I seriously cannot control my excitement for this month’s Boss Babe! It’s actually kinda a dream to be sharing + celebrating this incredible woman. Alexis is my dear friend’s sister and is easily one of my mom inspirations. As a lot of you know, I love all things motherhood (well, maybe not all things, ha!) + am genuinely invested in helping other mamas not feel alone in the journey from pregnancy to postpartum and beyond, and this boss babe right here is the epitome of mom boss. Not only is Alexis a mama herself (to three insanely gorgeous + lovely kids!) but her passion and commitment to helping other women blow me away. I’m just so inspired by her.
Meet Alexis.
I would love to thank Holly for asking me to come along and be her chosen ‘Boss Babe’ for March 2019 !
I am a mother to 3 kiddos, Toby, Ivy and Wilf and wife to Dan (my partner in crime since we met aged 16 at school- that’s 19 years together now!) We live in England in a lovely place called Brighton on the South Coast.
I am also a Midwife who has been working with women and their families for over 14 years now. For 8 of those years I was based at a large London hospital working as a core member of a small case loading team. I have had the absolute privilege of working with teenage mothers which furthered my career and taught me so much.
As my role developed, I ended up working on an extended program that enabled me to support the same families for 2.5 years and it was so fulfilling to be able to offer such gold standard continuity of care.
Since having my own children, my outlook as a midwife has changed. The pregnancies and births of my three children brought such intense joy and pride at times followed by fears and worry at others. All life changing and all have bought me to exactly where I am today.
I have taken a step away from the clinical side of midwifery for now, and am so lucky to be teaching antenatal, postnatal and hypnobirthing classes and workshops!
Last year I had the absolute honour of writing ‘The Little Book of Self-Care for New Mums’ with my friend and co author, Beccy Hands- published by Penguin Random House.
This has been one of the highlights of my career. We feel passionately that care often drops off for women once a baby arrives and that is not ok. We need time to adjust and heal. So we jumped at the chance of writing a book that would give women all the information they needed to plan and prepare for a really gentle, calm postnatal period and the feedback we have received has confirmed that we achieved what we set out to create with our book. We have been a bestseller on Amazon since October last year!
We continue to be so grateful for this opportunity and experience and look forward to the forthcoming chapters of our writing career.
Beccy and I have also developed our own company, The Mother Box (check us out on Instagram @The_Mother_Box ). We have created a series of nurturing wellbeing boxes for pregnancy, birthing and new mothers.
I’m so looking forward to sharing some life/ mothering experiences and ideas here at Holly’s blog throughout March !!
XXXXX
Alexis is such a P O W E R H O U S E, #amiright?! Let’s dive right into the famous five questions + get to know Alexis even more.
I wake up around 6.15 am when my eldest son Toby wakes up and comes into my room! I try to wake at 6 am on occasion as I know that showering and getting dressed before the kids wake always makes me feel more organized and ready for my day but it’s so hard to do when 15 more minutes of snoozing is an option!
My morning revolves around my three kids and getting them ready on my own as my husband leaves very early for work ! Toby (7) Ivy (6) and Wilf (2) – my kids all wake before 7 and we dress before we go downstairs! We have tried all options and this is what works for us to make sure we leave on time at 8.15 for the ‘school run’. Breakfast is cereal and fruit for the kids. I am usually gathering coats/ shoes/ bags and having a little tidy of the house before we head out. Then it’s loading the dishwasher and brushing teeth before heading out the house!! It’s a super crazy busy part of the day … we are working on making it feel calmer :) it really comes down to time and how everyone is feeling each day emotionally as to how smoothly it all goes !
I would definitely tell myself that …
‘life is going to be incredible, miraculous, challenging, rewarding and everything in between… to be open to the world around you… and that although your heart will break (my wonderful father died suddenly when I was 26) it will also grow and be fuller then you could ever imagine (with Dan and my three littles) !!
For me it’s a couple of things ! I can’t just pick one… sorry Holly!! I am an extrovert/ introvert. I’m outgoing so I will always turn to talking to friends/ family for emotional support but then I also love my own company so.. an Epsom salts bath after kids are in bed, and an early night listening to an uplifting inspiring podcast (such as ‘the good life project’ with Jonathan Fields’) then a solid night of sleep (not always possible but we try) can really get me in a good headspace !
When I was 14 I had a brilliant teacher at school called Mr Tracey, he died while I was his student and I will never forget him…such a kind, supportive, patient man. I always remember him saying ‘ in this life you make your own luck’ and it’s always stuck with me. I understand it more as an adult woman, wife, mother- It was about learning that what we give to life we get back… I will never forget him .
I absolutely love ‘ The ultimate bronzer’ by Tom Ford which was recommended to me by my little sis who is a tv make up artist! I just love it because it gives me that holiday glow even on a cold English winter day!
Oh Alexis, I can so relate to you on the extrovert/introvert life! Thank you for sharing and I so look forward to your takeover!
If y’all are not in the tribe on FB, don’t forget to add yourself as Alexis will be taking over every Wednesday! I am also thinking we might get a few guests posts up on the blog as well, so stay tuned.
And do yourself a favour and follow Alexis on IG @candidmidwife + The Mother Box @the_mother_box.
Thanks again Alexis! I adore you!
XO