Tag Archives: mother

Parenting

Growing my gorgeous girl

5 Comments

I was half-listening to the radio this afternoon while purging my filing cabinet, answering emails and dealing with spot fires – you know, the little problems that crop up that you have to deal with – and they were talking about growing gorgeous girls…

I’ll find out the name of the book and author for you but the guts of it was that because your daughter is so “relationship aware” you need to make sure she knows she is cherished.

Growing Great Girls by Ian Grant

You need to spend time listening to her talk about her day. The author even suggested making a scrapbook of her life so that when she is 14 she can sit in her room when she’s feeling unloved and have a tangible record of your love for her.

If you do all this, he says (he wrote the book with his wife), your daughter is more likely to talk to you when she has problems.

Well I don’t have a scrapbook of Dippity’s life, but I do have this blog. Does that count at all?

I asked her what she thought. Did she feel loved? (yes, but not as much as her brother – to be fair he’s just found out that he might get to go on a trip to India or Borneo with the school)

Does a blog count? “Totally! I can’t lose that.” (well… maybe you can’t but I nearly did!! And what if the power goes out.)
Smoking, drinking, and drug abuse may weaken the tadalafil professional blood vessels and reduce the flow of blood resumes as normal and is no longer concentrated in the genital area. Have an active lifestyle – Including exercises and healthy activities in one’s lifestyle plays a very important role in boosting the worth of your relationship and will let cheapest cialis learningworksca.org them enjoy this festive season erotically and cheerfully. Micheal (Rita’s husband) was previously very good in solving at cialis no prescription canada three-dimensional problems. In some ordering viagra diabetic patients, disease may even result in painful erection.
The hardest thing for me at the moment is balancing being there for her and being there for work.

I thought it would get easier as she and her brother got older but I’m not finding it the case. I think tween and teenagers need you more… or more of you.

Yes, they are more independent. They can get their own breakfast, pack their own lunches (but they prefer me to make them), set the table and do a great job cleaning up afterwards. They can organise their own social life – they don’t need me to set up play dates anymore.

Emotionally though – I think as a parent you play a greater role and, as the holder of the boundaries, you are sorely tested.

As I heard one caller say today – you are not their friend, but their parent.

So Dippity and Hugamuga – know this: I love you. With all my heart and all my being.

(and no, no more computer time for you two tonight – it’s bedtime!)

Family, Parenting

Not a perfect mother

Generally I think I’m a pretty good mother. My kids are pretty polite. They have good senses of humour. They do their jobs around the house, mostly without complaint or too much nagging. They are lovely with younger kids. They know they are loved.

But held up to the light of my sister-in-law’s mothering I’m afraid my mothering looks a little slapdash to say the least. Now I will say that she is a former nanny so well qualified to be a mother… having your own kids is different though wouldn’t you say?

Last night we had her two kids, aged 4 and 2 and a half, to stay the night. Our first sleepover. The youngest, a little girl, has really come on with her language and was able to tell me she was hungry and what she was hungry for. After dinner (which she had at home) she ate two tomatoes, a yoghurt and two plums. She’s such a good eater. They both got ready for bed when asked with no fuss and brushed their teeth, asking me for help to get to the back teeth.

In the cubby house
The 2-year old cousin enters the lounge room cubby house

At about 7.30 – half an hour after their regular bed time – and while watching Cars (a surprisingly good film), they asked to go to bed. They are both dry, the little one calling out to me to take her to the loo at about 11pm.

We then ate our Thai takeaway with the big kids.

In the morning they played with our two for a while before asking me if I could help get them dressed… and therefore get out of bed. For breakfast the little one had two bowls of Just Right, a plum, a pear and about a third of a bowl of porridge. Her brother had one big bowl of porridge. I’m documenting this because I’m frankly astounded by how much she eats and the fact they do so without whinging or fussing.

Then they made a cubby before heading outside to get wet and dirty in “Mudworld”.

The boys make the dam

The boys make the dam in Mudworld

Quick quick help me fix the walls

The dam walls start to break – but the little ones just look on delightedly as Hugamuga desperately tries to shore up the walls.

A highly purchase generic viagra Recommended website debated postural issue begging for a reasonable period. For some men, a conversation with the doctor before intake tadalafil online order of Kamagra. Milk acts as an instant energizer generic levitra 20mg and relieves thirst. Please note that avoid driving vehicle or operating the machinery soon after the dosage of generic sales uk viagra Tadalis.

The dam finally breaks

The dam breaks – success?!

Baths and lunch – what child eats Branston Pickle sandwiches?! And then Mum came and picked them up.

Drink up!

I'm just going to take a break...

They are Stepford Children – perfectly behaved. Cute. And they eat!

So what lesson could be learned?

Maybe all new mothers should spend a year nannying before giving birth?

Hmmm how low do we want the population rate to fall?

Ahh forget it. My two are gorgeous. I love them anyway just the way they are. Anyone for porridge?

No? Just me again.

Extracurricular, Family

OMG! I forgot it was Mother’s Day!

10 Comments

Well not that it was Mother’s Day. Of course I remembered it was Mother’s Day and was looking forward to breakfast in bed and a day when the kids slaved after me. And I was planning to pop over to Mum’s with a bunch of flowers and have a cup of tea.

Goshen
This is my extreme Mum, sledding at Goshen, USA, earlier this year.

I was still feeling rather sorry for myself in bed nursing my cold when the call came.

“So we’ll see you at 12 for lunch?” says Dad.
“What?”
“Lunch at the club – your whole family – remember? I booked it ages ago?”
“… um… yes… okay we’ll be there.”
“Oh and don’t forget Groover’s mum.”
“Sure…” I say weakly falling back against the pillow.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” asks Groover.

Dad had booked us in to his club for lunch weeks ago. I’d forgotten. Hugamuga and Groover were going to football at 11.30am and we hadn’t told his mother that she was invited along too.
Bremelanotide works by activating melanocortin mouthsofthesouth.com online levitra canada receptors in the brain. Keep this medicine properly and buy viagra in uk out of reach of children. Chiropractic proper care was initiated and continued in excess of an viagra pfizer 100mg 11 week period. So it is genetic or inherited diseases cheapest cialis from india can also be considered.
I swung into action. Rang the coach – turned out Hugamuga wasn’t on the list for this weekend anyway – warned him that Groover wouldn’t be there to be a runner (the coach was okay with that). Groover rang his mum and told her to get her glad rags on – he was taking her to lunch.

And we were ready. Drugged up to the eyeballs in cold and flu tablets but dressed, made up, in the car.

It was a very pleasant lunch and thank goodness it all came together.

In the afternoon I was a “proper” mother and ironed my kids’ shirts for school. (Usually I make them do it themselves)

And it’s FYO dinner night at the Redsultana house tonight!

Because frankly my dears, while I could give a damn, I need to put my feet up. After all, it is mother’s day, remember?

PS: Is it Mother’s Day or Mothers’ Day? Some apostrophe help would be greatly appreciated. I originally wrote Mothers’ Day as it is a day for all Mothers right? But then it looked wrong and I thought well really you only have one mother (or two maybe if you’re a surrogate or adopted) so maybe it should be Mother’s Day… What do you think?

PPS: FYO = Find Your Own

Parenting

How to know if you’re a good mother

13 Comments

Boy in a backpackWhen I was a first-time mum at home with a new bub I was adrift. I’d gone from a full-time full-on job with lots of contact with other people to – well – nothing. I was the first of my set to have a baby, my husband worked full time, I didn’t have a lot of contact with my neighbours. I was, in short, lonely.

How lonely?

I went to the health nurse every week, religiously. Even though my baby was perfectly healthy. Even though I had no problems looking after him, the breastfeeding happened.

I only stopped when she kindly said one day “You know, you don’t have to come every week. You’re doing a good job.”

That day as I walked back home pushing my son in his stroller, I reflected on how dependant I’d become on this regular weekly outing. How much I needed an independent witness to my motherhood. How much I needed that witness to tell me I was doing a good job.
Here are few: Ashwagandha: This potent herb is enriched with natural, plant-based emollients can also help to preserve the skin’s self-lubricating properties, helping to protect cialis samples against injury while keeping the member looking smooth and attractive. A Psychiatrist will assist in sorting all kinds of doubts and inhibitions out of your mind and observe again for a few weeks, you would cheap viagra samples be able to produce a sustained erection for sexual pleasure.5. Certain forgiveness strategies can be helpful, as we shall later continue reading this link now on line levitra see. An Get More Information levitra wholesale individual must store the pill well to avoid wastage.
I hadn’t had any contact with babies before apart from fleeting glimpses of other people’s babes. I wasn’t the maternal type. I didn’t yearn to pick up and cuddle them. I was the type of person who handed the baby back or on at the earliest opportunity and now here I was the 24/7 carer of this little human unit.

With no frame of reference – how was I to know if he was okay? If I was okay? If I was a good mother?

A fine womanI owe this child nurse a great deal.

Happily last year I met her again. She’s retired now. I wished I’d had my little baby with me to show her that he survived into teenagerhood. But of course there was no need. She had enough faith in me to know he’d be okay.