Product review: MikaB Teething Jewellery

My baby is not so much a teether, more of a biter. Happily for him and for me, he hasn’t ever gone through a really painful teething period, but he does love a good bite. Of anything. My shoulder. My handbag strap. His sister’s leg. Dolls’ legs. Blankets. My husband’s nose. Anything.  Whenever he can. I ...

socially downcast (the online habit that’s hard to break)

I check my phone - the top bar is lit up with little symbols that meant nothing two years ago but mean a little more than they should right now. A tiny bird that tells me someone on Twitter is talking to me. A familiar "F" to indicate that someone on Facebook is tagging me or commenting ...

Birthday Imperfect

Birthdays. They must be perfect. Nobody ever said that that’s a rule, but it is. If you have children, you want them to remember birthdays as their best days ever, don’t you? And realistically, as a parent of small kids, how many days are likely to run smoothly enough to be considered “perfect”? I’m getting a sneaking ...

on loneliness in motherhood

Motherhood can be lonely. Especially the first time. When you don't know anything much, and you're overwhelmed by this small, soft, wriggling being for whom you have suddenly become responsible. When it's your first child, and you have no toddler or pre-schooler to keep you busy, but keep you company and keep you laughing, while you tend ...

Beauty pageant babies

So have you entered your daughter in the Universal Royalty Beauty Pageant this weekend? Me neither. Kind of a no-brainer. Kind of not worth writing a blog post really, as there's nothing to debate, the argument makes itself.And I've just read that the Bracken Court in Balbriggan, revealed this week to be hosting the pageant, has ...

An anniversary and a giveaway!

Today is my blog's six month anniversary and by happy coincidence, the nice people at Zinio have given me some free subscriptions to online magazines to give away!happy half birthday! (image credit goodtoknow.co.uk)They have a huge choice of titles available - I've picked out just some of them here:Elle, Tatler or Vogue for a glossy style fix, Glamour, ...

the homework club

This is how homework goes in our house: Me: Clara please can you come and start your homework Clara: (silence) Me: Please, come on, we need to get started Clara: In a minute mum Multiply this and various other responses by well, a lot, and fast forward to half an hour later, when we finally get to opening some worksheets. Me: ...

Somewhere down the lazy river

From sandals to boots overnight - summer is a goner. And we're all fine with that; as a nation we've agreed that we can't complain, because the summer was just so good this year (by nation I mean three real-life conversations plus the general consensus on Twitter)I'm thinking back on the highlights of my summer, and was ...

playground etiquette and other mysteries

"I hate the playground" said the woman as she sat back down on the low wall. "Me too" I replied, shaking my head as I plucked a squirming toddler off the top of the slide. The very nice woman had just leaped up to grab Sam, who had decided that at twenty months it is perfectly ...