Good morning to you all. It’s Friday. I was actually off yesterday and I am off today too. Just to get a few bits and pieces and I’m on the hunt for a new spring coat. Any shop recommendations are appreciated.
Today Nyomi is joining me on the blog. She blogs at Nomipalony.
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First of all, tell me a bit about yourself.
I’m 33, from and living in North East England. I have a 5 year old boy Arlo and 1 year old girl Lena. I blog part time at www.nomipalony.com which is a feminist family lifestyle blog. In my spare time, I love music, gigs and festivals.
How many times were you woken last night?
My kids are notorious sleep thieves and my Fitbit tells me I was woken up 14 times last night. That wasn’t even a bad night. I’m chronically sleep deprived.
Do you co-sleep?
Yes, we co-sleep and bedshare with both my kids. Papa Ginge sleeps with Arlo our 5 year old and I sleep with my toddler Lena as I’m still nursing her. We would have a huge family bed but the kids are both wild and would wake each other but I see it coming in our future! We’d love them to sleep on their own but it’s not the way they are wired.
What time do you normally wake up?
The kids tend to get up between 5am-6am. Anything over 6am is a lie in at our house.
How much average sleep do you get a night?
On an average night I get about 4.5 hours broken sleep but we often have a lot of bad nights.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Breastfeed my toddler.
Tell me about your typical morning routine.
My typical morning I get the kids to brush their teeth and give them breakfast while Papa Ginge showers. Then Papa Ginge comes downstairs and irons his work-shirt while watching the kids and I run upstairs to get myself ready. If it’s one of my work days then either I head out first around 7am and walk to work or we all head out together and Papa Ginge will drop me off and then drop the kids off at school and nursery. On the days I don’t work I put the toddler in the stroller and my 5 year old goes on the buggy board and we have a 25 minute walk to school breakfast club at 7.45am.
When and how often do you prepare the family dinners? Give us a few examples what you would cook.
I tend to do all the cooking in our house. Papa Ginge might cook one day a week if I’m lucky. My favourite is to do crock pot meals just because they can be put on in the morning when my toddler is happiest and then it’s just to serve at the end of the day when both kids are at their worst in the witching hour. My son is allergic to dairy so we eat a lot of dairy free meals. We regularly have stuff like an organic chicken roast dinner all done in the crock pot; stews; casseroles; spag bol; sausage, mash and veg; chicken pad thai and pizza.
What’s on the menu for lunch?
For lunch it’s simple stuff for me and the toddler – scrambled eggs, salmon and avocado; soups; houmous, pitta and crudites; sandwiches; salads; quinoa and mackerel
What activities have you got planned for the day for the kids?
Now my son is at school our days revolve around his drop off and pick up because each takes an hour. We tend to get home around 8.45am and I let Lena free play for as long as she is content and I’ll blog/tidy/clean/get the crock pot on for dinner while she’s content getting sole ownership over all her brother’s toys for a change. Then when she starts to get bored we might have a dance to some music, do some drawing together, read some books or just watch some tv (and I can blog again). Then we will eat our lunch around 11/11.30am and after lunch I’ll put Lena down for a nap (getting her to nap can take an hour in itself). While she naps I will work with a cup of tea and radio 6 on. I usually have to then wake Lena up to go pick Arlo up from school. We get home around 3.40ish and the kids will play/fight together the rest of the afternoon.
Do you generally eat dinner together as a family or get the kids fed first?
The kids and I eat together because Papa Ginge gets home too late for the kids to eat but when we are home together we all eat together.
What do you do after dinner?
After dinner we get tidied up and we’ll have the TV on and free play. I’ll do Arlo’s homework with him if Lena is compliant, usually she won’t let me! I attempt to tidy up but the kids are usually messing it back up faster than I can get it away. The kids tend to get a bit hyper at this point and are usually running around screaming playing chasey or ‘pillow mountains’ aka, pile all the sofa pillows up and jump around on them.
What is your bedtime routine?
Papa Ginge will take the kids up and do teeth and pjs (we don’t bath them every night) while I run around and give downstairs a quick tidy up/sort bags for the next day. Then Papa Ginge will take Lena upstairs to read books and I’ll do Arlo’s homework with him. Then Papa Ginge will attempt to get Lena asleep but she will inevitably scream for me so we will swap over. It generally takes me an hour or so to get her to sleep. Arlo goes to sleep much faster these days. We usually reconvene downstairs between 8-9pm
Most importantly, when and where do you normally blog in those 24 hours? Do you have a schedule?
I blog in dribs and drabs when the kids are playing happily and when Lena naps. Then I often work at night once the kids are asleep for an hour or two and fit in a couple of hours on each day at the weekend. My son said I don’t play as much anymore which stung and honestly I think that’s true so I’m mindful of not neglecting them to work. It’s hard, the hardest thing about being a parent blogger is blogging around the parenting.
Thank you Nyomi. This is like reading back my own night time routine. Both our kids tend to sleep in our bed too but we need to keep them separated or no one shuts the eye. The oldest can stay in his bed sometimes when he knows he’s getting a reward.
Blog URL: www.nomipalony.com
Everyone loves a follower more. What social media platforms can we find you on?
https://www.youtube.com/c/Nomipalonyuk
https://twitter.com/nomipalony
https://www.facebook.com/nomipalony
https://www.instagram.com/nomipalony
https://uk.pinterest.com/Nomipalony/
https://www.snapchat.com/add/nomipalony
https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/nomipalony-14691989
I love Nomipalony’s blog and could listen to that accent all day on Insta Stories! Agree that it’s so hard to fit everything in. My erratic blogging schedule sounds similar!
Thanks so much for including us!! It’s great to be featured. I will share on my channels too!