I don’t think anyone can have missed how much I love my baby boy and being a mum. It’s like I finally found what I’ve been searching for without even knowing I was looking for something.

I’ve been asked a few times how it feels now that Alfie is here with us and how it feels being a mum. I say that I’ve always been Alfie’s mum he just happened to arrive at this time is our lives.

With that said it’s very apparent to me that parents need a break every now and then.

I’m not saying I don’t want to be with Alfie, I’m not saying I don’t want to be a mum or that I want to go back to my life pre-baby (ok, mum-police!).

What I am saying is that parents or anyone caring for children need a break from the immense emotional outpouring from time to time. Why? The clue is in the previous sentence – immense emotional outpouring.

I just feel so much all the time when I’m with Alfie. Just looking at him, feeling his little hands, seeing his smile and everything he does makes my heart do summersaults a million times over.

Because of that and everything that comes with being a new parent – which is like fumbling in the dark on a good day – we all need to get a little time to ourselves every now and then.

Jack and I have previously had two nights away from the little poop-face that is Alfie since he was born 7.5 months ago. This weekend was our third.

We went to a wedding of one of Jack’s old school friends. The wedding was up in Manchester at the Lowry Hotel. It was great to see the newly wed couple cutting cake and dancing. They looked so very happy. So did all the guests. It was really a great wedding party.

What I cherish the most from the weekend was the time to reconnect with Jack.

Couples who have babies don’t really get a lot of time to just be a couple. It’s so much focus on all the other stuff: Life admin, keeping a baby alive and all that.

It’s very easy to forget each other. But I saw us again. The us before the baby. It was amazing.

I remember at one certain point of the evening we stood next to each other and then we cuddled and I looked up (Jack is almost two metres tall) into his eyes and realised how much I’ve missed him. And how much I’ve missed us, together as a couple in love.

We were able to have that moment and not be interrupted by a baby crying or in need of a nappy change. Loved it. Absolutely fucking loved it.

I cannot wait for the next little mini-break. Nothing planned yet but I think we will look into planning little mini-getaways (or whatever you want to call it) as often as we can.

Which isn’t that often, let’s be honest.

But not only does it give you that great satisfaction of having something to look forward too it’s also fun to plan it together 🙂

If you have people around that are able to support you and take care of your baby – if even for an hour or two – do it!

No matter if you’re in a couple or being a superhero single-parent. We all need that break. Even if you’ll just put your pjs on and play games on your phone. Take that break.

I truly believe we all need to take much better care of ourselves. It’s far too easy to get caught up in the hamster wheel of life. So now I’m going to dream about the next mini-get away to plan together with Jack..

Enjoy your day and hopefully you’ll get to sleep well, even if it’s only five minutes at a time.

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