motherhood Archives - Page 4 of 6 - The Only Girl in the House

Jess September, 2016

Living The Dream – On Telly

This morning over on the ol’ instagram, I proudly shared that our family had been featured in a real life TV ad. Don’t go anywhere – this is not a shameless plug for said ad or the company I spend 30 seconds waxing lyrical about during my starring role. Instead, I want to give a little “don’t give up” to the mamas who might have that nasty voice in their head saying “jack it in – it’s not worth it – you’re crap”, like I too often do. But if you do just want to see the ad – head to the bottom!

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Jess July, 2016

Bonding With Baby | HUGGIES Wipes

In case you haven’t spotted it yet, we announced over on our brand new Youtube channel that Casper and I are now HUGGIES Wipes ambassadors for the rest of the year. We’re not just putting their HUGGIES® Pure Wipes to the test, we’re combining this with their natural elements and gentleness – taking time out of our hectic days to just appreciate nature and each other. With this in mind, Huggies have enlisted the help of baby bonding guru Gayle Berry. Gayle, the HUGGIES® Wipes bonding expert is a multi-award winning baby massage and baby yoga expert and founder of Blossom & Berry. I was lucky enough to pose a few questions to Gayle recently on developing a secure bond with your baby and nurturing the relationship during times that might be considered “everyday moments”…

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Jess July, 2016

Not Quite Adulting: My Adult Moments

You’d think that at 31, having birthed 3 sprogs, been married then divorced, mortgaged up, 2 step kids and numerous pets – that I might consider myself a fully fledged adult. WRONG! Like many people I’ve asked on this subject, it’s not that I feel like a kid, but I certainly don’t feel like I’ve reached the peak of my grown-up-ness. Worringly, even my mum – a whole generation of adultier-ness above me, still doesn’t feel there yet. But perhaps being a grown-up isn’t a state, a bit like happiness, it’s fleeting moments; moments where it really feels as though I’ve got my shit together and I can do this – without doing a silly dance, asking for a straw with my coke or throwing a (discreet) tantrum when our local ice cream parlour runs out of cherry flavour on a particularly I-need-cherry-kinda-day ).

So, here’s my list of moments when I feel top of my adult game – in the vague hope, some of you might also feel the same about our severe lack of acknowledging our responsibilities and always hoping there will be an adultier adult to deal with the crap post fan-hit.

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Jess April, 2016

Kids at Weddings

As the wedding invites start rolling in, who am I kidding – I don’t have THAT many friends. Ok, so, as the two wedding invites I’ve received stare at me from the fridge door, the glimmer of a full day and night, sans kids, glistens like a beacon of parental hope on the childcare horizon. I’ll be dressed like a grown up for a full day, possibly wear heels (the jury’s still out on my heel walking abilities) and can get stuck into some cheap cava like only a mother who’s left her kids with grandparents for 24 hrs can.

But it only occurred to me, halfway through chatting to a child-free friend getting hitched this summer, that the debate whether to allow kids or not to their nuptials was a fiercely roaring moral dilemma. Kid-free friends – let me put your mind at rest – don’t invite my kids! Please! In my opinion, weddings are no places for children under the age of 15 – after this age, the free food, possibility of a sip (or two) of aforementioned cheap plonk and the chance of a cheeky snog with a young relative of the bridal family, are all good reasons to be in attendance.

Still not convinced? Here’s just some of the reasons you shouldn’t invite my kids…

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Jess April, 2016

Birthday Party Rejection

You see the pictures on my instagram – a busy, happy and healthy brood of boys. What those pictures don’t tell you, amongst other things like the dirty laundry piled just out of shot, is that one of those beautiful boys believes he’s “not good enough”! Everyday he battles with with painfully low self-esteem, emotions he’s not equipped to control, anger that rages out of frustration to communicate effectively, and ostracisation.

But I’m not going to write about H’s anger issues as there’s no diagnosis, no cure and, at times, everyone around him is floundering for answers to help this little boy. Instead, I want to share a little of my frustration and anger – as unlike H, I’m able to highlight the exact things that make me seeth (poor Mr Only Girl!!).

Suffering from rock-bottom self-esteem has always left H looking externally for approval, none more so than that of his peers. In a bid to make/keep friends he always asked for the biggest, bestest birthday party, inviting as many people as he could remember. The planning would start 6 months in advance: the venue, the theme, the cake, the invitations – he’d make list after list of his ideal day, only comparable to a bride-zilla high on smell of luxury, letter-pressed stationary. I was always happy to go along with it, as it was something he enjoyed planning and, as a mother to a child continually alienating himself from friends due to volatility, I just wanted him to feel part of something special.

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