Where to begin?

Ok, well, I have started this post about ten times in my head, each one different but all amounting to the same thing. I haven't blogged in yonks(technical term!) and feel bad for not keeping you up to date on what has been going on in Rambling Joey's world.

So I guess I am apologising? Maybe?

I am warning you though, this one is going to be very random and will jump as my train of thought does so be prepared...

So where to start...... things have been fairly busy lately, we had the event of the century a couple of weeks ago when Conor turned 4!!! It felt like it was never going to happen and has been all he has talked about for a good 2 months at least!!! The best part of it was on the morning of his birthday when we gave him his present and he is standing in the kitchen, he suddenly realised and just exclaimed "I'm Four!!". Since then we have had several reasoning's for his ability to do things which of course is because he is now four and he wouldn't have been able to do that when he was three. (All very serious of course)

I have a new Nephew (yes another boy in the mac clan!) Aaron, who is absolutely gorgeous and I am very honoured to be his Godmother. He was christened last week and I think he thoroughly enjoyed the occasion - at least I know I did, and his parents, and his uncles and aunties etc etc. There may have been a few sore heads the following day though! Not one of my better ideas was organising Conor's birthday party for the day after a night out but I put on my game face and kept smiling till everyone was gone home and the boys were in bed when I unceremoniously collapsed on the couch until Lee nudged me to stop snoring and go to bed!!!

Eoin (aka nut case) has taken to walking (finally) like a fish to water. So much so that he is running already and has only been up on his feet 4 weeks. He is quite stealthy too for a toddler, he sneaks up behind me causing many a panicked moment as I nearly knock him down when I move or go to turn. Or I just jump when he puts his grubby hand on my leg. I think I will develop a removable leg patch for my pants, no matter what Eoin had to eat, if he is on the move when eating, it ends up on my pants. He just can't seem to resist grabbing me mid thigh with sticky/chocolaty/wet/milky/banana/yoghurty hands!!! Anyway, as I was saying, I think I should get him a bell or something so I know he is coming.

I am still losing weight!! So far (since I got back to pre-Eoin pregnancy weight) I have lost 21lbs (sounds so much more impressive than a stone and a half!) and still working on it. Lee is also doing fantastic and has lost the guts of 2 stone in the same period of time. It is very gradual which is best I think because our eating habits are changing making it easier to maintain the weight loss once we reach our goals - I sound like an ad for some diet program!!

I think we are looking good though!

It is not rocket science either, the main thing we have done which was huge for us was to cut out bread from our diets which for the first week or two left us wondering what on earth we were going to eat instead but once we adjusted it got easier. I still crave bread from time to time but I don't deny myself it if I do really crave it I will just be more careful with the other choices I make that day. I find the every day choices is what makes a difference, not the bigger things. I am cooking healthier too using spray oil instead of olive oil and making sure I use lean meat and bulking up on veg. Our staple had become pasta with a tomato and vegetable sauce I make which we both love anyway but before we might have had some garlic bread with it and now we just have the pasta cutting out quite a few calories not to mention the bloated feeling you get from eating white bread!

Our summer this year is nearly as good as last years which makes me feel quite happy because last year when I was on maternity leave we had possibly the worst summer ever with non stop rain and wind and it is the same this summer but if it had been really nice all summer I would be so depressed about how unlucky I had been.

Apologies if a lot of this doesn't make much sense it does in my head but not sure how well it translates!

Speaking of translating, when we were in Portugal I became a bit addicted to their Chicken Piri-Piri, which if you have ever tried will know it is flame grilled or barbecued chicken with this piri piri sauce or oil brushed over it after cooking. Really tasty really spicy (surprise surprise!) and I bought a bunch of bottles of the sauce to bring home thinking this was great I will be able to give it a go myself and enjoy it all over again but unfortunately it was not to be. The sauce is really hot straight out of the bottle if you dip something into it or that but when I put it on chicken after cooking it just loses the heat somehow. I know you can get different brands of piri piri marinades and sauces here so I might try a few of those to see if any of them can get it right but I was so disappointed at how it just didn't translate!

I am a bit apprehensive about Conor starting school in September, I know he is well able but I just can't believe I am at that stage already! I was looking at school uniforms the other day!!!! He even has a booklist. I think I could do with a personal organiser but one I could talk into instead of type because if I have time to type it in I have time to remember to do something!!! Then again my biggest problem at the moment is time organisation. I remember most things but at the wrong time so when I should be remembering it I don't and then berate myself later when I remember it again and realise I never did something - like still not send the parcel for Australia which I have had sitting there since February!!! That is procrastination at it's finest!!! On the up side I just keep adding in the cards for the next birthday or event that is happening over there and eventually they will get it all in one big bundle (maybe). Worst case scenario I will bring it with me when we go to see them in the US next year! but that really would be the worst case scenario, I mean, how bad an auntie am I!??!! That's it I have shamed myself into it that is being posted this week come hell or high water!!!

Conor is going to Summer camp starting tomorrow for the rest of the Summer - which basically means he will be going to the playschool he usually goes to but for 5 days instead of 3 and will just be playing instead of ...well ... um ... playing! We have to get him all excited about it though and make him see it not as school but as camp!!! There is a very big difference ........... really!!! In contradiction to my earlier statement I do hope the weather improved because there is only so much "fun" that can be had when stuck indoors with a bunch of 4-11 year olds!!

The playschool year finished up the day after Conor's birthday and they had a "graduation" ceremony in the school so all the parents were invited along. The kids were hilarious, none of them knew what was going on but had practiced what they were supposed to do with the girls there so there was a mixture of some stopping to pose for cameras en route to collect their certificate and others who were too shy to go up in front of every one. After their presentation all the kids got up and sang some songs and I was fine until they started to sing the goodbye song from Bear in the big blue house when I found myself welling up a bit at the thought of them moving on to "Big school". If I was like that in playschool imagine what I am going to be like when he is starting school properly in September!! Aaahh!!