A Modern Mother

I don't want to boast, but...

Have you seen my Halloween pumpkins this year? I grew them myself!

Bonding over Hannah Montana

This is a sponsored post

So, we had nine little girls (ages 4 through 7) over the other day to watch Hannah Montana the Movie in our new Disney Blu-ray home cinema set up. It was only supposed to be four friends, but it got a bit complicated with siblings pleading to come when they heard one of the Blu-ray extras was a step-by-step instructional guide on how to learn the Hoedown Throwdown. I was in a good mood, and you know, the more the merrier...

This is what makes it all worth it!

Dear mummy and daddy,

Your the best people I ever met. I know sometimes I say your the worst but I don't really mean it.

Daddy thank you for playing chess with me and making money.

Mummy thank you for yummy dinners and planing things.

I love you.

Emily (7)

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The case of the missing bra and panties

Note: This is my homework (!) for my writing class in Oxford. It is a true story, though ever so slightly embellished.

"I can't find them," I said slightly exasperated and squashed by hubby and the three girls in our family changing room at the local leisure centre. That was a generous name for the space we were in. I wasn't sure what size family the person who designed it meant it to accommodate; maybe a mother of two? With the five of us, we might need to grease the walls to get out.

How much salt is too much?

This is a sponsored post.

The Food Standards Agency has a big push on right now to get all Britain's to reduce their salt intake to 6 grams a day. Apparently we eat too much salt, and we aren't even aware of it. Most of it (75%) is already in the food we buy.

Why cut down on salt? Because it can raise your blood pressure and triple your chance of stroke and heart disease.

But exactly how much is 6 grams of salt and how are we supposed to know we're consuming it if it's hidden in the bread and breakfast cereals we eat every day? To help out, the FSA has put together a helpful list here in case you want to know which foods are typically high in salt...

Playdate nightmares: When getting together with a friend goes wrong

We've all had them: the playdate that goes horribly wrong. Mine was when the girls were small. I thought it would be fun to invite two little girls from preschool over to play. That's two little girls, plus the three I already had. FIVE. Under five. It would have been fine but one of the little girls didn't like what I made for dinner (fish sticks, usually a good choice, but obviously not in this case). I offered her macaroni and cheese. No thank you. Plain pasta? No, my mother always makes chicken sandwiches. Sorry I don't have any chicken. How about ham? My mother says it has too much salt. Your mum's right, but that's all I have. Uugghhh.  So ladies (and the two dads that read this blog), what's your worst playdate nightmare?

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Happy Birthday to you, British Mummy Blogger Carnival!

The BMB Carnival is now hosted here.

Our little blogging carnival is now one! How quickly we have grown. The past 25 carnivals have featured more than 750 posts from over a hundred bloggers. Wow. That's a lot of whinging.

The official info is below. I've moved the carnival to A Modern Mother. Please note we're always looking for new hosts, email me at amodernmother (at) gmail (dot) com to sign up. Being inundated with 50 emails 24 hours before a carnival is quite an exhilerating experience one should do miss!

A carnival is a blogging event and "The Best of the British Mummy Bloggers Carnival" takes place every two weeks and highlights the best posts from the British mummy blogging community.

The launch of Super Savvy Me and a morning to remember

This is a sponsored post.

I should have known when I was woken at 3 am by our five-year-old's face in mine saying she was too hot to sleep. I sort of remember feeling her forehead and sending her back to bed and telling her to take the covers off if she was hot. Please note: If you are a new parent, please do not take that as an example of what you should do when your child has a temperature.

I look forward to the day when...

I look forward to the day when hubby says he will do the washing up, and he actually washes ALL the dishes including the greasy cast iron frying pan and the one with oatmeal bits on the bottom...

I look forward to the day when I can pass the toilet in the hall and not have to flush it...

I look forward to the day when I don't have to get on all fours twice a day and clean soggy cheerios and milk from under the dining room table...

I look forward to the day when the girls don't argue over who was first, or who gets to wear the pink Hannah Montana shirt first, or who gets to take a bath first...

I look forward to the day when we can all go to a restaurant and not get downgraded to the noisy "kid" section...

What do you look forward to?

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What do you do when your child is (gulp) not very nice?

As we walked home from school yesterday, Alexandra (5) slipped her slightly sticky hand into mine. Unlike her sisters, who always run ahead with their friends, Alexandra prefers to stay with me and discuss her day...

"Emma got a haircut," she started out, now swinging my hand energetically. "It's really, really short," and there was something in the way she said this that struck me the wrong way. This was the first I had heard of Emma and I wondered if she was a new girl...

"She looks like a boy!" Alexandra exclaimed and she squelched her nose up disapprovingly.  I could just imagine my daughter and her little friends cattily discussing this haircut. My stomach dropped to my toes.

Is Blu-ray better?

I did it, I'm a Bly-ray Ambassador. With more rain and shorter days on the horizon, the lure of new Disney flicks in the new high definition Blu-ray format was just too much to ignore.

My daughters were so excited when I told them they were official "Blu-ray Ambassadors" they invited half their class over for popcorn and to watch "Hannah Montana on Blu-ray". Of course they had no idea what this meant.

Continue reading "Is Blu-ray better?"

Paris update: A big thumbs up to daddy!

So, I went to Paris this weekend and had a wonderful time with my friends (see video). When I came back -- with a slight headache -- I found daddy and the girls cuddled on the carpet playing chess, the kitchen fairly clean and the dryer droning away quietly in the background. I quickly went outside and checked the house number. Yup. Right house. To rub it in, they were all smiling contently. Didn't miss me a bit. I have to admit to being slightly annoyed: Why didn't I do this years ago??

Dear PR Person...

This is a continuation in my "Dear PR Person" series...

Dear PR Person,

I am a mummy blogger, not a reporter. I do not get paid for what I do (do you really think someone would pay me for whinging online?) Please stop asking me to do things for free, it's really starting to bug me.

Thank you,

-Susanna

So what is it with Lionel Shriver and mothers?

I recently saw Lionel Shriver speak at literary Festival. Wow. She really is bitter and twisted. But she sure can write. The woman can convey about five different meanings in just a few words. Amazing really.

If you haven't heard about Shriver, she rose to fame a few years ago when her novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, won the Orange Prize for Fiction. The book plays out every mother's nightmare ... what if you don't bond with your child and he becomes a mass murderer? I suggested it for my mummy book club once ... and I may as well asked them to have Adolf Hitler for dinner. No one wanted it talk about it. They couldn't get past the fact that Shriver wasn't a mother and was writing about something she has no experience of... (aah, but does she?)

There's something funny in the toilet mummy

Alexandra (5) shot into my room last night; it was getting close to 9.30. She does this most evenings -- her main aim to get an extra cuddle (which I'm all too happy to provide).

"Mummy, come look. There's something funny in the toilet!" Her blue eyes were quizzical instead of the usual pleading.  I couldn't help but smile at this new approach, she generally comes in saying she is thirsty and needs a glass of water or that she saw a big spider on the ceiling.

"Come ON mummy. It looks like a bag with blood on it."

I'm going to Paris. Without the kids!

It's taken me seven and a half years to get to this point: I'm going to Paris with my friends.  For three whole days and two nights. Without kids. And I don't feel one ounce of guilt!

I'm leaving our girls (7 and 1/2,5 and 4) with hubby. He's perfectly willing and capable.

However, the girls are a bit concerned.

"Mummy, what are we going to eat? Daddy only knows how to make sandwiches."

"I'm going to miss you. Who's going to do my hair for Emily's disco party?"

"Mummy, please take a picture of the eye-full tower for me."

The last comment was from our middle one, she could care less about food or the way she looks and is aware that being with daddy will mean she'll get to go to bed without washing her hair and lots of trips to Tesco for those horrible magazines with cheap plastic toys.

Meanwhile, we (six mums) have planned fancy dinners in Michelin-stared restaurants, leisurely afternoons watching Parisians from the end of a coffee cup, markets, museums, and lots of things that are hard to do with squirming kids in tow.

We leave Friday on the Eurostar and I'm not leaving any instructions. The girls know where their clothes are kept (even if daddy doesn't) and I don't care if they go McDonalds three times a day.

God only knows what I'll come home to.

Photo credit: sepblog