What's life without love and a few dirty dishes?
Life, Love and Dirty Dishes is mainly about parenting. Living life with small people and the situations we find ourselves in. Life refers to the funny stuff. If becoming a parent has taught me anything, it’s enjoying simple pleasures and having a sense of humour about things. How else would we survive the poonamis and the tantrums? If you’ve stumbled into this category I hope these posts make you laugh and brighten your day a little.
As we enter the third week of lock down and working from home, chances are you have taken part in some kind of video conference call. And chances are if you are a parent, a small person has interrupted that conference call with something of vital importance to say. Conference calls with kids around require […] Read more…
My son’s Primary school is an old Victorian building, very similar to the primary school I went to. My eldest came home the other day with a very detailed story about the toilets and how they were haunted. It made me smile because the toilets at my old school were haunted too! But whilst some […] Read more…
My eldest child is hardly ever ill. My youngest however gets everything going, and always gets it to the extreme. However at the end of last year we had a really bad run with the two of them. Tonsillitis, sickness bugs, ear infections and raging temperatures for no apparent reason. For a good two months […] Read more…
A Spa break is something I enjoyed before I became a parent. But now I am a parent I think I appreciate them on a whole new level. Why Mums Love a spa break… 1. We can recharge from the chaos Sometimes my life feels like a whirlwind of after school clubs, homework, birthday parties, […] Read more…
I always think a parody is a good idea until I am half way through and loosing the will to live. Which is precisely why about half way though this parody of Sleigh Ride, is where you will need to start crow barring the lyrics in. In my defence I don’t think I’ve ever heard […] Read more…
When it comes to Christmas we all do it a bit differently. Some of us have Yorkshires with our Christmas dinner. There are some that leave Father Christmas a G&T. Some of us watch the Queen’s speech. And some of us write Christmas lists. It wasn’t until I somehow stumbled into an AIBU forum on […] Read more…
Charlie has been in our lives for 18 months now. And we couldn’t imagine him not being part of our family. So much so that on our recent holiday to Australia, both the boys shed tears because they missed the cat! Until Charlie I have never owned a cat, and before he became part of […] Read more…
I am what some may refer to as vertically challenged. A short arse. In fact I am shorter than your average short person. It is rare for me to be taller than any other adults. There have been a few. Mainly little old ladies. In fact at 4-foot-10-and-a-half inches (that half is very important) I […] Read more…
Tomorrow my first born turns 10. That’s a whole decade of being a parent, and a whole lot of sleep lost! There have been many many lessons learnt in the last 10 years. There were ridiculous intentions at the start, and a whole host of unexpected things along the way. But if I could go […] Read more…
You wouldn’t think it would you? With their chubby cheeks, big soulful eyes, and smiles that can melt the coldest of all hearts. And if the smile doesn’t do it, the bear hug will. But toddlers are petty criminals. Mastermind law breakers. Evil geniuses in the making. At some point your toddler would have committed […] Read more…
If the movies are to be believed you know when you are in labour when: a) You wake up with a start because you are having a contraction and rush to the hospital immediately. b) Your waters break somewhere public and you start having agonising contractions. In reality it’s normally nothing like that. Knowing when […] Read more…
One of my talents is being able to recite several Julia Donaldson books with my eyes closed. A Squash & A Squeeze, Stick Man and The Gruffalo should be a skill on my CV! Both the boys have been through an obsession with her stories. When it was Big’s phase I wrote a parody of […] Read more…
We survived the first year at school! Summer Holidays are around the corner and it’s been 9 months since I said my first goodbye to my son with a lump in my throat at the classroom door. The little boy who could barely write his own name now writes me notes and knows what a dodecahedron is. (I […] Read more…
We’ve all heard of the bedtime witching hour. When kids turn slightly ferrel and parents are counting down until the moment they can collapse on the sofa and ignore one another in marital bliss. But did you know parenting involves a lot more witching hours than just the bedtime one… The Early Morning Witching Hour […] Read more…
Whether it’s a sickness bug or chicken pox, childhood illness can cause stress, worry, and a lot of googling. Not to mention a severe decline in the number of hours parents sleep, and a sharp incline in the amount of chocolate they eat. Maybe that’s just my house. Batten down the hatches, the kids are […] Read more…
I read the other day that one of the best things you can do when visiting a new Mum, is to offer to take her precious bundle of joy for a walk. Seriously? On what planet is that good advice? ‘I’m going to make a sweeping generalisation here, but most new mums I […] Read more…
Big went on his first residential trip in March at the grand old age of nine. Two nights on the Isle of Wight with the school. I was fine. I was organised. Everything was labelled within an inch of it’s life. The trip started on his Little Brother’s birthday, so my mind was consumed with […] Read more…
When I was growing up we had a climbing frame with slide in our back garden. My best friend lived next door and had a climbing frame too. Most of my childhood was spent on either hers or my climbing frame! I believe I acquired many life skills hanging around on those bars. Now this […] Read more…
Yes, you heard me. I’m sure it’s some kind of parenting cardinal sin for which I am being punished for with two kids that get up at the crack of dawn every dam day. But it’s true, for my sins, I hate the park. And I know it’s good for them. Fresh air. Climbing. Running […] Read more…
I am becoming increasingly aware that the days of Big not having a mobile phone are limited. Primary school seems to be flying past, and in the not to distant future we will be looking at secondary schools and he will get his first phone. It’s uncharted territory for me. I managed fine walking to […] Read more…