New Year, New Tips: How to get out of the house on time.

Wondering how to get out of the house on time in the morning with two children to get ready as well as yourself?

I've finally worked this one out. Unfortunately the biggest contributing factor to success is waking up at a sufficiently early hour. When the children having been waking up in the night, it's all to tempting to stay in bed until they wake up. Especially when their usual hour of waking is about 6am! I find that sleeping in with them when they choose to, results in a more rested mummy, but requires huge speed to catch up and get out of the door! So I guess it's your call.

In our house I have worked out that I need to have both children downstairs eating breakfast by 7am at the latest. Then it's upstairs to change and dress the youngest whilst the eldest plays; into the shower by 7.30am, out by 7.45am, dress eldest and myself by 7.50am, makeup by 7.55am and downstairs by 8am. If I hit the 8am target I can then dry my hair properly whilst they play for a while, check we have the bags ready, get shoes, coats, hats, scarfs and gloves on, and get them out of the door by 8.30am. By the time I've dropped them off at respective nurseries and driven to work it's 9.15/9.30am if I'm lucky.

For those of you without children this will sound like a ridiculously long time to be awake before arriving at work! Up at 6.30am. At work by 9.30am? That's 3 hours for goodness sake!

Yes; and you'll often spend 20 minutes repeatedly putting on stubborn child's coat because the second you turn your back they've taken it off. Which fool designed a coat with 'poppers' down the front? Probably a pal of the mummy who keeps dressing the child in said coat because it's pretty and goes in the washing machine easily!

Other tricks to reduce 'crazy' moments in the morning include:

• Laying out your makeup, contact lenses, perfume, and work outfit, the night before; ensuring to select shoes, lingerie and jewelry that work with the outfit as well. I've been caught out all too often, having selected a white shirt for work the night before, only to find in the morning that the required white bra is in the wash!
• Packing the children's bags with spare outfits, nappies, hats/scarfs/gloves, etc the night before and placing by the front door,
• Selecting the children's outfits the night before. (I fail on this one more often than not!)

I'm also finding that allowing the elder to 'help' with my makeup actually speeds things up. She just gets to put a tiny dab of neutral eyeshadow on for me (gently!) and will stand waiting patiently for her makeup moment for a good few minutes, allowing the rest of the makeup to go on without hitch.

I hope some of that helps!? And if you have any other helpful tips on the morning rush, let me know!

Happy New Year!

Unsurprisingly, I didn't get two minutes in December to update the blog. December was chaos, but fun. For the first time in years we put our tree up at the start of December. It was lovely. Just by being there the tree gently eased us into the Christmas spirit.

And wow - we got a white Christmas! I can't remember the last time that happened. I might be old fashioned, but a layer of snow on the ground makes Christmas day just about perfect.... along with that glass of sherry of course. (Yes I am really an 80 year old trapped in the body of a 30+ year old)

The only down side of December was the constant illness that we seem to have had in the house. Both children just haven't been sleeping. Runny noses, coughs, teething pains, and night-time potty training, have all contributed to sleepless nights. So if anyone has any advice on night-time training, I could do with the help. The elder wants to do it, and doesn't like pull-up nappies anymore. But she also doesn't want to get out of bed when it's really cold at night. Help!

As far as the looking 'yummy' task is concerned. Christmas did help. I now have a fabulous new dress and new boots. My next task is too make more of an effort to get fit. Although I don't feel particularly fat; I know I am a good two stone heavier than I was when I was dancing full-time. And I definately don't have the energy I used to. So it's about getting healthy. Yes.... I know it's a huge cliche - a new year dawns and everyone hits the diets. But for me, I think it's more about hitting the dance floor. So I need to find a good dance class that is aerobically difficult, technically difficult, and not miles away. Hmmm. I guess I'd better start the research then!

Happy new year everyone!

We'll add it to your Christmas list dear!

Our elder said to her dad, "can I have a car please?"

"I think we'll need to ask Santa Claus" was his swift reply. It was August.

She regularly flicks through the Early Learning catalogue pointing at toys and saying "we've got that", "I want that one, Mummy", "And that one, Mummy". "Got that". "Got that". " I want that one, Mummy". So we started trying to manage her expectations. "If you've been a good girl you might get one or two presents off your list. We'll write a list for Santa when it's nearly Christmas." The delaying tactics seemed to be working, and she'd definately got the idea that she won't get everything she asks for.

It's surprising how much a three year old thinks though. Last week her dad told her that if she's a very very very good girl she'd perhaps get three presents off her list. There was a short pause.

"Daddy", she said in that drawn out way that children have perfected, "if I'm a very very very very good girl, can I have four presents?" Caught by surprise, he laughed.

"Yes dear, if you're a very very very very good girl you may get four presents at Christmas." There was another pause.

"Daddy". She said again.

"Yes".

"If I'm a very very very very very......." He interrupted;

"No!" he said laughing "No more than four presents, because Santa has not got enough room in his sledge."

"Oh!....OK" she said (with amazing acceptance).

Another pause.

"Daddy, if you're a very good boy, will you get presents for Christmas?"

"Yes dear, I hope so".

"You'd like a Barbie wouldn't you Daddy, and then you can share with me."

Yummy Mummy has Potential?

It would appear that going back to work was the kick I needed to get my act together on the 'looking good' front. I suddenly seem to have carved out a 5 minute slot to do my makeup in the morning. My makeup? I've never worn makeup before and now I've started I've realised I can't stop - or the new people I now work with will suddenly realise quite how flawed I am without it. Don't get me wrong. I don't wear much. But I've discovered tinted moisturiser, and for a woman that has never, ever, worn foundation or concealer, this product is a miracle find. It gives even coverage without leaving me feeling like I'm wearing a mask.

Oh my goodness; I'm talking about makeup! What has happened?

I've also worked out; as a result of a mammoth 'trying on' session; that 80% of my wardrobe that actually fits me is smart work-wear, and the rest is really only slob-around-the-house wear. No wonder I was struggling to find decent (washable) clothes to wear whilst looking after the kids.

So now I have a shopping challenge. Nice clothes for childcare. Pity really. I was going to argue the case for new shoes for work - but it looks like I don't need any! I doubt that'll stop me!

Maybe it isn't such a stretch to becoming a yummy mummy after all? Now all I need to do is find a 5 minute slot to actually do some exercise on that lovely jelly belly. Mmmmmm.

No wonder I have to write everything down!

I clearly have too much on my mind. I started back at work this week, and whilst it's exciting, and great to be 'me' again for a few days each week, I appear to be losing my ability to think properly.

We left our freezer slightly open for, we think, a couple of days, before noticing it wasn't shut properly. So, as you'd expect, a whole load of food had to be thrown away, because even if it was OK, you just know I'd worry that it wasn't. OK, I hear you say, what's that got to do with not thinking? After all, anyone could make that mistake. You haven't heard the worst yet. Leaving the door open had ensured that it looked like there'd been a snowstorm in there; so I put down some towels, propped the door open, and left it to defrost.

The freezer is in the garage. It's one of two (don't ask). I went into the garage today to grab some food from the still-working freezer and happened to glance at the one I was defrosting. It was still frosty.

Hmm. I thought. That's taking a while. I suppose it has been cold the last few days though (our garage is freezing anyway.) And it took my brain a good couple of minutes to shout up enough for me to realise that it was still frosty because it was still turned on. The freezer door is wide open and I appear to be trying to freeze my entire garage. I dread to think what the electricity bill will look like.

I turned it off.

I think maybe I need more sleep.