19
Dec
2010
Getting even more traditional – could yum cha be the key?
possibly my favourite tradition. I know, I'm shallow like that.
I saw this great post the other day on a website. It was all about the traditions this mother is starting with her family. Some of them were a bit ummm full on (compulsory family hikes are not really going to cut it in our family) but some of them got me thinking about what we’re doing in our house. I’ve covered some of these in earlier posts but for those of you who don’t immediately memorise and take notes (what is WRONG with you people? Don’t you know this stuff is gold?), here are some ideas we are planning on taking up in our little family. (OK, not so little our family as we currently stand at four and are soon to be five but DON’T REMIND ME, I HAVE THE FEAR.)
- Sunday family roasts – as per last week’s post, I am loving this new tradition. Granted, following the first week’s massive success, we can only go backwards from there (witness tonight’s event where daughter refused to eat anything but individual peas. One at a time. Very slowly. Until you wanted to throw each and every pea at the wall), but I am still loving it. Perhaps in warmer times it will become Sunday barbeque night. I love any excuse to break out the tomato sauce.
28
Nov
2010
In which I give you a warning and make an announcement
Sometimes I blame my husband – he said his next wife would do it if I wouldn’t – but mostly I blame my daughter.
There is a point at about nine months when your child, if lucky, is sleeping, eating, crawling, happy and content. Easy to get around, they sit happily in a pram for ages at a time, allowing you to shop, have coffees, shop… so you decide this parenting thing is a lark, may as well have another one.
And so you get pregnant.
And then she wakes up and you discover it was all part of an evil plan to lull you into a false sense of security and propagate the human race.
See, angelic daughter has decided she hates the pram. And the car. Not a huge fan of her cot either while we’re at it. And as for crawling round gently prodding her toys – she’d rather rip wine bottles out of the wine rack, pull appliances off the bench using the 1cm of cord you left dangling, launch herself out of her high chair, scale the stairs at 60kms an hour whenever your back is turned, and my personal favourite of which I never tire – empty out every drawer and cupboard she can lay her hands on. Especially neatly organised Christmas wrapping drawer, ensuring every single roll of ribbon is festively strewn around the living room and red tissue paper is poking suspiciously out of her mouth.
21
Nov
2010
Not a good week in the mothering stakes
with any luck, I won't end up in these
We had gastro round here last week. Or more precisely – I had gastro. Everyone else had a touch (clearly a touch was almost death’s door for husband) and got through with a day or so of feeling unwell. I, however, spent the better part of nine days lying prostrate wherever the moment took me – on the sofa, on my bed, on the bedroom floor, on the front step (much to the confusion of both the 90 year old next door neighbour and the Italian parking attendant).
17
Oct
2010
HERDING CATS. OR HOW TO THROW A KID’S PARTY – PART 3. THE GAMES.
probably not for a 2 year old's party.
OK, this will be my last one on parties I promise. Anyway, I’ve done the planning of the party and the all-important party cake, but I think it is necessary to cover the final essential bits of the party – namely the games. Oh, and I forgot the food – ok, maybe this is the second last.
Firstly, can I highly recommend you find a really dodgy game that involves something slightly humiliating for the compere to do? Say running around a garden holding up signs whilst wearing a train driver’s uniform trying to corral a large number of three year olds in a straight line behind them? And ensure that any husband who might not have been of huge assistance with arranging party becomes the aforementioned compere? Just a suggestion.
In other tips:
1. If they’re under 3, don’t bother, just load ‘em up on cake and watch them run round the garden hopped up on chocolate and juice.
11
Oct
2010
7
Oct
2010
Pregnancy Second Time Around
Hmmm..Coffee. I'm ALLOWED One a Day. OK?!
I don’t want to play the “old hand” walk-in-the-park routine on pregnancy, so don’t take my tone as smug, but I have noticed a remarkable reduction in my attention to actually being pregnant this time around, my second pregnancy. This new attitude is a bit of a mystery to me, even after a full two minutes of self-reflection.
I speak only of the last three months because the first trimester was HIDEOUS and that certainly got my attention. It was characterised by daily vomiting or, if not vomiting, a routine of sitting on my arse or shuffling around (on my feet, not my arse) to try and minimise the movement that might result in vomiting. I did bring it on myself somewhat – refusing to take those anti-nausea tablets which didn’t seem to do much in the first pregnancy when I had only minor nausea but which, I discovered on the second last day of feeling like a first time sailor on the high seas during this pregnancy, that they actually helped quite a bit. So I purchased a 30-euro packet of the little miracles and then found two days later that all my illnesses had passed with the end of the first trimester. Murphy’s.
5
Jul
2010
The post about what to give when you’re not giving flowers
For the love of god, NO.
There are only so many flowers a person needs. Honestly. And this goes for sick people, as well as new mothers. Firstly, who has fourteen vases in the right shape and colour for fourteen different bunches? Secondly, who has fourteen mantelpieces to put them on? And thirdly, umm, who needs that many flowers? But who has the time to think of clever and thoughtful yet awesome value presents for people these days? What with full on jobs or full on children or full on both, you need some help. And they don’t call me Helpful Harriet for nothing. Actually, no one calls me Helpful Harriet but I am hoping if I use it enough, it will catch on. So here are some suggestions. Some of them might also be useful for someone who is coping with an illness, a bereavement, a break-up or a general rough time. You are welcome.
The gift of time
21
Oct
2009
Thanks for the advice
photo credit: rahego
I was stopped in the street this morning by a kindly woman who went to the trouble of doubling back to suggest that I put a hat on my baby, who was, by the way, happily cruising along in a luxury, wind sheltered buggy. She pointed out with much consternation that his ears would be cold. How very considerate of her to share her concern. I’ve never heard of death by cold ears but you really can’t be too careful these days.
So I wanted to take this occasion to say a big THANK YOU, not just to her but also to all those people that have given me helpful and not-so-helpful advice, solicited and unsolicited, over the last 4 months. Because let’s face it, even if the advice flies exactly in the face of what the wiser part of the medical profession would recommend, it’s come from the heart, or at least some other functional part of the body.
Spam of the week
No, this is not an homage to everyone’s favourite tinned luncheon meat. Rather, something I thought worth sharing with a larger
audience than say Jac and myself. When you start a blog, you do not realise the added bonuses that will come your way. Like spam. We get probably a hundred spam comments a day (caught in our very clever spam folder), which I get to peruse and then delete.
They’re all trying to send people to their rather cleverly named but possibly a little illegal websites, but the way they think they might entice our readers over is really quite ingenious – often they are rather flattering (if somewhat oddly phrased) commentary on the look and feel of our site. Sometimes they ask a not disconnected question about the topic at hand (and suggesting more information can be found at their site – how helpful!). But the best ones are the totally random comedy comments. Here for your viewing pleasure, a nice one from today which was posted on an article about children’s vomit….
”Interesting blog. Wow my knowledge just increased ten-fold due to your incredible and pragmatic knowledge and I will certainly bring this into my friendly discussions in the future. I’m curious what your thoughts are on Obama and the democratic party?” Read more...
Tags: advice, babies, comedy, commentary, comments, humour, spam
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