Family…

I wasn’t going to write a post today.

I’m in the midst of packing for diabetes camp. I was up 5 times last night alternately adding insulin, then sugar to my daughter’s sleeping form. Bloody hormones are screwing with her big time.

I lay awake last night thinking about teenage growth spurts, puberty, and what might lie in store for the next couple of years. Then I realised that the timing of said girl hormone patterns are going to clash perfectly with another hormonal phenomenon in this house. Menopause. Oh God. I can almost see the boys packing up a suitcase and renting a small flat down the road for the duration.

I haven’t showered yet.

I have, however, completed a supermarket shop, fed the hamster, washed a duvet, and got my son to the swimming pool, all before 8.15am. I have googled a recipe for cake pops to make for the charity bake sale tomorrow, chucked out the festering flowers that were giving the kitchen an air of je ne sais quoi, and remembered to set a series link for Game of Thrones.

I have performed the daily ritual of surgically removing the iPhone from my child’s hand, and found yet another ingenious hiding place for it. I have restocked on Calpol (and wine), made sure there’s a vegetable in the fridge for later, and delivered the bathroom sink from its nail polish blockage.

I was planning a latte after I’d finished all this, not a blog post.

But then I saw this:

I scanned the list, but I wasn’t on there. I was a bit gutted. I love the BiBs; I’m not always on the shortlist, but I have been in the past; I’ve even won the ‘Laugh’ award before now. It’s an awesome night. I told some friends “Bit gutted actually…” I know I shouldn’t care, it’s only a blogging award, but I do. It’s not only a blogging award. It’s an immense honour as a blogger, and I miss not being part of it.

Nutter” came the reply. “Of course you are!” 

“What? Wait? Where?” I don’t fit any more in the categories. I’m not funny enough these days – there are sad things to write about too. There’s no ‘School’ category. I write about travel, but it’s not all I write about. I work hard at my photos, but there are so many who are better than me. I post sweet videos occasionally, but I’m not a vlogger. Where??

Family. That’s what my blog is about now. The ups and downs; the school stuff, the stuff with friends, the diabetes stuff, the growing up stuff, the teenage, the tween, the child; the mum and dad trying to fill their family life with memories and joys to offset the inevitable crap that happens to any family. The mayhem and chaos, the winging it that no-one ever sees, the missed sleep.

How did I miss it?

I’m in the Family category of the BiBs because my niche these days is family. I couldn’t not write about that.

My panda eyes and scraggy hair will just have to wait. My kids don’t care about that anyway.ory.

Now, where did I leave the hamster?

15 thoughts on “Family…”

  1. whoop whoop, so pleased to see you there, of course Family is the right place for you, though your blog is consitently excellent you could be in any category.

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  2. So happy to see you made the shortlist Helen. Family is the perfect category for you. Good luck at the awards x

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  3. Congratulations, Helen. And such a lovely post. I did the same as you … I saw a couple of my friends’ blogs listed and popped online to congratulate them and mentioned that I was a little bit sad not to be included this year. Karen (Mini Travellers) pointed out what a massive idiot I am and that my name was under photo. So thrilled x

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  4. Ha, I had a similar experience yesterday. I’d asked to be nominated in a different category, was told I needed to check the list, was mildly disappointed not to find my name for the award I was hoping for (very much in hope rather than expectation!) and then scrolled down to the bottom and found myself on the shortlist for Readers’ Choice which, now I think about it, I’ve realised fits my blog to a ‘T’ (i.e. writes a load of random crap about random stuff).

    So, now what? I’m comoletely unprepared for this!

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  5. I know exactly what you mean! I scanned the list myself yesterday when I first woke up – and sort shrugged an ‘oh well’. Then I read more carefully to see which of my favourites were there – and then I saw me, in Video! Family does perfectly sum up your blog now. Good luck Helen – so glad to see your blog there xx

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  6. Congrats Helen, well deserved. You’ve simply made the leap from the early days of parenting when it’s all about the kids and parenting to the bliss when their slightly older and you start to get your life back and that to me is when we really become a “FAMILY” xx

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