His Best Friend’s Wedding

wedding glasses - office mum

As the best man said “we’ve known each other since we were kids, and I’m very honoured and proud to be standing here today” , we all turned towards his wife, inclining our heads and expressing a silent “awwwww!” . Partly as we were genuinely moved by the best man’s words, but also as a ...

summer holiday

          The bags are packed, the kids are packed and takeaway coffees are in hand – we’re on the road to Rosslare to take the ferry to Roscoff. I’m beyond excited to be going on holidays and not remotely worried (read: reasonably worried) about the potential pitfalls that might detract from our enjoyment, including:   A five year ...

the do’s and don’ts of starting school

School's out for summer, and for parents all over the country it's a significant milestone in any year. For our family, until now, this time of year meant just two things: lighter traffic in the morning and holidays jumping to twice the price. But for the first time, we experienced end-of-term properly as my junior infant finished her ...

You’re not the boss of me

A short post about a five-year-old girl who wants to be her own boss from now on - in a week of transcripts, here's one of our conversation last night: C: Mum, I've had enough of you telling me what to do. From now on I'm going to decide everything myself. Me: What would you do differently ...

Never tweet your heroes: part II

So I’ve learned two important things since writing the below post last April – it’s a story about tripping over a laundry basket and spraining my finger, being unable to drive and therefore taking a bus to work. This gave me some unexpected time for browsing Facebook and Twitter on my phone, leading to a severe ...

a chip off the (not so old) block

Today we went to a birthday party - all five of us. My eldest has been giving out about this upcoming birthday party for the last two weeks, saying she wouldn't know anyone, she'd be older than all the other kids (the birthday girl is a friend of my four year old), she'd have nothing to ...

the birthday party

cup cakes - Office Mum

So. Hosting children's birthday parties. I can't possibly be the only person who finds this extremely stressful? When chatting about this to other parents, I sense that they don't find this quite the ordeal that I do. Or perhaps some are better than I am at hiding the fear? I feel slightly...embarrassed about the amount of anxiety ...

a little post about a super-nanny

Today is my birthday, and I arrived home from work to an eerily silent house. As I looked around in mild confusion, two excited girls, one bemused little boy and one smiling childminder jumped out from behind the counter and yelled "surprise!" There was a cake on the table - this is a picture of the beautiful cake ...

Doing the right thing (never again)

Do you ever do something because it's the right thing to do, and afterwards wish you'd taken an easier, less selfless route, as your well-intentioned plans backfire all around you? I don't mean big life choices like whether or not to take a year out to work for Doctors without Borders (à la every US medical ...

Seven very good reasons to work from home

pancakes  - office mum

Working from home: no to mascara and high heels, yes to school runs and meals with kids, and best of all reduced guilt.... Lots of people work in jobs that are not suitable for working from home, and plenty of other people are not allowed to by employers. But if you have children, and have ever considered seeking to work from home ...