MichelleMcDonagh's Blog

It was my own fault. I jinxed us all when I breezily announced that we had got through the Christmas break this year without any sickness in the house. The words were barely out of my mouth when we started to go down one by one during the first week of January. Princess Firstborn fell first, starting with sore ears and progressing to sore everything - the virus from hell. I know because I was next...
Last updated: 26/01/2016 by MichelleMcDonagh
A pleasant visit to a toy shop ended in a scene that wouldn’t have been out of place in an episode of The Worst of Supernanny or Kids from Hell. The Bruiser, who is five, had the meltdown of all meltdowns. I’m not exaggerating here, there were people coming from the other end of the store to see what all the commotion was about. We were there to try out bikes for size before they went on the...
Last updated: 03/12/2015 by MichelleMcDonagh
The last time my sister and her adorable almost four-year-old twin boys came to visit us from Dublin for the weekend, we ended up in the doctor’s surgery on the Saturday morning. My most accident prone nephew had split his eyebrow after hurtling head first into the corner of our glass-topped coffee table. Last weekend, they came to visit again and once again, we ended up in the doctor’s...
Last updated: 28/10/2015 by MichelleMcDonagh
In my previous life, long before I became a mum, I used to look forward to my weekends all week; to lazy lie-ins, meeting friends in town for lunch, pottering around the shops and buying something new to wear out that night. Years of looking forward to weekends means my brain still automatically does so, but it hasn’t copped on to the fact that these days, the weekends are no longer a break...
Last updated: 07/10/2015 by MichelleMcDonagh
What is it with children’s clothes sizes these days? As they grow, it seems to get harder to buy clothes in their age group. Kids don’t skip a year of growing so why, oh why, do manufacturers skip whole age groups and bunch two sizes together so that the clothes are either too small or too huge? The Bruiser recently got clothes from a popular American chain store (GAP) as birthday presents...
Last updated: 23/09/2015 by MichelleMcDonagh
I knew it was too good to be true. After a summer of being told on an almost daily basis that he didn’t want to go to Big School, but wanted to stay at home and play with his toys instead, I was dreading the First Day. However, when the big day arrived on the last Thursday in August, he went into his classroom quite happily, having met his little buddy from playschool in the queue and spied the...
Last updated: 08/09/2015 by MichelleMcDonagh
I am on a mission to make my house a yell-free zone. I’m sick and tired of shouting and roaring at the kids like a fishwife and then battering myself over the head with the guilty stick for the rest of the day. I’m also worried that one of these days, the next door neighbours will report me to child protection services or worse, the Gardaí. How has it come to this? I can’t remember ever...
Last updated: 07/08/2015 by MichelleMcDonagh
Flying with young kids is stressful at the best of times and the four-hour flight to Lanzarote was our longest flight with the nippers. On top of that we were flying Ryanair, which made me even more nervous as I had sworn after my last flight while heavily pregnant with Princess Firstborn, that I would never fly with them again due to their complete lack of customer service. But in fact, we were...
Last updated: 22/07/2015 by MichelleMcDonagh
We’re heading away to sunnier climes tomorrow and I’m in the throes of the packing frenzy. This year, I decided to be super organised so I actually started buying sun creams, insect repellant, bikinis, etc, in early May. Yet here I am, the day before we are due to head off, still buying and still packing. I’ve done as much packing as I can for the kids at this stage. Shorts, t-shirts...
Last updated: 07/07/2015 by MichelleMcDonagh
It’s amazing how some childhood developments happen very gradually and others happen literally overnight. Princess Firstborn (6) has been starting to spread her wings for some time now, but over the space of one weekend, she learnt how to fly (well to glide at least). It’s such a delicate balance between giving kids a bit of independence and keeping them safe. While she has been on plenty of...
Last updated: 23/06/2015 by MichelleMcDonagh
1 2 3 Next Last
Déanta in Éirinn - Sheology
About