A gold medal shopping performance!

Free of Ben for the morning who was safely deposited in pre school, I was unleashed on the aisles for some extreme Christmas shopping.

Just me and Katie who was buckled in and briefed on the high speed ride on which she was about to embark.

My mission was to make a dent on present buying for the family. On the face of it I know it would seem that I had all the time in the world to shop til I drop but the reality is that with a three year old in tow, a baby in need of almost constant cuddling and severe sleep deprivation, I have not got it together enough to brave the shops with any real intent.

It meant that after a solid fourhours of sleep in the bank I was determined to hit the high street. I apologise to those unsuspecting members of the public who may have crossed my path that day. It was like the parting of the waves on more than one occasion. My old gripe of people using the lifts who have two perfectly good legs to use the stairs surfaced once again, but I refrained from barging them out of the way, preferring instead to simply edge my way in front of them using my cute daughter by way of distraction.

The result was that I managed to conquer five shops in little over an hour. Exhausted but ever so slightly high on adrenaline I retired to a coffee shop for some needed caffeine and reflected on how if they made shopping with a baby an Olympic sport I think I would be in with a shout.

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here