A straight up, energising, bowl of goodness to kick start mothers day… 

I wanted to keep things simple for my mothers day Bioglan Supferfoods –  powered breakfast post. The reason for this is not to over burden you with making a big breakfast, thus creating lots of mess and quite possibly causing a bit of a headache (not a good combination for a mellow Mother’s Day!) so instead with just a couple of ingredients and a blender i thought it would be nice to whizz up an Acai Bowl… It looks pretty and decadent, gives you an energy boost, is light to eat, but still fills you up, bursting with goodness and only takes a minute to prepare… kinda screams “one for the mamas” don’t you think…

What you will need…

• Bioglan Superfoods Acai + Berry Powder
• A little plant milk of your choice (I used Almond)
• Frozen chopped bananas
• Raw honey or a date or two (optional)
• Berries, cherries (your favourite fruit)
• Granola, dried coconut, nuts, cacao nibs, seeds, bee pollen whatever you love to sprinkle!

Blend your frozen bananas, Bioglan Superfoods Acai + Berry Powder, and plant milk to make an ice cream consistency and simply “dress” with your favourite fruit, nuts and sprinkles… done!!

I have decided to write a few words about being a mama, not so much about the rights and wrongs of raising children, more about us, as women, who now happen to be mamas…

Here is us… no finely executed, face tuned shot here i’m afraid… this is the reality of our family portrait… a complete disaster!!

I once heard a lady say she felt that she’s a better grandmother than a mother, because she has so much more time to enjoy being with her grandchildren than she did with her own kids… this made me feel sad and absolutly determined to never let this happen… but its no easy task…

This brain dump about motherhood is simply my trial and error approach, my findings, my journey, if you like. While most the time i feel like i’m winging it, sometimes, just sometimes, i do good and i think, “yeah man, i rock at being a mama”, and these are some thoughts i would like to share with you…

Have you noticed how being a mama (i refer to myself as mama while writing this, because this is what my children have always called me, i have never been mummy, they are half Belgian and this is what Belgian children call their mummy’s so it felt natural) anywaaaay as i was saying…

Have you ever noticed how being a mama is so much more enjoyable when…

You are not…

• knackered
• hormonal
• stressed
• possibly, once in a while, a little hungover
• constantly battling to keep on top of the house, washing, walking the dog, garden, cooking and not to mention stressed / worried about money and work commitments… argh the list goes on!!!!

Yeah –  being a mama is so much more enjoyable when the above don’t come into play. What really sucks though is the guilt that creeps up on you when you don’t feel like you’re being a good mum (by the way, i’m sure none of us are bad mums, we just seem to tell ourselves this when the above list strikes and consequently makes us feel a zillion times worse)

Anyway my intention here is not to bring you down, its to celebrate us mamas, whether you are are one, have one, going to be one… heres to us! its hard work but, oh my, there is nothing, NOTHING as wonderful as being a mama. Nothing prepared me for the love, the fierce love I feel for my kids.

Here are a few of my,.. i wanted to say ‘survival’ tips to help with the above list, but i don’t mean survival, i mean, more,… lets say personal revelations that might help you really enjoy being mum!

• Sleep!!! easier said than done with babies, i know, but if you can – don’t be a martyr, if you are shattered you will not function properly, FACT. Try to grab some sleep when your baby is sleeping, sod the house work… better still, get your man, mum, friend to take the kids off for a couple of hours and sleep in, just try and catch up, everything is so much more manageable when you are not exhausted. I now try to be in bed by 10pm every night and never ever look at a screen (phone, ipad etc) in bed, if i do i can kiss goodbye to an extra two hours sleep. Again, this has been, and is a constant battle for me – thankfully at the moment books are winning!
• Bloody hormones! What do you think… for me there are about 2 weeks a month when I feel really happy, on top of my game, attractive and energised… ,outside of this golden time i always try and will myself, you know mind over matter and such, to make myself feel upbeat and positive when i have PMT, yeah right… nope… everything sucks and now i have kind of learned to accept it, given into it… I warn Sam (my husband) that i might possibly be an unreasonable arse, but i still love him and please bare with me… i also make sure that i get to see my girlfriends, sometimes just a good chat, (or rant) on the phone to a super close friend is all i need to get me back on track… and i find moving my body really does help, keeps the old positive endorphins blasting… its not rocket science, no short cuts, just health, love, sleep and friendships seem to help…. Being hormonal does suck though… oh lord and its just occurred to me that Raphi will be going through adolescence when i hit menopause… note to my husband, LEAVE THE BUILDING!
• Arrgh stress… its a killer! i have by no means figured out how to cope with stress by the way, and for some reason when i decide to worry about things its usually between 3 and 4 in the morning… because obviously i will solve all my concerns at that un-earthly hour!!!! Idiot!! Anyway, the one thing that i would like to say about stress and being a mama is that, my Children have taught (forced) me to relax, be more present and to not try and control everything! By this i mean not worrying that the sitting room looks like there has been a major explosion in Lego town, that the washing from two days ago is still hunkering down in the dryer and that the whole house could do with a visit from the hoover… now I just do what i can… i actually like the house being full of toys. I love the times i walk into a room to see little lego men at war with dinosaurs, or Huxley’s owls hanging from home made hammocks dangling from his bed, and this morning his remote control train came blasting along the track, around the corner and now seems to go from his room to ours, with a note in the carriage asking me to tick boxes for my breakfast order! And you know what its a pain in the arse trying to hoover, clean around all these toys and creations, but my goodness i’m dreading the day everything is how i left it, and it will happen so quickly. It feels like, when you try and control situations or behaviour, life becomes bland, forced and ultimately it doesn’t work… so relax and try to go with the flow and really, how important is an immaculate house, i’m sure that when i’m a very old lady i wont say to myself, thank god i kept everything ship shape… i’ll hopefully say, i created a home that our children thought was the best place in the world, where there was music, art, cooking and creativity and that all ideas where considered no matter how ridiculous, because quite simply i learnt to stop stressing and have time for the truly important things… so this is my little mantra at 3 in the morning… stop stressing, the people i love most in the world are all healthy happy and secure under this roof, lets enjoy each other while we are all together. It’s but a blink of an eye!
• Hungover- Well, honestly, how could you! you’re not fit to be a parent!!! yeah well, in my opinion what a load of old nonsense… just because i’m now a mama it doesn’t mean that i’m not still Hannah… for goodness sake! obviously i now try to be far more balanced in the way i live my life, i guess this happens organically with age and then throw in a couple of kids and those late evenings of wine and frivolity are significantly reduced… At times I have even toyed with giving up booze entirely – after a few dry months here and there i have come to the conclusion to just be balanced. Eat healthily, exercise, get sleep, occasionally have wine with friends and hopefully dance into the night – because this is life, and i am not going to exclude certain parts, because all this stuff makes me happy. And if I’m happy – there is a good chance that I’ll end up being a better mama.
• Keeping on top of everything… – hey i really don’t mean to go on, i just think all of us mamas need to give ourselves a break, so much is expected of us – be kind, organised, calm, house-proud, efficient, sexy, career minded, technical, effortless, understanding, fit, stylish, successful, creative, a good partner, mother, daughter, friend…  i don’t know – the list goes on – it’s actually tricky to get to properly enjoy our children, to learn to play again and stop getting so bogged down with stuff that maybe isn’t as important as the little people in our lives… we try to do so much, but the thing i’m sure we will all be most proud of, our biggest achievement, probably wont be our jobs, garden, house… it will be the little humans we have created and the way they go out into the world… Enjoy them, love them and hold them while you can!

Happy mothers day you incredible women! X

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