Hmmm.  In my baby bubble head it was.  Day after day cuddling newborns and dealing with toddler tantrums I’d been protected from the Christmas warning signs.  Not even the queues in to Brent Cross or Mariah Carey on the radio alerted me.  Baby brain indeed.

Heading in to Leicester Square at 5am this morning I was feeling a little, well, odd.  The end of maternity leave seemed to be both a good and a bad thing.  Suddenly I felt nostalgic for the twice a night feeds that I’d wearily been giving Max, and for the ability to shut the rest of the world out and concentrate on my family.  And then again it’s exciting to be back on the air, to see Jamie Theakston and the team and to have grown up conversations.

Of course I worried that chaos would ensue back home without the control freak there insisting that everything get written down, but amazingly I don’t seem to be the only person capable of looking after my children. My husband is being unbelievable, taking over the night feeds until our nanny comes at 8.

I rushed back home at 11am to find the baby happily cooing in his gym, my toddler reading a book and a crumble in the oven.  It’s good to be back at work.

I know.

Me?

Hello magazine?

It really was quite the experience and I think you’ll be able to see the fruits of our day together next month. That is unless some minor European royal gets married to a backing dancer, and in which case I’ll be bumped to the spring.

Having never done an ‘at home’ piece before I had no idea what to expect.  I prepared in the only way I saw fit: I got my nails done and ordered in the flowers to perk up the place a little.

I do not have a footballers style home and I half expected the team to take one look at the place and apologetically say there’s been some terrible mistake.  Whatever they privately thought, they were an amazing team who made the day great fun.

I’ve got to tell you, though, it’s surprisingly tiring trying on clothes and posing for the cameras.  At one point I was in the middle of doing the au naturelle mother and baby shot with my bouffant hair and lips like the girls from TOWIE when I felt very much like I was having a day in the life of Katie Price.

My little boys didn’t seem to mind being photographed and I’m hoping that Louis’ recent clash with a rose bush doesn’t show up too much…

Let me know what you think of the photos when they come out!

H x

The 8 weeks since Max was born has sort of flown by but then it seems like I’ve been getting up twice in the night for ever.  I have to confess I was a real Gina Ford addict with Louis (now nearly 2) but it’s hard to be so organised with the second one.  The times when I do try and follow it to the letter it doesn’t seem to make a blind bit of difference to his night time waking so we’re now just muddling through the best we can and on the whole it’s a merry little band.  Except when any one of the family is hungry.  And that’s pretty much all the time.

I can’t complain too much about ‘me’ time as I have managed the seemingly impossible and read a book in the last couple of weeks.  Maybe you’ve read it too, or seen the film, but if you haven’t read ‘One Day’ by David Nicholls then get it now.  I cried at the end of it and I’ve only ever done that with two other books; The Kite Runner and Gina Ford’s Contended Little Baby.  It was a big year.

I now have 5 minutes before the family return so perhaps I’ll start my Christmas shopping.  Or put another wash on…

One great thing that he has achieved in his short little life is being the youngest person ever to feed the tigers at London Zoo.  Before you call social services it was all under the supervision of zoo keeper Paul who I met a few months ago when Heart Breakfast came live from the zoo. Back then I fed the meercats, but who wants to start their relationship with the animal kingdom with a cute, fluffy meercat when you can come face to face with an adult tiger?  A hungry one at that.

I bumped in to Paul this afternoon by the kids petting zoo and he said if I wasn’t doing anything else I could help him feed the tigers later on.

“Erm ,ok,” I said, “and what about him?”  I asked pointing at Louis who was busy being enthralled by a turkey.

“Oh he can help”, he said.

I wondered what my husband would have to say about it when I got home but I decided to check it out anyway.  We were led in to the secret zoo keeper bit behind the tiger enclosure and Paul opened and shut a series of gates and checked locks before letting the tigers in for tea.

“In 30 years not one tiger has got on this side of the gate,” he said, probably noticing that I was clutching my son very tightly and wondering again how I was going to explain this back home and imagining the news story and people horrified at the folly of this mother who took her toddler to feed the nice animals at the zoo.

But the pushy parent in me surfaced and the lure of my first born becoming the youngest person ever to feed the tigers proved an overriding factor. Louis and I crouched down and together clutched on to a comfortingly long tong that gripped an unidentified piece of horse meat.  Gently we pushed it through the bars to the patiently waiting tiger.

I have to say the tigers were beautiful and perfectly behaved.  It would have been tempting to think you could reach out and stroke them but that would be ridiculous, right?  Who would get their kids close to a tiger?

Despite my efforts to appear calm and reassuring, Louis knew he was doing something special and couldn’t stop smiling afterwards.  So not matter what he becomes in life or how long it takes him to say ‘milk’ rather than ‘m…m..m..’ he will always be the youngest person ever to feed the tigers at London zoo.  That is until I take number 2 who’s due in October.  You think 1 month old is pushing it?

Personally I’d have shot straight off on my honeymoon to some old family friend’s private island but perhaps Catherine didn’t have much say in that.  The Royal Wedding was such a truly beautiful and impressive occasion which I imagine she enjoyed enormously, not least the knees up under the glitter balls in the throne room later that day.

I know the lovely couple are keen to ‘keep it real’ but honestly, sorting out pants for the wash and pushing a trolley around a supermarket can hardly be much fun.  And I don’t care how many posh ready meals Waitrose have to offer.  It’s almost as if, just as we’re seeing her as our stunning new future Queen, proud as punch for the world to see, she’s showing us that she’s not that special really and just like you and me.

I’m reminded of lottery winners that say it won’t change them and stay in their semis and boring jobs. You’ve hit the jackpot Kate, so I for one won’t mind if you enjoy the fruits of your long hard wait.  Get an indoor pool and spa built on to the side of your cute cottage, install a private cinema, and for God’s sake get Jamie Oliver round to do the cooking.

We are hoping to raise enough money to buy a new car for each Children’s Hospice in the UK and pay for nurses to reach children in their own home which is often where they need the help on a more regular basis.

There will be plenty of tempting holidays and experiences that you may want to bid on and your favourite celebs will be popping in throughout the week on London’s Heart. Every single penny that we raise together will make such a difference to these children’s lives.

Jamie Theakston and I are hosting a pub quiz on Tuesday and there’s still time to get your team together.  Go to www.heartlondon.co.uk and you can also get ideas for your own fundraising there.

Here are  a few pics from our visit to the Shooting Star hospice and some of our new friends we met there.  We really hope that you can help x

You know, it comes to something when I get asked if the reason I haven’t updated this blog is because I’m not coping with life! Thank you Bob, seriously, I do love your concern, you’re a sweetheart.  I am coping fine with the job and 1 year old, it just doesn’t leave me much time to blog.  I’m really going to try and blog much more regularly (I know, more fresh starts than Kerry Katona), so feel free to hassle me if you haven’t heard from me for a while, and leave me lots of comments.

I thought I’d share this fab photo of me and my hero Boy George at the Brits last week. Fab because I’ve got almost as much slap on as him, and because it looks like we’re  lying down. I will try and get it the right way up but for now this will have to do. I’m busy you know!

I’ve always wanted to chat to him as I loved Culture Club and really enjoyed his autobiography.  It’s both hilarious and deeply moving as you can imagine.  I told George how I in fact live just down the street from him but that he shouldn’t worry I’m about to stalk him despite regularly staring up at his gothic windows trying to catch a glimpse of god only knows what.   Two people lying down perhaps?

I hope your Xmas break was fabulous and that you feel revved up for the year ahead.  I was happy to be back at work this morning on Heart Breakfast.  We’ve got tonnes of great things lined up in the first part of the year.  A brand new game kicks off next week, as does your chance to win a holiday a DAY, and great guests coming on the show including CAMERON DIAZ.  I’m hoping it won’t be a bad hair day for me when she comes in.  And I’m hoping I will have grown a couple of inches by then.  I did ask Santa for that leg growing kit but perhaps he couldn’t fit it down the chimney.  Or perhaps I wasn’t a good enough girl….

Talking of being a good girl, inspired by the countless fitness dvds and articles that surround us at the moment, I’m thinking of doing some exercise. I’ll let you know what I decide.