Author: Oana

Living Arrows-11/52

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I think this picture sums up the last couple of weeks for us: sibling acceptance. Emma, my love, you continue to love your brother fiercely and are ever so proud of being his older sister. You are always around when he needs changed, eager to help if he cries, offering toys or suggestions to mummy if he seems uncomfortable. You haven’t slept very well for the past few weeks and I can’t tell if it’s your mind still processing the changes that have occurred in our family, your daddy being away last week or just the brighter days…Hope it settles soon, as you are either grumpy, tearful or a bit cheeky when you haven’t had your proper sleep… But you have come to accept your Bica’s presence in the house and take comfort in her arms sometimes. Or spend hours “working” alongside at the kitchen table. Here is you doing your “homework”, you are so ready for school and so eager and Bica doing her crosswords. Georgie, the medicine you have been taking for more …

Book Giveaway: HOW TO CATCH A STAR, 10th Anniversary

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I am so honoured to have been chosen for this 10th anniversary giveaway! First of all, because How to Catch a Star is a brilliant book, can’t believe we haven’t heard or read anything by Oliver Jeffers before! Emma absolutely loved it and so did I, so simple yet so full of optimism and hope! Secondly, because as I found out once I did my bit of research for this post, Oliver Jeffers is from Northern Ireland, our country of residence at the moment and a place very dear to my heart!! So, here goes: Harper Collins have kindly sent me two copies of the story, one to keep and one to give away to one lucky boy or girl! In order to win it, all you have to do is like my Facebook page (if you haven’t already) and then leave a comment letting me know you have and to whom will the book go, were you to win it. I will run the giveaway for a week and then, next Saturday, I will enter …

Word of the week: Acceptance

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I have missed last week’s word of the week for two main reasons: one, my struggles were pretty much the same as the week before, so pretty boring to read about the same things…Two, hubby was away for a whole week(and a day), baby kept me busy and I had little time for anything else. But things have changed meanwhile. Although Georgie’s reflux is still here and keeps him up during the day, sometimes for hours on end and wakes me up at night, sometimes from 5 a.m., my perspective has changed. The pills I am taking must have helped to a certain degree, as have the chats I had with other mums who have had reflux babies, as has the visit with the pediatrician on Tuesday confirming we are doing all the right things for Georgie and it is now a matter of time until we will see results… I have come to ACCEPT that this is how things are for us for now. My mum will most likely have to go back home …

Belated International Women’s Day Post

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Yeah, I know, it’s old news but I didn’t have a chance to write it on Saturday. Actually, I didn’t have a chance to do much this last week since baby’s pills seemed to make him a bit worse, with awake times round the clock and hubby was away since last Monday, coming back only today! I know there was a prompt from BritMums to write a post on International Women’s Day and I had the link up waiting for me all week and time to think about this post. So hear me out on this one: although there are plenty of women in history who did things worthy of awe admiration and inspiration, I think Women’s Day should be about all the women out there who stick it out through thick and thin, day in and day out. Baby fog, childhood illnesses, toddler tantrums, growing pains, teenage angst and then, all over again, baby days with grandchildren, like my mum is doing at the moment. I admire you all, mummies out there, you, who …

10 Tips on Surviving Baby Reflux

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It has dawned on me last night, I am a survivor. A baby reflux survivor! I did it with Emma, 4 years ago and I am doing it now again. So that makes me almost an expert. And I thought I would put together 10 tips for people who are going through this terrible thing right now, so they can take heart. 1. Set a survival plan in place. Once George was diagnosed with reflux three weeks ago I knew I had to have a plan in place. I got my mum over to help me during the day so I can rest and survive the nights. If you have/had a reflux baby you know that the emotional strain is enormous, since the pain is there constantly. There is no feeding or sleeping pattern as such so everything is random and unpredictable, which makes things really tough. You need consistency and the only one you can get during these tough months is the one you create for yourself. I take time to rest during the …