15th May 2012

The first time I was pregnant I just couldn't wait to get down to Mothercare to stock up on all the things my precious new born would surely need; Moses basket, cot, travel cot, baby seat, car seat, play mat, changing mat, changing bag, high chair, pushchair, bouncy chair, pram, and if you're a parent you'll know that this is just the start. But whilst some of this stuff is clearly useful (if not fairly important) it makes me shudder to think how many things I bought that I really didn't need.

So, here are five  things I bought when I had my first child (and then never used) :

22nd April 2012

How do you clean a CD player ‘coloured in’ with lip salve, a bed sheet ‘coloured in’ with felt tip or a face coloured in’ with an indelible marker? I am sure it wasn’t in the adoption training anywhere and believe me I’ve checked and double checked my notes and it isn’t even in the small print!

10th April 2012

How many Easter eggs have your children consumed this year? Are you of the ‘Eat them all before breakfast if you must but if you make yourself sick it’s your own fault’ school of thought, or the ‘Mummy will look after them and give you a little bit each day’ way of thinking?

16th March 2012

My school report always said the same, 'could do better' and 'must try harder', so from time to time I indulge in a little fantasy of going back in time and doing it all again. I visualise a new improved twelve year old me who does all her homework, who revises for tests, listens in class and who doesn't spend whole lessons writing notes to her best friend.

21st November 2011

It's that time of year again when children rush out of school, tumbling over themselves in their excitement to tell mums and dads what part they have in the Christmas play. One of my favourite scenes in a film is in Love Actually when, the character played by Emma Thompson, on being told that her daughter has the part of "second lobster" asks, "oh, there was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?"