processed that the real deal was right in front of them, they had no problems grooving along.

It was a really good show! I’d say about 90 minutes of fun and entertainment. They started right on time and there was no intermission (which I can only imagine the “activity” if an entire theater packed full with toddlers and preschoolers got up for a break), but the show moved along really well from start to finish. At one point a few of The Wiggles even got down from the stage and  roamed the aisles collecting roses and flowers for “Dorothy the Dinosaur” and Bones for Wags the Dog… I kind of wished we had been on the aisle when they walked by, but what can you do? We were 8th row front and center, and that was key…I can’t imagine being up on the balcony. It was cute though because Raef was so concerned when they got off stage and started walking around among the crowd…he kept his eye on them til they safely made it back ito the spotlights!

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And — since you can’t go to a concert without bringing home some kind of swag…we opted to get each of our boys a Wiggles branded light up swirly thing – it came in super handy for Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. So all in all their first concert was a HUGE success, well worth the money we spent on 4 tickets and an awesome family outing!