Thames Valley Mums Blog

Sleepless night and being a bundle of nerves

My book is about to come out and so I have spent the past week fretting so much, I thought I was about to have a nervous breakdown. I seem to spend my entire time looking at it on Amazon. This is a bad idea. Sometimes it is at 3,000th in the best seller list which seems bad enough but, in retrospect, is not so awful as when I logged on the day after it had plummeted to 27,000th. One day it was 4,449th and then, by midday, it was 80,000th. I don’t know what any of this really means. All I know is that other books I have looked at in a similar ilk are things like 137th and 809th which seem a million miles higher than mine.

The question of marriage

"Can men marry men mummy?" asked five year old son yesterday.

Hmmm. Tricky question alert.

"Why do you ask?" I deflected.

"Just because. So can they?"

"It depends on where you live but yes they can, although it's more common for men and women to get married."

"Oh."

"Why? Do think you'd rather marry a man or a woman?"

"A man," he says.

Pre-marital tension

Lately I've been experiencing a strange form of PMT - Pre Marital Tension.

I thought I'd been so clever - after all I'd done everything I could to avoid the syndrome. No cars, no flowers, no seating plans...all wedding preparations done and dusted in a matter of weeks not months. Surely, I would be a very calm, relaxed bride.

But I hadn't accounted for the politics.

People calling me up, upset because they weren't invited to the wedding party. They remain uninvited. A friend asking me if she and her partner could bring other friends I don't know so they have someone to talk to at the wedding (it's a wedding! Go mingle!).

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!

Click here, turn the volume up and then read on.... (actually, because I can't get the silly link to launch in a new window or embed the clip you'll need to have a listen and then click the back arrow)

Why you ask?

Last night son 2 - aged 3.5 - slept without a nappy and kept the bed dry. First time ever.

He normally manages to fill a nappy with so much wee that it leaks. But last night he said he didn't want to wear a nappy. And he was fairly adamant about it.

I was willing to give it a go. He emptied his bladder before bed and I managed to put him on the loo at 10pm (on the few occasions I've tried this before, all of hell's fury has been unleashed by the small boy). 

Ash Wednesday

As many of you know, I go to church regularly and would class myself a practising Christian. I am not however one to push my faith down others throats, I don’t rant on and on about it, neither do I berate people for not going to church or not believing what I do. I am not a Dot Cotton, I don’t go round quoting the bible or looking down on others for what they do or do not believe.

I just wanted to share how special I found the Ash Wednesday Service last night. For those of you who don’t know, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Many people fast for the day or like me do not have any meat. In a special service, the palms from last years Palm Sunday are burned and then the Vicar makes a cross on your forehead with the ashes and says ‘You are but dust and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ’. It is a service of self examination and repentance.

Mrs Osmond's "Opulent Chicken"

I always flick through the newspaper supplements and look for human interest stories and recipes.  Flicking through  the Sunday Telegraph (01.03.09) seven supplement I caught an article about Donny Osmond.  Actually, it wasn't Donny Osmond.  I thought it was Donny, but then I looked again and it was Jimmy.  Never mind.  I probably would have read it anyway. The article was about Donny's, no Jimmy's perfect Sunday. 

Church ranked pretty high....obviously, but then it went on about no video games, children, long walks and family dinners and specifically Mrs Osmond's "opulent chicken" dish.

3 March Best of the British Mummy Bloggers Carnival

I've just read this round of posts from the trenches of motherhood and there is really no way to summarise. You'll just have to read all 30 of them yourself.

Since the daddies have to put up with the name, we'll start with them...

Tim from Bringing up Charlie has a nice (and short) video that summarises life nicely.

Single Parent Dad gives some insight on his son's grip and determination.

Michale Moran of Alpha Mummy talks us through Teddy Bears and Hookers -- the Hidden Connection.