“Elf Approved” Hottest Toys of 2017

Okay so if you are like me, this time of year will be spent thinking about getting my act together for Christmas and the Big Man’s Arrival on December 25th. Now I say “thinking about” because I will engage my brain into making a plan but in all likelihood the plan probably wont be carried out until very late November early December. At the same time you might be one of those…you know the types, the ones who pick up Christmas presents from the previous January sales and throughout the year. Now I have nothing against people that do this, feck it some of my best friends do it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though. Like, why can’t you just panic buy in November like the rest of us?? I am not one bit envious of your organisational skills what-so-ever **enter cricket noise here**

I know Halloween hasn’t hit yet, but look there no harm putting the feelers out and finding out whats cheap, where.

What I have decided to do is give the big man and anyone else that needs it a hand and locate the best place and price to pick up the most popular Christmas gifts of 2017. I have tried to break this up into categories, bear with me a content writer for Argos I’ll never make! Also there are sales happening every day on the run up so obviously I will share offers on my social media if I spot them changing! Also there is the option to buy on a UK or US site and use Address Pal I know Sharon from Behind Green Eyes wrote a blog post on how you can use this option I’ll link it here 

So lets start with Bikes and Trikes as its always a popular request…

So starting with the little ones first Continue reading

Look for The Silver Lining

So if you are following my blog since the start of the year you will know how excited I was to go back to work after being at home with the kids for almost 7 years.

I love my kids but I was never a natural stay at home mum, I love my independence always did.

I felt I lost a little bit of my spark being at home all day every day with the kids. I got lost in being Mum the bum wiper, snot cleaner, shoe put-er-on-er, drink getter, toilet trainer and general life preserver. I wanted just a little bit for me. Maybe that was selfish? My mother was all those things and a hell of a lot more and she never sought more. She had her lot and she lived with it. But from day one I knew I was more than just “Mum”.

Being a mum is the hardest job in the world

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The Greater the Storm the Brighter the Rainbow

So Tomorrow is the big day! March for Choice 2017. Myself and Chloe will be making our way up to the big smoke for our first march. I remember last year seeing images from TFMR placing their white roses outside the Dail, it was so poignant.

I have always been pro-choice.

It is my opinion to have no opinion on another person’s body choices especially a woman. I have always believed if a woman needs to have an abortion because lets face it, an abortion is a need not a want, she should be granted to basic right of the choice. But I have been ignorant in the past. I closed my ears and eyes to things that didn’t affect me.  You know what happened though…

It affected me and scarred me.

By now some will be aware I became directly affected by the 8th amendment when I delivered my daughter Grace in Liverpool’s Womens after almost 36 hours of labour with her.

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Barry the Bug. 

You know how it is during school holidays you enjoy the freedom of no lunches, no uniforms, no homework, no manic rush out the door in the morning, etc. Etc.

One thing I forgot to enjoy or rather didn’t appreciate enough, was the feeling of a house full of well, virus free, bug free kids that had pallors that’s didn’t resemble whitewalkers.

They’ve been back at school exactly 15 days and the second week back they were out sick with persistent coughing, sore throats which brought on their asthma. They were good about it though they fell sick in turns… Jamie was the first half to cian the second.

Third week in… All back to normal… Then the itching started… No… No… No… Not fekin lice AGAIN!!! I checked them…okay I’m lying Kieran checked them throughout the summer… Back to school the weekly checks kept going. So how 3 weeks in have they gotten nits?? Might I add…

 They got them THREE TIMES in senior Infants… THREE!!!

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Another Milestone 

mum and daughter, 2 girls, love yourself

One day your staring blankly at a plastic stick with a little pink line wondering how the f**k your gonna cope with a baby at 19.

The next your wondering if those niggles you’re getting in your huge belly are the result of the burger you inhaled at 1am the night before or real life big girl pants Contractions.

You then wonder if it’s normal for this tiny little thing to produce green poo…the book never mentioned it being green! You better not ask because your a kid yourself and they think your gonna fail anyway.

Mum and baby, young mum, smiling, baby
You look at her chocolate covered face at her 1st birthday and wonder what the hell you stressed for. She’s perfect, happy, healthy even if she is as bald as an egg!
Everything is laid out shiny shoes, crisp white socks, itchy grey jumper… All at the bottom of her big bed awaiting her first day in school. Her bald head produced a head full of curls… Worth waiting for 2 years for 😂 Continue reading

Love Yourself 

mum and daughter, 2 girls, love yourself

I won tickets to the Love Yourself event the Lough Rea Hotel and Spa were holding at the weekend. I brought the 15 year old with me to catch up on some very rare mum daughter bonding, gorge on posh little sandwiches and tiny deserts!

We headed up the road, I was slightly fragile thanks to myself and hubbies date night the night before which was supposed to end a lot earlier than it did. Who knew 2 sleep deprived 30 odd year olds could knock back that much vodka in 2 hours??!

*Always drink sensibly kids…weeeell at least until you HAVE kids that is😂*

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10 Things that make Life Happier

mum, kids, mum and kids, boys, woman

These are a few of my favourite things

Thanks to the fabulous Ladynicci for tagging me in her post 10 Little Things. Its really got me thinking about things that have been making my life easier or happier or just a welcome addition! I thought I may be stuck and not make the 10 but everywhere I look I am spotting things that make me nod and go, “Yes, my everyday life is definitely better since I brought this into it”. There is a mix of everything in here.. Continue reading

When the Lottie Dolls came to stay

The twins and their Toys

My twin boys are your regular 6 year old, very wild couple of kids. They play with the usual toys, Lego, dinosaurs and cars. I have always been firm in not allowing them have toy guns, I just don’t see the need to “play” with something that in the real world can kill someone and does kill people. Slowly though in the last year or two a odd toy gun would appear in the toy box.

Their play would be rough, wrestling, shooting, someone getting killed or under arrest. I have often seen a nice friendly play with their Fire Man Sam characters end up with someone getting violently eaten by a T-Rex! I was not worried in the slightest by this type of play, but I just reckoned I would love to see how they would play with life-like characters very similar to themselves. I remember when Chloe was their age, she would play happily and gently for hours on end. Continue reading

8 years married today…

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31st July 2009

I was probably taking to the floor for our first dance this time 8 years ago. We shuffled along to Etta James’s “At Last”. I say shuffle because moving left to right was about as much of a waltz as I was going to get out of my husband! Some people have two left feet, my hubby dances like he has concrete shoes on!

Anyway 8 years…quite a long time. Something to celebrate you might think… maybe. Yes my wedding day was an amazing day but not just because I was marrying himself. We never needed a ceremony to prove anything between us, we knew from day one how strong we were as a couple and the ivory dress, vows and speeches were fantastic but they didn’t make us any stronger or more solid. It was life and its ups and downs that strengthened our relationship.

It was a natural progression to get married, it was the next expected step. Well to be fair, we did do it arse-ways, we had the baby at 19, mortgage at 25 and married at 27, but for us it was the natural next step! Continue reading

Pestle and Mortar’s Hyaluronic Serum…the truth.

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Why I Chose Pestle and Mortar’s Hyaluronic Serum

It was one of those products I kept eyeing up…for months I kept saying will I buy into the hype? Or is it just an expensive serum? I had been just getting over a bout of dermatitis on my face and I was genuinely anxious about using a quite active product. Continue reading