Oxford Mail

My name is Catherine and I am mum to Noah, or the bear as we call him (because he growls at things –lions fine, but also hedges, cars and birds). We live in Oxford with Mr Dad.

The bear arrived in August 2008, a month early and taking us all by surprise, having just come down from the stepladder the night before, I had been busy putting the finishing touches to the redecoration of our house (I blame the nesting instinct).

Mr Dad works hard, commuting to London for his job, so every minute with the bear is precious. I run my own PR company, working a three day week, leaving as much quality family time as possible, but at the same time working hard to build up a successful business and make the best future for our family.

We have a lot of fun, and through my mummy blog share the tears, tantrums and truly magical moments of parenthood – and maybe in time, the arrival or a little brother or sister for the bear.

My little space explorer at Little Dudes Disco

Today me and Grandma took Noah to Little Dudes Disco at Christchurch Hall on Northcourt Road in Abingdon - the theme was space explorers! We missed the last one so we were really excited about today, although a shame that Daddy was working. He'll definitely want to come to the next one - it was brilliant!

A trip to the Natural History Museum

On Monday we took Noah to The Natural History Museum in Oxford. A great snow day activity – and far more cosy in there than I expected of a vast stone museum full of old bones. Maybe the dinosaurs like to be snug.

Merry Christmas everyone

Well it’s Christmas Eve already and the chaos is about to start. I’m really excited because we’re hosting this year for the first time; we’ve never had the space before, but having moved in the summer, everyone is coming to us for Christmas and Boxing Day.

Is it ever ok for mother and baby to park in a disabled space?

A few weeks ago, during the swine flu outbreak that struck down my husband and son, I had to stop at Tesco in Abingdon to pick up some pain killers (having stropped out of Tesco at Didcot theatrically after the pharmacist was mean to me).

What will come of family snaps?

On Friday we headed over to the leisure centre in Abingdon to meet a friend for Creepy Crawlies. She’s a friend I made through the baby café at the children’s centre on Northcourt Road – I started going there when Noah was only a few weeks old, and being so close to our house, it became like a second home for a while.

First baby stand off

I met up with some girlfriends at Snakes and Ladders in Abingdon yesterday – a safe option when you want to give your children the chance to let off steam, catch up with friends and not have to host or clean up the mess afterwards.

When swine flu came to stay

Isn’t it funny how when faced with a drama or crisis we develop super human strength? New energy. Renewed drive. For the past two nights the bear literally hasn’t slept, so after a quick power nap at 6am I woke feeling shattered. Absolutely and miserably dog tired.

But what if I don't love him

In my first blog I talked a bit about the surprises pregnancy brought, and I can't believe I forgot the very common condition of constantly needing to pee. It's 3am and you're trying to force yourself to ignore the annoying calls from your bladder to go. You wouldn't be quite so eggy if you hadn't been at 2.53am, 2.29am, 1.47am.... Anyway, moving swiftly on.

Starting from the beginning

15 months after giving birth to our tiny little boy Noah, and I really can't believe we're going to be celebrating our second Christmas as a family in the not so distant future...