The other morning I decided to take a walk into town with Miss G. The weather has changed a little bit for the wintery variety, so it was cold (about 8 degrees celcius - Fahrenheit readers work that out for yourself) but at the same time it was gloriously sunny. So I bundled G up, found the muff thingy for the buggy and, at the last minute, placed a beanie on her head (she is currently not blessed with a insulating head of hair). It was her first attempt as a cognitive being at both the…

Apologies for lack of blog for a few days, there has been much going on. Mainly that my mum has been here. This means every spare second of my time has been taken up with nattering, shopping and wine. My blog-inspiration ran dry. But, alas, she is going home this morning, and surprise, here I am blogging again. To borrow from an e-mail that has been doing the rounds "Our Granny lives at the airport. When we need her we go and get her, and when we've had enough we take her…

Its my birthday - I'm 36 today. I've had a fantastic day. However - bloody hell  - I'm closer to 50 than 20! Am I middle aged? I'm 18 years older than an 18 year old.  I could have a grown up child, if I was born in 1810 or was from Essex. Bugger that, I'm off to pretend I'm 14 again and go to my ballet lesson.

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My recent series of blogs have apparently put some of my younger followers off ever having kids.  Why discussions about sleepless nights, bodily fluids and public bowel movements would do that to you I'll never know.  But I thought it best I write about some of the great things about being a mum for a change. Not the warm and fuzzy ones, like new born baby toes and hugs in the morning - we can get all those from fabric softener adverts. Instead I thought I'd mention a few of the other things…

Everyone in our house is absolutely exhausted today and we all agreed on a "playing a home" day.  The girls then disappeared into their bedroom and within 20 minutes had set up a den, using a custom-made sheet, string, pegs and every pillow and cushion in the house. They then disappeared into it and have only emerged so far in order to have this photo taken. I love it when childhood is just childhood - not an electronic good or hello kitty item in sight - just creativity, imagination and…

A strange thing happened today that caused me to stop and think... K spent some time with my lovely Aunty T who is very generous. First Aunty T took her into the shop and said "What would you like to drink? You can have anything you like. Coke? Fruit juice? Powerade?" to wit K replies "I''ll have a bottle of water please". So I'm already looking like super-strict mummy, despite this actually being K's own quirk, she's always liked bottled water best.   But a bit later Aunty T gave K her own…

We need a new fridge... I took this for my Face-book wall, with the caption "And this is supposed to go where?".  Sadly I took it in November last year, and the problem hasn't improved.  I have been whinging about this for nearly a year and its no longer a joke. We really really really need a new fridge, ours is just too small for a family of 5.  But here's the thing (there is always a thing) - I'm sure we didn't need these huge *ssed fringes when I was a child,…

In my last teaching post I was a 6th form tutor. My form was all the kids doing 2 or more sciences for their AS levels, and was therefore made up of all the highest achievers in GCSEs the previous years.  On about the 3rd day of school one of the less achieving boys noticed this, and said "What's going on here - I'm in the nerd form".  To which another boy, who achieved 15 A*s in his GCSEs, yet was sitting there in his DMs and leather jacket, turned around and said "We are not nerds - we are…

Short but sweet today - I'm a wee bit tired. But here are 5 skills I think you must have in order to be a good modern parent...

You know that feeling - you are enjoying a quiet moment. Perhaps you are having a cup of coffee and a cheeky piece of cake. Perhaps you are really getting stuck into the ironing (not likely in my case, but hey - some of you are good mothers). Perhaps you are checking your face book for the 20th time that morning just in case they decided to revert to the old news feed format... But anyway, you are busy and occupied and getting on with something you needed to get on with, when you suddenly…

There are plenty of things I could complain that no-one warns you about having children. Piles - no-one warns you about the piles. The lack of sleep for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE is not made clear either.The trauma of cutting your tiny weeny babies nails - no-one told me about this either (but I'm going to cut her finger tips off!). But these issues do get discussed afterwards, in hushed circles, by those in the…

1. Why am I always so far behind with putting the washing away?  I wash it, dry it and fold it no problem, but that last step seems to be impossible for me. So much so that in this case I had to fold it all again as it had been over stacked, and spontaneously unfolded itself. I am such a domestic failure. This would probably still be waiting to be put away if it wasn't on my desk... Read on

He's been gone from my life for nearly 3 years but yesterday it happened - THAT purple dinosaur and his annoying children friends re-entered my life.  I am not a SAHM, I am a WFHM, and keeping G busy is sometimes challenging.  I popped the maroon goon on yesterday on the off chance I might get some work done, and hey presto - Silence...  Read on

A funny thing happened yesterday: K discovered my blog.  She was as perplexed by it as my Granddad was on Sunday.  Just when I thought I'd made its role in my life perfectly clear she said "When I grow up I'm going to write a blog too". Me: "Excellent" K: "Yes - then I can embarrass my children on the internet too". Sigh, another failure then. I placated her by showing her that two of her best…

I sometimes have to remind myself that my children are individuals living their own lives, not tiny extensions of me.  This can manifest itself in many ways. Does Eldest K really like alternative music, or just like it because it pleases me that she does? Are the girls really as passionate about dancing as I think they are, or am I living vicariously through my children?  I try not to.  I'm sure every parent tries not to. But one of the areas I really struggle to stay out of is their clothes…

I went to visit my Granddad today. He is 87 and a D-Day survivor. He is finally surrendering his independence and moving into a care home.  I went there to help him get ready to move. I offered to sell some of his things on e-bay. He gave me the "in my day we never had such things and we did just fine" look.  Occasionally I ponder how much the world has changed since during his life time. He was born in 1924 - George V was on the throne and toilets were very much found outside of the house.…

I want you to close you eyes and think, really think, about when you last slept a full undisturbed night and woke up feeling well rested? When did you last have enough, good quality sleep? Last night? Last week? Last month? For me I think it was April the 7th 2003...  Before we had kids we'd sleep for 8 or 9 hours on a "school" night. On the weekend we'd sleep up to 12 hours - not waking up till 10 or 11 am. And then we probably had a hangover and went back to sleep...  The thing is,…