Knock before you enter!

Oh my goodness, is that the sound of privacy returning to our household after 8+ years of little or no dignity?! We have just got to the stage where Abi in particular wants to bath on her own with the door shut, and even Izzy thinks twice before stripping off in front of anyone and everyone. Both girls now are conscious of their bodies and where and when it might be appropriate to strip naked - I guess it's inevitable and good in many respects that thinks the case. I am aware however that with this comes all kinds of other challenges. Abi worries she's stockier than some of her friends, and Izzy worries she's too skinny. All I can do is point out that everyone is different and there's no perfect or right size, what matters is that we are active, healthy and happy. Years of worrying about my own weight before I realised it wasn't a problem makes me want more than anything to help them not have the same hang ups, but I suspect it's part of life's natural passage and all I can do is create a balanced role model for them in the hope it helps.

While I'm worried they are growing up too quickly, they of course want to be teenagers with all the trappings. This weekend they played dressing up and Abi made me laugh and groan in equal measures when she showed up in the kitchen dressed in her clothes compete with one of my bras - all too realistic for me thank you Abi!! She proudly strutted around until we couldn't take it anymore and made her get changed - at least it wasn't a short skirt! Thank goodness Izzy decided it was all to uncomfortable and went back to the teddy bear up the jumper 'pregnancy bump' - does every little girl play these games?!?

I've had a bit of a wake up call this week health wise. My skin has been troubling me for a while - lumps and bumps and redness on my face which seemed to be getting worse not better. So (as we all do) I googled my symptoms and came up with Rosacea. Sure enough a trip to the GP confirmed what I'd thought. While there's no conclusive evidence as to what causes this (and no cure), one of the biggest indicators is stress. It then worsens with triggers that are individual to each person so you can get flare ups if you fail to manage it properly. Luckily for me I think I know the main culprit for me - alcohol - perfect. While I don't drink much these days, it is nice to have a glass of wine on a Friday evening and of course when we are out its nice to have one or two more. Now I have to decide whether I'm going to balance that with the risk of having a bright red face covered in bumps. No choice really! First thing to do is get it under control - luckily the cream I've been prescribed seems to be working well. Then I have to work out whether I need to abstein completely, or just be careful. I keep telling myself that this is a small cross to bear in contrast to so much of what people have to deal with so I should count myself lucky. The bigger question is whether I need to adjust anything else in life (work) to better manage the stress levels - that takes a bit more reflection - something for the holiday maybe.