I went to CybHer this weekend and it rocked!  Thank you Sian and the CybHer lovelies Claire, Erica and Ryan and the rest of the team on the day for making it an amazing event.

There was lots of fabulous people, interesting workshops, many drinks and lots of cackling!  I’m still working through my thinking and formulating what that means for me, for Cheshire Mum and what my plan of action is.  What I have at the moment are loads of “soundbites” from the day – things I heard, overheard and said … recalling these make me smile, giggle and howl so here you go…

Did you say them?  Come on ‘fess up!  Did I say them to you?  What can you recall?  Do share…

The introduction of the silver recycling bins in our area have made me very aware of how much milk, apple and orange juice my family, by family I mean almost exclusively my children, drink!

I blogged before about some of our recycling creations making milk bottles into fabulous Elmer Elephants

Fruit juice cartons can be easily turned into fab bird feeders like this one.

This is another inspired craft creation that Diva G has brought home from pre-school, its currently residing in our backgarden.

Here’s the “how to” if you fancy making your own bird feeder:

1. Cut out the front and back of the carton so you can see through it
2. Stick lolly sticks to the top to make a “roof”
3. Paint the carton
4. Cut an X or a small hole on the other side of the roof to the spout
5. String a fat ball underneath the carton through the spout and the X you cut in the roof.

Bibi Lynch wrote an article Mothers, stop moaning which recently appeared in the Guardian. The synopsis is “Bibi Lynch is sick of women complaining that motherhood is hard when the pain of knowing she will never have children is so difficult to bear.”

In my opinion the article is a pretty bitter read. It highlights a fact I know personally only too well. The fact being that those without children just do not understand the challenges and emotions faced by those with children. Even those who’ve had their own, now left home children, struggle to remember & often can’t empathise with motherhood in the 21st Century. Frankly, they just don’t get it. This lack of understanding is exactly the same that those with children have of the challenges and the emotional roller coaster that is faced by those with infertility issues.

This mutual ignorance stifles communication and there lies spark. The spark that starts the fire that smoulders, then takes hold and becomes the inferno of resentment. Putting pressure, creating guilt, holding resentment and being angry towards mums and mums-to-be is simply not fair. I have felt all that and more, a palpable envy, at times an aggressive resentment for over five years since becoming pregnant with Lil’ H. The root cause in my opinion are medical advances and the expectations they elevate. Medical advances never cease to amaze but now the bar of expectation is set so high that conception and family are wrongly viewed as a given. The only population crisis in this world is one of over population, never has everyone been able to have children, technology can’t solve everything.

I am honoured to be a mummy to Lil’ H and Diva G. I believe children are a privilege not a right. Enjoy life. Enjoy the journey it takes you on, it might not be the one you thought you were getting but it’s yours. Don’t take time to resent those that have what you wanted, what you thought you would have. Make the most of it for what it is.

What do you think about the clash between motherhood and infertility? It’s a tough subject one I’d love to hear your thoughts on.

Image source: Pinterest

Has your child’s car seat ever ripped their clothes?

Mine has.  To date my Maxi Cosi Priori fix has claimed a coat of Lil H’s when he used the seat, the total of Diva G’s garments claimed as victims rose to four today.  Gutted doesn’t come close to how I felt when I lifted my 2yo daughter out of the car for a special event we attended this evening to hear a horrid ripping sound.  First time on in her Molo Poppy Dress and its ruined and beyond repair *.

I tweeted my frustration, and discovered I am not alone in my experience of wardrobe consuming car seat owners and we all appear to think it only happens to us…

Hmm, perhaps this isn’t user error after all, surely all parents are under pressure, getting kids in and out of cars is always a nightmare often stressful.  Surely the design should accommodate for that.  I don’t expect my kids car seat to destroy the clothes my children are wearing – that is their job!  So what is a mini fashionista to travel in these days?  I can’t afford to put my daughter in any extra ripping risk, she’s pretty good at that herself to be honest.

On Monday I will be making endeavours to contact Maxi Cosi to get their feedback on this.  Its far from an isolated case in this household but we are a household sample of one.  Although I gather from twitter I am not alone.  So, can you help and share this post?

Has your child’s car seat ever ripped their clothes?  If it has I’d like to know, raise your hand and leave me a comment below, and feel free to include the make and model.

* Luckily the lovely Abby from Juicy Tots had one in G’s size so I have a replacement on its way and this is why I had to have a replacement … I think my Diva G looks just gorgeous in it

My gorgeous daughter, Diva G, my second child, weighed 9lb 5oz when she was born 10 days after her due date. She arrived healthy and that was all that mattered. Although that’s not what people commented on, they commented on her size, almost without exception. I didn’t like it then but in the newborn fog of hormones I rolled with it.

Today I’ve seen tweeted the story of a baby girl born weighing 14lb 4oz “possibly Britains heaviest baby girl” well won’t she just love that article in her memory box? I then observed a “congratulatory” Facebook status about a new arrival declaring the newborn as “weighing a WHOPPING 8lb 13oz”.

Two and a bit years on from Diva G’s birth and I realise just how hurt and angry comments like these about baby weight made, and still do, make me. As a mother to a baby of above average weight they are hurtful. Inside they upset me and yes I cried. It feels like you’re under attack, people having a dig at your precious newborn baby and that’s not right. As a population are we condemning people to a life of dieting, calorie counting and angst? The newborns of today are still being charted on out of date growth charts created in the 1950′s and managed by the incompetent health visitors of the UK? The majority of babies by their second birthday have settled around the average mark anyway and as long as they are healthy and thriving a newborn babies weight really is of no commentary consequence. Certainly no business of anyones other than the baby’s parents.

A healthy newborn baby is all that matters. Newborn babies are tiny and helpless. No one would dream of commenting on the sex of a newborn or the colour of its skin, sexism and racism in the maternity arena remain as unacceptable as they are in the rest of society. But sizeism, that it appears is an open playing field. Newborn babies are beautiful, precious, gorgeous, cute, delightful, yummy, scrummy and delicious. They should never be referred to as massive, whopping, huge, giant, über, chunky, super-sized, “packing some ounces”, “like a 3 month old” – because they’re not.

I think it can be incredibly hurtful to say such things. They hurt my feelings. They really upset me at the time and when I stop to think about it they still do. I think such things are really very insensitive things to say. What say you?