There's no such thing as a bad year

Written by Gerard on Tuesday 9 February 2010

It must be said - since about April last year a ton of things have gone horribly wrong for us. We've been worried about money, whether we can continue to run a home business. My father was diagnosed with cancer and died.

Phew, that should have been the worst thing to happen, right? Wrong. After the funeral, my mother and youngest sister went to mush and remain that way. Instead of being comforted by the show of support from my father's sisters and brothers, they spent more time criticising and bitching about them, which was distressing to hear.

An epic tantrum!

Written by Gerard on Saturday 30 January 2010

Rachel had a memorably epic meltdown a couple of days ago. We'd gone to one of the local outlet shopping centers where there's a Subway that we frequent. Afterward, we let the kids run round the pirate park for a while to burn off some of that excess energy.

Before we went, Lisa and I wanted to pop into Next to look at a few new clothes - you know how the children always come first in clothes shopping when everything you own is misshapen and ugly. Time to buy a couple of new shirts.

Daniel and the wrist-slashing incident

Written by Gerard on Thursday 21 January 2010

Right, let’s talk about the night of 1st July 2009 and the bloody, wrist-slashing adventure that ensued.

We’d only buried my father at the weekend, and with that rather large event behind us, there was suddenly a metric ton of paperwork to take care of. Notifying all the various companies he had accounts with, getting utility bills transferred into The Mother’s name and dealing with a few legal matters. Not to mention the insurance claim for their disastrous trip to Lourdes.

Poem by Anthony Browne!

Written by bayard on Wednesday 20 January 2010

Cancer everywhere

Written by Gerard on Wednesday 16 December 2009

Let's come straight out and say it: Lisa's mother has been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. The events that led up to this have been unfolding over the past month, and a fairly concrete diagnosis came something over a week or a fortnight ago.

Lisa, naturally, was devastated. She didn't help herself much by doing some web research into the survival rates and details of the disease. Seems Ovarian Cancer is dubbed the 'silent killer'...

Encourage our children to read more!

Written by bayard on Tuesday 15 December 2009

I think as we parents need to tackle the issue that the majority of children are consuming their time watching television or playing computer games, now, I'm not saying never to allow these past times, but I think that time should be allocated every day for a 'reading' period.

Positive Parenting

Written by snowrose on Tuesday 8 December 2009

In modern Britain when parents are expecting a baby it is quite natural and almost expected that parents will attend anti-natal courses to prepare them for the birth and maybe the first 6 months of their child’s life. Somehow however there is still a feeling in modern society that once you are through this initial stage of your child’s life the rest come naturally and that parenting is an instinctive skill that we should all have.

The Fightfort

Written by Gerard on Thursday 26 November 2009

We went out for Lisa's birthday on Saturday night and had a nice, boisterous, drunken time. Lisa's mum stayed in our house with the kids while we stayed overnight in her house. A brilliant arrangement and we didn't have to be home too early.

The end of the night is actually the most memorable. We initially wanted to get kebabs from a South Belfast kebaberie, but our taxi arrived and offered to take us to a chippie in Andersonstown. We all hopped into the cab and Wooftie and I went in to order.

Not Coping With Grief and Loss

Written by Gerard on Wednesday 18 November 2009

As the regular readers among you will know, my father died in June from lung cancer. I guess the survivors have dealt with the grief in their own individual ways.

For my own part, I was devastated and temporarily paralysed by the grief I felt afterward. A cornerstone of my life...gone. But strangely enough, real life intruded, and I was forced to snap out of it. The possibility of returning to work, as well as dealing with my father's financial affairs certainly kept me grounded. As well as that, my own family needed me.