First time blogger

Hello all (all 3, maybe 4 of you who might read this - holding out for my sisters and my mum to make up those numbers!)

So I've decided I'd like to start a blog. Whaaat? Another blog? I hear you... there seem to be more blogs these days than grumpy cat memes! (for anyone unaware of the "grumpy cat")

But you know what? A long time ago in a galaxy far far away (well, Bristol) I completed an English degree. My initial reasoning for choosing this subject was because I wanted to be an English teacher. Sadly, during my 3 years, I came to the realisation that I don't really like teenagers very much (my response to them is often similar to my esteemed feline friend above), so teaching became less of a desirable area. 
Slowly a desire for getting into publishing started to creep into the back of my mind - it then built into something I'd vaguely indicate to people when they'd ask what I wanted to do once I graduated. Unfortunately I am an inherently lazy person - I'll not beat around the bush, it is one of my weaknesses, and I have never successfully overcome it, and to be honest... I'm too lazy to do anything about it. Maybe I'll call it unable to motivate myself, that sounds a little better than lazy...Anyway, publishing takes a LOT of working for free, being in the right cities, scratching the right backs etc, and so nothing ever became of it. I moved to Sunderland after marrying my husband and just got a temping administrative job. 
Why am I giving you a potted history?? Oh yes, the reason for blogging. Well, recently it was suggested to me by my beautiful and wonderful sisters (I have 3 

Aren't they gorgeous! ) after I had a bit of a crisis about turning 30 ("what am I doing with my life?" "I have no career!" "I'm the only non professional one out of us" ... blah blah blah - the usual) that maybe I should re-address my interest in writing, they even went so far as to suggest that I was capable of having an amusing way of expressing myself. SO a blog it is! 

The explanation above is my main reason, the others are:

1. I've just deactivated my Facebook account, and I like to believe people might be interested in what is going on in my life. 
2. I'm utterly rubbish at keeping a journal or baby books, so hoping that if I manage to make this a regular thing, I might be able to document our lives in some way.
3. I enjoy baking - and this is a great way to find and share yummy recipes
4. I'm a talker... (you might have already gathered this)
5. In my opinion there need to be at least 3 or 5 things in a list... I'm struggling to think of a 5th reason... Oh yes, pictures... I can save pictures on here - that'll do. 

For this blog, if I ever refer to myself, I will call myself "Middle M".

                                    

This is me, doing one of my very favourite things - eating! and eating at a nice restaurant too. I miss doing that (we lived with my mum when in the process of buying our house, so had a live-in baby sitter, and had much fewer financial outgoings)

This is my wonderful husband

He will be called "Big A", because he is the biggest of the family, a very big personality, and at 6 ft 4", just a big man!

This is a picture from our wedding, it's one of my all time favourite pictures of him. It's 8 years old though, so here's a more recent one.

Nutella spread on freshly baked baguette at our French caravan holiday... yum! 

Now I'll introduce you to my eldest son. His name for this blog will be "Big Boy JD". 

He's a funny boy - crazy, caring, loud, sweet, random, fun loving, energetic and full of life from wake up to sleep.

And then there's this little tinker,  "Little JJ". 

He's everything that his brother is, but 2 years smaller, and so the nuts personality is all condensed and squashed inside. He's a gorgeous little lad that is always making us laugh, and occasionally cry (my eye still aches after his random finger punch yesterday!)

I have no doubt that the names will quickly be abbreviated to M, A, JD and JJ, but I'll try :) 

Finally, as an explanation to the name of this blog - 

Memoirs of a Mediocre Mummy

Google defines Mediocre as:

mediocre

ˌmiːdɪˈəʊkə/

adjective

1. of only average quality; not very good.

   "he is an enthusiastic if mediocre painter"

   synonyms:

   ordinary, common, commonplace, indifferent, average, middle-of-the-road, middling,medium, moderate, everyday, workaday, tolerable,  passable, adequate, fair

I think this sums my mothering skills up pretty well... I am in no way one of those exceptional mothers who are constantly doing "imaginative play"; I can rarely face getting the paints out; I use the TV more than I should (I am in the process of cutting down); I don't visit the park enough; and I do often find motherhood to be genuinely difficult as I'm pretty sure I was born without the "mothering gene" - does it exist? Can you buy it off Amazon??

BUT I love my children, I feed them, usually bathe them (every other night to be honest), read them stories etc, and let's be honest, if we've survived the day without any serious mishaps, then I'm okay with that! I'd say I was fairly average - and not particularly good, hence- mediocre! 

Please note, I am not using the word mediocre in any way to seek reassurance for my ability as a mother, it is mostly used in sarcasm, and also I loved the alliteration (if you stick with me, you'll quickly notice I like alliteration). 

That's me done for now... I plan to update this with family things, random anecdotes, recipes, funny pictures that I enjoy, and I might even throw in the occasional crafty thing that I create - those are far and few between, craftiness is not my strongest talent!

If you've stuck with me this far, I'd love you to comment with what kinds of things you'd be interested in me writing about...? 

Lots of love,

Middle M xx