Florrie | On Your Third Birthday

Three years. Three whole years of you, my little whirlwind. I say it every year but this has gone so fast. You spent most of your third year of your life in lockdown, but you have thrived so much. 

Aoife | On Your Fifth Birthday

 

Where on earth have the last five years gone? Five whole years of being your Mummy, five whole years of watching you grow from a squishy newborn to a beautiful, spirited little girl - I have loved every minute of it. As I sit here to write this, I can feel my stomach going at the thought that my baby girl has grown so quickly.

Your First Day

Today was your first day in your new nursery, the nursery you will now be going to five days a week. I'm not sure why I felt nervous about it; I still do. You have been going to nursery before now, but only for one day a week. Now you will be going every day, two of those days being full school hours.

AD| Finding University Childcare with Childcare.co.uk

One of the first things that came into my head when receiving my University offer was childcare and how I would manage it. The way in which my university arranges their Midwifery degree is in integrated placements; I will have two full uni days a week and will also have to work on placement around this. The hours I work can range from 60 to over 90 hours per month.

An Open Letter to Aoife's Nursery Teacher

You may not have known at the time, but handing over my first born to you without having met you before was hard. When it came to childcare I had always met the providers first before entrusting them with my daughter. Yet, here I was, willingly waving my baby goodbye for a few hours that afternoon. 

[AD] Travel with Trunki

As you may have seen, we have previously worked with Trunki in the past and have used their case religiously for family holidays ever since.

Recently, we were asked if we would like to test out and review their new Una the Unicorn case; now if you know Aoife, then you will know that she is unicorn obsessed. We took them up on their offer and they also kindly allowed me to run a giveaway for one of my readers to be able to win their very own Trunki of their choice.

My Child Has Hypermobility

I recently found out that Aoife has Hypermobility Syndrome; this is something that I always had suspicions of but had been fobbed off by her previous podiatrist and given insoles for her shoes to help with her supposed instep.

My Child Doesn't Eat

I was recently reading a post written by Lucy discussing her youngest daughters eating habits; it quickly dawned on me that I could have written the post myself about Florrie.

Ashamed to Admit I Bedshare

This post has been languishing in my drafts for months now; it's been one of the most nerve wracking posts that I have published as I know full well a lot of people's views do not reflect my own. Heck, if I had read this post three years ago, I too would have judged about how "irresponsible" it was.

You're Going To School!

When that 7lb 15oz screaming bundle was first placed into my arms, I never thought that we would be at this stage so soon. Three and a half years seemed like decades away, yet here were are; your first day of school is done and dusted.

Florrie | On Your First Birthday

 A year ago today I was one day overdue and severely fed up - it was the longest I had ever been pregnant for as your sister had turned up two days early. I'd had symptoms of early labour the day before on your due date - a show and back aches. All of which died off as soon as I rang the hospital of course.

Preschool Gratitude

It has almost been a week since Aoife had her last preschool session; in September she will be starting her school nursery and I can honestly say that I don't know how we are already at this point.

She has been attending preschool three times a week since last September and it really has been the making of her. Whilst she has attended a private nursery one day a week since she was five months old, her preschool has done a lot more for her.

Guest Post - Social Media Parenting

Today I have my lovely friend Kirsty sharing a post on social media parenting - I met Kirsty almost  four years ago when we were pregnant with our eldest daughters who ended up being born a day apart. Kirsty blogs over at Holly's Legacy where she talks about all three of her children, alongside baby loss and parenting after a loss.

Tips For Indoor Date Night

As a parent, date nights are a rather rare occurence these days; tight purse strings and no babysitters can cause a challenge. Due to this, we have had to adjust our date nights - no more out on the town for dinner and drinks! Our date nights now consist of evenings in with a good film and a take away.

Here are a few ideas for an indoor date night with your other half:

Aoife | On Your Third Birthday

I'm writing this the night before you turn three; exactly three years ago at this moment I was at home experiencing what I now know were contractions. At the time they were quickly brushed off as Braxton Hicks by the midwife on the other end of the phone.

Little did I know that in a few hours you would be well and truly on your way into the world and my life would be changed forever.

Parenting Sacrifices

When I was pregnant with Aoife I was very naive - I, rather foolishly, thought that when my daughter arrived that my life would be pretty much the same except that I would have a mini me tag along. I knew that I would have less sleep, but I figured "hey, sleep when she sleeps!"

To My Mum Friends

Last week I wrote a long overdue letter to my friends without children; I figured it was only fair to spread the love to my mum friends too.

Statutory Maternity Pay Survival

At some point during your pregnancy you will leave your workplace to start preparing for your new arrival. Being pregnant can be stressful enough as it is, but adding in the worry of managing your finances whilst on maternity leave doesn't help.

My Last Baby?

After having my two girls I am constantly asked if I'm "done" and if I'll "go again" for a boy.

Firstly, I think it's quite rude to even ask someone about their future pregnancy intentions. For all anyone knows, something could have happened at Florrie's birth which resulted in me not being able to have anymore children (it didn't but it sure gets you thinking doesn't it?).

Hopefully a Boy Next Time?

Long before having my own children was on the agenda, I always saw myself as a mum of girls. When I was told that Aoife was a girl I was over the moon; I never had a great mother-daughter relationship with my own mother so I couldn't wait for what was in store for myself and my little girl.