I've been a single mum since DD was 8 weeks old. I'm on benefits. Life is not easy because we have so little money but babies don't need money. They need love. I always have enough money to feed us and keep a roof over our heads and pay my bills. What more is there? No, i can't go boozing every weekend. No, i can't buy myself new clothes very often. No, we don't have a car. BUT we have everything we NEED and a few little extras which we value so much because they are extra. DD is the light of my life, a joy every day, and i would not trade her for all the money in the world.

DD's daddy still has a large part in her life and things are nicer now. WHen i first moved out he was venomous towards me and as little help as possible but he has grown up an awful lot for his little girl.

I have a new partner, and i should think that before DD is 4 i will no longer be a single mother, so this time might be short but for just now DD is enjoying her life i think. Monday we went for a run (with her in the buggy) around a big local park for an hour, today we went for a wander to the shops to look at the Christmas lights and get some bread (she loves to help at the shop), tomorrow i'm taking her swimming, Thursdays she goes to a toddler group, Fridays we go to a singing group called bounce and rhyme and see some of her friends from toddler group again. At the weekend she either sees her daddy or comes out playing with DP and I to museums, art galleries, the science centre or the book&coffee shops we love. SHe has many fans and is loved across the city.

If you had told me that i'd be a single mum when i was pregnant i might even have considered abortion, i would have been so very frightened. But when it actually happened to me i just looked at my beautiful baby girl and knew that whatever it took i would MAKE things ok. I would move heaven and earth for that smile. And i am not afraid.

Love and good thoughts

Bx