My new blog name: Me, You and Magoo

I’ve recently waved my daughter off to school & it has brought about a huge adjustment for me. As a stay at home Mum for the past five years, I am currently in a period of transition. Looking for work or a role that will fulfil me as much as being a Mum has fulfilled me. I’ve blogged under the name ‘Pouch’ for the past eight years, recently I wanted to revamp & rename my blog so that it reflected my life better.

Me, You & Magoo is about our life as a family of three.

Although we always thought we would have more than one child, this hasn’t worked out for us. Worrying about my daughter being an only child is something I’ve struggled with for a long time. But life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan. I’ve made a conscious effort to focus on what I do have and not on what I don’t have.

We are so fortunate to have been given the chance to raise our daughter, aka Magoo. She came into our life in 2009. It was love at first sight and she’s been rocking our world ever since.

In some small part, I want to try and stick up for all the only children out there. They are often labelled as 'lonely', 'selfish' and 'weird'. Similarly, parents of only children are often seen as 'selfish', 'lazy' and even 'cruel'. I don't agree with any of this. Our daughter is loved beyond measure & is a happy, outgoing child with a kind & thoughtful soul.

Magoo came home from school last week with the picture featured at the top of this post. She told me "it's me, you & Daddy in front of our house". I love the hearts surrounding our home in the drawing & I think it pretty much encapsulates our family life. Magoo might not have any siblings, but she does have our love & attention & she has grown into a bright and sociable little girl. She brings out the big kid in us and we love to do wild & crazy things together. We build dens, dress up, bake, create and get ourselves out into the great outdoors as much as we can…

I'm still going to blog about all the things I did before...my weakness for all things vintage, my latest crafting project and championing the handmade movement here in the UK and worldwide.

Me, You & Magoo is a place to talk about life, family, creativity and everything else inbetween. Welcome aboard!

I'm linking up with Brilliant Blog Posts over on @HonestMummy's blog

Starting school and paper dolls

My daughter's first day at school is looming, two more sleeps and we'll be walking to the school gates together.

My daughter is so excited about starting school. I'm using her positive energy to keep me going. I'm shedding all my tears when she's in bed. I wont let her see me upset. School is a daunting experience and she doesn't need to see me cry because she'll wonder what's wrong...

I’m feeling incredibly emotional about her starting school. I feel like I’m going to have a big part of me missing without having my daughter at home. I thought she was adorable as a baby, but as she's grown and developed her own personality, she's even more amazing…I want to keep her close to me, always.

But I know I can’t. So I’m writing this down to try and help me…

We made a trip to the library last week and my daughter decided to borrow ‘The Paper Dolls” amongst a selection of other books. It wasn’t until I read it to my daughter at home that I realised how special the parent-child bond is.

We couldn’t have read “The Paper Dolls” at a more poingnant time. I love the happy-sad tone of the book and the final image of the mother-daughter relationship is really wonderful.

It’s one of the best children’s books I’ve read and it really moved me. Virtually everything Julia Donaldson writes is amazing as far as I’m concerned. Her work has been a huge part of my daughter’s childhood. Her words are teamed with beautiful illustrations by Rebecca Cobb. It touches on love, memory, childhood, loss and finally on the role of motherhood. I feel children’s literature should resonate with the adult reading the story just as much as it does with the child. Some of the best children’s books I’ve read haven’t been afraid to address the big subjects, the things that affect adults and children alike.

I feel so privileged to have been able to spend these precious early years with my daughter. We’ve played, created, sang, imagined, learnt, explored, loved and bonded.

My daughter was fascinated with the idea of making paper dolls. So, just like in the story, we made our own set of dolls. When she’d finished decorating them and I looked at their faces I realised she’d captured how I feel about her going to school...happy-sad-happy.

I’m going to miss her terribly when she starts school, but I know it’s the next step on her life journey. I hope we can keep making new memories, just like the little girl in the book does.

I'm linking up with "The Prompt" over on mumturnedmom.com