Dear Mum As it’s Mother’s Day in the UK today I thought I would write you a letter and thank you for all the things you have done for me over the years. First of all, and most importantly, thanks for giving me safe passage into the world.  Given that you are five foot one, I was nine and a half pounds and two weeks late in the hottest summer ever this was no small task. Thank you for teaching me that the world does not revolve around me and that I must always be aware of the people around me and try, as much as my imperfect self is able, to be kind and thoughtful, putting others needs first. Thank you for always being so generous.  You never spoilt me as a child but there were so many riches in my life; a beautifully decorated room of my own, Marks and Spencer snowball cakes on Fridays, your attention every day I came in from school, a home in a village that had a river 15 minutes …

There is something really lovely about your children getting to the age of five.  Actually there are lots of things like; they finally wipe their own bum, they go to school so a professional has to tell them backchat isn’t becoming, you can drop them off at a birthday party and go get a coffee somewhere civilised and once in a while, they use a fork. The something I am thinking of is that you start to remember what it was like when you were their age.  And it kind of reminds you to not panic as a parent. For the last month or so our children have stopped going to sleep the right side of 8pm.  The routine was (and would still be if we had any say in the matter at all) was bath at 6.30pm, PJ’s, clean teeth, have a little play and then to respective bedrooms for stories.  Lights out about 7.45pm and sleep would soon fall upon our sweet angels. The hot weather and light nights have royally screwed us …

Wouldn’t it be great if family life was like this all the time?  Like the photos we take, and especially the ones we share.  Where the sun is shining and the children are smiling. This photo was not taken today.  There is no way on earth this could have been taken today. Today, the neighbour brought round my children after they had snuck out the living room window and visited her, without telling me they were leaving the building! Today, my children got out almost all the cutlery we own and chopped up carrot and tomatoes and added water, a whole pot of cinnamon and fennel seeds to make soup for dinner.  And then spilt it all over the floor I’d hoovered and mopped one hour before. Today, my children decided to climb into the garden shed we’ve had locked up for two years now with some poisonous mold problem, to have a play. Today, my four and six year old children didn’t go to sleep until 9.15pm. Today, I told my children off so …

Being a mum is the great equalizer between women.  No matter how your babies came to you, now matter how ready you were for their arrival or qualified you feel to look after these precious gifts, whether you are a real disciplinarian or spoil them rotten, you are exactly the same as the next mum when it comes to how you feel about your children – literally every part of your being loves them, from the tips of your toes to the ends of every strand of hair on your head. Mother’s Day is this Sunday in New Zealand so I’m getting pretty excited about my lie in.  Today I was treated to a special assembly by Minnie’s class that included a short play on everything mum’s do for us and then also a song about how our children try to show us love but often end up making a mess and trashing the place.  I also learnt that more than $18 billion is spent each year on Mother’s Day in the States – yikes! …

Social media among many things is a way of individuals marketing themselves to their target audience in such a way that gives those that see their posts, tweets, blogs and Instagrams an impression of their lives that is the only one they want people to see, but is in fact not an accurate representation of what their life is really like. Of course that’s as it should be.  That’s why we have families and homes and private lives and our own thought life, so we can choose what we share with others.  We often hear about how social media is taking away our privacy and exposing too much, but I think for the majority of us we still keep hidden what we don’t want others to know.  The whole thing about marketing is that it sells a product people want, that people will be attracted to, that people will want in their lives.  So if Facebook is the marketing campaign for us ‘The Product’ then we’re going to put our best up there. I’ve never …

I have been missing blogging these last few months, I have lots to say (I’m sure) but I just don’t have the time to think of it and even less time to put it down somewhere so other’s can read it!  So at 11.14pm on a Wednesday night, having just finished working for the night I thought I would post some photos from today.  I may regret this tomorrow morning but hey, live on the wild side that’s what I say (I don’t, not ever). Grandparents look lively –  these are up-to-date photographs of your grandchildren – this is what they look like right now! It’s the middle of Winter over here on the “other side” but the last couple of days have been sunny and mild (19 degrees!) so today, despite runny noses, gunky eyes, nasty coughs and runny bottoms my children embraced the outdoors like the long lost friend it is.  Clothes were stripped off, picnic lunch was served and the Wendy House had some fresh air come in.  Oh and the trampoline …

Anyone who has known me long (let’s face it everyone who reads my blogs is either related to me and so you’ve known me since birth or if not you’ve known me since I became an adult!) you will know that I am somewhat of a busy minded person.  That is to say, I don’t switch off unless I’m sleeping, I over think, I obsess, I go over details to the nth degree, I’m a bit of a stress head.  There are quite a few good things that come from this..I don’t miss much, I get things done, I’m likely to say yes if you want me to do something, I’m awesome at organising things.  The downside is that I can be pretty tense at times, if my emotions are involved they can be all consuming for anyone within a mile radius of me and lately…I think it effects my health. One of the reasons I don’t blog so much anymore is that I literally haven’t got the time to spare.  I’ve been gradually picking …