Hello there people of the internet! I’m Ross and I’m about to talk about stuff. This is a newsletter after all so I guess that’s the whole point. Maybe one day I won’t actually write anything but I’ll just put this here instead…
But perhaps sending 7500 people a middle finger GIF isn’t what you’d call “good business practice” though. Mind you, neither is telling people that Baby Powder is shit and to please stop buying it.
But there we go.
Anyway… what was I going to say? Ah yeah…
Testing a Change in Roles
So next week me and Rachel are going to be testing more than just candles. We’re actually going to try swapping roles for a bit. Rachel’s going to use the strap…
[Rachel edit: you can’t say that Ross!]
My apologies.
What I meant to say was Rachel is going to go up the unit, and I’m going to stay home with the kids.
I’ll accept my medal for challenging stereotypes in the post if they still give them out.
What’s that? No one gives a shit if a dad stays home with the kids anymore and I don’t get a pat on the back for it because we’ve normalised it and it’s now old boring news?
But yes that’s right. Ross is going to parent.
HIS OWN KIDS.
ON HIS OWN.
And maybe do some housework and stuff.
Queue song and dance.
Enter Tina.
To be fair, it might only be one - maybe two - days to start with, so let’s not get that dramatic.
Nah in all seriousness though it was actually my idea because the other day Rachel wasn’t feeling that well - awwww bless - and I had Archie, Teddy and Isabelle for THREE WHOLE HOURS and no one ended up in A&E.
We’re obviously weaning Teddy now so he’s a bit more used to having food and therefore less dependant on milk, so he’s able to be away from Rachel for a bit longer.
That and she can express some and I’ll give him it in a cup like I once had to with Isabelle.
Luckily, Teddy isn’t as much of a “I NEED MAM” baby as Isabelle was. For those proper old schoolers who remember when Rachel went back to work after we had Isabelle - so January 2018. Holla at me if you were around then 😳
Side note: you wanna talk about someone making a song and dance about it… Rachel went to work and Ross did a full YouTube video about having Isabelle for the day 😂
I should rename that to “I had my baby for the day, Whoop-de-do!”
Anyway… if you were around back then, then you’ll remember that Isabelle was a NIGHTMARE. She REALLY didn’t like being away from Rachel all day and basically from 5/6pm until Rachel got home (8-8:30) she would just non stop cry.
To the point where I had to put headphones and the baby carrier on.
PND resurfaced. Me and Isabelle got thrown into the deep end with our bonding experience and eventually we were all the better for it.
We actually both still talk about the “just the two of us” days, and I do occasionally reminisce on them. Not that I’m saying I regret Archie and Teddy, but it’s ok to almost “miss” a previous time in your life without necessarily regretting your choices that followed.
Anyway… long story short, we don’t have to wait for Rachel to go back to work for Rachel to go back to work.
It doesn’t massively matter which one of us goes up the unit as long as one of us does.
Besides, Rachel isn’t technically on the payroll yet so free labour WOOHOO!
Also…
We both have a very different skillset
To be fair to myself and Rachel, we both bring something different to the table when it comes to the business.
Whilst I’m the only one at Teddy Eva Scents that can do every single aspect of it, I’m by no means the best at every aspect of it.
I’m by far the most erratic, the most disorganised and the one that’s most likely to move on from an unfinished task to start 7 new ones that weren’t planned or thought out.
Rachel, on the other hand, just gets shit done.
She’s also the better one for testing new stuff. She’s handling candles, she handles reed diffusers, room sprays, tying bows, and putting away my stuff that didn’t need to be put away.
Literally the only thing that would be lacking if Rachel went up the unit instead of me is content. And whilst content is probably THE most important part of a modern day business - if you don’t show it, they won’t know it - it’s not the only important part.
We really need to get working on the candles and the only way we can really get them going is if Rachel has time up the unit.
Not only that…
But I think it’ll just be good for everyone involved.
Rachel gets to feel like a bigger part of the business - which is something she’s silently struggled with since Teddy was born - and I get more “one on one” bonding time with Teddy and Archie.
I get to switch off from Teddy Eva Scents, and Rachel gets to switch off from being a mom.
And then Jenny and Kathryn get to work with someone who’s a bit more functional and doesn’t need prompting to finish a task.
Besides, I can still find time to do Teddy Eva Scents stuff. It’s currently 11:26pm as I’m writing this.
Sleep? Ha. I’m good thank you.
To cut a long story short…
Rachel’s off up the unit a few days next week and I’ll have the kids.
Ah Ross you’ve done it again, mate. You’ve turned a one sentence Instagram story into an ENTIRE NEWSLETTER!
Well thank you for reading I guess!
Much love,
Ross & Rachel x