We could have had it all

To return to my opinions, "Having it all", and the associated checklist is something that I loathe. The pressure it puts on women is ridiculous. I say women, because it seems to primarily describe the lives of women, rather than considering whether men can have it all, (or assumes they are already?) but I'll return to that. 

Billie Piper and her son

"Having it all" seems to be something along the lines of having a career (but not just any career, something BIG, IMPRESSIVE); having a partner (but not just any partner...); having a family (but not... you probably get it now); maybe even having good looks and a good sex life to boot. Woweee. It's there for us to see whenever any, some may say (and I am one of them most of the time), poor celebrity women get pregnant - the pressure is on to tick those boxes. To quote Emma Thompson, "Having it all is a revolting concept".

Same but different

I've been writing a lot of blogs lately. I suppose they're like buses - thoughts, ideas and opportunities to write come along at differing frequencies. Last week, my husband was away with work. It left me with time to think and write in the evenings - I've also been encouraged to do this because of there being very little else to do (TV is a load of rubbish mostly and housework is only a partial priority, unless there is a mouse-on-the-carpet emergency or something). 

Major U-turn

" Your baby will get through up to 5,000 nappies before she is potty trained, so getting the right nappy for your baby is a must. "

Well, we're nearly there now. After throwing so many nappies in the bin since March (see old blog, Major Bummer), I contacted a nappy advisor through the fill your pants site, who have region-based advisors (mine's from Nottingham, Heather Rai). She suggested that I first freshen up the old nappies to improve absorbency, in case they've got clogged with detergent, nappy creams etc. You do this by strip washing, using washing up liquid or dishwasher tablets, see bumgenius site for more instructions.


I spent early this week washing them through and have been testing them on our 24 month-old for the last four days.

The Dettol vs. The Dirt

Sometimes I think that other people must think that my house and my child (and me) are dirty, because I really don't clean up her or the house as much as I could, e.g., I don't always wipe Abigail's face/hands, thinking bathtime will sort her out. Although I instinctively think that I'm ok to be relaxed about this, I thought it'd be worth investigating for my own peace of mind: I can either be defiantly dirty in my parenting or clean things up a bit. 

A bit less serious - Films

Continuing on from my excuse to mention Baby Boom previously, I thought I'd list some more - couldn't quite round it to ten, so my top 12 - in no particular order:

No use handing me a writ -- While I’m trying to do my bit

Following on from KT's comment about "There is enough guilt attached to motherhood already!", I wanted to mention a valuable chat I had recently. I met up with a friend a few weeks' ago now and we caught up on how things were going - since meeting up regularly since having our babies a few weeks apart, it has been harder to meet up since we returned to work. Last time we met was Halloween 2010!

Baby Boom - I love this film

We talked about the differences, but also similarities in how we are doing. She's a high flying accounts executive person, working really hard to squeeze in her work to a four day week, keeping up with what's expected of her position and salary. Yes, she can afford to have a cleaner, someone to do the ironing, has company BMW and the lifestyle choices that come with it.

Factors affecting feeding decisions

Breastfeeding by Picasso

Following on from my earlier blog, where recent articles highlighted the problems of low levels of breastfeeding in developed and developing nations, in addition to the main problem - parents being affected by myths and misinformation about breastfeeding - a further seven influencers will now be discussed.