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!

Getting organised

There are times when I really wish I was a man! Getting organised for this wedding we are going to Lee just has to shower and shave and put on a clean shirt and tie. I, on the other hand, have to fake tan(the photographer will thank me later!), do my nails (incl toes), hair appointment, make-up, and then squeeze into control underwear to hide my wobbly bits from the pregnancy!! This is of course not taking into consideration the organisation of the 2 boys and the washing of bottles/changing nappies that will go on at the same time, though in fairness Lee will help with this as much as possible. Oh boy am I looking forward to that G&T!!!!!!

Eoin much better so the 2 of them are eating all around them now!

Eating/Not Eating

Well, no sooner had I said it then Eoin got sick!!! He vomited yesterday a couple of times so I had to just give him boiled cooled water all evening and night, which he took no problem but it didn't help an awful lot with his hunger! I felt so sorry for him but was not going to risk him getting sick again so had to persevere. Thankfully it seems to have worked, mind you I am only gradually introducing formula again and just gave him 3 ozs this morning but so far so good. He would have taken a lot more if I had let him!!
Conor in the meantime is making up for not eating all last week and eating non stop! After 2 bowls of cereal and a piece of toast this morning he is now having a sandwich and it is only 9 o'clock!!! He definitely eats better early in the day and tends to slow down as the day progresses sometimes hardly eating dinner at all but I know he has already had plenty so I don't worry about it. Request for another sandwich has just come in so better go make it!

My favourite time

When we first brought Eoin back to our house he was not what you would call a fan of being changed, so much so that it was usually Conors cue to run from the room covering his ears with his hands! Things have changed over the last 10 weeks and what was once dreaded is fast becoming my favourite time with my new baby. The main reason for that is most of these sessions start with a smile like this:

that just says "hey lady, I like you!".

He then spends the next few minutes smiling and gurgling and laughing at me.

Better now

Thankfully Conor is back to normal and we have had no more vomiting incidents since Friday(touch wood). Now I just have to watch Eoin like a hawk and pray he doesn't get anything cos I think I will crack up if I can't go to the wedding we are supposed to on Friday. I am so looking forward to it! Also, on wedding things, I actually have shoes that go with the dress I bought (and of course a bag to match) so that is one less expense! Got my sister round yesterday for a second opinion cos I thought it worked but needed to be sure so she agreed which is great. The dress is kind of tropical colours - blue/green print thing(hard to describe), so finding shoes at this late stage could have proved difficult. All I have to worry about now are my pasty white legs!!!! I had better find something to colour them a bit or I could effect the exposure for the photographer I would reflect so much. I think my legs are the one thing I would change about myself if I could. My saggy belly is because of my boys so I don't mind it as much and it is something that can be worked on but my legs are horrible!!

Went with aftershave for Lee for fathers day, partly cos it smelled nice and partly cos Conor thought the bottle was cool! (Hugo boss new one comes in the shape of a ball) Whatever the reason Lee was happy with it anyway. This brought me on to thinking just how different it is shopping for men and women. I saw loads of things I would be more than happy to receive as gifts but all very feminine things while I was having serious difficulty trying to find male oriented presents. For example, photo frames, I love photo frames as I think a lot of women do but it is just not a guy thing! Women are more sentimental about pictures etc so want to be able to display these things. Then toiletries, have you seen the terrible selections that they have for men while women's sets will have candles or incense or a body brush - don't think most men would be into these either. So all you are really left with is aftershave books and Cd's or DVDs. Is it just me or I am too blind sighted, unless you want to spend a lot of money your choices are extremely limited!

The patient

Things have been a bit hectic this week with Conor sick and OMG is he a bad patient!! I know he is only little but he is starting to milk it now! Every few minutes there is a call out for my services, he wants water or something to eat or whatever it is, he has a table right beside him with everything he needs on it but can't manage to pick up his glass to give himself some water!!!

Yesterday was grand, the two boys were managing to want me at different times so it wasn't too difficult I could help one then the other but today neither of them would sleep when they needed to and were both very cranky until I finally got them to go for a sleep. The worst was when I had Eoin on my lap feeding him his bottle with one hand and trying to comfort Conor with the other hand to help him go to sleep! Multitasking at its finest!!! He is definitely on the mend though and has been able to eat a bit more today. He is, however, still very moany and just trying to find things to complain about at the moment! If he had gone to sleep when he should have last night (instead of complaining about the smell of his farts) I'm sure he would be in much better form.

As Fathers day is coming up I figured I had better do something for Lee so I asked Conor what should we get him. He suggested boots "So he can go digging!" "And we could get him a shovel!" So if I can't think of anything else I can get those and tell Lee it is what Conor wanted to get him! I always find it very difficult to buy gifts for men, they are not like women where you can nearly always go for flowers or perfume and be ok, a lot more thought has to go into gifts for men. Any suggestions welcome!

Best laid plans

I was so looking forward to these couple of days and I was hoping to get a bit of what I would consider to be well deserved rest, but Conor had other plans none of us could have expected. While I was deciding how to use the time he was in school yesterday morning I got the dreaded phone call from playschool!! Conor had just gotten sick in school! It does seem to have been just a 24 hour thing but between us we managed to build up nearly a weeks worth of washing! God love him but he couldn't keep anything down! There is nothing worse than watching your child when they are sick. I would do anything to take it away from him and he only has a stomach bug, I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for parents of seriously ill children. All I keep thinking at the moment is what if Eoin gets it now or did anyone else here on saturday pick up anything? It is however out of my hands and if it happens, it happens so my worrying will not prevent it!

I realised today that I lie a lot as I'm sure we all do. Not big lies but little white ones, like when my mother tells me to take it easy when the boys are asleep I say I will when I know as soon as they fall asleep I will start ironing or cleaning or something. I know when I am saying it that I have no intention of doing what I say I will, but say it to reassure the person I am talking to that they have done their bit by giving me advice or checking I am ok. The same on Saturday when people kept asking me to go get something to eat or did I eat and I told them all I had eaten etc. etc. (In fairness the intention was there for a while but my plate got tidied before I had a chance to eat anything off it). All anyone wanted to do was make sure I was ok but to be honest after spending all that time in the kitchen I really didn't feel like food! (I made up for it on Sunday though and had left over dessert for most of my meals!) I think what I am getting at is that even though I lie to them it is because I really do apprecite the concern and don't want them to think I don't care. I know sometimes people realise I have no intention of doing what I say I will (Karen Saturday) but knowing people care about you is nice so I try to be nice back by accepting their advice/concern without dispute!
I bet you are getting the whole rambling theme now!!!

The Christening

Well the christening went off without a hitch! The weather turned out fab so everyone (especially kids) was able to stay outside for most of the time!! Eoin was brilliant in the church and didn't make a sound. He was noticably quieter than the other babies being christened and made me so proud! (all be it because he had a dummy stuck in his mouth any time he looked like he was going to start giving out!!!!!)

Thank God Eoin's godmother Karen was on hand to help me in the kitchen or I would have probably imploded! Either that or nobody would have got any food until about midnight. In the week leading up to it we were constantly saying we would have way too much food and beer and we were right about the beer! I think they would have kept eating bread and chilli butter and coctail sausages all night only for I ran out. Thankfully there was loads of curry, strog and pie for them to tuck into and loads of desserts to eat afterwards.

Everyone was gone by twelve and we left the cleaning up till this morning but there wasn't too much as we used mostly plastic plates and cutlery so it was really just glasses(lots and lots of glasses!) that needed to be cleaned. Here are a couple of pics from the church and our lovely boy in his 45 year old christening robe - Lee and all his brothers were christened in it!

Just a quick one...

Sorry I haven't been posting the last couple of days but we have been mental busy trying to get organised for today's big event! I think we are nearly there though (should be considering it is at 6 today!), we are offloading the two boys with grandparents this morning so we can give the house a final blitz with no interruptions! Finishing touches need to be put on the patio too so will post a picture later. Will have pics of Christening and us all in our finery soon!

Speaking out!

I have been so busy the last few days that I have barely had time to formulate my thoughts let alone post them! Good news is I got a dress! Not the one I liked in the first place but we knew that would happen! Speaking of, when I was in town trying on the dress with my very inquisitive 3 year old he happily anounced "Mammy, you naked! why you naked?" at the top of his voice while I was trying to change back into my clothes!
Wouldn't you love to be a kid again and just say what you are thinking and not have to worry about the consequences? I would love to have a free day where I could go around to people and say the things I am thinking of and not have to worry about offending people or getting slapped!!! Like 'Oh don't mind me you ignorant cow' to the woman who nearly ran through me trying to get to the clearance rail in Wallis. Or to tell the woman I see walking around town wearing way too much make up that she looks like the joker in Batman! Of course there are also the people who stop right in front of you for a chat and take up the whole footpath totally oblivious that they are in anyones way, or the parents driving along with their child roaming free in the backseat not strapped in or anything and the cocky teenagers who think it is their god given right to take up doorways or paths and would never dream of getting out of anybody's way! Ooh and ignorant sales staff - there is no need to be rude to me because you hate your job! I don't have issues, honest!! That is just the tip of the iceberg, I think I would need a week cos I wouldn't get everything said in a day!

Battle of the bulge

Why is it when you know you need to lose weight and watch what you are eating your cravings for junk food seem to intensify?? I am currently addicted to chocolate! It is all I want to eat at the moment!! Thankfully my will power is strong enough that I do resist a lot of the time. Cadbury's chocolate buttons being my favourite and my real weakness - which reminds me, I will send some in the next aussie package(some birthdays coming up), so, the battle of the bulge continues!! We are going to a wedding this month and I saw a beautiful dress in town but I am torn on buying it. It is fairly expensive and if I buy it in my size now and lose weight I won't get to wear it again, on the other hand if I don't buy it you can be sure I will not lose weight and it would fit me anyway but I wouldn't have it. Ideally I would just prefer to tone up more (less saggy belly etc etc) which would not necessarily mean a change in dress size?!!? All of this is hypothetical anyway because I have not tried on the dress yet and I'm sure as usually happens with these things I will hate it on me and not want to buy it anyway!!! Aahh the joys of it all!!!

Smiles

Conor still cracks me up, yesterday I tried on the skirt I bought for the christening to see if I still like it and he looks at me and says "I like your pretty dress Mammy, do a twirl for me!". He is learning early to compliment me whenever possible, I will have him well trained by the time he is leaving here!!

As for Eoin, the smiles are coming fast and furious now but he is still a little camera shy and not too willing to perform when I pull it out – surprising really considering how many photos I have taken of him already. Here are a couple of the better ones I managed to get.

Finished!

It is finally finished!!! All it needs now are the finishing touches - edgers, potted plants and furniture, and the space will be practically unrecognisable from its former self! I have to say I am very proud of myself and a little surprised at my ability to do it. The patio looks great and it is mostly level!!!