When DorkySon was about six months old, we started taking him to swimming lessons, and I remember being awed by the number of mothers who showed up at the pool every week with perfectly painted toenails, immaculate bikini lines, and tummies that had returned to pre-baby muscle tone.

Jeez, I thought, where do they find the time to do that? I thought of my own days, which were still flying by in a haze of feeds and laundry and naps. Some days I found time to smear a bit of moisturiser on my cheeks, but that was about the extent of my personal grooming.

In truth though, it had little to do with the demands of DorkySon. Even before his arrival, when I had oodles of spare time, I didn’t have pedicures. I had never been the kind of person who could organise her life to the extent where it felt like I ‘had it all’. Something always had to slip. Continue reading →