Happy Birthday to me!

It was my birthday last week. I had a great day, everyone made me feel really special. When I went into the kitchen after dinner,this is what greeted me...

They have party hats on and everything... you may notice Lauren isn't in the picture that's because she was busy in her high chair eating her party hat! Then I went into the sitting room, to see a lovely best mum mug. I was so impressed! I've wanted a mug like this one for a while! it will make my tea and coffee taste so much better, knowing my favourite little people got it for me...

Then I wanted to take a picture of the two of them, to discover Lauren had taken off her pretty outfit somewhere, and thought she was hilarious. Standing there in her vest and little red strawberry socks! Dylan decided to go all axe murderer on me (look at that expression!!) these two kids are crazy! It makes me love them more though!!

Just when I thought my birthday was all over, my parents arrived for the weekend and I got not one, but two birthday cakes! wow they do spoil me!



Derek took me out after, we had a lovely night... happy birthday to me! and a big thanks to my special family...

Trikes and Training wheels

Lauren will be 19 months old this week. I  have noticed such a difference in her in the last few days.  She has started to say so many words. She is constantly babbling and repeating words when we say them. She copies everything Dylan does. It is adorable to watch. To see how far she's come over the past few weeks. She will sit up on my lap now and watch some cartoons. She will play games with us, run around with us. She is not a baby anymore, it's almost as if she changed overnight into this little toddler. Into a little girl. It's bittersweet watching them go through these changes. I love that they are growing and doing so well, but a little part of me is sad that they are getting bigger, that they need you less and less!

 Yesterday she got her first tricycle! She loves it. When she gets up on it she giggles and says 'yaay' I'm so proud of her...

When I saw her sitting up on her tricycle, It made me think back to when Dylan got his first trike. he was so fascinated by the Bob on the front of the bike, that he wouldn't take his eyes off it even for the pictures. He got it for his second birthday.  So he was 5 months older than Lauren. Look how adorable he was on his trike! He would cycle round in circles staring at Bob the Builder.

He's gotten so big since then, recently he's started to ride his big bike without the stabilisers. Derek took them off back in October last year, but he wasn't ready to take of the stabilisers then. He practiced so hard, but he just couldn't master it. So we convinced him to put the stabilisers back on. He reluctantly did that. Then he got really good on his small bike. He moved up onto the 14" bike, and finally last month took the stabilisers off for good! Now there's no stopping him. He just needed that little extra time and encouragement!

Unfortunately he won't 'allow' me to take a picture of him on his big bike outside, in front of his friends!! so I added some of the older ones. I just love this  photo where Derek is explaining to him how to cycle the bike. Dylan is listening so intently. It's just so adorable. Then the one below was one of their many practice runs on the bike! Derek ran round after that bike for days.

The effort and dedication that they both put into this momentous step in his little life, still makes me smile, and it finally paid off these last few weeks. I love that Derek is such a good and dedicated dad, he never gave up on him. He knew that he would eventually have the balance to cycle the bike... and now he does.... It's funny how he only wanted his dad to teach him to ride his bike. I was there to cheer and offer encouragement, but it was his Dad he wanted to hold that saddle. Derek doing the old trick of ' no I'm not letting go of the saddle, I'm right here behind you!' all the while Dylan is cycling on his own. Then bang down he went!! So we gave him time!!

I remember it like yesterday, my own Dad holding my saddle telling me he wouldn't let go! It's a lovely moment in a child's life! I look forward to this moment with Lauren. Dylan will be there to help and encourage her!

That's all for now...

Disneyland 2010

We got back from Disneyland Paris yesterday. We had a wonderful time. Dylan and Lauren were mesmerised. Being in Disneyland brings out the child in everyone! It was the most fabulous feeling to watch my children's little faces light up with joy. To see the excitement when all of their favourite characters, live and breathe in front of them. I can never explain how lovely it was to experience these days with them. Lauren had never seen anything like this, and Dylan was in awe.

We watched the parades, and strolled through the shops. We had breakfast with the Disney characters. We did our best to go on as many rides as possible. Dylan went on his first roller coaster, and loved it. I really thought he would be too scared to go near it, but he proved us wrong. There was no stopping him. He went on Thunder Mountain three times. In between the photos and the rides I tried to soak up everything that they said and their reactions to things. I know these things will fade from our memory, so I wanted to try and capture their faces in as many photos as I could.

Lauren was a bit frightened by the larger characters, they were huge compared to her, and she'd cry when they came near her, poor pet! She adored the small world ride, which we brought her on twice. She sat transfixed as the dolls danced around her and the magical lights and music. She was in heaven.

My parent's came with us and they were nearly as excited as the kids!

 And so we arrive home, exhausted, but filled with the most wonderful and precious memories... We took so many wonderful pictures, too many to upload, so I decided to make them into a video.

so here it is... Disneyland 2010...

Ice-cream for breakfast and other stories

We came down to visit my parents this weekend. I can safely say that Lauren does not  like to sleep in her travel cot. She woke last night at 3 am and again at 5 and then was wide awake to start the day at 7:30am! And don't get me started on Dylan. He thinks that coming here gives him the right to try and eat ice-cream for every meal. So it's all battles at the moment. 'no you can't have ice-cream for breakfast,' and 'Lauren please go back to sleep.. I'll buy you something, anything, just go to sleep,'

I had rather a bad night and day. I have been having pains in my side and was convinced it was something sinister, The doctor told me I have kidney stones a few months ago, but the symptoms went away and I forgot about them and got on with things. Well the stone in my right kidney has come back with a vengeance. I had to go to the emergency doctor this morning it was so bad. She gave me antibiotics to make sure I don't get an infection, I've to stay on those for a week, and anti-spasmodics to stop the pain and some painkillers. I think that if you shook me today, I'd rattle.

Given my previous line of work, I find it hard to take anything as I know too much about the side effects of everything. I'm telling you I popped those medicines faster than anything today with the pain I was in. I didn't care I'd try anything. Therefore my conclusion is, if you don't feel you should be taking something, then you clearly don't need it! After taking the tablets I felt well enough to keep the appointment I had made earlier in the week to have my hair cut. I'm really happy with it, it's chin length and I love it.I feel slightly more human now.

So other than that we didn't do much. It was pouring rain today, so the kids stayed and played in Nanna's 'playroom' which is more like a play hall!! there are so many toys in there I nearly lost the kids today! They were delighted though, so that's all that matters. Needless to say I didn't get a chance to take any photos today, since I was feeling so ropey. I'll post some next time.

We're officially on the countdown now for our holidays. I think us adults are more excited than the kids! I finished up college for a week, so I'll have plenty of time to get myself and the kids all ready to go!

Now I'm off to put Dylan to bed. Lauren went over half an hour ago and I can still here some giving out from her every now and then. I did mention her hatred for the travel cot!!

Growing up

Lo and behold, I was right, I was playing with Lauren today and noticed all of her eye teeth have come through over the last few days. So now that they are through she's dropped right back into her routine again! She also seems to be doing well drinking the cow's milk, so I might try putting her on it full time when we get back from our holidays.

When I looked at Lauren today and saw all those teeth it reminded me how far she's come over the past year and a half. She decided today that she is too grown up to hold my hand and will say 'no, no' when I ask her to hold my hand. So I've had to get her a safety harness to keep her from running away. She will also try and take her arms out of the straps on her car seat any chance she gets, so she's now almost welded in there!

 Dylan has started playing outside with the older boys and girls for the first time. Even though my heart is in my mouth the whole time. I know how important it is for him to play outside. I still have him brainwashed about not talking to strangers and watching for cars, and not stepping foot off the path. I still watch him the entire time though! although he doesn't know, so he believes he's so grown up.

It's amazing to see how different their personalities are. Lauren is much more independent, she will go down to bed so easily and rarely has a sleepless night. Dylan loves the security of knowing I'm nearby. He will only go to sleep when he knows I'm nearby, and he often wakes up to come in for cuddles. I love the differences in them, and I love that I can spend time with them separately.

Lauren has started to let me put polish on her toes. So we get to do girlie things already. I can only dream of the mother-daughter days to come, and the bond that we will have. And I love the mother - son relationship I have with Dylan.

How lucky I am to have these two little joys, even though some days they drive me insane! and leave loads of toys around them, and I often find piles of random crap in random places. I still love that they are ours and I love watching them grow....

then I think about how big they are getting, so I had to go back and look at some of their pictures...

Dylan- 1 day old

Dylan- 3 weeks old

Dylan - 4 weeks old

Dylan- 5 weeks old

Age 2

Age 3

Trick or treating for the first time as a big boy

Lauren 1 day old

Lauren - 2 days old

They first meet

2 weeks old

First Christmas aged 10 months

First trip to the zoo

First time playing in the playground

When I look back at all these firsts I can't quite believe how lucky we are. These two little people are all ours and they bring so much joy and love into our house. I can see how they develop every day.  I also love to watch their bond grow every minute they are together. I am a happy mommy today.

Back to school

Dylan started back to school yesterday, after a long summer. He is now officially in Senior Infants. He really seemed to love the first day back. He seems to like the teacher which is good too. He was so excited the night before, he had his uniform laid out. He jumped up then on Tuesday morning at 7:00 am and dressed himself from head to toe and came into us.

He'll have a busy year this year, I'm going to have to work with him on his letters. I felt that he fell a bit behind by the end of last year. I'm attributing this to the fact that he couldn't see everything as clearly. Luckily now he has his glasses and every chance to catch up, so with a little extra work at home, we should see an improvement.  I'm so proud of him, I can't believe he's gotten so big so fast.

Here he is, my big boy, you have to love the expression on his face, priceless....

Thankfully Lauren has back into her routine again. She has slept soundly the last two nights,  we put a baby pillow in her cot and I really think is has made such a difference, and also I noticed a lovely eye tooth today after popping up, so that couldn't have helped matters. I also can't believe how much her speech has come along the last few days. Sh is saying so many words now. Real words that you can understand! It's so exciting. She has also discovered that she loves bananas above any other fruit, well with apples coming a very close second!  I hope she'll stay in her routine this week.

We've tried her back on cows milk this week. Before when we transferred her to cow's milk she got full of mucus and phlegm and got the sniffles and the public health nurse said to put her back onto the progress formula for one plus years. She seemed to thrive on it,  I can't keep her on it forever though,so this week I've been giving her one bottle a day of cow's milk and it seems to be agreeing with her this time. I'll give her more cow's milk then when I know she's settling ok on it.

 So here's a little picture of the princess, looking all cute in the outfit her nanna got her..

That's all the news for now