‘Calm? There’s make-up on the walls and sick in my hair’
Rachel Scarfe, 43, from Cheltenham, has left her hot pants behind…
Daisy is four and Jude arrived in March this year. Life was manageable when we just had Daisy, but Jude’s arrival has flipped everything upside down, leaving me and my partner, David, 45, bedraggled and exhausted.
Before kids, life was about holidays and Friday nights. I’d wear slinky hot pants and drink shots – I had no idea what was in store for me.
Someone told me I even dress like a mum now, and, in a floaty dress that covers my 5st weight gain, I couldn’t really argue.
David already had two kids when we met eight years ago. But I wanted kids, too. I worked in the mental health sector – a difficult job, but motherhood is by far the hardest job I’ve ever had.
Here’s a little window into my world. The other day, Jude was crying. While trying to soothe him, I looked round to see Daisy had taken my foundation, poured it all over herself and smeared handprints on the walls.
There was lip gloss all over the doll’s house and, at that moment, I realised I had sick in my hair.
I thought I would be a floaty, calm mum. Birds would tweet and land on my shoulder while I sang to my kids.
In reality, swear words slip (quietly) out of my mouth when Daisy bounds into our room at 7am, after I’ve already been up at 1am, 3am and 5am.
My saving grace? Mums’ groups. We’ve all discovered that motherhood is an imperfect mess, and that we love our kids more than we could ever have imagined.