Monday Mama #6

If you haven't read her blog before it is truly our pleasure to introduce you to Anna, the author behind Thoughts of a London mum. Anna speaks of the difficulties of being a career women and transitioning not only to be coming a mum, but a mum balancing work and two young children. Anna explains how she started reading blogs to get support, and now she's the one who supports through Thoughts of a London mum.

Name: Anna Sulzmann

Blogname: Thoughts of a London Mum

Website: http://londonmum.wordpress.com

Twitter name:@londonmumblog

Location: London, UK

Keeping it brief: I moved to London 7 years ago after living in Milan for 6 years. Originally from Northern Ireland, I studied History and Italian at Manchester University and then headed to Italy on a graduate training scheme. I have worked in the internet industry for 12 years now and currently work for eBay Europe. I met my American husband through work and we have two children, aged 2 1/2 and 5 months. I am currently on maternity leave but will be heading back to work part time in February.

Why I blog and how it started: My husband still thinks it is pretty funny that I blog as I was always a bit sceptical about people who did. I wasn't sure why on earth people would be interested in what I had to say. However, sitting up at 3am feeding my first son I wanted to exercise my brain and reading other mums' blogs was informative and helped me feel like I wasn't alone! I wrote my first post in September 2009.

My nicknames for the LatteBabies: In my blog my son is called Munchkin and my daughter is called Cupcake. At home my son also gets "The Boy" and both of them get "Pumpkin" and "Sweet pea".

One thing I know I shouldn't let my children do but allow anyways: I let my son play with the iPad a little more than he probably should. However, trying to breastfeed a baby and deal with a toddler sometimes means that you have to resort to desperate measures. I kid myself into feeling better by saying that he uses educational apps but really he plays an awful lot of "Angry Birds" and he rocks at it!

The things I'm happy to say my child got from me: Both kids seems to have inherited my wavy hair which I think is cool! I hope my son agrees with me later in life. In terms of personality, it is a little early to say with my girl but my son seems to have a fairly dramatic side which *may* come from me. I am happy that they both got my husband's amazing eyelashes and his love of music.

I'm a LatteMama because: It makes me smile to think that I am someone who could be called that now that I have read the definition. I have my good days and my bad days. The bad days involve no make up, clothes covered in baby sick and comfy trousers. The good days involve the full works especially if my husband and I are going on an all too rare date.

How motherhood has changed me and my style: Motherhood has made me more confident in myself as a person and as a woman. I feel more sure of who I am and what I stand for which is something that I have found unexpected. I laugh a lot more too. In terms of style, most days I dress in what I can find that is clean! However, I don't want to feel like I am losing my touch with who I was before I was a mum so I try to make an effort to look glam if I can.

The one piece of advice I'd give to new mums is: Go with your instincts. You know your baby better than anyone. Oh and don't get too worried about percentile charts!

My future projects and goals are: I am really happy in my current job and am looking forward to going back in the new year. At some point though I'd like to start focusing on the coaching part of it as I love having a team and encouraging peopleto meet their full potential. A move to California would be a nice thing to do as well for our family in the future. I crave the sunshine!

The one thing I'd choose from www.latte-mama.com little ones would be...

it is difficult to choose but I'd pick the ship polo for my son, he would look super cool in that. For my little girl, I love the Polly Dress.