I’m not going to pretend that my journey to motherhood has been wonderful and gone smoothly. In fact I’d say quite the opposite. This rollercoaster of emotions has been one hell of a bumpy ride and I don’t think it will ever start to slow down. The first 6 months of my maternity leave were lost to the black hole that is becoming parents for the first time and trying to find the off switch for this crying machine that never stops making noise. After realising there is no such button and also, no instruction manual.. We finally crawled out of that black hole.

So come January 2024, the start of a new year, my daughter, Hilda, turned 6 months old and my maternity leave finally started to begin!

So I’m here to shout about some of the things I got up to on my Maternity leave and those activities that I recommend highly. To any parent wanting to find that little piece of routine they crave, to fill those days on Mat leave or simply just to feel human again with a reason to leave the house!

Now that my daughter is 14 months old, my maternity leave has come to an end. I look back on such an incredible year for me and whilst I didn’t travel in the conventional sense, it was certainly a year of adventure; Maternity is one hell of a journey!

I have so much to write about that when I started this post it became far too long for me to publish in one go. So stay tuned for a series of posts. If you’re about to undertake your own maternity adventure or perhaps you are currently on it? I’m here to help you make the most of your time together.

These were just a few activities that made up my routine weekly adventures and I enjoyed them greatly. I have included a snippet below but I will talk more about these experiences over the coming weeks.

Pudsey Wellbeing Centre – The Open Door – A friendly cafe run by volunteers providing free snacks and drinks. Most importantly – Incredibly welcoming and a comfortable space for breastfeeding!

Baby Cinema – Taking your baby to enjoy the newest movies at various cinemas that provide exclusive screenings for those with a young one. You must have a baby to attend!

Leisure Centres – Leeds City Council run gym/swimming pool/classes – Amazing how much time I spent here with my baby for both our wellbeing.

Pubs – (Most often) Wetherspoons – Don’t underestimate the power of a child friendly cheap pub!

City Libraries – A great space for letting your little ones crawl/run around without causing carnage. Not to mention the Rhyme Time sessions that were extremely good for young ones.

Stay and Play – A session that takes place at various Children’s Centres, Community Centre’s and bundles of local venues for parents to make new friends and children to play in a safe space.

Henry Courses, Baby Massage & Yoga, Community Centre parties, Children’s Centre events, Baby Week across Leeds and Bradford, Bradford Broadway Sensory room, Soft Play Centres, Leeds Hidden Village, local parks and museums.

The list goes on and on! But don’t worry, I’ll be blogging about these activities in more detail over the coming months so you’ll never run out of ideas! If you have anything in particular you want to know about please drop me a comment – I love feedback and recommendations.

Besides the regular activities mentioned, I also took many day trips and spontaneous visits to one off places like zoos and theme parks. Of course on Statutory maternity pay you can’t afford to do this all the time therefore I recommend making use of the free activities and local events. They quickly become just as enjoyable and the steady routine of going to the same things starts to become familiar for you both. Adapting regular activities into my week really helped with PND and I’m so thankful we live in a city with so many options at our feet.

Reflection

My maternity leave had such an impact on my life that it even changed my career path. I returned to work in a completely different field doing something I love. This came about because of my experiences during MAT leave networking with other parents and the local community. Everybody’s first year as a new parent looks different and you should never feel like you have to do anything you don’t want to. The above activities are what I enjoyed but if you enjoy raising your little one in the comfort of your own home and garden and don’t want to get out and about that’s absolutely fine too! There is an immense pressure in ‘Mum-world’ to get out and do things a certain way and even to ensure you are loving every second of it! Whilst I ultimately ended up having a great experience during my MAT leave, I’m here to tell you that I absolutely did NOT love every second of it. In fact there were full weeks where I just wanted it to end. As I’ve already mentioned, the first 6 months were a dark place where I rarely left the house and certainly wasn’t doing the things I’ve listed in this post.

For my blog I will focus on the positive experiences that I can recommend for you to try with your baby. If you don’t enjoy something – Move on to the next, no pressure! Please leave me a comment if you want to share your experience too.

Happy adventuring!