Some September Little Loves

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts; life has gotten a bit hectic lately with all the moving, the broadband battle and solo parenting while himself was working across the water. Now that things are starting to settle down a bit, I can at least manage to sit and take a minute to figure out what exactly has been keeping me sane this month! Instead of doing a weekly roundup as part of the linky hosted by the fab butwhymummywhy, lets make this one for the whole month, my September Little Loves!

So, what exactly have we been up to?

Reading

For such a hectic month, I’ve actually gotten a nice amount of reading done! It’s mostly been in snatched moments, utilising the Kindle app on my phone, although getting the child into a good bedtime routine (asleep by 7.30, yay) and not having company in the evenings has definitely upped the amount of time I’ve had to read! As far as books go, the wonderful Louise O Neill and her two books, “Asking For It” (which I reviewed – and interviewed the author of – here) and “Only Ever Yours” (gobbled up on the bus back from Dublin after collecting the mister from the airport). In more factual (but equally gripping) books, I have slightly traumatised myself with “April” by Coral and Paul Jones, as well as “My James” by Ralph Bulgur. Both of these cases happened before I became a mother – the latter when I was the same age as the child in question, Jamie Bulgur, whose horrific assault and murder put the fear into parents everywhere, the former, the horrific case of April Jones, while I was just finished college with no thoughts of kids in the near future. Nonetheless, before becoming a parent, before reading these books, I had seen details about the cases which already disturbed me, already made me feel angry that this was to happen to such innocent children, that such evil should be in the world we live in. Reading the tales as the parents tell them, of the process they went through in trying to get justice for their children after such horrific acts were carried out – as a parent, I can’t deny it was tough to stop my mind from wandering about the safety of my own little boy, normally sound asleep in the room next to me while I was reading. They’re not easy reads but they are compelling, and their words deserve to be heard – the media is so consumed with the words, intentions and actions of the perpetrator, yet ignores the words of those victimised. Their words deserve to be read and understood.

Blog wise, it’s been a bit more variety; there are a lot of bloggers who I follow in a feed so I’ve got them on a constant drip to get me going through the day. If I was to pick favourites from September (to date) I’d have to go for this laugh-out-loud one from the fab Minis and Mum where she’s not exactly giving this bedtime story a glowing review, a very honest (and daunting) look at where all our money is set to go raising a small child from At The Clothesline who is making it work with four of them (I dread the party circuit stage, the play centres with crap coffee are bad enough, and the incredible tale of Kellie’s accidental hallway home birth to the beautiful Kadie on My Little Babóg.

Watching

Quite a lot of RTE – I spent most of this month without broadband, thus completely depriving me of my Netflix fixes, which were sorely missed! The very inspirational Louise McSharry did a documentary about her voyage through cancer, chemo and planning her wedding in “F##k Cancer” – it’s still available on RTE Player here until 17 October, if you’ve not seen it already, you definitely should. Despite not being a loyal watcher anymore, I did wind up tuning in to the Coronation Street live episode, which was, to their credit, absolutely well done. I’ve also been thrilled to get back into Downton Abbey, How To Get Away With Murder and Grey’s Anatomy – all have come back within the last week (the last two to American TV, so to be watched online) – I missed my weekly dose of sass, one liners and excellent drama provided by all three. Now reunited with my broadband and access to streaming of wonderful shows and documentaries, balance has been restored.

Wearing

Whatever I could find. I am the worlds worst unpacker ever. The rest of the house looks semi decent, our room not so much. As a result, I know where both make up bags are, and a limited amount of clothes which means I’m really getting use out of the fact that we now have a washing machine and separate dryer WHICH WORKS. Definitely need to hit the Next Sale. Or get unpacking, one or the other…

The child however, has had some stellar wardrobe moments (for the five minutes he manages to not attract sticky things, or dirt, or both). Including this minion chic outfit which was totally accidental, but he rocked it.

 

Hearing

Lots of Podcasts – my new home is now a 20 minute walk each way to and from creche, which is certainly helping me rack up my step count, but is also a way of catching up on different radio podcasts as I never seem to be able to catch these things when they’re actually on air. Almost sounds like I’m a busy person. Some particularly interesting ones so far this month have been from the Ray Darcy show (which surprises me, as I’m not a major fan of his) on RTE (lack of broadband makes people appreciate homegrown stuff, okay?). This podcast from Niamh O Reilly of The Nursery on being Childfree, not Childless really did strike a chord with me – of course referencing her article from earlier in the week which was retweeted by Kim Cattrall! Similarly, a piece about getting a vasectomy, something I’ve seen a mixture of things on before but never really looked into (at 24 it’s not high on the priorities list apart from when you’re on the labour ward!) which abolished some myths and got a mixed reaction from listeners made a really interesting segment. Continuing with my thread of things that fill me with dread and fear since becoming a parent, this piece about the cardio unit in Crumlin and the RTE series which documented the no holds barred goings on within the hospital that treats our sickest children actually had me bawling as I was walking down the road – I’m sure strangers thought I was crazy, but listening to that mother talk about the procedures and the conversations she had to have with consultants, I couldn’t help but think about what if that was my child, what if something happened to him. I’ve never been good with sick kids; they’ve always made me ridiculously emotional but since having a baby I’ve become a million times worse.

Making

 I can’t take FULL credit for this, but I will take some of it because I was left loose with a power drill and did not break the place. There are still two shelving units to be put together (give me time and I can be wonder woman) but we did do some DIY to make our bedroom into a bedroom/office..

 

And Lastly…

It’s been an exciting blogging week for me – not only did I get proper internet access back (yay!) but I also got to do an interview with a writer I really like. The day after that, I got to speak on the radio about sex education and consent and how important it is to include consent in that education (following an interview with said writer on the radio) – you can check out the podcast here.

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I wrote a piece on it on this blog, then edited and submitted it to Huffington Post and it was published by them in their Young Voices section, which I’m absolutely thrilled with. It’s an important topic and I am really happy that my opinions on the topic are going to be seen by more people, as to hopefully bring about change in some peoples way’s of thinking.

 

So that has been my September Little Loves, my month to date, I’ve a few other bits to share on the blog this coming week about things that went on during my time away (including the saga that was our battle to get wifi) but overall, we’re doing good things. Let me know what you think about any of the stuff I’ve mentioned, add some books to your own reading list and get talking about the #AskConsent campaign!

What have you been loving this month? Let me know in the comments below!