Best planners for 2017

Welcome back to Being Called Mum! We have been missing in action for a couple of months  now but here we are with a new look and a new post for 2017. We will be posting weekly from now on and would love to hear suggestions from you, our readers, on what you would like us to write about. 

But first we have a post on the best planners we have found for 2017. It is a little late but many of us aren’t very organised and will still need to track one down. Here’s the top 5 for 2017 that you can still get your mits on for the new year.
 

1. Erin Condren Life Planner 

Erin Condren has a mass following online and for good reason, her life planners are beautifully made and have everything one may ever need in a planner. You can customise the covers, add your name, pick the layout and the colour scheme. They are expensive, with the cheapest option beginning at $50 USD but a lot of people would say it’s totally worth it. You can get the Life planner here 

2. Personal planner 

Another great option for those of you who want to be able to customise their planner. You can chose your cover, your layout, the colour scheme and can add colouring pages, suduko or note pages to the back of the book. There are 5 size options, with the smallest (mini) starting at $29.95 and the largest (A4) priced at $59.95. All with free shipping you’d be a fool not to check them out!
3. Busy bitch daily planner 

This daily planner is full of sass and colourful illustrations. It contains packing lists, shopping lists and conversion charts. It’s a planner for those of you who want a daily layout with a humourous twist. Priced at $32.00 it as affordable as it is beautiful. Head over to That Effortless Bitch to purchase now.
4. Amelia Lane Paper life designer compact 

This planner is a gorgeous option for people who are looking for something that has sections for to do lists, finances, vision boards and weekly scheduling. Priced at $44.95 and available in sky blue and black. Head over to Amelia Lane to purchase before they sell out! 
5. Kikki K sweet diary 

This diary is for those of you who want something visually pleasing to plan your week in. Kikki K offers this sweet diary in A5 form for $34.95 and can be purchased here. However if sweet really isn’t your style I’d strongly suggest to head to Kikki K anyway as they offer options from a minimalistic diary to full on agendas so there really is something for everyone.
So there we have it, a round up of the best planners for 2017. Leave a comment below with what you are using to plan your new year, a suggestion for upcoming posts or anytjing else you’d like to share

 

Until next time, 

BCM 

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Photo of the week!

Here at Being Called Mum we have decided to introduce a new series! Every Wednesday I am going to post a photo (or two if I can’t decide) from the week that has been. It’s a great way to showcase us as a family and what we do day to day, week to week. Spoiler alert it isn’t much! Hahaha. 
So up for our very first ‘Photo of the week” is my lovely baby bump! I felt like most of my photos I show, will be of Rhemy (and why shouldn’t they be) but this week I actually pulled my finger out and took a photo of my 27 week baby bump. These past few weeks have been crappy, we have seen more midwives and had more scans then I would like but when I feel the little baby kick, it makes it all worth it. The love you feel for someone you have never met is insane and I can not wait to be a family of four and to be a mama of two beautiful little girls. Bring on the adventures, the laughs, the tears and the love! 

See you next week for another photo of the week, we are actually off on a family holiday so we may have more than one photo!

In the meantime, I am working on a review of my new tablet, the iPad Pro. I use it for uni and day to day activities and found it difficult when researching before the purchase to find any decent reviews. Please let me know if this is something you would like to see in the comments section. 
Until next time,

B xx 

An open letter to all the mothers…

Hey there, yes you ! 

To the mother trying to pretend she has it all put together, the mother who actually does, the mother  who has had nine hours sleep last night and the mother who has actually had none! To the mother who’s house is immaculate and the mother who’s house is a dump, to the mother who’s baby weight fell straight off and to the mother who is heavier then before. To the mother of one and to the mother of ten! 

We are all the same, treading water in the same crazy wave pool! Trying to raise a family, raise decent, loving, honest children. Some times they love us, sometimes they don’t! Sometimes days are smooth and wonderful and others are long and exhausting. Sometimes we feel like we are winning and sometimes we truly feel we are not. Sometimes we need a shoulder to cry on and sometimes we need to be that shoulder! 

We are all quick to judge – forgetting that we are all heading towards the same goal! Others try and advise mothers how to bring up their children. When we all know its always best to leave the decision making up to the child’s parents. What works for you, doesn’t always work for them! We should build each other up, not tear each other down. 

So next time, you see a mother dealing with a toddler tantrum – give her a compassionate smile, not a condescending sneer! Next time you see a mother with two young kids and another on the way, offer your congratulations not a chuckle under your breath! (It’s not as subtle as you think)

We are all in this together, the more we feel supported, the easier this crazy roller coaster ride of parenthood will be! 

I support you, do you support me? 
Until next time, 
B 

ABC Baby name tag

All over YouTube is a tag known as the ‘ABC baby name tag’! Basically you pick a name for a boy and a girl for each letter of the alphabet that you love. I thought this would be a fun tag and might help some of you who are in the process of naming a little one. 

I’m going to be a little bit cheeky and not add in any that I am still considering (code for trying to convince my husband) for our own little bundle. Here goes: 

                  Girls                             Boys 

A:            Amity                              Axel 

B:          Brinley, Brielle              Blake 

C:          Charlotte                         Coby

D:         Delilah, Dylan                 Drey 

E:          Eliza                                  Emerson 

F:           Freya                                Freddie 

G:          Gretel                              George

H:          Hartley                           Henry 

I:           Indigo                              Ira 

J:           Josephine                        Jax

K:        Kinley                               Knox, Kamden

L:       Lilac                                    Luca 

M:     Milla, Matilda                 Maxton 

N:      Noah                                  Nico

O:      Odette, Olive                   Oliver

P:        Peta, Petra                      Paxton

Q:       Quilla                                Quinn 

R:      Rhemy, Reese                  Rocco

S:       Sloane                                Silas

T:        Trixie                                Tennessee 

U:      Ulyana                               Ulwyn

V:      Vivienne, Valentina      Van 

W:     Wren                                 Wyatt 

X:      Xanthe                              Xander 

Y:       Ysabel                                – 

Z:       Zuri                                    Zane 

Until next time, 
B 🙂 

Halfway! 

Today marks 19 weeks in my pregnancy, as I will be having an elective c section at 38 weeks this is half way! I can not believe it is already halfway, it feels like we only just found out. So many people say your second pregnancy seems to go quicker and they were right! I’ve been so busy with Rhemy turning 1 (still can’t believe it!) and our weekly day to day lives that the days really just turn into weeks in the blink of an eye! 

Next week we are heading to Adelaide for my obstetrician appointment and 20 week scan, we are going to try to find out the sex of the baby. I’m really interested in what this little one is, but I’m pretty sure I already know! I’ve had a strong feeling since the day we found out we were expecting, so I’m keen to see if my ‘mothers’ intuition is right! I haven’t bought a single neutral piece of clothing this time, as I never put Rhemy in them, so I am hanging to go shopping for baby things after our appointments on Friday! Whether it’s more dresses or little chinos I’m busting to know.
What team are you? Pink or blue? Share below! I’d love to hear what people think we are having! 

I’d love to share my reasoning for another c section and for why we are finding out. Would anyone be interested in reading a post about that? 

Until next time
B 🙂 

Spoil yourself mama! 

I know that once children come into our lives, that our paychecks tend to go to them and honestly that’s how I believe it should be! It’s totally acceptable for the children to get the majority and the parents to go without. However I know my husband is reading this and wondering when I have ever gone without and that’s because sometimes I think it is totally acceptable to treat ourselves! 

Whether it be purchasing something new, getting pampered or going somewhere that we enjoy. We as adults deserve something for ourselves! My husband and I are really into spending time as a family so we like to spend money doing things all together. I enjoy getting my nails done on occasion and like to splurge on makeup and handbags, my husband also has his vices. We don’t go overboard but we do allow ourselves treats, Rhemy is our priority as are our bills etc, but we like things that make us happy too.

Not everyone will agree with me and that’s okay but I think it’s perfectly acceptable to do things to make yourself happy, even something simple such as a cappuccino before work instead of a instant coffee one morning a week. Im a firm believer that a happy house produces happy children! 
Share your thoughts below !
Until next time

B 🙂 

New room for baby and me.

Since our family is expanding we are doing a shift around in our house. We are hoping we can accommodate our new addition without completely breaking the bank.

We have decided that we are going to move into our spare room, Rhemy is going to go into our room and the baby will go into Rhemys nursery. When we did her nursery we made it gender neutral, so other then removing her name from the wall, we don’t have to do anything else. 

Now comes the fun part, decorating the two rooms. Rhemy’s is easy, we are doing Disney princesses, we have purchased a wall mural and the other walls can stay white. I’ve got a beautiful bookcase my parents painted with fairies when I was a child, that I am passing down to her and I’m hoping to keep everything else  minimal and fresh. 

Our room is a bit trickier! I’m not sure what colour scheme I want to go with. We know we want a king size bed, huge built in robes and honestly that’s as far as we have gotten. Any inspo you guys might have for our main room, feel free to share! 

I’m excited to share our progress with you all once the work begins.

Until next time, 

B xo

The best baby name app! 

Now as I have said before we struggle when trying to agree on baby names and while it is only early days, the same can be said this time around. I think it may become easier when we know the baby’s gender but I could also be kidding myself! 

Enter the app, that I now consider my little life saver BabyName. Basically you and your partner both connect to the app and become linked. Then you flick through the names, swiping left if you don’t like and right if you do (yes, tinder for baby names!) Any matches that you find get listed so you can go back to them later. 

What a genius idea! It is supposed to help prevent  arguing over names, I’m yet to believe this one as I may be one who will push a bit if I find a name I love that he hasn’t matched to me. I guess time will only tell, in the meantime it’s fun and I can’t help but get excited when I see a little egg pop up on my screen to tell me a new match has been added to our list! 
What did you use as your naming tool? Did you read through books, search through pages on the Internet (been there!) or did you find a little gem like this app? 

Let me know below! 
Until next time, 
B x 

Morning sickness sucks! 

This week we ticked over 13 weeks pregnant with our newest bundle of joy! While I am beyond excited and truly can’t wait for our addition to join us, I would be lying if I said the last five weeks haven’t been testing. 

I’m just going to put it out there – morning sickness sucks! I am sick most days and it lasts all day! Work feels long and I’m tired all the time. I’m napping when Rhemy is and I am finding it difficult to keep on top of my uni and housework. So to my friends I’m sorry I’m always tired, my house a mess and my mind a jumble. I’ll come good, I promise! 

  

I’ve come to the conclusion that pregnany doesn’t agree with me and that’s okay. When I was younger I had a water bottle that I used when playing sport that had “no pain, no gain” printed on the side of it. Pregnancy for me reminds me of that quote. The gain I get out of it is totally worth it and something I definitely don’t take for granted! But I’d be kidding myself if I said there wasn’t some kind of “pain” and that’s not even considering the actual birth! 

How’d you get on? Was pregnancy a breeze for you or did you vomit for 30 weeks? 

Do you have any morning sickness remedies? Cause please share them if you do! 

Until next time, 

Brylee-Peta 

xo

And just like that, we are gunna have two under two! 

So happy, excited and busting to announce that Rhemy, Sean and I are welcoming baby #2 to our family. Our wonderful bundle of joy will be joining us November 2016! 

  
Here’s a quick debrief: No it certainly wasn’t planned but yes we definitely want another! I’ve been sick as all hell and I’m already starting to show. Rhemy doesn’t have any idea but soon enough she’ll have to share us and a part of me thinks she’ll love it and another part thinks I’m kidding myself. 
Today I just wanted to announce our exciting news, but I will be sharing my journey as we go! Wish us luck 🙊 
Until next time 

X