I am extremely soft-hearted when it comes to Riley. I don’t think twice about her sharing our bed when she wants to, lying down with her if she needs company to go to sleep, reading her a story when I’m trying to get work done or cuddling her through a tantrum. It’s not always convenient, somtimes it’s even boring (I challenge you to sit in a dark room for over an hour and not get at least a little bored) and it can be tiring. But I wouldn’t have it …

When Riley was about 14 months old she started reliably sleeping through the night and no needing my presence to get to sleep. Up until that point she was up three or more times a night and at nap time I would need to rock or stroke her to sleep.
Perhaps it was because I was no longer breastfeeding her, so there was less interest in night-time snacking, or perhaps it was that she had always hated the cot and I’d moved her to her toddler bed. Either way, I didn’t …

I now totally get why parents always go on about their kids getting up really early on Christmas morning. It’s not the fact that you’re up before dawn, it’s that you were up past midnight with Christmas preparations. We were up until 12:30am on Christmas Eve (technically Christmas morning) and managed to whisper ‘Merry Christmas’ to one another before falling into a dreamless slumber. That is until 4:20am. When Riley woke up and couldn’t be coaxed back to sleep. 4:20am. It’s not right, people.
Our preparations looked something like this.
The Christmas …

Fair Warning – this is going to be one of those super mooshy posts where I wax lyrical about how much I love my baby. If it’s not your kind of thing you may want to skip over it or get a bucket. But don’t say that I didn’t warn you.

I’ve had a rough week. And I suppose I haven’t been my usual Christmas-enthusiast (rabid fanatical) self. I’d hoped to be pleasantly pregnant during the festive season, but my miscarriage threw me a bit of a curve ball. Physically, I’m …

As a new mother you hear all sorts of things about sleep. There’s something perverse about the one thing that you crave above all else is the one thing your baby seems incapable of doing. And it’s the number 1 question (are they sleeping through the night) you are asked by other parents and non-parents alike, as though it’s some kind of barometer of your skill as a parent.
And it’s easy to become polarised between cry-it-out and non-cry options. If you have a troubled sleeper, you will be tested on …

1. Babies Never Settle into a Routine, Ever
As soon as you get used to one thing, they change it. And then they change it again.
2. Dirty Nappies are the Least of Your Concern
You may think that changing dirty nappy after dirty nappy is the worst part of having a newborn but really that barely even makes a dent – that’s the easy bit.
3. Teething Never Really Stops
It just has a nanna nap for brief periods of time. And then it’s more teething. And it’s a whole lot worse than any …

I am very nervous about it. Not for her. For Me! After 18 months, she’ll be having her first sleepover at my sister’s house. I’m not even sure that I’m fully adjusted to non co-sleeping yet. I often wake up early in the morning wondering where her fuzzy head has gotten to.

As I write this she’s woken up and wanted to come into the ‘big bed’. Most nights she sleeps through (unless she’s teething) but sometimes she still wants to sleep in with me. And although co-sleeping has meant that …

“War babies cry it out shut down’ was a search term on google that landed not just one person on my site, but two this week.

A little odd, but it reminded me of the Channel 4 Show: Bringing Up Baby which attempted to measure the successes and shortcomings of three different parenting methods for babies: Truby King, Dr Spock and the Continuum Concept. Families were set up with a mentor for the style of parenting they had opted to pursue and were guided along the way.
For the blissfully uninitiated, a …

I knew early on that I would marry Josh because I knew he was the father of my children. I just knew. Other things confirmed it – we fought like cats and dogs, laughed alot, enjoyed doing absolutely nothing together and were completely different yet totally the same.
This is us on our wedding day (do the outfits give it away?)

Us on our honeymoon in Vietnam (this is in Sapa) where we drank alot and I’m pretty sure I consumed my own body weight in bean curd. It was a mistake …