mum-made: Ashley from Words About Waverly

Last month I announced an exciting new series on my blog called mum-made. A wonderful thing has happened through blogging and I wanted to share it with you.

Living in London has had its definite perks, but it is also so very far away from our family and friends in Australia.

And having a baby really made the distance palpable.

We have always been staunchly independent, so I'm not sure how much help we would have accepted anyway, but being in London has also had its challenges, and I was feeling so alone in motherhood.






That is, until I started blogging and "meeting" other mums to share experiences, advice, tears and pride with.

I have been blown away by the global mums' group that I've managed to build myself and wanted to introduce some of these wonderful women with you through mum-made. 

I find myself drawn towards the women who are the kinds of mums that I admire most. They are the mum's who just love being a mum. They put their family's needs first and make every moment count, and then some. 

My first mom to introduce you to is Ashley, from Words About Waverly. Aside from being so sweet, I think the thing that I enjoyed most about Ashley is her ability to make a every event so special for her little girl. These two look like they have so much fun together and I just love how Ashley celebrates all the little moments that make motherhood the most incredible joy in the world. 

I'm so honoured to have Ashley share a special moment with us that is mum-made...with love.

Hi, I am Ashley from Words About Waverly. I am a Fashion Marketing teacher who loves style, design & any kind of celebration!  My husband & I live in Virginia Beach, VA, the same place we met fifteen years ago in Math class.  We have a 20-month old daughter, Waverly Maye, who is the absolute light & center of our lives.

One of my favorite parts of blogging is finding other ladies who share the same priorities & beliefs that I do, especially women that I can relate to as fellow mothers.  Meg is definitely one of those.  I have been following her & sweet Maddie for a while now, I find them completely adorable & truly inspiring.  I am honored to be kicking off Meg's "mum-made" series today, the idea behind it is just too sweet & exactly what I am all about.

Like Meg, what I have always looked forward to in life is becoming a mother.  While I wasn't sure what else my future would bring, I knew that I couldn't wait to give my all to a little one I could call my own & of course, to do it with my husband by my side.  Since Waverly Maye was born, motherhood has been every bit as fulfilling of a role I expected it to be.  And more. 

Waverly amazes me on a daily basis & even though she is now close to being two years old, I still find myself unable to believe how lucky we got to have her.

Since I work full-time, most of my afternoons & weekends are all about making the most of moments with my girl.  Waverly is a spunky one (she might have gotten that from me), she loves to move & prefers to be outdoors where she has the maximum amount of space to really be free.  We definitely spend a lot of time doing just that, but with a long winter full of snowstorms & frigid air, we have had to get creative with some indoor activities for just the two of us.

I don't claim to be a good cook, never have, & definitely could take a tip from a fabulous chef like Meg.  Yet we do love food at our house & also share the thought that the heart of the home is in the kitchen.  Now that Waverly is older, more interested & able to interact more, I've been pulling up a chair while cooking or baking so that she can help me with what I'm doing.  It really makes the process so much more fun & not to mention, I could probably use some help in there.  She will probably be "out-cooking" me by age three. ;)

 Obviously, Waverly can't help with everything so our cooking dates have to be with recipes that are super easy & don't consist of many ingredients.  We love pizza at our house & especially love making it ourselves, Waverly plays with the dough like it's one of her favorite toys & even can help me pour the sauce.  We get our dough & pasta sauce at Trader Joe's, it's delicious & cheap. 

Win & win, both are qualifications when writing our grocery list.

With Easter coming up, I couldn't resist a bunny-shaped pizza (made from a cookie-cutter).  I know Waverly doesn't understand it quite yet, but I love, love a theme & it makes my mama heart very happy to make her food holiday-friendly.  We also added a dessert, the cut-out cookies that you can buy at the store are totally our jam.  You literally only have to put them on the cookie sheet so this again qualifies as a task that Waverly can take part in.  Yet don't even think this didn't buy us some serious time, both activities paired together made for an entire afternoon of mama & mini fun. :)

I am so thankful to Meg for letting me be a part of this special series, I truly am honored to be a guest host on this sweet, sweet blog. We hope everyone has a wonderful day!

XOXO 

Ashley, thank you so much for sharing and being part of mum-made. I look forward to reading and sharing more of your adventures in motherhood on Words about Waverly. 

Psst!! If you are looking for a little more meg-made, I'd LOVE for you to follow along!