Practices of Parenting
A blogger I read regularly, Sarah Bessey, has been hosting a Practices of Parenting Carnival this week, where she invited readers to submit posts on their practices of parenting via a link-up. (You can find all of Sarah’s original practices of parenthood posts here.) The response was extraordinary – 117 posts and counting! I linked up my Peace Like A River post, and over the last couple of days I’ve looked at all of the other posts that bloggers linked to on Sarah’s site. They were heart-felt and moving and some were gorgeous. Here are seven that stood out to me. Making Mama...
Read MoreAll’s well that ends well
Yesterday one of my good friends, Abi, left this comment on my post about joy: “the sight of mini-Mike grinning as he leans back in the safe nook of maxi-Mike’s knee definitely came as a welcome joy-boost.” Today I have for you a one minute video, in two acts, of Dominic in that “safe nook”. The first time Mike showed it to me I said it wasn’t funny. Then I had to admit that it would have been a bit funny… had it been someone else’s child. Without further ado, here are the adventures of Mike and Dominic at...
Read More30 great gifts for pregnant women and new parents
I get more referrals to my blog at present on the topic of gifts for pregnant women than anything else. So in the spirit of giving readers what they want, I thought I’d do a comprehensive post on presents for pregnant women and new parents. (Sidenote: This “giving readers what they want” will not extend to addressing certain other mystifying search terms that have recently led people to my blog, including “humans breastfeeding monkeys” and “koalas drinking beer”.) So without further ado, here are 30 great gifts for pregnant women or new parents. I’ll start with...
Read MoreLooking Like Love: A Letter To My Parents
It’s been five months since I stepped off the plane from Asia, roundly pregnant at 28 weeks, and saw you both there waiting for me and smiling. The hills here were green, the cool air smelled of wet eucalyptus and the pancakes that we stopped for on the way home were heaped with berries, tiny crimson waterfalls falling from the stack. As I unpacked in this bedroom later that morning I thought that five months seemed like an eternity. So many milestones in life had to come and go before I would depart – Mike’s arrival after ten weeks apart, the baby’s arrival, then...
Read MoreDear Dad, Love Dominic
Dear Dad, Happy first Father’s Day! It’s too bad that you’re in Laos and I’m in Australia on this day, but when we were up together this morning at 3am Mum told me you had to go back to Laos in September to work because there are lots of mothers there who don’t get enough to eat and have trouble producing enough milk to feed their babies. She sounded really sad when she said it – like she might cry. I think she often thinks of sad things when she’s feeding me alone in the dark. Why is that? Anyway, I miss you. I mean, Mum is great – all soft and squishy and she just smells so...
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