September - if our relationship was a retro Facebo

September - if our relationship was a retro Facebook status update, this year it would be ‘it’s complicated’ because like almost every parent I know I’m on a sliding scale of conflicting emotions about the children going back to school. I’m happy they are happy about it, pleased they will have actual schooling and less school of screen time...but I’m apprehensive about how / if it will all work, and for how long, about the health implications for children and staff. I’ll be pleased to finally have some time to myself (wow, remember that?!) but will really miss having my full-time lockdown gang safe around me, even if they do ask for ten zillion snacks a day. I’m looking forward to having normal working hours and the weekends back...but oh god, the new staggered school run does not sound fun. It’s shaping up to be less of a fresh start and more of a game of school swings and roundabouts. When is everyone back? Us = next Monday. PS where did September come from? Wasn’t it just...early March?

Do you ever have *those* small things to do, aroun

Do you ever have *those* small things to do, around the house and in life, that you put off for approx. 365 billion years, and when you finally get round to doing them they take about two seconds and once they’re done you wonder why you didn’t just do them quickly in the first place? And on that note, my procrastinating self presents to you the new print I bought from @goodlifeexperience (they designed one each day of lockdown, this one says ‘It’s up to us to make the world better’) which is now finally on the wall, several days after I framed it 🤗. And that was pretty quick for me, I’ve been collecting for Flo’s gallery wall for about a year, no joke. How’s everyone doing today? PS pipe cleaner ‘art’ courtesy of...homeschool...

How’s everyone feeling about the prospect of *wh

How’s everyone feeling about the prospect of *whispers* back to school? Last week we went school shoe shopping, which felt wildly optimistic and at the same time, like we were tempting fate. We have two-and-a-bit weeks to go, which in previous weeks would have felt like, well, half the holidays, but after six months at home it feels like no time at all (right?) Is anyone wanting them to both go and not go back, and hoping it will all happen, safely, but feeling that it somehow won’t? I don’t trust the government to not get it all wrong, again, when it comes to education, again. And I’ve not missed the school run. But we’re keeping everything crossed. And today we’re thinking that home’s cool but come September school would certainly be cooler... (table, chairs and giant pen holder were old ad/gifts from @great_little_trading_co and our neon light is bought from @hema.uk)

Hello from somewhere that’s not our house, or a

Hello from somewhere that’s not our house, or a twenty minute walk around it 👋🏻 Our actual holiday plans were shelved - as were everyone’s, right? - and considering everything going on this year we’re feeling super lucky to even have a few days away (and thankful my parents retired to the seaside). Everything is still middle-of-the-pandemic different, there are ghostly cruise ships parked in the bay, and social distancing signs on the beach, but considering we’ve really not left our house it’s just so lovely to be somewhere...else. Especially when the running routes involve beach huts.

Whatever’s changed in the world though, one really reassuring constant is everyone talking non-stop about the weather ☀️ But seriously - when is it going to rain?! When? Who has rain? I’m so hot 🥵 Any else concerned that they might, actually, melt?!

Five thoughts on #WorldBreastfeedingWeek, a week t

Five thoughts on #WorldBreastfeedingWeek, a week that raises a lot of different emotions in mums for lots of different reasons, so ❤️ to everyone. 1) It’s not just you. We really struggled with breastfeeding first-time-round, for a long time. I thought - why is it so easy for everyone else, and so very tricky for us? But it wasn’t just us and it’s not just you 2) We carried on due to access to breastfeeding support, which was vital, and also a privilege, down to a postcode lottery and luck - we were in non-pandemic times and happened to live where there was funding for regular NHS drop-in clinics. 3) NHS breastfeeding support services are *essential* for new mums, and more funding is urgently needed. 4) For us breastfeeding got better, and I went on to feed both these two beyond the baby years (which is also way more common than you’d think). 5) Despite the media doing their best to pit mums against each other when it comes to feeding (hello, patriarchy), everyone is doing the best they can for their baby. Some brilliant people to follow around breastfeeding - @adelejk @blk_mum_to_midwife @modelmother @fipeacock and @laurenashleygordon (who has loads of advice around allergies) (and I’m sure there are so many people I’ve missed off! Sorry, let me know if that’s you) x

If you want a houseplant that’s practically inde

If you want a houseplant that’s practically indestructible, get a spider plant. I used to make plants die just by waving my un-green hands in their direction (I’d like to say that the overwhelming responsibility for keeping small humans alive was the main reason, but It started way back, at university, where I had a bamboo shoot that lived in a tall shot glass and was apparently impossible to kill...but guess what happened to mine?). Then my mum gave me one of her spider babies, and after a while of it sitting looking sad I realised I should probably water it, occasionally, and after that it miraculously turned over a new leaf and never stopped growing. That original Spidey has now spawned many, many babies - some have fled the nest but many are now hanging out around our house. I’m tentatively thinking I might branch out and get another type of plant, so what else can you really not kill? 🌱 PS - anyone want a spider plant? We have many going spare...

I don’t know if anyone noticed...but it was hot

I don’t know if anyone noticed...but it was hot today, right? If we’re being temperature specific it was actually hotter than a) the inside of a toasted pitta b) My post-Body Attack gym face this week after four months off 🥵 and c) the totally realistic real-life lava on The Floor Is Lava 🌋 TV show (One of these might not be true, and it’s the one I try to convince my children every time they watch it). Sending all the cooling vibes to breastfeeding mums, everyone who’s enraged and confused by the latest government 🙄 announcements, and parents of small sticky children who just can’t quite go to sleep this evening 🙋🏼‍♀️ 🌬 (PS ☀️ flowers from @ruthelizabethash 😘)

What DO people do all day? (Did anyone else have t

What DO people do all day? (Did anyone else have this book as a child? I loved it) Also a question I’m wondering to myself as our usual summer holiday home fail-safes are all off the menu this year (e.g. repeat trips to the library / going out for lunch / going swimming about three times a day / going to the ‘pizza cafe’ for lunch / mooching around the shops for a bit followed by...lunch). And the appeal of walks and the park kind of wore off in April, didn’t it? I suspect what awaits is a 1980s childhood summer where the highlight was always going to the ‘big park’ (now, with added Animal Crossing). Why don’t they serve lunchtime wine at the park? And does anyone actually have exciting plans? Tell me, please💡

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March 6, 2020

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Hey, baby, I write about pregnancy, babies and life in London as a tired mum of two.

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September - if our relationship was a retro Facebo

September - if our relationship was a retro Facebook status update, this year it would be ‘it’s complicated’ because like almost every parent I know I’m on a sliding scale of conflicting emotions about the children going back to school. I’m happy they are happy about it, pleased they will have actual schooling and less school of screen time...but I’m apprehensive about how / if it will all work, and for how long, about the health implications for children and staff. I’ll be pleased to finally have some time to myself (wow, remember that?!) but will really miss having my full-time lockdown gang safe around me, even if they do ask for ten zillion snacks a day. I’m looking forward to having normal working hours and the weekends back...but oh god, the new staggered school run does not sound fun. It’s shaping up to be less of a fresh start and more of a game of school swings and roundabouts. When is everyone back? Us = next Monday. PS where did September come from? Wasn’t it just...early March?

Do you ever have *those* small things to do, aroun

Do you ever have *those* small things to do, around the house and in life, that you put off for approx. 365 billion years, and when you finally get round to doing them they take about two seconds and once they’re done you wonder why you didn’t just do them quickly in the first place? And on that note, my procrastinating self presents to you the new print I bought from @goodlifeexperience (they designed one each day of lockdown, this one says ‘It’s up to us to make the world better’) which is now finally on the wall, several days after I framed it 🤗. And that was pretty quick for me, I’ve been collecting for Flo’s gallery wall for about a year, no joke. How’s everyone doing today? PS pipe cleaner ‘art’ courtesy of...homeschool...

How’s everyone feeling about the prospect of *wh

How’s everyone feeling about the prospect of *whispers* back to school? Last week we went school shoe shopping, which felt wildly optimistic and at the same time, like we were tempting fate. We have two-and-a-bit weeks to go, which in previous weeks would have felt like, well, half the holidays, but after six months at home it feels like no time at all (right?) Is anyone wanting them to both go and not go back, and hoping it will all happen, safely, but feeling that it somehow won’t? I don’t trust the government to not get it all wrong, again, when it comes to education, again. And I’ve not missed the school run. But we’re keeping everything crossed. And today we’re thinking that home’s cool but come September school would certainly be cooler... (table, chairs and giant pen holder were old ad/gifts from @great_little_trading_co and our neon light is bought from @hema.uk)

Hello from somewhere that’s not our house, or a

Hello from somewhere that’s not our house, or a twenty minute walk around it 👋🏻 Our actual holiday plans were shelved - as were everyone’s, right? - and considering everything going on this year we’re feeling super lucky to even have a few days away (and thankful my parents retired to the seaside). Everything is still middle-of-the-pandemic different, there are ghostly cruise ships parked in the bay, and social distancing signs on the beach, but considering we’ve really not left our house it’s just so lovely to be somewhere...else. Especially when the running routes involve beach huts.

Whatever’s changed in the world though, one really reassuring constant is everyone talking non-stop about the weather ☀️ But seriously - when is it going to rain?! When? Who has rain? I’m so hot 🥵 Any else concerned that they might, actually, melt?!

Five thoughts on #WorldBreastfeedingWeek, a week t

Five thoughts on #WorldBreastfeedingWeek, a week that raises a lot of different emotions in mums for lots of different reasons, so ❤️ to everyone. 1) It’s not just you. We really struggled with breastfeeding first-time-round, for a long time. I thought - why is it so easy for everyone else, and so very tricky for us? But it wasn’t just us and it’s not just you 2) We carried on due to access to breastfeeding support, which was vital, and also a privilege, down to a postcode lottery and luck - we were in non-pandemic times and happened to live where there was funding for regular NHS drop-in clinics. 3) NHS breastfeeding support services are *essential* for new mums, and more funding is urgently needed. 4) For us breastfeeding got better, and I went on to feed both these two beyond the baby years (which is also way more common than you’d think). 5) Despite the media doing their best to pit mums against each other when it comes to feeding (hello, patriarchy), everyone is doing the best they can for their baby. Some brilliant people to follow around breastfeeding - @adelejk @blk_mum_to_midwife @modelmother @fipeacock and @laurenashleygordon (who has loads of advice around allergies) (and I’m sure there are so many people I’ve missed off! Sorry, let me know if that’s you) x

If you want a houseplant that’s practically inde

If you want a houseplant that’s practically indestructible, get a spider plant. I used to make plants die just by waving my un-green hands in their direction (I’d like to say that the overwhelming responsibility for keeping small humans alive was the main reason, but It started way back, at university, where I had a bamboo shoot that lived in a tall shot glass and was apparently impossible to kill...but guess what happened to mine?). Then my mum gave me one of her spider babies, and after a while of it sitting looking sad I realised I should probably water it, occasionally, and after that it miraculously turned over a new leaf and never stopped growing. That original Spidey has now spawned many, many babies - some have fled the nest but many are now hanging out around our house. I’m tentatively thinking I might branch out and get another type of plant, so what else can you really not kill? 🌱 PS - anyone want a spider plant? We have many going spare...

I don’t know if anyone noticed...but it was hot

I don’t know if anyone noticed...but it was hot today, right? If we’re being temperature specific it was actually hotter than a) the inside of a toasted pitta b) My post-Body Attack gym face this week after four months off 🥵 and c) the totally realistic real-life lava on The Floor Is Lava 🌋 TV show (One of these might not be true, and it’s the one I try to convince my children every time they watch it). Sending all the cooling vibes to breastfeeding mums, everyone who’s enraged and confused by the latest government 🙄 announcements, and parents of small sticky children who just can’t quite go to sleep this evening 🙋🏼‍♀️ 🌬 (PS ☀️ flowers from @ruthelizabethash 😘)

What DO people do all day? (Did anyone else have t

What DO people do all day? (Did anyone else have this book as a child? I loved it) Also a question I’m wondering to myself as our usual summer holiday home fail-safes are all off the menu this year (e.g. repeat trips to the library / going out for lunch / going swimming about three times a day / going to the ‘pizza cafe’ for lunch / mooching around the shops for a bit followed by...lunch). And the appeal of walks and the park kind of wore off in April, didn’t it? I suspect what awaits is a 1980s childhood summer where the highlight was always going to the ‘big park’ (now, with added Animal Crossing). Why don’t they serve lunchtime wine at the park? And does anyone actually have exciting plans? Tell me, please💡

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