Stitch This

This is emphatically NOT a parenting blog – I leave that to others who know far more about that sort of thing and who can be bovvered to write about it. But I found a note on my hard drive the other day that I thought you might be interested in.

I wrote this little series of obesrvations On Parenthood for a good friend who was about to go on maternity leave for her (now first) baby. I’d just come back from having Elder. Let’s just say infanthood was a fresh experienc for me so these were all straight from the heart. I hope you enjoy!

“Embrace the chaos” or little nuggets you might find useful…

Everything is a phase

Live in the moment – maternity leave goes soooooooooo fast you won’t believe it

If you think it’s hard work, don’t worry everyone else does too! Find friends who will admit it and you’re laughing

The BBC World Service can be surprisingly interesting…

the Shipping Forecast less so

Feminism doesn’t help at 3am in the morning I’m afraid

Toast brought to you in bed in the morning is however, one of the nicest things in the world

Go with what works for you – pick and mix is the way to go when it comes to advice

Feel free to ignore everything on this page accordingly

Just think, no timesheets!

And no commuting!

Dry clean only is a past tense I’m afraid (if only for a while)

Nobody is superwoman, take all the offers of help you can get

Small babies are fabulously portable and don’t seem to mind sitting in coffee shops for hours…

so long as they get hugs…

and you have nappies!

Once they can roll over and/or sit up it all gets way more interesting

Ignore ANYONE who tells you how you should be feeling  – there’s no right answer – my group of NCT friends spanned from ecstatic to down in the dumps depending on who you talked to and what had happened that day – normal should be banned as a term when it comes to babies

Think about keeping a diary – I didn’t and I really wish I had

Normality WILL return, just a different version

http://www.sitters.co.uk should be available on the NHS – my favourite organisation!!!!

When I went off on maternity leave the fist time Mrs X told me that she was so jealous of the time I was about to have as it is completely irreplaceable and amazing – I couldn’t agree more.

Enjoy!