Thames Valley Mums Blog

A narrow escape from a poo-related career downfall

With the rose-tinted memory of maternity leave still fresh in my mind, and a boss whose idea of flexible working is asking his secretary to bend over to pick up a file, I am ever conscious of making a good impression in my new job. Rightly or wrongly I don’t want to be labelled as someone with ‘childcare issues’. You’d think that nowadays that would be no bad badge to bear, but in fact you might just as well be labelled as syphilitic, for the distance you’ll see between you and some of your colleagues.

Some mornings I leave for work a little later than usual. I like to help the nanny get the children up, and participate in the conveyor belt of nappy changing, which is no mean feat now that they are all running around. Given that no child under three wants to stay still for any longer than he has to, the nanny and I have adopted the Tag Team production line method. You station yourselves on opposite sides of the room, each with a child.

My favourite day of the year: summer!

 

Have you heard? It's here. Summer. Very exciting news. 

Feeling quiet

I know I've been really quite recently. I will be back on top blogging form soon I promise.

For a week and a half after our honeymoon I was going to bed as soon as I'd read Ella a bedtime story. That's about 7.30-8pm. Yes, really. Call it jet lag, call it post-marital fatigue. I call it bliss actually. However, sleeping so early leaves little time for any other activity (such as blogging).

Then, after we'd got back from an Easter camping weekend in Corfe Castle, Dorset at the excellent Woodlands campsite I got the tragic news that a beautiful friend of mine, Ali, had died in a car accident, along with her boyfriend.

This is horrific

I read in the Sunday Times about the ex-wife of a rich city financier that was banned from seeing her young children for three years. She was found to have been turning them against their father. The woman was so distraught that she has continually tried to keep contact with her boys (she was arrested for telling her son she loved him) and even posted a video on the internet about her plight. She is due in court because of that too.

I know that where there is smoke there is fire, and that woman probably needs to attend a few parenting classes to say the least.

Children, school and rise in depression…

I was on the Vanessa Feltz phone-in radio show on Saturday promoting my book - not that I am trying to promote my book and the wonderful Vanessa Feltz over everything else but, it was a highly enjoyable experience as Feltz is as sharp as a whip and very funny - when a listener e-mailed in to describe what a miserable time her son was having at school (it was on the back of another set of comments). She went in to great detail about how he had, since he changed year and got a new teacher, become withdrawn, unhappy and, essentially, had now been diagnosed with depression.

Nannyless, after eight years

After eight years with my nanny, yes eight years, I am going it alone.  My nanny’s last day was Friday and well, that’s it.  I’m not working and all four are in school full time so it shouldn’t be a problem ... right?  Well we’ll see. 

I’ve never had a problem justifying having a nanny.  I had four children fairly close together and worked till I popped out number 3. Hubby leaves at 6:30am and returns not much earlier than 9:00pm on a good day.  We also have no family anywhere near us.  So really, it seemed as though I was just paying for a little familial type help from someone who would actually do what I ask.  Better than family really, or at least my family.

Beastie boys

It's been almost a month since I updated this blog. Bad me. In my defence, I've been a little busy and I have a brief interlude before I get busy again. But between sailing the high seas and running a business, life with two small boys has continued with all the normal chaos.

A highlight has included son 1 learning how to ride his bike without stablisers. I am very, very pleased about this. Mainly because it means I can tick another thing off my to do list. Children come with long to do lists: get them to sleep through the night, introduce them to solid foods, get them potty trained, get them to dress themselves etc etc etc. Teaching them to ride a bike requires less sleep deprivation than getting them to sleep through the night and less mess than the introduction of pureed sprouts, but it's a killer on your back. It also requires much patience, something I am not blessed with.