Dec 31, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

A year in the life: 2010

I love New Year’s Eve. Not from the party point-of-view – God knows we don’t get much of a chance to go out! But from the point-of-view of reflecting on the year gone by and remembering all that has happened. Looking back on the months from last year, I find most of my thoughts are sleep-related. There’s some other stuff in there too, but in the end, it all comes back to... read more

Dec 30, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Thomas the Tank Engine inflatable chair

Once he learned to walk, Little Man suddenly seemed to be lacking a place to sit! He’d run around the room and wear himself out and then suddenly plonk himself down onto the ground. Or he’d try to clamber up on the couch but it’s a little too big for him just yet. We took Little Man to Smyths one day and tried out several chairs for him, but the kids chairs all seem to be for bigger... read more

Dec 30, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

How time flies

A year ago today, my brother married his beautiful girlfriend, and one of my favourite people in the whole world. I can’t believe it’s been a whole year already. So I just wanted to say “Happy Anniversary guys!” Hope you had a wonderful first year of married life! read more

Dec 29, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

A trip to the doctor

Poor Little Man still isn’t better. His appetite is still barely there. And he is sleeping loads. We took him to the doctor today because I wanted the doctor to listen to his chest to make sure it was okay. His cough sounds worse to me. But thankfully the doctor confirmed that Little Man just has a virus. And his chest is still clear. You could tell how sick the poor little guy is though – he... read more

Dec 28, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Mmmmm Pudding

Remember my first attempt at starting a new Christmas tradition a few weeks ago – I made a Christmas pudding. We didn’t get to sample it on Christmas Day because Little Man was so sick. Well today, my parents came to visit so we decided it was the perfect opportunity to cook the pudding and test it out. Of course we had to test it thoroughly, so we sampled it with cream and with custard. It... read more

Dec 27, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Let it rain!

Never thought I’d be so happy to see the rain! We woke up this morning to the sound of raindrops. The snow was gone and the roads were clear. Even better than that, Little Man woke without a temperature and he didn’t need Calpol all day. His appetite still hasn’t returned but he is definitely on the mend. Fingers crossed this means that he will soon go back to sleeping through the night... read more

Dec 26, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Christmas baking

One of the things I love most about Christmas is the baking – mince pies, cookies, puddings, desserts. Yummy! Normally I use this recipe to make my mince pie pastry: Ingredients 8oz Odlums Cream Flour 2oz icing sugar 4 oz butter 1 egg yolk 2 tablespoons ice cold water Dash of lemon juice Steps 1. Sieve the flour and icing sugar together. 2. Rub in the butter until it has a breadcrumb... read more

Dec 25, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

The best laid plans

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how well you think you’ve planned something – there’s always one or two little things you didn’t allow for. Like Little Man getting sick for Christmas. The poor little guy had a sick tummy all day yesterday, and then a high fever last night, and several times today. So we spent the night administering Baby Neurofen and Calpol, and the day trying to... read more

Dec 24, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Santa’s on his way!

It’s official. The Six-One News reported that Santa has left the North Pole. It was the most bizarre Christmas Eve report I’ve ever seen, with lots of theories about how Santa gets around. Everything from nanotechnology to parallel universes was proposed. I’ll be honest – I don’t really understand the need for these theories. Everyone already knows how Santa gets to all the... read more

Dec 23, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Remembering

When I turned 30, hubbie and I decided to stop trying to avoid getting pregnant. We weren’t going to actively try to get pregnant you see. We were just going to wait and see what happened. I had spoken to my GP and he warned me that it is quite common for it to take up to a year to get pregnant after coming off the pill. So we had a 6-12 month timeline in mind. The first month went by. My period was... read more

Dec 23, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Roll on Christmas!

Just a quick post to say, the fridge has arrived, the baking is done, the presents are wrapped, and there’s snow on the ground outside. Looks like we are all set for Christmas! Sorry for the short post, but the present wrapping took a long time. It’s difficult to wrap presents when one hand is constantly reaching for a mince pie! Now off to bed to dream of Santa and his... read more

Dec 21, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

App of the week:Parenting Ages and Stages

Parenting Ages and Stages is a great free iPhone app from Parenting magazine. To use the app, you enter your child’s details. The app then provides you with relevant articles and information for your child’s age and developmental stage. I downloaded this app a couple of months ago, and although I don’t use it all the time, I find it really interesting to dip in and out of it every couple... read more

Dec 20, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Ho Harvey Ho!

Normally I love Mondays. Monday is my parental leave day. It belongs to me and Little Man. It’s a day we spend playing, meeting our mammy and baby group friends, and going to the playground. Today was a little different because I had to wait for a delivery. Our fridge spluttered and died on Thursday night so we went shopping on Friday for a new one. The saleswoman in Harvey Normans guaranteed it... read more

Dec 19, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

My breastfeeding story Part 4: The Breastfeeding Support Group

In the last post on my breastfeeding story, I wrote about the first couple of weeks after coming home from the hospital (Part 3). Today I’m going to write about my local breastfeeding support group. This group played a huge part in my motivation to continue breastfeeding, even when things were difficult. The first time I attended the support group was when Little Man was just six days old. That... read more

Dec 18, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Christmas Jumpers and Barnardos

Check out the Christmas Jumpers competition on the One4All Ireland Facebook page. They’ve teamed up with Barnardos to launch Ireland’s first official Christmas Jumper Day, on 22nd December! One4All are donating €1 to Barnardos for every photo they receive of people in Christmas Jumpers. The best photo each day wins a €25 One4All Gift Card, and the best overall photo will win a €250... read more

Dec 17, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Who’s afraid of Santa Claus?

Santa Claus came to visit all the children in the crèche today. And Little Man freaked out! He hid in the corner of the room and refused to go near Santa. Santa even brought presents for all the children but Little Man didn’t care. He didn’t stop crying the whole time Santa was in the room! We’ve been really looking forward to bringing him to see Santa next week. We didn’t take... read more

Dec 16, 2010 Posted by Rob

Guest Post: Long Haul Adventures

The following post was shared by Rob, devoted Dad to a 6-month old little girl. Rob recently travelled to the Philippines with his wife and daughter, and he wanted to share some tips from their experience. Thanks Rob! I wanted to share my recent experiences of flying long haul with our 6-month old daughter. My wife is from the Philippines, and we’ve been going home to her family every year for the last 4... read more

Dec 15, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

My breastfeeding story Part 3: Coming home

This week I’ve been recalling my breastfeeding story, starting with the first hour after Little Man was born (Part 1), and then recalling our hospital stay (Part 2). I felt a real sense of relief when we left the hospital and came home. It was so nice to get set up in our own surroundings. That first night that hubbie, Little Man, and I spent alone in our house was very special. Of course, it was... read more

Dec 14, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

BLW: Banana Pancakes

Earlier this week, I was reading Proper Fud, one of my favourite Baby-Led Weaning blogs. Jill gave a yummy recipe for Banana Pancakes, which are pancakes made with yogurt and banana. We didn’t have any plain yogurt, so I tweaked the recipe slightly, and made it with the following ingredients: 1 cup flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 large egg, slightly beaten 1 Glenisk Banana Yogurt for... read more

Dec 14, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

My breastfeeding story Part 2: Our hospital stay

Yesterday I started recounting my breastfeeding story in “The First Hour.” Today, I’m going to write about getting started with breastfeeding over the course of the four days that we spent in hospital. As I explained yesterday, Little Man was very sleepy after his birth much to my surprise. I hadn’t expected that to happen if I had a drug-free birth. He was still very sleepy when we... read more

Dec 13, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

My breastfeeding story Part 1: The first hour

I’ve been writing a lot about breastfeeding recently, so I think it’s about time I told my story about feeding Little Man. Breastfeeding was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It wasn’t easy – God knows, I considered quitting at least once a day for the first two months! I’ve tried to write this story before, but I’ve never quite known how to tackle it.... read more

Dec 12, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

This house of straw: update

Remember my complaints recently about our upstairs stairgate coming away from the wall, and leaving a big hole in its place? Well the hole is still there, but we’ve finally managed to rehang the stairgate! Hubbie had to attach a couple of blocks of wood to the banister of the stairs and hang the gate from that so that its hinge is on the banister instead of on the wall. The locks for the gate are now... read more

Dec 10, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

App of the week: I hear ewe – animal sounds for toddlers

Today Little Man rediscovered I Hear Ewe, an iPhone and iPad app that I downloaded a few months back. This is a great little app. It features lovely drawings of animals. When you tap one of the pictures, such as the cow, the voiceover says “This is the sound a cow makes…” And then it plays a lifelike sound of a cow mooing. When he’s played with it before, Little Man didn’t... read more

Dec 10, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

From coffees to cocktails

At the time I got pregnant, only one of my friend’s had had a baby. And she lives several hours from me. So I knew that maternity leave would quickly turn into a very lonely time if I didn’t make an effort to get out and meet people. Luckily the town that I live in has a fantastic Breastfeeding Support Group. And every Wednesday morning, starting when Little Man was just 6 days old, I made my... read more

Dec 9, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Jack Black and the key to good parenting

Jack Black gave an interview this week to Parade magazine, where he shared some parenting insights. Top of his list – sleep. He said “The more sleep I get, the better dad I am. Parenting is 90% energy; if you don’t have it, then there tend to be some lazy TV-watching days with the kids, and that ain’t gettin’ it done.” Lots of people are talking about it online, mostly in a “well duh!... read more