MOTHERHOOD MINIS: KEEPING IT REAL WITH MICHAELA WILLIAMS

Hey everyone and welcome to our September edition of Motherhood Minis, featuring bitesize interviews with real mums. A quick unfiltered glimpse into the lives of our Matchstick Monkey parents and their little ones! 

At Matchstick Monkey, we’re catching up with mums around the UK to talk about motherhood struggles (yes, we all know it can be a struggle from time to time), but most especially how rewarding motherhood can be.

This week, we chat with the lovely Michaela Williams. Michaela is mum to the beautiful Andel & Rielle. Her Instagram @andel_and_rielle helps tell a story about her journey with motherhood, featuring plenty of cute snaps of her little ones! Let’s see what she had to say about her motherhood journey to date...

 

1. How many children do you have?

I have two children - Andel who is two years old and Rielle who is seven months old (where did the time go!)

2. Do you have any pets? 

Unfortunately, I don’t!

3. What region of the country do you live in? 

I live in Suffolk (home to the famous Ed Sheeran!)

4. What have you learned about the reality of having children that you could never have predicted before having your own? 

You require much more patience than when you don’t have your own.

5. Do you think parents, mothers in particular, have a tendency to put themselves under pressure to be the perfect parent?

Yes - there is pressure on mothers to be perfect, but we are all different! As long as we love our children and want the best for them, that is all that matters.

6. How do you get “me” time? 

Whilst they are small and one still breastfeeding it doesn’t happen very often! 

7. What are your absolute favourite baby and toddler products? 

My two children love fun and interactive toys. My youngest loves toys with different textures, as it allows her to explore… yet my eldest loves musical toys (but I can only tolerate them for so long!) 

I also love products that help minimise mess during mealtimes, as my two children love feeding themselves, but it definitely can end in tears and a mess for me to clean up! 

8. If you could invent something specifically to help parents, what would it be? 

Octopus tentacles with hands, we could all use several extra pairs! 

9. Do you see yourself as an influencer?

 In a way but I also just see that we create fun content and interact with our followers.

10. How has your growing Instagram following changed your day to day life? 

It hasn’t, only in a way I seem to capture more moments on picture or video but this is good as I will have more memories to show my children when they are bigger.

11. Why do you think your account has become so popular, is this something you planned from the start? 

We started the journey for fun but we have found lots of lovely accounts throughout and have even made some mama friends too.

12. How old were your children when they started to teeth? 

My eldest, Andel, was 8 months old when he started to teeth. My daughter is currently seven months and got her first tooth last month.

13. Did any of your children have symptoms of teething, or did they just come through without a fuss? 

My daughter has been much more irritable whilst cutting her first tooth and sometimes it’s affected her sleeping.

14. Did you use any teething products? If so, what helped? 

Bonjela and Dentinox gel to soothe pain and teething toys like Matchstick Monkey for her to bite and chew.