(Note: I first wrote this post about 18 months ago, calling it ‘the problem with hypnobirthing’, because I hadn’t intended for it to be a birth story – more a look at how hypnobirthing has limitations within the NHS maternity system. I didn’t put it live sooner because I think I felt there was more to say on the matter of birth and choices and…
There’s a chance this will be the last monthly update I write before Baby 2 makes his or her appearance. Flippin’ heck. Although I’m probably being…optimistic? Ted was of course very ‘late’, and I’m assuming we’ll have a similar wait for Baby 2. I think I’ve written before about the pressure I felt last time at hitting 40 weeks…and 41 weeks….and 42 weeks. It’s bloomin’…
Almost every post I write about parenting mentions how crazily underprepared I felt for Ted’s arrival. So apologies for the repetition, but it’s true, and the matter of breastfeeding was just one area that made me feel like the most incompetent person on Earth; that everything I’d ever known or learned or done before that point was insignificant. Never mind that I’d moved to the…
If I let myself, I could probably feel a lot of mum guilt over the lack of planning and preparation we’ve so far undertaken ahead of Baby 2’s arrival. I’ve harped on previously about how underprepared I was, in many respects, for Ted. But I suppose (hope?) all new parents feel that way; you CAN’T be prepared for parenthood. Not really. I did try though,…
The other Friday night, I was cleaning up after making Ted’s tea. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. On the kitchen radio (Radio 2, obviously) was Sara Cox’s Friday request show. Have you heard it? Sara and the majority of the callers are always very excited for the weekend ahead, and the callers tell Sara about their plans, which often involve camping and drinking prosecco. I half-enjoy listening…
Flaming June. Isn’t that the saying? I can currently only hear Alf Stewart from Home and Away and his ‘flaming galahs’ in my head, but I think June is meant to flame as much as Alf’s birds. At the moment I flit between wanting a summer as glorious as last year’s, and very much not. Extreme heat and late pregnancy are not a match made…
When I was about eight months pregnant with Ted, I received a lovely compliment from a lady I was working with, who told me it was great that I’d managed to keep my own style during pregnancy. At least, I think it was a compliment, assuming she didn’t think my dress sense was totally horrendous. (“I always thought you looked like you got dressed in…
It’s been almost seven years since I moved from Australia back home to England, and I probably think about Sydney daily, even though I lived there for less than three years. Isn’t it meant to take half the length of time to recover from a relationship after it ends? In other words: get a grip, lady. I shouldn’t STILL be pining for my lost Aussie…
Holidays. We put so much expectation on them, don’t we? And it’s understandable: often, we’ve saved up and looked forward to our little getaway for one heck of a long time. And then the day arrives for us to pack the car up / jump in a taxi to the airport (wahoooo, best feeling!) / board a train etc, and then….our end destination doesn’t quite…
I can’t help getting…maudlin? sentimental?….when writing these life updates. They are a monthly reminder of how quickly time passes, of how quickly life passes – not that I really need a reminder. The changes in Ted from month to month, week to week, day to day mean that it is right there in front of me, constantly; it’s a joy and a massive, bittersweet privilege…
This post was originally going to be called ‘Lessons Learned From Being Fired By A Client After Having Ted’. (I’ve got a real knack for snappy titles, I know.) I was fired by the aforementioned client about this time last year, something I was reminded of the other day when writing an article for another website – all about trying to keep a business going…
Ted has always been a pretty good, unfussy eater. Until recently. At the start, we mainly did baby-led weaning, and he’d devour broccoli like I devour pizza (and biscuits, and frozen yoghurt, and cheese & onion Walkers….). I was quite smug. Ted certainly wouldn’t eat everything; I remember faffing about making various BLW recipes I found on t’internet, including one that involved blending chicken mince…
So, here we are, more than a quarter of the way through 2019 already. Blimey. At the risk of this post being ever-so-slightly self-indulgent, I’m revisiting something I wrote at the end of last year, which was all about what I’d learned, work-wise, in the previous 12 months and what I hoped to take from those learnings into 2019. No-one gives you appraisals or reviews…
