Date: September 1st 2015 Mood: Wild elation Source of mood: Three kids in school and preschool for the first time, meaning I could start working mornings instead of only nights. Guilt levels about feelings of elation: Surprisingly mild. Date: September 5th 2015 Mood: Spirit utterly broken Source of mood: Realisation that 45 car journeys a week might just kill me Guilt levels ...
June is mad. So says everyone. Teacher presents and end-of-term nights out and inductions for junior infants. Sports tournaments and school summer fairs - and barbecues every time it stops raining for more than six hours. I woke up this Monday morning and let out a long breath - another manic weekend done, and finally time to ...
White faces because Factor 50 never quite rubs in. Short-sleeves on the school run. Homework in the garden. Lunch in the garden. Dinner in the garden. A tidy kitchen because we've almost entirely relocated to the garden. Ice-cream every day - and twice on Sunday. There's nothing quite like the drop-everything wonder of an Irish summer. The summer ...
Bank holiday Monday morning. I checked the weather on my phone. Cloudy, rainy, and real-feel 5 degrees. I checked the weather through my window. Bright, sunny, and the illusion of warmth. Window trumps phone. Day-trip weather. I suggested Glendalough, everyone agreed. We'd need to be quick though. The last time we tried to go there, traffic ...
It's after-school activity sign-up time, and I'm looking for some quite specific courses: 1. How to get through the day without changing your clothes fourteen times A course which isn't necessary for anyone who has a diploma in "putting clothes back in the wardrobe" but is mandatory for everyone else. 2. Ready Brek pouring for beginners Because sweeping and wiping up ...
I made a list. I had to. Otherwise the summer would slip by in a blur of rain and groceries and the occasional overcast barbecue, and suddenly it would be September 1st. If we were going to do some day trips, I'd need a list. So I wrote down some of last year's most successful ...
This is not a newsflash. If you're reading this, you're probably a parent, and you already know that parenting is hard. I like for there to be reason for the hard days though, and this week I learned that sometimes there is no reason. Like Monday morning. I woke up cross. So did everyone else. The ...
My head was a little bit tender when I woke up this morning and my brain was a little bit fuzzy - a Prosecco-type fuzziness, after an incredibly fun 40th last night. What I really didn't want to do was get five of us up and dressed and into the car by 10.15am, but I'd promised the kids ...
Two things we didn't consider when we booked our holiday this year: 1. Italy can be very hot in July (subsequent raised eyebrows and "Italy in July? With small kids? Really?" comments did hammer this home) 2. Our campsite, Norcenni Girasole, is inland - way inland - sitting prettily in the hills of Tuscany but nowhere near even a ...
As the countdown to summer holidays rolled on last month, one cohort of parents in particular were bracing themselves with an odd mixture of relief and outright fear. On the one hand, it's great to have no more school-runs, no more homework, and a break for the kids. But for WAHMs, who work while the kids ...