WHEN Shannon Cullen had her first baby Matilda, who's now aged four, she found herself writing down random notes and doodles at all hours. This sparked the creation of I’m Wrecked, This is My Journal.
Filled with a mix of funny quotes, puzzles, witty lists and reflective questions, the alternative baby memory book is aimed at inspiring and uplifting even the most despairing of sleep-deprived parents.
"I was looking back on the diary I had written when I was nursing Matilda and realised how nice it was to have those honest memories – whether it was a day where everyone cried or a happy outing," explains the 39-year-old publishing director for children’s books at Penguin Random House.
Trying her own hand at publishing, New Zealand-born Shannon, whose paternal side of her family are Irish, sees I’m Wrecked, This is My Journal as something that both mum and dads can dip in and out of.
"I wanted it to reflect my experience of parenting, which is that everything is a balancing act – balancing your baby with one hand and a glass of wine with the other," Shannon laughs.
"But alongside the more frazzled moments there are all the wonderful memories
that you think you’ll remember forever, vastly underestimating sleep deprivation. I was speaking to a friend at work who is a little older than me and I was asking her what happened during night feeds before smartphones. She said: 'I just stared at the wall.' I thought there had to be somewhere in between starring at the wall and smartphones.
"I thought it would be fun to have a book that stimulated parents' minds a bit more and asked a few interesting questions about what it was like to be a parent, as well as keeping memories about your child.
"Some of it is a bit mindful, other aspects aren't – there are days where drawing a page of circles is all your brain in capable of."
Shannon has been filling in one of her books herself as she nurses her six-month-old Sam.
Whether it's working your way through the 'parent maze' while frantically tapping the baby bouncer or looking for 'gin' in one of the book's word-search puzzles during a night feed, this journal will help to raise a smile.
Other challenges the book invites you to undertake include writing a message for help using Morse code; describing your day using the letters in your baby's name; drawing an aerial map of a fantasy parent soft-play area; listing the five famous people you would choose to raise your child; and using printed clock faces to predict the times your baby will wake up during the night.
I asked Shannon to answer some of the more philosophical questions she poses in her book.
What advice you would give your child now, that they will read when they are 21? "I would advise Sam to be whoever he wants to be and try not to get side tracked by other people's opinions, which is increasingly hard for children today with social media's influence."
And after your first year as a parent, what have you learned about yourself? "Of course I have my moments where I'm a bit panicky and am a hypochondriac about every rash my child has, but I'm more chilled out as a parent than I thought I would be, which is a nice thing to discover about yourself," says Shannon.
As well as aspiring to wake up naturally, without the aid of children, in the next few months Shannon plans to return to work, where she will undertake the challenge of building the Ladybird brand, which became iconic in the 20th century thanks to its Peter and Jane titles.
"My job involves commissioning everything in the children's section, from five to teenage. But I will also be taking on the challenge of running Ladybird. It will be really fun to reinvent the brand and make it a bit more modern."
As well as series publishing, such as the recent Topsy and Tim series, Shannon would like to place a greater focus on the importance of non-fiction.
"It would be lovely to publish Ladybird books on nature and topics such as space, picking up on the popularity of inspiring British astronaut Tim Peake."
And she has her own little book critics at home to help her. "Yeah, I can experiment on them," she laughs.
:: I'm Wrecked, This is My Journal: The Alternative Baby Book for Frazzled Parents by Shannon Cullen is published by Michael O'Mara Books Limited and is out now. To share your frazzled moments visit @ImWreckedMother on Instagram.
