Family update 10/02/11

Things have been really hectic around here! I worked five days last week, but that was just a once off! We have been so busy settling into our new routine. So far we've got it sorted out... but it all changes now in the next two weeks, because my MIL is going to be minding Lauren for three days a week from 9-6, and my mum will watch Dylan after school in her office. So just when we get used to one routine we have to get used to another one!!!!

Lauren's birthday plans are in fill swing. My friend who bakes is going to bake me a giant cupcake and lots of small cupcakes to go on my cupcake stand! I can't wait to see how it will turn out!! I have her birthday dress and my mum has knitted her the most perfect shrug with matching hairband, and it's the exact shade of her dress. I have the most beautiful cream shoes with little pearls on the front. I just need to get cream tights to match, and she will be all set. We aren't having a really big party, we are having some family to celebrate her second year. I really can't believe she is two, she has grown so fast, she never stops talking these days and she is making full sentences. She knows her own mind, and she knows how to let everyone else know what she wants too! She is so lovely in every way!

Dylan is really settling into his new school, I am so relieved. He's started to make friends and enjoy school. We were so anxious that he wouldn't settle. His reading is coming along really well, and he's started writing sentences, and his addition is getting really good. I am so proud of him, all of the extra effort is paying off.  He is getting big now too, he wants me to spike up his hair every morning before he goes to school now, He's so funny. I suppose the one drawback is he's really missing his. It's really tough with Derek away from home, but Dylan talks to his Daddy on the phone, and he sees him on Wednesday nights and then he's home from Friday - sunday night. So he's with us for four days out of seven! It will just take some time to adjust, but we'll get there!

I'm so happy to be back in our house though. It makes such a difference when it's your own home. I'm also so happy that the kids get to see their Nana and Granddad more often! The only drawback is Derek not being here with us every evening. As I said before, we are so lucky to have jobs, so we just have to do what is right for our family, and right now this is what is right, not ideal but right! I think maybe we will bite the bullet and get a little puppy. We missed out on the little puppy Freddy that we were interesting in adopting from the animal shelter, but he was already re-homed! I think a little West Highland White terrier would be perfect. I like them because they don't shed too much hair, and are supposed to be good with kids, they are also pretty cute! We'll wait and see what happens, we'll have to discuss it and see what happens!

Well there isn't too much going on other than working, and homework and a bit of baking and lots of quality time with my little kiddies!

so until next time...

Family Update 21/01/11

It's busy busy here. I am trying to get us all into a routine. It is such hard work on your own!

Dylan is just finishing his first week in his new school, and boy has it been tough. He has found it hard to settle in. He was anxious and upset during the week, I'm hoping that's normal and next week will be a better week. He wasn't well on Wednesday night, he was sick and I thought he was going to have gastroenteritis. Luckily it seemed to be a once off thing, like Lauren had the week before. A phantom bug that came and went in a few hours!! very odd! So here's hoping for a good week this week.

Lauren is doing well, she's starting to chat more and make sentences. She now insists on eating her own breakfast all by herself in the morning. I'll need to start getting up at the crack of dawn if I want to get out the door on time! She hasn't been eating great in the middle of the day, but I think it's just that her routine is out of sync and I'm hoping that she'll get over the fussy eating soon. She still sleeps really well, she's an angel!

Starting tomorrow I will have four blissful days with my little angels! I can't wait. Derek is coming home tonight and he was down on Wednesday night. He came down because I had a tough few days, so he came down and spent time with us. He also wanted to be there for Dylan as he was having a tough few days!

Here's hoping that Dylan has a really good day at school. I've added some photos of the boys playing their video games, and Lauren looking all cute!

I'm a happy momma ...  and it's Friday!!!!

Achy Breaky...

Well, I'm back to work now since Tuesday, and it is hard! I am so tired. I'm not used to being on my feet this much, it's been a year since I worked, and I really hope my legs catch up with the rest of me. My feet are aching and my legs are so heavy!

 

I'm also finding it really tough being away from my beautiful kids. I get home and before I blink it's time to get them ready for bed again. I feel like I don't get to see them, I'm just so grateful that I get four days off with them every other week. I miss Derek so much and I really hate being apart from him. This week has been tough all round. It's going to be hard this week because Derek has to go meet the movers on Monday morning, and I'm working on Saturday. So it's been tough, and it will be even worse for the next week.

We got our keys back to our old house, and I went over there after work. I am both looking forward to doing new things to the house, I want to get new carpets and change the paint colours. I am both looking forward to this and dreading this!! I know it will look so much better when we get our own things back in, and get settled back in.

Dylan's new school is up and running again, and he'll have our first day on Monday. I am off that day so that's great, he's feeling a bit nervous! my poor little boy. He's so brave, I'm so proud of him. Poor Lauren hasn't been well, she has had a cold the last week, but last night it made her throw up. She bounced back to quickly though! She literally got sick and went back to sleep, and woke up this morning as fresh as a daisy! oh to be a baby! I had my doctor's appointment on Monday and it turns out I had a virus. I'm grand now that I'm over it, I was just wiped! The doctor also took some blood to check my thyroid and some other things. I'll get the results on Monday. I guess it's better to get to the bottom of these things.

I haven't been doing much outside of work, we are still staying with my Mum and Dad until the middle of next week. I have help with the kids right now, so it's going to be so tough when I don't have that extra help, and have to do everything on my own during the week. It won't be easy, but you've got to do what you've got to do. My friend in work put it in perspective today, she reminded me of the times when wives said good bye to their husbands to go abroad to work, and they may never have seen their husbands again! they just got letters in the post and money. I suppose we should be grateful that times have changed! We are lucky we have jobs and our own home. You have to do what's necessary to keep that roof over your head!

So that is the update for now, I hope next week will be a better week. It'll take time to get into a new routine...

Family update 10/02/11

I haven't done a family update post in a while, I've decided to put the date beside the update so I can see the dates when I look back.

We've been here in my parent's house since last Thursday. It's tough staying with family for a while, you're not quite on a holiday, but you think you are! It's also tough not having your own space. But I'm so grateful that my parent's are letting us stay for the week! We get the keys back to our house at the weekend. I can't wait to get back in there, and put my mark on it again.

I start back in my old job on Wednesday this week. I'll work Wednesday - Saturday one week, and Tuesday - Friday the next week, and so on. Which means that one week I'll get two days off, and the other week I'll get four days off! my shift on Friday will be 11- 8. I've sorted childcare for now, but I'll have to arrange something else in a few weeks, because I want Lauren to have the structure of a daycare too, at least two days a week, to play with other kids, and it's also good for her to take part in some group activities. I'm also hoping to sort out an after school club for Dylan, at least two days a week.

Lauren is growing up really fast. She has started making sentences, she's also become really bossy overnight. She knows her own mind and what she wants! She is so funny. Her eating has gotten bad again, she can have a good day and then a bad day, we have to take her as we find her! I guess that's another example of how she knows her own mind! She's got a little cold this week, but she's still sleeping well more or less. She also fed herself her own supper last night, and her breakfast this morning, she did a good job too! I can't quite believe how fast she's growing. I'll be starting to plan her second birthday at the end of this month, it's only like yesterday I was planning her first! She is pretty adorable, and I can't believe how much we love her.

Dylan has gotten so clingy since we came down, he isn't sleeping very well.  I think he is really nervous about starting his new school. He was supposed to start today, but it was cancelled this week, because the pipes burst in the school and they all have to be replaced, so the kids get an extra week off. I would have loved that when I was a kid! I'm trying to be there for him and calm his fears. I organized a play date with our old neighbour, who will be in his class, and he had a great time, so I hope that helps! He's also been quite naughty and snappy, so I'm hoping once he settles back into school he'll be back to himself. I suppose it doesn't help that he thinks we're on holidays here!! I think it's finally hitting him that Derek will be away for 3 nights in the week, and then I'm going back to work. There's a lot going on in his little life. I am so proud of him though for his strength of character in a difficult situation, we love our lil guy!

I've been feeling pretty awful all week, my glands on my neck were all swollen and I've been exhausted and just feeling rotten. I'm off to the doctor in the morning, so I hope I can get to the bottom of it. It's fairly typical that I start to get sick the week I'm due to go back to work! I'm really missing Derek though. I didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to be apart from my hubby for three nights a week, but I know we have no alternative right now. We'll just have to live with it!

Tomorrow I'll spend time getting the kids ready so when I go back to work they are all organized, and I'll have to get ready for work! I hope I'll be ready to get back into it!! I'm so nervous, if this is how Dylan is feeling, then I guess I understand why he's been extra clingy!

 I guess I won't be able to update as regularly now that I'm back in work, since I won't have as much time to myself. So maybe I'll have to go back to posting once a week.

I just had to add this picture.... She's just too cool for words... Can't you just see her saying ' just push the buggy can't you see I have places to be.' ( again taken with my phone, but I had to add it)

I found these on my brother's laptop, from when Lauren was really little, and Dylan was only four! They aren't great quality, they were probably taken with the camera on my phone (as usual) I just had to add them though, because I sometimes forget how much they've grown!

Until next time- whenever that may be...

The grass isn't always greener...

Well... what a difference a day makes. I can't fully comprehend that in 24 short hours I will be heading back home. I have nowhere near enough things done, but emotionally I'm ready to go. Derek is going to be working three nights away, and he'll be home for four nights. This is the worst bit of the move home. When we decided that moving home was the right thing for us to do, I was so excited, and I still am. I'm just going to miss having Derek home every evening. Sometimes though we need to do things for our family that isn't easy, it's just the right thing to do.

This morning I had a call from my old boss, asking me if I could come back to my old job. I was so shocked. I had previously mentioned to him that I would be home and looking for work, but I know things have been tough for businesses right now, and when I heard from him I was stunned. This is the strangest thing... everything just seems to be falling in to place. When I lose faith and worry I'm making the wrong decision, more things start to fall into place. I almost feel like I'm being led a certain way, and maybe I am. I prayed to my Gran to guide me in the right direction, so maybe she is... who knows...

So much has been happening, I haven't actually stopped and taken it all in. So I guess:

• I have two kids to settle into a new routine.
• I'm going back to work four days a week, and my mum will help out with the kids
• I'm starting next week
• I have an entire house to relocate, and then unpack!!

Then I just have to stop and realise the reasons we are doing this:

• It makes more financial sense.
• I'll have my mum to help out with the kids.
• I'll actually have a good job there.
• We have our own home there.
• we have our friends and family there.

I know there are drawbacks, like having to move Dylan to a new school AGAIN, and Derek being away from home. I know that Dylan will be fine. He's looking forward to starting his new school and he is so excited to have his grandparents nearby again.

This time last year, while I was sad to be leaving home, I actually thought we could have a better life here. I thought that we would be happier here. It's amazing how living what you thought was your ideal life, makes you realise how much you actually liked your old life just fine.

I appreciate my old life more now, and I'm glad I'll get it back again. For me, the grass definitely wasn't greener on the other side.

The Best of 2010

This day last year, Derek had started his new job. I was finishing the packing, thinking of our big move up the country. It wasn't too far in miles, but in my heart it felt like a million miles away. The day I said goodbye to my family, my heart was shattered. I cried all the way to Dublin and my mum was heart broken. I knew it was the best step for my family, and I was glad to be with my husband, and thankful that he had a good job. I was just frightened of the unknown.

I didn't know a soul around my new home, and at first I was incredibly lonely. I slowly made friends and started to settle in, and make a life here, but I missed our home and our family. Then circumstances changed and it made more financial sense to go back home, and here I am in reverse, packing again at the same time of year. This time I'm happy and excited, I'm eager to get back into our old home and make it our own again.

I decided to do a photo recap of the past year. I started with last Christmas, which isn't technically 2010, but it's where the year ended, so here is last year (2009), and Lauren's first Christmas...

Dylan (5) & Lauren (10 months)

We celebrated Lauren's first birthday in February

Easter 2010

Dylan gets his first pair of glasses

Some special moments from the summer of 2010

Lauren takes her first steps at 15 months, and gets her first pair of shoes that week

Dylan cycles his bike on his own without his training wheels for the first time

We had lovely days out with my parents

Dylan's football team wins the 'mini all Ireland'

One of the highlights of the year, was visiting Disneyland in September 2010

Dylan helps Lauren with her baking, and learns to face paint!

Dylan loses his first tooth!

Halloween 2010

Dylan turns six in November

Christmas 2010

Which brings us to today. We end 2010, we are happy and healthy and thankful to be together. We welcome 2011, with the hope that we will have a good year. We will take whatever the year brings as we always do... together...

Our Family at the end of 2010

I hope this year will bring us all happiness, and if it does not, then I hope we have the strength together, to work through any troubles we may face....

Happy New Year...

Happy New Year

I suppose this is the time of year to make those resolutions! I think resolutions are the promises you make to yourself... most of the time they are empty promises. This year though I'm going to make my resolution, and stick to it - I have only the one. It's obvious that I hope to be a better person or a better mother, or take up new things. I don't need to make a promise to myself to do those. But this year I WILL lose weight. I am slowly creeping up the scales since I had Lauren. There's no excuse. I just need to set myself the goal! so here I go...

'I want to be a stone lighter by the summer.... by this time next year, I want to be at my target weight.'

So that is a realistic target, a stone to start with. I'm heading back to the gym, and cutting out the junk, I can do it! so here goes.... I hope I can get there...

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year! Looking forward to seeing what 2011 brings. I hope it will be a happy and healthy year for us all.....