Who am I?

Before I go any further I feel I need to explain the name of my blog.  Ok, so technically my name is Mummy, but only to three people.  My son (the boy), and my two cats.  (Yes, I am not ashamed to say that I have recieved Mother's Day cards from them!) 

So, why is it that once 'the bump' became 'the boy', my friends and family seemed to forget my name?  To everyone that came to visit I was 'Mummy'.  "Get in the picture Mummy", "Doesn't your Mummy look good?" (This is a quote, honestly I didn't make it up) "Does Mummy want a cup of tea?"  Not only had people forgotten my name, they also forgot how to talk directly to me.

It's hard enough adapting to this new role that's been thrust upon you after nine months of preperation, but to lose your other identities, your name and the things that you're clinging on to for a small sense of normality is even harder.  I didn't want to be JUST mummy.  I suppose I should have been prepared for it by the amount of attention 'the bump' got in the last couple of months of my pregnancy.  It's a similar feeling to men who just stare at your boobs when you're talking.  Women who just stare at your bump.  I confess that I'm just as guilty, I love a good bump!

Me and 'the man' had discussed many times, (niavely) how our lives weren't going to change.  Few things we talked about have remained but one has.  He never calls me Mummy!  Is there anything worse than hearing a man say to his girlfriend/wife/partner, "Mummy, is it time for an early night" when there is no child around?  Or "Daddy, don't you look handsome?".  I understand by calling each other Mummy and Daddy, the children will catch on and hopefully won't call you anything else.  It could be worse I suppose, if you called each other bitch and arsehole, perhaps that's not something you want to be known as by your offspring!   We do use the words, but not directly, so the above would translate to " Doesn't YOUR Daddy look handsome".  If you stop using each others names, what else do you stop and who do you become to each other?

18 months down the line, I know that there is no such thing as 'just a mummy'.  The word 'just' undermines the huge amount of time, effort, blood, sweat and tears that being a mummy takes, yet it is used so often.  My name is Mummy and I wear that badge with pride...alongside many, many others.