Michelle Tant

A Western Lowlands Gorilla baby was born at the weekend and apparently Mummy hasn't yet put him or her down, consequently the zoo keepers don't yet know the sex. www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0330/breaking24.html I've already seen it said online that we could take parenting lessons from this Gorilla Mama and while I enjoy the sentiment, the fact remains that she doesn't have house, husband,other demanding children with equally demanding social lives, meals to cook, not to mention another paid job to be shoe horned into the mix. As a parent in the real world, I took my babymoons where I could, I accepted help where I could and I avoid articles that start me feeling that I am a second rate parent in comparison to a primate. I'm one of the first unfortunately to say ignore the 'experts' who regiment parenting into unattainable routines but the more I've immersed myself in babyled culture, the more I see 'experts' on the oth...

The other day I noticed a pregnant woman on crutches, desperately struggling to climb a single stair without moving above her knees whilst simultaneously not twisting her hips and upper body. As I rushed to her aid, in my own mind I was catapulted back to my own pregnancies and I felt her agony.   While you are pregnant, for some reason the expectation from non-pregnant people is that you should be a picture of blooming health, sailing around with that lovely pregnancy glow once the morning sickness has eased off. In fact even some pregnancy books say that once the first few months are passed that you will feel healthier and that you should take advantage of this time before the heaviness of the 3rd trimester kicks in.   So what if pregnancy, morning sickness aside, leaves you unable to walk, unable to move in bed, climb stairs, get in and out of the car, sit up for any length of time, sit down for any length of time… what then? Welcome to the excruciating world of Symphysis Pubi...

Of late I've been wading my way through a number of things, returning to work at the housing association, my pet services business, looking after my family amongst other various bits of life. And I must say I am almost exhausted by it all. The other big thing I've been grappling with is the practicality of becoming a breastfeeding counsellor. Administration was something I hoped would be at a minimum in my chosen profession but here it is raising its ugly head again, it would seem that even person centred jobs are not exempt. The admin side has become such an elephant in the room that I've had to really evaluate my feelings about my new role and about the organization I do work for (I'm self employed and so am like a sub contractor!). There have been times even today where I've wanted to throw all my toys out of the pram, the baby out with the bath water, you think of a cliche and I'm already there. So if the stuff I'm so offended by is so offensiv...

I wanted to write today but having stared at a blank screen for some time without typing a single character, I figured a quick visit to the Creativity Portal for a push button blog prompt was in order. I generally find that the best thing to do is just get words down, even of its just to write about how you cant write. (ahem). Well I pushed the prompt button and so you know what it said?! "Blog prompter is getting tired" What?! If the prompter is getting tired then what hope do I, a mere writing mortal have? Seriously though, it has no idea. I AM TIRED!! Take that and put it in your RSS feed Mr (of course) blog prompter. *sigh* I have a meeting on Thursday to discuss my future with the company. It's going through a restructure and my job is in the firing line. I need to apply for one of the 2 jobs to be created from my current post. I can barely think about what to have for dinner, never mind my next career move. I know what I really want to be doing ...

"I am woman! I am invincible! I am pooped!" ~Author Unknown Today is International Womens Day. Its also the 100th anniversary, first celebrated in 1911. Believe it or not, some countries actually celebrate it as a national holiday. We've come a long way baby but I get the distinct feeling we still have a way to go. A world where some women still die in childbirth where in other countries they dont, some women are routinely beaten by thier male relatives, women are still blamed for their own rapes, women still earn less than men overall and have less high powered jobs than men. Shocking stuff so yes, a way to go. "The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes." Bella Abzug A friend lately gave birth to her second child via cesarean section. Both labours failed to progress and it is more than likely that she would not have survived her first labour had she been giving birth 100 years ago or today in a country w...

I'm not exactly Alan Titchmarsh but I have this vegetable plot in my back garden and I grow bits and pieces in it and its been an, up to now, 'Mummys stuff, don't touch!' area. And actually that's been just the way I've liked it. However Jayden (5) has been asking questions about growing things and so in a rash moment I said when I next go to the garden centre he can choose the things we can grow. He drew up a list. On the list... carrots, potatoes (fine) apples (er...) bananas (hell no) so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that we set off. They naturally enjoyed the ride on the trolley and actually the choosing of seeds etc wasn't quite as painful as I'd envisaged. We left with potatoes, green beans, rhubarb, spring onions, a raspberry bush, a vegetable multipack and a herb multipack. That was apparently the easy part. The hard part it turned out was relinquishing some sort of control over the plot itself. In the name of 'family t...

A letter to Princess Betty on the wall in the school hallway. Proud mummies unite :) Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

With one NHS Trust losing 22.5% of its staff, health care in the UK is looking dicier by the day. Check out this article in The Guardian http://m.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/23/nhs-to-lose-50000-jobs?cat=society&type=article Cutting nhs staff is not the answer to the UKs problems. All that will achieve is a lowering of standards in healthcare. Perhaps the government should look closer to itself to make the savings rather than attacking the living standards of everyday people yet again. Being a bleeding heart lefty, I was less than overjoyed at the election of a coalition government headed up by the Tories. Doesn't anyone remember what they did to us in the past? A number of people I spoke to said they were voting blue because of their family friendly policies. Well look at us now. * Surestart centres - funding slashed and centres closing. * Tax credits reducing, mainly affecting mid-lower income families * Child benefit to be gone in next few years * Mass...