Meet Dani the lovely face behind first milestone!
Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do: I'm Dani, a 26 year old mum to two, fiancé to one and small business owner. In my business I make custom birth posters for new babies in a range of different styles, and I stock a carefully selected range of baby books, milestone cards and other special keepsakes for pregnancy to one year. I love the outdoors, spending time with my man + boys and in true kiwi fashion a good cold beer! Age when you had your first baby: I was 20 when I had my first baby. I found out I was pregnant a few months after turning 20 and turned 21 six weeks after he was born. What has been your biggest challenge with running a business and being a mama at the same time? Quality time vs quantity of time with the kids. I actually pay my mum to look after Frankie set hours a week, Felix was at kindy and is now at school, and it means they are both happy, safe and entertained while I work and the time I do spend with them is less than it might have been before but it's totally undistracted quality time. I don't work at all around the kids and I limit my screen time so that when it's their time I'm 100% present which works much better for us than having to work in front of them. I know some people don't have the luxury of my situation, or perhaps they don't want to have someone else care for their children and I totally respect that, but honestly your kids will remember the quality of the time you spent with them. If you're home 100% of the time and you work 90% of it they'll just remember that you were always too busy for them. How do you balance Home and work life? (any tips/tricks to share?) I make lists. Every month I plan my essential daily tasks with work and home life into an A4 diary, then each night before bed I add any one off stuff for the following day, and everything else as it comes up like events organised closer to the date. Then each day I make sure I tick off everything so nothing ever goes undone. It makes my life so much easier because without them I'm super forgetful, so these save my ass all the time! I write down and plan EVERYTHING and I've never had such good balance in life as in the year I've been doing this. Best piece of advice you were given about parenting: Take everything on and chuck out all the shit bits. As annoying as unsolicited advice is when you're a new mum it's usually well intentioned so rather than getting defensive just listen. Nod, smile, take it in and just hang on to the bits that work for you and your tribe and discard the rest. You'll find some gems along the way if you just take the time to listen. What would you do if you weren’t doing your current job/running your business? I thrive off social interaction and feeling like I have a purpose outside of being a parent, so I'd probably go back into working in customer service because that's the area my favourite jobs were always in. What was your reaction when you found out you were pregnant? WELL SHIT. Ethan and I have been together happily for 7 years now but back then we'd only known each other a year and been together for 9 months so it was a total unplanned shock! Have you met any challenges being a mama in your 20s? It's not particularly related to being in my 20's because it can happen at any age, but I suffered from crippling post natal depression after my first was born. It went undiagnosed for almost a year because I had no idea that it wasn't just how I was supposed to feel. Thankfully after a diagnosis and medication I recovered completely and am so glad it didn't go any further, but it was definitely one of the hardest times of my life in what should have been a super happy time. What has been your biggest challenge in your 20s (non-parenting related)? Running a business! It's simultaneously the most rewarding yet mentally/emotionally/physically draining thing I've ever done, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If you could give one piece of advice to twenty-something’s pre kids what would it be? Trust your gut. It's easy to think that people who already have children or your own parents know better than you and to follow advice from them that you feel uncomfortable about. But do you know what? Times change, and sometimes they don't know, sometimes their advice is outdated and YOU know your child best.