My flower banner

Yay! I finally figured out how to make my own banner. Ok, I didn't really make it. I just found a website that did it for me using an illustration I drew on an app called Paper; choose a font etc etc. but it's my very own banner. I did it using this site and the app I used to draw the flowers can be found in the Apple app store.

I love the Paper app. This what what the full image looked like:

I don't get to play around on it as much as I'd like but what I do like about it is that it makes my art look so much better than it really is. That's always a good thing!

Not enough hours in the day...

...and my maternity leave is fast coming to an end. What's even more depressing is that two colleagues who went on maternity leave before me are coming back after I do. *sigh*

Even with all the help I get from my mum, I still don't manage to find time to do everything that I want to do. I'm definitely not a yummy mummy, nor can I juggle looking after two kids and do all my crocheting/scrapbooking/reading books/housework (notice how I put "me-time" first) and be all done up everyday. Most days I only just make it out of my PJs and into my jeans and that's only because I have to go pick up the Boogster, now known as EKhan, from nursery.

Anyhow, I did manage to make my little marshmallow a crochet headband. Pictures to follow. And was complimented on it at Baby Sensory class last week. She did look very cute with it on. She also did the mother of all poos whilst there - the kind that goes up the back of the nappy and requires a change of clothes! Now to finish the three other projects I've got going.

Milk on demand

I have breast-fed just about everywhere: in the car; in a Size? changing room; disabled toilets; on a sofa in the middle of M&S; at a party held in a hotel hall (had to find a little nook and turn to face the wall as there was nowhere else that was discreet enough); Costco...the list goes on. And I've seen all manner of breast-feeding paraphernalia from butterflies to almost curtain rod like contraptions. I have to admit I got drawn in by the breast feeding butterfly and bought one from EBay for a tenner. It was the fact that it covered your back and sides while you fed that hooked me in. I had managed by always making sure I wore a camisole underneath my t-shirts to maintain some modicum of modesty.  I had my chance to try it when I was at my cousin's place and my little marshmallow wanted a feed.

Much as I loved the concept I found it difficult to use. It restricted me in such a way that I could not adjust the baby on the side where it was stitched to cover my side. I could adjust her on the open side but couldn't get my arm in to move her around on the other. I suppose I could have adjusted her from outside of the butterfly but I felt like I was smothering her. At home all I use when my brother is around is a scarf. That's when it came to me...a scarf snood would do the trick. I was going to make myself one by just sewing two ends of a fairly large scarf  together when I found some in my local Primark. Good old Primark. It only cost £4. I now keep it my handbag for when my little daughter decides she needs a feed in public and it gives me the peace of mind knowing I don't always have to ask shops if I can use their changing rooms (especially in places like Covent Garden). I have to say though, if you ever find yourself in Westfield in Shepherds Bush, the parents rooms are amazing - the ones in the Stratford one aren't too shabby either.

Wheels in motion

Two weeks after having my baby, I began to apply for teaching jobs in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha. I must have applied to about ten with no success. That was until about last week when I finally head back from a school in Doha. I was over the moon - and terrified. I had an interview and I had only ever had experience of one interview in the last six years. Luckily, I was given a time frame in which to choose the day of my interview. That gave me time to do all the research I needed to do on the types of interview questions I might be asked as well as doing some background work on the school and living in Qatar.

The interview went really well, only there is a slight problem. Were I to be given the job, I would not be able to sponsor my husband. Imagine my frustration at that piece of information. I finally had an interview, it went really well and then unless my husband found a job there himself and sponsored me, I would not be able to sponsor him. The interviewers were really good though. They told me to send my hubby's CV and they would see if they could offer him non-teaching job. So lets see what happens. I really hope it works out because I so need the change.

Time flying by

Where does the time go? I keep meaning to blog more often but get so caught up in everyday life it's hard finding time for it. And yet, when I think about what I have been doing all day, it seems like I've not been doing anything at all! How can that be?
My little daughter is already 14 weeks old and I'm beginning to think about when a good time to back to work is. I'll probably have to go back in June which is much sooner than I hoped but with the way things are panning out it'll have to be that soon. With two kids, working full time isn't viable. Ideally, I would just be a housewife but we need to save for our own place so part time teaching will become necessary. According to the Borough I work for, I have to work for 13 consecutive weeks at my current contracted hours in order to keep my Occupational maternity pay if I then decide to leave. Luckily for me, the summer holidays count.
I've been enjoying my time off. More now than the first time round. I think it's easier the second time round because you know what to expect. You take things in your stride. Before I used to be so scared to just the little one out. What if he needed breast-feeding? Where do I change his nappy if there aren't any proper places to change him? (The car, for both questions, as that's my usual mode of transport). I've taken up Baby Sensory classes and Baby Signing. It's nice to meet other parents and just get out of the house for a bit. I didn't think I needed it the last time round but have become much more open to baby activities. It's good for those times when you think you're the only person going through the joys and trials of motherhood and then find there are so many others in the same boat.
I'd like to slow time down for a few months, please.