The Life of a Lavery Toddler

Are you even a new parent if you haven't received your fair share of "helpful" parenting advice? I challenge you to find a parent who hasn't received at least one piece of unsolicited advice. Over my short 3 year parenting journey, I've been blessed/cursed with a lot. Hell, I've  already crossed over, and started giving back out this unsolicited advice! But I like to think that the advice I give is only the best... The creme de la creme of parenting advice. Don't get me wrong, there is the rare occasion, where the advice you are given is actually useful. And anyone on the receiving end of my advice will know that well! Of course, helpful advice is great, you know the sort of advice that would change your life. Advice that you would happily pass on to another mum with no hesitation. For example, being told to use Metanium nappy cream for nappy rashes. That was mind blowing. Haven't tried it? Try it now. Cian had the worst nappy rash - his poor bu...

Picture from my pregnancy This post could be considered a little bit of a change in direction for me and my blog. That's because it's not really about Cian at all. It's just an update on one month into my healthier exercise regime (i.e. having one at all) and diet. Jack actually questioned me when I told him this idea. You know, I like to consult Jack on these things. Because, whether he likes it or not, he's my partner in both actual life, and blog life. He wondered if this was really about being a mother of a toddler, after all my blog is titled "The Life of a Lavery Toddler". But really, this is motherhood related, because it's all about priorities. And let's face it, when you have kids, they become your number one priority, and that other stuff gets knocked to the back of the list. Or in my case, off the list completely. So some history first. Basically, the minute I found out I was pregnant, I pretty much stopped exercising, and I relaxed...

Spot the hat. One clue: Not where it should be. Good evening everyone! I say that because obviously I am writing in the evening but of course please squeeze me into whenever suits your busy schedule. I wanted to share with you what happened the other evening.  On our walk home from nursery, Cian and I were victims of Backseat Parenting. A phrase I have coined to describe someone who offers up their opinion on your parenting without provocation. Basically, unwanted parenting advice. If I was submitting my expression to be entered into the dictionary, my definition would be: Backseat Parenting (verb) [Bak-seet-pair-uh n-ting] 'A person who offers unsolicited advice or criticism relating to your parenting.' Sounds professional right? I did work quite hard on that, so I'd appreciate some laughs. So, what happened? Well, Cian and I were walking along the road, quite happily, as we always do. I try to walk from the house to work/nursery ev...

Seeing as I pride myself in being pretty honest when it comes to parenting. I thought, what better than writing a post all about my  experiences of parenting. Because for me, being a mum has ended up being very different to what I had expected. Of course, I had expected to have an undeniable bond with my son. And I got that. I still just stare at him sometimes with so much love. Really, it could be seen to be bordering on obsession. But that's normal right? It's the part of parenting, that I did not anticipate, that I want to talk about. Just the parts that no one else tells you about. The on the job learning stuff. Of course, the good things do outweigh the bad.. most days. Unless you're going through the terrible twos.. You just need to stock pile the wine and chocolate in then. Sleep when the baby sleeps! So, the hardest part of parenting for me, has hands down been the lack of sleep. And if I am lucky enough to get sleep, I struggle with the number of interrup...

M E R R Y  C H R I S T M A S  E V E R Y O N E ! So, I have seen a lot of lovely festive posts and I thought, I really need to get in on this. Everyone loves an upbeat and feel-good Christmas post, right? But, do you know what, writing about Sunshines and Rainbows, or should I say Mince Pies and Santa Trees, is just a bit boring... I don't know, maybe my genre of blog is less feel-good, and more feel-bad? Is that even a thing? Anyway, I thought I would attempt a Zaz-style Christmas post! December 2018 Having a child has definitely increased my Christmas buzz. I never used to be that Christmassy. Don't get me wrong, I have always enjoyed it. But I'm not one of those Christmas fanatics who  live  for Christmas. You know the ones. They have a 90-day build up, and a countdown on Facebook. This year though, I honestly just can't wait to just spend the day with my family. I have so many games lined up. But, good games. Not ones that go on for 4 flipping hour...

So for once, this is actually going to be a relatively serious post. Yeah, I'm going to give one of those serious posts a bash. I started my blogging journey because I wanted to share the daily pleasures and struggles of parenthood, and this post definitely falls into that latter category. I wanted to share this story because I feel pretty strongly about this one subject. I don't tend to have much I feel genuinely passionate about. I'm not opinionated on climate change, or recycling, or team sports. Does that make me a bad person? I don't know. But recently I have become extremely passionate about one thing. Febrile seizures.  Hospital after Seizure No. 1 January 2018 So, what is a febrile seizure? Very good question Mr/Ms Reader. I have taken the definition from the NHS website just for you!  A febrile seizure is a fit that can happen when a child has a fever... They most often occur between the ages of 6 months and 3 years. They are relatively c...

Cian at 3.5 months old - July 2016. Exclusively  breast fed. If you're a mother, you will have probably heard this. It doesn't matter if you chose to breast feed or bottle feed. At one point in time I'm positive these ridiculous words were said - "You can't overfeed a breastfed baby". Midwives say it, healthcare professionals say it, mothers say it, god even the internet says it. But it's BULLSH*T. And I have proof. Don't get me wrong, I think breastfeeding is great in so many ways. It's cheaper, it means less cleaning (bottles), you don't have to move much during the night for feeds, and the health benefits for the child are fantastic! What is not so great, is not being able to tell how much your little peanut has drank at each feed. Was it a snack or a three-course meal? In reality, it is impossible to know! Like so much of parenthood, it's a complete guessing game. I feel it important to note, I also think there are so man...

If you know me, or have read my About Me page, you might know that my son's middle name is Thor. Some might think naming him Thor was quite a bold statement. You know, the God of Thunder and all that. But to be completely honest, the meaning had nothing to do with it, well for me anyway.  When Jack and I found out we were expecting, we were very excited but also very anxious (obviously). Neither of us had been pregnant before. I come from a small family so was never really around babies or pregnant women, and well Jack's a typical man so even though he had been around it, he was a little oblivious! So to clue myself up, I took to researching everything baby related on Google and sites like Babycenter. And I mean everything! When would I start showing? When would I feel movement. Had they grown ears yet? You know, all the useful stuff you need to know about your unborn child. If I hadn't been so into googling everything I would have missed out on some pretty cool infor...

This is a story that many of my friends and family would have heard before. It happened before I had taken to blogging, but it is a story I have been told, is worth sharing. So firstly, I’ll set the scene. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon and the family and I had been out to the park, for lunch and to Ikea. Isn't Ikea just such a typical Sunday shop to visit? Cian's toys were starting to take over the whole flat so we needed a toy chest to hide the kiddie clutter. When we arrived home, Jack started embarking on the building work. I would have no idea where to start nor would I want to, thank god Jack thrives on building things. I thought the safest thing to do would be to get Cian away from the hammers and nails, so we went off to Aldi for our weekly food shop, just before dinner time. I love Aldi, I always have a delightful shopping experience there. It's big enough to have everything you need, but not too big that you could lose a child (I hope). So, Cian w...

After some thought of how to shape this blog and some very heartfelt advice from Jack in the words of "you're not going to write a blog every  night are you?" I have come to the conclusion that I will post twice weekly. I feel that way I should have enough material to make it interesting enough, but it won't be too much of a drain on my time, 'cause let's face it, I only have space in my life for one drain and his name is Cian. Of course he is as adorable as little drains come! So as I alluded to in an earlier blog, Cian has hit the 'Terrible Twos'. I used to ask myself, 'how will you know when your child has hit this most talked about period of toddlerhood?' But oh believe me, you know. So Cian has never really enjoyed listening to me, but recently it has become about 10 times worse. He's now so bad at listening that it has g enuinely  crossed my mind that he might be deaf. I mean not completely deaf, but maybe a little deaf? My mum wo...