The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Week 22

I WAS CHATTING to a good friend the other day and she asked me if I ever had one of those days when you feel as though you’re failing at, well, everything? 

Jackie Anderson's Christmas recipes: Making your own Christmas Cake

THIS IS the cake I have made for years and is fool proof as well as being the best tasting Christmas cake I make, despite me being swayed to try something different now and again. I have made ...

The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Week 21

THERE’S NOT much worse than seeing one of your kids sick. The next worst thing is being sick yourself. The best thing to do would be to crawl into bed with a Lemsip and a ...

The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Week 20

WHAT A CLASS WEEKEND. The first time James and I have spent an entire evening together without babies in two-and-a-half years! To say I was slightly nervous at the notion of being away from the ...

The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Week 19

THE TERRIBLE TWOS are well and truly underway. Just when I thought I had it under control and had discovered what tactics worked, Jamie has dished out a whole new set of meltdowns. 

The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Weeks 17 & 18

WHAT AN AMAZING FORTNIGHT it has been! We have managed to survive a trip to Edinburgh in one weekend to visit the family and then celebrated Lily’s christening the following weekend. To say it has ...

The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Week 16

I READ AN ARTICLE on Facebook this week about stay-at-home mums. A very interesting article entitled If Stay At Home Mums Were Paid Their Salary Would Be $143K Per Year. 

Yes – you ...

Some corner of a foreign field: a battlefield tour worth making

FOR SOMEONE who spent twenty years in the British Army I have done very few battlefield tours. Waterloo, as part of the Army Staff College course was one, and the Arras Counterattack of 1940 with ...

The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Week 15

THANKFULLY this week we were back to normal after Jamie’s sick episode. Screaming matches, running around the house butt-naked, hiding the car keys, climbing on everything, slamming doors and generally wrecking the house. Yes - ...

The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Week 14

I THOUGHT THAT sending Jamie to creche was the hardest thing I’ve had to do. I was wrong. The hardest thing is seeing your baby sick and there’s nothing you can do about it. That, ...

The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Week 13

WELL, IT’S OFFICIAL! I’ve been outsmarted by a two-year-old. My mistake? Treating my toddler like he has the intelligence of a baby. He’s not a baby – he’s a toddler! Boss baby doesn’t even have ...

The sad truth about Pablo Picasso and the need for true standards

DEAR READERS, It has been some time since I have last written. My apologies. The delay, and an inability to the find the time, were caused directly by my work outside in the challenging Scottish weather last Winter. We did not experience a ...