As parents, we all have an awful lot of decisions to make. Some are easy, some are hard. Some take a lot of thought, some we might do on a whim.

Of course the biggest decision we will ever make is whether to start a family, then you have to think about when. When is the right time? Is there ever a right time? For us, we decided to wait until after we married. We were married in the July but because I am OCD about things, we I decided to wait until the New Year so it was a fresh start, so to speak. Though it wasn’t an easy journey for us and then we had all of the fertility treatment decisions to make.

Once that moment comes and you find out you are expecting a baby (or more than one!), you have a whole future of decisions before you. Other than deciding on pushchairs, room decor, car seats (and the rest of those less major decisions), one of the most important decisions to make is deciding on a name. Obviously something that will stick with your baby forever. Both times we found it much easier deciding on a girls name than a boys. With J, after discovering we were going to have a boy, we were going to keep the girls name for future in case we had a girl, but we had to change it the second time as our God-daughter now has that name! (We did save it for a middle name though as we loved it so much – not that we got to use it!).

At the moment I’m a SAHM. Another hard decision for us parents to make. When we are going to go back to work. If we even want to go back to work. I know for a lot of mummies, this decision is already made for them as they can’t afford not to work, so it’s simply the decision when to go back. Some are lucky in that they can afford to stay at home. We struggle sometimes, but we manage. This time around I’ve decided that I’m going to try and get back to work part time soon – though I have been out of the work force for a while so it’s going to be hard! Just a few hours being someone other than Mummy would be nice though!

Alongside this is deciding on childcare. Nursery or grandparents? If nursery – which one? Obviously this is quite an important decision as you want to know your child is cared for & happy. J loves his nursery now he’s settled in and rarely wants to come home when I go to collect him! After this, school. We haven’t gotten that far yet but from listening to others experiences, I have realised this can be a minefield! Though I’m sure the time will come around quickly now…

Which decisions have you found the hardest to make, as a parent?