The Dower Family

In the last week around here there has been launched by me a "war on defiance". But, like the "war on terror" and "war on drugs" it seems that while there may be minor victories scored occasionally, there is never really going to be any true winner. I think the reason I've been so caught up in trying to stamp out any dodgy behaviour is that I've been working toward this point for nine months now and was hoping that the arrival of the new baby would see us with a two and a half year old boy who went to sleep without any fuss, stayed in his bed all night without calling out to me (pat me mummy, read me a story without pictures mummy, there's a monster mummy) and recognised the importance of a day nap. And despite there being times over the past nine months when Ollie has been capable of all of these things, it seems that now is just not that time. There have been plenty of tears on both of our parts over the past week or so but I have now rea

The title of this week's blog offers a number of excuses for not bothering to put a blog out last week. And given that I am having a baby next week I can't imagine anyone is going to be too critical of me. It certainly has gotten significantly tougher in the last week just to be me - especially chasing an energetic toddler around as well. Sleep is pretty sketchy at the moment for me so I'm not so secretly hoping that instead of flowers (which, lets be honest are a pretty big waste of money anyway, unless they are made out of chocolate!) people send me to the hospital baskets of things like YSL's Touche Eclat and other miracle potions which will cover the massive dark circles that have settled permanently in under my eyes! One thing I can't complain about though is how wonderful Nick has been lately. He is totally encouraging me to be the laziest housewife in the world and has taught Ollie to tell me to "take it easy mummy". Ollie has embraced this qui

Life has been pretty busy around here in the last week. Between trying to kick off a new little business (if you haven't already done so, check it out at facebook.com/minimayhemtshirts), chasing around an increasingly opinionated little boy and trying to cram as many social events as we can into our last few weeks as a known quantity - you could definitely say it has been hectic. One of the many activities I have had on was a lovely baby shower thrown for me by my lovely Sam & Rachel. It was a nice chance to catch up with a few friends without having to worry about chasing small children around and actually having some adult conversation. I was quite spoilt with lovely gifts too which was very kind - most of them for the baby (I had no idea they made such cute and tiny little girly shoes) but a few decadent ones for me too. Ollie didn't miss out on all the fun though, having Audrey and Henry around for a playdate with the daddies looking after them. The house was surpr