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Parenthood

Parenthood

Guilty Feeling

“Are you not cross now Mummy?” says Molly looking up at me with big eyes. “No, I’m not cross anymore,” I sigh after a particularly tiresome tantrum over the right to devour three more fairy cakes before eating lunch. “Ok. Good Mummy. Now…we eat more cake,” she says triumphantly, with a grin that has the power to dissolve any annoyance.

It’s just one of the examples of the recent battles lost or won that I look back on now and realise was not quite the molehill to mountain scenario my frayed nerves told me it was at the time. Tears have been cried over the last week and I’ll admit quite a few of them have been mine! My temper has been a little shorter – most likely due to the soaring hormones of my 37-week pregnancy and the fact that the urge to waddle to the bathroom is waking me up five times a night.

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By on May 27, 2015
Parenthood

Creature of Habit

“You only want to join for a month?” says the young girl behind the Virgin gym counter, warily eyeing up my rapidly approaching 36 week sized bump. “Yes, just to keep up my swimming,” I tell her.  “I think a month is all I’ll be able to squeeze in.” Membership formalities aside and I’m dropping my ball like self gingerly into the pool, while the 20 something lifeguard looks as though he’s weighing up whether he’d actually know what to do in the event of an emergency.

Yes, I’m back home in Northern for the birth of bean number 2, and swimming is my attempt at holding on to some semblance of my normal routine. A chance to keep my sanity when my mind tries to continuously remind me: “Routine? You’ve got to be joking! Be prepared for all that to go completely t*ts up in a few weeks!”

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By on May 18, 2015
Parenthood

Mama to be salute

Just before I jetted off to Ireland to prepare for the arrival of baby no. 2, I filmed this pre-natal variation of a sun salutation with my bump of 34.5 weeks. I love the simple flow of this – it’s a practice you can even do on its own and will only take a few minutes out of your day.

A few rounds can really help to get the blood flowing and ease pregnancy aches and pains, such as tightness in your hips, lower back, chest and shoulders. It also does wonders to settle the crazy, monkey mind that can often be relentless during pregnancy!

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By on May 11, 2015
Parenthood

Unzipped

“Mummy. Your bum…” says Molly as she comes up behind me and places her hands on my hips. “It’s soooo big.” In despair, I turn to the husband. “Don’t worry about it,” he says, patting the derriere in question. “After all, you are nearly 8 months pregnant, it’s bound to be a little bigger.” Not exactly the reassurance I was looking for. Sigh. It has been one of those weeks.

Yes, it hasn’t been the most yogic of weeks. It has been a week in which Molly dropped the ‘F’ bomb. Twice. I’d like to say she learned the expletive from some unsavoury child at nursery, but instead I have to take full responsibility, having uttered it myself on at least three occasions that I can recall. Personally, I blame the raging hormones of the third trimester for making my fuse a little shorter.

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By on May 3, 2015
Parenthood

The Final Frontier

It was a strange feeling to get up today and not pull on my yoga gear to head out to teach my usual vinyasa class. With last Friday marking my final day of teaching for some months, the reality of what lies ahead is really starting to dawn. Next week I fly home at 34 weeks pregnant to get ready to nest down and wait for baby number 2 (gender of which is currently unknown!)

The decision to have the bean back in Ireland is as much to avoid the feeling of being caged in with an energetic toddler desperate to run around a 48 degree celcius garden, as it is to have the wonderful hands on support of grannies and grandpas! That and the fact that my big sister who also lives back home is due her second baby exactly a week before me! Yes, it is set to be a very eventful summer.

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By on April 27, 2015
Parenthood

Superwoman on strike

It’s 1am. Knee deep in the passport queue at Dubai International Airport, a heavily pregnant woman is having such a bad coughing fit that onlookers could be forgiven for thinking that she might go into early labour. After bursting into tears she is whisked to the top of the queue by an attendant who takes one look at her huge bump and red, snot filled face and takes pity.

Actually, that woman is me. After struggling through a 7 hour flight from London with searing sinus pain and the husband’s ‘manflu’ that I thought I had escaped from contracting, I had finally reached my wits end. It was a not so nice finish to an otherwise fantastic trip to Bath for my Dubai best friend’s beautiful wedding – a chance to relax and spend a few days on my own (which at 31 weeks pregnant, will be in short supply of very soon!) Continue Reading

By on April 12, 2015
Parenthood

Top 10 Mum Commandments vs Reality

When it comes to the crazy world of motherhood can you recall all the rules that you thought you should stick to that have since fallen by the wayside? Well, one toddler later and another bambino due in June, here’s an (honest) list of my top 10 commandments that didn’t exactly turn out to plan…  Continue Reading

By on March 12, 2015
Parenthood

Beach ball baby

“Your belly button, mama. What happened?” inquires my 2.5 year old, gently proding my protruding navel. “It is popped!” Yes, I tell her. It has popped. The result of an ever-growing belly that is rapidly reaching beach ball proportions way faster than it did the first time around. A changing body that I’ll admit I’ve become increasingly self-conscious about lately. So much so, that the images you see here nearly never saw the light of day… Continue Reading

By on March 3, 2015