It’s been a while since my last post on National Poetry Day, so I thought an update might be in order. We had a lovely break away in Paris for October half term. We went to Disneyland Paris on one day, visited The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower on another and enjoyed exploring the 5th and 6th arrondissements on the other days. My husband took us all out to an amazing restaurant that we’d discovered there on our honeymoon ten years ago. We really needed the break and returned ready to throw ourselves into work and daily life once more, kind of! Here are a few pics from our trip:

Just before we went away, the publishers informed me that they had sold out of ‘Mummy Makes Milk’ and I only have a few copies left at home, so a reprint has been ordered. I’m not going to be a millionaire any time soon, but it’s progressing in the right direction! They’ve been learning about mammals in Class One at school and used my book as a resource for the children. The middle child’s friends came out at home time saying they’d read my book at school, all enthusiastic. That makes it all worth while. If I can encourage future generations of parents to consider breastfeeding as a feeding choice for their children and to normalise the sight of a mother breastfeeding her baby, then I consider my job to be done.

I realised the other day that I hadn’t written an update on my zero waste aims. I’m pleased to say that we’re recycling more than ever and I’m making an effort to go to the local market town twice a month to buy our fruit and vegetables from the stall there. I don’t use any plastic bags if I can help it. Inevitably, I need top-up trips to the supermarket in between visits and some things can only be bought at the supermarket. I’ve discovered that, without going to great, time-consuming lengths, it’s virtually impossible to avoid plastic packaging altogether. There is still room for improvement, but it’s a start!

Planning for Christmas is getting under way. I have bought some presents and squirrelled them away, though there’s still plenty left to do and I’m going to have to get my thinking cap on to come up with some good ideas that don’t cost the earth. I’m looking forward to doing some Christmas baking; mince pies and sausage rolls for the freezer, and of course Christmas cakes. We’ll bake Christmas cakes this Sunday so there is plenty of time to ‘feed’ them with brandy in the weeks leading up to Christmas: I like my cakes to be good and drunk! We all help with the baking and play a Christmas CD so that we all feel full of Christmas spirit.