JulieBhosaleAchive

In my earlier blog I shared with you my challenge to feel ok about taking Me-Time, I sought out some advice and ideas around this and really took on creating some ‘Me-Time this past week. My husband and I had a couple of discussions about different ways we could improve how we were currently juggling everything. We spoke about stopping something but it was not really want we wanted to do, so our best option was to find different ideas to manage what we do have on. Something that I realised was that I often leave my ‘Me-Time’ until the weekend – and this just never ends up working out. Due to the self-directed nature of both my PhD and business work, I often end up squeezing this into pockets of time when my son is asleep in the weekend, cutting down possible Me-Time - I also do not want to ‘leave’ my son in the weekends as this is really our time together. If I do, even just letting my husband look after him for an hour, I end up feeling guilty and torn. Just realising that this does n...

We were out of our supply of snacks so this morning I whipped up these super simple banana muffins. When I say this morning it was more like crack of dawn as Arjun was awake at 5.30am this morning - so what better activity on a cold, dark morning than to do some baking together. Well, I mainly did the mixing while Arjun watched with his lions and books but he was still involved :) When we came home from soccer lovely fresh muffins were waiting for us.... 'mmmm yummy' was Arjun's comment! You can easily adapt this recipe to suit your tastes. I made this completely sugar-free using only the banana for a natural sweetness but you could add chopped dates, raisins or even 1-2 tablespoons of low GI sugar if you are working on cutting your sugar down. You could also add sliced or finely chopped almonds for an extra protein boost.   Super Simple Banana Muffins: A one bowl wonder which has warm muffins in just under 20 minutes and a great way to use up old banana's - it does not...

As many of you know I am a busy person. I juggle being a mum (and a wife), running a business, teaching and studying a PhD. I often get asked how do I do it?? To be honest, I don’t really know. What I do know is that I love being a mum AND I love my work. I thrive off being busy, pushing my capabilities and  helping other families lead healthy lives – yet sometimes the balance tips. Sometimes I wonder if it is all worth it? I think that all I want to do is be a mum and a wonderful wife who manages to keep the house immaculate, have dinner on the table every night and take my child to mummy/baby activities. Though lets be fair, this is not the full picture of a stay at home mummy (just my pretend picture when work gets too much) and I know in my heart I want the best of both worlds – just without the sacrifices. Last weekend the balance tipped for me. I was behind in my work from the week and needed to work in the weekend (which I do not like doing) – while being a mum, and giving the h...

Inspiration for this blog came from reflecting on our day (Saturday) while watching Arjun in the bath. Saturday was our second soccer morning – but the first one with Arjun in his ‘Little-Kicker’s’ uniform, and now very much part of the ‘team’. In turn, I felt like an official soccer-mum. Little Kicker’s is a soccer programme designed especially for introducing toddlers into soccer. I found out about it from a friend (always the way) and was delighted that they took children from 18-months old. It’s not that we have a driving ambition to turn Arjun into the next All White, rather, he is a VERY social, active boy who thrives off on being around other children with an activity to do. So we enrolled him in soccer on Saturday mornings and years of Saturday sport now stretch out before us. I could not help but reflect on how fast life has changed for us, and interestingly I have no regrets. Both my husband and I have been avid sports people our entire lives, and while we still try to keep a...

Since I have become a blog writer, I read a lot more health blogs and I feel frustrated when I read about the ‘importance’ of getting a good 8 hours sleep in and going to bed early to ensure quality sleep. While I will advocate for this, for a mum, especially with children under the age of five it is typically an unattainable goal. I do not think I have actually slept for 8 hours straight since my son was born, and if he does actually sleep through I am still sub-consciously aware of him so I know it is not a ‘deep quality sleep’.  It can only take a couple of bad nights for sleep deprivation to really take its toll on our overall wellbeing. Nutrition is often the first thing to go out the window when this happens as you crave instant energy, have no mental (let alone physical) energy to spend on food preparation and your mood can really take a dive, taking will power for good food with you. I was inspired to write this blog after a terrible week of sleep, peaking at its worst on Satur...