OK so let me explain, ever since I was a teenager, or a tween even (isn't that word odd?!)-when I was a tween and that term hadn't been invented (thankfully), I realised I had a bit of a lovely bond with kids, I connected with children and adored playing with them. I did play with dolls pretty late so I suppose they were an extension of that!
In 2012, Amber Vodegel and her husband John Miles founded Health & Parenting Ltd, which creates apps for pregnant women and parents with young children.
Their ambition was to set up a modern app business, which they could manage from home with a remote global team of experts.
Simone Lanham is a mum, wife and former TV journalist. A New Zealander living in London, she owns entertainment company Incognito Artists . When elder daughter was diagnosed with autism, Simone and her husband set up the Sewell Foundation in NZ to offer information and assistance regarding biomedical and early intervention to families and practitioners treating autism.
So this morning we took the cute pictures of my toddler Alexander, just 2, in his nursery uniform, the same nursery that his older brother Oliver attended (and pre-school) and loved dearly- and we all smiled sweetly as my nerves were building...another day, another huge milestone for us all (after Oliver started school only last week)!
We've all been there right, told those little white lies or chucked those flipping loud toys, to well simply SURVIVE this crazy thing called parenthood!
I love my kids, I really do but loom bands. loom bands I hate, especially littered in technicolour pieces all over our lounge, swirling in the bath (really) and spinning round my washing machine.
So I binned them.
I took a deep breath and bid them goodbye. Each and every rubbery loop.
Ok so we all know 'normal' doesn't really exist but surely everyone can relate to that very real pressure to fit in, you know, feeling like you're doing the right thing, ticking the boxes of thriving at life, parenting, your job....this oh so common weighing yourself up against the 'norms' and trying not to feel the odd one out...
So tonight as I cut my eldest, Oliver's hair (he's currently hairdresser-phobic) I realised that as parents we seem to take on many, MANY roles or jobs from wannabee Nicky Clarke's (more like Edward Scissorhands in my case although Oliver's locks are still long enough to pass for an American kid in a Gap advert-phew) to full time therapists for our kids and more...
I'm often asked what my career is and although I'm a trained, award winning filmmaker and adore directing, the last few years have seen me become a full time blogger, a career that happened organically and is one I LOVE.
Let me start by saying I do, some of my closest, most valued friends don't have kids (and several are free and single bad-ass ladies to boot), but some ladies without babies, ones I thought would stand the test of friendship time have fallen by the wayside since little people have arrived and well, it makes me a little bit sad.
My darling little man is 4 today ( I know what you're thinking/! I look too young right?! Why thank you) Ha! But seriously now 4? 4 feels insanely grown up for a tiny little baby I had in arms, well, 4 short years ago.
My baby Alexander will be 1 next month and after hormone inducing broodiness through a lot of his first year (sure this is nature's way to help mothers bond with their babies and mostly because A is just so damn cute), I can say I no longer feel the urge to procreate (husband is no doubt wiping his brow as he reads this). You do read my blog don't you Pete? Come on, keep the stats up dude.
Yesterday my baby child turned 3! 3 whole, flipping years! It seems like yesterday I brought him home from hospital all tiny and sweet (now he asks me questions I can't answer like, "If lions can't talk, why can Raa-Raa, Mama?" Well Cbeebies, what have you got to say for yourself?
