Everyday life is pretty hectic at the moment – and that has impacted on how much I’ve been able to write recently. But even then, a lot has been achieved in blog terms. My last post leapt to the defence of pregnancy and parenthood company Bounty after it received a bit of a battering in…
Category: Spews
Is it time to scrap Bounty reps in hospitals? Not if we have anything to do with it…
Every picture in this blog post was possible thanks to one woman: a Bounty rep. Each of them is a treasured, professional memento of the beginning of our little family’s life together, just a few hours after Albie was born. But there’s not been a lot of love for the Bounty reps in recent days,…
11 days away and Albie has changed in two pretty big ways
It’s eleven days since I last posted – and the break has shown just how much can happen – and change. Work began to get hectic, with Monday the start of our deputy editor’s two weeks of leave. Doing the job of two people, every day has seemed like one where I’ve started with a…
A golfing tribute to Gramp – and introducing the next generation
Despite his best efforts to introduce himself to us extremely early, Albie never made it to meet his great-Gramp. It was around the 31-week mark when I made the two-and-a-half-hour journey back to Swindon for my Gramp’s funeral. It was a risk, given just three weeks earlier we had been warned to expect Albie’s arrival…
An open letter to Daddy Pig
Dear Daddy Pig, My son recently returned from a day trip with his mother brandishing a crumpled carrier bag he informed me he obtained from Peppa Pig World. Inside said bag, by now discoloured from a couple of hours’ dribble and vomit, was a pair of socks emblazoned with your mugshot and the slogan ‘Stop:…
Help! Parenting tips for getting babies to sleep solo
As he scarily edges closer to his first birthday, Albie appears to have taken the lyrics to S Club 7’s hit Don’t Stop Movin’ literally. He’s crawling, rolling and shuffling around like he’s drunk gallons of Coke and scoffed packets of Percy Pigs. New nappy time now appears to be the perfect opportunity to perfect…
Why IKEA cruelly lured me back after hellish childhood visits
At least when you went to IKEA as a child you had some hope of meatballs at the end. If you went to B&Q, it wasn’t like if you were good you’d be able to pick out your favourite wood screw, or test drive the ride-on lawnmowers. But a trip to IKEA usually meant I’d…
Treasured memories with grandparents
“You sound like you had a terrible childhood reading your blogs,” my Mum said during our visit to my old home of Swindon this week. Endless boring trips to Cornwall and DIY stores left her questioning why day trips she took my brother and I on had not got a mention. I had to laugh,…
Word is spreading about Headline Spews!
Headline Spews and our story has been featured in a special interview on a parenting website! One of the great things about becoming a dad blogger has been connecting with others doing the same – and one of them is Jamesy Mulhern, based in Ireland, who featured us in his ‘Fantastic Fathers’ section. Read the…
Nothing says ‘you’re old’ like a family trip to B&Q
The hair is receding, we’re buying a house and attending grown-up stuff like weddings – but nothing signals full-blown adulthood like a family outing to B&Q. We’re back in my hometown of Swindon for a few days, a trip which in previous years generally consisted of midday lie-ins, cinema date and a cheeky Nando’s without…
