Mummascribbles – Mummascribbles meets…First Tooth – Mummascribbles

This week we meet the lovely Lizzie from First Tooth. Thanks so much for taking part Lizzie 🙂

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your family
We’re a family of 4 and our toddlers have only a year between them. Call us crazy because we probably are! I stay at home with the devilish kiddies all day while my partner works across the country.

A year ago we made a huge decision to move away from friends and family and bought ourselves a modest three bed home (to accommodate our second surprise baby) on the edge of the country and a stones throw from the beach. We love our new little town but if only we could have moved our previous life with us!  

What do you like doing to be you, when you are not parenting, working (if you do), or blogging?
A lot of the time I like to do nothing. I like to snuggle on our little love seat in front of the TV or while reading a book and diving into a huge bag of Mintrels. But that’s because parenting toddlers is absolutely exhausting!

Otherwise, I love to bake and cook, get a little crafty, by myself – I never craft with kids. Music and dance is a huge passion of mine, followed by a very boring session of cleaning. When I get the chance, I really enjoy organizing and cleaning, mess makes me a little snappy.

What is your biggest achievement to date?
Would it be cliché to say my kids? A pain-relief free birth – two times. I wouldn’t recommend it, but it deserves bragging rights for all eternity.

From your own experiences, what do you find the hardest part of parenting and what is the easiest/most rewarding part?
Right now we’re parenting two toddlers. One is 2, the other is 1. So I’m currently finding every outburst from my eldest a little shocking. They’re flung at us with no warning and can be about the craziest of things. The other day he had a meltdown because his porridge was sticking to his spoon. I mean, it’s meant to do that. So sometimes I’m not sure how to pacify the situations.

Those times are hard but I’m finding it much easier than the baby stage. Babies are the sweetest little things but tough little creatures. The night – wakes, the frustration of learning new milestones, the innocence of not understanding dangers, the big clunky buggy and overflowing bag, it’s all a little overwhelming.

The most rewarding part is watching them grow into wonderful children and thinking ‘I did that’. Once they start expressing their love and giving choke-hold cuddles it’s the best feeling.

Once my two started to walk and talk I suddenly felt a little more freedom.

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?
Some days I wing it. I let them set the pace and we keep everything fairly relaxed. Other days we have a strict routine. If it weren’t for a routine I wouldn’t be able to get things finished. So we have set naptimes, milk time, lunch, an outing etc and I try to keep it all within a schedule.

Our evenings are always the same routine, otherwise the buggers never go to sleep!

Why did you decide to start blogging?
Originally I wanted to start a YouTube channel and base it around cooking and baking. Then once I’d set all of my social channels up ready for this, I discovered blogging.

I knew blogging existed but I didn’t realise how huge it was. I started reading a few blogs and I thought ‘I can do this’. So I did. I set it up as a hobby, a way to document snippets of our life, to express myself in a community of like minded people and to create something I can be proud of.

Tell me a bit about your blog?
Firstooth is a parenting and lifestyle blog. I have a strong sense of humour and enjoy a lot of sarcasm so I hope each post is either entertaining or informative.

It’s a recording of our family life with tips for parents who are searching for them. As Firstooth grows it inspires me to write more everyday, something I hope inspires my readers too.

What do you want your blog to achieve and where do you hope to see it go as it grows?
My hope is that my community of readers grows and will hopefully help with a career in writing. I’d love to add an article in a lifestyle magazine or a parenting magazine, that truly would be a dream come true.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking about starting a blog?
Go self-hosted straight away if you’re thinking about taking it seriously. It’s much more customisable and with every little tweak you’ll love your blog more.

Another thing I wish I had told myself is keep it personal, be your true self not what you think people want to read and don’t rush posts. Once you start a blog don’t try and fill your online space with as many posts as possible, I made that mistake and if I’m honest a few of them were pants.

Take it steady and have fun with it!

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

1. Michael Mcintyre – hilarious

2. Jennifer Aniston, I’d love to know what her secret is!

3. Tamera Mowry, I feel in another lifetime we’d be great friends we share the same values of parenting and we’d probably spend the entire meal talking about our kids. Actually, our kids would probably be there!

Tell me three random facts about you

1. I have an addiction to buying lamps, candles and cushions. Our home resembles and over-lit Ikea sometimes.

2. I’m incredibly nosy. I just like to know stuff.

3. I would eat Mexican food every night of the week if I could. I can’t get enough.

Along with her blog, www.firstooth.co.uk, you can also find Lizzie at Twitter Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.