I often forget the simple things. I look at the whizzbang fabbo toys that spin and light up and play for my children and I get sucked in just as they do, they're advertised with "Super Hydraulic Action!", how can I say no? Then occasionally my kids will bring me back down to earth, reminding me in their subtle little way that they don't need,...

I spent July afflicted by seemingly never ending food poisoning combined with an acute case of cystitis that was never even vaguely cured by antibiotics. In August I clued in that something was up and peed on a stick. Immediately a deep pink line appeared, darker than the control line, telling me I wasn't just a little bit knocked up, I was well...

Before I had kids I promised a lot of things, no dummies (lasted 6 days!), no crazy flashing light up musical toys (my eldest wasn't even born before we started collecting them!) and a minimal amount of characters. I'm not sure what my issue with characters is. I think partially it's the difference between a $11 pair of generic shoes and the...

Declan announced, right as we were doing the whole "give Daddy a kiss and say goodnight routine" that he had to draw a picture before he went to bed. One thing I have learned from raising my spirited child is to pick and chose my battles. He already had a pen in hand so I grabbed him some paper from the printer and said that he could draw one...

A few months ago Declan was sick, running a high fever and climbed into my lap for some cuddles. Literally the moment he settled there his arms bolted out from his body, his neck lost all tension and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The following hours after that are a blur, just fuzzy images in my head. Getting angry at the emergency...

Laundry Day doesn't come around very often in this house, and when it does it rarely goes out on the line. You see, my line is tucked away in some long forgotten corner of my garden... right outside the kitchen window, and as I don't spend much time standing at my sink (washing the dishes is only slightly less horrific than doing laundry) and...

Declan officially started preschool last Monday, I now have two days a week where I can experience the freedom of not having three foot of trouble hanging around my knees constantly. I spent the first day sobbing, the second day I was uneasy, but happy about how much he was enjoying himself, by the time yesterday hit I was delighted to ship...

Babies make you feel old, well, not necessarily babies, but one preschooler and one would-be-toddler-if-he-would-just-get-off-his-arse-and-walk make you feel old. I decided to counteract this by dying my hair and calling back to my long gone days of college, late nights and doing assignments on the train into the city. Suddenly I feel...

Declan has recently discovered the joy of picking scabs, not one to deprive him of such pleasure I haven't got massively out of my way to stop him - he's the kind of kid that if I say no will just get even more excited about whatever activity I've banned him from. That is until I realised that this scab has been sitting on his knee for over a...

My baby boy turned one year old on Saturday. One year since he shot out of my vag looking like a member of the Blue Man Group and entered the world. One year since he was whisked off to the NICU before I'd seen him, with Dan following promising to return with a photo. One year since I told Dan that he must have photographed the wrong baby...