Samantha Smythe's modern family journal - Lucy Cavendish

Let me introduce you to the Symthe household - there's me Samantha, my husband, John the Second and our two children, Bennie and Jamie. And then there's my eldest son Edward from my first marriage. I love my family to bits but I do sometimes wonder if a non-nuclear family can ever be a "real" family. Every now and then I lose my cool and start shouting like a mad woman until John has to take me upstairs and calm me down.Being a mum is never easy and last summer it all got a whole lot more complicated when my ex-husband John the First, turned up at our house for the first time in three years. The real reason for his unexpected appearance was Edward. John wanted to get to know him better and Edward in turn thought it was marvellous that he now had two dads living with him. I on-the-other-hand, began to feel that I was slowly disappearing out sight.Suddenly, our chaotic but loving home was teetering on the verge of collapse..