The Eccentric American Mama in Cumbria

"There is no experience like having children. That's all. There is no substitute for it. You cannot do it with a friend. You cannot do it with a lover. If you want the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children." Excerpt from Tuesdays With Morrie, a book I highly recommend. This was a message sent to my dear friend who is patiently waiting for her baby to be born, she is now 7 days overdue and it was her 31st birthday yesterday. Come on Baby C, eviction notice will be sent soon. Just a quick update on Cyril because I can't resist.  He now says car, with a British accent and nana for banana also with a surprising British accent. It's only surprising because I haven't lost my American accent and the only time he's not by my side is when he's sleeping. Josh said he must be picking it up from his friends, I'm pretty sure he was joking because ...

Well I think little baby Cyril is turning into little toddler Cyril. This month he started walking confidently, got his first tooth and has started putting things away. He has two new obsessions. The first is putting lids and caps on everything, taking them off and then repeating the task over and over again. It's the only time he sits still for more than 30 seconds. His second obsession is rocks. We spend a lot of time outside, despite the less than stellar weather we've had of late. After an intense crawling through the rocks session I usually scoop him up to go inside for one of his two daily naps or to give him food. I'm not sure where he stores all these rocks, but I've been finding them stashed all over the house. Under the refrigerator, in his toy box, inside cabinets and even in hobson's water bowl. I can only think he carries them inside his tiny clenched fists or his mouth, the latter being the more probable of the two theories. Naturally, Josh the geologi...

Josh quietly chuckles to himself on the settee, I don't have to ask what he's laughing to himself about because I already know. Another purchase from Amazon has come up on his Kindle account and it's a book called, Hands Free Mama. You and your self help books, more laughter, and I laugh alongside him because it is kind of funny. It began with a mindfulness and meditation class, progressed to a Happiness book, and then began venturing out towards blogs about parenting, blogs about happiness, and blogs with yummy recipes. I told Josh that I'm just furthering myself in my career, my career now being a mother to Cyril and perhaps one or two little munchkins in the future. Hands Free Mama was a recommendation from another blog I follow called, Aha Parenting. Having been a teacher I know the detrimental effects of constantly yelling and talking down at children so Aha Parenting comes up with appropriate ways to handle difficult situations that come along whilst parenting...