Christmas cheer!

Well as you can see I have been a bit absent from my blog the last couple of weeks but I do have a valid reason. Our Christmas has been a very housebound one as both the boys have been sick. Conor got it first and was pure miserable on Christmas day. I felt so sorry for him as he didn't enjoy it at all and everything was a drama and caused tears. He is on the mend but still not 100% and still very tired. Eoin also got a bit of what Conor had but then coupled it with the arrival of his first two teeth which caused him a serious amount of distress. He is still suffering and the dribble he is producing teething is causing him to cough and preventing him from sleeping which is preventing Lee and I from sleeping so all in all we have been a bit of an unhappy household this Christmas!!! Poor Eoin was so upset the other night he would only sleep while I held him in my arms and rocked him, so I ended up lying in the bed with him cradled in my arms trying to rock and not fall out of the bed. When I eventually got him settled I left him beside me where he was like a cling on for the night. Every time I moved him over a bit he would be back stuck to me so I spent the night trying to sleep on my side on about six inches of mattress!!! I had some pain in my back the next day!!! During the day Eoin still has cling on tendencies and is rarely off my hip. Unfortunately no one else seems to be good enough and he will only be entertained for a few mins even by Lee(just about long enough for me to run to the loo!). On the plus side I reckon I could take on anyone in an arm wrestling match and win!!!

Christmas was nice if a bit stressful but that was just because the boys were not well. Had they been their usual selves I'm sure we would have enjoyed it. It was lovely to see everyone but every time we met up with family we had to cut our visit short because we needed to get the boys settled, they were just wrecked the whole time and as a result were very cranky so not much fun to be around. We did our best though and tried to see everyone and leave before the boys got too bad.

I am a huge fan of Christmas and feel especially bad for Conor because he really missed out on the excitement of it all. I know he will still get to enjoy his presents now that he is feeling better and he tells me that he had a nice Christmas but I can't help felling that he could have enjoyed it so much more. There will be many more Christmases to come please God and hopefully he will not be sick for those!!!

As proof of my stressed-outness(not a word I know!) I took my first photos today from the entire Christmas season and at that I only took about 3 pictures!!! I just haven't had the time or the inclination - or 2 free hands! It is at times like this that I wish I could clone myself cos 1 Mammy is just not enough!!!!

Hope you all had a brighter Christmas than we did and best wishes to you all for the New Year!!
xx Joey.

Getting christmassy...

Christmas spirit starting to hit me now. Definitely feeling a bit giddy and excitable!!! Could be the caffeine though!

Christmassy? Really?

As Christmas draws nearer my brain is becoming more and more mush! I like to be organised and have things planned and know what I am getting everyone and have it all wrapped 2 weeks before Christmas but this year I am so all over the place I am starting to crack up. It is having a strange effect on me though, I am kind of cracking up in an unconcerned kind of way! It is all very alien. This is the first year since I met Lee that I don't have a clue what to get him. Usually I come up with something or he will look for something specific but I must be getting sensible in my old age cos I don't want to buy him something for the sake of it, I want to be sure he will use it (or it wont be half price in the sales after Christmas!!!!!).
It doesn't really feel like Christmas yet either but I think that is because I haven't wrapped one present yet! Maybe tonight when my sister gets home from England we will get hyper and it will get Christmassy. Then the real panic will kick in and I will be running around like a headless chicken - ha fun!
I really can't wait for it though, I am dying to see how Conor reacts to his presents, he is the perfect age and the excitement is building daily! Today is his last full day in playschool so we baked some cookies last night for all the kids and he was proud as punch bringing them in this morning. They have been very busy in school making snowmen and stockings and all sorts, the art work is coming home in handfulls daily!! I love it !!!
Photos of our hard work and the recipe will be up later - I promise!
Sugar cookie recipe as promised. Hope you like them!

So many thoughts.....so little time

It has been a while since I have had a chance to post anything and I am very confused about what to actually write because I have spent the last week or so coming up with things I wanted to write about but obviously never got a chance so here goes...

It has been a busy week or so, both the boys have been sick and still are not 100% but hopefully on the mend. They got a viral infection that is doing the rounds and ended up on antibiotics.

Conor got over it fairly quickly but we have to extend the antibiotic for Eoin for a couple more days. This causes all of us much upset as he is a disaster to try get medicine into. He is skilled in the art of keeping his mouth closed when there is medicine in his vicinity!! I feel so bad for him when I am giving it to him but it is a necessary evil!

Conor seemed to be all better but then a couple of nights ago woke with a sore ear about 1.15 and didn't get backto sleep until about5.30!!! Don'tknow what brought it on, it is so unlike him, this also meant that Lee and I were awake between these times and then Eoin woke about 6.30.

We were fairly tired yesterday after that but then to make things worse we both had our Christmas night out with work so we couldn't even get to bed early!! Right now I am sitting on the couch and nearly falling asleep typing so I will post now and add more later.

Long overdue photos...

Trying to upload some pictures of the boys but computer is not co-operating!!! Watch this space...

Photos at last!

Cookie Daddy

I have been on a bit of a baking kick for the last few weeks, making cakes and cookies. This week I found a new cookie recipe and bought some Christmas cookie cutters so Conor and I got down to work again - he is a great helper! His favourite parts are licking the spoon and playing with any left over dough to make his own shapes. I had some dough left over so last night decided to use it up and left Conor make his shapes when I was finished. He made Lee and then we baked him and then he ate his cookie daddy! Thoroughly enjoyed it and I love that he gets so much enjoyment out of it. I remember when I was little my favourite thing about helping Mum when she was baking was playing with the left over dough or pastry and then getting her to cook whatever I made. Obviously making it out of cookie dough makes it taste better than just out of pastry but either way it is good fun! I got all creative after he went to bed then and iced them putting decorations on the Christmas trees and giving Santa a hat etc. they looked really cute (and tasted good too!). Will definitely be making more of them soon and I will put the recipe on my recipe blog if anyone wants to try it.

Old and boring

It is a strange thing that is bothering me right now. I was out with the girls at the weekend and felt a bit like I had outgrown them. They were all very enthusiastic for a mad night out and I found myself very reluctantly being dragged along. I really enjoyed getting together again and we had a nice meal and some wine which was all lovely and I would have been more than happy to go for one or two drinks after that and then head home. Unfortunately that is not what the rest of them had in mind!! We ended up going to a nite club which I left about half one leaving them to their own devices. They stayed there till the death and then headed back to one of the girls houses until the early hours! I'm just not able to keep going any more. I am constantly thinking about the following day and the time I will be wasting if I am tired and hung over and time with my boys always seems more important. Weekends are short enough as it is so why would I want to waste a day eing unable to enjoy my time with them?
I know it sounds like I am old and boring but I just think my priorities are very different from most of theirs right now and they just don't seem to understand that. My idea of a perfect night out is a nice meal and a couple of drinks and home by 12 so I can try get a decent night sleep before Eoin wakes at 6.30. I think it will be staying that way for the forseeable future and I hope my friends can understand when I need to go home early and not see me as old and boring!

Pyjama update...

Went shopping this afternoon in a well known high street store, and there, walking around like it was an everyday occurance, was a woman in her pyjamas!!! What is wrong with these people?? I think we should start a pyjama watch and hopefully shame people into getting dressed when they go outside!!!!

Cranky Pyjamas

I am hitting that wonderful time of the month when everything is sweetness and light and I am constantly happy.......NOT!!! Wow I am so cranky right now I would probably win a fight with a pit bull! Thankfully I have the sense to be a bit objective and at least try to calm down before I say anything - except to Lee of course who will get the brunt of it for the next couple of days(god bless him!) Why is it that it seems like he is deliberately trying to annoy me and says the wrong thing at the worst time. I suppose, to be fair, there isn't really a good time when I am like this and I would probably pick a fight with my toenail if it looked sideways at me so he really has no hope!!!
There was a girl here this morning dropping off a car IN HER PYJAMAS!!!! Where have peoples standards gone?? I know I might leave the house without brushing my hair an odd day and sometimes I will be blissfully unaware that I have baby dribble down my front but I am always dressed! The most shocking part was when she came back to collect it 2 hours later she was still in her pyjamas. I mean, "hello I'm sorry did we make you get out of bed to fix your car?". I just don't understand it at all. And then there are the people who want you to bend over backwards for them and get annoyed with you when you can't. It's not my fault a stone jumped up off the road and hit your windscreen!! Peoples expectations have skyrocketed and they want everything yesterday. We are losing our reputation as a laid back country because of these demands and expectations. I say take it easy and come back tomorrow (you might find me in a better mood!).

Christmas photo

I decided it would be nice to have a christmas themed photo for sending with Christmas cards this year. When they say never work with animals or children they are not kidding!!! Eoin wasn't too bad but Conor would not sit still!!! Here are a few of my failed attempts....

And my absolute favourite, contender for the picture we were going to pick which I think just shows the personality of the boys brilliantly...

The reading room

Conor headed off to the toilet this afternoon and when he seemed to be taking longer than usual I checked on him to make sure everything was ok. There he was sitting on the toilet with the newspaper open in front of him. He looks up and says "I'm just checking what the news is today Mammy!".

Catch up

Ok, well things have been a bit hectic around here over the last week (but then again when are they not!). Eoin had a few nights of messing when going to bed and taking ages to settle then got a cold which has resulted in nasal drip making him cough - so much that he got sick the other night from coughing, my poor baby, I hate when he is not well in any way, I just wish I could take it away from him. Conor also had a cough which of course we were worried would turn into a chest infection which has happened so many times.

We were heading to Dublin for a 30th Friday and really didn't know whether to leave them or not but Conor got wind of his possible "sleepover" with Grandad and was having none of my suggestions that I stay at home to mind him!!! When I got home from work Friday afternoon and was dropping some of their things into mum's all I got from Conor was "NO!!!!". I think he still wanted to stay with Granny and Grandad!

So we went to Dublin for the 30th anyway and were very glad we did cos it was great craic!! We had a great time - even if Lee's head was complaining a lot the following morning, and it was great to see everyone.

The problem with going anywhere these days even for one night means we are playing catch up for a couple of days to try get back to normal again. I realised today that there is no point trying to get anything done in the afternoons and just to wait until the two boys are in bed at night because I was getting down about things and how I never seemed to be able to do anything but if I just accept that I have to wait until they are down that is ok. Lee and I make a great team and I am really lucky to have him around to help, I really admire single mums because I have no idea how they do it on their own!!!

On a lighter note when out walking this afternoon Conor overheard me talking to Lee on the phone about dinner and repeated to anyone that passed that we were having skins for dinner!! Innocent really but could be interpreted wrongly by the elderly couple that looked strangely at me when he said this!!!

Getting there!

Weighed myself this morning and I am only 5lbs away from the stone weight loss I set myself as an initial target. I know it has taken quite a while to get here but all I have really done is cut out the snacking. I haven't had much chance to get out walking lately but plan to start that again next week now that Eoin is fairly reliable about going to bed at night about half eight so I can head after that. Sit ups went totally out the window ages ago!!! I would love to say I will start doing them again but I am not going to do that because I wont feel guilty then when I don't do them!!! Lee has the boys gone for breakfast in Granny's this morning and I really tried to get back to sleep but it just wasn't working for me so I am going to go for a long walk instead!!!
So at least I am still on track for a stone weight loss by Christmas but realistically I will need to lose 2 or 3 extra lbs before Christmas because I always over indulge and will need a bit of leeway.

Grumpy boots

There are days (such as today) where I wonder why I bother to try be cheery even with my sleep deprivation - Eoin was winning the last couple of nights! I have always tried to be cheerful and happy in work no matter what is going on outside my work life, no matter how little sleep I get or how annoyed I got with Conor for delaying when I am trying to get us all out the door in the morning or how annoyed I get at all the stupid drivers in the morning. I have always prided myself in how I can separate my work and home life but today I wonder why. It's not like the guys here ever separate work and home they always seem to be grumpy if something is bothering them and some of them are just always grumpy in the mornings. I feel like telling them try being up half the night with a crying baby several nights in a row and then tell me what tired is!!!!! So this morning I tried to be grumpy but didn't really have time and went back to my normal self but they probably wouldn't be able to deal with me in bad form and it would start a chain reaction of bad moods.

I thought I was looking forward to going back to work and have some decent adult conversation during the day but I had forgotten that the only conversations I have in work are about cars or car related issues. Now, I know my cars and would usually be able to hold my corner in these discussions but I realised this morning that I just DONT CARE!!!!! This is the problem that comes with working with only men. There is no one to have a proper chat to about whatever, be it clothes or kids or telly (not that I see a lot of that these days!). Yes, I know I talk about my kids a lot when I am with other people but they are the thing I am most proud of in life and are what keep me going every day.

Today though I feel totally and utterly frazzled and zapped of energy. As you know I am crazy about my kids but there are days when I really feel I need a break. I have the whole guilt thing though and hate leaving them with anyone (even Lee) for very long. I don't want to leave them with my Mum any more than she already has them because I don't think that is fair so even though it is self inflicted I can't get away from them.
I'm sure this is just a rant for today and tomorrow I will be fine again (but that wouldn't make for very good reading!) and I will feel bad for having this rant in the first place.

On other things Eoin is winning the last couple of nights as mentioned already. I think I got up about 10 times the night before last but only about 5 or six last night - I kind of lose track after about the fourth time it all just blurs into one. At one point Lee got up and I started to dose and heard Eoin, got up walked in to his room to find Lee still in there, I was totally disorientated I thought he was back in bed and all! We slept in then this morning and if Eoin hadn't woken we would probably still be in the bed now.

On a lighter note, Conor want trick or treating last night for the first time and he had an absolute ball!!! He went with 2 of his cousins and they were hilarious, running from house to house, Conor shoving his pumpkin bag in the door for fear that someone would miss that he was there. His pirate costume was grand, all he really wanted on it was the eye patch and the gun! He had a head scarf and a chopped up t- shirt of Lee's that I had put zig zagged ends on and a big belt over his shoulder and he thought he was the main man! Everyone knew what he was though so he was delighted, he kept shooting people when they opened the door to them. We all thoroughtly enjoyed the evening and the getting of the treats was much better than actually eating the treats but there is enough there to keep him going for about a month!!! Lots of people had the front of their house decorated for the occassion and quite a few of them dressed up to greet the kids. It was great fun!! Lee thought I going overboard with the amount of sweets I got in but like last year we were cleared out of all sweets by the end of the evening.

I am already feeling better after thinking about yesterday evening but still tired, a bit grunpy and a bit emotional - probably a side effect of the tiredness. It will all look better in the morning!

The battle continues...

Well I seem to be winning the war - but now that I have said it he will be up half the night!!! Last night when he woke it only took about 20mins to get him back to sleep and he didn't look for bottle until ten to seven this morning. He is also getting used to the idea that when I put him to bed at night it is time to go to sleep and is only moaning for a couple of minutes before he settles. He might just be luring me into a false sense of security though!

Battle of Wills

Eoin has been trying it on with us the last couple of nights, when he was upset teething I gave in and gave him bottle to settle him but now that he is ok again he is still waking looking for it for comfort so last night I decided to nip it in the bud. It took an hour and a half to get him back to sleep when he woke at half two!!

The thing is once he is in my arms looking around he is totally ok and cheery but as soon as I lie him down in his cot (in his own room finally by the way) he starts to go mental again. I persisted though and won the battle last night so need to get an early night tonight to be ready for our next battle. I will admit I am shattered this morning but we have been down this road before with Conor and hopefully Eoin will be as clever as his brother and learn quickly what the story is. All indications are pointing that way though, he already knows he can play Lee better than me and will get away with more with him. Last night when he was going to bed I put him down and he did his usual moans etc and I went into him a couple of times to settle him again - usually takes 4-5 attempts before he is properly settled, but I got Lee to go in at one point and he went totally nuts, rigid and roaring crying so that Lee would pick him up. I was on my way up the stairs as Lee was coming down with Eoin in his arms and yer man just starts laughing at me as if to say "you should know better that sending him up, he is too easy!". I brought him straight back up and put him back down and he settled very quickly, he can't beat me quite so easily!

His personality is really coming out now though, so far he thinks most things are hilarious and he has a big hearty laugh and a grin that goes from ear to ear. As you can see from above he is also a bit of a messer and will chance his arm with us. He has gorgeous sparkly eyes that light up when he smiles at us and is just the happiest little chappy around!

The battle of wills is continuing into the night at the moment when Eoin wants to get up and have bottle at about 2am which I am totally against and our disagreement took an hour and a half the other night but I think he is getting the message and is going back to sleep quicker the last couple of nights. He still stirs a bit though which means I am up anyway a few times a night so I am still very tired but hopefully this battle wont go on for too long and he will realise - as Conor does, that I am the boss!!!!!

Lost keys

I lost my keys yesterday. My car and house keys on the one set, I had them in order to open the door and I went into the kitchen laden down with bags etc and assume I left them down on the counter as I normally do. When I went to look for them later I couldn't find them but just figured I had misplaced them until later again when I actually started to look for them properly. Lee and I searched the house top to bottom but couldn't find them anywhere so eventually gave up hoping Conor might have moved them somewhere and he would tell us when he got up in the morning. This did not help me rest easy though, I was sick with worry wondering if I had maybe dropped them outside after I had unlocked the door and someone might have picked them up. This caused for not the greatest nights sleep ever with me waking about 20 times wondering if the car would still be there when we got up.

When we did get up I was relieved to see that our car was still there which reassured me that the keys were probably in the house somewhere. Conor however denied any knowledge of their whereabouts so I started to panic again. Got organised anyway and locked up taking laptop and camera with me figuring they were the things we would miss the most (worst case scenario). I put the laptop in the boot but my camera was on the passenger seat so when I got into work I brought it in with me - not wanting to leave it in the car because we have a few travellers staying in the car park (yeah that is nice!).

(Wow I am really making this into a long story when It's not really but I went through so much trauma over it I feel I need to share)

Left my camera in work cos I had put it in a drawer so rang one of the lads to ask him to bring it home with him just in case our unwanted guests decided to see inside our building during the night. (Don't worry I know I am neurotic) So he rang me back a few minutes later to say he had opened the case to have a look at the camera and there on top of my camera were my keys!!! I know I didn't put them there so I asked Conor if he had put them in the case and he said he put them in the computer bag and to go look there for them. Now why couldn't he have told me that this morning????

I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders though. I was so relieved!!!! I can stop imagining some psycho will walk into the house using the key I lost and take all our things. I am dealing with my nuttiness in stages I promise!!!

My talkers

Conor told me a joke yesterday.....why aren't leopards good at hide and seek? Because they are always spotted!!! He was so dead pan about it too that it took me a second to realise what was going on!! He never stops talking lately and seems to have an opinion on everything, we went for a walk the other day and the whole time he had a running commentary going on everything we passed. He is also starting to ask questions about everything, Lee and I have been discussing how we are going to have to start looking up wikipedia or something to get answers for him. The other day we were passing a bridge when the tide was out and he wanted to know where the water was gone. How do you explain to a 3 year old about the tide?? I know we are going to have our work cut out for us and so far Eoin seems to be a bit of a talker too making noises all the time so when the two of them are talking together it is going to be great fun!!!

Photos

Photos as promised for now, will try write something later.

Hair!

Don't tell anyone but I never brushed my hair this morning!!!!! Too busy running around the house trying to get organised and then I couldn't find my keys and we were late again. It only dawned on me just now about my hair. That is the reality of having kids!

First week down

One week down and it didn't go too bad at all. I think Conor has resigned himself to having to go to school some days and we haven't had too many arguments over it this week. He was very happy this morning though when I told him he didn't have to go to school!! I am getting very good at talking school up and my voice goes up an octave in my pretend excitement! I think next week we will be baking cookies one afternoon to bring in the next day which will be a big treat! This week it was grapes for the fruit break they take in the morning so we will go down the not so healty route next week.

Work for me hasn't been too bad, my kinda demotion has made things a lot easier for me especially when it is quiet like it has been this week. It already feels like I never left and my brain is starting to kick in again and I am starting to remember codes again. The other guy in the office is on holidays for the next 2 weeks though so I'm sure I will be tearing my hair out by the end of that!

Both the boys are keeping us on our toes these days what with Eoin teething and keeping us up at night and Conor back to his coughing and colds again. Have to watch him like a hawk cos he keeps getting chest infections when he gets colds so need to get on top of it straight away to try stop it getting any worse.

I am sooooo tired right now and my back aches. Poor Eoin just wants to be comforted which means holding him a lot and I weighed him this morning, he is nearly 20 pounds!!! Just about to hit six months and an absolute buster! I think Conor was longer and grew out of babygros quicker because his legs and feet wouldn't fit in them but Eoin just really fills everything out. He has big thunder thighs and is just real solid, definitely going to have the build of his dad and his uncles!

Posts will probably be less regular while I start to get into a routine so apologies if they are few and far between but do keep checking as I will post as often as I can. Pics of boys in next one!

First day back

I was reserving judgement on my first day back until I collected the boys because no matter how good or bad my day in work went a lot depended on how my mum got on with the boys today. Thankfully all seemed to go well and the stress I have been feeling for the last week is finally lifting.

Work was grand, nothing has changed there really except I have been kind of demoted into an easier less stressful role which at first I wasn't sure if I was happy about but now I think I am quite pleased as it means I have less to do and don't have to think about work when I leave. Before I started my maternity leave I was starting to get quite stressed about certain elements of my job and felt I was under qualified and needed training in some areas and now that is not something I have to worry about anymore. The money is still the same so I can see no problems. It also helped that it was very quiet today so I was eased in gradually. It will take a bit of time to get back into it though because my job involves a lot of codes that can be easily confused or written down wrong so I am triple checking everything for the time being. If they would only stop bringing out new models of cars with different mirror bases and anti glare or heated or rain sensored windscreens my job would be an awful lot easier!

I really thought today would be a lot worse than it was and I thought I would be upset because I have been very emotional the last few days - attended funeral of family friend at weekend(whole other story) coupled with time of the month does not make for happy Joey! but thankfully I was grand and the day didn't drag too much!!

Tomorrow is another story though, I have to drop Eoin to mums then Conor to Playschool which I don't think Conor will be too happy about so we will see how that goes!!
I will resort to bribery if necessary!!!!

Limos & Lipsticks

Lee's neice (and mine I would say but apparantly that is not correct because she is from his side of the family and I am only an in-law so she is not my niece! I hate that, usually in conversation I will just say my niece for convenience and people always say oh which of your brothers kids is that, I mean, come on! When did everything have to be so precise or "PC" that I can't refer to my husbands niece who, by the way, I went to see in the hospital after she was born 13 years ago, as my niece!!!) Ok got that off my chest let me continue.


Our niece was 13 yesterday and her mother organised this for her and her friends to be driven around town in for a couple of hours!

I can't remember what I did when I was 13 but I can assure you it was not being driven around town in a pink limo. Of course the girls were absolutely beside themselves and I hope they all had a great time. It will certainly be a birthday to remember! I have to admit I wouldn't mind doing that myself but change the cola and lemonades to champagne please!!

Have a great birthday Katie!

Hide and Seek

Where is Conor???

Chubby Giraffe

This babygro was a present Conor was given when he was a baby and I found it the other day when I was going through his old clothes. I'm not sure he filled it out quite as much as Eoin does though!!

Back to reality

Well, I had a wonderful birthday and there wasn't a wet eye to be seen anywhere!(apart from all the men crying into their pints after the terrible result in the match) I was so busy all day Friday that I didn't get a minute to reflect on anything. First brought Lee in to work and wandered around town with the boys for a little while waiting to meet Nici and then Conor had to go play in the toy shop he loves and by the time we were eventually home it was gone 11am, leaving me only roughly 2 hours to get the boys packed and transported to mums and get myself ready for going out because once I left the house that was it for the night! Of course at this stage I still had no idea what I was going to wear!!!! I managed to get it all done though(if a little stressed) on time and made the bus on time too. That is a whole other saga though which I will save for some other time, suffice to say I hate busses, a fact that was made worse on Friday!

Got to the hairdressers got my hair done and met Lee for dinner(which was fab as usual - love that restaurant!) where he surprised me with a beautiful necklace that I was not expecting at all but am extremely grateful for! The whole night went great (apart from the match but we won't talk about that) even down to the taxi which was possibly the cleanest taxi I have ever been in, and what was even better was I did not have a sore head on Saturday morning!!

Had cake and bubbly on Saturday with family which was also really nice but we were brought back to reality with a bang on Sunday when Conor had a temperature and Eoin wouldn't settle all day with his sore gums! I was in high demand yesterday and although it is tough going sometimes I do love it, I love that I am the mammy they want when the are not well, everyone always wants their mammy when they are not well and I get to do that for these 2 little boys which I am more that happy to do any time.

So all in all I thoroughly enjoyed my 30th birthday but it is over now so I can start planning the big party for my 40th!!!

Nearly 30? Is that what is wrong?

I cried yesterday. It wasn't an ow I just walloped a limb off something hard kind of cry but a frustrated sorrowful cry. I was so tired and totally frustrated over Eoin crying hysterically with the pain in his gums and how little I could do for him to help him that it just came over me and I found myself crying, holding Eoin crying and trying to answer Conors constant questions.


Now, as a rule I'm a crier, I do tend to be very emotional and will cry at the drop of a hat, especially during heart tugging films or television. I always cry on my birthday, have done for several years and not because I don't want to get older because that does not bother me. I think I always get reflective on my birthday and it makes me think about the people I don't see as much as I would like to and the things I don't get to do as much as I would like to and that tends to make me sad.



So, this year (Friday to be specific) I am turning 30 and I have a very busy day. I am going to get my hair done and then go for an early dinner with Lee and then go to watch the rugby match. The morning will be taken up with organising the 2 boys for their sleepover in Granny and Grandads which takes quite a while with all the stuff they need! I am hoping the day will be so jam packed that I won't have a chance to get melancholy and reflective and I won't get a chance to cry.

I would probably love a big party just for the sake of a party but the time and effort involved in all that is just too much for me right now so maybe when I am forty! So no big plans, just heading to the Vic to watch the match if anyone is around and would like to join us!

I suppose turning 30 should have some effect on me but I really can't complain about anything. I have a great husband and 2 great kids which means by the time I am forty they will nearly be self-sufficient and Lee and I can have a life again!!! All kidding aside though, I am looking forward to friday if for nothing else than the nice meal I will have in l'Atmosphere and the lie in I will get on Saturday with no kids to get up to. I can be hopeful about Ireland's chances in the match against France but either way I plan to enjoy myself.

He is only three, honest!

Look at the size of those hands!!! That is on a regular A4 sheet of paper. I realised after I uploaded it that maybe I should have put something beside it to emphasise the actual size but hey, hind sight is great!!

Proposals and root canals

I have to admit I am quite emotional about the thought of going back to work in a few weeks. I know there are days when Eoin is inconsolable with his teething which always seems to coincide with Conor being ultra demanding where I wish I could just go away somewhere to my quiet space and rock gently backwards and forewards muttering to myself but those days are few and far between. It's the other days though that make me well up thinking of how much I will miss them when I go back to work. I will miss Conor's unprompted cuddles (also his unprompted diving on me!) and his frequent declarations of love ("Mammy?", "Yes Conor", "I love you!") and Eoin's heartwarming smile which he gives away freely and easily and would cheer anyone up! I have also been proposed to by Conor which makes me think I must be doing something right, the funniest part was when he tried to figuire out what his relationship to Lee would be!

I am also worried about how they will be without me. I know they will be fine of course, my Mum is minding them so I am not worried about their well being or anything like that just emotionally it will be different for them having had me around non stop for six months has made us all very close. Eoin is very attached to me and I wonder how he will be if he needs settling when I'm not there . I know Conor will miss me but he will be grand because he loves it in my mums so much that he will hardly notice the time going by. I would love to not have to go back an be able to stay with them until they are in school but unfortunately that is not an option right now. On the other hand I might go insane without any adult interaction!!

In other news, I got my early birthday present on Friday and had my root canal done!! Woohoo!!! I have to say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be just my jaw hurt afterwards from having it open for nearly an hour and a half! It was uncomfortable but necessary and it is done now so I need not worry about it again. I do have another dentist appointment next week but I will worry about that when the time comes.

Tears on the driveway

Well, this morning I was getting Conor ready for school and I thought to myself "this isn't going too bad, he seems to be quite happy this morning" He was very co-operative in all aspects of getting him ready so I thought maybe he is starting to be ok with going to school. Oh but how wrong I was! There was no mention of school at all until we were going out to get in the car and he asked if he had to go to school today, when I replied that he did there was full blown crying out on the driveway!! Tears, the works, I guess he did not want to go to school after all! On the way there in the car he kept repeating "I don't want to go to school Mammy" and I kept trying to come up with good reasons for going. Of course when we got there he was fine, a bit clingy at first but one of his friends from before the summer was back from his holidays so that was ok and off they went making guns out of lego and chasing each other around the room! I'm sure he will have a ball today but still won't want to go again tomorrow!

My diet works!!

School is going ok for Conor, he did cry on Wednesday when I told him he had to go but got over it very quickly and only had a little moan yesterday, who knows, it might be sinking in that he is going to be going whether he likes it or not! Only a couple of incidents in school too, something about play doh and he cried and then the bowling set he cried over cos someone else was playing with it. How to tell a three year old he needs to share and take turns is great fun!!! I'd say he is sick of hearing it at this stage but he will keep hearing it until it sinks in.


Poor Eoin is driven demented with his teeth(or lack of!), and was up this morning at 5.20 for about 2 hours not able to settle at all and me trying all sorts of distractions to stop him thinking about the pain. I feel so sorry for him, I have had bad toothache in the last few weeks and hope it is not what he is feeling!


Quest to lose the muffin top is going well, I have lost another 4lbs!!! What am I doing you ask? Well it is more what I am not doing!! I am not snacking, I had gotten really bad at snacking during the day, especially when I am constantly getting food for Conor. If he is having a slice of toast I would put one on for me too, crackers for Conor, crackers and cheese for me etc etc etc. It wasn't crap (though there was a good bit of that too) but I was eating unnecessarily, the thing was though I wasn't putting on any weight doing that so obviously the boys were keeping me busy enough that I was burning those calories so I figured if I stopped eating the extra calories I would start to lose weight and hey it is working!!! I do try get for a walk as often as possible though so I am getting a bit more exercise that I was which I'm sure is helping too. I am also trying to do sit ups at least every other day and my shoulders are lifting off the ground now!!! My stomach muscles are also quite tender at times!!!
I know some of my weight loss has been due to the fact that my teeth have been causing me pain for the last week or so and I have been reluctant to eat too much especially avoiding sweet things so we will see how I get on when my teeth stop hurting me!

Back to school

Conor had his first day back in Playschool today! I was worried how it would go because he was not what you would call enthusiastic about going back. He even said he wished he never had to go to school again - man is he in for a nasty surprise!!! It went quite well, he was clingy when he went in but that was only to be expected. He was fine after about 10 mins and I left. When I collected him they were in the garden on the trampoline and he cried when he had to get out!! I think that was a successful day!

Photos of boys as promised...

More on his school progress tomorrow.

Catching up

Apologies for my absense lately. I think panic has started to set in about when I go back to work and I am trying to cram as much into the next few weeks as possible. So taking time out to blog has been at the bottom of my list lately.

So, what has been happening in rambling Joey's world this last week? It's been quite busy really. I had a very bad tooth ache all over last weekend (of course the pain started Thursday but I totally forgot to ring the dentist - how could I forget I hear you ask, well remarkably easy really when you have 2 boys to look after, they kept distracting me every time I went to look up the number!!!) which was coupled with a family funeral on Lee's side (ooh that was fun trying to be nice to people with a throbbing pain in my mouth - at least I looked sombre) but I had to go, I know the family well and they are all so nice I couldn't have missed it so I just had to grin and bare it.

Finally got a dentist appointment on Tuesday afternoon (jus as well cos I was running out of pain killers!) to be told there was an infection which needed antibiotics and that needed to be cleared before they could do any work to it. By work they mean whichever I decide, take the tooth out or have root canal work done! Neither sounds very appealing to me really as I hate going to the dentist, I just hate the feeling in my mouth as they prod and poke and all I want to do is swallow all the time. Any time I have had to get work done I get really worked up about it beforehand and freak myself out but then manage to get through it fine and wonder what all the fuss was about in the first place. You would think that it would get easier the next time then but, oh no, I start the same freaking out process all over again!!!

We brought Conor to the Cinema for the first time this week! To see The Simpsons Movie, he is three and loves the Simpsons!!! It was all very exciting for him and we even got the bus into town to meet Lee which was another treat. He wasn't heavy enough to hold down the seat though so had to sit on our laps which he did with his hands over his ears for the first half hour!!! Then he settled into it and thoroughly enjoyed it - especially the popcorn and chocolate!!

I still haven't finished Eoins room but I have managed to get his chest of drawers put together with a little help from Lee and Conor - Conor was not willing to give up his screws for the drawers though so I had to find a couple of similar looking ones and swap them when he wasn't looking.

I haven't even been taking many pictures so I will get back to all that and put up some of the boys later in the week. Now I am off to try finish the second coat of paint on Eoin's room before he wakes from his nap!

Joker woman

Hey! The Joker woman learnt how to put on make-up!!! I saw her in town today and she looked positively normal! Someone must have told her just how stupid she looked (unfortunately not me!).
Wonderful news.... stepped on to the scale this morning and I was 2lbs lighter than at the weekend!!! I have been stuck at the same weight for weeks now, even before I got pregnant with Eoin I was stuck at the same weight and I have finally moved past that so it is all good for the moment!!

Losing the muffin top!

I have been reluctant to blog about this for the last few days because as soon as I do I am making it official. However, something drastic needs to be done and if that means I need to blog about it so it will guilt me into action then so be it! My muffin top (area of flab that hangs over jeans) needs some serious attention. Obviously after having a baby I am going to have this anyway but I would only be lying to myself if I pretended it wasn't there before that so I am now going to address it.

After I had Conor I wanted to lose weight and tone up but knew I wouldn't be happy with just one child so was reluctant to work too hard to shed the pounds knowing I would have to start again after baby number two. Well baby number two is here and I don't see a baby number three in our future so now is the time to get to work.

I have been making excuses a lot lately, not going for walks because of the weather or being too tired or because Eoin won't settle but no more, I am going to get out for a decent walk at least every second night which will also allow Lee to get out for a walk the other nights.

I started doing sit ups the other day and it is sad just how inflexible I have become, I could barely get my head off the ground!!! I am not going to let that stop me though, I am going to persist and maybe in a couple of weeks my shoulders will lift too!!!

I plan to lose at least a stone by Christmas which is a realistic goal at about 1lb a week. Lee is very supportive and wants to do the same which is great because usually we are each others worst enemies in things like this and when one of us gives in to temptation the other falls with them but this time we are going to be stronger and I am going to cleanse the house of all things bad and calorie loaded!!! My task for tomorrow is to clear out the junk press (along with all the other presses - some rearranging needs to be done feel the need to restore order, keeps my mind off sweet things) and rid the house of temptation.

I am not confident or secure enough to disclose my actual weight now but I will post progress reports hopefully regularly as I lose weight and also my bad days so I have to admit to myself when I do things wrong. So here's to losing the muffin top and may it go as well as planned!!!!

Bad clothes day

Do you know how depressing it is when you go to your wardrobe 4 months after your baby is born and you still have more (and nicer!) maternity tops than actual normal tops? Pretty darn depressing I have to say. I was going out for lunch with a couple of friends today and looking for something to wear when I realised this.
I have purchased a few skirts lately because I have decided I like skirts (long of course cos I hate my legs), they make me feel feminine which is necessary when you live in a house full of boys and spend most of the time in jeans and t-shirts getting food spilled on you at least once a day!! In the end I decided on a dark brown skirt and a beige top(maternity!!!!!) which I thought was fine until some time this afternoon when I looked in the mirror again and realised the colour made me look old and haggard - this could also be due to my being under the weather with a cold and tired a lot lately. Whatever the reason I didn't feel very good about myself.
My biggest problem (and there are many!) is that I seem to find it impossible to buy clothes for myself without feeling guilty. So what usually happens is I buy clothes for Lee, Conor or Eoin or sometimes all three. I don't feel the guilt this way because I am buying for them and not for me. I find it a lot easier to buy for them too because I know what fits them and what will look good on them and don't have to worry about picking up something that won't fit or makes me look fat or shows off all my lovely bulges. Yes, I know there are ways to fix these problems but that takes time and in the mean time I don't want to go on feeling like a pregnant has been so I need to get my act together(and my confidence) and go try on some tops!

uh uh uh Bok!

My procrastination has reached an all time high, Eoin's room which I started painting about 4 weeks ago is still not finished!!! It is not possible to do it during the day because Conor would want to "help" which doesn't bear thinking about and then in the evenings there is always something else to do or else I am just too tired to face it. At the moment I am suffering with a cold that just makes me want to sleep!!! If only Conor would still take a nap in the afternoon!

I went to the supermarket earlier today with the boys and ended up getting really annoyed. It started when I had parked and got Conor out some woman parked beside me on Eoins side leaving about 2 inches for me to open the door and get him out!!!! Thankfully she realised this before getting out of her car (how she was going to manage that I don't know unless she was made of rubber!) and moved to a different spot allowing me to get Eoin out. Then it started raining and when we were going back to the car was fairly heavy and, guess what, some other eejit had parked similarily close to me!!!!!!! So I had to get Conor to climb in the front out of the rain and wait while I had to climb across Conors car seat to get Eoin into his seat. All the while the drivers door is open and the seat getting wetter and wetter by the minute - it didn't occur to me at the time to close the door after Conor when he got in!!! Strapped Conor in and then put the bags in the passenger seat, leaning across the drivers seat to do so and walloping my head off the door frame! I was so frustrated at this stage I yelled F***, then I brought the trolley back to the trolley bay and went back to the car. As I got in I could hear Conor in the fits of giggles saying "uh, uh, uh BOK!!!" (luckily that is what he thought I said). He laughed at me the whole way home going "uh, uh, uh BOK!!!" and breaking down laughing. Meanwhile my bum was getting soaked from the wet seat. Oh the joys!!

On the up side the stupid driver of the stupid car that was parked 2 stupid inches away from mine heard my expletive as he got into his stupid car. I hope he realised my frustration and anger was directed at him!!!!

Four months today!

Eoin, you are four months old today. I have enjoyed this time with you so much and you are such a pleasant child to be around. You always have a smile for me that cheers me up no matter what the weather or my mood.

These four months have passed so quickly, I am glad I have taken so many pictures so at least I can remember when you were tiny. I love how you laugh when I clean under your chin in the bath. I love that you have taken to eating solids like a duck to water and just can't get enough. You are a hungry baby and like to have a full tummy but it helps you sleep 10 hours a night which me and your Daddy really appreciate!!!

Your teething has caused you some discomfort but you get by chewing everything within reach even trying to get both fists into your mouth at the same time. I can barely keep up with you on bibs, they are no sooner on you than they are dripping wet from dribble, but the whole time you manage to keep a bright and cheery demeanor.

I am sorry if you end up with a flat nose from all the times Conor rubs it every day but he can't help it either, he just loves you so much!

I laugh when I put you in your bouncy chair and you start to complain until I remind you that you are fine and just needed a toy to chew. I love that you are so sociable and don't just keep your smiles for me but are willing to share them with anyone who smiles at you. You are already very chatty blabbering non-stop so I am imaging dinner times in years to come when there will be major competition between you and your brother over who can talk the most, and long car journeys will be fun. Conor barely stops talking wherever we are going so if the two of you are talking non stop it will be funny!!

You have a very cheeky look about you a lot of the time and I have a feeling it is a sign of things to come, but you will have some competition in that department!

This is your footprint today at four months (just as well I did it today otherwise your foot wouldn't have fit in the mould!). I never did this with Conor and I am sorry I didn't because it is something I will have forever that shows the size of you when you were small and helpless! I am sure I will wish you still small and helpless at some point later in your life when you have done something you shouldn't have!!! For the moment though, stay being you and we will keep loving you as much as we can and delight in your progress as you make your mark on this world.

All my love

Mum xxx

Imagine...

When returning from our shopping trip the other day, Conor was sitting in the back with 2 magnetic fishing rods attached to the back of our seats telling us we were the reindeer and he was santa claus. He kept telling us what to say like "its cold" or "we are going fast" etc etc and it was all going great until he got a call from Batman on his bat phone!!! Wouldn't it be great to have that kind of imagination again?!

August bank holiday weekend!

I just love summer in Ireland!! Where else can you have 4 seasons in one day. The plants are all confused at the moment and don't know whether to shed their leaves or sprout new buds!!! It is the August bank holiday weekend which you can usually rely on to be quite nice and it tends to be the one weekend of the summer I always get burnt because Spraoi is on and I spend so much time standing around in town watching the acts that I forget about suncream and get burnt! You would think that I would learn from my mistakes but no, I am not that clever!!! This year however will probably go down as the wettest August bank holiday weekend on record. It has been raining non-stop since about 4pm yesterday and it does not look like it is going to stop any time soon!

So our plans to head in to town and watch some of the performances is going to be scrapped for something a little less damp!

Happy Birthday Laura!

My beautiful God-daughter, hope you have a wonderful day!!

Sleeping and solids

Well it finally happened, he slept through the night and not just till half six/seven like he has done a few times he slept until eight o clock this morning from about nine last night!!!!! He made a lot of shuffling noises between 5 and 6 but wasn't waking up he had just kicked off his blanket so I covered him up and didn't hear from him again until eight!! Apart of course from the odd movement, he moves around nearly as much as his brother, who last night when we were heading to bed looked like he was doing the YMCA dance!! Eoin had started to wake about 4ish during the night the last few nights when he had previously been going to half six seven so yesterday i decided it was time to try solids - I know they are trying to encourage us to go till 6 months before weaning them but I think every child is different and some are quite happy to go along on just bottles or whatever but I knew it was time for him. He didn't hate it either and took quite a good bit for his first attempt! The result - he slept through the night!! I hope it wasn't just a once off!!!
Lee is back in work this week so we are adjusting back again. Eoin is being a bit of a maggot cos he was spoiled when Lee was off having one of us to hold him more than he usually would while now he just gets put in his bouncy chair or on his playmat while I try get stuff done or deal with Conor. He is moaning a lot more than he did before Lee's holidays but he is just going to have to get used to it! Conor is also feeling the change he was getting a lot more attention when Lee was here all day but he is very good and is starting to learn to be more patient.
Well the weather has finally started to improve and we are currently having our third day of sunshine in a row so we are off for a walk so I can try lose some of this weight finally - only seven weeks until I am due to go back to work, gotta get my act together!!

Busy times

Well, blogging was fairly difficult this week between all that we were doing and trying to read the new Harry Potter book! Went to the Zoo on Wednesday as already documented (I was not trying to imply that those parents were negligent just that I wasn't!!), then Thursday had Mum and the girls over for some food while Lee was out with his work colleagues. I had such great plans for that night, I was going to do lots of finger food type things and just have that instead of a full meal. It partially worked, I had the chicken wings and the salsa and chilli butter already done so that was just a matter of putting wings in the oven ad warming some bread but that was as far as I got!! No quesadillas, no skins, all because Eoin cried most of the evening. He calmed down for a while but then started again worse than before. At this stage I was getting worried because he never cries like that, it was a different cry to his usual cries and he seemed to be in pain, so I thought I would see if I could get the doctor. Our GP is brilliant, his practice is from his house and he always says if his car is there he is there and to call in. So I did. He checked him over but was a bit concerned that Eoin seemed to be having a lot of discomfort in his tummy so referred us to hospital to be on the safe side. Went in and they did an x-ray and checked him over, x-ray showed nothing but they wanted to keep him there overnight for observation so Eoin and I got to stay there! Yippee!! They gave me a fold up mattress thing to lie on which was pretty uncomfortable but I reckon I managed to get a couple of hours sleep. Eoin slept fine once he calmed down and was full of the joys when he woke, you would never know there had been anything wrong in the first place!!! The reckoned it was just a tummy bug and that he would be as well off at home as in there so home we went and he hasn't had a problem since!!! Thankfully all is well now and he is definitely back to his usual self!

It's a jungle out there!

Yesterday we went to "the jungle" as Conor keeps calling it but really it was the Zoo. While he did enjoy it he is still more entertained by the play areas than the animals but that's kids for you! I did notice some things about him yesterday though, he is getting braver trying to climb fences and stuff he is not supposed to be climbing for one! He was also not too bothered by all the fighting that was going on with the kids queuing for the big slide. Conor chose not to queue but just to wander around where all the other kids were queuing, occassionally stopping to come over to me and laugh. This was while Lee had to go all the way back out of the zoo to the car to get Eoin's bottle which I had left in the boot of the car!!! He was not impressed(Lee or Eoin!).
I had to admire (or pity) the mother who stood underneath the slide trying to get the kids that were jumping the queue to wait their turn while they were skillfully ignoring her even though she was grabbing them by the trouser leg shouting "Excuse Me, Excuse Me!". She was fighing a losing battle when I could see other parents going up with their children and bringing them to the head of the queue in front of the other kids. It is amazing how different parents are, if I caught Conor skipping the queue(not likely as he tended to let any kid that came up behind him go first!) I would make him go back to the back and wait his turn but these parents just didn't care most of them not even keeping an eye on what their children are doing, one kid was even up on the platform crying obviously scared and calling for her mammy and daddy who were sitting on a bench looking at her until finally the father got up with an audible sigh, i mean God how dare she inconvenience him by getting upset!!! Maybe I am an over-protective Mother but better that than negligent!

Lamb surprises!

We got to go for an adult meal last night!!!! And OMG was is good!!!! We went to a french restaurant in Waterford (l'Atmosphere) with Lee's brother and sister-in-law and it was great to have nice adult conversation and good food. The food the food the food, I love good food!! (not to take away from the company which was excellent) I knew it was going to be good when my red pepper soup arrived out and had little lamb surprises in the bottom!!! Instead of bread crutons there were small cubes of lamb in the bottom of the bowl which were absolutely delicious!!! We all had a great meal which was good because Lee and I had been there before and loved it then talked it up and of course when you do that you are always afraid that when you go again with someone else they won't like it. Thankfully I need not have worried. We didn't over do it either so while we were tired today there was no hang-over to worry about. Still didn't get up to too much but at least we were able to cope.

Party season

Party season is finally coming to a close here. June and July are non stop parties for Conor because a lot of his cousins have their birthdays around the same time. Thankfully we have reached the end of it and he attended the last one today. Don't get me wrong I love parties and I really love the independance he is getting going to them, no longer neading Mammy or Daddy around to look after him. I also have no problem going shopping for presents cos I hate to shop(not!). My problem with all these parties is the crap he eats at them and wants after. All he has had nearly every weekend in 2 months is junk food at parties and thinks he can get it when he is at home too. Well he is in for some serious detoxing from here on in!!!!!!! He doesn't really get a lot of sweet things in our house and as a result every time he does it is a big treat, like yesterday I got some Cadbury Moments(formerly tasters - milk chocolate balls) and brought him in one, first he looks at it, grins and says "what is it mammy?", so I told him it was chocolate and the grin got bigger.
A few minutes later he comes out to the kitchen and says "Mammy I am hungry".
"What would you like?" I replied.
"Something small"
"Like what?"
"Like a chocolatey ball" he says with an enormous grin.
Knowing this was coming I had 2 ready to give him, hand them to him and he literally dances out of the kitchen chocolate balls in hand!

Pirate treasure

Yesterday we went to Dunmore East for some food and a wander and it was absolutely lovely. The weather was gorgeous we could have been away in Spain or something!! Unfortunately they couldn't find any pirate treasure on the beach and will need to go back with shovels the next day! A point that Conor did not forget this morning and is already talking about it!!

Eoin was oblivious to it all and was having his own mind game battle with his Lion pram toy...

I'm not sure who won!!!!

Holidays...

Lee is on holidays this week and next which is great and we are all enjoying having him around. The weather is also obliging so far and staying fairly nice!! About the only place that is though, there are reports of flash floods and thunder storms everywhere else in the country. Which is fine but means there is no point going anywhere, we may as well stay where the weather is nice!!!! Conor is enjoying having Lee on his holidays once he realised it meant he was going to be staying at home. He was upset at first when I told him his daddy was going to be on holidays because he wanted to go too!!!
This morning Lee was heading out and asked Conor would he like to go with him, at first he said no but then Lee suggested they go to Tony's (a holiday shop here that has a cafe and games etc) at this Conor literally did a dance for joy around the kitchen and couldn't get his shoes on fast enough!!!! I think he likes it there!?! So they went to Tony's, had a cake and then went on a couple of the amusement rides. Conor is getting more and more brave on those things, before he used to want to go on but as soon as it would start he would want to get off, now he is going on the ones that go up in the air (kiddie chairoplanes but cooler now, flying elephants and helicopters!).
Amazingly I haven't really taken any pictures this week, I was sure I would have the camera out non stop but we are just spending the time going for walks and enjoying having all of us together all day. There will be some before the end of the week though and we are talking about going to the zoo next week so I'm sure we will have some from that too. Will post accordingly.
Of course i also have a projet while Lee is around which is Eoin's room, so far progress is not going too well (all I have managed to do is mask one half of the room), but I will post pictures of the finished room, whenever that will be!!! I have decided on the base colour (baby blue, cliché I know, but cute!) but still having trouble with what I am going to put up on it, I will possibly paint a couple of murals but that requires time and effort so it will depend on how much of either of those I can spare!

Yoghurt

Can I have a yoghurt Mammy?

Yes, do you want to go get a spoon out of the drawer?

No, I will just lick it out with my tongue!

He wasn't kidding!!!!

Boys will be boys

Conor started his day yesterday with a bang - literally! He fell off a high stool in the kitchen hitting the tiles head first! I had turned around to get him a drink, heard a noise and turned back to see him going head first off the stool and walloping it off the floor. It makes me feel sick just thinking about it. A golf ball sized lump formed instantly which of course made things worse for me cos looking at it made me feel even more sick! Iced it straight away and thankfully he doesn't seem to be showing any ill effects from it so far. In his 3 years this is the first big bang he has had and he will have that bruise for a good week or two judging by the size of it. Well he did it in style! I know I should count myself lucky that he is not very accident prone and has managed to get away with just small bumps and bruises. It made me wonder how I would deal with anything serious, I seem to be fine when something is happening and do what needs to be done but kind of fall to pieces afterwards when I think about what happened. Having 2 boys means I will probably have to deal with my fair share of cuts and bruises and all that so I am sure I will become immune to it after a while but right now I feel sick thinking about my poor little boy hitting his head off the ground. If I could wrap him up in bubble wrap to protect him I would but unfortunately that is not an option.
We were coming back from a walk the other evening and saw two boys having a fight on the green near our house. Lee spotted them first and shouted at them to stop because one of them (the bigger one) was giving the other guy quite a beating throwing punches and sitting on top of him. So Lee went over to make sure they broke it up and check the guy underneath was ok - he was but stayed on the ground after Lee walked away so I got in touch with his mother to make sure he was ok. I know a lot of it is boys being boys and I would be dilusional if I thought my two are not going to get into a few fights but hopefully they won't get into too many! Then you get into the whole what do you do when they are in a fight scenario, do you give out to them for fighting or say well done for standing up for themselves. I think I will let Lee have that discussion with them!!
Eoin (dare I say it?) seems to be settling a bit more at night and we are getting some nights where he sleeps till about 6am!!! He didn't do it last night but that was cos he was a bit unsettled during the day yesterday with his teeth so he went to sleep earlier than usual last night without finishing his bottle, but I'll take it whatever way it comes!
The weather here is still crap but had been ok for the last couple of days - we even sat outside to eat dinner yesterday evening!, and while it is raining this morning with no sign of it letting up I am optimistic about it improving, I think the forecast is ok for the weekend. The weather had been getting me down lately and I don't think I could have picked a worse summer to be off on Maternity leave but I just have to make the most of it and enjoy the time with my boys. Lee is on holidays for the next 2 weeks and we are going to get out and do things one way or another!!!
Cheerier post coming soon, I promise!

Time away

I had planned to post about how normal service has been resumed and that I have come out of the dark depressing fog that seems to surround me when I get my period but I am so over that!!! Instead I think I need to moan about how Eoin's teething seems to upset both of us a lot during the day and now Conor has a cold so his nose is like a tap and the nasal drip is causing him to cough a lot keeping all of us awake at night(more us than him, he somehow manages to sleep through most of his coughing). So this morning I am really tired and Eoin would not stop crying let alone go to sleep, it is days like this when I can't wait to go back to work! My opinion on that can change hourly depending on how the boys are behaving! To cheer me up I am going for an adult lunch with friends and leaving the boys with their Granny, it will be nice to have a bit of time away from them on my own and I will appreciate them more afterwards! I definitely think it is important for all parents to get some "me" time away from kids and house otherwise you could just go nuts!!!! (More nuts than I usually am, that is)

Teenagers and teething

At 10 this morning Conor comes into the kitchen and says "Mammy I hungry!" So I go through the usual what do you want to eat? Cereal, toast etc etc all of which received negative responses until finally he points to the press where we keep the sweet things. I told him no it is too early for anything sweet and he could have any of the forementioned options. At this he storms out of the kitchen giving out. About five minutes later he comes back "Mammy I want something to eat", so we started again with similar results but this time he storms out saying "I'm going cos I never get anything to eat!" Of course I started to laugh which did not go down well at all he just got more annoyed! How old is he?? 3 going on 13!!!!! If he is starting the moody teenager now what on earth will he be like when he hits puberty!???!
(I caved about half past on his fourth attempt and gave him a rich tea biscuit.)
On other matters, I am finally back to normal and got my first period in a year yesterday - *Joy*. I forgot just how horrible it can be and combined with sleep deprivation does not make a happy mamma!!! If I could I would curl up in bed with a hot water bottle, 10 gallons of tea and a kilo bar of chocolate but I'm a mum so I cannot be afforded such luxuries!! -Pity.
Eoin has started teething already and looks like he is constantly chewing gum except of course when his fists are shoved in his mouth. Thankfully it is not bothering him at night just during the day but it makes it difficult for him to settle down for a decent sleep, he is just getting 20-30mins at a time before he wakes and starts chewing again. I think Conor is sleeping more than him at the moment getting nearly 13 hours last night while Eoin got 7 straight then 2 more and just cat naps since. Hopefully he will be able to settle down for a decent sleep later today. If he does I can try convince Conor he wants to cuddle on the couch for a while and I can wallow in self pity for a little while! I can only hope!!

The swing set.

It has taken 13 weeks but we finally have the swingset we wanted for Conor put up in the garden. First there was the delay on delivery when we ordered it which took nearly nine weeks to get!!! Then we had to wait for our carpenter to be free to put it up! I know you are probably thinking we are mad to get a carpenter to put up a swing set but as you will see from the picture below it is not that easy! It took the carpenter plus a helper a full day to put it together!!!!!

Can you imagine us trying to put that together! Ha Ha is all I can say!! The instructions were just mental you nearly needed a degree just to figure out what you are supposed to do with the pieces.

Conor and his friends all approved though and braved the July sun to have a go on it anyway - the jackets and hoods are just for show! The slide is a water slide but if the weather keeps up the way it is I don't think they will learn about that this year!!! I really don't think I could have picked a worse summer to be on maternity leave!!!!!!!!!!

Routine

Well, he is just gone 12 weeks old and already Eoin has me in a pretty good routine! So much so that I actually woke up before he started to wake up for his night feed last night. Things are not going too bad on that front, he usually goes down about 9pm and sleeps till about 4am and then goes back until about quarter to seven so I think we are doing fairly ok so far. Every evening I say I will go to bed as soon as he is asleep but it never happens. I find it is the only time in the day when I can actually sit down and relax, try to unwind and maybe even get to talk to my husband! It is also the time to get the bottles washed or ironing done or whatever else needs to be done around the house. So, for the meantime I will just stay tired and hope he will be sleeping through the night soon.

Head melting days

It is so hard to keep up with Conor between the food he wants to eat and his attention span my head gets melted some days!!!!! Of course it always coincides with the days where Eoin refuses to sleep properly and just has little cat naps so I can never get anything done! All part of the joys of parenthood I suppose. Lee asked me at the weekend what do I do with them all day, all I could reply was "not much!". The day tends to go quite quickly with everything that goes on but I did manage to make a jigsaw with Conor today and build his lego hovercraft(thanks girls!) so I think it was a day well spent! All the while trying to keep up with who I am supposed to be pretending to be in Conors world - it changes every few minutes! Over and out from Joey the policeman/fireman/pooh bear/kitty, who am I now?

The Hovercraft with Conor's wing and diving board additions!! Cos every hovercraft needs a diving board!! Strangely it kind of looks like a face, maybe I should have taken the picture from a different angle.

Happy birthday Ian!!!

Happy Birthday Ian!!! Miss you sooo much and wish we could be there with you on your special day!

Uneventful and busy

While it has been a very quiet week it seems to have been very busy. I haven't had a minute to myself during the day between the two boys - mostly wanting food! Eoin is getting too used to falling asleep in our arms and I am dreading getting him out of it but the way he is with his colic sometimes the only way to get him to stop crying is to hold him till he calms down and falls asleep. The problem with that is during the day he wants the same thing and is already having difficulty settling on his own. I know I need to work on this now but it is easier said than done! At the same time I feel poor Conor is losing out because I spend so much time telling him "in a minute" or "once I finish feeding/changing/calming Eoin". Before Eoin was born Conor had our undivided attention and never had to wait for us to do something but now he is having to compromise but I have to say he is doing well. We do get a good bit of moaning and I spend a lot of time explaining that he has to wait etc etc but all in all I think he is doing good as a big brother.

After the wedding last week one of Lee's colleagues that I wouldn't have known very well was commenting on how happy and full of life I was. I thought it was a lovely compliment to get, and yes, I know it was my first real night out in about a year and I definitely let my hair down but I have to say I am really feeling full of life and I am probably the happiest I have been. I was thinking about this yesterday when I passed someone and the usual how are you greetings were exchanged, I replied "Great!" which I really am!! Don't get me wrong I am not some nut job gushing about how wonderful life is but I am just really enjoying things at the moment. Yes I am sleep deprived and can be cranky as a result but overall things are good! I am so different now than how I was after Conor was born, I was very post-natal but never realised it until now really when I see how things should have been. I was so depressed and everything upset me while now I am so much more chilled and easy going which is great for all of us! All we can do is try enjoy each day we are given and hope we can remember it all when we are old and grey!

Supers

SuperConor and Super Daddy!

Conor in conversation

Random snippets of conversation with Conor...

Me: Where did you get that cough?
Conor: Maybe from Grandad, he's a maggott!

Me: Today is your last day of school and tomorrow you will be on your holidays!
Conor: Maybe I can start my holidays today!

When I finished reading out his birthday card from his great grandmother:
Awww isn't that nice mammy?

After he had done something that he was proud of:
Mammy, say well done Conor!

Happy Birthday Conor!

Happy birthday Conor, you are 3 years old today and I am so proud to be your Mum!

The creative juices were flowing when I made his cake!

I hope he doesn't expect all this every year, we had cake at home yesterday with cousins etc. and then he had a party in school today with cake and sweets and all so it was a 2-day birthday! He is still over-stimulated and hyper from chocolate, just as well he doesn't get too much of it normally! Detox tomorrow for all of us!!!

Good day out!

Every time I do it I say never again!!! How is it we lose all our wisdom when a good night out is on the cards? It all seemed like a great idea at the time even staying in the residents bar until four in the morning!!!!! All I can say is my head hurt a lot and I think I will be tired for about a week!!!!!

The wedding was great though and she looked gorgeous and everything went well. The weather wasn't great but it managed to stay dry enough for them to get some pictures taken. We all had a great day and I took about 150 photos(only about 10 in the church!) which kind of document how we enjoyed ourselves. I will put a web album up later with some of them in it - not all, that would just be ridiculous! Here is one of me and the beautiful bride.

Conor and Eoin got on fine but already have granny and grandad wrapped around their fingers and not a lot of sleeping went on by the sounds of things! When Eoin wakes during the night he takes some bottle and goes straight back to sleep but when he woke about 2.15 with Grandad he was awake for an hour and a half smiling and chatting to him and then up again about half five for another couple of hours chat!!! He is definitely going to be a rogue!! Conor woke about six and wanted to get up so Grandad obliged! I'd say they were both glad of a full nights sleep last night! I reckon they will want Eoin to be sleeping through the night before they offer to take them again!