The big C

So, the C-section debate rages on. This week the nice people at NICE (who we secretely suspect are anything but nice) have decided that ladies can choose whether to have their babies through the sunroof if they so wish.

One half of Trashmummy had an involuntary crash C-section and the other desperately tried to get the docs to agree to one, almost succeeded but failed at the last post as TTboy had other plans.

The thing that amazes us is that after all this time women have only finally been given the choice.  Heaven knows that in an ideal world we would all birth like the lady in the educational “where babies come from” film at school  – TM to this day remembers how calmly she told her bearded husband half way through cooking dinner that “the baby was coming”. They then calmly walked up stairs, a vision in corduroy, the lady lifted her floral smock top and with one slight grimace out came baby! Fab. However in real life, or maybe in this generation birthing doesn’t seem so easy.

TTGirl was a stubborn 16 days overdue by the time she was forced out and 16 hours after being initially induced TM was put on the Synto and all hell broke loose.  TTGirl did not like being told what to do even in situ and after a rather bizarre few hours of drugs / panic buttons being pressed and Trashdaddy being put off MacDonald’s for life TM agreed to a C-Section - we were both exhausted and distressed.  Off we went to theatre and before the Docs could link up the Spinal TTG had an almighty tantrum, her little heart rate plummeted and TM woke up an hour later thinking I had been to Marrakech. Thankfully we both were fine – although it took Trashdaddy a long time to get over the thought that one or both of us hadn’t made it.

In retrospect of the whole situation TM has concluded that we should have opted for a C-section after the glug of Synto went in. TTG did not like it and TM knew this. Asking for a C-section was running through my head all along.  I was very much against having a C-section - we had booked to go to a wedding in Spain in 4 weeks time!! I did not want to be laid up not being able to look after my baby. Plus C-section scars are pain in the front bottom. They look like a lop-sided smile and cause no end of maintenance issues. HOWEVER the idea of a surgeon having to test any future baby’s blood for oxygen while only 3cm dilated will ring massive ALARM BELLS. A choice should have been given – our main aim should really to get baby out safely and for mum to be able to ask how this is achieved.  Hopefully now it will not come just down to statistics and if there is a next time TM will request a C-section before due date – I would rather be awake and see my baby born than risk another drama birth and miss it.

Tags: bbc news, c-section, new baby, NICE

Sometimes, just sometimes….

being a Trasmummy can lead you to discovering good and great things.

Pre-tots TM was seasoned traveller and thought nothing of jetting off with just a carry-on and a credit card. We also both lived in London where it was possible to buy provisions after 8pm in the evening.  Needless to say this left us in many of a situation where our skills of survival were challenged to the max.  Once, when half way through a a bike ride TM realised no  nappies had been packed and we were 5 miles from the the nearest shop – a covert plan was hatched and TM ran undercover through the back door of a posh gatro pub with TT in outstretched arm, rinsed pooey bottom under the taps, stole 3 cloth napkins and made rather fab makeshift nappy. Bear Grylls eat your heart out!

This week our general unpreparedness and poor planning led us to the door of Argos in search of an emergency buggy.  It is true that most parents wouldnt forget such an imporant and essential peice of kit when heading out for the day but, a switch of cars and desision to take the tots on a train (for fun – if not stressful day out) mean’t that TM found herself in Guildford sans wheels.

So, Argos is was – cheapest buggy option”out of stock”so TM plumped for the next in line.  The MAMU HOP- £32.99.

And…. its freaking, blinking fabulous.  I mean properly, amazingly great!

If your buggy is on its last legs after clocking up more air miles than Len Goodman or are trying to keep it from getting smashed up by baggage handlers go buy a MAMU HOP.

TM has road and field tested it and it can even go through mud and TM’s pet hate of autumn – wet leaves.  It also looks pretty cool and for near-on £30 bones you cannot possibly go wrong.

Letter to Grazia magazine ….

Reading Grazia last week I was not surprised to see another article talking about motherhood. This week it was the turn of the mum who didn’t like motherhood but loved her child. Whilst reading the article I was getting more and angrier with Grazia. It seemed like they were on a mission with all there articles of late to create a very negative image of having children, being married or having a boyfriend !Finishing the article I was still slightly seething at the women but was somehow reminded of the person I used to be 6 months ago . You see her story was not dissimilar to mine back then.

I live in a town about an hour fromLondonwhere I work. Pre Tot I would be getting the 7am train everyday and not coming home until 8pm every night! Weekends would be spent either at my sisters then Hackney pad or going to various other friends houses dotted aroundLondon. I didn’t ever really spend anytime in the town I lived and had no friends where I lived. Then I got pregnant.  As I got more pregnant my mother in law would try to politely give me details of mummy groups happening in the area these were always met with a polite dismissal and a reply something along the lines of  ”I don’t need to do anything like that! Going to a mummy group in a church hall or any hall sounds like my idea of hell!”

So I joined the NCT, a friend who had already had kids was always going on about her NCT friends 5 years later. So I thought ok let’s do it, this will keep the mother in law happy and  reassure her  in the knowledge that I will know other people in the town  I also thought I could probably do with meeting a few like-minded people seen as I’m going to be hanging around this town quite a bit more.

So jump forward to NCT classes & I’m sitting in a living room with 3 other couples talking about babies and pregnancies feeling very uncomfortable & not enjoying it much.  Hubby had sacrificed Wednesday evening TV football to attend on more than one occasion because that’s what you were supposed to do wasn’t it?  As the weeks went on we persevered – but everything about it annoyed me , the teacher , the  swapping notes and comparisons about pregnancies and its woes  with people I hardly knew the time – every Wednesday evening ( was I the only one who just wanted to go to bed after work ?)  . I just felt very uncomfortable with it all.  As the weeks to due date grew nearer the big black cloud of crappy realisation hit me that this was going to be my life from now on. Don’t get me wrong – I had nothing against the people in the group it just wasn’t what I expected. But in all honesty I’m not sure I knew what to expect.

So maternity leave came and so did the waves of coffee mornings and play dates. It  was an alien world to me(still is) here I was with my brand new tot (who happened to have severe reflux)  with people I didn’t really  know that well trying to make small talking about babies and all that comes with it . I tried many times to embrace the mummy conversation, I did well initially but I longed for a conversation about what Cheryl was wearing on X Factor, I yearned to talk about heat mag and gossip, and to talk about past memories of going out and rolling in off my face at 6am on a Saturday morning, my work anything but babies!!  Instead it was more like how many times does tot sleep?  When to start weaning? Is tot doing this is tot doing that? Let’s go to rhyme time?  At first I did enjoy it and did want to and needed to know these things but not all the time.  My saviours at the time was my only other friend who lived in the next town (who I met when I was pregnant and was an old friend of the husbands & I got on with (still do) really well and my close friend who lived in Brixton - both had also just had tots and so I would spend a lot of my time with them or with family also in London. Anything to avoid the play dates in village halls and coffee in starbucks. Looking back I think because I knew I was going back to work I thought to myself  its ok you will be back to your old life soon and things can/will  go back to normal I was actually looking forward to going back to work.  After 10 months I went back to work, things were anything but normal. I was more shattered than I could imagine physically and emotionally. I didn’t have time for anything. My unrealistic idea of going out after work to catch up with friends & get some of my old life back  was bloody impossible when I had been up half the night and at  work most of the day  all of the week!

I had one day off a week where I would go to rhyme time and meet up with people, this time I just felt even more uncomfortable with it. I really did begin to hate being a mum! Things did ease up a bit when I became friendlier with one of the other mum’s in the group – we started meeting up. I started to feel like I could be a bit more myself but I still needed more of my old life back or something similar. I would frequently have conversations with the husband about needing to move away, hating it here having no life etc. I really didn’t enjoy the mummy part of being a mum.

Six months ago and after one too many middle of the night divorce talks and hysterical calls to my best friend I decided enough was enough. I had to do something about it. So I did - I made friend. A  friend on the train at 7am on my way  to work who I knew  had a tot at the same nursery as me, this meeting   changed my outlook on everything. My love for the town I lived in was restored, my love for being a mummy returned with great abundance so much so that with my new friend we came up with Trashmummy.  I was happy motivated and confident I had stopped asking husband to move to London, Ive met other mums from the nursery, I’ve gate crashed on other Trashmummys friends (thanks TM) who have now become good friends of mine.  I can honestly say this has saved my sanity, and probably my marriage. I’ve come to realise that there is more to being  a mummy than sitting on a library floor singing nursery rhymes or discussing Annabel  karmel recipes.  For some I realise that this is part and parcel of being a mummy but it isn’t for me.

What I’m trying to say for anyone reading this is and to Grazia magazine is that being a mum, be it a working mum or stay at home mum is really hard work. We don’t need to put added pressure on ourselves by following a stereotype I did &  it made me very unhappy. You just need to be yourself and do what makes you happy. It’s taken  me almost 2 years  to finally be able to say this has now become my home and not just the town I live in.

Dont go anywhere …. were coming back .

Sorry weve not been around the last couple of weeks .

 We promise we will be back soon.

Dont go away .

Trashmummy

x

Weekly Trash – Halloween Special

Ok, so this mummy really is yummy ( and the one who getting into the halloween spirit) but there is no denying that Gav is a sexy Daddy.

Mothering need not get in the way of witching, ghouling and being seriously disirerable….well least it didnt in the 60′s!!

Halloween has always been a bit of a subdued even on these shores whereas on the other side of the pond it is BIG BUSINESS. Here are a some of the cute, lovely and scary Halloween products from the States and beyond. Halloween will be huge here soon…mark our words!

Too cute costumes

Target.com

El Dia De Los Muertos

The Catholic celebration is a lot more colourful in Mexico…as is most things. Cafepress.co.uk have an amazing collection from Baby Bibs to Mugs and iPhone covers in the beautiful, macabre Mexican Day of the Dead style.

cafepress.co.uk

  

Children love monsters. FACT. Trashtot Girl actually wants to buy a monster. Unfortunately we do not have room for one in our house so she will just have to do with reading about them.

Where the Wild Things Are

If you have not happened across this book yet go buy it. Monsters are not scary…well, they are not as scary as TrashTots!!!

Available at amazon and most bookshops – £5.99

Trashmummy finds there is actually nothing more freaky than a small child in a mini suit at a wedding. While this would make for a very good Halloween outfit the latest collection from Stardustkids.co.uk is much a much more sensible option as they can wear it again and again.

www.stardustkids.co.uk

This next one has absolutely nothing to do with Halloween but we had to share our find with you. TESCO CLOTHES.

We know what you’re thinking – you go there on a promise of some amazing top you’ve seen in a magazine, you get excited about the very thought of being near some type of clothing only to find it is all nylon / cotton mix shumpers and bad chunky knits with synthetic fur round the colour. Well, look at this:-

and as for the bags, well!

All available online at Tesco.com

Halloween places to go…

bocketts farm

Wizards and Witches Week
Bocketts Farm
Young St, Fetcham, Leatherhead 01372 363764
There will be plenty of pumpkins, spooky fun and creepy crafts! You can also meet and feed the friendly farm animals including a gorgeous litter of micro piglets and enjoy a full programme of daily activities, including tractor rides, pony rides, animal handling, goat milking and the famous pig races! Adult £8.50, child (3-17) £8.50, child 2yrs £6.95, under 2s free

Tulleys farm

With attractions such as Creepy Cottage and Boo Barn who can resist!

Hours: Mon-Sun 9:00am-6:00pmTurners Hill Road
Turners Hill, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 4PE
01342 718 472

Chessington World of Adventure

Under 5′s go free with one paying adult for certain weekdays (limited days and number of free tickets available online only)

This Friday and weekdays until next Thursday 1x adult and 1x tot for just £13.50.

Check website for offers each week.

If you havent been GO. For £13 you get rides and a Zoo trip.  There are lots of things for toddlers to do (bubble house is fab) and you pretty much get the park to yourselves.

Polseden Lacey

Visit the witch’s lair and accept her challenge if you dare!

Normal admission prices

Opening Times

Spooky Halloween Trail (22/10/2011 – 30/10/2011)
Day	Times
Monday	10:00	16:00
Tuesday	10:00	16:00
Wednesday	10:00	16:00
Thursday	10:00	16:00
Friday	10:00	16:00
Saturday	10:00	16:00
Sunday	10:00	16:00

Back in the day…waaaayy before Edward Cullen and Co came on the scene THE vampire movie of Trashmummy’s lust was Lost Boys. We know you have probably seen it a thousand times (if you haven’t then go WATCH IT) but still…it’s Halloween and TM has an excuse to sing “Craaaaayyy little sister….”

Trashmummy is a mummy of simple desires….one of them being EMMA BRIDGEWATER …..it is actually quite worrying just how exciting looking at these ceramics is for us. (Trashdaddy’s BIG HINT)

Trashmummy doesnt really need to make much effort this halloween as generally everyday carries off the “death-warmed-up” look. Although not or much longer as we have discovered a trade secret….Make Believe Tan and with that has also discovered our fave new word “low-glow”…plus tis’ whats the celebs use you know..!!

SIX OF THE BEST FACE TANNERS
Get a perfectly golden radiant glow for summer with these tried-and-tested balmy skin gels and creams
says KATE YOUNG

makebelieve winter glow
GOOD FOR….. Replacing your overnight moisturiser. If the smell (think banana and mango) doesn’t transport you to a tropical beach, then your early-morning sun-kissed skin will. Unlike some tanning companies, makebelieve takes its skincare seriously: this product combines the ant-aging element CoQ10 (one of the most effective antioxidants around) with firming ingredients and skin-softening oils

Available at House of Fraser

Tags: addamsfamily, bewitched, bockettsfarm, cafepress.co.uk, chesstington, emmabridgewater, gwenstefani, makebelievefaketan, muntsers, polsedenlacey, stardustkids.co.uk, target, tescos, tulleysfarm, wherethewildthingsare

Party Politics!

A couple of years ago the kind of parties that trashmummy would get invited to were those that started late into the night and finished early the next day. They would involve the mother of all hangovers the next morning, and then finally when you’ve plucked up the courage you begin looking at photos on facebook with you face behind your hand cringing at what you got up to. Nowadays it’s a different kind of party invite that’s dropping in your in- box/post box and shock horror it’s not for us it’s for our tots! It has come to our attention that the parties have stopped for us and that our tots are having much better social life’s than us.

So these party invites got us thinking….. It was lovely to be invited to (opps sorry) for the tots to be invited to birthday parties.  Receiving the invite your first thoughts are that of pride that your tot has made the guestlist , this then  slowly changes to relief that your tot isn’t an outcast ( see bite me post) and actually  has friends then finally a ohh shit what gift am I going to get ? Is there gift etiquette? Is there even a birthday gift list? And I wonder who else is going?  You may think that these are all ridiculous questions to be asking but these kinds of parties are not  Trashmummy’s  forte so of course we had no idea.  Upon talking to the mum of aforementioned party invite it appears that  it’s not just the invitee asking the questions it’s also the person doing the inviting and organising of the party that frequently asks questions! Its seems there is a lot to consider when planning the toddler party, planning so spectacular that it feels like your 4th full-time job right  behind bringing up tot, being married and going to work ! So back to party planning toddler style. So as we said there’s a lot to consider prior to your tots big celebration. The first and probably the most important are to party or not to party?
If its party youve opted for  then you have to commit yourself to the stresses and woes of organising said party for what seems very little reward. Yes there’s the presents at the end   (not yours I might add) , there’s the joy of seeing your child playing around with all their friends oh but sadly you’re not able to witness that because of running around like a headless chicken checking everyone is ok, and finally just when you’ve said goodbye to the last child , put your tot to bed and poured a gin and sat on the sofa you realise that you now have the lovely task of working out who got what ( the gift tags  all got lost in the opening of presents in an excitable yet slightly disorganised manner) and who to send the thank you cards .

 Parties for tots come in all different guises, you have the “at home” party which makes even the most chilled of trashmummy’s feel anxious and slightly sick at the thought of having to entertain tots at a birthday party in your home,attempt to bake a Mr Tumbles/Buzz/Thomas birthday cake  ,blow up lots of balloons only to realise that this year it’s all about the bunting and then panic that the food your served wasn’t homemade or baked by Annabel ’frigging’ Karmel. In the days of when we were tots parties were always at home and consisted of a hedgehog birthday cake (baked by mum) cheese and pineapple on a stick hedgehog (a melon wrapped in foil with lots of cheese and pineapples on stick, some sausage rolls and a few vol- u -vants (mums didn’t just love- they lived in Bejams in the 80’s ,now known as Iceland.) To get away with a tot party like this nowadays it would have to be known as the retro party to make it sound cool instead of cheesy.

Next you have the themed restaurant party – this is great as no clearing up to do , no cooking to do ( or in our case sticking some sausage rolls in the oven) But and it’s a very big but …… its expensive ! We opted for this kind of birthday celebration last year and offered to pay for the tots to eat thinking they’re only tots they won’t want much, they will be too excited to eat! Wrong how could we have been so wrong? They ate like horses and then spent a lot of the time not wanting to sit at a table. Never again until tot hits 10!

Finally you have the ‘let someone else  organise a  party’ party.  This can be at a soft play area, a farm, a zoo or even a circus. In fact if have the money you can have  it pretty much anywhere you like! Both tots have been to parties at soft play and I must say they do put on a great party.  But If you think that you can sit there and catch up with friends at these types of parties then think again… you will be doing what feels like a Davina workout and will need to have the expert ear equivalent to Sir David Attenborough in the jungle to work out who’s screaming /crying and where their location is  in the soft play area!

Trashmummy has decided to opt out of the party  this year deciding that flying to Spain on trashtots birthday was a much better idea. The other trashmummy up until 5 days before tots birthday wasn’t having any kind of celebration at all but then relented slightly and invited 5 of his tot friends over after nursery for a happy birthday sing-song and a birthday cake which  in true trashmummy form  was a cake bought from Sainsbury in the style of a caterpillar!

Links -

Day out with the kids website – Nationwide

http://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/index.php

Brocketts Farms Surrey

http://www.bockettsfarm.co.uk/catered_parties.php

 Little Kickers football parties – Nationwide

http://www.littlekickers.co.uk

Leatherhead Softplay

http://www.fusion-lifestyle.com/centres/Leatherhead_Leisure_Centre/activity/children_s_parties

Tags: Brocketts farm, dayoutwiththekids.co.uk, Leatherhead softplay, Mr Tumbles, mummys, parents, party.toddler, Sainsbury, tot

Weekly Trash

We may not be yummy but he sure is ….

Ok so he isn’t exactly a trashdaddy but after seeing him in Stupid Crazy Love a certain Trashmummy just couldn’t resist & lucky for us Ryan Gosling is currently in 3 movies !

1.  Crazy Stupid Love – RomCom with Steve Carrell and Julianne Moore . Trashmummy has seen this movie and highly recommends .
2. Drive – Slightly more high brow film with Carey Mulligan . Trashmummy has not seen this film but has been informed by those that know me that  this film is bit too high brow for me !
3. Ides of March – political thriller with 2 yummy’s Ryan Gosling & George Clooney

Other Trashmummy here – this is clearly flouting of the rules Ryan has been on here before and he is not  a DADDY but it appears its love and so gratuitous shirt-of pic it is…Therefore if you cannot beat them join them…here’s the other Ryan!

 its hard to believe that Christmas is only 8 weeks away when writing this in 30 degrees heat and sunshine but Trashmummy has  already gone and got themselves there first christmas decoration , a lovely wooden nativity set . Trashmummy remembers having one of these as a tot  then looking forward to when we could get the nativity set out year after year . So hoping this trashtot is going to get as excited for many years to come  .

 £22.00 from Amazon.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Jigs-Bigjigs-Nativity-Set/dp/B002PDKJO2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1317574630&sr=8-2

 Hands up whose ever had felt like they do everything in the house , have had periods of shaking head in despair and felt like the only place left to go is divorceville ( those 2am,3am and 5 am wake ups!) .  Well sigh no more  let The Wheel of responsibility decide for you  - Just spin the wheel and let fate decide whose turn it is to get up with tot , cook the dinner and wash up .

£9.50 from www.mygiftworld.co.uk

Will look great in any Kitchen . Even better is the fact that this also available as an app for 69p from apple . To download onto your phone go to baby wheel of responsibility . Nows there’s no excuse.

 Trashmummy is a sucker for any product that mentions words such as radiance , and boosting . Times are hard and one half of TM has been convinced by the other TM to switch from Dermalogica products to the Benefits Make up Radiance skincare range. Half the price but with the same end results. It didn’t take much convincing having being an avid user of their make up range I was willing to give it a go and I’m glad I did .

Foamingly clean facial wash

 £16.50

This 1-step facial wash effectively cleanses the skin & removes makeup & impurities with a soft, gentle lather. Formulated for all skin types.

Refined finish facial polish

£17.50

Dull skin from daily stress? Refined finish facial polish beautifully brightens the complexion, gently exfoliating to purify the skin & help minimize the appearance of pores to reveal skin’s natural radiance.

Ultra radiance facial re-hydrating mist

£19.50

Even the brightest complexions need a quick pick-me-up now & then. Ultra radiance facial re-hydrating mist instantly enhances radiance  What else you need to know:Relaxes & soothes skin with magnesium PCA & white & blue lotus extracts, known to help skin combat stress. A must for any tired out trashmummy’s .

Ever been stuck with something to do with the tots, fancy doing something different or in a different area ? This great website does the job of finding somewhere for you . Just click on your age group , choose indoor or outdoor activity and then go to a point on the map . Then wait for Day out with the kids to find you a list of places to go . It’s here were discovered Drusillas Park ( brilliant well worth a look) , and also where we discovered the price of Legoland … who knew it was soooo expensive !

http://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/index.php

If your trashtots are anything like ours then trying to get out the bath can be a bit of a nightmare. Then check out these rather cool bathmats from cuddledry. These supersoft bathmats, available in deep lilac or aqua, change colour with body heat – neon pink or yellow footprints appear like magic when hot little feet, fresh from the bath, land on the mat!

£19.99

http://www.cuddledry.com/shop/25/40/new-amazing-cuddlemat-magic-colour-change

Holly Willoughby returns to work after five months maternity leave ….in the words of TOWIE we’re Well Jel ….. why can’t we look like this when we are going to work !

Holly was returning to work for the first time after giving birth to her daughter Belle in April. The presenter had tweeted that she was feeling apprehensive after the five-month break. Tweeting that  ‘The weirdest thing is going to be getting ready, forgotten what my face looks like with tv slap”

I bet Holly doesn’t go to work with the sale sticker and size strip still stuck to her top for all to see!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2032341/Holly-Willoughby-returns-work-Celebrity-Juice-5-months-maternity-leave.html#ixzz1ZqdbPUbK

So one half of trashmummy has decided to go on a carb free diet.

Its day 2 and just like Cam in modern family were defiantly not charming party guest  !

http://www.trailercodes.com/tv/modern-family–phil-on-wire-2/cam-goes-through-the-stages

  Trashmummy  presents … cool christmas presents.

These fab books make ideal christmas presents - Make reading time special with these personalised books ranging from £10-15.00 your tot can be of their own story .

http://www.buyagift.co.uk/Unique-Gifts/Disney-Princess-Personalised-Book-BR-1126947.aspx

OMG!!!!

Jodie Marsh likes to shock  ! If shes not wearing a belt as a dress or coming out as a lesbian ( lasted all of 5 mins!) shes at some party with her tits hanging out declaring her undying love to some poor sucker but this time she turned her self into Jodie Marsh the body builder !!! 

…

Im not sure whats worse the muscles or the fake tan !!

_

Tags: Amazon, Benefits make-up, cuddledry, dailymail.co.uk, Holly Willoughby, Jodie Marsh, Modern Family, Ryan Gosling, TOWIE

Trashmummy Loves…… being a mummy!

Trashmummy just loves a magazine – Grazia, Heat or Style – they all get read but just lately we have been a bit peed at the “mummy bashing” articles that seem to be appearing weekly. Articles about women not wanting it all, about women who are sad no-life-low- lifes for choosing to have tots and finally articles about how wonderful, exciting life is when all you need to worry about is what pret salad to have for lunch and where to go for that 5th mini holiday  - Ibiza or Marbella anyone! So to a big-up the Mummy’s out there  thought we’d share this article we stumbled across online listing GREAT things that being a Mum brings you….

10 best things about being a mum

Read More: http://www.gurgle.com/articles/Lifestyle/37163/10_best_things_about_being_a_mum.aspx

It may be hard and sometimes thankless work but we say that being a Mummy is still the best job in the world!

1. Your baby adores you!

Forget all those one true loves you worked your way through in school and university – and truth is even your partner won’t love you as much as your child does. When she gazes up at you as she feeds, grips your finger in her hand and smiles that first smile your heart will melt. That’s the magic of being a mum!

- True except it doesn’t feel like it when you’ve been berated, ignored and screamed at for daring to move a toy !

2. You can buy gorgeous clothes without feeling guilty

Once you’re a mum you can go clothes shopping without having to hide it all in the back of the wardrobe or having to worry about being able to squeeze into that cute new outfit. It is so much fun to shop for your baby – you don’t have to try it all on, and you don’t have to worry if your bum will look big in it!

Trashmummy must agree that this is fun ! 

3. You can read all you want

In your hectic life, do you ever get the chance to read? It’s a pastime that often gets deprioritised, but once you have a baby you don’t need and excuse. And as she grows older, you’ll know the joy of sharing the same stories that were your own family favourites years ago with your mum (plus, if you join your local library or buy books from an online auction site, it’ll be free or cheap!).

Both tots are familiar with Grazia, Heat , Now and Style magazine and trashmummy has been re-introduced to the wonderful world of Tigers that came to Tea, Bible stories of 2 pages in length (our kind of bible) and Snails and Whales.

4. You get to look at the most beautiful sight in the world every day

Forget sunsets at the beach or glorious mountain views – nothing will compare to seeing your baby’s smiles and fun on a daily basis.

… which makes up for the being up all night  ! 

5. You get to try those scrumptious baby foods!

Come on, who among us hasn’t been tempted to try it when it has names like apple and vanilla crème purée, apple and mango rice pudding, creamy chicken and rice bake, or yummy Lancashire hotpot? Some of those savoury dinners make a fantastic quick pasta sauce for mum too, and as for the puddings… yummy!

Trashmummy did consider going on a baby food diet … some of those pots are scrumptious but then they move on to more exciting things like mash and fishfingers and good intentions are well and truly ruined.

6. You see the world for the first time (again!)

You may be used to everything you see and experience on a daily basis but your baby isn’t. You’ll gain a whole new appreciation for things you might have been taking for granted once you see how they enchant her. That snow you curse about because it stops the trains will turn into soft fluffy marshmallow puffs when your baby is seeing it for the first time!

For the first time … yes … for the 50th time freezing cold and wet … MMmm im not so sure 

7. You’ve got the doctor on call all the time!

Feeling down about something? Overworked, tired, and taken for granted? When your child wraps her arms around you and tells you she loves you all the bad things will go away, just like that.

This also works when one is slightly hungover … works even better if  comes with breakfast in bed ! 

8. You can join in messy play

Even if we spent out childhoods playing in the mud, as grownups we have to follow the rules of adult life – one of which being that fingerpainting, moulding amazing creations from playdough, or drowning newspaper strips in wallpaper paste and constructing fantastic papier-mache spaceships isn’t advisable. But once you have kids, you have the perfect excuse to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in!

One of the reasons Trashmummy had kids. There’s  nothing better than being a human trampoline , playing with flour and water and just generally being silly.

9. Your child gives you a mental workout!

You will become a child psychologist extraordinaire once you become a mum. Just trying to figure out what’s going on in your baby’s head, why your toddler does what she does, how best to tap into your preschooler’s talents, will have you constantly wondering, problem solving, learning more about human behaviour than you ever thought possible, and becoming an expert when it comes to plate-spinning.

In the 2 years our tots have been here they’ve been:

• Child geniuses … ‘ well done – now can you show me how you  opened the back door and got into the garden! ‘
• Animals- … that bite !!
• Boarder line ADHD – how can anything be that energetic on 3 hours sleep?

10 You’ll learn how to give of yourself

Before we become mums all we really think about is ourselves – our work, our relationships, our health, our weight, what keeps us happy. Often we can become so invested in our own needs and desires that we become selfish. But when you become a mum you’ll set all of that aside and give yourself – your time, your love, your knowledge – to your child as she grows!

… and then you see us sobbing our hearts out on a Trinny and Susannah/Gok Wan type make over programme begging for extreme make over ( secretly hoping it involves a bit of cosmetic surgery ) 

and finally …..

A few more  reasons why trashmummy just loves being a mummy .

• You meet and make fab  new friends for life .
• Your music knowledge expands and so does your ipod playlist -

1. Mickey mouse clubhouse album
2. Cbebbies theme songs ! ( oh yeah, we’ve got it )
3. Rockabye lullabies – Bob Marley is a particuler favourite in this house.

• You realise that sleeping is actually for wimps.

• You remember how nice fishfingers, baked beans and mashed potatoes are.

• You have a laugh getting drunk and dancing in the local club to Peter Andre  and 2 unlimited and you really don’t care because A) your having a great  time &  B) lets face it you don’t get out much !

•  You are amazed at how as a mummy you manage to get to work, clean house, look after tot on very little sleep when before they were born you couldn’t even cope without at least one lay in at the weekend!

• You never get bored – although sometimes you yearn for a time when you actually sit there and say ‘im bored ….. im actually bored’.

• Your tot thinks you have the best singing voice ever ( unlike the rest of the world) .

And last for all you doubters out there…..You get to really, truly and honestly get to feel what it is to love someone unconditionally.

Children….having and raising is an amazing experience.  We are blessed and worrying what we are missing out on in terms of life and careers is forgotten as soon as you look pick up your baby and they throw their arms around you and say they love you. FACT.

Grazia journo’s bore off back to fashion week – we’re off to the farm and we love it!

Weekly Trash

Trashdaddy

We may not be yummy but this daddy sure is!

WTF !!!! Im scared of falling over just looking at this photo !

There is nothing Trashmummy likes more than wooden toys…..especially PIRATE SHIP wooden toys. How fab is it!!! And you can buy additional scary wooden Pirates.  That’s TTB’s birthday present sorted me-hearty!

£44.00 from www.knottoys.com and FREE POSTAGE at the moment. Start ticking off your christmas list NOW!

Now, we know we shouldnt really recommend books we havent actually read but aside from Pirate Toys, Downton Abbey, Trash-mags and shopping Trashmummy’s next loves are Magic and romance and The Night Circus has it all….apparently!

www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/184655523X/ref=pd_sim_b2

 Trashmummy has taken a while to come round to the idea of winter Crocs but then happened across the Crocband Gust. Waterproof / Padded / Funky print  /  6x colours and the white band glows-in-the-dark. TTG already has hers and after initial hesitation and declaration that Winter Crocs could in no-way be a good idea that TTB will be sporting a pair this Autumn too – £33 to £39 on Amazon.

You know when you are looking through the style pages and you always seem to like the things that cost £4000 well, for once TM picked the cheap one…a beauty of a dress £25 from NEW LOOK fab! Seems you cannot actually buy it though (stupid style magazines and their need temptations) however in searching the New Look web site TM found some other lovely things….if its good enough for the TOWIE girls it’s good enough for us!

Trashmummy interview

 One of our favourite C-Beebies presenters talks to the Guardian Society about being a single working mummy , and those complaints when she first came on our screens.

Interview from the Guardian Society to read the full interview click on :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/21/tv-presenter-cerrie-burnell

When Cerrie Burnell joined the presenting team of the BBC children’s programme CBeebies, it appeared the BBC was fulfilling their aim of offering equal opportunities.

However, they didn’t counter on the bigotry of some parents. A flurry of complaints about the appointment appeared on parenting message boards on the CBeebies website , some suggested that Burnell should wear long sleeves & one blogger even wrote: “Is it just me, or does anyone else think the new woman presenter on CBeebies may scare the kids because of her disability? I didn’t want to let my children watch the filler bits on The Bedtime Hour [a segment of CBeebies] last night because I know it would have played on my eldest daughter’s mind and possibly caused sleep problems. And yes, this is a serious post.” Cerrie’s response to this was ‘That might be true, but either watch another channel or just explain to your child [that there is nothing to be afraid of]. We all want to protect them so much but sometimes we can forget that it’s good to get a rounded view of the world. There are a lot of children who watch CBeebies who have seen far worse things than someone with one hand – children in care, or with refugee status, or who have been abused. I think it’s disrespectful to say [a person with] one arm is going to frighten them. But also, it’s all right for people to be frightened about it because it is different. Come and ask me the question and I’m happy to answer.”

Cerrie got the CBeebies job just three months after the birth of her daughter, Amelie. She had known early on in the pregnancy that she would be raising her baby alone – she is not with her daughter’s father and doesn’t want to say anything about him – but carrying on the pregnancy was something that not everybody around her believed was the right thing to do. “It was daunting but I had no doubt in my mind that I wanted to do it,” she says. “When you have that clarity, it really gives you strength, even if people around you are being negative, unsupportive and not able to understand. Certain members of my family thought it was the wrong thing and stopped speaking to me. With my friends, it’s not that they thought it was the wrong thing but there was a lot of ‘Are you sure you’re ready?’” By the time Amelie was born, everyone had come round to Burnell’s decision, “but I was disappointed that people weren’t immediately happy. I had gone, not inward, but I had all these questions and concerns from people, but while that was going on I was growing a baby and that was the bigger thing for me to focus on.”

Getting the CBeebies job when she did wasn’t the best timing, she says, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. She remembers her first day as being “awful, really awful. I was breastfeeding and it was the first time I had been away from her for the day. My breasts were leaking, and I was crying because I missed her. But you get on. Lots of mums have to go back to work. Now, I think about it and laugh because it wasn’t that bad, but it did feel difficult at the time.”

Burnell was chosen as one of this year’s fellows of the Foundling Museum in London as part of the role she has used her experience of being a lone parent in a new exhibition, Baby Love, for which she has interviewed other single mothers to accompany their portraits. “I don’t think single mothers are portrayed as being happy, we’re portrayed as being survivors or fighters,” she says. “But actually, being a mum is just fantastic. One woman I interviewed said she didn’t want to become a single mother because she had been raised by a single mother and wanted to break that cycle. She felt really responsible for that but once she had become a single parent, she felt it was so much better than she thought.”

For Burnell, it was hard in the weeks after Amelie was born, “but any new mother will tell you that, whether they are in a relationship or not. I probably expected to have a child in a relationship, as most people do, but my identity as a single parent is something I find quite freeing.” She beams as she gets ready to get back to her daughter. “I can drift wherever I want to, I’m not bound by anyone else apart from what’s right for her.”

GOOD TV

 TOWIE / SPOOKS / DOWNTON / GRAND DESIGNS and KIRSTY ‘n’ PHIL Phil

dark nights = good TV.

Joseph Joseph Record Work Top Savers are COOL and they are only £14 which is even more COOL.

available at www.notrunofthemill.com or www.josephjoseph.com

Garnier BB cream

Trashmummy doesnt actually know if it works but the advert said 9 out of 10 cats preferred it and so we bought it. Suckers for new beauty products…us??? NEVER!

Tags: Amazon, cbeebies, Crocs, Downton Abbey, Garnier, Joseph and Joseph, Newlook, TOWIE, Victoria Beckham

Oh yes, Mog loves babies!

Last week Trashmummy brought home a stray kitten who had the misfortune to be born in the storeroom of Poundland in Balham.

It was whilst sitting on the train bringing “Little Cat” home  that TM started thinking just how Trashtot would react to the nervous poor thing.  Anxious kitten + boisterous toddler = potential disaster.

Both TT’s have been raised by, sorry with, animals.  Trashtot-Boy has 3 cats and a boundary ignoring Golden Retriever from next door and Trashtot-Girl has the Psycho-Terrier Trashdog (thankfully currently residing at Granny’s house while Little Cat is waiting for her new home). Neither of the TT’s are particularly gentle with their pets and luckily their animals have either the patience, bribed in Trashdog’s case or the common sense to give the them a wide berth. All live reasonably and often hysterically in peace well as yet, no one has taken serious chunks out of each other.

It was while TM was in bed sipping coffee on Saturday morning watching BBC news, TT playing with Manuka Cat an observer would have witnessed joyous calm and bliss in Trash Cottage.  But, no this is Trashmummy’s house and Manuka Cat is blind and does not have the ability to make a swift exit like the others when TT gets a bit too “hands-on”. Moment of bliss broken. Blind cat in shrieking, erm blind panic is being grabbed by TT round the neck for a BIG CUDDLE. Often, it seems the love toddlers have to bestow on pets is not reciprocated and a quick hiss and swipe later and its tears and screams all round.

It wasnt always like this – when TM was pregnant blind cat Manuka wasnt blind and was the only one of the cats that would sit on my belly for hours purring away. In fact for the first 5 days of TTB life blind cat (still sighted) would snuggle up at all hours next to TTB purring away.  This is nice I thought, TTB is going to grow up to be a proper Dr Doo-little. How wrong was I? An accidental squishing by a Volvo and resulted in Manuka Cat being rendered blind – not a good thing when living in a house with a constant toddler threat looming. From the moment TTB was mobile Manuka Cat didn’t have a chance. We’ve had pulling of tails,  running over by wheely-bugs, pushing off sofas, kissing, hugging and even one attempt at being put in the car seat! Manuka still loves cuddles just not ones from under 25′s!

In Mog and the Baby, by Judith Kerr, Mog tries to escape the unwanted attention of the baby leading to a particularly bizarre near-miss car accident that only could be deemed acceptable in the early 80′s. Never the less it is a good book and one to get the TT’ started on the idea that pets may not like possibly like being poked in the eye by babies! TM has the whole collection of these books and is constantly reading them to TTB in the vain hope that the someday I will overhear TTB saying to his friends ” this is my special cat  - you need to be careful as she cant see !”.  In the meantime TTB will continue to no doubt harass and TM will treat Manuka to her favourite Marks and Spencers king prawns and lots of hugs as compensation.

It is not just cats that get the raw deal when the enormous pitter patter of size 5 Crocs come thundering through the house. A little way from Trash Cottage lives  the other Trashmummy and Monty – aka psycho terrier “Trashdog” . When TTG was born we were all but convinced Trashdog would be on a one-way ticket to Granny’s house as his previous crimes of killing anything that is smaller than him led us to wrongly believe he would eat baby TT in one big OWP!  He didn’t and all is fine. Trashdog is still a dirty thief and will thinking nothing of robbing the small and unprotected of their rice cakes (even though he hates them) but he loves an episode of Big Barn Farm and will accept a game of ball from the most inept of throwers.

For both the TT’s our fear is that there is NO FEAR when it comes to the animal world. They really do think that all cats are there to be cuddled in head locks and that dogs are just very good ride ons who like nothing more than a big fat toddler smooch.

Two books which seems to strike the balance between fun and getting the point across that all animals are cannot be bribed with cheese are Stephanie Calmenson’s May I Pet Your Dog? (Clarion, 2007) and Elizabeth Verdick’s Tails Are Not for Pulling (Free Spirit, 2005).

Both above and Mog and the Baby are available at Amazon.

PS –  Little Cat found a home in a leafy Chiswick street long before Trashdog returned from his hols. Thankfully all our pets can be bribed – all we need now is for the day we find them helplessly dressed up as a pirate and being pushed around in a pram …. TM fears this day is near!

Tags: Amazon, may i pet your dog, tails are not for pulling