I’m delighted to introduce a first ever guest post on Office Mum this week; Kate Gunn is a mother, blogger and freelancer. She spent her 20’s travelling, her 30’s getting married and having babies, and is now hitting her 40’s newly single and back living in her old home town in Co.
1. Look out the window, see that it’s raining, and announce a cinema trip. 2. Consider spending two minutes booking online, but decide to wing it instead. Who’d want to forfeit the adrenaline buzz that goes with rushing in to the cinema at the last minute, risking that it’s booked
Monday morning 5.10am Pitter patter. Toddler footsteps. All the way around to my side of the bed. “Is it morning mummy?” “No, it’s not morning, I’ll bring you back to your bed.” 7.33am Same footsteps, more resolute attitude. “Me getting in your bed now mummy, it morning-time.” Resistance is futile.
I really like a good list. And ticking things off lists. And sometimes adding things I’ve already done so that I can tick them off. The satisfying swoosh. Tick, tick, tick. And I like new year’s resolutions. But only ones that I a) really genuinely want to achieve and b)
Does every family have a golden child? The one who gets away with everything? Maybe due to being the only girl, or the only boy, or the youngest? We have one. He’s our only boy, he’s our youngest child, and to complete the picture, he has golden hair. And he gets
I’m afraid to say it out loud, so I’ll whisper it: My baby is sleeping through the night. It’s been happening for a few months now, but saying it, or even thinking it, could tempt fate, so I’ve told myself it’s just a phase. But this morning I realised that I couldn’t
Over the last few weeks, one friend announced her first pregnancy, one finished work to go on her first maternity leave, and one is counting down towards her first return to work. All three are going through a mix of nervousness and excitement, but unsurprisingly, for the friend who is
The earliest mood of motherhood comes before there is motherhood at all – prompted by that first moment staring at blue lines on a stick. It may be joy, or relief, or surprise, or shock, or fear – very few moments can be so life-changing and provoke such opposing emotions. For
“I have discovered in recent years that the world I thought I’d left when I chose to stay at home, is still out there and it is up to me to go find it once more. A task I am enjoying pursuing” This week I meet Tric Kearney, mom to
Until recently, apart from lighter traffic on the way to work, the October mid-term break meant nothing to me at all. But since the kids started school, and once I realised that taking the mid-term week off work was the thing to do, this time of year has taken on
One day last week, Clara looked a little sad coming out of school. The kind of sad face most of us see from time to time – the one that makes you think “Please let this be because she didn’t like her sandwiches and not that she’s decided she hates
This time ten years ago, Facebook was just a baby, Twitter didn’t exist, and a new show called X-Factor was appearing on our TV screens for the first time. In Ireland, we were sucking up the smoking ban, we were queuing overnight to buy houses from plans, and Niall Horan was just eleven years
I’m working hard to teach my daughters that they can be anything they want when they grow up – astronauts (“really?”), footballers (“no way mum, I thought only boys could be footballers”) or business-owners (because they’ve both decided that’s what they want to be – as opposed to my job in
What do you miss about life before kids? That was the question on an online forum recently. I sometimes miss sleeping when I like, and socializing when I like, and spending (ish) what I like. And I also miss curry. I really do. I used to make curry at least twice a
6.30am. The pitter patter of little feet. I can guess which feet. My early bird four-year-old. She climbs into bed to snuggle, and asks me what we’re doing today. “Well, daddy is bringing your little brother swimming because he never gets to go normally, when you girls have classes. And
When my first child started school two years ago, everyone said it would be a big change. I didn’t exactly disbelieve them, but really, I thought, how big could it possibly be? Unsurprisingly, I got it completely wrong. 1. School is just the next step after crèche, right? What I
Tiny grown-up girl, wrapped up in swathes of burgundy, you smile out, from deep inside. Oblivious to the over-size, just happy to finally be there. It’s a hand-me-down from your big sister, but you don’t mind. You’ve waited two long years to follow in her foot-steps; to follow in her uniform.
“Oh my God aren’t we desperate! Women are so hard on themselves and way too hard and judgmental of other women too” This week’s interview is with Helen Plass, owner of mumandbaby.ie a website for mothers-to-be and new mothers. She’s a yoga teacher, runs active birth workshops, hosts webinars, and
Down you come, bump, bump, bump, step by step, laughing hysterically each time you crash into me. Then back up the stairs to do it again. I make a slight move towards leaving my half-way-down-step, and am told “No mummy! You stay!” Then down you come again, stair by stair.
Are we a child-friendly society – do we embrace children and their parents in all areas of 21st century Ireland? Or do we corral them into suitable times and places, conveniently out of the path of mainstream everyday life? Fiona Carey thinks we have a way to go. When the Bray-based