All posts filed under: Being a Mum

So many roles, so little time

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I read this blog http://carolynee.net/a-letter-from-a-working-mother-to-a-stay-at-home-mother-and-vice-versa/ this week. And it resonated so much with me as I am quite sure it did with so many other women (and men).  I’ve been thinking since reading it about how complex it is to be a mother of two pre-schoolers that works from home.  I am so many more roles than mother and freelance event manager; I’m Daughter, Friend, Christian, Sister,  Home Owner, Housekeeper, Cook, Dietician, Accountant, Personal Trainer, living in a country that is on the other side of the world to my family and close friends.  These roles overlap, they compete, they conflict, they are relentless and at some point in most days they overwhelm. I’m going to give you a little look into what I am talking about.  It will probably read like a crazy person’s diary, but I would wager this is a typical woman’s day.  So when you see us with screaming children pulling our ill-fitting trousers down whilst we bite your head off because you won’t take back our faulty iPhone cover and …

The power of an image

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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 …

Childhood

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  One of the ways I think about our role as parents is that we are giving our children their childhood.  Some of the other ways I think about my role as a parent is being bullied by people you can’t hit back, project managing Groundhog Day and working an 18 hour day with no weekends or holidays but I shall refrain from focussing on those, for your sake. When any of us talk about our childhood, the memories that we can’t forget and have somehow made a curious impact on our lives and the stories we share to help others understand why we are the way we are, our parents and our family are always there. Let’s start with an easy one – Christmas.  As parents now we are excited about making Christmas wonderful for our children.  We will debate on how long Father Christmas should be truth and we squabble over when is the right time to give out presents, because if you were my family it was first order of the day and …

Another Winter’s Day

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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 …

The stress of being stressed

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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 …

Celebrating Anzac Day

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Today was Anzac Day, which I believe is the Australia/New Zealand equivalent to Remberance Sunday in the UK.  The lovely thing about it over here is that they give a Bank Holiday for it and this year it was a Thursday, so a little reprieve towards the end of the week – sweet. Yesterday, Minnie and I baked Anzac biscuits to mark the day and today we brought them to the beach for our Anzac Day family outing.  Jackson is modelling his Anzac biscuit here. After spoiling the children (and let’s face it us too because we get to stay horizontal for another hour) with a special iPad showing of The Lion King in mummy and daddy’s bed, we set off for Taylor’s Mistake.  This is a particularly attractive bay round the corner from Sumner where surfers and paragliders like to hang out.  We chose the less adventurous pursuit of sitting on a bench watching the waves whilst our children ran around us.  Which was all very nice until the little monkeys decided to make …

Spot the Difference

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I just found an old photo of my eldest when she was coming up two.  Apart from the fact that I think she looks absolutely gorgeous in it and I want to show her off to the world.  I thought it would be fun to get one of Jackson who is two in June (wow that went fast!) and put them on the same post. What is funny is even though Minnie was born in November and Jackson in June, they both turned two in the Autumn – aahh the weirdness of emigrating to the other side of the world. Anyways here’s the very lovely Minnie, Autumn 2011:And here’s the handsome Jackson, Autumn 2013: Spot the difference.

Looking forward to the dentist

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I realised last night that I was actually looking forward to my appointment at the dentist for two fillings.  I now know I was a fool as my entire mouth is numb, there is an ache in my jaw and the sound of drilling is still ringing in my ears.  Plus there is a dent in our bank balance that I would rather have spent on shoes. Bearing all that in mind, what kind of a week did I have that made me look forward to such mouth violation? My week contained  32 hours of work, visitors in the house who weren’t keen on children (eat my food, sleep in my house and wash your clothes in my machine – like my children peoples!), ferrying my children to various lovely friends houses to look after them while I did many hours of work with visitors, husband working 12 hour days and PMT like you wouldn’t believe. Highlights were… Minnie announcing for the tenth time that she doesn’t want me to be her mum anymore and …

Hope

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My little girl’s middle name is Hope.  This is because when I had no hope, Minnie gave it back to me.  This person, when she was only five cells big, was my gift of hope. I will always be thankful to my daughter for that gift.  The Bible says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life”. And I think if Minnie hadn’t been the little embryo that could, my heart would have been very sick indeed. I’ve been overwhelmed by how much I love Minnie this week.  Which is odd to me because she has been a right little madam, pushing boundaries, telling me she wants another mummy, being rude to visitors in our house, generally looking nothing like the daughter I would like to see as the result of my parenting!  I’ve had to discipline her so much, setting her boundaries and not letting her go over them (the harder part of the boundaries!).  I am exhausted. It has made me wonder about where we will be …