The next chapter.

The parenting books attempt to prepare you for all that being responsible for a brand new human entails. They warn you about growth spurts, teething and sleepless nights.  They talk you through weaning, biting, tantrums and tears.  They then try to tell you that everything will work out and that your precious, vulnerable and often noisy tiny human will fill you with love from the moment they are placed in your exhausted arms.  And they do.  An unending and immeasurable amount of love.

 

What these books, experts and professionals forget to tell you about is that moment when your baby flies free.  That moment you realise they are ready to find their own way in this beautiful, scary life.  That moment ABBA starts singing inside your head and your baby is slipping through your fingers…  Damn you ABBA.  How do you cope with that?  How do you let go? I wish I knew.

 

All I know is that we have to, that these tiny humans are their own people.  May be once my youngest reaches this stage it’ll be easier.  I don’t think it will though.  We just need to reassure ourselves that we’ve done our best to equip them with the skills to grow, be happy and find their feet.

I love my children.  They’ll be good adults and in the meantime there’s gin to cope and tissues to dry tears…for all of us.

5 Minutes Peace (or one simple change).

I’m having my usual coffee and almond croissant before work.  It’s my time to stop, reflect and gather myself together before a busy day in customer service.  I used to go into work early to catch with all the little jobs I thought I should be doing so I didn’t let anyone down.  I also used to work through my lunch breaks as I told myself I needed to be hyper-productive.  Over the past few months I’ve been changing that.  I go for a walk at lunchtime, I take 20 minutes to myself in the morning and the overwhelming result of this simple chamge is that I’m (mostly) happier, calmer and ready for my working day.

 

What simple change can you make to improve your day to day life?  It doesn’t have to be a huge change at all, just a small adjustment that has a huge effect.  Think about the fluttering of butterfly wings…

I look forward to hearing about your changes!

Ali ?

London 3 times and a bikini

Oh hello ? It’s been a while… 3 years to be exact.  Is anyone still here? I keep meaning to blog but life just happens, lots happens!  I’m not going to go over the last 3 years. It will take too long and the past is in the past.  Today is more important and those four words are how I’m trying to live my life now (this is where the bikini comes in, keep reading).

Today I’ve got tired feet, a headache and a huge smile.  Today I drank cider in a park at a festival with special people. Today I feel grateful that I’m not going to London next weekend, 3 weekends in a row have been enough – Ed Sheeran, Foo Fighters and my son was in a show at Sadler’s Wells theatre last night.  Today I decided to blog again and today I bought a bikini.

Yep.  This bikini.

It may not fit and it’ll certainly show off my mummy tummy and squishy bits.  It’ll definitely show off the fact that my belly button isn’t central and that I’ve got one hip about 2 inches higher than the other and it will show off the fact that when I’m happy I eat! But when I find the confidence to wear it in the garden/at the beach I’ll know I’ve completely found the living for today attitude that I want to find.

? Ali