Hello there poppets! / L Plate Mama

I can see the golden lights of the coast shining below us as our plane pulls us along and away from Rome and back up to Blighty. Moo is asleep on my lap. He's too long to fit on my lap and his little foot is jutting out on to the arm rest. No one is next to us to complain. There was less room yesterday on the coach from Siena to Rome and his feet rested squarely on the poor chap to my left. He didn't seem to mind, there was little I could do, no other position I could hold him. As it was my back ached from holding his sleeping form for most of the 3hour journey. I feel sad. We said goodbye to Chops and the Other Half at the airport. They are off to Bangkok for a four day adventure before heading home to Melbourne. It'll be just over two weeks until I see them again. A long time for me. Moo and I are going to back to London-town for more time with family. I wish it wasn't such a massive long bloody way from Aus to the UK, it is almost cruel.  The love...

(written last week)  It's 2pm in the afternoon, Oscar has spent all morning splashing, chasing, smashing, jumping, romping and floating in the pool on the top of a Tuscan hill. This kid doesn't know how good he's got it, but he has loved every millisecond of it. Alfie loves the water, but hot sun he's not such a fan of, and him and I have been hanging out in the cool shade of the villa for a while now. Oscar forced from the poolside is now near comatose watching tom and jerry cartoons in German. Today is our first full day here in Tuscany. Yesterday we took two planes, two taxis, a train and another car trip to get here, with all those modes of transport you'd think we'd have come farther a field than Berlin. Moo is now 8 months and HUGE. He's long, strong and heavy, weighing in at about 10kilos. He's not crawling, which is a godsend. He can turn 360, shuffle backward in an unintentional manner but we don't have to worry about him and all t...

I've joined a group on Facebook . Up until four months ago the only group I was a part of on the indispensable social networking site was my Mothers group. Now I am joined electronically to like minded people all over Aus , mostly non-animal-eating people but also one group encouraging gentle parenting. Chopchopchop-ararma was in childcare 2 days a week. The Aus Government pays half the fees when you work or are on maternity leave. I needed/very much wanted some time just with Moo, and one child time to do 'stuff', exciting stuff like go to the Doctors or pick up parcels from the post office. Then Chops started kicking up a fuss about going to care on the day his best little mate wasn't there. After a few weeks, I thought hey? One day a week for watching TV when moo naps is enough. Big mistake. Next Chops started not wanting to go on the day his lovely little friend was there. And it built in it's force and intensity until it got to the point where I ...