Balancing Business and Motherhood

You might have noticed my content is moving a little more towards architecture, drawing, and, in general, entrepreneurship. Life is and should be, after all, about natural growth and constant evolution. 

First off, let’s just say balance doesn’t exist the way we imagine it to. Work and family aren’t equal. The scales tip in either direction at different times of the day, week, month, or year. So that notion of fair, or equal is nonexistent. 

As a Mum

You are in the trenches of it all. All the noise, all the mess, all the milestones, all the joy, all of it almost all the time. 

Then they go to school and you miss it ALL. 

As an Architect

You live and breathe architecture. You know when someone’s an architect, you can spot them a mile away. They’re the odd one, wearing black, probably with funky glasses, and touching (or knocking on) all surfaces of a built structure. 

I have a sketchbook in the nappy bag and I have nappies in my Kate Spade laptop bag. 

But the two worlds don’t (don’t) easily blend. 

You’ve heard it before.

The identity of a woman changes when she becomes a Mum

It’s hard to explain - this might resonate with you or you might disagree. This didn’t happen to me until my kids went to nursery. So I kinda felt left out of this feeling until then. Until I realized these little monkeys had been my 24/7 for 2+ years each and I didn’t know how to go back to ‘normal life’ now they were off with their wee gangs at Leikskoli. 

…Did I want to? 

Oh my. That’s a scary thought. 

Designing out the next chapter

So I’m doing what I do best. I am designing. But I’m designing my life, my 9-3:30…until I can pick them up again, and yes, early because I am that helicopter Mum who missed them so much. 

• Architecture

• Design

• Drawing

• Family

• Iceland, etc. etc

These are all important pillars to me and so as I dive back into the studio, and my online courses, I’m opening up and sharing more about design, mindset, and all that is balancing business and motherhood in this next chapter of life. 

Stay tuned.

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if you are a mum getting back into work, what are your worries, fears, goals, hopes & dreams…

Welcome to the world, Angus Óðinn

Welcome to the world Angus Óðinn, born on the 14th of October 2021 at 9:01 pm in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Just like with Mia, I wanted to capture something from Angus’s birth without oversharing or being too graphic so please enjoy the family-friendly vlog. I went to the midwife for a check-up that morning, and as discussed, she did a sweep. After going for a lovely autumnal walk with Ingimar, I went home for a nap and woke up to my waters breaking at around 14:30 - similar to with Mia. I labored at home for a while and headed into the hospital at 6pm, Angus was born at 9pm. A happy, healthy little boy at 50cm long and 3.810 grams.

Watch the video

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Mummy, Pabbi & Mia love you so so much Angus xx

Mia Turns 3

Dear Mia, our cheeky little monkey. Happy birthday, today you turned 3!!

We have a three-year-old!!

Wow, what a big girl and you are so excited about your birthday this year. “Happy Birthday to me…”. You love singing and dancing, and asking to see videos from your previous birthdays - watch Happy Birthday Baby Mia. You absolutely love swimming and are very brave with your armbands on so this year we are going to Guðlaug Baths which is a natural pool on the coastline at Akranes.

Watch the video

ROADTRIP

Guðlaug is about a 40-minute drive from Reykjavik so we set off to pick up your cousin Kjartan and Auntie Ella Franka before hitting the road. You were so excited sitting beside Kjartan, singing, and screeching. Mummy packed some snacks and the birthday cupcakes for the drive home to Reykjavik, where Pabbi took us all out for lunch.

OOTD

Today you wore your Mickey & Minnie Mouse dungarees and you rocked them!! You hate having your hair done, much to Mummi’s disappointment.

THE CAKE

This year’s cake was blue and on the theme of Frozen, one of your favourite films to watch. It was a chocolate cake with blue icing and white chocolate stars on top in the shape of a 3. You ate a huge slice of it and then took half the cake to Leigskoli to share with your teachers.

I also made some cupcakes for our road trip - Kjartan loved them!!

MIA’S PRESENTS

A lucky girl, you got lots of fun presents for your birthday from magnetic blocks to unicorns, and a huge princess “ballaloon”. You also got the characters from Frozen, some bath toys from Freyja and books sent from your little pal Freddie.

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Happy Birthday our cheeky little monkey Mia xx

How I Knew I Was Pregnant Before A Positive Pregnancy Test

From tracking my cycle and ovulation to going over my early pregnancy symptoms, this is how I knew I was pregnant before I got a positive pregnancy test.

Watch the video

Tracking ovulation and my cycle

In this video, I go over the early pregnancy symptoms that made me think I was pregnant before I took a test and got a positive!! I was 99% sure I was pregnant BUT I had felt this before. After all, you can trick your mind into pregnancy symptoms and I have done that before. They’re not huge or obvious symptoms but I know my body so here we go, pregnant at 40.

Remember - every pregnancy is different, every woman is different.

Natural Family Planning

This is how I knew I was pregnant before a positive pregnancy test. I tracked my ovulation and cycle on Flo and in my diary. We practised natural family planning: I had regular periods and I knew when I ovulated so we could avoid/plan for pregnancy.

symptoms in Days Past Ovulation:

• 2 days sore boobs (only time)

• 3-6 days headaches/migraines, stopped drinking coffee, quicker (than normal) to get annoyed

• 7-11 days nausea, clear skin, less hair falling out

• 8 days cramps on the left side (implantation?), increased discharge, tired, emotional

• 9 days back pain, bloating

• 14 days past ovulation POSITIVE TEST

my last period

I got my period on my birthday and just thought “Why?!!” It felt like such a rubbish birthday present. But, in hindsight, this was to be my last period and so dated the pregnancy which was pretty cool and actually a really great birthday present.

Other symptoms

Ingimar pointed out that Mia had become very clingy to me, she has never really favoured one parent over the other but suddenly she was a bit more of a Mummies Girl. She was always by my side, telling me she loved me and stroking me. It was lovely but also like she just knew something was up.

And what followed

The last few weeks and months have been spent feeling very tired and nauseous. My days are ok but come 4 pm, the nausea kicks in, and then by 6pm I’m so tired (toddler mum) and nauseous that I can’t finish cooking dinner. By 8 pm, after the bedtime routine, I fall asleep with (or before) Mia.

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What early symptoms did you experience?

WE'RE PREGNANT!!

We’ve been keeping a secret...There’s a new creation in the works!! We can’t wait to welcome baby number 2 in October 2021!!

Watch the video

I am now 12 weeks pregnant so sharing our news and doing this pregnancy announcement is very exciting as it's been a big secret to keep. Getting pregnant with our second child wasn't easy, we tried for 7 months and finally, at 40 years old, we got a positive pregnancy test result.

We feel so blessed, so happy and so excited. Thank you for joining us on this journey.

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Who’s excited? we sure are!!