"When the well's dry, we know the value of water." - Benjamin Franklyn
Your family needs you to rest and rejuvenate. To connect with all that you are and can be. You're a vital organ, the heart of your family.
Make sure you stop and take five minutes to do something to support yourself today. More time would be even better.
Because looking after yourself isn't a treat, it's fundamental. To nurture your children, you must first nurture yourself.
This was the mantra of our very first residential Mamas' Retreat.
Yes, we truly did it, it was a dream come true! I'll be writing about how it went soon, but for now here are some photos to give you a taste of the blissful space we created for ourselves...
To inspire you to nurture yourself as we have, we're launching our first DIY Mamas' Retreat Kit today!
It's a perfect package, designed by the very talented Sam Osborne, that contains everything you need to host your very own mini 3-4 hour mamas' retreat. Just add friends...
We’ve gathered all the goodness of our real-life mamas’ retreats into one very special and completely affordable Do-It-Yourself Mamas’ Retreat Kit.
So if you've been wishing you could join us in Cornwall, here's your chance to create that space for yourself and the mamas you love at a fraction of the cost.
And this is what it looks like... Exciting!!
You can find out all about it over here. We're really looking forward to hearing what you think, and inspiring you and mums worldwide to make well-deserved time for yourself. Right now.
As well as being a brilliant investment in you, buying the kit is a fantastic way to support what we do at Story of Mum. Plus, we'll be sharing 10% of sales with the Museum of Motherhood and Womankind WorldWide. Happier mums = happier kids = a happier world. What could be better than that?
What can you get up to on Story of Mum this month?
The DIY Kits contain a brilliant bonus activity - Mum Trumps!
So, yes, this month we will be encouraging you to doodle your own mum-themed trump card...
Share your special abilities, weapons, supermum IQ and arch-nemesis with us. And of course come up with an amusing (or deeply insightful, we're not fussy...) character name.
We had a go at Mum Trumps at our live Mamas Retreat using the DIY Kit templates, but we'd love you to hand-draw and doodle your own categories - you don't need a Kit to join in.
If we get enough submissions, maybe we can even make our very own pack of Mum Trumps to share with you all!
#somum Make Date
We'll be getting together with lovely Kate of Kate on Thin Ice and her Groovy Mums to talk about trumping (of the card variety) and to make Mum Trumps together at our next #somum Make Date on twitter on Wednesday 12 March from 8,.30 - 10pm UK time (find world times here).
We'll be using both #somum and #groovymums hashtags to find each other, and you could win a copy of the Kit here too (if you've already bought one, don't worry, we'll refund you!)
Self-care blogging carnival
To celebrate our exciting and scary DIY Kit launch, we'll be hosting a self-care blogging carnival that will run from 12 to 31 March, visiting blogs all over the world to be reminded of why self-care is so important for mums.
We'd love you to get involved, so if you'd like to share a post and link up, ping us an email back right now!
World Down Syndrome Day: 21 March
Got some special secret socks you'd like to share with the world...?
We'll be joining fabulous community member, Hayley Goleniowska ofDowns Side Up, in tweeting photos of ourselves in colourful and different socks, with #LotsOfSocks and #WDSD14 on 21 March.
We'll also be encouraging donations for the Down's Syndrome Association by texting SOCK77 £1 to 70070. We'd love you to join us if you can.
Last but not least, did you miss anything fabulous last month?
We wrote love letters to ourselves at a wonderful #somum Make Date.
I also received a particularly lovely love letter from a Story of Mum mama (as well as the one I wrote to myself!), which made my year. Maybe I'll share that one with you here one day.
We introduced two more inspiring Creative Business-Mamas: Naomi Goodlet wrote about the value of sharing her anxiety story, (and how skype is a working mamas best friend!), and Jacy Pulford described how family has come first on her journey towards creating her own shop full of inspirational art and gifts.
We also shared the poem created by Lori Landau from our ever-growing mums poem (join in and add a line any time!). Watch this thoughtful little video taken at our Museum of Motherhood events with Suzi Banks Baum.
Phew. That's all our news for this month. If you'd like to sign up for selected blogs too, you can change your preferences here.
Remember to look after yourself, mama. You deserve some time for you.
Replenish your well.
In fact, drink some water. That's always a good start...!
Sending much love and a big nurturing hug,
Pippa and Penny
If you're receiving this newsletter, but haven't signed up to join our free community yet, we'd love to meet you. Come and play over here.