Diary of a laissez-faire mum

Bonjour! Tour de France fever is reaching boiling point here in our part of Yorkshire, where the famous cycling race will be taking off in a matter of weeks.

Even I've got into the spirit, and my latest Families column is all about Le Grand Depart. I say latest, but in true (im)perfect style I have left it a little late posting the May/June issue.

And while I'm in confessional mode (when am I not?) I failed to update the previous, March/April issue too. So there they both are, two for le price of one. (Page 6 in both).

 

BOOK REVIEW: H is for Hummus (Joel Rickett and Spencer Wilson)

Forget advice. Forget bath oils and cupcakes. When a friend has a baby, buy her this book.

What better initiation into modern parenting than this seriously funny, tongue-in-cheek ABC.

A is for Apple, B is for Ball, blah blah blah....
Get up to speed with the realities of modern day toddlers and their  busy schedules with this essential handbook, in which A is for Allergy, B is for Babyccino and C is for Controlled Crying.

For parents who love nothing more than a good laugh at themselves, this gorgeous little rib-tickler, which I was introduced to by my good friend @kchickman, is a perfect way to keep you sane

Happy (Chinese) New Year

Hello hello and a very belated happy new year to you. I am a tardy blogger, I do apologise. I'd make a new year's resolution, but my unreliability in this area is documented on page 20 of the current issue of Families, on which I share 10 Resolutions I Already Know I Will Break....

There's also the column, on page 6, where I confess parenting failure when it comes to the five-year-old's Show and Tell day at school.

And since I missed the first new year, I will bid you a happy Chinese one instead. My little boy has been learning all about it at school. He's very excited. Last night

All I want for Christmas...

  Latest column - page 6

Author Gabrielle Kimm on researching historical novels

Gabrielle Kimm

A warm welcome to Gabrielle Kimm, who is on a blog tour with her new book The Girl with the Painted Face. She's dropped by to Book Club Mum to tell us what it's like to be a historical writer...

Thank you so much for inviting me onto your blog!

I’m often asked why I’ve chosen to write historical novels – and there’s a simple answer. It’s all because of Victorian poet, Robert Browning.

BOOK CLUB REVIEW: Revenge Wears Prada (Lauren Weisberger)

This was chosen as a good light-hearted summer read and as such, the consensus was: it delivered.

A sequel to the phenomenally successful The Devil Wears Prada, the story catches up with our heroine Andy Sachs ten years after her tumultuous stint as assistant to the infamous Runway magazine editor Miranda Priestly.

The original book was adapted for the big screen with Meryl Streep playing the devil herself Miranda, who is widely acknowledged to have been based on real-life Vogue editor Anna Wintour, for whom Weisberger once worked.

Andy and Emily, her former arch-enemy and co-assistant at Runway, have since joined forces to start a high quality bridal magazine called The Plunge.

Solving the sock issue with Funky Giraffe

Snugly: Benjamin

“Excuse me; did you know your baby’s lost a sock?” This is the constant, well meaning inquiry of strangers and the answer is always a resounding: "Yes". Yes I know it’s fallen off, of course it has. Socks are incapable of remaining on babies' feet for more than five minutes. And I'm too slovenly a mother to spend my life reapplying them.

I remember this problem with my first baby. I tried little sock harness things (got lost once worn) pram shoes (fiddly and annoying to get on) - in the end I think I just made sure his feet were covered with a blanket. But second time around, I resolved to tackle the problem afresh and research what solutions are out there on the market.