My cousin Bex recently posted on Facebook - 'Has anyone got any tips for looking after two small children?!' (She has just had her second bubba.) There was a comment from one of her friends that was gold, just GOLD. It was - 'You just have to lower your standards'.
Never has a truer word been spoken!
Living where we do, there is serious underlying pressure to always be well turned out. Kids spotless with good hair and designer jeans. Gleaming, perfectly accessorised buggies, yummy mummy's with no sign of baby weight. What is the secret? How do these people have time to blow dry their perfectly coiffed hair, let alone manage a shower in the morning? I find the whole thing exhausting and I am over it!
In my world I puree copious amounts of butternut and broccoli BUT who has time to poach and mince an organic chicken breast??? Not me. Sometimes I use jars.
Sometimes Max goes out with half a haircut because by the time he sits still, my 10 minute window to complete said haircut is gone and I am onto the next thing. So I follow him around the house for days afterwards with my scissors and cut a few offending tuffs whenever I can get him in a headlock!
As for myself, I count it a huge achievement if I manage to shave my legs once a week. I am also (just like Bex) multi-tasking my 'down time'. Facebooking, blogging, drinking coffee, reading snatches of my book all at once. NOT relaxing.
So I would like to say to Annabel Carmel, Gina Ford and their ilk.......I am doing my best. But sometimes I use jars. Sometimes I bribe Max with Kinder eggs. Sometimes Finn eats butternut three times a day (could be why he is getting a decidedly orange tinge.) Sometimes there are more clothes in the washing basket than in the cupboards.
But that is OK.
xxx