Show Notes
Easter is meant to feel cute, cosy and full of chocolate, but for mums it can also come with a weird amount of pressure. In this episode, Emma and Jess get honest about the countdown to half term, birthdays falling on Easter weekend, and that familiar feeling of trying to make everything magical while secretly wondering who decided it all had to be so much.From Haven holidays and egg hunts that are over in 30 minutes, to the school pudding debate and whether restricting sweets actually makes kids want them more, this one is full of the kind of real talk mums have at the school gates but rarely say out loud. They also get into the mental load of birthdays, being the default parent, and why sometimes the hardest part is not doing it all, but having to ask for help in the first place.Hot Topics:🐣 Easter pressure: Why mums feel like every holiday needs to be magical🎂 Birthday on Easter: When your child’s big day lands in the middle of the chaos🏖️ Haven holidays: The affordable family break mums swear by🍫 Kids and chocolate: When do you start, and does restriction make it worse?🍰 School puddings: The debate around desserts at lunchtime🧠 Food and feelings: How shame around treats can create bigger issues later🫠 Default parent life: Why birthdays, plans and the mental load still fall on mumChapters:0:00 Welcome back0:11 Counting down to Easter0:30 Birthday plans and Easter weekend chaos1:01 Haven holidays and cold swimming pools2:13 The pressure to make Easter special3:17 The egg hunt that lasted 30 minutes4:01 Postpartum Easter and mum guilt5:00 Easter eggs or Easter presents?6:45 When do kids start having chocolate?7:54 Does restricting sweets make it worse?10:15 The school pudding debate16:45 Who really plans birthdays?19:58 The default parent mental load21:21 Final thoughts and Easter wishes✨ Got something to say? Want to share your story or chat with mums who get it? Come hang out with us:👩👩👧 Facebook VIP Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/cupofcozypodcast/📢 Instagram Broadcast Channelhttps://www.instagram.com/jessica_and_emma_cupofcozy/Real talk, real mums, zero judgment. 💛👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more honest motherhood confessions!
More from Cup of Cozy
Natasha Hamilton was back on stage six weeks after a C-section, in heels, in three pairs of Spanx, and nobody thought to ask how she was doing. Jess and Emma sit down with the Atomic Kitten singer and mum of five for a conversation about what it really cost her to keep going.She was 16 when she joined the band and 20 when she fell pregnant, right as Atomic Kitten went number one around the world. She talks about hearing the new single back in the car and realising her vocal had been taken off it, the night she rang home to be told her baby had been rushed to hospital and was not allowed to go to him, and the two weeks off she was given after being told she needed twelve months. Then the rest of it: leaving in 2004, a New Year’s Eve C-section, parenting three on her own, being told she would not have more children and then having two more, and the “zen” mum she says she has become by baby number five.Hot Topics:🎤 Six weeks and back on tour: recovery when nobody was allowed to slow down🎧 Erased from a number one: the single that came back without her voice🏥 The call she could not answer: her baby in hospital and a show she could not leave🤍 A ruptured cyst and a white feather: told no more children, and then Ella👨👩👧👦 Five kids, no halves: how Charlie came into a house of teenagers🌱 Regimented to zen: the parent she was at 20 and the parent she is nowGuest:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natashahamilton/🎧 PREFER TO LISTEN?Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Du1TkVHCFhihVvj5jmkV4Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/cup-of-cozy/id1892346654✨ Got something to say? Want to share your story or chat with mums who get it? Come hang out with us:👩👩👧 Facebook VIP Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/cupofcozypodcast/📢 Instagram Broadcast Channelhttps://www.instagram.com/channel/AbbpbmaF2-ccfaFv/💛 Follow Jess and Emmahttps://www.instagram.com/jessica_and_emma_cupofcozy/🧸 Cozy Crew Club, our sustainable baby and kids essentialsShop with 20% off using code POD20: https://cozycrewclub.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/cozycrewclubTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@cozycrewclubEverything in one place: https://linktr.ee/cozycrewclubReal talk, real mums, zero judgment. 💛👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more honest motherhood confessions!
Paige Chohan gave birth on Real Housewives of Cheshire. This time there are no cameras, and she says she is thankful for it. Jess and Emma sit down with Paige, mum to two year old Nora and 23 weeks pregnant with her second, for an honest chat about a pregnancy that has looked nothing like the first.She talks about the eight months of trying that she did not see coming, and about going for advice and tests with the show still filming around her. There is the appointment that left her confused about what she had actually been told, the baby moon that had to be cancelled, and the toddler who has decided that only mummy will do. And there is the bit every mum will recognise: prep machines, bacteria arguments, and Facebook groups full of people ready to tell you that you are doing it wrong.Hot Topics:🤰 A harder second pregnancy: months in bed, and a toddler who does not care📺 Filmed while trying: clinic visits and consultations with the crew still there🏠 Stress and a renovation: what she looks back on now and wonders about🤫 No cameras this time: keeping the scan result, and some of her life, private👶 Only mummy will do: chickenpox, separation anxiety and a secret ego boost🍼 The prep machine backlash: bacteria arguments and everyone with an opinion🛒 Baby kit worth the money: the changing table on wheels she swears byGuest:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paigechohan_/🎧 PREFER TO LISTEN?Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/cup-of-cozy/id1892346654✨ Got something to say? Want to share your story or chat with mums who get it? Come hang out with us:👩👩👧 Facebook VIP Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/cupofcozypodcast/📢 Instagram Broadcast Channelhttps://www.instagram.com/channel/AbbpbmaF2-ccfaFv/💛 Follow Jess and Emmahttps://www.instagram.com/jessica_and_emma_cupofcozy/🧸 Cozy Crew Club, our sustainable baby and kids essentialsShop with 20% off using code POD20: https://cozycrewclub.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/cozycrewclubTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@cozycrewclubEverything in one place: https://linktr.ee/cozycrewclubReal talk, real mums, zero judgment. 💛👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more honest motherhood confessions!
One in five children in the UK have eczema, and for plenty of them a bubble bath has never been an option. Amy Lister built a brand to fix that. Jess and Emma sit down with Amy, founder of children’s bath and skincare brand Good Bubble, for an honest chat about building a business, three kids, and a bath time problem more families live with than you would think.Amy took Good Bubble on to Dragons’ Den barely a year after launching and won Deborah Meaden over, then had to close the company and start again after a deal she says gave away far too much of it. She talks about rebuilding with her sister Sally, the maternity leave that never happened, a buyer meeting six weeks after a traumatic birth, and mum guilt that arrives whichever choice you make. There is the moisturiser she finally tried on her own daughter’s sandpaper skin, the day she realised her five year old needed glasses, and the range now sitting in 268 Sainsbury’s stores.Hot Topics:🛁 The bath some kids never get: why bubbles are off the table for so many families🧪 Tear free the hard way: the testing Amy volunteered her own eyes for🐉 Dragons’ Den, twelve months in: winning Deborah Meaden and losing too much of the company👭 Sisters in business: total trust, and the days they both need to take five🤱 The maternity leave that never happened: a buyer meeting six weeks after a traumatic birth👓 A five year old in glasses: how Hugo’s prescription became a whole new product🛒 On the shelf: 268 Sainsbury’s stores with the Gruffalo, Peppa Pig and PaddingtonGuest:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodbubbleuk/Website: https://goodbubble.co.uk🎧 PREFER TO LISTEN?Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Du1TkVHCFhihVvj5jmkV4Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/cup-of-cozy/id1892346654✨ Got something to say? Want to share your story or chat with mums who get it? Come hang out with us:👩👩👧 Facebook VIP Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/cupofcozypodcast/📢 Instagram Broadcast Channelhttps://www.instagram.com/channel/AbbpbmaF2-ccfaFv/💛 Follow Jess and Emmahttps://www.instagram.com/jessica_and_emma_cupofcozy/🧸 Cozy Crew Club, our sustainable baby and kids essentialsShop with 20% off using code POD20: https://cozycrewclub.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/cozycrewclubTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@cozycrewclubEverything in one place: https://linktr.ee/cozycrewclubReal talk, real mums, zero judgment. 💛👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more honest motherhood confessions!
Emmerdale’s Isabel Hodgins joins us for one of our most honest motherhood chats yet, opening up about pregnancy, a birth that went nothing like she expected and the overwhelming moment her baby girl finally arrived. From her partner fainting during the delivery to feeling like those precious first moments with her daughter were taken away, nothing is off limits. Isabel shares the reality of finding herself again after birth, breastfeeding, visitors in those vulnerable newborn weeks and why motherhood has completely changed the way she sees other mums. We also chat about travelling with a baby, preparing to return to Emmerdale, keeping her daughter’s face private online and the unsolicited parenting advice that comes with social media. And, of course, her Cozy Confession gives us the postpartum warning nobody apparently thought to mention! Hot Topics:👶 Birth plans vs reality: When the water birth dream became forceps, an epidural and a very long labour😳 Dad down: Why Isabel’s partner fainted during the birth💛 The stolen moment: Having her newborn taken away immediately after delivery🏠 Newborn boundaries: Why she would handle visitors completely differently next time🪞 Losing yourself: Not recognising your postpartum body or knowing what to wear anymore📱 Baby privacy: Why Isabel chooses not to show her daughter’s face online💩 The postpartum warning: The first toilet trip nobody prepared her for✨ Got something to say? Want to share your story or chat with mums who get it? Come hang out with us: 👩👩👧 Facebook VIP Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/cupofcozypodcast/ 📢 Instagram Broadcast Channel https://www.instagram.com/jessica_and_emma_cupofcozy/ Real talk, real mums, zero judgment. 💛 👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more honest motherhood confessions!
The school holidays are here… and so is the chaos. Jess and Emma are back for a proper one-on-one catch-up, talking childcare costs, working around the kids, summer mum guilt and the pressure to somehow create six weeks of magical memories without completely losing your mind.From £60-a-day holiday clubs and overpriced summer breaks to the genius spreadsheet helping Emma survive the holidays, nothing is off limits. Then the conversation turns to the judgment women face around the “right” age to become a mum, why over-35s still get labelled, and whether mums can ever actually win. It’s funny, relatable and a little bit controversial, with plenty of those “thank goodness it’s not just me” moments.Hot Topics:☀️ School holiday survival: How do working mums actually cover weeks of childcare?💸 The cost of summer: Holiday clubs, days out and peak-season prices adding up fast😩 Summer mum guilt: Do we really need to entertain our kids every single day?📊 The mum spreadsheet: Emma’s surprisingly genius way of organising the chaos👶 Too young or too old?: Why women are judged no matter when they become mums🩺 The “geriatric mum” label: Is it finally time we stopped using it?⚖️ The motherhood double standard: Why there never seems to be a “right” choice✨ Got something to say? Want to share your story or chat with mums who get it? Come hang out with us:👩👩👧 Facebook VIP Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/cupofcozypodcast/📢 Instagram Broadcast Channelhttps://www.instagram.com/jessica_and_emma_cupofcozy/Real talk, real mums, zero judgment. 💛👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more honest motherhood confessions!