Mummascribbles meets…The Third Pregnancy – Mummascribbles

Every week I feature an interview with a blogger, so that whether you know of them or not, you can get to know them a little better! This week we meet the lovely Alice from The Third Pregnancy. Thanks so much for taking part Alice 🙂

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your family.
I live with my husband, Oliver, children Mary, Charlie and Martha and our gerbils Crispin and Connor (yes, Connor O’Connor !) in Wiltshire. Oliver and I met ten years ago in Manchester during a software training session Oliver was doing for the hospital I worked at. It sounds cheesy and a bit far-fetched, but the moment I saw him (he actually had his back to me at the time) I had the overwhelming feeling that he would always be in my life somehow. Needless to say I could barely concentrate during that training session! We had our first date a month later and fell in love there and then. I could ramble on about our story for hours (!) but I’ll stop before I turn away any potential readers!!

What do you like doing to be you, when you are not parenting, working (if you do), or blogging?
I like being outside, especially in beautiful countryside. Windy, autumnal, wild weather days are my favourite. But I do love to get back inside and wrap my hands around a good cup of tea! I like eating curry, a lot. Especially Oliver’s curries. And watching the American version of The Office (controversial, I know) – we lived in Chicago for three years and watched it there on loop, so now whenever I watch an episode, or even hear the credits, I’m taken back to that place and time and all the fun we had there.

What is your biggest achievement to date?
Becoming a birth doula and breastfeeding peer supporter. It took me a long time to get my career act together.

From your own experiences, what do you find the hardest part of parenting and what is the easiest/most rewarding part?
The hardest part is handling the monotony of it all – the continuous daily routine and the same old protests and arguments! I’ve never been one to stay still for very long, so doing the same type of thing day in day out for me is pretty tough.

The most rewarding is seeing how my children care for each other, how they cheer each other up or stick up for each other. I love seeing them play and giggle! It feels like a little “give back” for all the hard work we put in to raise our children to be loving, respectful and happy individuals.

Parenting in itself is no mean feat; how do you juggle everything you need to in order to get everything done on a daily basis?
Ha! Can I say wine?? Or at least coffee, tea and chocolate? It does feel like I never stop. And there’s always something to be done, I never manage to cross everything off the list! But we have a rhythm and gentle routine, and I’m able to work quickly and multitask pretty effectively now!

Why did you decide to start blogging?
I wanted to stay connected to my career as I’m predominantly a stay-at-home mum who volunteers and does short term contract work here and there. I’ve only worked sporadically whilst having my children; I said to myself I would step back from my career for ten years or so as I raised my children but I’m missing my work a lot and so blogging is a way for me to stay in touch with it.

Tell me a bit about your blog?
It’s called The Third Pregnancy and is all about pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding, I chuck a little bit of info about me in there too but it’s mostly written as a practical resource for parents and caregivers. The majority of my posts are like articles I guess – I love researching and looking at the facts behind things, so it’s very evidenced based.

What do you want your blog to achieve and where do you hope to see it go as it grows?
I want it to become one of the main childbirth/pregnancy/breastfeeding advice sites out there – that would be amazing!! But if I just get one or two readers a week/month, and they’ve found my posts useful and beneficial which supports them to have a healthy and happy pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding experience, then I’ll be very pleased with that too! These subjects are my passion and career, I’ve loved babies and pregnancy since I was a little girl so writing about them is really enjoyable.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking about starting a blog?
Don’t underestimate how much there is to do on it! It’s full on, and the to-do list keeps growing!! And to make sure you write about what you love. Oh, and don’t think you need to necessarily write everything on your laptop/tablet/PC etc. – I write a lot of my posts by hand then type them up – I find I can get my ideas and thoughts out a lot easier and quicker that way and then I can edit as I type up. It takes a bit longer, but there’s also something satisfying about putting a pen to paper…

If you could have dinner with three people (dead or alive), who would it be and why?

1) My husband – he works in London during the week so we only really get to spend time together at the weekend

2) Chevy Chase, but ideally he’d be in character as Clark Griswold.

3) Tina Turner – she’s just…wonderful.

Tell me three random facts about you

1) I can bark like a dog. It was my party trick at University and I could set the whole neighbourhood off!! My children find it funny but weird/scary.

2) I’ve moved house 9 times in the last 6 years.

3) My baby daughter’s middle name is inspired by my favourite character from Game of Thrones.

Along with her blog www.thethirdpregnancy.com, you can also find Alice over on Twitter.