MaryByrne's Blog

I am well aware of the dangers of the sun and the importance of applying cream to my daughter’s delicate skin, but I’m also well aware of how much of a pain it actually is! Add to the fact that I reapply all over every hour as I'm t errified my baby girl will get the slightest tinge of red, sometimes I love when the sun doesn’t come out. Admittedly, the weather has not been the best this...

It's that time of year again, when many families are shutting down their computers, locking up their houses and heading off on holiday for a couple of weeks. And while destination, length of time away and how you get there are all very different when you become a mum, that's not all that changes! If you are anything like me, you may start to notice that how you pack now is significantly...

Working full-time and trying to keep track of my daughter’s hectic social life, I’ll be honest and tell you that my home would never win a prize for being the tidiest house. Couple that with the fact that me and cleaning just aren’t the best of friends I’ve accepted that I'm just never going to live in a Pinterest-worthy house, no matter how much I want to. My mum, on the other hand...

The summer brings with it a whole host of emotions for SAHMs and working mothers; the school closes, routines go out the window and it can either be the best time or an absolute disaster. As the doors close behind students, many mums can be heard bickering and moaning about how much harder the holidays are, and being a working mum myself, with a primary school age child, I am all too aware of the...

Now don’t get me wrong, being a mum is one of the most rewarding and important jobs that I have, but it is definitely a challenging one! While I love every aspect about it, if I'm being honest, there are a few things that are made a lot harder when you have a little one to take care of! 1. Enjoying a lie-in This is the first weekend in a long time where there is no early morning call for...

There's the mum who juggles it all with a smile on her face, the mum who looks glamorous whilst dropping four or five kids to school and there's the mum who refuses to allow their child back out of their commitments. I'm the latter. The mum who would rather drag (not literally!) their child out of bed and into the cold for fear they miss one football session or one swimming lesson. Now...

Expectant mums are often made to feel that pregnancy will be one seamless, peaceful journey where at the end we pop (not literally!) a beautiful little baby out; however this couldn’t have been further from the truth for me. Thankfully, I didn’t have any complications during my nine months and I know it can be a lot worse for other mums-to-be, but, to be honest, it totally freaked me out. Like...

Most of us remember the first pet we had when we were kids, and just how utterly devastating it was when they died. Even now, nearly 30 years later, I can vividly remember how I felt when my first my terrapin and then my rabbit died. Both happened years apart but they definitely introduced me to the unpredictability of life at an early age. Sadly, my daughter experienced that awful feeling last...

At one point or another most of us have jokingly told our children that as soon as they are old enough they’ll be packing their bags and moving out. I have definitely said this to my little girl on more than one occasion, but deep down I know that the minute she decides to leave the nest my heart will break. I'm not sure why I started contemplating on her eventually leaving the family home...

My daughter is a very lucky little girl and I don’t think she realises it. When I say lucky, I don’t mean in terms of getting clothes or all the toys that her heart desires (not even close), but rather that she is lucky in the incredible relationship she has with her grandparents. Growing up I myself had the pleasure of knowing my grandmother and grandfather on my dad’s side, and I vividly...