Meet the Beautiful Ness! A lovely mama with such a kind soul, raising three beautiful girls with her hubby and totally nailing it!
Read on to see how this beautiful mama tackles life and check out her blog if you've got a minute too!
Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do:
I’m Ness 🙋🏼♀️ 24 years old with 3 delicious daughters and a dreamboat hubby called Chris. We live here in beautiful Marlborough NZ, which we adore. We’ve talked a few times about the idea of moving elsewhere but something always keep us here where our roots are.
My one, and most prized title I hold the closest to my heart - is Mama. I have 2 year old Harper who is bold and adventurous, and 8 months old twins Florence & Remy - or Roddy and Remington as we refer to them hahaI also run a blog (mostly visual) called We Are The Watsons, about my journey purposefully raising daughters. I have also recently dipped my toes into a Social Influencer role too!
Age when you had your first baby:
When Harper arrived, I was 22. It was the best moment of my life - the moment when I realised my true purpose. But of course purpose is not without struggle! I’ve learnt it’s fine to feel grateful, struggling, fear, love and sacrifice all at the same time!
What has been your biggest challenge with running a business and being a mama at the same time?
Time and Balance!
As you can imagine, no matter how much work you have coming your way, your life at home never slows. For every email I answer, there’s a baby on my knee and one at me feet. For every cute picture I post on my Instagram feed there about 50 others with hands flying everywhere, eyes closed, someone crying.. you get the picture. My house is never perfect, I run on coffee and toast, that’s mumlife.
How do you balance Home and work life? (any tips/tricks to share?)
Balance is something I’m still trying to find! It’s so important to remember in amongst all the craziness of a young family, you need to look after yourself so you actually have something to give! I try really hard to have some one on one time with all 3 girls, time with Chris as husband and wife, time where we do things as a family AND time towards the business side of things.
I’m really just winging it, reminding myself of the important things and trying not to get too hung up on things like the overflowing washing. It helps that blog is about my family so that fits quite naturally into my lifestyle, mostly.
Best piece of advice you were given about parenting:
Listening to all the advice, then forget everything you didn’t like - listen to your instincts!
What would you do if you weren’t doing your current job/running your business?
Gosh that’s a hard one, I’m loving the direction my life is heading at the moment!
I’m hugely passionate and open hearted when it comes to young people so if I didn’t have a young family I’d probably have a project helping troubled youth. Chris and I both find youth so rewarding.
What was your reaction when you found out you were pregnant?
First time around I was so shocked I thought the pregnancy test must have been wrong.
I had an IUD, had just got married and started a new job. I was away for work 3 weeks after our wedding and took a pregnancy test as moral support for a friend - sounds crazy I know. I thought my period was just late from the stress and busyness of everything I had going on. Little did I know that test was the start of the best journey imaginable. Chris and I were stunned by the news as we planned on waiting a year or so before trying for a baby.
Second time around, Harper was 10 months old, we planned to start trying as we wanted our kids close together. I was shocked that we got pregnant right away as I’d had meningitis the month before and wasn’t sure what my cycle was doing. But what do you know.... pregnant! I was thrilled and told Chris by dressing Harper is a onesie that said ‘Big Sister’ on the front and had him get her out of bed. He was surprised at how fast it has happened too but also very excited to be expanding our family.
The real shock was to come 2 weeks after the test at my dating scan.... the news of twins. News a didn’t take well, for a long time. If you want to hear about that, it was the first entry on my blog: https://wearethewatsonsblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/becoming-a-twin-mama/
Have you met any challenges being a mama in your 20s?
The challenges have mainly been from other people I think. I’ve always been quite mature and was ready to settle down so it was easy to make the sacrifices I needed to. I think being a young parent comes with an element of judgment from others and that’s something I struggle with. I would, and do, anything for my family but I still seem to get stared at in the street, sideways looks and questions about my age. I’ve even been asked if I was the babysitter which I found rude and hard to swallow. It’s like people don’t respect young mothers the same which blows my mind.
What has been your biggest challenge in your 20s (non-parenting related)? Definitely friendships, I’m at a really different point in my life to many of the friends I had growing up. Some of them are wonderful and adore my kids as if they were their own. But others really have no idea what my life entails now and we find it hard to relate. Our priorities in life are polar opposites and we’ve slowly drifted apart, which is natural I guess. If you could give one piece of advice to twenty-something’s pre kids what would it be?
Enjoy it! Don’t get so hung up on how fast everything seems to be going. Just stop and enjoy the moments you get to spend with your children every day. Don’t worry about the fact they’re walking all or a sudden, appreciate the things you can do with them now!
Be kind to yourself, it’s a tough journey and you’ll always wonder if you’re enough for your kids - you are enough, you’re exactly what they need.
Ness xx