Growing an adult?

How scary is this.... little baby E will one day be a grown woman, like me.... HOW is that possible? How can I prepare her for all the pitfalls and dangers in life when I have myself fallen into most of them? How can I prevent her doing same mistakes I've done?

How can I make sure she is a better daughter to me than I ever was to my mother?

Again, so sorry mum!!!!!!!

Scary 40!

Ha ha! Am planning a scary 40th birthday party on Halloween! Ha ha ha!!! Am enjoying the planning and really looking forward to having all my friends there to celebrate, so do plan a trip to London if you consider yourself a friend :-) Invitation to follow soon-ish!

40. Huga. big 4-0.... sounds SO much older than I feel. Should I have a midlife crisis now?

I want it all... I want it all... I want it ALL, and I want it NOW!

The Queen of Queen said it best... "I want it all..."

Am at a stage now when I am starting to feel a bit restless, and very very bored with the "baby talk" and baby actitivities that fills our day. I think a lot about returning to work - i.e finding a job as I am out of contract, and am currently finetuning my CV. Am procastinating a bit though, as am also not at all sure how on earth I can combine an interesting job with being there for baby E or how I can even manage emotionally, to outsource the care of her during the daytime... All my previous jobs, have been quite demanding, long hours and lots and lots ot travel, which I normally like, but with baby finding hard to accept.... but also, don't want to step too far down the career ladder either, as that would feel like a failure. There has got to be a way to combine career and family life right!??

I have to believe that I can have it all somehow. Just need to figure out how.

Accidental parenting...

Anyone tried the "pick up put down" sleep training method championed by "the baby whisperer"?

We have fallen into the trap of rocking baby E to sleep in the chair and now she can't get herself back to sleep on her own when she wakes up in the middle of the night. She is also fighting sleep like a fiery terrier... she may miss something if she shuts those pretty blues you know... exploring, exploring, life is simply to fun fun fun! :-) I also tend to take her into our bed when she is difficult to settle back to sleep around 04.00 when I am shattered... bad habits I know...

Anyways, time to fix this. Soon. Is also very nice and cuddly with her next to me though... but I don't sleep and am loosing it soon, so. Needs must. Really! Next week!

Nothing really changes...

....funny how quickly I fell back into old ways... when my lovely wonderful friends BB and miss Prada, took "mama out tonight" last week, I found myself by the bar, late at night, ordering Sambucas for us that none of us really needed... oh dear, and I thought I'd grown up a little with parenthood....

THANKS again BB and miss Prada, for a smashing night! You are the best!

...and so sorry baby E for all the future embarrasing stories you may hear about your mamma....

Take your Mama out tonight! (tomorrow)

Yippey!!! End of an era, am quitting breastfeeding tomorrow and am being taken out by two of my good London friends to celebrate in style!! First time since I found out I was pregnant in Dec07! I am giddy with excitement like a little girl...

... and at the same time scared and quite a bit sad... I have found breastfeeding such a nice and bonding thing and I will really miss it. At the same time can't wait to get back the control of my own body... I have blogged about this before, so will not bore you now -

... guess we will have to have a second baby eventually quite simply! :-)

... but for now - bring on tomorrow night! This MAMA is ready to rock n' roll! :-)

God mothers, less the god bit... and less the mothers bit...

I do not believe in god, any god at all... but I still wanted baby E to have godparents... the reason for this is simply to have 1-2 other adults apart from the family, who is paying a special interest as she grows up. I had such great exchange with my godmother, who sadly passed away before she turned 50, and who baby E is named after, when I was growing up, so was looking to give baby E a similar set up.

We are very happy with our two godmothers (pure coincidence that the two most suitable candidates that also accepted, were women) for baby E, and I am convinced that they will provide that special connection as she grows up.

The question was how to get around the god bit... I started off wanting a baptism ceremony of sorts, but couldn't get my head around it... It didn't feel right to force her into a church like that - that should be her choice when she is an adult... and also didn't want to make a too big thing out of it. A naming ceremony felt a bit too... "new age-y hippi-ish" for us... so we ended up having a lovely lunch, just baby E, the H and I and the two godmothers. Perfect!

Now the remaining question is what to call them, as there is no god involved, nor are they really mothers (yet...). I suggested pasta-parents as I do believe in the flying spagetti monster... but the H put his foot down (he is a little bit religious but funnily enough not fussed about baptism or godparents at all, he thinks it's a nice thing, but nothing he would insist on...)

Suggestions?