Hi! I’m Ellie Street! I’m 29 years old and I work in Real Estate in Dubai for ‘Maria Morris Real Estate’. I specialise in sales in Al Barari.
I’ve now been in Dubai for four years and working in real estate for 11 years. I have an amazing supportive partner in Jamie Parker. As well as our gorgeous son Cole Finley Parker we also have two painfully cute dogs Lily and Lola.
I’ve always been a workaholic and I am incredibly controlling when it comes to everything being in order. Now that I have a five month old, he has thrown everything up in the air, but I wouldn’t change a single thing. I hope you like my interview.
Why did you decide to become a mum?
I didn’t really. I just got really lazy on my contraceptive method.
Lol! Can you embellish more on that?
I’ve got one of those apps that tells you when you are ovulating. So I wasn’t actually on any form of contraception other than my app and it seemed to work for me for about a year. I was about three days late and I took a pregnancy test and I was pregnant! I was really shocked, panicked and scared. I remember bursting into tears.
Mainly I think because work was going so well and I really loved my life and I just thought, I just don’t know how I’m going to cope. Jamie and I sat down and discussed everything. And really thought about how our lives would change. We realised we were financially able, we had the space and well, we actually kind of do love each other, lol. A child together is something we both wanted, and then we started to get really excited.
Jamie also said he would propose, which I’m still waiting for by the way.
Is it hard juggling your full time Job with motherhood?
Ridiculously hard! I have an amazing business partner, Ryan, who obviously covers me and does all my appointments. So I have different forms of mum guilt. One where I feel so bad about leaving Cole at only four months old. But then I also feel incredibly bad for leaving Ryan to do all of our appointments.
We are commission only, so if I don’t go to work then we don’t get paid. So I don’t really have a choice in terms of not going back to work. I cried my eyes out when I left Cole with the nanny for the first time.
I was bringing him into the office with me for quite a while and juggling everything because I just couldn’t leave him. Im not going to lie I am struggling!
I’ve managed to get it to a point where I don’t leave the house necessarily before half nine. So I get to spend time with him in the morning. I do try to get home for about four o’clock. So I get to be able to do the wind down time.
If I’m honest, I never thought this would be an issue. When I was pregnant I said ‘I’m gonna be back at work after two days’ and ‘it’s ok because il have a nanny’. And then I gave birth and obviously everything changed. I want to be with my son all the time. Leaving him breaks my heart.
Have your goals and aspirations changed since becoming a mum as opposed to prior?
I don’t know whether I really had any specific goals or aspirations other than to try and make a shit ton of money, lol. I do feel like my money now gets spent very differently. Its all for my family now which makes more sense.
Before I would spend it on random items I probably didn’t need or on holidays and things like that. Whereas I feel like now it’s actually for our future. Everything I’m buying is for a reason.
What advice do you have for other working mums feeling the mum guilt?
I think my advice is I have to realise that I’m doing it for him. That’s what gets me through. I think that when I come to work, the better I do at work, the better life he’s going to have. I grew up with both my parents working full-time and I had nannies pick me up, left, right, and centre. I don’t ever look back and think they were bad parents. I think they provided me with a really lovely lifestyle.
I guess my advice is to just probably, stay as busy as you can at work and then when you get home, make every moment count. I feel like I enjoy all the time that I do get with him, whether it’s at three in the morning, or five o’clock in the afternoon.
What’s the best part about being a mum Ellie?
I love everything!
Except for when he’s sick.
Then I just worry!
What products could… Ellie Street not parent without?
A baby gym play mat that he just sits under and he plays with all the things underneath it. I just put him under it and leave him under it. He’s currently under it right now, making loads of noises.
