5 surprising hospital bag essentials after a baby

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November 6, 2016November 7, 2016 | thetwodarlings

Ok so I know that these posts are done to death and I’m not going to go into a full long list of what I put in my hospital bag because there are literally a million checklists online for that. What I want to put together is a list of the surprising products that I found really useful in hospital third time round. Any Mum to be will know that she needs babygros, big knickers and those nappy like pads (the glamour!) but there are a few little extra things you can throw into your bag that make life in the hospital that little bit easier. Continue reading →

The ultimate breastfeeding pillow

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October 21, 2016October 21, 2016 | thetwodarlings

I’ve used breastfeeding pillows before, mostly they serve one purpose, to make life easier when you’re breastfeeding a baby. Around our house since the smallest lady arrived you will often hear someone or other looking for ‘the hen’. The hen has become one of those unbelievably useful items that you don’t realise you need until you have it and then you wonder how you lived without it. Continue reading →

Introducing the baby to the toddler

July 31, 2016August 1, 2016 | thetwodarlings

When we had our second lady, the first lady was a few weeks past her second birthday. Her understanding of the impending situation was pretty good. I gathered advice and tips from friends and books on how best to go about introducing a toddler to a newborn. None of the below stopped me constantly worrying about how the whole thing would play out but it certainly did work when the second lady landed. To date, there has been little to no jealousy, apart from a little over zealous hugging and kissing, the girls are best of friends. Continue reading →

Family dinner ideas

July 13, 2016 | thetwodarlings

I’ve done a post previously on how to get a relatively healthy dinner on the table in about a half hour so this post on family dinner ideas assumes a bit more of a time luxury in the evenings to prepare. I thought I’d put together a post on the meals I’ve done in the past week. Some evenings I’ll go for quick and some evenings I’ll go for broke and try something new altogether. In general though, I try and use different meat everyday and a different starch, so pasta one day potatoes the next. I keep threatening to introduce one veggie meal a week but thus far my husband has resisted the suggestion. Continue reading →

The Three Darlings?!

May 8, 2016 | thetwodarlings

I’ve been a long, long time waiting to write this post. I have had several scans and heard the baby’s heartbeat so I feel like I can finally relax into this pregnancy. And although we are beyond overjoyed I feel that it would be remiss of me to not mention the struggles we have had in getting to this point. So often social media relates a story of a ‘perfect’ life but often behind the scenes there are difficulties. Continue reading →

Tips for buying shoes for toddlers

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February 18, 2016May 10, 2016 | thetwodarlings

With the onset of age comes a new air of independence with the big lady. She has always been rather ‘headstrong’ for want of the most complimentary word. She learned how to speak quite early on because she had to get herself across unlike the small lady now whose rather passive and not too bothered about what she gets as long as it’s the same as her big sister. Anyway, what has this got to do with shoes I hear you ask?! Continue reading →

The power of positive parenting

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January 19, 2016May 9, 2016 | thetwodarlings

In a way perhaps this post could possibly be called the art of bribery but I prefer to think of it not as bribery but rather of positive reinforcement! I’ve spoken before about how we dealt with toddler tantrums when the small lady went through them way back when. Long story short but comfort and love was the only solution and I find this attitude transcends most behaviours or actions in our house. So we practise the art of positive parenting. And yes I think art is the right word as art is never really perfect and constantly takes practice! Continue reading →

The best beauty products of 2015

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December 31, 2015January 10, 2016 | thetwodarlings

2015 has personally been a WILD year when it comes to life in general but more specifically when it comes to beauty products. From landing a position as a beauty columnist with The Irish Times to just blogging in general I’m blown away by the amount of stuff I’ve been sent to try out and also the amount of stuff I’ve bought based on other bloggers recommendations too. All in all I have to be honest and say that most stuff I’ve tried out has ranged between the pretty good to the downright amazing. Here are the newer products that have been (mostly!) launched this year that I’ve been reaching for over and over. I thought this post would be shorter but I got typing and I couldn’t stop. Continue reading →

Are you a safe driver?

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December 14, 2015May 9, 2016 | thetwodarlings

We drive in the car a lot. We try and visit family regularly who live either 4 hours away by car alone or 7 hours in the car plus a boat journey. And we drive a lot everyday of the week to the childminders and back so I’d like to think I’m a safe driver with all the practice I have. My husband commutes to work but he does this alone. To be honest sometimes I find myself half jealous of him heading off into an hour long commute that includes traffic. Why I hear you ask?! Because he gets to have some head space and just listen to the radio. And I’m not the only parent in the world to think that this driving time is his down time, a survey by Chill Insurance recently found that 25% of parents consider driving as their quiet time. Continue reading →

Making life easier by doing it online?

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December 8, 2015May 9, 2016 | thetwodarlings

This is something a little different from my usual blog post but I’m a research scientist so my days are usually filled with data and surveys so here’s a bit of the day coming into the night. This survey was sent to me recently and I thought the details on peoples attitude to getting contraception online were interesting. I suppose having had two babies now I feel like I have no inhibitions when it comes to going to the doctor about contraception. That said, I do remember back to the days when these sort of doctors appointments would have been somewhat awkward so I guess the results of a recent survey by Lloyds that found that 68% of Irish people under 24 years old would prefer to receive contraception advice online probably didn’t surprise me. In fact, a quarter of all age groups surveyed said they would prefer to receive contraceptive advice online. Continue reading →

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