What it feels like for a girl - reprise

The other day a friend of mine, assuming that as a mama I would be carrying the contents of a small chemist, asked me if I had any ibuprofen. He was somewhat shocked when I said I only carry paracetamol as its the only thing you can have during pregnancy. His response was "wow, I'm glad I'm not you - pregnancy sucks."

It dawned on me then how little clue most men (and a lot of women) have about what us women are put through during pregnancy so, guys, here's a few insights....

It starts with what is ironically called 'morning sickness' but should be called morning, noon and night sickness as it starts in the morning and gets worse through the day. Favourite foods taste funny or just plain make you sick and sometimes just the smell of something is all it takes to have you rushing for the bathroom. Imagine a three month long stomach bug that doesn't respond to medication and that is morning sickness.

The surge of hormones at various points during pregnancy gives you headaches but all you can take for it is paracetamol. Your immune system is suppressed so you end up with every illness going round and your body decides to over produce mucus so it feels like you have a permanent cold but you can't take any cold and flu pills - only paracetamol. As well as all this you feel so tired all the time all you want to do is sleep.

Once the first trimester is over things get better for a while and you start to feel human again. Nesting instinct kicks in and you feel a strong urge to move furniture, clear the house out and tidy every little thing.

But then the third trimester comes along and with it all the trappings of being the size of a house. Your hips hurt and you regularly get trapped nerves thanks to a small child sitting on them. Every time you stand up you feel the need to pee thanks to the little person sat on your bladder. You haven't seen your feet in weeks but now you can't reach them either so forget things like painting your toe nails or putting your own socks on.

Now when you sneeze you get head butted in the pubic bone by a little person. Trying to sleep at night is challenging as it's near impossible to get comfortable and once you do finally get to sleep you have to get up 4 or 5 times a night to pee. Trying to roll over or get up is like a full on military operation and you have to be careful not to get up too fast or you get all dizzy and light headed.

Sex also becomes incredibly challenging and not just because of the logistics relating to your ever growing size. From the guys point of view nothing much has changed and it still feels the same. But once you can feel the baby moving inside of you, sex feels like a very bizarre threesome as the baby responds to your partners touch and movements. Even when hubby gives me a back rub I find junior kicking in response.

Oh, and in the last couple of months you find that orgasms often set off painful contractions meaning that instead of having a happy ending sex results in you curled up in agony for 10 mins clutching your spasming belly. So guys, if your preggo mrs doesn't seem too keen on sex don't take it personally!

On top of all this you have many other fun symptoms like gas, indigestion, constipation, puffy ankles, bad skin, crazy things going on with your hair...

The saying goes "pregnancy is not an illness" and it's true but sometimes I wish it was so maybe I'd get a little sympathy! Instead you're just expected to get on with it and not complain and some people even have the cheek to make comments about how wonderful this beautiful natural state must be.

Having said all that, there is still much to be thankful for among all these challenges. Though it sucks to feel so ill for so long, at least I know it will come to an end and I even know roughly when. Plus there's a happy ending when the baby arrives.

How much worse must it be to have a long term illness and live every day not knowing if or when the symptoms will end or get worse or what might go wrong next.

And so when I'm having a rough day and wishing pregnancy would end, I take time to thank God that the end is in sight and to pray for those who's suffering is way worse than mine.

Mamas Diary - 31st July

Today is another typical Thursday - come home from work to find a sleeping child and the house littered with toys and clothes. Quickly say hello to hubby before he rushes out to work. We have the usual brief handover talk (what's the kid eaten/how many episodes of peppa pig has he watched/is there anything you promised him he could have or do when mummy gets home?). Attempt to pick up a little but my protruding baby bump gets in the way and I give up.

As little J naps I put my feet up and eat lunch while writing next weeks dinner menu and shopping list. This is one of the rare times in the week when it's just me with no one else around to distract me or demand things from me. Every week I think to myself I should take this time to relax, to read, to pray and to just "be" in God's presence and every week it turns into time to catch up on chores. Grrr, really need to change that habit but this darn nesting instinct that comes with the third trimester is difficult to shake off.

When little J wakes up it takes a grand total of 30 seconds before he starts asking to watch peppa pig. So we curl up on the sofa with a snack and a drink and watch a couple of episodes about birthdays and treasure hunts.

As usual I'm having bathroom breaks at a rate of 2 or three an hour and this time I emerge from the bathroom to find little J sporting my reading glasses. They actually fit him quite well! (I have to buy my glasses from the kids section.)

Little J has a thing for pouring stuff at the minute (mostly pouring mummys drink into daddys drink or pouring his drink into his dinner) so I came up with the idea of doing some water play with different size cups. My plan for some educational water play teaching him about things like volume and floating didn't quite go to plan. Little J decides instead to (over) water my plants, water my legs and then pour water all over the floor to make puddles to splash in.

We take a break for more snacks (I swear this kid has hollow legs), clean nappy and dry trousers but have a granola related spillage and little J insists we immediately hoover it up. Not sure where he got this cleaning addiction from but it certainly wasn't me. So we hoover up the granola - well, I say we, I try to help but little J keeps taking the hoover off me so I end up putting my feet up and watching him do it. I end up having to wrestle the hoover from him to put it away which results in some tears.

Little J heads to the kitchen to replace his split granola and emerges with a pear in one hand and a plum in the other. Though I don't want him to get into the habit of constantly snacking all day, who can say no to a child who asks for more fruit?

We head back out to the garden and this time bear comes too. Bear seems to be getting roped into quite a lot of activities recently and today is no exception. Before I can say anything little J  has bear splashing in muddy puddles. I make the mistake of saying 'bear needs a bath now' and little J proceeds to bath bear in the water table. I decide to give up and play along and offer to get bear a towel. I return with a tea towel and little J uses it to wrap bear up and cuddle him dry just like we do when when get little J out of the bath. Looks like this kid is gonna be a pretty great big brother to his sibling (just hope he doesn't put baby in any muddy puddles!).

After some more running around the house and some fun playing with little J's farm it's finally time for dinner. As usual, he's too impatient to wait for dinner to be warmed up and helps himself to an oat cracker while he waits. Dinner time involves the usual negotiations to get little mr "attention span of a fish" to stay at the table for the entire meal but he does eventually eat all his pasta and then starts trying to raid the cupboard for more food after!

Next comes family bathtime and daddy is home just in time. Little J excitedly heads for the bathroom and starts pointing at the bubble bath. Some nights we manage to all get in the bath together which gives me and hubby chance to chat and catch up before dinner. But when hubby sees little J toss a very muddy bear in to the bath he has second thoughts about joining us and instead opts for a quick bit of playstation time (the first in months).

So little J, muddy bear and I enjoy a fun half hour playing with bubbles, squirting water and occasionally even washing ourselves. Next comes the nightly ritual of chasing little J around the house to get his PJ's on. Thankfully daddy is on hand to help with this as little J runs a lot faster than my pregnant frame can waddle.

Next it's time for prayer and story time. Which story tonight? The bad tempered ladybird of course because no day would be complete without having to read it at least once. After kisses and cuddles we head to bed where daddy has already placed a nice dry "spare bear" (buying two identical ones was the best idea ever) ready for sleep.

As I head back to the lounge I can hear a happy little boy chatting and singing over the baby monitor. Hubby has dinner about ready (he's so good to me) and it's finally time to relax and take the weight off my aching hips and pelvis. After a long afternoon with my favourite little boy it's now time to enjoy time with my favourite man. Roll on a movie night and plenty of pie and squirty cream - mmmmm mmmmmm. Life is good.

Mamas Diary - Day 1

I was just reading a great article about journaling as a spiritual discipline and was particularly struck by these words:

"Keeping a journal can be greatly beneficial in ripening our joy along the journey. There is always more going on in us and around than we can appreciate at the time. Journaling is a way of slowing life down for just a few moments, and trying to process at least a sliver of it for the glory of God, our own growth and development, and our enjoyment of the details."

Let's be honest, I'm not massively enjoying pregnancy second time around and there are days where parenting feels like an endurance test rather than a joy. As a mama, often running around like a headless chicken and trying to do several things at once, it's hard to make time for yourself and time to reflect but I know I'll be better for it (and a better mama to my kids) if I make that time. I don't want these precious moments with my kids to pass by and be forgotten, I want to make time to enjoy the details.

So here goes....what details have I enjoyed the last few days?

At first thought it's easier to think of what I haven't enjoyed! I didn't enjoy endless hours of waddling around chasing a toddler at our friends wedding while hubby was on best man duties. I didn't enjoy that every conversation I tried to have was interrupted by the need to chase after little J. I didn't enjoy being 6 months pregnant in a stuffy building during a heatwave. And I really didn't enjoy the shouts of 'mama, mama, mama, mama, mama' over and over again on the car drive home.

But I did enjoy the silly things little J does when he's tired. Like on the way home, each time he yawned he'd then start repeating "no, no.no" while shaking his head and pulling a face like he was entering a gurning competition. Hubby and I were in stitches watching him in the rear view mirror!

I enjoyed seeing how our fun loving laid back little boy got along so well with everyone he met. I enjoyed hearing people say how sweet and cheerful and helpful he is. I enjoyed doing colouring together between courses at the wedding dinner and watching him use the gravel in the car park to create his own rockery in the flowerbeds outside the church (yeah, sorry, that was our kid!). I enjoy that now no trip is complete without the boy bringing home at least one rock (even if it does drive me nuts keep finding them around the house!).

I enjoyed watching him dancing at the evening party - especially when hubby tried to join in and little J kept forcibly moving him out of the way cos he didn't want daddy stealing his limelight haha.

I enjoyed our trip to the park while hubby played football and seeing him push his boundaries and grow in skill and confidence. Quick funny story from the park: so it's almost time to go and little J asks to go on the climbing frame again but, knowing I may never reach to get him off again, I tell him no. Instead he asks to go on the roundabout and I agree telling him he can have a quick go and then it's time to leave. So on the roundabout he jumps and then beacons me to join him. On I jumped and then......little J jumped off and started pushing me. At first I thought "how sweet" - until the little monkey ran off towards the climbing frame leaving me still spinning and unable to immediately chase him! Not even 2 years old yet and already a little con artist! 

Best baby buys (and things to give a miss)

I have several friends who are pregnant for the first time and one thing they all seem to want to know is what do they REALLY need for a new baby. When our little boy was born I think we did a pretty good job of not going overboard with stuff but there were still some things we bought that weren't as useful as we thought they would be. So here's my experience of what we did and didn't need.....

Moses basket:
They say a moses basket is good for the first 3 months but despite our little one being a small baby (6 lb 4oz) he grew out of it in 2 months. For this reason I would say if you're gonna get one spend as little as possible on it. Even better just borrow one for a couple of months and only buy a new mattress.

Baby bath:
Great for the first 6 weeks but then the boy started kicking so hard he almost flew out the end! We quickly gave up on it and just took him in the bath with us. We've not bothered keeping it for baby number two. I can totally see now why mum just bathed my little brother in the kitchen sink. Instead of getting a baby bath, why not just get a spare washing up bowl that will be good for water play and other useful things once the kid outgrows it.

Baby carrier:
Great for when you want to go into town without having to fight your way through the crowds with a buggy - definitely found it massively useful. I did however end up regretting our choice of baby carrier and will be getting a different one for baby number two. We got a carrier that allows the baby to face in or out on your front but I found carrying the baby facing outwards put so much pressure on my back I had to give up on the carrier at 6 months old. Our next carrier will be one that allows back carrying as well as on my front and ideally one that allows me to breastfeed too. Also consider how easy it is to get a baby in and out and to put the carrier on without help. I would recommend going along to your local baby sling meeting to try out a few different types before you buy.

Muslins: 
Sooo useful, you can never have too many - for mopping up sick, using as a cover while breastfeeding, fashioning into a sun hat when you've lost their actual hat, makeshift nappy, spare blanket, sun shield for the buggy.....

Bibs:
We got plenty of little material bibs and have barely used any of them. It depends on how dribbly your kid is as to how useful they are. What we have found useful is the plastic wipe clean bibs, especially those with sleeves - can never have too many of these once the kid starts on solids! Great for messy arts and crafts too.

Playmat:
When they're really little there are very few toys babies will play with but a play mat is a great toy. We got one of those 'sit me up' type ones that is a playmat/ring to sit in/support for learning to sit. Seemed like a great idea ahead of time but didn't live up to expectation. We got rid of it and will be replacing it with a simpler playmat with hanging toys over - much better at keeping a newborns attention.

Bouncy chair:
We got given one and I found it quite useful for when I wanted a bath/shower or was trying to do things in the kitchen. However, I had to stop using it at around 6-8 months as the boy kept trying to escape and nearly fell on his head a few times. If we hadn't had been given one I don't think I would have missed it.

Breast pump:
Great for helping to relieve swollen boobs in the early days of breastfeeding but other than that I didn't use mine a whole lot. If you're planning on going back to work quite early on and expressing milk for the babysitter then it's well worth investing in an electric pump as the manual ones are a lot of effort. If you're only gonna express occasionally though then manual is fine. Bare in mind that though you may plan on breastfeeding it may not work out that way once baby is born so maybe keep hold of the receipt just in case!

Breast pads:
I must have spent a fortune on disposable breast pads those first few weeks. Then I discovered some reusable ones for half price and was instantly converted. I got enough for 4/5 days without needing to do laundry and saved a fortune. Just bare in mind that you need to change the pads regularly to prevent thrush.

Nursing bras:
Mothercare regularly have sales and I'm so glad I waited for their sale as I got a couple of pretty £25 bras for £5 each. For sleeping in I just got a couple of normal stretchy crop top/sports bra style bras instead of spending loads on special nursing bras. In the end I ended up abandoning my nursing bras and wearing my bedtime bras all the time as I found clipping and unclipping the nursing bras annoying - much easier to just lift up one side of my sports bra. Plus your boobs change shape and size so much during the day it was much more comfortable to wear stretchy bras that could change shape too.

I didn't bother with any special nursing clothes either. Instead I wore boob tops under baggy shirts (just lift the shirt up and pull the boob top down) or vest tops under buttoned tops/shirts (undo top buttons and lift up vest top).

Swaddle blankets:
Great for helping newborns sleep soundly as in the early days they have inbuilt reflexes that cause them to flail their arms during sleep and accidentally wake themselves up. Once they no longer need the swaddle blankets, sleeping bags are great as you know they won't kick the blanket off and get cold in the night.

Room thermometer:
Very helpful to be sure your little ones room is at a good temperature but not worth spending a fortune on. We got a simple cardboard one for a couple of pounds. Later we had a baby monitor that had one built in so it soon became obsolete and I was glad we hadn't spent much.

Nappy cream/baby wash/baby powder:
You'll get given so many freebies of this stuff that there's no need to stock up before junior is born. (I still have some samples left almost 2 years later!) However, if you see a good offer go for it.

Vests and sleepsuits:
They will go through several outfits a day for the first few months so make sure you've got plenty of vests (long sleeve for winter, short for summer) and sleepsuits. Look for styles that allow easy nappy change access as you're gonna be changing nappies A LOT!! Don't go crazy buying loads of really cute outfits as they grow out of them superfast and are just gonna poo and puke all over them. Make the most of hand me downs and charity shops.

Nappies:
You'll be going through 10-12 a day in the early days so stock up. Look out for Boots 3 for 2 offers and stockpile for later (but be aware they will grow out of the newborn size relatively quickly)

That's all I can think of for now but fellow mommas feel free to add your two cents in the comments section

Here we go again

Well I'm now 27 weeks into pregnancy number two and finally found some time to sit down and reflect on the journey. I've just been reading over my blog posts from when I was pregnant with little J and it's so funny comparing my attitudes and expectations to what actually happened.

So what is different about pregnancy second time around? Well the novelty factor isn't there this time around so symptoms that were kinda funny at first last time around are just plain annoying. This time around instead of being able to crash on the sofa and watch TV when I get home from work, I have a toddler jumping on me and wanting to play. It's much harder to get rest and look after myself this time around and I'm much more laid back about stuff too. Hubby is also much more laid back - no more being wrapped up in cotton wool this time around. (I think he's got a little too used to me acting like super woman and has now come to expect it as normal.)

How we treat baby is different this time too. Last time we were able to read stories to baby during pregnancy every night. By the time he was born we'd read him the Bible one and a half times already. This time around we've tried reading Jesus story book Bible to baby when little J goes to bed but little J doesn't like to share his Bible and instead wants to 'read' it himself (which is cute but baby can't see the pictures that little J is pointing at).

As I think about baby joining our family I hope they will know they are loved. I hope that they won't feel less loved than little J. He's been so lucky to have our full attention for so long. I wonder how he will handle having to share the attention with another little person? He's fascinated by babies at the minute and has begun being really helpful/protective towards younger kids which is cute but they're not direct competition so it may well be a different story when baby arrives!!

Parenting has been relatively easy the last few months (some tantrums and grumpy days but we all get good sleep, the boy can pretty much make his own breakfast now and there's plenty of fun, singing and charades style conversation) - I have a feeling it's going to become very challenging again soon. I have vague memories of hating the newborn phase and the extreme sleep deprivation. How will I handle that when I also have a toddler who won't allow me to go back to sleep for an hour during baby's morning nap?! And how will I handle things like sibling rivalry and trying to potty train a toddler at the same time as sleep training a newborn?? I am very aware that I am going to need a huge portion of God's grace to keep me sane!

Any of my friends with multiple kids got any advice?

Playhouse craft

Since getting back from sunny Portugal we've had plenty of rainy days stuck at home so I've had to come up with ideas to keep little J amused. While we were on holiday little J loved being able to use keys to unlock our hotel room. Now we're back home he is frustrated that the lock on our front door is too high to reach (much to my relief or else he'd be running out in the street!).

The other day I had a brainwave. I grabbed a large cardboard box we were about to throw away and began designing little J his own play house. I flattened the box and lay it on the floor so I could draw out the windows and door. Little J promptly plopped down on his belly  beside me with a handful of crayons and began colouring in my design. In fact he spent the rest of the afternoon at work with his crayons and was sad when I told him he had to stop for dinner.

While he was in bed that night I set to work cutting out window holes, a door, a letter box and most important of all a key hole. When little J got up the next morning he was excited to see our creation complete and ready for play time.  Since then he's played in there every day with his bears and even got me to sit in there and read stories with him. It's proved to be a great way to pass the rainy days.

When he gets bored of this creation my next plan is a pirate ship with a treasure map and treasure chest so he can recreate a story he's borrowed from the library. I'll let you know how that goes :)

Six on Sunday - loving Lagos

We just went on our first European holiday as a family and all had a whale of a time. We got a great deal on 5 nights to Lagos in Portugal and I wanted to share the highlights with you all so here's six things we loved about Lagos:

1. Our hotel

We stayed at Carvi Hotel and though it wasn't the most kid friendly place (the pool is 1.25m at the shallow end and I don't remember ever seeing any high chairs in the dining room), the service was excellent. The staff were so friendly and helpful and were great with little J. It's nicely decorated and the breakfast buffet was great. The best thing about it though has to be the location - on a cliff top overlooking Dona Ana beach. There are steps down to the beach right by the hotel and several other great beaches within 20 mins walk. The Old town with all it's restaurants is only 10-15 mins walk away as well.

 

2. The beaches

Not only were we staying next to one of the world's most beautiful beaches but there were 3 or 4 other great beaches all within 20 mins walk of our hotel. 

Praia Dona Ana

Praia Don Ana isn't great for building sand castles as it's quite grainy but it's a beautiful place to relax and you can also take a boat trip to see the grottos and the other beaches hidden along the coast line as far as Ponta De Piedade. 

Praia Do Batata is a beautiful sandy beach located right in the heart of town - a great place to relax just before/after trying the restaurants in town. 

Praia do Pinhao looks lovely but the access to it isn't great - down a lane covered in graffitti followed by a lot of steps with no railings to stop you from tumbling down the sheer drop! We just admired this one from the cliff top and decided not to venture down the steps.

Our favourite beach was Praia do Estudantes (pictured at the top of this post). It was a great sheltered cove with tunnels in the rocks leading to other coves either side. There was also an Italian/seafood restaurant up on the hillside behind the beach which was a great place to grab lunch or enjoy the view while having a few drinks. There were plenty more great beaches nearby that we didn't get chance to see so you really are spoilt for choice!

3. The food

We ate some pretty amazing food at very reasonable prices. 

Quay Lagos is a lovely bar/bistro run by Brits and located right on the marina. It's nicely decorated and has a great view of the marina so is a lovely place to have a few drinks and watch the world go by. The staff were so friendly and welcoming - always happy to chat and great with our little boy. The food was amazing! My lamb just fell off the bone and hubbys pork and clams was in a great tasting sauce. We barely had room for pudding but managed to share a lemon tart and were so glad we did. It was home made and served with luxury vanilla ice cream and oranges in a cardamom syrup which little J devoured eagerly. 

Next door to Quay Lagos is Crema Di Gelato ice cream parlour which serves some of the most amazing home made ice cream. Their generous one scoop cone costs only 2 euros so is about the same price as a Mr Whippy back home but bigger and waaaaaay better!

The Green Room is a cute little Mexican place run by a Kiwi. It's pretty small and the menu is basic but what they do serve they do very well with good size portions at reasonable prices. Their quesadillas were amazing, burritos the size of your head and the chocolate brownie was great too. We got a starter, 2 mains, pudding and drinks all for just over 25 euros!

The Garden

The Garden is an open air BBQ restaurant with a great atmosphere. Owned by a south African and with very friendly staff, they serve a mixture of BBQ and Morrocan food as well as some great freshly made pasta dishes. The food is nothing spectacular but is freshly made with good quality ingredients and cooked right in front of you on a big BBQ grill. What really makes this place is the unique atmosphere. Where else can you eat dinner sat on hay bales and then curl up in a hammock with a few cocktails after?! They even provide blankets for when the evening gets cooler.

4. The people

The place is full of expats living there and lots of different nationalities seem to visit too. So instead of it being full of Brits on package holidays we got to meet Aussies, Kiwis, Americans, Dutch and South Africans. Everyone was so friendly and ready to chat and everyone seemed to agree Lagos is a great place to holiday!

5. The old historic town

A great place to wander round with cobbled streets, plenty of specialist shops and a wide choice of restaurants.

6. The boat trips

Boat trip to Ponta De Piedade

There are plenty of boat trips and watersports on offer as well as shark fishing and dolphin watching. We went on one of the boat trips to the grottos and enjoyed getting to see the rocky coastline from the sea. The best way to see the grottos has to be the kayak tour that allows you to kayak right inside the caves. We decided taking a 1 year old and a pregnant lady in a kayak for 3 hours wasn't a smart idea but if we go back when the kids are older this is top of our list of things we want to do.

Where are all the real men?...

At work the other day we were talking about the guys we see when going out clubbing and how many of them are wearing make up and pluck their eyebrows better than us ladies. With male role models like the cast of 'The only way is Essex' is it any wonder though? Plus as women fight for equality I can't help thinking we're stepping on guys toes and further blurring the lines of what makes a man, well......a man.

A member of my family recently changed his name to something more gender neutral as he says he doesn't feel particularly masculine or feminine.  Looking at today's culture I can totally see why someone might feel that way and looking at what society portrays as manhood I'm kinda glad he doesn't fit that mould.

It seems to me that most men today fall in to one of these two categories:

- very well groomed, in touch with their 'feminine' side, big softies and as a result get called gay regardless of whether they are or not.
- guys who are so worried about being called gay that they go to the other extreme - acting like thugs and having questionable personal hygiene.

I don't think either of these are what "real" men are supposed to be.

The media seems to tell everyone that real men don't cry, don't care about personal hygiene, don't talk about their problems, treat women like garbage and always solve things with their fists. When I read the Bible I see a very different picture of manhood and surely the God who created man should be the one who we look to for our definition of what true manhood is, not Hollywood?!

The Bible shows us men who aren't afraid to cry (John 11:35, Matthew 26:75) and men who have very close friendships with other guys without fear of being called gay (1 Samuel 18:1-3). I could sit here and give you a whole list of what the Bible has to say about manhood but that would be too easy for you - go look for yourself!

While researching this topic I came across some interesting articles about the question of manhood. This video challenges us about the damage our wrong message of manhood is doing to our boys. This article raises the issue of the disservice we do to our children, both boys and girls, when we avoid the question of gender altogether and try to treat male and female as interchangeable. For a whole sermon series on the subject go on over to Desiring God.

This article about "Peter Pan Syndrome" addresses a slightly different element of how manhood has gone wrong in today's society but gets right to the heart of it all when it says...

In short, to “act like men”, means, to act like the Man. We must see that we are being transformed into the very image of the God-Man, of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29). 

Are you a guy trying to work out what it means to be a man? Or are you someone confused about your gender or identity? Let me assure you that the only label that really defines you is not male/female/gay/straight/geek/jock etc etc - you are quite simply a child of God. If we all let our Father in heaven define us instead of the media and those around us the world would be a much less confusing place for us all!

Six on Sunday - Celebrating Jesus at Easter

Now that little J is able to at least partially understand what Easter is about, I've been trying to think of ways to celebrate and teach him about the meaning of Easter. I spent the week leading up to Easter scouring Pinterest for ideas and have come up with some real gems that I thought I'd share with you....

1. Passover Seder

I love the heart behind the Jewish Passover Seder - to teach the stories of God's goodness to future generations in a fun, visual and interactive way. A full on Jewish Passover Seder is a pretty big undertaking and probably beyond us for a good few years yet. We did however have a candlelight lamb dinner, drink grape juice and talk about God rescuing his people from Egypt and sending Jesus to rescue us. We also let little J stay up late to watch Prince of Egypt with us too. I really want for Easter to be a time that our kids see as special and exciting and there's nothing like getting to stay up past bedtime to get kids excited!

2. Easter baskets with meaning

Easter has become all about the chocolate eggs and kids have little or no idea what the meaning behind the eggs are. How about giving the kids an Easter basket filled with a variety of sugary treats that each clearly relate to part of the Easter story.  Here is a great example of an Easter basket with meaning.

3. Easter walk

When we were kids we would often go for a walk on a Sunday afternoon or on a Bank holiday. Why not take the kids on a walk and give them a scavenger hunt to do along the way with scripture verses as clues. For an example check out this site here. 

4. Resurrection Eggs

We have advent calendars to count down to Christmas so why not have some kind of countdown during Holy week? Resurrection eggs are just that. The idea is to fill plastic eggs with symbols that relate to part of the Easter story and each day you open an egg and read that part of the story. There are loads of possible variations on how to do them and you can easily tailor it to your kids ages. Here is one example and here is another that includes additional extension activities.

This year I didn't get organised in time to do a countdown to Easter so instead we adapted the idea to use as an egg hunt on Sunday afternoon. I cut up this Easter puzzle and hid the pieces inside plastic eggs along with some chocolate buttons. Little J had great fun hunting for them and when he was done we used the pictures to briefly tell the Easter story.

5. Resurrection rolls

This is a great easy recipe that I hope to introduce as a tradition for breakfast on Easter morning.

6. Easter story biscuits

This idea is pure genius and I'm gutted I didn't find it in time to try it this year. Every step of this recipe tells part of the Easter story and I know little J is gonna totally love seeing the result the next morning.

Hope you've found these ideas helpful. Happy Easter to you all!!

Josiah's diary - April 14th 2014

Daddy says mummy has a baby in her belly. I'm not sure how it got there and I thought he was just messing with me at first but then mummy's belly started getting bigger so it must be true. The other day we went to the hospital and saw a lady who poked mummy's belly and showed us some things on the TV. Daddy said it was baby on the TV but it didn't look like any baby I've ever seen - it was just a black fuzzy blob!

Grandma got me a book all about the house in mummy's belly to help me understand but I'm still not quite sure how it all works. I read that baby shares the food mummy eats. Can I share my food with baby too? Do you think it likes cheerios? Daddy says that even though I can't see baby I can still talk to it and give it kisses so every now and then I get mummy's belly out and give baby some kisses.

Mummy doesn't always like it when I get her belly out though. Like when I tried to get her belly out during daddy's citizenship ceremony the other day she told me to put it away cos the mayor doesn't want to see it. What is a mayor? And what is citizenship? All I know is daddy got a certificate for something but I don't know what he did.

Daddy says I used to be in mummy's belly. I wonder how I got out. And how long will baby be in there? There's still so much I don't quite understand.

Baby is not the only thing I don't understand right now - there's a lot of things in life I'm trying to work out. For example, I've been working on learning to throw but I'm struggling to work out the rules about throwing. If I throw some things I get a cheer and if I throw others I get shouted at. I've been trying to narrow down which are the right things to throw to get a cheer and it seemed that throwing balls is good and throwing toys is bad. But then the other day I found a ball that daddy called a pool ball and when I threw that I got told off so now I'm confused again.

Mummy says that throwing things 'at' people is mean and I shouldn't do it but sometimes she asks me to throw something 'to' her. What is the difference between throwing something 'at' someone and throwing something 'to' them? They both look the same to me!

Six on Sunday - rainy day ideas

Due to illness/teething/bad weather we've had a quite a few days indoors recently. When you have a very energetic little boy it can be hard to know how best to keep him occupied on those days.

1. Play dough 
As a kid I remember my mum making home made play dough for us and had been looking for an excuse to give it a try. The basic recipe is:

1 cup plain flour
1 cup warm water
half cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
food colouring

Just mix it together over a low heat until it pulls away from the sides and clumps together. If it's still sticky cook it a bit longer. We didn't have any cream of tartar and didn't want to walk to the shop in the rain to get any so we made ours without and it still turned out ok. One thing I learned was make sure you mix the food colouring with the water before adding it instead of trying to add it after cooking - much less messy and better results too.

For some more exciting play dough recipes including scented, glittery or glow in the dark go to Nurture store for loads of great ideas.

2. Nursery rhyme puppets
Little J is just about old enough to handle basic arts and crafts so I decided to look for some age appropriate crafts to try. He loves singing songs so I was thrilled to stumble across some nursery rhyme themed crafts. He loves singing itsy bitsy spider so we decided to give that craft a go. I cut out all the pieces while he was having his nap so there would be no chance of him getting hold of the scissors. When nap time was over I handed him a bag of parts and we started to assemble our spiders together. He loved sticking on the googly eyes and enjoyed playing with the pipe cleaners too. I found it quite hard to judge where to put the finger holes and how big to make them part apart from that it was a very simple craft.

3. Building a den
After a particularly bad nights sleep due to teething, we were all tired and needed a low key indoor activity to keep us amused. Earlier in the week little J had been trying to use the clothes airer as a den so I figured why not give him chance to do it properly.  I took the clothes airer into the lounge along with plenty of cushions and sheets and we set up a den. I love this idea for making a den but for now the airer and sheets would do. I curled up with little J and read books for a while but it turned out he was still quite full of energy and soon wanted to get out and run around the house again. In the end hubby and I fell asleep in the den while little J headed to the kitchen and started making his own dinner!

4. Visiting the library
Little J has quite an impressive book collection and loves to read at every available opportunity. As a result he goes through phases where he gets bored of the same old books (not to mention how bored mummy and daddy get reading the same ones over and over again).  Luckily we live only 5 mins from the library so I've started taking little J for a visit every couple of weeks to read some new books and choose a couple to take home. It's a great way for him to regularly have new books in the house without me having to keep finding extra space for an ever growing collection. It's also a good way of teaching him about looking after things properly and how a library works.

5. Messy church
Last rainy weekend just happened to be Messy Church at a church near us.  A lot of churches seem to run these but we'd never been before. When we arrived there we several crafts set up around the room on the theme of Easter. We spent the first hour making chicks, decorating cookies, colouring pictures and planting a mini garden. When the crafts were done we all went into the main church area and sung some kids worship songs with actions and had a brief interactive talk about the meaning of Easter and Jesus being the best gift ever. After that we all had dinner together and got home just in time for pyjamas and bedtime. It was really good fun to go together as a family and also great to see little J interacting with kids of all ages and (mostly) having a great time (he got a bit frustrated that no one passed him the ball in football and couldn't understand that the other kids didn't know what his shouts of 'rah rah rah dah' meant, but other than that he loved it).

6. And finally....
Not entirely rainy day focused but still great for days when you're short of ideas - check out this great list of ideas for things to do every month of the year.

Another funny parenting tale

Well I've been very slack at blogging recently due to a mixture of a teething child and pregnancy kicking my butt slightly. I thought it was about time I shared another funny story with you all to make up for it.

Little J is growing so fast and learning so quickly that it's hard to keep up. Now he's this mobile, curious, bundle of energy that is in to everything. The other day we went to a friends house for lunch and took little J along. I hadn't realised ahead of time but it was the first time we had been to the home of a friend without children since little J had learnt to walk. I'd begun to take for granted the fact that at home I can just let him run around the house and know he's not gonna get into too much mischief (though he just learnt to open screw top bottles so I have a feeling that's all about to change!).

When we go to the houses of other friends with kids, they are like our home - toys everywhere, slightly beat up furniture and anything breakable or valuable hidden well out of reach! But not so at our child free friends house. They have a beautiful home full of all kinds of things for Josiah to break and/or ruin with grubby little finger prints. At first little J was polite and cautious but soon he was running around the house nosing through everything!

Little J is very helpful and already quite well house trained. He loves to help with laundry and even knows which buttons to press to put on a wash. This is fine at our house as the washing machine is always turned off at the wall but not so at our friends place so the little monkey kept turning the washing machine on and off.

Then there were musical instruments to play with, magazines to 'read', all kinds of things to look at in the kitchen and a bed to climb on.

I basically spent the entire time chasing him round the house and got very little chance to just sit and chat with the grown ups. At one point when I did finally sit down for a moment, little J wandered into the lounge with a bottle of lube he swiped from the bedroom when noone was looking!

Add to that the screaming over tired meltdown he had towards the end due to having missed his lunchtime nap and I think it's safe to say we probably wont be getting another invite any time soon!

But seriously though, it made me realise just how much has changed in our lives since having kids. It really is like we have entered a whole other world and there's no going back. We can't do things how we used to - we've had to adjust to find child friendly meals/outings/furniture/routines etc. Having said that, this new world is a fun roller coaster ride of a place to be - a world where I get to do arts and crafts and go to fun kids groups and play with toys when I take a bath!

A new take on the 10 commandments?

I always used to think of the 10 commandments as a bunch of rules - a list of "do not"s. But a friend pointed out the other day that when the Bible says "thou shalt not...." it is not saying "you shouldn't" or "don't" but simply "you will not".

What difference does that make? Well a pretty huge difference actually. It turns the 10 commandments from a list of rules to a description of how God designed the world to be and how God promises it will be one day in the future. If you read the 10 commandments in that light it soon becomes clear that our world is not as God intends for it to be - it is broken and needs fixing!

I've often heard people talk about the 10 commandments in relation to personal sin - i.e I broke one of the rules therefore I must do something to fix it or else I will go to hell. If you read the rest of the Bible you will soon see that's not what it's about at all. The problem is so much bigger than just you or I. The problem is the whole world is broken and no amount of good deeds or "hail marys" from you or I can fix it. We need a rescuer!

The Bible is the story of that rescue plan. Right from the start it shows us clues about the rescuer who is coming (Jesus - in case you hadn't guessed) and it gives us a message of hope about how life will be once the rescue plan is complete. Right now we're still part way through the rescue plan. Jesus has completed step 1 (come to earth as a man, die a brutal death, come back to life after defeating death and show the world a glimpse of what new life will look like) and he's getting everything ready for the final phase (see John 14:1-3).

I don't know about you but I find watching the news pretty depressing as I hear about all the insane and evil things that people do to each other. How great it is to know that this isn't how the world is supposed to be!? The Bible tells us that God has a plan to fix it all. One day Jesus will return to create a new heaven and a new earth (see 2 Peter 3:13) and the 10 commandments tell us how things will be in that new creation - no more death, no more jealousy, no more stealing, no more cheating, no more lying (see Revelation 21:3-5). I can't wait to live in a world like that. How about you? How do we get to be included in this new creation? Simple - the new creation will be full of all those people who have become friends of Jesus and put their trust in Him.

Six on Sunday - traditions

This weeks "Six on Sunday" is all about family traditions. As little J grows up and becomes more aware of the world around him, its got me asking myself what values do I want to teach him and what do I want for him to look back and remember as the core values of our family. So this week I've been gaining inspiration from other families and introducing some new traditions of our own.

1. One thing I'd really like to cultivate in our family is an attitude of thankfulness and an awareness of God's intervention in our lives. What better way than Family Day once a year?! A Christian charity I used to work for have a celebration day like this each year. Everyone from around the UK would get together at HQ for a massive BBQ, fun inflatables, silly games and most important of all to sit and hear stories of all God had done in the past and how we had got to where we were.

2. I'm all for healthy eating and try to feed my boys plenty of home cooked goodness - no microwave dinners in our house. However, I don't wanna be one of those parents who never lets their kid have sugar and then the kid secretly gorges themselves on "forbidden" food when they're out of the house. It's all about teaching moderation and allowing treats sometimes. So on Saturday mornings we put the Weetabix and porridge to one side and make way for "Pancake Saturday".

It's taken me several weeks to find a recipe I like but I've finally mastered the art of making American style blueberry pancakes. I've got a stash of frozen fruit in the freezer ready to serve up with fresh pancakes and sliced bananas (and lashings of syrup for mummy cos mummy's need treats too).

Check out this breakfast jam playlist I found to create a little atmosphere on a Saturday morning. Little J is a complete music addict and loves to shake his booty so I'm looking forward to seeing what he thinks of it.

3. One thing I remember most about my family growing up is that we always ate together around the table. To me it was the norm and I never knew any different until I grew up. Usually in our household, little J eats dinner on his own around 5:30pm and hubby and I have ours after he's settled in bed around 7pm. However, on Sunday nights, hubby heads out to church just before 6:30pm to help with the student group so on Sunday's we've begun all having dinner together just before 6pm.

Tonight we even ate by candlelight for extra fun. Little J loved the pretty lights and enjoyed blowing them out at the end and I enjoyed having quality time chatting to hubby before he went out for the night. Also, I stumbled across this book about making family dinner time fun and it's got me excited to come up with some of my own fun ideas when little J is a bit older.

4. I know it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas yet, but I found this great list of ideas for Christmas traditions to introduce. (Take them swimming to wear them out so they're too tired to wait up for Santa?! Pure genius!) One tradition I'd really like to introduce is to replace the usual chocolate filled Advent calendar with a countdown of festive things to do throughout December.

5. Central to our parenting of our kids is our desire for them to grow to know and trust Jesus. At this young age it's hard to know where to start so we've just started small with a quick bit of Bible reading over breakfast. Already little J is getting quite into this tradition and has begun asking for Bible readings at other meal times. For ideas for family worship time check out my board on Pinterest.

As a slight aside, if you are looking for some help revitalising/refocusing your own personal Bible/study time how about giving this idea a go?

6. And finally, for a list of suggestions collated from other families click here.

I would love to hear about some of the traditions you have in your family too. Please share your stories in the comments section.

Love Stacey x

Pancake Saturday recipe

A recently instigated tradition in our house is Pancake Saturdays. There's nothing better than a lazy Saturday morning in your PJ's eating a special breakfast. It's taken me a few weeks to perfect my pancake recipe but here it is finally....

Perfect American Style Pancakes

1 cup self raising flour
1-2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 cup milk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or melted butter
a few drops of vanilla essence

Step 1: Whisk together all the wet ingredients.

Step 2: In a separate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.

Step 3: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just wet - don't worry if it looks lumpy, it's supposed to.

Step 4: Melt some butter in a pan and put a spoonful or two of batter into the pan for each pancake. In the meantime, put a baking tray in the oven to keep the cooked pancakes on to keep warm while you cook more.

Step 5: Once the pancakes are golden on both sides they're done and ready to eat.

Step 6: Serve with frozen berries (defrosted first of course), sliced bananas and plenty of syrup.

Enjoy!

Six on Sunday

As I sit here listening to the sound of little J snoring over the baby monitor, I'm enjoying a rare moment of peace and chance to reflect on things that have inspired me or made me smile this week. In honour of my friend Lizzie's 5 on Friday, here's my 6 on Sunday:

1. We've just started getting into Geocaching. Armed with a hand-held GPS and a bunch of clues we went off in search of hidden treasure. It made our trip to the local park more exciting and it was great finding things we must have walked past many times without realising.

2. We've finally started doing family Bible time and it's going pretty well. We've been using some great material written by a friend of ours that you can get free online here (or even better buy a copy and support our dear friend, Glen). It's short enough to fit in before I rush off to work but it's meatier than most and very Christ focused.

3. Thanks to my new chores rota, I've actually found a better balance in life and had chance to sit and read articles and play on pinterest. I just found this great article that beautifully describes what it's like to be a stay at home parent, as well as giving tips on how to make more meaningful connections with our loved ones.

4. Even on the rainy days we've tried to get little J out of the house. Earlier this week we only made it as far as the cafe at the end of the street but what a great place! Comfy sofas, long communal tables that force us to be un-British and talk to strangers and the cheapest pot of Earl Grey in town. Add to that daily specials, friendly service, books/newspapers to read and cute little touches like jars of sugar cubes with mini tongs and you've got a winner of a place to while away a rainy afternoon.

5. There are many things I hope to teach my son and values I hope to instil. One is the importance of helping others. I'd really love to get our family involved in volunteering and doing regular mission trips abroad (any suggestions?). I just got an email about one of Save the Children's latest campaigns. Could you spare some time to read to a child who is struggling in school?

6. And finally, if you're struggling for ideas of what to do at home with the kids, pop on over to Nurture store and sign up for their free weekly emails packed with fun and educational ideas.

Saturday morning at our place

I'm definitely a better mama and better version of me when I'm focused and have a clear vision of how I want life to be. It's so easy to drift along and let life happen to us but that is when I struggle to get out of bed and take part in life. Being a wife and mother is not something that just happened to me, it is a God given calling that I need to grab hold of with both hands. Over the New Year holiday period I found myself asking questions about what kind of mama I want to be, what kind of home I want to run, what kind of atmosphere I want to create in my home and so on and so forth.

Thanks to our recent family time of reflection and refocussing, this Saturday there was a whole different atmosphere in the house.

Previously, Saturday mornings in the Gallagher household were very lazy and mostly involved mummy trying to stay in bed as long as possible while little J persistently poked her in the face and repeated the baby sign for "eat".

By 11am we had eaten breakfast, had family Bible study, unloaded the dishwasher, done laundry, made BBQ pulled pork, booked swimming lessons, rotated little J's toys, fixed the broken hoover, played with blocks, built a den and still found time to sit and read the paper while listening to classical music!

New Year, New start

As a new year dawned I stumbled across these two articles about reflecting on the old year and refocussing at the start of the new year.

I suggested to hubby that we sit down and consider some of the questions posed in the articles and we had a great time chatting about our highs and lows over the last year and our hopes for the new year. We made some promises to God and each other and came away with a renewed sense of vision.

There are several good habits I've been wanting to cultivate in my life. One is trying to find a balance with housework - a balance between making sure the house is clean but not spending so long cleaning that I don't get time to enjoy my family.  I'm going to try doing just one quick job each day and have written myself a wipe clean tick list for each month (I'm very much a lists kinda person and love the sense of achievement when I can tick things off). I've stocked up on cleaning supplies and created myself a handy little portable cleaning tool kit. For tips on getting organised, recipes for homemade cleaning products and a whole host of free printable organisational tools, check out cleanmama.

Another good habit I want to develop is making time in our day for family Bible study. Not easy with a little one but I knew I needed to stop making excuses and get on with it - what can possibly be more important that feeding my soul?! I've gotten so lazy in the mornings over the winter months that I've been skipping breakfast and getting ready in a rush just so I could stay under the duvet longer. Now we've made a pact to get up earlier to do Bible study and eat breakfast together. We've got some Bible study notes, set the alarm clock and even bought a big wall clock so I can see when I'm running late.

Other changes we've vowed to make include:
- Finding a new home group so we can grow together in Christ with others
- Making time to share our life with friends. We both miss our regular meals with our good friend Mike and hope to have friends round for dinner once a fortnight at least. So friends, please do invite yourselves round to our place for dinner! Also, we would love to go for more walks with friends so if anyone else is up for a good bit of fresh air, let us know.

Never fly with a one year old! (and the reasons I'll never fly American Airlines again)

Due to my hubby's family all being thousands of miles away, it was inevitable that we were going to have to take our little one on a plane eventually. Ever since he was born we've been debating over the optimum age to take him to the states to meet the rest of his family.

Well, we finally did it and I can safely say 14 months old is certainly NOT the best age for long haul air travel! The cheeky monkey decided to learn to walk during our travels and so during our five hour lay over in Chicago all he did was run around the airport non stop! He ran into areas he wasn't allowed, stole some guy's phone, unplugged one kid's Nintendo DS and tried to run off with one lady's suitcase.

Flying with a kid is certainly a lot different than flying without. Usually I'd watch at least two films on the way to the USA but with little J constantly turning my screen on and off it took me nearly 4 hours to watch one film. And if you thought it was difficult to eat your dinner on one of those tray tables normally, try doing it with a small child on your lap who insists on sharing it all with you.

In the last three weeks we have been on 5 flights, two 5 hour bus journeys and two 4 hour car journeys. The boy has coped pretty well considering and we have learnt a few things along the way that I thought I would share with you.

1. Sticking to normal routine was really helpful. I was dreading how Josiah would handle jet lag and sleeping in weird places. We managed to book flights that worked well around his nap time, took his teddy bear and used breast feeding him to sleep as my ultimate sleep aid. (Breast feeding during take off and landing also stopped him from yelling due to his ears popping.) During the travel, I kept to his usual nap routine according to UK time and then when we got to USA I kept him awake until his normal bedtime by USA time. The result was he slept all the way through the night from day one instead of waking up at 2am like I expected.

On the way home we had an over night flight and little J was awake for all but the last hour of it! We arrived in Heathrow at 8am all looking pretty shocking and red eyed. Even though we all just wanted to sleep, we instantly reverted to normal UK routine and went for breakfast. We kept Josiah awake until the start of our 5 hour bus journey home which nicely coincided with his usual nap time. We all slept on the coach home but were still so tired when we got home that we had no trouble falling asleep at our usual UK bedtimes.

2. Take plenty of snacks. We all get grumpy when we're hungry right and eating is a great way to cure boredom too. I took what I thought would be way too many snacks and the boy munched through them all. Don't give too much sugar to a small child confined on a plane though! On car journeys I found the best snacks were ones he can feed himself (bananas, fruit pouches, oaty bars) to save keep reaching over to him.

3. Book 'sky cots' way in advance. We were told to just ask when we checked in. When we got there we found there was only one sky cot available on our flight of over 200 people and it had already been booked! If you're wondering if your child is able to use a sky cot, they are usually fine up to 24lbs, but check with your airline to be sure.

4. Pick the right airline. During our travels we flew with three different airlines. Before having kids all airlines seemed much alike to me apart from some having slightly better movie choice. This time around I noticed a massive difference.

British Airways gave us seats near the front and over to the side so we had more space. They even moved the lady who was supposed to sit next to us so Josiah had his own seat. As soon as we arrived at the gate they ushered us through to priority boarding and got us on ahead of everyone else. US airways were equally good at allowing us to board early and offered us sandwiches for Josiah even though we hadn't paid for a seat for him.

American Airlines however, really don't know how to handle kids! No announcement that passengers with kids under 5 years old can board first (though when we did push to the front on the recommendation of another passenger the lady did let us through). Our seats on both flights were shockingly bad. First flight we were right at the very back, furthest away from any fire exits and last to get off. The engine noise was really loud and we were totally unable to hear any announcements (not sure they even did a safety briefing!). The second flight was an 8 hour over night flight and for some reason they decided the best place to seat a wriggly one year old would be in the middle of a row of 5 people so he can annoy not only his parents but several passengers either side. The poor guy next to me was trying to sleep and Josiah was trying to lean over and poke him and work out what the face mask he was wearing was all about. The seats all had TV screens in the back and Josiah wanted to lean over and see what the other passengers were watching too. It was a very looooong flight!!

Next time we fly I will definitely ask for more details about where our seats are when we check in and try to switch if needed. To find out about the layout of your flight and the best seats for your family, you can use this handy little site.

Despite all the challenges of travel with a little one, we did have a great time. Little J had all kids of adventures - riding tractors, chasing puppies, meeting new friends, staying out past bedtime and running around getting used to the freedom of walking. It was definitely worth the effort :)

You know you're a momma when...

During a rare moment of peace, I was browsing the net and found this fun little article about motherhood. It made me giggle so thought I'd share it with you all and share my thoughts on a few points too. So here goes:

7. FREEDOM! As a mum, any time to yourself is bliss, even if it's doing something as dull as shopping.

10. Momma's have an in built baby sensor that detects the slightest sound/movement of any child. For this reason I make hubby sleep with the baby monitor next to his head. He can sleep through anything, while I hear as soon as the boy makes a sound. When he was still sleeping in our room I woke whenever he rolled over!

12. Sad but true - sleep is what momma's crave most, even more than sex. Pre-baby our evenings went along the lines of put dinner on, do chores while it cooks, eat dinner in front of the TV, go to bed and enjoy naked time with hubby. Now, by the time we get to bed I'm shattered and often fall asleep before I've even got my clothes off. Began to realise we needed to come up with creative new tactics to fit our new lifestyle. Most recent tactic is to plan evening meals where you shove everything in a pan and throw in the oven for half hour. We put the boy to bed, one of us preps dinner while the other does chores, and then while dinner is cooking........ ;)

13. Same goes for a bath without rubber ducks/boats/other bath toys or a small child trying to push your head under the water when you try to wash your hair.

14. Yeah and if you thought pooing while someone is chatting to you is bad, try pooing when a small child is trying to shove your bum off the seat so they can look behind you and see what's going on!

15. And use wet wipes to wash on mornings when it all goes to pieces and you don't get time for a shower.

18. YES!!! I understand the boy is just discovering food and keen to try new things but I just want to be able to eat something, anything, without having to share it with him!

21. I'm working on it

24. Yep. In those first few weeks I dread to think how rarely I showered/brushed my teeth!

So if you want to bless us momma's, give us some child free time to lock ourselves in the bathroom, take a long soak in the tub and eat chocolate to our hearts content.