I am Simply Drying your Hair Mum

Drying your hair.
Tonight, it is different, Drying your hair.

My heart, it is breaking, while you just sit there.

This is so normal, you really don’t see

What’s different about sitting up on my knee.
I comb it. And where you would usually cry, 

You don’t, you’re distracted and I wonder why

This troubles me suddenly, makes my heart hurt?

“That’s my big girl” I say, and that’s when I start.
I turn on the hairdryer, and then they begin

And for each strand that dries, another tear wins.

I’m sobbing, and sobbing, I let them pour down,

You stare at the telly, snug in your nightgown.
Completely oblivious to the mess right behind you,

Who struggles to breath as your hair falls around you.

It’s shiny and finished, but I keep on drying

Glad that you haven’t yet noticed me crying.
The comb puts in order the long strands of gloss,

Mummy puts in order her feeling of loss,

For while I am proud of you every day,

I know that a baby, you simply can’t stay.
I turn off the dryer and dry up my tears.

I cuddle you tightly and whisper in your ear.

“Your hair is so pretty and I love you so”,

You smile and hug tighter and answer “I know”.
So, drying your hair it was different this time

And yes, I’m being silly, I know you’ll be fine.

And while you’ll soon want to dry your own hair maybe,

You’ll always be this Mummy’s Beautiful Baby. 

I am Soooo a Finalist Mum!

​Ok.

I have news…
Who would like to celebrate with S-Mum on this Tuesday evening? 
 Guess who is a Littlewoods Ireland Blog Awards 2016 FINALIST?
In BOTH categories! 😲😲😲

I’m fricken gobsmacked Ladybelles.

Thank you to everyone who voted for me.  I truly appreciate ALL of your support.πŸ’—
When I was nominated, I was chuffed.  Getting long-listed and then shortlisted was one surprise after another, but this is AMAZING!


Now, there is the small matter of an awards ceremony in Dublin on the 15th.
Wtf does one wear to a Circus themed party? πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
I’m about to start the sticking on of the labels on the school stuff for Mini-Me here.  I shall now be doing so while looking like the Cheshire Cat. πŸ˜‚


And I think I deserve a wee drinkeepoo, don’t you?
Cheers Supermums. πŸ·πŸ’—πŸ·πŸ’—πŸ·πŸ’—πŸ·
#LWIBloggies #LWIBlogawards2016 #LWIBloggies2016 #SMum #finalist

I am Start-getting-organised Mum!

​So it’s time to get organised!
Tonighy, I am too exhausted to be wittiful or funniful, but I do hope to be slightly helpful. 😚
I started using this techniqueπŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡ when Mini-Me began attending NaΓ­onra last year.  
Mornings are very stressful in every house, and while this won’t guarantee peaceful Little-House-on-the-Prairie scenes of family love and  peace and zen, it REALLY helps.
I put her clothes, clean vest, pants and socks in to each one and used the bottom drawer for shoes.  

Now that she’ll be in a uniform, it’ll be the underwear really, and her PE gear will be in whichever day she needs it.  

If you can get them into the habit of putting their shoes in once they are taken off, it saves THE BIGGEST NIGHTMARE each morning…the “GO AND GET YOUR FECKING SHOES!” debacle? (Drives me insane! πŸ˜‚)
I was desperate to get some calm and routine into our house, so thought it was worth a try.

It was.
It helped HER to take a little bit of responsibility for herself.  πŸŒŸ

 It helps instil an understanding of the days of the week as well as word recognition. 🌟

  It makes them feel grown up and most importantly, it made ME get organised!πŸ˜‚
For the first few weeks, I was Mary Fricken Poppins on a Sunday night. πŸ˜‚  It didn’t last long, but I did remain in the habit of making sure that the drawer was full at bedtime each night. 

And it really did make mornings SOOOOOO much more relaxed. (I ALMOST bought one for myself! πŸ˜‚)
Right now, it’s full of bibs and cloth nappies and God Knows What, but tomorrow we are going to make colourful new labels, because in fairness, compared to these πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡ two aesthetically pleasing examples, my white decorated with a Sharpie attempt (top right! 😣😣) is a bit shite isn’t it? 


So try it!

These drawers are easily found, and already in most homes, and to be honest, sticking labels on the wardrobe or chest of drawers they already have,works just as well!  

 Get them to help you make the labels so they have ownership of the whole project.
Kiddies are clever and love structure.

Mammies are desperate and love calm.
Give it a go and let me know how you find it? Or share YOUR tips for Magically-Mayhem-Free Mornings?
S-Mum πŸ˜™

​It’s here.
It’s horrid.

But, like everything, it’s happening whether I like ot or not, so I have to pull up my “Big Girl” knickers and get over it. πŸ˜‚πŸ’—πŸ˜‚
It’s the night before I finally add “outside of the hoouse” work to all the “Stay at home Mum” work I already do.  

Over the past week, more than a few people have said things like “You’ll be glad to get back into routine”, “Sure you’ve been off for AGES,” and even “It’ll give you something to do again”.  It seems to be assumed that being at home with two kids is simply an extended holiday; easy peasy.
What people often forget is that when a Mammy (or Daddy indeed) goes back to work, none of the “SAHM” work goes away.  

It just gets ADDED to. 

The cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping, surviving… It’s simply condensed into LESS TIME.πŸ˜₯πŸ˜₯
And that’s before the playing, teaching, growing, reading, and loving that our kids need from us.
Being a SAHM is hard work.

Working AND being a Mum is hard work.

Because, technically, we’re both.  Although we go out to another building to do our jobs for a few hours a day, we’re still also Stay at home Mums, because Mums NEVER switch off! 
My Mum has been a SAHM for 35 years.  She’s the hardest worker I know and her “career” was and still is,  us.  

She never got a sick day. She rarely even gets a “Her day”.  

Her salary?

 Slobbers and smiles and a few successful “Proud Mammy” moments along the way. πŸ˜…πŸ˜πŸ˜

  Each of us owes who we are and what we’re achieving every day, TO HER, WORKING to be everything we needed.  She’s raised 6 of us and is now helping us to raise OUR babies.  She might not have had to answer to a boss or fill out paperwork or wear a uniform, but she left her job to do THE single most important job in the world…full time.
And while I would give ANYTHING to give my girls the same dedication and security, I can’t.

 That’s just life. 
I know from my short maternity leaves from my job, how absolutely heart wrenchingly lonely being a SAHM can sometimes be.  When the only conversation you’ve had in a day was with a grumpy, tantruming toddler or a Babby whose vocabulary stretches only to “Dadada”; when you answer Mr. FECKIN TUMBLE, OUT LOUD; πŸ˜… (admit it Ladybelles, we’ve ALL done it!), then you know the importance of companionship, of colleagues, of friends.
I can’t imagine what it was like for Mums before social media etc. 

 One of the few things I am genuinely looking forward to is spending some time with my colleagues. 

I’m lucky to work with real friends. They’ve stayed in touch and kept me included in the year I’ve been off.  For that alone, I’m blessed.
My biggest fear tonight is how my Brain is going to cope with all the EXTRA stuff: the new routine, the work, the prep, the marking, the stress, the Mini-Me at Big school, the tiredness, the THINKING.  How I’m going to FIT all of that, (even though it’s what I’ve done for 15 years without a thought! ), into my head on top of the mayhem of our Crazy frog lifestyle as it is, I DO NOT KNOW.
And yet I will.

(There may be a grape shortage in the next 6 months, just to warn you! πŸ˜…πŸ·)
By tomorrow night, I’ll feel like I was NEVER away. I know I’ll soon get back into the swing of things. I’ll manage, like every Mummy with a job does.

  I’ll feel guilty every day. I’ll hate leaving.  I’ll have days where I function on no sleep.  I’ll have days where I’m at work wishing I was at home with my girls.  I’ll constantly remind myself that I’m working for THEM; because reality doesn’t allow me to stretch this precious maternity leave for even another day.


So while I spend most of today sobbing like a twat everytime I looked at Princess and Mini-Me, I also had a lovely day with them.  The Him even took a bit of time away from Jim to join us. πŸ•΅ Jim is probably huffing tonight, but SOMETIMES Crazy,  Highly emotional Wife is more important! πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
We spent a blissful afternoon at Oakfield Park, visited lovely friends and then I came home and burned the dinner while Princess found a marker and drew ALL OVER HER FECKIN FACE! 😣😣😣


So yes, a significant but pretty normal day really…
Finished obviously with a little tipple, to celebrate having had the chance to be a SAHM for even a while, and to make myself feel a little bit bloody better about going back to my “other job” tomorrow.
Bubbles it is.

Cheers to the working parents, both in the workplace and in the home. 

You’re FABLIS. XXXXX 
SAHM πŸ˜™πŸ˜™

I am Satisfaction of a List Mum!

​
Today is a LIST day.
I love lists.
Lists make me sooooo happy, especially as I score through items on it as I achieve/overcome/do them.
The type of list I make each morning is usually a manifestation of my subconscious intentions for the day.

Example:

Yesterday’s list didn’t even get written.

 Had I written it, it would have simply said.

β—‹ Keep children entertained and fed using WHATEVER is in the house.

β—‹ Play on floor

β—‹ AVOID doing ANYTHING of importance

β—‹ Remain in SlummyMummy mode all day.  DO NOT BRUSH HAIR.

β—‹ Watch edumacational TV.  Peppa-Stoopid-Pig counts today

β—‹ Ignore all housework

β—‹ Remain in Cavewomanesque denial of countdown to reality…

β—‹ Get minions to bed and Him fed in time to quietly watch Rosey Tralee. Do not roll eyes, snaughle, tut, swear or comment on Tweeter.  Comment only on gunas… Don’t be a bitch. You’re just jealous because you were never a Rosey.
You get the gist. Yesterday was crap…and yet blissful. 

Parenthood eh?
Today the list is full of VERY important things that I have been avoiding.


The most excitingful thing is Prom.

Yes.

You see correctly.

PROM! πŸ’—πŸ’—

Not MY PROM, OBVIOUSLY!

(That was NOTHING to get excited about…cringe!)
One of my favourite perks of the job is getting to go to PROM EVERY YEAR. 

Myself and the other usual suspect cool and “Downwiththekids” TeacherTypes go every year to see our little babbies step into the big bad world. 

Butterflies I tell you.

And it is always a great night of emotional fun.
Tonight, I’ll be driving so shall be Sensible and Ladybellelike.

Tomorrow, I’ll be happy I drove! πŸ˜…
Now, off my arse I get.

There are words on this list that need a big defiant LINE scored through them.

I swear it’s one of the most exciting and satisfying actions in life.
How utterly, terribly sad… πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
Any exciting plans for today?
#SMum #lists #blog