A husband’s view of paternity leave and returning to work
Going back a couple of generations, looking after the home and children was very much thought of as “women’s work”. However, with the rise of stay-at-home dads and dads seeming to be more hands-on in general, I wondered what my husband’s thoughts were. He’s wonderfully hands on with Autumn and has expressed in the past that he is worried about missing her doing different things like crawling and walking for the first time. I thought I’d do a little interview with him about his thoughts on paternity leave and working, leaving his baby at home.
Money saving tips for feeding the family
Feeding the family doesn’t have to be expensive or mean eating unhealthily. It can also be quick with the help of a microwave oven! I’ve previously written about some of the ways I like to save money when I’m in the supermarket. However, this time I’m focusing my money saving tips on feeding the family cheaply.
Tudor falconry at Dover Castle
On Saturday (9th September), Dave and I decided we’d visit Dover Castle with Autumn. Birds of prey, particularly owls, are one of my many interests. As such, I really wanted to go and watch their historic falconry displays. Whilst I’ve watched several displays before, this one is different as it looks at the historic elements of falconry. In this case, the focus was Tudor falconry.
How to choose the perfect baby name
Contains sponsored link¦ With a third royal baby on the way, baby names are a hot topic right now! Choosing your baby’s name is fun, but can also lead to some stressful moments! My husband and I didn’t do too badly, but I’ve heard of couples having full-blown arguments over choosing their unborn child’s name. Luckily, we only had a couple of minor disagreements.
My husband thought it was quite ridiculous at times where I sought baby name inspiration from. However, I think it’s good to take inspiration from all kinds of sources!
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Charity
Less than a year ago, I had a seriously ill child. I know first hand just how awful it is to be in that situation as a parent. You just feel so helpless. In many ways, I expect it’s worse when your child is older and actually aware of everything that’s going on.
I’d like to bring your attention to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and the amazing work that they do. They care for over 270,000 young people and their families each year, as well as carrying out important research. This research includes children’s medicines, infection, inflammation and oncology.
A letter to my daughter at 11 months
Dear Autumn,
How are we only a month away from your first birthday? It makes me sad to think that you’re already so close to being a toddler rather than a baby. You’ll always be my baby though, no matter how big you get! As sad as it is when you stop doing funny little things, there’s always a new thing to follow. It’s just part of a natural, healthy progression.
We’ve had lots of fun this month, this is what you’ve been up to…
Autumn’s Christening and how I planned it
On the first Sunday of August, we finally had Autumn christened! When I was pregnant, I thought I’d have her christening in the first 6 months. However, if you’ve been following our story, you’ll know that things didn’t quite go as we thought they would in the first few weeks of Autumn’s life. It took a long time for me to recover, so the stress of a social event was not something that was on the cards for quite some time.
However, in her 10th month, the time finally came. I had so much fun planning it all, although it was quite stressful! I planned it all in the space of about two weeks. I’m usually far more organised than that, but after a bereavement last month, the christening kind of sneaked up on us.
Love: My thoughts on it at 16 years old
What is love? It sure is something the world could do with some more of right now. I was recently going through some things on my bookshelf, when I found something I’d written when I was 16. Dated the 8th of October, I had a vague recollection of writing it in 2008, when I’d been dating my husband for almost a month. Although I’d previously had a blog, I didn’t have one at the time. Really, it kind of is a blog post, but written on paper.
One of my best friends had asked me what love was, when I told her that I loved my boyfriend. She told me that she didn’t believe what I had was love, as I was only a teenager. She used examples of old couples where one has dementia and the other takes care of them as true love. While I believe that love gets stronger over time, I truly believed that what I felt at that time was love. The fact that I have now been happy with Dave for 9 years hopefully reflects that! After having the discussion we had over MSN messenger, I felt like I wanted to write about it. When I found this letter, it was interesting looking back and reflecting on my teenage thoughts about love.
Medway Council are keeping 13 Children’s Centres open…
I’ve previously written about Medway Council’s closure of Sure Start Children’s Centres. The consultation period is over and there has now been a new proposal, as announced last week.
The new proposal means that 13 of the 19 children’s centres will remain open, but the services offered in some of them will be different.
Aldi Baby & Toddler Event – put this in your diary!
Okay, ‘fess up. Who else loves a good Aldi Baby and Toddler Event? I think I’ve only missed one since I found out I was pregnant with Autumn. I’d been planning to go, but I was kind of busy giving birth that morning!
The next one is tomorrow, Thursday 17th August 2017, so don’t miss out! There are lots of brilliant specialbuys for little ones, including some that I haven’t seen in my 18 months or so of attending them.
