Blog List

For nearly four years now I have been a stay-at-home mum (SAHM) to our two children. My eldest son will be four in July and his little sister is now 16 months. Tomorrow though could see this all change. Tomorrow I’m beginning a new journey – one to becoming a work-at-home mum! This new chapter fills me with both fear and excitement. For the last four years my focus has been our family and...

I’ve often considered my life to be divided into two parts – before my J1 and after my J1. It might seem strange to think that one summer in the United States could have had such an impact, but it did. For many reasons. I formed the most important friendships of my life that summer. The girls that I shared a tiny house with – a house where giant cinema bags of stale popcorn functioned as...

I stopped and looked – you were playing away with your Lego but you were also taking the time to match the colours. I had never noticed that you did that before. I stopped and looked – you were racing your little sister but you were letting her win. I didn’t realise just how mature a six-year-old you were. I stopped and looked – you had built your very own‘Hogwarts and were lost in a...

Summer can be long for teenagers too young to get jobs. And it can be interminable for their parents, particularly if their parents work from home. So my decision to bring the middle child out hiking once a week was inspired not only by a desire to get him away from his various screens and out in the fresh air, but also by a purely selfish need to preserve my own sanity. Now, perhaps you are one...

Is there anyone out there who can give me some advice please? How – HOW – do I teach my toddler to share with her little brother? I’m stumped. Honestly. Don’t get me wrong, she adores him. She pets him, cuddles him, kisses him and is generally quite obsessed with him. It’s so lovely to watch their relationship grow and see how their personalities fit together. They played a game the...

Not long before my daughter was born I was chatting to someone about cartoons. I'd like to tell you that this was due to us both being parents, but in reality it's where conversations inevitably go when you're in your thirties and nerdy enough to wear superhero t-shirts in public. We'd been comparing notes on what we watched growing up (she's from an entirely different part of...

It’s amazing how some childhood developments happen very gradually and others happen literally overnight. Princess Firstborn (6) has been starting to spread her wings for some time now, but over the space of one weekend, she learnt how to fly (well to glide at least). It’s such a delicate balance between giving kids a bit of independence and keeping them safe. While she has been on plenty of...

There's the mum who juggles it all with a smile on her face, the mum who looks glamorous whilst dropping four or five kids to school and there's the mum who refuses to allow their child back out of their commitments. I'm the latter. The mum who would rather drag (not literally!) their child out of bed and into the cold for fear they miss one football session or one swimming lesson. Now...

When I was growing up I remember having blazing rows with my mother. They appeared to stem from absolutely nothing, but escalated quickly until it reached a crescendo which saw my face red with anger and my mother’s white with fury, before we both collapsed in a heap of exhausted tears. I was under no illusions that I would likely suffer the same fate with my little girl once she hit her teens...

At my 14-week scan, my consultant advised me that when I got to 24 weeks, I would probably be ready to finish work. On hearing this, I almost fell off the bed! I am a very fit and active lady and thought there was no way I would be finishing up work so early in my pregnancy. So here I am at Week 22, and I have to say in the last week or so I have really felt my energy levels start to change. I am...