Blog List

What’s your favourite Christmas childhood memory? Do you ever look at your little ones as they play with the decorations on the tree and wonder; will they remember this when they are grown? What will their special Christmas memories be? My most cherished Christmas memory is a tradition that belonged just to me and my Dad - the Christmas Eve Grocery Shop. The one time in the year when my mother...

It’s early December and the beginning of the most magical time of the year. The festive season is fast approaching and as the preparations get under way, I find it intriguing that people constantly say to me: ‘Oh it must be sad not having young children any more at Christmas. It can’t be the same without Santa.’ Whoever said that Santa stops coming once the children reach adolescence? I...

Bathing my daughter this evening, I thought about how lucky I am to have two beautiful healthy children; however, I couldn’t help but think we may never have known her. Trying to conceive can be a journey and when my husband and I spoke about having a family, we always said that if we were blessed, it would be lovely to have two children. Our journey to parenthood began when we saw that Big Fat...

Every time I think the so-called Mummy War has gone away, it reappears somewhere in some stale form. This time it was a piece that appeared in online magazine Slate, in which the author admitted to regarding stay-at-home parents with secret disdain. Enough already. Can we move on, please? I know I’m beyond weary at the various lines of fire; the stay-at-home mums smugly running the school bake...

Labels can be great. In fact, if every one of them had words like Karen Millen or L. K. Bennett on them, I'd be the world's biggest label fan. Labels can tell you instantly what to expect and how to characterise something in this increasingly confusing world in which we are raising our kids. Sometimes, however, labels just make you lazy. This won't be a surprise to anyone with more...

When we brought The Bruiser home from hospital, Princess Firstborn, who was then 18-months-old, was somewhat taken aback to discover that unlike her, he was hiding funny dangly bits under his nappy. Having no experience in this kind of situation, I gently explained that this was her little brother’s “Dinglebell” — don’t ask me where I got the name from but it was the first word that came...

November 17 th was World Prematurity Day. This may not ring a bell for just everyone but it rang loud for me. My little boy was born at just 28 weeks gestation. While in labour, I was asked to give a boy’s name and a girl’s name. I was told that a priest would be waiting and the child would be baptised immediately. I was lying hooked up to a drip and was getting injections on a regular basis...

I look at all the early pregnancy predictor kits in the shops these days and they only cause me a moment's pause, but there was a time I stocked up on them. I don't even know what section of the chemist holds the ovulation indicators any more, but there was a time that I could grab them blinfolded. I look at my three children and know that my family is complete, but there was a time when...

As the parent of a 5th class girl, I dread nits, tin whistle practice, Tesco bag packing, the nine-hour Christmas play, but more than these I shiver at the prospect of being called aside for “a chat". When you are called in for a word, you know your opinion is not being sought on boots versus flats wihen it comes to winter dresses. When the owner of the after-school club that my daughter attends...

Every mother's journey into parenthood varies significantly. My own personal journey began back in 2005 when I first came to realise that it may not be a straightforward one. Being diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Endometriosis, not ovulating regularly and not producing progesterone would all play a part in the difficult road that lay ahead. One thing i was sure of, I truly...