Why police probe into hospital baby deaths is so close to home

Reading that a police probe is under way into the deaths of a number of babies at a hospital would come as a shock to any parent. But when your two children were both born at said hospital, one of whom was cared for by the neonatal unit which is the subject of the investigation,…

All change to our family routine

There has been a fair bit of change for our little family to contend with over recent weeks. As a result this is my first blog post in a long while, and the first opportunity I've had to reflect on the impact of those changes. From a personal point of view, I've taken on an…

Does my daughter not like her baby brother?

I turn away for one second and 'bang'. Here we go again. My one year old boy is flat on his back and screaming after crashing to the floor. His big sister seized her opportunity to stick the boot in, literally, and is looking up at me with her guilt-ridden eyes. I scoop the boy…

One of those mornings

I've read a few blogs recently about how you can make the morning school run a stress-free operation. I found that on the whole I was already putting into practice much of the advice. But as many of you will no doubt agree there are some mornings where, despite your best efforts, you end up…

A weekend to remember

I can't believe how quickly it came and went - but thankfully it turned out to be the weekend we'd all been hoping for. I'm not entirely sure why, but we decided to celebrate our boy's first birthday and have his christening on the same weekend (Feb 11-12). And not only that, we had to…

A Valentine’s Day poem for my wonderful wife

It all began with a passionate kiss, after we'd belted out the words to The Jam's Town Called Malice, We talked and talked, put the world to rights, little did I know this would the greatest of life changing nights, Nearly seven years on we're stronger than ever, and now we've added Cordy and Davie…

12 months on since we completed the set

On Saturday my little boy turns one. If he'd gone full term we'd actually be celebrating this milestone next month, but like his big sister he was too impatient to wait around in mum's tummy. In fact, sibling rivalry had already kicked in with my son arriving one day earlier than the girl - four…

Daddy and daughter bonding at the football

Going the football used to be a relaxing, carefree experience - at least until the match kicked off. Now it requires regular toilet trips, a heavily stocked bag of snacks and a fully charged iPad. But I wouldn't change it for the world. I've been taking my little girl now for just over a year…

Reunited with my sisters after more than a decade

It's been a wonderful start to 2017 - life changing in fact. And little do they know it now, these past few weeks will go on to enhance my children's lives for years to come. It all stems from a family reunion I always hoped and believed would happen one day. It's not quite a…

Watching my baby girl suffer from seizures has scarred me for life

I'll never forget the first time it happened. I was sat at my desk having just recently returned to work after a wonderful six months of additional paternity leave.  My dad, who had been with my wife and daughter at the zoo on this particular Friday afternoon, rang me up. "Don't panic", he said. Not…