Creativity in the Chaos: Motherhood, Business & Finding Joy

In this tender and honest episode of The Creative Juggle Joy, Kaylie and Delores open up about the messy, magical reality of being mothers, grandmothers, and creative business owners.

They reflect on what it means to nurture others while holding onto your own creative identity — especially when time, energy, and support feel scarce. 

From toddler chaos and missed deadlines to rediscovering creativity in quiet moments, this episode is a love letter to the women juggling it all.

Whether you’re a new mum, an empty-nester, or a caregiver balancing your art with family life, we hope this conversation reminds you: you’re doing better than you think. You're not alone — and there is power in your pace.

💛 We’d love to hear your reflections — tag us on Instagram @spellweaverdigitalsolutions and @deloresartcanada.

🎧 Stay until the end for a few beautiful listener shares and what we’d tell our younger selves.

Don't miss an episode—subscribe to The Creative JuggleJoy Podcast! Follow us on social media and join our email lists for more tips, stories, and updates on new episodes.

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Transcript

Kaylie Edwards (00:05)
Hello and welcome back to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast. I'm Kaylie and I'm here with my lovely co-host Delores and this week we're getting cosy, honest and a little bit emotional as we reflect on what it really means to be a mother or caregiver and a creative business owner.

Delores Naskrent (00:25)
with Mother's Day just around the corner here in North America, we wanted to open up a conversation that goes beyond.

flowers and brunch. We're talking about what it's really like to be a woman building a creative life while holding space for others and how flipping incredible that really is.

Kaylie Edwards (00:50)
Yes,

Delores Naskrent (00:51)
I have to ask you Kaylie, how's life looking with you and your little one and all of your creative work? I know he has been sick and I'm glad he's better, what's it been? Like what's it, what's been pulling your focus or surprising you? You've told me a couple of really cute stories about him. So.

Kaylie Edwards (01:14)
yeah, I think, yeah, that's kind of the big thing isn't it? Like, he's in this phase of toddlerhood. He's turning three in July so it's still, everything's still new, things, you know, he still learns new things so when he does learn things it's like, ⁓ yay! He's learned a new thing and then sometimes it's like, ⁓ no, what's he doing now?


Kaylie Edwards (01:42)
So you have, yeah, you have these moments where it's kind of, sometimes it's even bittersweet because you just know it's the next lead up to something. And yeah, it's scary, like how fast he's growing. And yeah, he does these really cute things now and again. And then the next moment he's throwing a complete fit over where you're like, what? Where did it come from? What? Like, why? What's wrong? You were fine a minute ago.


Kaylie Edwards (02:12)
And then he's throwing and kicking and pulling my hair and...yeah. Yeah, he was biting my finger today, like that was his new thing and I was like, no, that's not happening, get off.

He was just random. He wasn't even in a tantrum. It was literally just he was just faffing about by me And yeah, I just kind of put his mouth over my finger. It's like what you doing?

⁓ yeah, there's just random things. He can be very, very cute and then, yeah, he can like turn into the devil in like a minute.

Delores Naskrent (02:49)
The joys of the twos, the twos and the threes.

Kaylie Edwards (02:53)
Ugh, yeah, and it obviously it makes, like, work so, so, so challenging. Some days I can go hours where he won't bother me. Like, he'll just sit and watch TV or play with his toys or he'll do, find something to do and he won't bother me that much. And then other days it's constant every two minutes. He wants my attention and I just can't do anything or he won't even let me open my laptop. ⁓

Delores Naskrent (03:00)
Yeah, I can't even imagine.


Kaylie Edwards (03:22)
or I'll be in the middle of an email creating... sometimes I'm in the middle of creating your email or your newsletter and suddenly he's over and he's like tapping my keys and I'm like, get off! Go away! Go carry on watching PJ Masks or something.

So yeah, it's challenging and nobody tells you when you first start a business that when you're a mother, it's even harder.

Delores Naskrent (03:50)
Yes, yeah, absolutely. And you were at home with him. It's not like you're going out and working somewhere. He's there, so it's got to make it work.

Kaylie Edwards (04:00)
Yeah.

Yeah, it can be very challenging and you know on normal days or normal weeks I can get some stuff done especially when he goes to bed at night. I've got a few hours at like four, five at most I can sit and work. Yeah, it means I'm up late some nights but it's just what I've got to do to be able to actually get the work done especially if I've got deadlines and the reality is right now is a lot of my deadlines have...

have either moved or not even been re-added. I've literally just said to my email list not that long ago, yeah, I'll have to record my live workshop that I was supposed to do a month ago because I just haven't got the time right now. I don't know with Aston because him and obviously my partner had the norovirus stomach bug for... it was over a week when I calculated it up.

And yeah, I was in like mum caregiver survival mode for eight days.

Delores Naskrent (05:05)
It's not funny, but it's funny, but it's not funny.

Kaylie Edwards (05:10)
It's like, yeah, it's not funny when your toddler's throwing up in the middle of the night and you're having to change their bedding and their pajamas and everything and then get them back to bed and then have to do it all over again the next day. It's exhausting. And yeah, the smell is sick. Yeah, I can't, can't. I'm not very good at dealing with sick as it was before having my son.

Delores Naskrent (05:28)
I don't know how you do it.

Kaylie Edwards (05:34)
And then having to deal with him being sick, like almost eight days straight was, yeah, it was horrible. And then my partner got it as well. yeah, I had to deal with him being sick.

Delores Naskrent (05:49)
Gosh.

Kaylie Edwards (05:50)
Which is not something that he does. Like he does not... from the whole time that we've been together, sick was never a thing that he would get. And whenever he's been ill or he's been in pain or anything like that, he will still go to work. But that time he had the norovirus a couple of weeks ago, it, yeah, it floored him. And he was, he had to have a few days off work because he could not physically go in. He was so weak.

from being sick all the time and yeah, was really difficult and it was difficult seeing him that way as well.

Delores Naskrent (06:25)
Of course

Kaylie Edwards (06:27)
And yeah, it was difficult because obviously I've still got a course to create, to finish creating. I've got students who are waiting on modules right now and yeah, that makes the pressure even harder. Yeah, so it's just one of them things I have to just deal with as it comes and you you can't prepare for these things when it does happen. You can just kind of get on with it and...

Delores Naskrent (06:40)
Yeah. I get it.

Kaylie Edwards (06:55)
see where you stand after when it blows over. And how about you? What's been shifting you in your creative rhythm lately, especially in this stage of being a grandmother and running your teaching business?

Delores Naskrent (06:59)
Yeah.

That's honestly a joy, know, like it's, I don't have Bowden all day long. He comes here for the half hour before the bus arrives. And then at the end of the day, he comes for half an hour. So it's wonderful. He's so sweet and good at this point and easy. You know, he's beyond needing that round the clock watching, you know, he's very...

easily entertained and most of the time you know the time goes so quickly it's it's it's really been wonderful and we're really enjoying just his company and joking with him he's got a real sense of humor and he's wonderful with my mom you know there's days that he'll come over here drop off his backpack and say I have to go spend time with great grandma.

and he'll run over there. And yeah, just, and today when he left, actually went over and knocked on the door and gave her a hug. So, you know, it's just, he's just a little sweetheart right now. I'm really loving this age. It's actually been no problem to work around ⁓ in that way, you know, so that's been going good.

Kaylie Edwards (08:13)
No.

Delores Naskrent (08:25)
What has been shifting my creative rhythm, like obviously in the last six weeks was coming back from Florida and just the whole this time that we sold our home there. So we've been going to the same area and been part of that same neighborhood for six or seven years. And we really loved our place and that whole

Kaylie Edwards (08:34)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (08:53)
process did take a lot of my attention and stress and just that, you know, ⁓ very bittersweet. mean, the timing was good in the sense that it's a good time for Canadians to not be going to the US. ⁓ Due to deep politics, but and we have never had any problems. I love

Kaylie Edwards (09:01)
It's bittersweet, wasn't it, for you?

Hmm. ⁓

Delores Naskrent (09:21)
all of the American people that I know and we had so many of them apologizing to us or you know really being retrospective about their own situations so you know it just was a hard time to go through and run a business at the same time so there was that you know and I've been so lucky with my business that I have

Kaylie Edwards (09:39)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (09:48)
It has come at the time in my life when I can really spend a lot of time on it because my kids have grown up and they're on their own and they're all gainfully employed. They're all happy right now married and you know.

Kaylie Edwards (09:56)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (10:10)
kids, both of the two older daughters that live close to me have families and children and a really great supportive partner. My daughter in Winnipeg has five cats, so her and her significant other are raising their cats just beautifully. everybody's happy. Everybody's happy around me. My mom is happy to be here and

Kaylie Edwards (10:24)
Hehehehe

You

Delores Naskrent (10:39)
She's learned and has created a life for herself here. She's busy. She has places to go and people to see. More than me too. More than me. I can't even believe it sometimes. So I have two cousins who live near me who both have their parents in seniors homes out in the country where mom and dad lived.

Kaylie Edwards (10:50)
I know it's just more of a social life than I do.

⁓

Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (11:06)
So

it's been wonderful that both of them being retired, they're both older than me, you know, too old to drive, but old enough that their lives are also freed up at this point. And so they frequently go out and that's two different towns and mom has relative sisters or ⁓ old neighbors or...

whatever, all in these same seniors homes. So when she goes, she's like a party girl. I mean, she can visit with six people, you know? It was like going to the funeral with her the other day. She was busy as a bee going around and talking to all the people she hadn't seen for, you know, sometimes up to two years or three years because they've been now moved back here for three years. And, you know, at first it was hard for her and...

Kaylie Edwards (11:53)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (12:03)
When my dad passed, of course, she had to change her life quite a bit. But I so appreciate having my mother here, you know? To me, it's like such a gift that my mom literally lives right next to me.

Kaylie Edwards (12:15)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (12:26)
In this, on this corner in our little town and our little town is only 40 or 50 houses. There are no stores, there are no restaurants, nothing. It's just people. And on this corner are three mums. My mum, me as a mum and then my daughter across the street as a mum. So Mother's Day is a very

important day for us. And the other thing is, I don't know if you know this, but sometimes my birthday ends up being on Mother's Day. It is because it's, you know, if it's the second Sunday this year it doesn't happen to be on Mother's Day, but because my birthday is right near Mother's Day, like three days before in this case, all of my kids come to visit. So mom and I get to have

Kaylie Edwards (13:04)
That's great.

Duh.

Delores Naskrent (13:23)
that special day in May when we can all celebrate being mothers and you know it's it's just could I be any luckier to have that? It is and it's May, it's May so we could send all the kids outside to play.

Kaylie Edwards (13:36)
No, that's lovely that is. That is lovely.

Yeah it's

nice then. Yeah that's the one thing I don't like about my birthday sometimes is because I'm in November it's freaking cold. It's so cold! Like I've had my birthday in the snow before now it's like that was last year wasn't it? Yeah last year I had me and Aston on my birthday it was a Tuesday so it wasn't like it was you know a weekend so Rhys was away wasn't he?

Delores Naskrent (13:52)
no!

Kaylie Edwards (14:08)
Yeah, he was away on training. So he wasn't even there for my birthday last year. And me and Aston went out in our front garden and built a snowman on my birthday. That's what we did last year.

Delores Naskrent (14:18)
that's lovely.

Well, we can't build snowmen, although we did have snow last week. So and it's been known to happen that we get snow in May. So even up to the third week of May, we can't put out our flowers or anything like that. And one of the Mother's Day gifts that I get every year, it's flowers. But I always insist that they give me flowers. I can plant not just a bouquet of flowers. So I

Kaylie Edwards (14:42)
Plant, yeah.

Delores Naskrent (14:46)
I really look forward to that and I have several plants that I bring into the house and winter them because they were Mother's Day gifts.

Kaylie Edwards (14:54)
Yeah. Yeah. I don't have that yet because obviously Aston's still a kid. well, I got a... because obviously Mother's Day in the UK is past, that was in March for us. So I had a big card, which has basically got, I think they're supposed to be flowers that he's painted himself with, I am asuming his fingers.

Delores Naskrent (15:18)
Aww. ⁓

Kaylie Edwards (15:19)
Playgroup. So

I got a Mother's Day card from him from Playgroup. Obviously Playgroup staff have written inside the card from him. And I got, what was it? A little ornament. It was like a, yeah, it's a flower shaped ornament that he's obviously pressed little... I don't know. They're not flowers, I think they're just little natural pieces that you find outside.

that he stuck to it with glue. So yeah, so I've got a little ornament and I've got a card from him for for the, this year from Playgroup. So that's really cute. So that was my kind of like my first gift from him that he's kind of made. So that was, that was nice. That was, it's, you know, that was more special than the Mother's Day gifts I got from Rhys from Aston. Because yeah.

Delores Naskrent (16:06)
you

Kaylie Edwards (16:12)
It's kind of one of those typical man, I forgot, I'll get it on the day kind of situation or the day or the night before situation. I'm sure he was at training again and he came back up and he went to the supermarket. But he got me a frying pan.

Delores Naskrent (16:15)
Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (16:29)
And a plant pot with, I think it was gnomes and mushrooms or something on it. So yeah, I haven't used them yet. Mainly because I've got a frying pan that I do use and it's still a non-stick kind of thing. So I kind of use that, so I'll keep that all back. And then the plant pot, ⁓ I don't have any plants right now because I'm trying not to focus on gardening because we're renting.

Delores Naskrent (16:35)
you

Kaylie Edwards (16:58)
until we buy a house and I don't want to like put a load of plants in then have to go. So yeah, the plant pot is just kind of sitting on our... Big cupboard that we've got at the moment empty, so. But those are my Mother's Day gifts from Aston from Rhys so yeah. Yeah, he tried. it's more special because Aston obviously made a couple of things.

Delores Naskrent (17:04)
Yeah, no, I don't mean...

We tried.

Kaylie Edwards (17:21)
I didn't expect anything obviously this year because he's still, you know, he's a toddler. He doesn't understand the day. He only understands his birthday because he gets a load of gifts and obviously everybody wishes his happy birthday and he gets a cake. That's the only reason he understands what that day is. But yeah, Mother's Day I think can bring up quite a lot of feelings for people obviously. Especially if you may have lost your mum or...

you know, yeah, or even a mum who's lost her children and it's a horrible, horrible thing to think about. But there's obviously a lot of people out there who have gone through that and Mother's Day is a difficult day for them and I like to reflect on the fact that some people don't get to celebrate Mother's Day as well. It's difficult because I've got a friend from school, she lost her mum very young.

Delores Naskrent (18:04)
That's right.

Kaylie Edwards (18:15)
and then not that recently I don't think or she lost her father as well.

And so she's on her own basically. She has her own family, she's got her own kid now and her own partner and I think about her a lot because, you know, she doesn't have that family there anymore and she's my age. You know, I'm only 31 and to not have your parents is difficult. Like, I can't even imagine how difficult that is and being independent and having to do everything yourself.

Delores Naskrent (18:40)
I'm to honest.

Kaylie Edwards (18:49)
You know, at least I have, although my mum's an hour's drive away, I do still see her now and again and, you know, if I need her, I can at ring her up. You know, I rang her up not that long ago, literally because I was stuck on a crossword. I was like on the last word and it was on our favourite thing, Harry Potter. And it was bugging me like mad because it was just such an obscure question.

Delores Naskrent (19:11)
Great. ⁓

Kaylie Edwards (19:18)
And I was like, I know it, but I can't think of it. And I was like, I have to ring my mum. I'm not Googling it. I have to ring my mum because my mum will know. And we sat there for about five minutes and then eventually my mum gave me the answer. And I was like, yes, yes, that's what it was. So yeah. So obviously I know, yes, some mums are not the best.

Delores Naskrent (19:34)
Mums are losing.

Kaylie Edwards (19:44)
And I think that is also another reflection that some people need to remember is sometimes people are born with a mum who isn't the best. There's a few that I know, unfortunately, from friends who had to grow up kind of fairly quickly because their mum was not really there for them. And yeah, it's something to kind of think about that I'm very grateful for.

having my mum and I was very close to my mum growing up, like we're quite very similar, we look like each other as well, like I do look like my mum. And so does my brother, my middle brother, he looks like my mum as well so we kind of got my mum for the both of us and then my sister and my my youngest brother kind of look like more like my stepdad.

Delores Naskrent (20:14)
same here.

I'm neat.

Kaylie Edwards (20:36)
I'm the eldest and I'm the only one who hasn't got the same dad as my three siblings. So I grew up with my stepdad who, it was amazing, you know, he brought us all up kind of the same, although he was less disciplined with my three siblings, I suppose, in a way. And yeah, kind of gave into them a lot more, which made them little buggers.

Delores Naskrent (20:40)
Mm.

Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (21:04)
Growing up they were a pain in the backside to say the least. ⁓ it was, yeah. That growing up with siblings can be stressful and it's lovely having you know, siblings that you think to play with and things but it doesn't always work out that way. We fought a lot.

Delores Naskrent (21:24)
It's a love-hate

thing, I think, with your siblings. I mean, there were four of us. we're all like, my sister is 18 months older than me. The one that's younger than me is 18 months younger. so the four of us were born within a five-year period. So you can imagine my poor mom who started, she had all of her kids by the age of 25 before

Kaylie Edwards (21:44)
Wow.

My god.

Delores Naskrent (21:54)
Before, like, I had my first kid at the age of 25. So imagine, you know, what it was like. So definitely, I totally get it when you're talking about siblings, because it's gone in every direction imaginable. But I love my sisters right now. Like, wish I could see them more often, you know, spend more time with them.

Kaylie Edwards (22:18)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (22:19)
And they're all

such great moms and they've just done such a great job of motherhood in general. And obviously that comes from having had a good mom. So we're really lucky. And I do appreciate that very much. I understand what your reflection about that. Having been in the school system for 30 years, I definitely saw a range

Kaylie Edwards (22:30)
Yeah.

yeah.

Yeah, you've seen a lot, yeah.

Delores Naskrent (22:48)
you know, and how hard it was for kids who didn't have moms who were really present in their lives. So I definitely am thankful. you know, Mother's Day, that's the great thing about Mother's Day is a day that you can think about that and appreciate it and think about people who haven't had that experience and think about supporting them.

Kaylie Edwards (23:09)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (23:18)
you know, any way that you can if they're in your lives.

Kaylie Edwards (23:21)
yeah, for sure. I know sometimes I'm a little bit envious of my sister, my younger sister, because she's got my mum literally down the road and like I'm an hours away and my mum doesn't drive, I don't drive, so it does make it hard and it means I don't have the support here when I moved away. Obviously I didn't think that when I moved to a different town which is now called a city.

Delores Naskrent (23:46)
Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (23:52)
I didn't think that. I was coming here for the job opportunity and the housing situation and yeah, and then you don't think, ⁓ when I have a kid, you're basically on your own. When you're partnered as night shifts, it's more difficult. Obviously, we don't have a very conventional living situation and it can be very confusing. It can be very confusing.

Delores Naskrent (24:03)
Exactly.

Mm-hmm.

Kaylie Edwards (24:20)
Especially for Aston because he's like, daddy in bed. Like in the day, yes. And then you've got his dad coming in and going up with his tea instead of breakfast. So that's a bit confusing for Aston. So yeah. And then when obviously Rhys gets up in the late afternoon, so like it'll be about half five, he's getting up and having his breakfast at half five in the afternoon.

Delores Naskrent (24:23)
Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (24:48)
Well, near enough the evening and going off to work. So Aston, yeah, although he's kind of known no different, but it's still a bit confusing because obviously you're trying to teach him breakfast is in the morning. But his dad does a completely different thing. So yeah, it can. It's got his challenges. Yeah, it's definitely got his challenges, especially not having my mum here, but then my sister does. So yeah, I'm a little bit envious of my sister.

Delores Naskrent (25:01)
Yes.

Kaylie Edwards (25:16)
sometimes that she has my mum but then I also feel a little bit sorry for my mum because she's on beck and call.

Delores Naskrent (25:22)
Yes, of course, of course.

Kaylie Edwards (25:24)
Yeah, because my sister

my niece, my eldest niece and then my nephew, she has the two kids and then my sister's having her third which she'll be due this month, it's May now, so this month. ⁓ So she's due and they've just bought their house and just got the keys for it so then she's trying to move in to a new house and get that sorted whilst...

Delores Naskrent (25:46)
Gosh!

Kaylie Edwards (25:46)
Due

with Athena because my sister loves Greek mythology so she's named her Athena. So that's a new thing happening in our lives right now. ⁓ So my mum and there's some pregnancy stuff that's going on right now with my sister. My niece is not moving so much so my sister's having to go in for daily monitoring so my mum has her other two kids pretty much every day.

Delores Naskrent (25:49)
my god.

⁓ God.

Kaylie Edwards (26:15)
all day for the week just gone. So until my niece is born, my mum's gonna have her full. And yeah, so it's difficult. My mum's got...she's not long found out she's got osteoarthritis in both shoulders, so she's in a lot of pain at the moment and so I do feel for her and yeah, she's probably glad that...

I'm not so near with Aston and going can you go look after Aston for a bit?

Delores Naskrent (26:46)
adding to

that. That definitely dispels that myth of balance.

Kaylie Edwards (26:53)
⁓

yes it does. Like, the myth of balance. Like, you hear it all the time, you just have to find the right balance, but what the heck does that even mean? Like, when you're up all night with a toddler or caring for someone else or you have chronic illness like I do, I...no, no. There is no balance. You just have to kind of find, like, a blending on what works for you and your life and your season because things change.

Delores Naskrent (27:23)
Yeah, exactly. I used to think that it meant giving everything equal time. So if I'm working eight hours, then the next eight hours I have to do whatever. I see it like now in retrospect, I'm definitely in a different season in my life and I see it more like a flow. And some days...

I'm all in with the family. mean, we have an event. It's here because we're the central, you know, and we have the biggest place and it's the least difficult. And other days I can just do art all day. I'm, it's seasonal, know, like my life has that kind of balance now, if you could call it balance, more like a flow. Like, yeah, let's just call it flow.

Kaylie Edwards (28:00)
Yeah

Yeah.

Yeah, it's Flow Like, who was it? I think it was the product boss. The product boss, I think that's their brand. I remember her saying not long ago and I really got it where she said, your life is just blended. You have to just blend. There's no such thing as balance as BS. You literally just...you just have to find a blending for each day.

what works for you and just kind of go with that. So did the idea of balance ever change for you when your kids grew up and like obviously when you have kids and they're at home it's so much difficult but then it obviously changes so do you think there's more freedom in this stage that you're in now or just different kinds of juggling?

Delores Naskrent (28:58)
say different kinds of juggling, you know, because I've taken it upon myself to start a membership and start a school, even though I did teach for 30 years. It's definitely different now that I'm teaching things I'm really interested in and excited to share, you know, so I'm always kind of trying to think of new ideas. And so I'm not...

Kaylie Edwards (29:08)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (29:26)
juggling with kids, but I'm juggling my time so that I can run a business but also still continue to be creative and you know, for me doing artwork has to be in there because obviously my whole school rotates around my creativity and projects and doing artwork that I can then

use as classes to inspire other people and you know that all kind of ties into my art licensing and creating products for sale and so it's it's it's still juggling like one way or another it still seems like it's juggling you know

Kaylie Edwards (30:13)
Yeah, we never have enough time in the day, no matter what season of life you're in. ⁓

Delores Naskrent (30:19)
What about

you? How do you manage that? Between work and motherhood, it sounds like it can be pretty crazy. And are there days you just wish that you did one better than the other? How does it feel, the actual feeling for you?

Kaylie Edwards (30:27)
Mm.

It's like every day is a different one. ⁓ Yeah, we have our routine but then that can change if one of us is sick or you know he has a week or like not long ago with the Easter holidays he was off for two weeks for Play-For-All Playgroup but the week before that he was ill so he wasn't even in there so he's been off pretty much for three weeks so that has been...

Delores Naskrent (30:57)
Right.

Kaylie Edwards (31:08)
challenging and driving me up the freaking wall, which meant I couldn't do my recording or my editing. I thought I could get more of my editing out of the way from the recorded lessons I already had sitting on my computer that I need to upload. But it's so difficult to try and edit with a toddler constantly asking you to change the channel over every two minutes. So...

Delores Naskrent (31:33)
Or whatever.

Kaylie Edwards (31:36)
Yeah, managing

expectations can be difficult as a mum and a business owner when you've got your toddler at home. it's gonna change a bit more once he's actually at full-time education, then I can actually do a bit more and hopefully stick to deadlines when I need to. But yeah, it's managing where I possibly...

Delores Naskrent (31:55)
When does that happen for you? Like, it's different than Canada.

Kaylie Edwards (32:01)
He's possibly gonna start in September, it depends if I get the funding. So I have to apply for funding and if he gets the funding then he will be going 30 hours a week I think it is. So hopefully, yeah, hopefully I qualify and he goes for 30 hours and then I can finally get some kind of thing in place that I can stick to but yeah at the moment it's trying.

Delores Naskrent (32:12)
Ooh, that could be.

Kaylie Edwards (32:30)
to get done whenever I can get done. If I can get a recording session done, I will do that, even if it means I've got to postpone a bit of editing just to make sure I've got some more recording batched ready. So I have three more modules left to actually record for my course.

Delores Naskrent (32:50)
I'm amazed what you can get done. It's great and batching definitely helps. ⁓

Kaylie Edwards (32:55)
Yeah, that's what I've... that's

helped me with managing my expectations. If I can get batching done, if I can, I will get it done. There has been points where I've like not been able to get it done the night before and I think, maybe I can get it done in the morning and then Aston wakes up like halfway through recording and it's like, ⁓ child, couldn't you've slept for another half an hour?

Delores Naskrent (33:12)
Thank

I know, I know, I hear you.

Kaylie Edwards (33:20)
But yeah, and then

there's days where you feel like you've done neither well. there's some days where I feel like it's gone well, some days it just has not gone to plan at all and it just happens. Sometimes I feel like I've had my best ideas mid-chaos. Like, this year has been a never-ending supply of ideas even though I've literally just gone through just so many challenges.

Delores Naskrent (33:31)
Yeah.

You

Kaylie Edwards (33:47)
since the start of this year and we're in the second half now and it's just like what? Where did the time go? But also my worst self-doubt like whilst Aston and Rhys had been so ill with this norovirus like the self-doubt of whether I can actually get through what I need to get through before we go on holiday has just been crazy. My mindset has not been great even though I have been trying to do mindset work whenever I can.

Like, I will... I've got, my colour by number app that I've been using because whenever I get a moment to just sit and not have to think about anything, I just put my app on and I'll just sit and colour because that's the only thing that gives me... But then sometimes Aston will come over and he'll try and play with it and I'm just like, go away. This is my time for five minutes. Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (34:38)
It doesn't work that way.

Kaylie Edwards (34:42)
for five minutes or might ⁓ get some time because that's the thing, it times you but then obviously I have to put my phone down and it's like well actually that's telling me it took me an hour and 40 minutes to do a picture and I'm like it really didn't but it's just because I've had to keep putting it down but yeah it's chaos at the minute but that's just yeah being a mother has fueled my creativity sometimes and then yeah and then sometimes I can be blocked by it

Delores Naskrent (34:48)
Yes.

Kaylie Edwards (35:09)
Sometimes it feels like it steals your energy and it's what people don't tell you. People definitely do not tell you how much it actually changes the dynamics of your life. You've got this little human being that relies on you, depends on you to be everything for them.

Delores Naskrent (35:31)
Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (35:32)
And what makes it worse is because obviously I've been here as a constant for Aston, ⁓ he will not let anybody else do anything for him. Which makes it even harder for me, so if I need to, you know, I can't do everything for him 24-7, but he expects it. Like, there was a point where if he wanted to drink out of his bottle, he would have me hold it for him, even when he could, if in theory, he could actually do it himself.

But he wouldn't let anybody else do it, he wouldn't even let his dad do it sometimes. And he would come to the gate if I'm in the middle of doing washing up or middle of making dinner and he'd want me to hold his bottle for him so he could have a drink. So yeah, it... Yeah, it's motherhood. It's challenging and especially if you're doing a lot of it on your own as well, it does not help. has being the mother fueled your creativity?

Delores Naskrent (36:13)
Challenge.

Kaylie Edwards (36:25)
And does it feel like it steals your energy?

Delores Naskrent (36:29)
I think, you know, it's given me stories, you know, and meaning and tenderness. But also, I just the other day was going through the drawers here trying to organize. was looking for a specific piece of artwork that I had actually scanned and it was a watercolor and I'm trying to tie it into this class that I'm doing. And I was looking through this drawer for it and I

realized I have like so many unfinished paintings and I just you know I remember kind of working on them I kind of remember that time and then just I never got back to it just never got back to it.

Kaylie Edwards (37:04)
Yeah.

Yeah, I've got so many unfinished projects on Canva. Got Canva everywhere else. I have so many Word documents that I have started and yeah, just never finished or never did anything with. I have so many unfinished products that I could have sold. Was there a season you felt like your creativity had to go on pause or... what brought it back if it did?

Delores Naskrent (37:19)
Yeah.

Bye.

Yeah, there's been definitely been times like that. ⁓ When I got there, it was funny when I was first with Terry that ⁓ even though he knew I was an artist and he knew that I sold my art that we did craft sales and that he never actually had seen me doing any artwork. And which may seem so weird, right? Like you're with somebody and I remember

Kaylie Edwards (38:08)
Hahaha.

Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (38:16)
that I had during the week when he wasn't here, I had pulled out some artwork and an art journal that I was working on, which is probably similar to you coloring in your app. You know, it was the thing that I had to do to just ⁓ center myself. And I had kind of put that on hold because, you know, we...

Kaylie Edwards (38:34)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (38:38)
My life had changed. Milan was at a certain age where we had so many activities and things that I just didn't have time for art. And I remember him coming on the weekend and here I had a bunch of art supplies out and I was actually doing artwork and it was almost like he was surprised. It was like...

you've never seen me do this, have you? Like, have you ever actually even seen my artwork? And so I kind of, you know, showed him a few pieces I had been working on in my journal. And it was really weird because never had I gone that long without actually having...

done actual artwork, you know what I mean? Like natural media and all. I was doing everything digitally and all he saw was me working on my computer. So that was a very interesting kind of a pause and all it took was that once of taking it out and then it was back in my life and then I was doing it constantly again.

Kaylie Edwards (39:32)
Yeah.

great that. Well yeah because obviously me and Rhys we hadn't long known each other actually before I fell pregnant with Aston. before that the only creative thing you've probably seen me do is actually make my candles because I was still doing my business when we met and yeah I hadn't actually done any painting or anything which I'd done previously like he'd seen a load of my work from like my college years and school and all

Delores Naskrent (39:49)
Mm-hmm.

Kaylie Edwards (40:16)
Like, I've got tons of notebooks and sketchbooks and everything with... I've even got like a massive folder with all my college work in it and he's seen them but he'd never actually seen me paint or anything like that and then when we were on holiday I bought art supplies because I wanted to get back into it again and yeah, that was the first time he'd seen me do any watercolour or anything that I used to like doing but it didn't last very long because Aston then...

Delores Naskrent (40:43)
That's so cool.

Kaylie Edwards (40:46)
wasn't, you know, being occupied and he'd come running in and stuck his finger straight in my black paint and I was like, no! This is what I was trying to avoid! But yes, it's...it's kind of...

Delores Naskrent (40:56)
Hahaha.

Well, let me ask you something then.

What part of motherhood inspires your work now? And what out of that influences you to choose to do specific things with your audience? You know I mean?

Kaylie Edwards (41:19)
Yes, I think a lot. Obviously my business, after my maternity ended, that's why I had to change the way I did things. And that's how I ended up meeting you and working for you. And I was all centred around, I was needing to find something that I could work around with Aston. I needed something that I could work for me. I couldn't go back to work because it just wasn't going to work for us as a couple. And then knew as parents.

So a lot of my creative work, I'm glad I kind of went more digital because I can still create in Canva and Affinity Designer, you know, and before that was Photoshop. I can still do my creativity. You know, I don't have to get paints out and then Aston making a mess everywhere. So yeah, that's kind of my motherhood as kind of...

forced me to change the way I do things. I would love to do my art and sell my art again. But it's just, in the season, the where I'm at now is just not practical with Aston. Like, we don't have the space either for me to be doing that. Like, my are spare bedroom is full of my old art stuff, which is not the best because obviously it's from college and mostly experimentation. It wasn't for...

Delores Naskrent (42:23)
You get

you

Kaylie Edwards (42:42)
anybody in particular so it wouldn't work as marketable work. it's just seeing where we go and obviously I can be creative with my resources and I probably spend far too much time on my work slides for courses and workshops because I like to make them pretty and magical looking because obviously that's just who I am.

Delores Naskrent (43:01)
Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (43:07)
Yeah, and motherhood kind of comes into it because motherhood's constant for me at the moment with Aston being here. So asking for help used to feel like a failure. Sometimes I still struggle with that. Now sometimes it feels like I have to do it for survival as well. What's your relationship with support like now Delores?

Delores Naskrent (43:19)
Yeah.

used to feel like I had to do everything myself to be good, you know what I mean? Like a good mom, a good artist, a good teacher. And what I have really learned now that I have my membership and just the circle of people that I'm involved with through coaching or whatever, I realized that for me, community is definitely part of creativity.

Kaylie Edwards (43:38)
Mm. Yes.

For sure. Yeah, it definitely is. That's one thing I kind of didn't have when I first had Aston. Obviously my family are not living here. Rhys's family is a drive away and I didn't have...like my friends don't live here anymore. Like they moved away and had their own families. So support was very much lacking and it's been very, very difficult.

and sometimes it just brings me to tears because I'm just like sat here sometimes I wish I could just... I know I can phone up somebody but it's not the same as speaking in person with someone and sit in and have a conversation but that's why I'm... I was so glad to have somebody reach out to me who wanted to actually chat and talk about business and talk about motherhood and stuff.

Delores Naskrent (44:31)
Thanks.

Kaylie Edwards (44:52)
And she built a Facebook group and then we started doing local meetings once a month. They don't always happen once a month because we're all pretty much mothers or grandmothers. kind of sometimes moves, especially if it's around school season and things. But that helped a lot with the community and support and just speaking to people that get it. That is crucial sometimes to...

really be resilient in your business is having that support there definitely. As a mum it's so important because especially when you work from home you don't have anyone here. You know, you're on your own. Yes, you might have a partner at home sometimes but do they really understand what you're doing? My partner doesn't. My partner doesn't at all.

Delores Naskrent (45:27)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

No.

Kaylie Edwards (45:51)
What do you wish someone had told you in the thick of raising your kids? I'm trying to make art at the same time.

Delores Naskrent (45:59)
I don't know. ⁓ I guess when I was in the middle of it, like with my older two, I just didn't get a chance. There was no possibility. It was impossible to do just at that point in my life. But once they got older and Milan was a few years later, like she was this eight year age difference,

And I found that I was actually able to have her occupied in the same space as I was. And I could be doing my thing and she could be doing her thing. And I really wish somebody had at, you know, the earlier time in my life with my kid, the older kids had just said to me, you know.

Try to make art anyways, like just try, even if it was to get them in some kind of activity or when they went out to play with friends that instead of going and doing six loads of laundry and washing up something that I'd been meaning to get to, why didn't I just take the time? I wish somebody had said to me, just take the time to relax and do some art. So.

Kaylie Edwards (47:20)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (47:21)
That's

kind of what I'm saying to everyone. If you are at that point in your life right now, at least once in a while, allow yourself that.

Kaylie Edwards (47:34)
Yeah. Yeah. I think sometimes I get so caught up in like, Aston's at Playgroup, oh I can do work. You know, I need to catch up, I need to do work. Yeah, sometimes I forget that I could use that time, a bit of that time to actually sit and do some creativity and artwork, like physical artwork. I do need to do that. But I think I've got it in my head that I need to hold out until he goes to school.

Delores Naskrent (47:42)
Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, something for yourself.

Kaylie Edwards (48:04)
⁓ No, that's not great.

Delores Naskrent (48:07)
Well,

if that's what it takes, mean, you're doing what you can, so don't be too hard on yourself. I think that's something that we just have to learn to let go of all of that stuff, all that guilt and comparison and that idea of perfection. I really think we just need to let go of that.

Kaylie Edwards (48:16)
Yeah, I know and...

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Yeah. And before recording this, I did reach out to some community that I'm in and some of them did share some feedback about motherhood and their businesses. There was a lady called Carol, she said that she couldn't have done her business without her mum and the support of her mother and she wanted to acknowledge that

Her mum was everything. She's got a son who has... I think he's on autistic spectrum, she said. And without the help of her mum, wouldn't have been able to do it. And she is very grateful and thankful for having her mum. And she says she's blessed. And I have another lady who's actually a student of Delores'.

Delores Naskrent (49:21)
That's awesome.

Kaylie Edwards (49:25)
who says balancing work and being a mother is challenging but many manage it. It's important to not ignore the nurturing side of motherhood and she said, try to spend quality time with my family making memories together. Children grow up so fast. It feels like yesterday I brought my son home from the hospital filled with joy and worry. Now he is 48 years old and I often think about how quickly the years have passed. Time can slip away from us in the busyness of life.

No matter how busy I am with work or other activities, my family is my top priority and the source of my happiness. Their love and presence truly matters to me. Unfortunately, no guide tells us the perfect way to balance everything.

Delores Naskrent (50:10)
⁓ that's so sweet. Like almost chokes me up, honestly, hearing that. That's lovely.

Kaylie Edwards (50:16)
Yeah and it kind of goes in hand with a student of mine who actually emailed me when I had a couple of my first deadline misses and a couple of them was because Aston just... I couldn't... I could not do it and Aston had actually naptrapped me when I was supposed to finish in editing ⁓ the last lesson for the module and I couldn't get it up in time so I sent the email out.

and she emailed me back and she's actually a student of yours as well, Sherry. And she emailed me and was telling me about her son because she's in her 70s and her son, she's only got the one and he moved away obviously and how it can be difficult for, you know, knowing the time has flown by and she said that she feels guilty and regrets when she had to obviously work and couldn't play with him and that I should...

Delores Naskrent (50:49)
⁓

Kaylie Edwards (51:14)
love the time that I do get to spend with him while I do have the time with him and it made me cry and she gave, what was it? Cats in the Cradle, that song. She was on about reflecting with that song and she says her and her son and her husband, that's their song because it reminds them of how fast time goes and that you need to spend each moment with each other and you know.

Delores Naskrent (51:22)
no.

⁓

Kaylie Edwards (51:42)
I always, I say it now and again where I'm in the middle of doing something and I'm saying to Aston I'm busy, I'm sorry but I can't do that right now. Sometimes it is literally because I'm washing up and he wants me to do something and I'm like well can you give me a minute? And then sometimes yeah you feel guilty then and yeah it can be difficult. Definitely difficult.

Delores Naskrent (52:05)
Yes, there's always something, isn't there? But I think, you know, if we look back in time, so many other women, just like us, have struggled and have had to make things work with whatever situation that they're in. I mean, we all know people like that. We all have...

heard of people like that. We all have people in our communities like that. We, for Mother's Day, I think can just sit and reflect on that and also just think about how great it is to be a woman and how lucky we are that we can have these feelings and we have our families and we have our children and

Kaylie Edwards (52:50)
you

Delores Naskrent (53:01)
as hard as it is at times, we're lucky to be in this position. honestly, if I'll just ask you, if you could go back and speak to, you know, the early motherhood, Kaylie, the one that was still making candles with the swollen ankles and the big dreams, what would you tell her?

Kaylie Edwards (53:20)
No.

find the joy when you can. The little things, like, they go so fast, I still remember like his first steps and, you know, I'm sad that his dad didn't get to see his first steps. He missed him like five minutes, literally he was just on his way back and he missed him for five minutes before and he would have seen Aston take his first steps and I'm humble.

Delores Naskrent (53:39)
Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (53:51)
I'm grateful that I got to see it and obviously I recorded it. So I did record it and I did like obviously make Rhys watch it. So yeah, I think early early motherhood like when I first started obviously with Aston like those days were horrible but there was so much joy in it as well even with two hours sleep most nights and you just yeah I don't...

Delores Naskrent (53:58)
Obviously.

Kaylie Edwards (54:20)
I'd say don't forget your dreams, like keep going, you are resilient. I am still here. I'm still going and you know, it's just trying to keep that dream alive, that goal in mind that I have, that I will get to.

Delores Naskrent (54:35)
the app.

You will get there.

Kaylie Edwards (54:38)
And if you could leave a little message for your younger self, Delores, the one painting while the kids were in bed, or what would you say?

Delores Naskrent (54:48)
think I would say the same thing. mean, you know, just take a minute and appreciate it. And, you know, even I remember when they were first going off to school, so this is something you're going to be experiencing very soon, but I can remember clearing out the...

dresser, know, to put their sort of school clothes, special school clothes into to have it all organized. And I can remember pulling out, you know, little tiny t-shirts and just, just that dagger in your heart, you know, thinking, my gosh, that, that was like just months ago.

Kaylie Edwards (55:18)
You

Mm.

Delores Naskrent (55:39)
And I just wanted to, you know, like, if I could leave a message for myself, it would be to just appreciate every single stage because when it's gone, it's gone.

Kaylie Edwards (55:52)
⁓

yeah. Yeah. Like I miss the days where he would nap.

Delores Naskrent (55:59)
Yeah, I know.

Kaylie Edwards (56:00)
where would nap in the day. Like now and again he might do if he's really knackered out but it's not that often anymore, like very rare. ⁓ But yeah like when I first took him to Playgroup obviously he didn't like being dropped off. It wasn't up until the last time that we took him before the holidays.

he would cry like every time I dropped him off, like he would cry and it breaks my heart leaving him when he's crying like that for me. ⁓ it's so horrible. It chokes me up now thinking about it but then when we've taken it, when I've taken him back, like we took him back on Monday together and he's just straight in. Nothing, no fear, nothing, just straight in and I was like what? What happened?

Delores Naskrent (56:45)
Of course.

Kaylie Edwards (56:53)
I was like, bye! Bye then! ⁓ Yeah, so it was kind of like... Yeah, it was a bit of a weird feeling. But... Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (56:55)
See ⁓ ya! ⁓

I hear you. hear you.

I'm living in the neighborhood where I raised my children and now, you know, like, I actually, I'm going to get choked up talking about this, but I see my grandson running in the yard and I think about my kids.

Kaylie Edwards (57:23)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (57:25)
Okay, deep breath. But it's hard, you know?

Kaylie Edwards (57:26)
Ha ha ha

Mm.

Delores Naskrent (57:33)
It's hard but it's beautiful.

Kaylie Edwards (57:35)
Yeah, it's generations like, grow and they have to grow up and they have to leave and like, I sit here sometimes and like cry because I'm like, one day he's gonna leave me and he's gonna have his own family and then that fear sets in and I'm like, my god, what if he moves country and I never see him? And I'm like, he's only, he's not even three yet, not even three yet and yeah, I have that fear.

Delores Naskrent (57:40)
Yeah.

you

Of course. ⁓

Just don't think that far ahead.

Yeah, of course, of course we do. you know, like it's, it, thank God for me has come full circle to where my mom is here, I'm here, my daughter is here, my grandson is here. And, you know, honestly, looking back, it would be just.

appreciate all of it because even when you're feeling so exhausted or when you're so frustrated because you can't get things done and you've got so many dreams and plans and everything seems to be taking forever let's be a good model for the next generation of creative women and just go with the flow just go with the flow and stop being hard on yourself

Kaylie Edwards (58:38)
Yeah.

Yeah, because society doesn't help.

Delores Naskrent (58:58)
touch yourself a little bit.

Yeah. Give yourself grace.

Kaylie Edwards (59:02)
No. Yeah.

Yes, give yourself grace. Society... Yeah, society puts expectations on us and sometimes we don't help ourselves because we do the same to our own selves and we need to be patient with ourselves and, you know, you are powerful and you are full of creativity and just know that you are loved by somebody.

And you will find, if you haven't got support, will find support. Just look, look and you will find it. And we'd love to hear from you. what has your motherhood taught you about creativity, patience or power or anything else? Tag us in your reflections on Instagram at the Creative Juggle Joy podcast or even tag us. Mine is Spellweaver Digital Solutions and Delores is Delores Art Canada.

Delores Naskrent (59:37)
Yeah.

Yes, this Mother's Day we honor all of the creative women out there. I honor you, Kaylie. You're raising your little man and I'm so proud of you. I'm proud of my girls and I'm proud of myself. So let's just honor ourselves.

Kaylie Edwards (1:00:13)
Mmm.

of both of us because we have come a long way since we started together as well.

Delores Naskrent (1:00:25)
We have come a long way.

So keep creating, keep juggling, and most importantly keep finding joy in the process.