Blog- Just Bring the Chocolate

Making wishes, turning six, and why I didn’t want to hang out with you

Published on 5th Oct 2012 by Renata

I thought that it would be fitting to blow the dust off the keyboard and remove the cobwebs from the blog by sharing something that I can (pretty much) guarantee will make you smile (unless you are cold and dead inside, then not even small, fluffy kittens will warm that icy soul). Yes, dear reader, I shunned you for younger, cuter models…

Watchful Waiting

Published on 17th Jul 2012 by Renata

Child with complex health needs watched by mother- drawing by Renata Blower

By the time you read this post, I will have packed a suitcase, boarded a fast train to London and relocated the few things that Dominic and I can survive with into a room somewhere in the heart of Great Ormond Street hospital. I have been preparing to separate myself from my family and hand Dominic's future over to someone else for a couple of months, ever since Dominic's pains first started, but it doesn't stop my heart beating faster and the tell tale beads of sweat appearing on my forehead whenever I actually let myself think about what the ...

I carried a watermelon- a loser’s take on Britmums Live and the Brilliance in Blogging awards

Published on 2nd Jul 2012 by Renata

As delighted as I was to have become a finalist, watching the banter on Twitter about the approaching Britmums Live blogging conference and the included award ceremony had the opposite effect than it probably should have done. I didn’t feel part of the community involved with Britmums Live, exactly the opposite, I felt like the one stood by the door holding a watermelon gawping (if you have never seen the film Dirty Dancing, to be honest, this metaphor is going to be utterly wasted on you).

Why You Tube could teach your child a valuable lesson about life

Published on 9th Jun 2012 by Renata

With your first child it’s fine to be fastidious with every aspect of their lives, from having ear phones strapped to your belly playing Beethoven (yes I did this) in order to better grow a cultured foetus, to showing a 6 month old flash cards in the hope it will give them an edge over their competition peers. With the second child you’re happy if everyone is dressed and fed and you convince yourself that the older one is passing on all the wisdom you attempted to impart in them to their younger sibling. By the time you’ve reached your third child, a good day constitutes not having misplaced any of them and not having had the neighbours report the screaming coming from next door to social services. Little do they know that it is you screaming, not your children.

What position next?

Published on 3rd Jun 2012 by Renata

[S]leep, or the lack of it, is probably the biggest cause of arguments in relationships, well in relationships that involve the shared care of a baby anyway. It's amazing how, based purely on the fact that they are asleep and you are not, it is possible to feel pure hated for another human being. The mere suggestion of a contented sleepy sigh from your partner when you're awake with a baby (born with the inhuman ability to sense a cot mattress approaching) is enough to undo any humanity or decency that you once saw in them. And no doubt the ...