Welcome to the first post in my new Living An Unconditionally Nourished Life monthly blog series.  The idea behind these posts are to give you an unedited insight into my life behind the blog, which you may see more of on my Instagram Stories. I wanted to have a similar perspective on my little corner of the internet too because I feel that in a era of over-edited and stylised posts on social media we could do with some more realism in the world. 

Living an unconditionally nourished life isn’t about the highlight real or being insta-perfect. It’s about knowing that you’re living your best life in this moment as you are right now, mess, flaws and imperfections included. These are what make us human, unique and beautifully diverse.  It’s totally normal to make mistakes and not having your sh*t together because that’s just life.  We could do with a little more realism in the world, which I hope you pick up from my blog posts and social media.

January feels like the month that just keep on giving in terms of never ending.  I’m not one to wish the days the way, but it does feel long.  This month as a family we’ve been exploring the local area more, which was one of my intentions for the new year. We’ve actually managed to visit quite a few places this month, including Cresswell Crags, a gorge that’s in the middle of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire full of ice age caves and other prehistoric finds. 

They say that things happen in threes and that was certainly true for me getting ill this month.  A cold, conjunctivitis and a sickness bug all at the same time knocked me for six.  It’s so hard being poorly when you’ve got little ones to look after. I really just wanted to hide under the duvet, but sadly I had to keep on going albeit at a slower pace than normal. Thankfully, Alfie was a great help when he wad home from work. I’m feeling much better now and it was a great reminder that’s it OK to take a few days off, which can be challenging when you work for yourself. 

After my Self Care Bliss Challenge earlier this month I wanted to continue those magical self care vibes throughout January and bought myself these lovely tulips which was actually one of the prompts for the challenge.  I’m loving all the spring blooms that are about at the moment, so nice to see them earlier in the year.

Sweet little Amelie is now 6 months old.  It hasn’t been the easiest 6 months getting used to life with two.  When I was pregnant, so many said that going up to two is easy as the second just slots around the first.  I have felt a little inferior at times because there have been moments where I’ve really struggled when others seem to be getting it so right. Juggling two little peoples needs has been challenging, especially those bleary early days.  The first few months were the hardest, but things have got easier as we carved out a groove that works for us.  She’s such a lovely, calm and happy baby and we couldn’t imagine our lives without her now.  

We’ve had so much fun watching Aiden get involved in the local Junior Parkrun this month – he absolutely loves it! He’s got so much energy to burn so it felt like the perfect solution to use some of it up in a positive way.  Every week he’s been excited to go running so it’s definitely now a permanent fixture in our family life. 

January Love List

• Sunny wintery walks
• The massive furry hood on the coat that I got for Christmas to snuggle in on our walks
• Luther! I’m so late to this party, but it’s so good. I’m totally hooked!
• Stila Smudge Stick –  I got this in my beauty advent calendar and it’s been adding some daytime glam to my panda eyes.
• The Motherkind Podcast by Zoe Blaskey

How was the first month of 2019 for you?  What’s on your love list this month?