The sweetest things

Who would have ever thought that the sweetest things in life would be ...

Tiny hats with rabbit ears

Little striped scarves

Fleecy pink miniature boots

Baby-sized jeans with the cuffs rolled up

A pink duffel coat, just the right size for a Tiger

Sandwiches cut into crustless squares

Wiping a little snuffly nose

Peekaboos with towelling bibs

Tickling sweet baby feet until laughter comes

Four perfect white teeth

The feel of the softest fingers in the world, stroking your cheek

The sound of the word "Mum".

Who needs money, cars, clothes, gadgets, fancy restaurants, posh hotels, expensive food. All I want is my Tiger and all her little sweetnesses.

Nothing else is important.

Nothing else is as simply, blissfully lovely.

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

Flu, Goo, Poo ...

There is no actual poo in this post. It was just alliterative. 

Okay, that's a lie. There has been poo in the past few days, of course, but it's kind of paled into insignificance when compared with the other *stuff* oozing out of my Tiger.

Snot, mainly. Also, eye gunk. Soooo much eye gunk. Oh and enough slobber to flood Launceston.

Tiger has caught my flu. And is teething. All at once.

AND ...

It's not so bad, really. Crazily, bizarrely, DISTURBINGLY, Tiger seems completely nonplussed by all of the gloop and sore gums and such. She's in absolutely sky-high spirits in fact, despite the fact that a tooth actually cut through today and her little body is the snuffliest and gunkiest it's ever been.

She had a bit of a funny day yesterday, napwise, but that's about the extent of the drama.

I say this with all fingers and toes crossed, of course, but so far my little Valkyrie Warrior Superhero Rockstar is just powering on.

Meanwhile, I want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head and eat chocolate until my own flu dies a hopefully swift death.

I swear, this little girl is my hero. She is so courageous and happy. From now on, I'm taking my cues from her. 

Flu? Poo to you, flu. Goo? Poo to goo too! Life is awesome and beautiful and SWEET and full of laughs and sammitches and butterflies and flowers and birds and CUSTARD.

Flu! We see you! And we are not taking any notice of you. Because we are warriors. And we refuse to acknowledge anything in this life that is NOT LOVELY!

So there.

~ Love, Miss Cackle x (and Tiger the Valkyrie Warrior)

Ahhh the serenity ...

Tiger, Daddy Bear and I went to Riverside Drive at the weekend.

We went to stay with Poppy S and Nanna L-L. Poppy S had been VERY EXCITED about seeing the girl he calls "The Poppet" for a Very Long Time. He, just like Granda C, Gran L, Grandma V and Nanna L-L, think Tiger is The Bee's Knees and The Cat's Pyjamas and The Duck's Guts. Tiger has charmed him just as she has charmed Cackle Mummy and Daddy Bear.

Tiger does that. She beguiles all she meets. Because she is a rock star Valkyrie Awesome McAwesomepants.

The other purpose of the visit was Cackle Mummy's Authorly Stuffs, but Cackle Mummy was just as excited about staying in The Blue Room.

The Blue Room, Riverside Drive is a mythical place; a place of comfort and sanctuary, immortalised in its very own blog. It was staying in this place of unquantifiable calm that - Cackle Mummy believes - allowed Tiger to make her way into the world safely. Cackle Mummy believes "the vibes" of this most serene of places infused her Tiger and helped make her the chilled and happy little girl she is now.

It is a place of water and sky and clean air and swans and ... well, yes, Turbo Chooks too, but everything else about the place is perfectly, perfectly, floatily calm, and Cackle Mummy takes every opportunity to take her Little Family there.

And we did have such a good time. So many laughs, so much good music, such lovely food cooked by Poppy S and Grandma L-L, so much Chasing Poppy S Around The Kitchen In Our Rocketship (HILARIOUS). 

We didn't want to come home. We never want to leave The Blue Room. 

We did, of course, enjoy our visit to Grandma V in The Mint Green Cottage (and were, as always, spoiled by another besotted grandparent), and Cackle Mummy loved having some author time ...

But it's The Blue Room that has our heart. It is our sacred place; the place where Tiger was imagined into existence.

We will return there again and again and, always, we will grieve as we leave it.

The Blue Room is a special place. A lovely place. We take it away with us in our hearts as we drive away. We long to return.

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

On Being Fabulous

"Stay Fabulous!" the tweet said.

The tweet, I might add, that only happened to come from a VERY FAMOUS AND AWESOME PERSON (VFAAP) - A VFAAP whom Cackle Mummy had admired for a very long time and had finally met In Real Life.

You see, Cackle Mummy had just attended a writing workshop with VFAAP - a rare writerly outing in the life of The Mummy of the Best Baby Ever (AKA Tiger). The workshop was on writing chick lit, a genre Cackle Mummy adores and secretly aspires to produce herself (okay, not-so-secretly now. Does this mean I have to actually do it? Gulp).

The workshop was wonderful, exciting, inspiring, funny, just-gosh-darn-BRILLIG, and the presenter was just as super lovely as I had imagined she'd be from her thigh-slappingly funny, feisty, sassy, intelligent, opinionated (in the very best sense of the word) books. I left buzzing and bouncing and DETERMINED to be the next Monica McInerney (or the next VFAAP, as a matter of fact).

It was not only the content of the workshop that made me buzz. I had a very small chat with VFAAP. And I didn't acquit myself too terribly, despite my nerves. And I even talked in whole sentences, which is a huge achievement for someone who spends most of her days reading "Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear," and saying "Bububububububububub" for hours on end.

Plus, she liked my shoes (my-five-dollar-from-KMart shoes. A detail I chose to omit from our footwear-appreciation discussion).

The next day, I went to a talk by VFAAP and another AP, a journalist who is one of the few whose job title should not be in inverted commas. I.e. one who actually does his job. And does it with integrity. He and VFAAP ran a session that moved me to tears. Because it reminded me there are good people in the world, people making a difference, taking a stand. People who are kicking against the pr***s and actually winning.

I left full of even more admiration, for VFAAP and her co-presenter.

And then, later that evening, the tweet came.

"Stay Fabulous".

And, of course, my first instinct was to reply to the tweet with something along the lines of, "Me? Fabulous? Golly, I think you have the wrong person! I wear five-dollar-from-KMart shoes! I spend my days rolling on the floor blowing bubbles on my baby's belly! I leave the house most days with yesterday's makeup on and no idea how my hair looks! My idea of a rocking good time is a long hot shower, and fifteen minutes to read a few pages of my book. My favourite pastime in life is hugging my little girl. I'm not making a difference. I'm not FABULOUS. I'm just silly little cackle Mummy."

But then I took a moment, and took my fingers away from the keyboard, and I thought about it. I thought about how I want Tiger to grow up thinking she's fabulous. I want her to be so gosh-darn assured in her little Valkyrie self that there aint nobody gonna bring her down.

And in order for her to be that she needs to see me being that.

And you know what? I am fabulous, in my own little way. I write books that people like, I have friends and family who enjoy being around me, and I have a Tiger baby who laughs when I tickle her feet. And I do kick against the pr***s, in my own small ways, every day. I have been through some nasty things and I am still here, still standing, and still singing and dancing around the room with my little girl. Who thinks I am fabulous.

And so, instead of writing some self-deprecating twaddle, I put my fingers back on the keyboard, and I wrote:

"I intend to! Tiger expects nothing less!"

Now, I just have to put my money (even if it is only five dollars) where my mouth is. Because Tiger deserves a fabulous mum. And, in the interests of the much-maligned YOLO, I deserve to be fabulous.

Thank you, VFAAP, for reminding me of that, and for being fabulous yourself. 

Now, I AM off to start work on the Best Darn Chick Lit Novel Of All Time.

I'll see you at the launch!

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

We're All Going On A Holiday!

Hurrah! Tiger and Daddy Bear and Cackle Mummy are going on a mini-break!

We are going Down South to stay with Poppy S and Nanna L-L in The Blue Room by the river! WITH ALL OF THE TURBO CHOOKS AND STUFF!

It is only a flying visit, so Cackle Mummy can indulge in her Other Life as a Writer Person at the Tasmanian Writers Centre Shock Of The Now Festival, in particular two sessions with the sublime Miss Anita Heiss.

Sadly, Very Small People and Writers Workshops / Important talky thingummies are not super dooper compatible, so Tiger will be spending extra time with Daddy Bear while Cackle Mummy is being all writerly.

Cackle Mummy will miss her Very Small Person but she knows Daddy Bear will take the very best of care of her Tiger while she is gone.

It is only a flying visit - really only time to take in the sessions and do a spot of Turbo-chook-spotting. There will almost definitely be no time for blogginess amongst the writerness and turbochookness, so this may be the last blog until we return to the Candy Pink House.

Until then, wish us bon voyage to the serene house by the river, and wish Cackle Mummy luck in her writerish endeavours!

Over and out, from Tiger and Cackle Mummy. We are off to be busy and fabulous in the Big Smoke!

Hurrah!

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

Ring, Ring!

Today, Tiger called her Daddy.

Literally.

She picked up my smartphone, pressed a couple of buttons and, suddenly, I could hear the voice of her very confused father down the line, obviously bemused at having been called at work by his ten month old daughter.

Yep. Tiger is TEN MONTHS OLD and she can call her dad. This having never used a mobile before in her little life. In fact, I spend half my life trying to keep her AWAY from the phone. She is OBSESSED.

I got my first mobile when I was seventeen. It was a hand-me-down Nokia, from my mum, approximately the size of Brazil. 

It had a grey and black screen. It made calls. Full stop. It didn't even SMS. I remember when I got a phone that had a BLUE screen instead of a grey one. That phone was FANCY! 

Plus it had Snake. Oh holy macaroni I loved Snake.

A later mobile advertised that you could buy a camera attachment. Because phones back then didn't come with cameras. The idea that a PHONE could HAVE A CAMERA? 

Blew my mind.

Until I was seventeen, see, people used landlines. And many of the landlines I'd used in my life still had actual dials that you spun around with a finger.

First time I used a touch screen? "WHAT ACTUAL SORCERY IS THIS?" I thought.

Today, my ten month old called her father.

A part of me is weeping. A part of me is marvelling. Who knows what kind of phone Tiger will have when she's seventeen? One that sends holograms to the receiver? One that can send chocolates through the screen, in the manner of Willy Wonka?

I have only one hope for Tiger's first mobile:

It should definitely have Snake.

Snake. Is. Lovely.

 ~ Love, Miss Cackle x

Just Joshin'

Tiger loves Josh Ritter.

And no, before you say anything, this is NOT Cackle Mummy projecting her ardent and long-standing adoration of her Idaho Idol on her baby girl.

Last week, Cackle Mummy was OHMIGOLLYGOSH excited to receive in the post the long-awaited new album by her very favourite singer of all time, all the way from the US-of-A, and complete with a snazzy tee shirt and handwritten lyric book NO LESS! She immediately put the CD in the player and ...

Tiger's little face lit up. Her eyes sparkled. She giggled and cooed. It was JOSH! New JOSH and it was GOOD!

Cackle Mummy has played the (wonderful - oh my gosh WONDERFUL) album every day since it arrived, and every time Tiger has been totally captivated by Josh in all his heart-wrenching, poetic, melodic glory.

Mummy can only attribute this Baby Fandom with the fact she played Josh constantly when Tiger was in utero. She has been a little fangirl since before she entered the world. And, since Mummy's love of Josh is so deep it must be embedded in her DNA, Tiger must have inherited it in her genetics - indeed, her Poppy S is also a devoted fan, so it runs in the family!

Plus, she just has great goshdarned taste!

The Beast In Its Tracks is, indeed, a masterpiece. Written in the shadowy time after his breakup with fellow singer Dawn Landes (who supported him in the concert Mummy saw, in Oxford, UK), and before he became a father himself to his new (writer!!!) love, this new album is imbued with all the agony of a heart totally destroyed. And yet, while the lyrics tell a tale of raw, profound loss and grief, the melodies are every bit as beautiful and toe-tapping as any of Josh's previous material.

And Tiger likes tapping her little toes to them, just as her Mummy does.

Mummy knows that Daddy Bear will do his level best to turn Tiger into a little metalhead as she grows up, and Mummy will have no objection to this as she loves her some metal too. But Mummy hopes there is enough of Poppy S's bootscootin' DNA in there too that Tiger will be a little country cowgirl too.

Or, at the very least, Cackle Mummy will be satisfied if Tiger continues to love Josh.

Because he really is the loveliest!

And this song is my Tessa song. It is her favourite:


"I’ve never met someone loves the world more than her
She’s been through her own share of hard times as well
And she’s learned how to tear out the heaven from hell.
Most nights I’m alright still old rocks roll downhill
But she says I’ll get better, she knows that I will.
And she’s hopeful, hopeful for me.
Coming out of the dark clouds
Hopeful, hopeful for me
She says it to me often." (Hopeful, Josh Ritter, 2013)

See? Lovely, lovely, lovely.

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

Tiger's Writer's Group

Yesterday, Tiger went out for coffee with some Very Most Excellent Writer People.

One of them was The Tall Man, a phenomenal poet and now prose writer. Cackle Mummy is very glad to finally know The Tall Man, after years of watching and admiring him as he chaired and performed his marvellous wordsmithery at poetry slams around the state.

The other was the Beautiful Ms S, a writer of YA and historical fiction, on the cusp of having her first novel published. BMS is just about to complete her Masters in the art of writing, and Cackle Mummy admires her immensely, as well as valuing her kindness and the magical sparkle in her eyes.

Tiger loves her too.

It was our first catchup, post Lovely Miss K venturing off to Escapades in Edinburgh, and her presence was sorely missed, but Tiger enjoyed very much discussing poetry and character creation and approaches to commencing a novel with The Tall Man and BMS. She enjoyed learning more about her Mummy's Other Life, and being part of her first Writer's Group.

Who knows if Tiger will grow up to share her Mummy's love of writing. It's certain she already loves reading. I hope one day she will read not only her Mummy's work but that of her Mummy's wonderful friends, The Tall Man, BMS, and all the other beautiful people Mummy has been privileged to meet through a shared love of the written word.

Writers make for awesome people. Cackle Mummy is lucky to have so many of them in her life. She is lucky they are part of Tiger's life too.

She hopes that, as Tiger grows up, writers, and the characters they create, will be Tiger's very best friends, as they have been for her Mummy.

The writing life. Gosh darn it, it's a lovely one*

~ Love, Miss Cackle

* Not quite as lovely as the life of the Mummy of Tiger. But close!

Addendum ...

 An addendum to yesterday's post:

Today, Tiger was out like a light at 4:45.

We may not make it to the circus.

But then, every day is different in this Life With Tiger. That's what makes it such an ADVENTURE!!!

I have never had to be so switched on in my life, waiting for her next ...

SURPRISE!

Nope. Not Gunna Sleep, Mummy!

Tiger has decided, in her Little Wisdom, that she does not want her last nap of the day.

She does this, from time to time, just because she thinks Mummy's life is rather dull and it is her little job to make things More Of The Interesting.

I'm actually a bit miffed.

It's her MIDDLE sleep I wanted her to ditch. Her Middle sleep is the annoying one - the one that means we have to come home in the middle of outings so she can nap. Her last sleep of the day is AWESOME. It come JUST at the time when Cackle Mummy is flagging a little and needs a snuggle in bed with her Tiger to rejuvenate her for the evening shift.

But, as we know, Tiger marches to the beat of her own little drum. And so it seems Last Sleep is a goner. And, as we speak, after having been awake for nearly six hours, it seems like it's not SUCH a disaster. 

Tiger is pretty happy still. She's just starting to get a bit wriggly and whingey in Daddy Bear's arms, but she's not ferocious with rage. So maybe she really DOESN'T need Last Sleep.

Le Sigh.

Except if the Last Sleep is dead, THINK of all the fun stuff we can get up to between the hours of two and seven!!!!

STARTING with an (animal-free) circus being held very close to our little home next week, during the time Tiger would usually be sleeping! We can go to that because TIGER WILL NOT BE SLEEPING!!! And it is just the first of the many things we can do together during that time. Yes, I will miss the snuggles, but think of the ADVENTURES!!!!

Last Sleep, you have permission to go. Because adventures with Tiger are LOVELY!!!

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

The Power Of Three

Just a Very Short blog today, but one containing three VERY IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS ...

*clears throat*

1. There is nothing cuter than a baby (*shh* Don't tell Tiger I called her that. She now considers herself a Very Big Girl and resents any suggestions she may still be at all babyish), playing Peekaboo By Her Little Self! Tiger discovered today that, by pulling her bib up over her own little eyes, and yanking it back down again ... that IS PEEKABOO! It is now a Favourite Thing!
2. There is nothing FUNNIER than a baby experiencing for the first time PEANUT BUTTER STUCK TO THE ROOF OF ONE'S MOUTH! Yes! We have done peanut butter! No anaphylaxis!!! Yayyyyy!!! 
3. There is nothing More Actually Terrifying than discovering your baby (slash-Very-Big-Girl) can now almost pull herself up on stuff. Gulp. Cue frantic adjusting of cot and panic attack at imminent ... TODDLERDOM (*hears Darth Vader theme in head*).

So much for a quiet day after our big weekend!

I leave you with my words of the day:

1. Nawwwww!
2. Heh!
3. Ohhhhhhnooooeeessss.

~ Love, Miss Cackle x    

So Much of the Stuff!

Golly Tiger has had a big few days!

Not only has she seen monkeys and been to the library to borrow her Very First Three Books (she sensibly chose an Emily Garrett, a Dr Seuss and an Aaron Blabey - the girl has taste), but she ALSO ...

• Went to her very first market
• Went to her very first Glover Prize exhibition - she liked the Sophy Reynolds piece the best. It had a giraffe in it.
• Went on Adventures in the Supermarket (it was not the very first time she had done this, but Supermarketeering is always fun - especially in our local Coles, where there are buttons you can press to make cow and chicken noises!!!)
• Went for coffees*
• Saw Grandma V and got a new book about a lamb
• Went to The Gorge and saw peacocks and a waterfall

All in the one weekend! My little Tiger is a social butterfly and an art connoisseur and an ADVENTURER!

AND LOVELY!!!

But tomorrow I think we may just lay low and read. Tiger may be up for more adventures, but this Cackle Mummy is all tuckered out!

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

* Nb Tiger did not actually have a coffee her little self. She had a rusk. Tiger is in no need to any stimulants. In actual fact, Tiger on stimulants is a Very Scary Thought Indeed.

The Luckiest

It's days like today I realise just how much I adore my little family. 

On a day when other Launcestonions were off to the footy (we will get there, Tiger, when you are just a little bit bigger), or the music festival up the road, Daddy Bear, Tiger and I had a much quieter day.

First, we took Tiger to meet the monkeys at the park. While she seemed quite nonplussed by the red-bottomed macacques (she will think they're HILARIOUS when she's older, no doubt), she loved the waterfall, and gazing up at the other park-goers watching the funny little creatures.

Later, we took her to the library and checked out three lovely picture books on her brand new card - her first time as a proper library book borrower!

We went shopping for fabric for Daddy Bear to make her some tunics (luckily he can sew, because this Cackle Mummy is hopeless at it - yet another Domestic Goddess Fail), and Tiger ate a cream cheese sammitch. Later, when she wakes again, she will have a bath and some stewed apple and yoghurt and Daddy Bear will cuddle her until her beautiful eyes softly close.

And that's it. Just an ordinary day. But such a lovely one. Just the three of us - a little team in a big, wide, world. We may not be the fanciest of families, or the richest or the most exciting, but we are the best. There is so much love in this little triangle of people.

We are, without a doubt, the luckiest.

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

On International Women's Day

I think the reason so many women today say, "I'm not a feminist," is that there is now so much confusion about what "a feminist" actually is.

There are connotations about "man-hating".

There is the image of a bra-rejecting, makeup-free, masculine woman, trying to emulate a man in order to get ahead, and rejecting all her feminine qualities in the process.

There is the suggestion that much of the stress experienced by today's women is actually caused by the feminist goal of "having it all". Life was simpler before the feminists came and decreed we should be domestic-and-career-superheros, right?


I have to admit, I'm one of those women who, in the past, has used the phrase, "I'm not a feminist, but ..."


And the reason is this: I got married young. I never aspired to be a high-flying career woman. I don't have it in me. I may not be a girly girl, but I do like me a bit of red lipstick on the odd occasion. I may have always wanted to be a mum but, once I became one, she became the number one most important thing in my life. I love being a mother. I love being a stay-at-home mother. It's the best job I've ever had.


So I can't be a feminist, right?

Except ...

It's my choice to be a stay-at-home mum. Before Tiger, it was my choice to work.

It was my choice to go to university. I am allowed to vote. I am allowed to wear pants (thank heavens. I bloody hate dresses).

And, now I am a mum, I am thoroughly, thoroughly glad that feminism exists. Because I want her to have choices.

If she wants, like me, to be a mum, she can do it and good on her - this may be a "traditional female role", but it's an awesome, empowering one, and one only women can fulfil - could there be anything more "feminist" than that?

Conversely, if she wants to be a CEO or a lawyer or a doctor, or the fish-fingering Prime-Actual-Minister, yep, she can do that too!


I am sorry, now I have a daughter, that I ever said, "I'm not a feminist". I am, because I want her to live the awesomest life possible. Wearing pants, Getting dirty. Riding horses, breaking glass ceilings, changing the world ...


Or, quietly, changing one little person's world as a mother.

Whatever she wants. Whatever she chooses. Because that's why I do now say I'm a feminist. Because feminism gave us choice.


And choice is an exceedingly lovely thing.

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

Short Attention Spa ...

Over the past little while, I have noticed something about my Tiger.

Sadly, it is something she has inherited from her Cackle Mummy. See, our Tiger, like I do, has a very short attention spa ... Oh, look is that a sparrow in the ... Gee I feel like a chocolate ... Have you seen my ...

You get the picture.

Tiger is a little person with extreme focus, drive and determination, until she perfects something or tires of it. And then it's on to the next thing like a ... something ... that moves on to the next ... something ... quickly.

Rolling? Yep, we can do that. Next? Sitting? Oh yeah, I did that last week. Bored of that. What else you got for me? Crawling! Pah! I'm soooo over that!

THOSE rusks? Are you KIDDING ME? They are SO YESTERDAY?

THAT toy? You expect me to play with the same thing TWICE IN ONE DAY? Gee Whillackers you are SO BEHIND THE TIMES, Cackle Mummy.

Does anybody else have a baby with an attention span of a gnat? I'd love to hear about it if you do. In the meantime I'm off to ...

Something.

Something lovely, I hope!

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

On Yummy Mummies

When do I get to be a yummy mummy?

Over the weekend, Tiger and I went to an engagement party for a dear friend. Also in attendance were several other school friends, the same age as I am, with little ones of a similar vintage to Tiger.

They were all immaculately turned out, with fancy dresses, impeccable makeup, hair that looked like it belonged in Pantene commercials.

Their babies were dressed in what looked like Laura Ashley and had clean faces and beatific smiles.

My baby had dirt on her face and rusk on her trousers and drool from here to Christmas.

And I ...

I'm pretty sure I had rusk on me too. And the distinct whiff of baby vomit after a small Tiger Incident. I was in mismatched, ill-fitting clothes (after finding that NOTHING FIT that morning. NOTHING). My hair is in dire need of a cut. I did my makeup in approximately five seconds, in the half-dark, before running out the door.

Now, before I go on, I want to say two things:

1. I like my baby having dirt on her face and rusk on her trousers. And, by the way, also HORSE HAIR on all of her clothes because she was riding a horse before the party. Yes that IS just how she rolls.
2. This post is not a trawl-for-compliments. I'm not writing it so you'll say, "Oh, but WE think you are beautiful, Cackle Mummy". I just take it for granted my friends think that about me, as I do about them. I think ALL of my friends are the most amazingly gorgeous people on the planet. We are one big "no YOU'RE beautiful" loveathon. None of that is in question. This isn't about beauty. It's about yumminess. And yumminess is ...

• Awesome makeup
• Designer clothes
• Super sleek hair
• No bags under eyes
• No vomit on clothes
• No dirt anywhere in the vicinity of baby. 

On all of these points, I fail. Most days, I leave the house and am halfway up the road before I have the horrible thought, "Did I check the mirror before I left, or at any point today?"

Usually, the answer is "no". Usually, I have no idea what my hair is doing, or if I have banana on my face or any kind of baby bodily secretion on my clothes. And I'm pretty sure this laissez faire attitude towards grooming is acceptable when one is the mum of a one-month-old, but Tiger is NEARLY TEN MONTHS and I still look, in the words of Grandma V, like I've been dragged through a blackberry bush backwards.

When do I get to start looking like Elle Macpherson, dressed for school pickup in designer skinny jeans and sexy boots?

When do I get to NOT look like a homeless person, upon whom child services may be called at any moment?

And, most puzzlingly, WHY DID ALL OF THE OTHER GIRLS LOOK LIKE MODELS WHEN I LOOK LIKE A LESS WELL-GROOMED YAHOO SERIOUS?

What do they have that I don't?

And why, oh WHY do I even care?

Because, the thing is, Tiger doesn't. She thinks I'm awesome at one in the morning when my hair resembles a pomeranian who's been stuck in a wind tunnel for the past six months.

And that should be enough, right?

Because, until she's a teenager and thinks everything I do is utterly mortifying, she thinks I'm a yummy mummy just as I am.

And stuff it. That IS enough. That's just lovely.*

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

* But one day I would like to wake up looking like Elle Macpherson just a little bit. Or at least have her boots.

“Libraries are our friends”

“A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people - people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.”- EB White

Forget sitting up or crawling.

Pish to standing or talking.

Bah to running and climbing.

Today, Tiger achieved the greatest milestone in her little life so far.

Today, my Tiger got her very first library card. With her very own little name printed on it, and a loan limit, and even permission to use the internet (Mummy says NO, until she is at least thirty four).

Tomorrow, we will go and borrow our first ever book.

I am unspeakably proud.

“Libraries are our friends.” - Neil Gaiman

Today, I introduced Tiger to one of the greatest friends she will ever know. Her life, from now on, will be a whole new kind of lovely.

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

Paperback Writer

Only a short post today. I'm in Writer Mode.

This differs from Mummy Mode in that there is less banana and vomit, and more typing. Otherwise it's pretty much the same. It's all to do with joy and imagination.

Having Tiger has done wonders for my imagination. I'm so inspired by her and her funny ways. I imagine her often as she grows up and the adventures she will have in life, and these imaginings turn themselves into stories. 

At present, I'm editing my second manuscript since having Tiger - that's two full-length novels in nine months. I have also edited three pre-existing manuscripts since she was born. 

I know it sounds like boasting. I also know that, one day very soon, I am probably going to hit a big fat brick wall (probably with a sign spelling "Toddler" painted across it).

But, for now, Writing Mode and Mummy Mode seem perfectly compatible. And I hope that, one day in the future, Tiger will read the things I am writing now and know they are infused with all the little moments of her existence. I hope she knows that she is present in every word I type.

Before I had Tiger, writing was my greatest love. Now it is still so very important to me, but it is number two.

Luckily, my number one and my number two get along famously.

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

BFF Babies

Oh what a lovely day we had at my friend Auntie C's engagement party! Tiger and I caught with the very best of girls and their very best babies. It's hard to decide which of them was the awesomest:

• BFF JA with his laid-back cool in his super-hip legionnaire's hat 
• BFF SJ - tiny little precious porcelain doll with eyes that make you want to cry, or
• BFF JC - super serious little thinker man. I just know he's going to grow up to be a hipster reading Vonnegut in a cafe. 

BFF SJ is going to grow up to be just as kind and beautiful as her mum. She'll be like Snow White, followed everywhere by a group of forest animals and beloved by all. 

BFF JA will be a surfer dude, charming the ladies with a smirk and a sneaky wink.

And they will all be best friends forever, just like their mummies. 

And which one will Tiger fall in love with and live happily ever after? Only time will tell.

For today, she was too busy eating her shoe, grass, dirt and Mummy (and TRYING to eat BFF SJ's hand - it was a touching hand-holding moment until then). But she was very curious about her new BFFs. I could tell she was working out how to factor them in to her plans for world domination.

I can't wait to see them all grow up together. 

How utterly lovely will it be???

~ Love, Miss Cackle x

The Very Best Of Friends

Today, I am taking Tiger up to see my Very Best Friends in the whole wide world. The occasion is the engagement of one of the very loveliest people I know, someone I have been friends with for around eighteen years (jeepers). I am thrilled to bits she has found an equally lovely person to be her Forever Person.

I am also thrilled I get an excuse to hang out with the very best girls there are, and that they all now have little ones to be Very Best Friends with Tiger.

I am so excited, I can't even think what else to blog. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. For now, as a representation of my elation, I leave you with this: