La Dolce Vita - Jo Abi

La Dolce Vita

La Dolce Vita is Italian for 'The Good Life'. This is what I strive for every day. I strive for happiness, balance, fun and love. Here you will read about my insights and struggles and how I try to deal with life's challenges in a way that improves my life, the life of my friends and family and of my children.

Featured blog post

All mums do this, they just don’t admit it

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Recent blog posts

Apr 01

Where did all the childcare places go?

I thought I was all set. My son Philip is in school and happy. Giovanni and Caterina aged five and three are in a brilliant community pre-school two days a week. I went back to the gym, rang old friends for a catch up and got stuck into my freelance and uni work. Then, my dream job dropped onto my...

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Mar 26

Confession: You won't believe how I clean my bathroom

I clean my bathroom every Friday, in the nude…bare-butt naked. Here’s why. I use really strong cleaning liquid. If the cleaning liquid splashes onto my clothes the colour fades! I have lost a nice dress and a nightie to this serious issue and I’m tired of it. I remembered my...

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Mar 26

Is this the ultimate sign of a mid-life crisis?

A week before I turned 37 I wrote a list of things I wanted to do before I turned 40. Right under a trip to Europe (expensive for a family of five) is ‘Run a marathon’. So, I’m entering the Mother’s Day Classic. This will be the first time I’ve run longer than...

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Mar 19

If you're a parent and you haven't wrestled with this question yet, you will

I never realised that parenting young children was the easy part. Think about it. They are young, they depend on you for everything, they can’t help but share their every thought and feeling. We control everything about their lives and know them so well. So what do we do when they start...

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Mar 07

Why I ignore my kids

A lot of the pressure I feel as a mother is keeping my kids entertained. I buy paint, plaster, colouring books and endless amounts of cardboard and paper. I buy electronic devices and associated games and accessories. I buy reading books, movies and interesting snacks. Because children need to be...

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Mar 01

Should kids be paid for chores?

My son and I sat down for a serious discussion a few weeks back. He wanted to start getting a weekly allowance. I happily agreed but explained that he’d have to do jobs around the house to earn his allowance. I rattled off a few ideas and he excitedly agreed and was a busy little bee that...

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Feb 15

Are all these activities necessary? We're too exhausted to work it out

This is the first year that I’ve scheduled all three of my children into a varied and interesting range of activities and one week in I am EXHAUSTED. We are run off our feet! Every night I pack the appropriate bags and every day we race around trying to arrive at everything on time. Added to...

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Feb 11

How skinny people eat chocolate

I am fascinated by the habits of naturally skinny people. It’s a bit of an obsession and has been for my entire life. Being an Italian girl I was always encouraged to eat large amounts of food. While pregnant my dad actually picked up his plate, walked over to me and scrapped his food onto...

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Jan 29

It's mummy moments like this that keep it interesting

From the moment my son was born, we would grocery shop together. It was our special time. We’d start off the trip at our favourite café. From the age of one-and-a-half he was a babycino connoisseur. Then it was off to the supermarket. He’d reach out for packets of biscuits and apples...

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Jan 25

If you’ve ever struggled to put on control undies you'll relate to this

I am lucky to be sitting here at all. Earlier this week shapewear tried to kill me. It started innocently enough. I’m at my goal weight but three children later, the loose skin on my tummy continues to bother me. I have some great jeans but they are all low-rise. It’s so hard to find...

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