My wonderful little Pixie.....A tribute to my daughter

This time 2 years ago, I was nervous.  I had spent the day in the park with your brothers Beansy and Boo riding bikes and playing in the leaves, just in case anything went wrong with my elective CS that I was having the next day.   I wanted to have had the best possible day with my special little men.

The 30th arrived and Daddy and I set off to the hospital in preparation to deliver you.  The fact that I was pregnant at all was quite literally a miracle, as I had been told my chances of conceiving naturally were less than 2% due to PCOS, Thyroid issues and a cancer scare.

You came into the World screaming, and weighed 6lbs 14oz.  A wee little tidgy pud compared to your brothers who were 8lbs14oz and 10lbs 1oz respectively.  The minute you were in my arms, you looked at me with those big baby blue's and my heart melted.   Everyone was smitten with you and your brothers were very impressed that you had bought them lightsabers.

That first night, after Daddy and the boys went home, I sat up all night staring at the wonder of you.  Your little baby breaths and sighs tied an invisible bond from my heart to yours and I knew that our family was complete.

Since then, you have delighted us all with your quirky ways and your funny little strops and I smile to myself as I see how you have those lovely brothers of yours at your beck and call.   Daddy would move heaven and earth for you - the bond you have warms my heart to it's core.

You make me want to be a better woman, a good, strong role model, someone that you are proud to call your mum.  You mean so much to me, and as I watch you blossom from a baby to a chatty little toddler, It amuses me as I start to see myself in you.  I look forward to a lifetime of being your mother and we are truly blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.

Love you so much little Pixie xxxxxxxx

Why I now LOVE half term!!!!

A few years ago, I had 3 children under the age of 5.  Not one of my better planned ideas, but then our little Pixie wasn't planned and was a real blessing from God as we had been told I wouldn't have any more children due to my having an underactive thyroid and PCOS, the fact I had 2 gorgeous boys was an absolute blessing.  Around this time, I had a cancer scare and on being given the all clear, we decided to book a once in a lifetime holiday to celebrate life, love and family.  We went to the Maldives and had the most amazing time - the fact it had an excellent kids club meant that DH and I had a bit too much time on our hands, and well, little Pixie was conceived.

We were thrilled, she really is a blessing and a delight to all who meet her.  However, going back to my original point, having 3 so close in age can be really hard going at times.  Before the boys were at school, I used to dread half term - it meant that the routine I had so carefully planned (toddler group/activity lead) went to pot as these places closed for the holidays. (Summer was even worse, but that's another blog!)  So, I quite literally was run ragged for the duration  of the holiday, trying to keep all of them amused, dealing with petty scraps yada yada.

Then something changed - DS1 went to school full time, followed by DS2 the year after and I then realised that my little men were growing up.  Not only that, they were growing up fast and that this time next year all 3 of my little terrors will be at school.   Now I don't know about anyone else, but I really, really miss the boys when they are at school so now that the holidays are here I am looking forward to spending some quality time with my little men - we have lots of lovely things planned, most of them free and I can't wait to delight in the joy of all of my children.

So, to all of you parents who have pre school age children, I just want to say make the most of this special time, because before you know it, they will be at school and you will be wondering whatever happened to those special baby years.

Here's my little Superheroes in action

What happened to my drinking boots??

Many a moon ago, I used to work in TV advertising.  It was a career I fell into after telling the careers advisor I "wanted to be in TV".  This was at a time when the Dani Behr fronted programme "The Word" was the epitome of cool and I wanted Dani Behr's job.   They somehow wangled me an interview at a Pan-European TV sports station and despite not knowing how to turn a computer on, I managed to blag my way into the job.  It was quite simply, the best move I could have done.

Whilst my friends were getting largered up at Uni's across the Country, I was swanning business class across Europe and dining in London's finest restaurants on never ending expense accounts.  I had a good thing going, I was earning a decent salary doing a job I loved and it seemed to love me as I progressed up the career ladder like a ferret up a pair of trousers - quickly.

We became known as the IPG's and several of us would stay out drinking to 4am - champagne, cocktails, shots, you name it, we would drink it.  We would then crash at someone's pad and get up and go to work the next day on nothing but a bacon sarnie and a builders cup of tea, feeling slightly jaded but ready to go out again in a few hours time.  I quite literally lived on champagne and canapes for a decade.

Since having the kids I have had to become more focussed on nutrition which I have embraced and the girl who lived on canapes is now not bad in the kitchen - I LOVE cooking from scratch and am self taught.  As anyone with children knows, hangovers and kids are not a good combination and so, for the last 7 years, I have gotten to the stage where I rarely drink.  

We probably share a bottle of wine a few times a week and I am usually tucked up in bed by 11pm (oh so rock and roll).  The thing I have noticed though is my tolerance to alcphol is absolutely pants.  I quite literally have 1 glass of wine and it goes to my head.  3 and I am legless....so, what I want to know is, do we all lose our drinking boots as we get older???

Please vote for an ex IPG here!

What ever happened to MY weekends?!

Ok, this is going to sound incredibly selfish but what on earth happened to my weekends?  You know the sort, a long lazy lie-in with the one you love, followed by a jaunt through the more eclectic areas of London, stopping for a long, alcoholic, lazy lunch whilst poring over Time Out trying to decide what to do or who to see?

Then a nice supper in front of a roaring fire before having a long, luxurious bath and maybe popping out to the cinema.  Or deciding on a Friday morning to go away for the weekend and that hurried scramble to find somewhere (I always loved Bath)

I tell you what happened - The Kids came along!!

Now, don't get me wrong, I adore my kids, they have made me such a better person and I wouldn't change anything, but by heck what I wouldn't give to have a time travel machine to be able to go back and appreciate what I had before my weekends were spent watching football, driving around here there and everywhere, the whole "routine" of being a parent.  I guess what I am trying to say is, will I ever get that spontaneity back in my life???