The last 6 weeks have gone in a bit of a blur. It feels like an eternity ago that I was pregnant, and all of a sudden Neve is here and we are a family of four. Now that I have two children, I don’t get a great deal of time to relax and unwind but when I do, those moments are quite precious!

How do you unwind with child free moments?

For me personally, I obviously love to blog. I set up Real Mum Reviews when I was on maternity leave with Erin, largely because I wasn’t used to life away from the office, and wanted something slightly technical and creative to keep my brain active when I wasn’t doing my normal day job. I love blogging, I love the community feel with other bloggers, and I love the fact that I can genuinely say some of my readers have become virtual friends and a great support network over the years! 🙂

Aside from blogging, I relax by watching terrible TV – and by terrible I mean cringe-worthy shows like Dating in the Dark, First Dates, Gogglebox and Made in Chelsea – and I’m not even ashamed to admit it! 😉 I also love drama series such as Ordinary Lies and Humans – looking forward to season 2 starting soon! I relax by snuggling up on the sofa with my other half! (and yes he has to watch those shows too – we take it in turns for remote control ownership!!)

sofa-2

Once my fitness has returned following my traumatic post section experience, I will return to the pool and start swimming again. I find swimming a real stress release, and it gives me lots of time to think.

Other than that, as a Mum of two, sometimes just having a bath with “posh” products, completely on my own is a simple but well earned luxury!

Rattan Direct recently created a survey to understand what parents do to unwind around the home.  Please help Rattan by completing the survey and we will share their findings shortly!

• https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/37BFHD9

The survey is broken down into three main areas:-

1. What parents do to unwind around the home?
2. How are you going to celebrate Christmas this year?
3. Has Brexit affected your spending habits around the home and garden?

We are spending Christmas at home with family this year.  It will be our first Christmas as a family of four and I cannot wait. I LOVE Christmas, and love creating traditions that our family can share year on year as they grow up. On Christmas Eve, we have my Dad round for dinner and the kids get their Christmas Eve boxes, which include a festive DVD and some snuggly new pyjamas. I love being warm and cosy in our home whilst its cold and crisp outside, and it’s even better this year as Erin really understands about Father Christmas! 🙂

xmasevebox

This year we are going to my Mother in Law’s for dinner on Christmas Day. We spend a bit of time rushing around between family homes, but for me, spending time with your loved ones is what Christmas is all about! 🙂

In terms of Brexit, not forgetting that we haven’t actually ‘brexitted’ officially yet, my spending habits are yet to change at all. I still have a bit of a shopping problem, in that I seem to be incapable of resisting girls clothing, despite having a loft full of Erin’s hand me downs for her sister! 🙂 I have however started my Christmas shopping earlier than normal, although this was due to me being on maternity pay at Christmas and not down to my concerns about Brexit. Our mortgage renews in 2017, so it will be interesting to see what, if any impact that has.

Please do check out the survey and we will share the wider results as soon as we have them! 🙂

*Disclosure – This post is written in collaboration with Rattan Direct*