About

Just another working mommy blog –  just without any adorable babies and cute poop stories.

When my three adorable children now aged 15, 13 and 10 were still cute (about 8 years ago)  I was too busy working to write and more importantly the blogosphere wasn’t even a twinkle in the eye of Messrs Word and Press, Jobs or Gates.

 

So whats this blog all about and why should you read on ?

Link to the  short version of this page that explains the catalyst for the relaunch and new focus on this blog is here:

Well, there’s the everyday family drama linked to the trials and tribulations of my three kids trying to get through the High School, Middle and Intermediate divisions at one of the largest private schools in the world, there’s my husband, an overworked computer consultant who loves his job but not all of his clients, there’s Summer the Dog who was rescued from a puppy farm after being forced to have at least 3 litters in as many years and there’s Petronia, the latest in a long line of amazing Filippino helpers who lives with us and sends all her money home to support 3 kids of her own.

And then there’s me Sandra, management consultant, coach and trainer by day, who, having easily managed almost a hundred executives across 6 countries as a Vice President for that well-known music television channel that many people  hold responsible for the moral degradation of an entire generation, trys and usually fails to keep the chaos under control and all the balls in the air.

Admit it you’re intrigued. But wait there’s more…

To paraphrase Sting   “I’m an Alien, a legal Alien …. I’m an Englishwoman in… sadly not New York but Singapore. But then I do have a reservoir surrounded by tropical rainforest jungle right outside my front door, monkeys in the trees and snakes in the garden.  I’ve lived 1 degree from the equator in constant sunshine and tropical uni-seasonal monotony for almost 16 years and have long forgotten the joy of sunshine on a winter’s day unless my sister in Connecticut tells me about weekends skiing in Vermont.  My children were all born here, and are known as 3rd culture Kids (TCKs)  which means they get additional baggage to go along with the normal everyday stuff that all teenagers deal with growing up.

Diapers – that comedic essential of all mommy blogs especially when accompanied by stories of poop and eye-rolling, gagging husbands. Well, yes of course we do have diapers, but ours are big non Huggie ones and they come with poop, gold medal winning olympic standard well actually paralympic standard disabled teenager poop. Not so funny – or cute I’m afraid but very much a part of our daily life.

Meet Chelsea who goes from inspiring to irritating and awesome to awful at least a dozen times every day and is therefore about as normal a twelve going on thirteen year old teenage girl as it is possible to be when you are a trach ventilated, c1/c2 quadriplegic, completely paralysed from your chin to your toes and the designated diaper clad cute of the household. Chelsea is smart and intuitive and totally wise beyond her years from way too much time with adults not kids, but she’s also 13 and so like most girls her age spends a huge amount of time daydreaming of vampires and wondering will anyone ever love her like Edward  loves Bella.

So like most working mothers  I struggle each day to balance work and motherhood and ususally cheating both ( thanks Allison Pearson for the line from your book and soon to be movie) but as the Mom on the Side I actually spend most of my time by Chelsea’s side – at school and at home,  at work and at play, by the side of her wheelchair and by the side of her bed and sadly all too often by the side of her hospital bed.

I have no doubts that my most important job is to be the Mom on the Side. To work? yes of course  but also to protect and comfort Chelsea and my other kids, to support and advocate for them, to be there for them, first thing in the morning and last thing at night, always.

I am the Mom on the Side and this is our story and I hope you enjoy reading about us. .