weddings + portraits

Donnacha Treanor – My little brown haired warrior


I have sat down on many many occasions over the last few weeks to write this blog.  I have been so darn excited, and over thinking the blog, that I couldn’t bring myself to “actually” write it.  Doesn’t that sound insane???  When something is so important to me, I tend to over think it.  So what is so is important, that has taken up so much of my time, you might ask??  I want to tell you all about the birth of my son.  There, I said it . . . My son!!  Saying that out loud (or typing it on a screen), makes my heart beat a little faster, and my shoulders raise up to my ears.  EEK!  I am now a Mammy! (Cue the teary eyes!)

The name Donnacha means “brown haired warrior”.  My own little warrior, has beautiful brown wispy hair . . . and he has tonnes of it.  I’ve already googled; “when to cut a baby’s hair?”  He has a little tuft of hair at the back, that sits out over his babygro.  It’s so darn cute, that when I’m feeding him, I love to play with his hair.  Donnacha himself, HATES me playing with it, and promptly scrunches his shoulders up so I can’t annoy him anymore.  Is this the sign of things to come??

So after nearly 4 weeks of motherhood, I’m going to share some things that I have learnt;

  • The art of one handed tasks.  Who knew that I could make a sandwich, put on a washing and apply a full face of make up with one hand?  I have yet to master sweeping the floor with one hand, but I’m happy to pass on that task.
  • What did I ever put in a handbag??  And why did I carry a handbag??  I can’t even remember what occupied my larger handbags.  All I need now is a wallet  (or a husband within pleading distance) and a phone.
  • When feeding my little one, my dearest husband is suddenly my connection with the world.  “Can I have the remote?”  “Can I have a pillow?”  “Can I have a glass of water?”  You get my drift!  Now . . . I could have arranged all those things before starting to feed, but hey!!
  • Babies are cute.  Until you have a little person of your own, you can’t fathom the extent of their cuteness.  I can barely remember a time, when he wasn’t in our home.  Surely we have had this little man for yeeeeeeears!
  • I now understand how protective mammies are of their children.  I see danger, where I never seen danger before . . . corners of tables, hot cups of tea, stairs (and you know how much I like stairs!!) etc. etc.
  • You never appreciate your own mother until you have had children of your own.  The daily “after the night before” phone call has become something of a ritual.  Those phone calls and the daily texts from one little sister of mine, help keep me a little more sane!
  • Now people told me about the amount of clothes that you go through when you have a baby.  When I say; “clothes”, I mean, babies AND parents clothes.  Little boys just love that fresh air, and it simulates a little fountain that has a mighty range.  The novelty has not yet worn off.  When that fountain kicks off, the giggles start, and it’s a good 2 seconds before I can “direct” the waterfall away from danger.  It’s so juvenile I know, but I’m still giggling for 5 minutes after the event.
  • Babies like bathes when you put their feet in first, and not when you wash their hair first.  A generalisation I know, but the baby in this house, hits serious decibels when we wash his hair first.  I’m sure the nurse who showed me how to bath a baby, just had not met our little monkey.  So, now we approach the bath with, feet in first, and sneaking in a quick wash of the hair at the very end.
  • There is no guilt like “Mammy guilt”.  Should I put him to sleep?  Is he getting enough feed?  Am I winding him correctly?  Have I time for a shower?? 1 shampoo, a very quick conditioning of the hair and bang . . . quickest shower in the world.
  • Probably the most surprising thing for me, was that, you can’t cuddle babies all day, you have to allow them to sleep.  Who knew???  A shocking revelation to me!!  I spent the first days of Donnacha’s life cuddling the little man to my chest and telling him how gorgeous he was . . . like . . . ALL THE TIME!.  Whats wrong with that??  Well, the poor wee man couldn’t get a decent sleep, with this hormonal human whispering sweet nothings in his ear 24/7.  I am trying really hard to allow the little man some “Donnacha” time, to get his beauty sleep, before launching into the whispering of sweet nothings.

Some things that I need to work on;

  • Remembering that Sky plus must have been designed for new mammies, and to actually set programmes to record.  The real housewives of Beverly Hills is my ticket to a mindless oasis.
  • Actually, remembering things full stop.  They weren’t joking when they tell you about “Baby Brain”.
  • When the little man goes down for a nap, to use that window of opportunity wisely.  Some might say watching the real housewives of Beverly Hills, is not wise use of that time.  I disagree!  🙂
  • Not to freak out when, my dearest husband has reorganised (messed up) my organisation of Donnacha’s clothes, as he is rushing to find a babygro after the fore mentioned “fountain” has rendered the first selection useless.  i.e., newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months etc.  He wasn’t to know . . .
  • Remembering to put the phone on silent, after spending 40 minutes trying to sshhhhhh, shhhhh, shhhhhh the little man to sleep.  That also goes for, closing doors easily, not kicking the remote onto the ground and not burning toast and putting the fire alarm off.
  • How to put an overtired baby to sleep.  This category of baby is to be avoided at ALL costs!!
  • Not to panic that time is flying by (as I am currently shaking my head in disbelief that Donnacha is nearly 4 weeks old!)  I’m just going to enjoy every day for what it brings!
  • Im going to rob this next point from Mr Treanor. . . .and its more something that scientists need to work on, as apposed to me.  They have managed to split the atom, but not help babies bring up wind in 2 minutes!  Seriously???

As you reach the end of this post, thank you for your patience in listening to me gushing about my little man, and my new status as a Mammy.  Sometimes in life, you just gotta be totally honest, and tell it how it is.  This is one of those times, and I want to be totally honest . . .  “I love the bones of Donnacha so much, that I think my heart might actually burst!”  So, after four weeks, of helping our little man make his way in the big bad world . . . . I think we might just keep him! 🙂


My little christmas miracle 🙂

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Photography by Vanessa

weddings + portraits