Shannon McLaughlin

Toddlers are hard. Really hard. They talk about the terrible two's but for me, those never really arrived. I had the terrible first month, and second month and basically first year. Because I just didn't realize how much of a slap in the face motherhood really would be for me.…

My son is now 4, which means I get to shower alone most of the time. Sometimes he is sitting there watching me, shouting things like "poop-bum" and then falling over and laughing his head off because he can see my bum... but other times, I'm alone. Alone in the…

I’m so tired. Is it even possible to be this tired? I scroll through old photos on my phone, photos from like 5 years ago. My skin was plump and glowing. The bags under my eyes, ok they were still there, but they weren’t THIS dark. There were so many…

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to write this post for you. I’ve been meaning to do it since day 1 of lying in that hospital bed, feeling like I’d been dropped out of an aeroplane at 10,000 feet into an unknown land, with nobody to tell…

What do you want to be when you grow up Shannon? It differed from day to day. A hairdresser some days, because one of my parent's friends was a hairdresser and she was really cool. A dancing teacher on other days, because I loved my dancing teacher so much and…

Those nights that seemed to never end. Rocking, feeding, changing, cuddling, standing, swaying, walking, crying, screaming... both him and I. I remember the fake smiles I gave when the camera came out. I desperately wanted to be happy, but it felt like such an effort. I remember telling everyone I…