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!