STTN

As I checked on my almost-two-year old last night, I covered him with a very specific blanket and placed a spare soother right beside his hand. I closed the door rather than leaving it ajar as we usually do. He was wearing two-piece-pyjamas instead of a one-piece sleepsuit, and he had eaten no cheese yesterday. This careful routine ...

Office Mum stories: Carmel Harrington

bgrcover

"I try hard not to compromise the kind of mother I want to be, by not letting work encroach on the children’s time.  But inevitably, deadlines need to be met" Next up, in this series of interviews with mothers, is Carmel Harrington, a sales manager turned stay-at-home-mother and now a published author. She is actually living the ...

Parent like someone is watching

hmm still not sure mum

"He loves his new baby sister" enthused my work colleague about his little boy, "he's not jealous at all, he's always hugging and kissing her, he's so good" Great so, the upcoming birth of my second child was bound to lead to exactly the same kind of loveliness. I wasn't just basing this assumption on one ...

Things we don’t say to men

SAMSUNG

After reading "Here's why we need to start asking men - how do you do it all?" I started to really think about why we don't ask men this question, and about all the other questions we are asked as women. Can you picture a man being asked any of these: "Are you going back to ...

A Disney Tale

It

An invitation to a charity event in the Disney Store popped into my inbox - their "Share in the Magic" campaign. Children welcome. But on a Wednesday evening. A work-day, a school-night. This would be tricky. But where there's a will there's a way, and where there's Mickey Mouse and a Christmas postbox and three small Disney-loving children, ...

office mum stories: Elizabeth McDonnell

“just because you have a uterus should not mean you can’t have a career;
you don’t have to leave your career aspirations in the maternity ward”

Continuing the series of interviews about being a mother and balancing work and home, I speak to Elizabeth McDonnell who is an optometrist and mother of four small children. She and her husband are also sharing their lives with chickens, hens, ducks, geese, turkeys and their beloved Alpacas.

“just because you have a uterus should not mean you can’t have a career;
you don’t have to leave your career aspirations in the maternity ward”

Continuing the series of interviews about being a mother and balancing work and home, I speak to Elizabeth McDonnell who is an optometrist and mother of four small children. She and her husband are also sharing their lives with chickens, hens, ducks, geese, turkeys and their beloved Alpacas.

Football and shopping

Sam in wellies

Last Saturday morning was always going to be stressful. My husband was leaving at 7.30am for his annual trip to a Liverpool game with "the lads" (at what age are they no longer "the lads"?) - this in itself was not a problem. I feel that six years into being a parent, I can no ...

Office Mum stories: Lorraine Keane

LORRAINE KEANE - MICROSOFT DEVICES AMBASSADOR 31102013

  “I always say 'nobody died’ and then try and get on with it.  Women are natural multi-taskers so we tend to think we can 'do-it-all'.  In my experience, something has gotta give” Lorraine Keane, well-known Irish broadcaster, is this week's interviewee in the Office Mum interview series. In her capacity as Microsoft Ambassador, she is chatting about family life and ...

Sometimes it’s not so simple

A thought provoking piece appeared in the Independent this week by Miriam Donahue, recounting how she once broke the glass ceiling but then handed back her promotion in favour of having time with her family. She makes very good points about quotas, about women in politics and women on air. I too believe that at least ...

Autumn Glow

Sam watching The Lost Boys at 11pm...one mini-Aero

I'm very conscious that many of my posts are about parenting failures, domestic disasters, motherhood challenges, and mammy-guilt. I am in danger of appearing to be a terrible mother. So for once, I'm going to write about something lovely, something that went really, really well - our mid-term break. Don't worry - we had the usual mix ...