All posts tagged: #motherhood

Sanctimonious snack

I just gave my two year old a snack of homemade Greek yogurt, raw nuts, homemade stewed peaches (that we hand picked together as a family. Organic, obviously), chia seeds and cacao nibs. But now I don’t know whether to upload a photo to Instagram, or smack myself in the face really hard. I’m conflicted. It’s a very conflicting moment.

City Girls

Two little city girls went country for the weekend. Questions from Amy as we took a stroll in the fresh air: “Why is there so much poo everywhere? Why haven’t you brought your handbag, Mum? Is there a cafe at the farm? No? Then how do people get cupcakes? DID I JUST STEP IN POO?” Etc.

Family Dining

I love food, I really do. My husband likes to embellish the story of our first date, and say that I finished my dinner, then finished his, and if he’s really on a roll, he’ll say I licked the plate. Plate licking did not happen. I have some standards (for first dates). In reality I ordered an entrĆ©e, main and dessert, and finished them all with gusto – which apparently was quite a thing for a blonde in her early 20’s in the early 2000’s. We’ve tried to instil a healthy respect for food with our daughters, but have found eating at restaurants with two troublemakers can be a somewhat confronting experience. Cafes are pretty much fine, because there are tiny cups of frothy milk with marshmallows on the side to rip into, but dinner at restaurants is a whole different story. One family dinner outing ended prematurely when Amy sobbed hard about not wanting her food, and a newly mobile Tilly kicked the table so hard she knocked over my wine – it was …

Babies: The Great Unifier

(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 ā€œgrab 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 undoneā€ 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 ā€œvs.ā€ list was seemingly endless, and …