Skip to main content

So... it's been a while

Blog, I've missed you.

Hello again.

I woke up this morning, feeling groggy after the usual teething-baby late-evening-early morning chain of disturbances. I looked in the mirror and sucked my teeth in shock - where did my eyes go? Is that grey hair? How come the creases on my pillow have transferred to my face? How the heck did I get so old?

But after the initial shock fades, a new shock surfaces - the astounding fact that I kind of don't care all that much. I'm no spring chicken but I actually think I'm ok with that. The world isn't going to stop turning because I'm not smooth of brow and unbagged of eye. I'm a mother of three, after all. I'm supposed to look a bit haggard.

This doesn't mean I'm going to give up and start scarfing gigantic donuts for breakfast, but maybe I am going to give myself a break. At the age of 37, it is ok to have wrinkles and crinkles, rogue wiry hairs and a bit of a wobbly rear. Why beat myself up about it? Vanity can be a double-edged sword; I'm hanging mine up for a while.

The Belly is seven months old now. Oh, and what a delight she is. A chubby bundle of giggles, she brings a smile to my face despite the sleep deprivation and not yet being able to do up the button on my jeans. Vanity doesn't count for much when a chubby finger is trying to insert itself up your left nostril, delivered with a devastatingly gummy smile and twinkling blue eyes. My two big girls tell me I'm gorgeous even when my hair is more 'fro than ready-to-go and my face looks like a melted candle. Happy days.

But a 7-month maternity leave is enough for any gal, surely? The baby bubble is still present but I'm starting to feel a bit blurry around the edges, so maybe it's time to wrench my brain out of its hormonal doze...

So here I am. Bruised but enriched by the maternal-merry-go-round. Ready to blog again. Are you ready to listen? 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Grim Reaper

Firstborn is obsessed with death. It started with the odd comment, such as; "Mummy, what happens when you die?" OK, I thought, I was expecting this at some point, what a cute little curious brain she has. So I trotted out all the cosy Heaven stuff and left out all the things that could worry her, such as worms and bones and holes in the ground. This went down pretty well, although somehow Firstborn made the jump from my view of Heaven (filled with love, joy, always warm, never rains, has a huge discount designer shoe outlet and I never have to pay my Visa bill) to her own view of Heaven; a wonderous place where small girls don't have to eat their vegetables before they're allowed pudding, and where Barbie dolls grow on trees. Anyway, I digress. Last week Firstborn started shouting "Kill! Kill!" in a bloodthirsty tone while bashing her hithero-beloved teddy against the wall. This was topped by her purposely flushing her favourite My Little Pony down the loo. ...

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

A friend recently emailed me to say that her big memory of her stay with us last year is that she had a great birthday, one of the few where she didn't 'act like a spoiled grumpy princess'. She tried to give me all the credit but as I explained to her, it was all down to having a fellow female organising the birthday fun rather than leaving it to her partner. Her email got me thinking about birthdays and how very different men and women are in their attitudes to celebrating special occasions. It also had me thinking about my birthday two years ago when I threw a major tantrum in the Carrefour car-park after being told that we were off to do the weekly shop, kids in tow, which was simply the final straw at the end of a very uninspiring day. In contrast, my birthday last year was rather lovely (a morning on my own in a spa with no mobile coverage, pure selfish bliss). This year - in a few short months, eek! - I'll be hitting the grand old age of 38. This will be my las...