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...

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...

And like that, the holidays are over. Does anyone else tend to find Christmas and New Year pretty anti-climactic? Is that even the word? That sort of looks like I'm talking about the climate? I'm not. I'm talking about how there is literally two full months of build up to Christmas. And then it's all over quicker than you can say "Cian, stop cuddling the Christmas Tree!"  I'm not making it up. We did have to say that more than once during the holidays. But maybe that was a slightly Grinchy start to a post-holiday post? But what else do you expect? I'm writing this on the eve of my return to work. But please, stick with me reader, it'll get better, I promise! I had a fantastic Christmas, honestly it has definitely made it into my top 3 Christmases. Not that I have a ranking system. But hypothetically if I did, it was up there. There are a few reasons for this, and of course I will tell you each one. I'll probably go off topic slightly dur...

Me and my Bro Mum enjoyed bright colours Since as early as I can remember, I knew I wanted to be a mother. I would go well and truly gaga for babies from a young young age. I actually remember regularly pleading with my mum to have another baby. Is it weird that I was broody at the age of 7? I mean, I just googled it there, and it would seem that it is weird? Who knew!  Anyway, my ideal childhood scenario would have been my mother having another child when I was about 7 years-old. Really, it would have only been smart from my mum's perspective. I would have been an absolute asset to the care-giving process. Raising a child would have been a breeze. If her back was sore, I could have pushed the pram. If she was busy with housework, I could have entertained the baby. Really, if she had only seen it from my perspective, it would have been an absolute no-brainer. Instead, my dear naive mother had other ideas. She, like many, opted to have her kids close together. What a foo...

Cian, one week old As a woman with shoulder length hair I am quite low maintenance when it comes to any hair-related grooming. I probably get my hair cut every six months in a good year. I think my last haircut was April and it is just while I write this that I am considering booking an appointment. It's not even the price that is a deterrent for me. That's only because I found a salon which is quite reasonable, and doesn't charge you a week's salary for a trim. For me, it is just not at the top the priority list of things to do at the weekend. For men however, hair grooming is a whole different ball game. For the first six years of our relationship, I was never conscious of the frequency of Jack's haircuts. I think he must have been barbering in secret. Now I realise that it's not just Jack, it's all men. My male colleagues are just as bad and my Dad is probably the worst topping the charts with at least three visits a quarter. So now having a son...

We are now 4 weeks into potty training. Not that I'm counting or anything. And I personally feel we have come miles from when I last wrote about this. I'll get to how far Cian has come in a minute, but I feel personally I have developed a lot throughout this project. How Zaz? How have you developed as a person and a mother? Well reader, let me tell you. I have always been a pretty patient person when it comes to Cian. It takes a lot for me to lose my sh*t. But in those rare scenarios (I'm being kind, they happen more frequently than they should) the only effective method I have found that has truly kept me from throwing my child, or myself, out the window, is the 'tag-team approach'. I'm sure many of you use it, and not necessarily with a child, maybe a pet, or a drunk friend? This approach basically has you taking five minutes to calm down, and letting someone else deal with the child, dog, or drunk friend. In this scenario my someone else is Jack, and m...

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...

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...