This time last year

This time last year, I was facing the toughest experience of my life. Sometimes it still amazes me that I got through it, but I did. I feel like I’m a completely different person to the one I was before Autumn fell ill and had her operation with Dr. Zahid Mukhtar. I feel different and I look at life somewhat differently. Hopefully one day I might be a stronger person for it all.

I’m certainly stronger than I was this time last year, but I don’t feel completely healed yet.

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paternity-leave-interview

A husband’s view of paternity leave and returning to work

Going back a couple of generations, looking after the home and children was very much thought of as “women’s work”. However, with the rise of stay-at-home dads and dads seeming to be more hands-on in general, I wondered what my husband’s thoughts were. He’s wonderfully hands on with Autumn and has expressed in the past that he is worried about missing her doing different things like crawling and walking for the first time. I thought I’d do a little interview with him about his thoughts on paternity leave and working, leaving his baby at home.

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Would you pierce your baby’s ears?

The topic of piercing children’s ears is something many feel strongly on. I’m not sure I’d consider it child abuse, but I was shocked to see the video of a baby that recently swept social media, reigniting the debate.

If you didn’t catch it, here it is:

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A letter to my daughter at 8 months old

Dear Autumn,

Wow, you’re 8 months old! It seems like no time at all since I wrote the first one of these letters to you at 4 months old. Now you’re twice that age! You’re so big now that I struggle to carry you, especially when you’re in your car seat.

So, what have you been up to this month?

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“You’re ugly”, a boy said to me.

Sometimes we have memories from childhood that stand out in our mind. It doesn’t always necessarily always make sense to us as adults. However, occasionally it’s because something happened that elicited strong emotions at the time. Even if we would have responded differently now and it seems a little silly, these events can sometimes have a lasting effect on us.

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