2under3

From the first moment my newborn son felt warm water lapping up around his chest, bath time was a breeze. The kid was always high-strung, quick to unleash his tiny temper over the smallest of issues. I found that while a stint in the baby swing didn’t work and a ride in a car rarely helped, a dip in the bath was the surest way to restore harmony and calm both our nerves.

We had been married a few months when we decided to try for a baby. It was only a month or two later when I realised I might be pregnant. I went to the chemist and bought a home pregnancy test. In those days it was quite a complicated affair involving mixing solutions in a …

Becoming a mother is the most difficult and stressful thing I have ever had to do. It’s also been the most natural and wonderful. I have no explanation for this contradiction – it’s just the way it is. A rollercoaster of highs and lows, and an awakening of something inside of me that I never even realised existed.

It was always a certainty – I was never, ever going to have children, I mean never! I remember my Nana always used to say to me, “Oh, you’ll change your mind one day. Your Aunty was adamant that she would never have kids and now she has two of them!” As it turns out, my Nana was right.

When I discovered I was pregnant for the second time, my first bub was only six months old. I had no idea what I was in for! The first few years were a constant stream of getting one child out of a phase (like breastfeeding, dummies, nappies, teething or night waking), only for the other to grow right into it! Sometimes it felt like déjà-vu!

When Rosie was born, we called her our little old lady. Her skin was wrinkled and dry, and peeled for the first few weeks no matter how much baby lotion we used. When the ‘milk rash’ started to turn into large scabs on her cheeks, I knew something wasn’t right.

Lisa and Chris O’Halloran will never forget the night they became engaged. It was a special night for more than one reason, as it was also the night they conceived their first child!

My favourite thing is the unconditional love from both my boys! I love seeing Hayden and Flynn interact, roll around on the floor and laugh and giggle with each other. And I love afternoons when they are both asleep!