About

Hi, come in. Cuppie tea? Or can we justify a glass of wine?  Sorry about the mess, I’ll just…shove that in the corner.

I’m Pinchypants. I don’t actually have tight knickers, most of the time (favouring large Bridget Jones-style comfy pants to contain the stretchmarks and mummy tummy) but I do have a surname that once got mutated into Pinchanski by a cabbie and by some alchemy became the nickname Pinchypants, usually shortened to Pinchy.

I’ve got two children – DD (darling daughter), born in August 2006,  and DS (darling son) who was born almost exactly two years later. I work at being a copywriter while they are at school, in my home office overlooking our monkey puzzle tree. On paper, this is an astonishingly good work-life balance. In reality, as with every other mum I know, there’s often just too much stuff to juggle.

The challenge is to look after my family, including my darling husband (DH), raise happy, interesting and interested children, keep shouting to a minimum, run my business, do good work for my clients, conjure up delicious food (or fishfingers and beans), make time to have proper conversations with my husband, friends and family, avoid stepping on Lego, and keep the household ticking over as far as tidying, laundry, ironing, fridge contents, and bog roll levels are concerned. And as many days as possible to put on unstained clothes, brush my hair, put contact lenses in, apply make-up, and put on some heels, so I feel a bit like a grown-up who Knows What She is Doing.

Often, balls (real and metaphorical) get dropped. Sometimes I really, really mind this and get in a pickle. Occasionally I manage to channel Mary Poppins, miraculously calm, efficient and cheerful. Some days, I do cry over actual spilled milk. Other days, me and the smalls are able to chant in unison ‘It’s not the end of the world’. I have found being a parent requires an acute sense of the absurd, and real effort to stop being a control freak.

I set up this blog to cover all aspects of parenting and motherhood. And since I was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2010, this blog has also served the remarkably cathartic function of tracking my ‘journey’ (ahem). I’ve been told by very kind people that most of my posts manage to make them laugh and cry, all at once, and I won a BritMums award a while ago for the most inspiring blog, which I was pretty chuffed about.

Right, must go. Deadline to meet; dishwasher to empty; bruise to kiss better.