I intended to write a blog post about this on or around Kitty’s birthday but I just didn’t have the chance.  It’s been that kind of a year.  Those who know me, or are friends on Facebook, will be intimately acquainted with the awfulness that I and my family have been facing.  At least most of it.  For those that don’t, I will write it all down as succinctly as possible. It started on New Years Eve.  I came home from...

When I was pregnant with Kitty there was not a doubt in my mind that I was going to breast feed for as long as possible.  I was certain of it.  I was convinced that it was the most natural thing in the world and the very best thing that I could do for her.  I had friends who told me that their supply hadn’t been up to the job but I had considered that to be more about confidence than biology.  Of course you had enough milk,  everyone...

Until relatively recently, it was believed that ‘Morning Sickness’ was psychosomatic.  It was a hysterical reaction by hysterical women to a situation that they were suddenly quite frightened off. The cure was getting the hell over it. Fortunately we know a little more these days but there is still sometimes a feeling that the discomforts of pregnancy are something that women should forebear with a smile.  I understand, there...

Here’s a funny thing. There was a time when having more than one child was so normal that the decision not to have a second one needed to be defended. I know, I grew up, an only child, in that era. This week I announced that I was pregnant with my second and have been told that I am ‘brave’, even ‘crazy’. Parents with one have commented how busy they already are, as if to say that the whole thought of having two children is terrifying. It...

A friend of mine told me that Ashton Kucher, in an interview, said something to the effect that for the first year of parenting you are trying to keep them alive and for the second, you are trying to prevent them from actively killing themselves. Babies are fearless. The world, to them, is packed full of exciting things to discover and adventures to go on. They are eager just to get out there and explore. They have not yet learned the hard...