Guess Who's Back, Back From Mat (Leave) (Patreon)

EDIT: for some reason Patreon didn't save my entire post and it cut off early so I had to basically rewrite the entire thing! HERE IT IS... 

Hello there, hi! Wow I cannot believe it's already been 3 months. Thank you so much for sticking around whilst I've been on maternity leave and thank you especially to those of you in The Common Room discord server (and especially especially to all the parents who also use the #kids-table channel - lots of amazing support for each other there!) 

So yes, I am back. I am returning from the newborn maternity leave haze and back into the world of work... (sort of). As my Patrons I want you to be the first to know about how it's all going to unfold, what the future of my work looks like now that I'm a parent and what you can expect! 

The next few weeks... 

This week (w/c 25th July) I'm doing little bits of work (like writing this!) whilst also looking after Rowan full time, it'll be a challenge but I got this!

Next week (w/c 1st August) we're on holiday!! I'm so excited! Me, Dan, Rowan and my parents are going to Portugal - I've got Rowan some adorable swim wear. I cannot wait!

The week after (w/c 8th August) is going to be a hectic one. I'm starting back working part time and Rowan is doing settling in with his childminder but luckily Dan is also taking that week off work so that'll definitely take the pressure off and help with easing into our new routine. This is also the week you can expect videos to return eeeeee!!

Theeeeeen the week after (w/c 15th August) is when I properly start my working mum life and Rowan is in childcare. He's going to be with a childminder 4 half days per week (4 hours each) and I will try to cram in as much work (and life stuff and pumping!) into that time as possible!

To be honest...

I'm not feeling super super great about this transition. Rowan is only 3 months old, it feels far too young for him to be in childcare and far too for me to be separated from him, I'm definitely feeling very sad about it (but also excited to be working???). In a dream world I would have loved a full 6 months off with him and I know many of you lovely folks will say "take all the time you need!" but unfortunately that's just not possible for me with the way I've built my business. If I was still a one-woman-band perhaps I could be a full time mum whilst making content as and when it takes my fancy but with a team to support that's not how it works for me. I calculated that 3 months was the maximum I could take off whilst still paying Moog and Mia and having things for them to actually work on. 

I can already feel myself getting intense FOMO and feeling envious of my new mum friends when it comes to all the socialising and baby activities whilst I'm at work (but I imagine some of them may be envious of me being back at work... you can't win can you?!)

What's next...

Luckily, I have an incredible team and we put in loads of work before I left for mat leave and they've been putting in great work whilst I've been gone to make this transition as easy as possible. 

There will be weekly videos on Hannah Witton & More Hannah YouTube channels and Doing It Podcast will start releasing fortnightly episodes again in September! 

As we settle into this new routine of me working significantly reduced hours we'll be able to check in and see how things are going and adjust schedules if need be. 

Excited for you to see everything we've got planned. Mia has scheduled in some many incredible guests for the podcast I can't wait to interview them! 

Patreon stuff... 

• You will get early access to new videos and podcasts as they come out!
• I'm hoping to get out a reading list in August although I haven't been great at remembering to save things I've read/watched/listened to but hey, I might surprise myself! Sorry not sorry in advance if it's all related to babies and parenting.
• The monthly livestreams for producer tier patrons will also be back in August 8-9pm so look out for a poll to pick the date soon!

 Thank you 💛

Being a working mum is cursed, I can't believe for my first big announcement back Patreon decided to not save most of what I had written and now I'm frantically trying to remember and rewrite everything whilst looking after Rowan and making myself lunch... 

I vaguely remember there being more bullet points in the original post but can't remember what they were for...

• so 
• here 
• you 
• go

Thanks so much for understanding and all you support and patience whilst I've been off. Hopefully things go smoother than this in the following weeks but somehow I doubt that 😂

Hannah xx