Cinemagraph

I love this cinemagraph made from Mile's Nokia phone....keeping one Mini Diva still and animating the other. If only it worked in real life occasionally! :)

Getting the paint out

This last week the Minis and I have been enjoying some painting time.

We had a go at doing some eggs for Easter ( I blew out the yolk and whites with a pin, then we decorated them), and we spent a Saturday morning with a load of paint and some paper going crazy for butterfly prints. We got the lego in the paint and did printing, we got little cars in the paint and did printing, we got hands, hair, everything in the paint.

Twins + paint + mess = bathtime, usually, so I tend to save these messy moments for the weekends, but it's a lot of fun. 

Reasons my son is crying: Tumblr genius

This discovery MADE MY DAY and I had to share.
Reasons my son is crying will resonate with parents globally. It is utterly brilliant, and it speaks for itself. Enjoy...

Disclaimer: I do not advocate laughing at crying children under usual circumstances. Obvs.

Vine time: Starbucks

New Mums increase online use....

Apparently, according to the BabyCentre recent research, mothers spend "35% more time online than the general population".

No shit.

Apparently internet usage after becoming a mother increases by a whopping 45%, mobile usage by 28% and email by 31%.

Offline habits like magazine readership and good old 'telly watching apparently decline by as much as 55% in motherhood.

I am not surprised.

I started blogging and writing much more online after I became a mum. Although I have had a blog since 2006 (long since gone, thank goodness), I only really got back on the blog horse in 2009 after the Minis arrived and I am so pleased - I can't imagine life now without my Dexterous Diva persona and business.

Facebook and Twitter action definitely stepped up, and although I make a point of still reading "real" 3-D books to step away from the screen occasionally, my magazine and newspaper reading is all online now. Twitter and Facebook is the backbone of my social interactions, and I would have NO idea what goes on outside Charlie and Lola or the park without them.

The thing is, when small people arrive we are trapped in the house much more - no more happy hour elephantine glasses of merlot to chew the cud over, evenings are taken up with bedtime routines and battles, trying to stop the house from resembling a war zone, then collapsing onto the sofa with an iPad glued to my hands.

Being online connects us to friends and family when we are too baby brained to talk. We can stalk Facebook for gossip, find out how we "should be" doing things in a quick Google minute, and as we no longer have the energy or finances to go out and party we need something else to fill that part of our lives.

Thank you, t'internet.

I would say that chronic illness has also been a major factor in my online obsession, so it makes me feel happy to realise I am not alone in my behaviours.

However, there is a downside, of course, and I loved this article by Darcy Zalewski, on the social media age making us second guess our parenting. In the social space there is so much more scope for open criticism and unwelcome "guidance" - on the global platform we now have can it make us more paranoid as parents? 

Your turn:

Do you spend more time online in the post-kids mayhem? 

Have you started blogging as a result of motherhood? 

Have you found any detrimental cyber space side effects?

Which blogs and sites are you frequenting the most?

See also:
Things that change after you have children and why they don't matter.

H&M Haul

Those Minis rocked H&M, so they did. They got the strawberry shades, the cherry t-shirts, the aztec leggins....Spring watch out, we are a-coming!

Bedtime: Don't let them see your fear

Bedtime. Ahhh, that lovely, dreamfilled space when slumber takes over and the dream angels catch you with their fluffy wings of snooze glitter....

Or:

The daily battle to go to bed with procrastinating twins, one who wakes up every night and won't sleep, and the broken tiredness that results from sleep deprivation resulting in meltdown for me, them, anyone in the close vicinity, and requiring Starbucks sponsorship to function.

Eeyore knows the score. Don't let them know you are SCARED of them not going to bed. They can smell fear and will have you over a barrel.

Tell them the routine - spell it out - teeth cleaning, jim jams on, cuddle mummy on sofa, read a book, massage with lavender oil, tuck in, kiss and sleep tight. ANY deviation from the routine shows weakness and they damned well know it.

Hesitate to take them upstairs and they know they have you. Change your mind for a nanosecond and they are in. It requires the game face, the battle armour, the steely determination and the will to not lose it before Eastenders time.

The Mini Divas. Creators of the bedtime battle.

Yours from a computer, in PJ's, in daytime, chronically fatigued.

Dex Diva
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