Slap me...I'm a mum!

Before you say it, no, it's not because sometimes I forget. It's just that sometimes I forget the weight of it. Remember I went clubbing on Saturday? Well while I was out I could not help but think what would my son think if he saw me now. What a way the tables have turned? It really was not that long ago when I was thinking what MY mum and dad would be thinking.

All my friends AND my husbands friends are all doing it...having kids. We are all at different stages some with toddlers and some with newborns and one just born on Saturday. Conversation is inevitably at some point about our children and how they are getting on. I slowly made it through the fog of the first six weeks and the baby blues. I slowly got over the guilt of stopping to breastfeed after 2 months (ok, maybe I still have niggly guilty feelings every now and again). I slowly got into a routine with my son, recognising when he's hungry or when he's just tired. I felt comfortable and confident going out and about with him and we survived our first plane journey together. Sometimes you feel so confident you start offering friends advice based on "experience". Not that it's all plain sailing. I'm going back to work, my son is starting nursery and he does not want to sleep there or take his milk from strangers and so we find ourselves rehashing our routine again.

Then it hits me, usually when I am just about to go to sleep. I have a son. I have responsibility. He could want to be anything when he grows up and I can affect that. My sister told me a great philosophy...choose your battles...so she let her son pierce his ear and dye his hair blonde. Then hubby says to me but what if they feel then that they are not rebelling and do something even more extravagant. Do children really think that way? So all you seasoned mums out there, if you hear me saying something silly or well just downright stupid, slap me! or maybe just a nice gentle slap on the back.