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. Love refers to the soppy stuff. Let’s face it, we sometimes moan when we can’t pee in peace, we sometimes wish leaving the house wasn’t a military operation. But would we change things? Never. Because at the end of the day we love the small people that have turned our worlds upside down, to the moon and back. I hope you enjoy these posts of a more heart felt nature.
The year was 1996. And after what felt like a million lessons and the hardest test in the world, I passed my driving test on the second attempt. My first car was technically my Mum’s. But I used to drive it every where. It was a light blue/green Austin Metro. It had a manual choke, […] Read more…
To the mum who is struggling on the school run with a toddler, I see you trying to get a reluctant kid to school, with a toddler in tow who wants to stop and pick up every leaf they see. I see you struggling with the bags and the lunchboxes and the toddler who wants […] Read more…
As a parent I find myself angered by every proposed change the government put forward regarding my child’s education. From baseline assessments to budget cuts and everything in between. It feels like these policies are being decided by people who haven’t set food in an educational establishment since their own education, and who have completely […] Read more…
We’ve all had them. Days when parenting is really really tough. Days when you find yourself sobbing on the kitchen floor because it’s all too hard. When you are having one of those days it’s easy to feel totally alone. Because the bad days are not something we talk about often. But the truth is […] Read more…
Today is my 40th birthday, and yesterday I went to lunch with some of my lovely friends. Four people that don’t really know each other at all, but all of whom mean the world to me. Friendship is a funny thing. Sometimes you make friendships through unexpected circumstances. Sometimes the friendships you thought would last […] Read more…
The husband and I started going out just before my fifteenth birthday. But although he is the love of my life there have been others. The boys I loved before… First Love I was eleven when I first fell in love. He was blonde, Australian, and went by the name of Jason Donovan. His pictures […] Read more…
When I was 14 years old my bedroom wall was adorned with a huge black and white collage. Posters of River Phoenix, Jon Bon Jovi, Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves. And of course the obligatory black and white photo of a man holding a baby from Athena. I have so many photos […] Read more…
When I was growing up we had a mirror in our bathroom. It said… Love is giving and forgiving It was from the 1970’s Kim Casali Love is… comic. I would see it every day for years and it always made me smile. I wish my parents had kept it because I would love to […] Read more…
I’ve been here once before. Only this time it feels different. There’s a hint of familiarity. A sense of nostalgia maybe. But when I think back to the first time I stepped over this threshold holding your big brother’s hand, you were just a baby in my arms. And now look at you. The all […] Read more…
Hey there new Mummy, Congratulations on the arrival of your precious bundle. How are you? Sore? In awe of the tiny human you have created? That never goes away. the awe, not the sore. Eight years in and it still takes my breath away that I created that walking, talking, flossing, person. I know that […] Read more…
Way back when I was relatively new to the blogging world I wrote a guest post for my friend Talya at Motherhood: The Real Deal for her series ‘Being a Mother.’ I read it again the other day and realised as my kids have gotten older there are so many more ways to define motherhood. […] Read more…
When you are in the midst of the endless night feeds and sleep deprivation is making you slightly crazy, you think the person that says to you “one day you will miss this” is either slightly unhinged, or about to be slapped. But they are right. One day you will miss the 2am feed in […] Read more…
The title for this blog post is something I typed into google over and over again, in many variations. And I never found anyone who said “No”. But I am saying “No”. Speech delay and autism do not always go hand in hand. By telling our story I hope to be able to help someone […] Read more…
Do you ever have those little moments? The moments where you catch you breath. A few moments between the everyday hustle and bustle and juggle that is life. It can be hard to notice them when your attention is elsewhere. Work, feeding the kids, signing permission slips, doing the laundry, mentally writing seven different to-do […] Read more…
People can get a bad rep. And it’s fair to say there are some douche bags out there. One of them happens to be the leader of the free world. When you become a parent your radar for douche bags is on high alert. There are the douche bags that have a problem with […] Read more…
To Oliver, You turn three on Monday. Three already! Not my tiny baby anymore. I always write a post about you and your brother on your birthdays, to celebrate you, and the year you have had. To remind me of all those precious times, and so I never forget what you were like. But […] Read more…
My eyes are for looking out for you, spotting the hazards before you come to harm. They are for searching for your lost toys for the tenth time that week. They are for seeing the world through your eyes. They are for watching you grow and change at a pace I can barely fathom. My nose was […] Read more…
Loosing a loved one is never easy. When a loss is unexpected it rocks the foundations of our world. When that loved one is young, and their life has ended far to soon, it is a tragedy. Your world stopped that day, and yet the rest of the world continued to function without you. People […] Read more…
I will be your protector. Fierce and true. I will protect you from monsters under the bed and cars as we cross the road. I will fight for what you need and deserve. And when you are big enough and brave enough to fight your own battles, remember I’m always in your corner. I […] Read more…
I love hearing people’s birth stories. Whether they were pushed out, pulled out, screamed out or hypno-birthed out, I think all birth stories are amazing. So this is part two of my story, and the birth of the little one. I had two very different birth experiences. The birth of the little one was a […] Read more…