Brave or Selfish?

A little while I ago I wrote a post for The WM Parenting Connection titled 'Brave or Selfish?'.

I am delighted to see that quite a few people have commented on this particular post.  What a well balanced lot those people are!

You can read the post and the comments here http://www.thewmparentingconnection.com/2010/06/brave-and-selfish-by-claire-hegarty.html

Please feel free to leave a comment yourself, either on this blog or over at the comments page at the above site.

Much appreciated!  All the best to you.

Claire

Blog Schedule

The more I write the more I want to write. Writing regularly makes the compulsion stronger for me.  For this reason, and on the advice of Margo Dill of  http://margodill.com/blog/ I resolve to start a blogging schedule.

I intend to blog on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I will not have specific things that I do on each of these days.  However, the posts will relate to my intention of  providing information, personal stories and resources for the forty something first time mother.

I will try to write my posts on Sunday and schedule them to publish during the week on the above days.

I intend to start this blogging schedule on the week of 25th October when I will  have carried out some improvements and updates on this blog. Meanwhile you can find my musings on Sundays at http://www.thewmparentingconnection.com/

Rare night out. Is it worth it?

I will try to update this later but at the moment I am suffering!

Check out my post over at The WM Parenting Connection.  Click on the link below:
http://www.thewmparentingconnection.com/2010/10/rare-night-out-but-is-it-worth-it.html

Mompetitors

I saw this hilarious video on a facebook page today.  It made me laugh so much and I especially love the term 'mompetitors'

I hadn't heard of this term before but I thought it was the funniest thing.  I guess we all know a few mothers who fit this category.  I am certainly not one of them.  Being a forty something first time mum, I don't even bother trying to compete or keep up with other mums.  It would be a losing battle as they all seem so much younger than me.

Check out the video and you will see what I mean!

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7148143/

Meningitis Advice

http://www.thewmparentingconnection.com/2010/09/misdiagnosis.html
I recently wrote a post over at The WM Parenting connection about misdiagnosis.(see the above link)  I mentioned a little girl who had been misdiagnosed with swine flu when she actually had meningitis.  She subsequently died as a result of this.   Meningitis is one of my greatest fears now that I am the mother of a young child.

My facebook friend Celine Blacow of  'Soaperstar' http://www.soaperstar.blogspot.com/ recently posted up the following link telling her amazing story of surviving meningitis, not once, not twice but FIVE times!
Check it out at http://www.meningitis.org/book-of-experience/celine-blacow-40217 

It's really worth checking this site out to increase your awareness of the disease.  You don't have to be a fortysomething first time mum like myself to worry about it!

Casual or Smart - My new post is up

Thanks for visiting today.  I will write more as soon as I get a minute. My toddler is having his nap at the moment so I am frantically trying to catch up on emails and blogs.

In the meantime why not pop over to the wonderful WM Parenting Connection site and read my latest article.   Feel free to add your comments whether you agree or disagree.

There is tons of fun and good advice to be had over there!

http://www.thewmparentingconnection.com/2010/10/casual-or-smart-anything-goes-these.html

You might also like to look at my other sites:

http://casquetofgems.blogspot.com/
http://www.everydayverses.blogspot.com

Our House for Our Son

There's a  lot to be said for having a brand new large house, with landscaped gardens and all mod cons. I often feel that this is what I should aspire to, especially after visiting relatives and friends in said types of homes.  But I have always wanted an old house, that has been lived in, that has character and that has neighbours that are a good mix of old and young.

I am happy to say that is exactly the type of house we live in now.  We bought it three years ago and then only because our baby was due. We wanted him to have his own room and a garden to play in. Otherwise we might still be living in our apartment and putting the move off.  As it was, we embarked on two huge things in life at the same time, having a baby and moving house.

I loved the house the minute I set foot in it. The neighbourhood is so quiet and the back garden so private you could almost be in the country.  Yet we are only a thirty minute walk or ten minute drive from the city and the beach.There are plenty of schools in the vicinity and quaint coffee shops to while away a free morning. It is also only a short drive to my mothers house.

When I was a kid I always loved to visit the older type houses where there was something to discover and explore. Where you didn't have to worry that you would spill something on the white carpet or the gleaming table tops. I remember my parents taking us to visit their friends in the countryside in Kildare.  We loved it because there was an old wreck of a car in the back field that we could pretend to drive.

Then there were the friends who lived in a big old house in the city. The back garden was full of wild flowers and old trees and long forgotten knickknacks. How I loved to play and explore there.  The landscaped gardens that most people have today, big or small, just do not hold the same kind of adventure.  At the end of our garden is a private lane that runs along the back of the houses.  We have put a swing up in the big old tree there and our son loves to play out there with his friends.  He calls it his secret garden.

Our son is almost three now and I feel that our house is a magical place for him to be. Sure, it needs renovating and that will be done in due course but it has all the elements that I found so appealing when I was a child myself. It has nooks and crannies, a secret garden and a storybook atmosphere.

And it is certainly where my heart is..