The lovely Miffy Welsh shared some of her early childhood education insights with me for Little Treasures Magazine earlier this year. I’m having to take a re-read of it myself after hitting a preschool-drop-off-wobbles hurdle this morning! Unsurprisingly, I often fall into the “hanging around talking to other parents” category, and must remember that drop off is about my daughter, not about me seizing an opportunity to talk with Other Actual Adults.
Just as I was considering asking for a vasectomy-reversal for Valentine’s Day, I got sucker-punched by an unexpected hangover (due to a miscalculation of food-to-wine ratios) and was instantly reminded how hideous morning sickness was. #NoReversalNecessary #ChocolatesInsteadPlease #TheNiceOnes
(Published in the December ’15/January ’16 edition of Little Treasures Magazine. This is an extended version of the published article) When I was pregnant, a colleague told me in sage tones that having a baby was the most competitive activity she’d ever gotten herself into. The alarming tales she told of coffee group bake-offs and veiled queries about whose baby was first to smile/roll over/talk/play the violin certainly took my mind off my swollen ankles. Fortunately, the two local mother groups I fell into (via antenatal classes and a Plunket PEPE course) were more of the “grab a packet of biscuits on the way and let’s have a laugh about how many times this week we’ve opened the front door to visitors with our maternity bras undone” variety. Nevertheless, via an increased consumption of social media, my eyes were opened to the battleground that is motherhood. Natural birth vs. c-section. Breast feeding vs. formula. Co-sleeping vs. own bed. Vaccinators vs. anti vaxers. Cry it out vs. rock to sleep. The “vs.” list was seemingly endless, and …
The IVF three years ago didn’t work, but the insulated bag the fertility clinic gave me all the drugs in is totally awesome for taking to the beach. #TheTwelveThousandDollarCooler
(Originally published in the October/November 2015 edition of Little Treasures Magazine) I always imagined myself having two kids one day. Girls, boys, one of each…that never bothered me, but I really wanted two. For a while, it looked like we might struggle to even have one, and the day I saw two blue lines appearing on a white stick remains one of the happiest of my life. My husband was a somewhat reluctant father-to-be – he was massively supportive, but I’d catch him gazing at my rapidly growing belly with a mix of what can only be described as abject terror. That all changed the second Amy was born, at which point he became The Only Man To Have Ever Become A Father, our daughter was The Most Amazing Child In The World, Ever, and he practically signed up for a second baby on the spot. Given the struggles we had getting pregnant with Amy, we got back on the baby bandwagon (almost) immediately. Surgeries for endometriosis followed, as did failed attempts at IVF, and …
Thrilled to have two pieces in the latest edition of Little Treasures Magazine! My regular column is about how if you stop paying attention to all the “Mummy Wars!”carry-on you can discover what amazing little unifiers babies are. The other piece is a gorgeous double-pager featuring a lovely family I’ve had the pleasure of meeting through UpsideDowns (the charity I work with that provides access to speech therapy for children with Down Syndrome).
My column in the latest issue of Little Treasures Magazine: Jeremy desperately wants to get himself “fixed”, while I have a big fat panic that I’m not finished having babies yet. Mildly passive-aggressive marital conversations ensue. A boozy dinner with girlfriends is had to thrash out pros and cons. Decisions are made… Or are they?
(Originally published in the July/August issue of NZ Little Treasures Magazine) When you’re heavily pregnant, the topic of sleep is a hot one, possibly second only to nightmarish birth tales. Friends and strangers alike revel in sharing sleep advice, horror stories, and confirming that You Will Never Sleep Again. “Sleep now, while you can!” people would crow at me when I was pregnant the first time – which was incredibly unhelpful as I had pregnancy-induced insomnia. “Congratulations! Hope you get some sleep soon!” seemed to be the most frequent comment when we announced the birth of our children. My Mum vows I slept through the night from four weeks, but I’m pretty sure she made that up to ensure I’d give her multiple grandchildren. Amy was actually pretty good, as far as newborn sleepers go. She gifted me fairly long stretches of sleep during the night, and would resettle quickly. Daytime sleeps were a different story, but I didn’t mind holding her or taking her for walks to get her to drift off. I thought …
The baby is losing the plot because she wants to “cuggle” every “moo-moo” we pass. Our four-hour road trip through Waikato farmland should just fly by.
Before I had my two girls, I spent over ten years working for advertising agencies. I wanted to work in the industry after hearing stories about agencies in the hey-day 80’s. Expecting it to be all long lunches, colourful characters, and big-budget ads where I’d get to fly to exotic locations, I was somewhat disappointed by the reality of post-80’s agency life, but I did meet some amazing people, do some interesting work, suffered some rip-snorting hangovers, and made some of the best friends I’ve ever had. I worked in account service, which meant I spent my time trying to please the clients, the creative department, the studio team and the accountants. Generally you can only please one to three parties on that list during any given project. Every now and then the heavens smile and you please everyone. Other times they all want to put a hex on you. Sometimes motherhood is really, really different to working in an ad agency. Other times it’s achingly similar. (FYI if you’re one of my past clients …
McPikelets 