Hello there poppets! / L Plate Mama

More on the trip – home away from home My mum always used to say, a house is just bricks and mortar, a home is where the heart is. My brothers and I grew up in South Wales and London was always the other ‘home. When we moved to London when I was 10 part of our hearts stayed in Wales, continuing the ‘two homes’ experience. Moving to the other side of the world has kept this going, I both ‘went home’ and ‘came home’, my wee man will grow up with me talking of my ‘home’ meaning the UK and ‘our home’ meaning here in sunny Melbourne. So he and I ‘went home’, and London put on a very cold show for us; unseasonably cold, and a thick blanket of sparkling white snow cloaking the usual sludgy grey of London in November. My family live on a Dutch barge, family home floating on the Thames with spectacular views of Kew Bridge and the escapee budgerigar population that have taken up residence on the island (ait) in the middle of the river. The British winter never bothered me previously, but four y...

The wee man and I are back from our trip to the frozen land of student protests, austerity cuts, mushy peas and early snow. More about our trip later, right now I want to write about L plate mama’s favourite topic – SLEEP. Following the long journey with odd sleep for both myself and the boy, swapping day for night was our next big challenge. Seen as I openly admit I am a soft first time mum I did not opt for waking the bub too much when he was sleeping at the WRONG time of day. Instead tried to make the environment noisy and light encouraging shorter lighter sleep in the hope (I can’t stress the weight with which this little four letter word is used) that the little fella would sleep at the RIGHT time. Although my wonderful step-mama had borrowed a travel cot for us, the wee man didn’t use too much as I found it much easier to have him in bed with me. I know this is very naughty on a number of the levels; flying in the face of the SIDS recommendations, setting a rod for my own back wi...