Kids are in bed.. time to play Santa! I am like a kid.. i never believed in santa as a child myself (older sibling spilt the beans when i was 3!) so i relish in doing it for my kids! We have decided that they gotta wait until after church to open the presents though as there simply wont be time to get out the door if we have to wrestle half an acre of wrapping paper first. … hmmm.. not sure how thats going to work!
Anyway.. merry christmas to one and all!
December 24, 2009
December 23, 2009
Its been a while! I was considering ditching this blog but its such a great memory to have of that haze induced fog that raising kids involves thats it would be good to keep going!
The baby (well she is 2 now!) sleeps (sometimes!). About 4 nights out of 7 she will sleep till morning. She is a divil to get to sleep but once she is down she may actually go till 6.30 or 7am! Bliss compared to where I was this time last year. Now the haze is more likely to be caused by a bottle of the finest Pinot Grigio than sleep deprivation!
Business is good.. ok.. despite the grim times. I think I have fared well. I am still here! Next big news is our upcoming move to Switzerland! Leaving the green green isle of home and loving to Heidi land in July! More about that later.
Meantime its christmas and the kids stuff is all wrapped. DD1 put me right in my place when she gave this comment… we were talking about how santa usually brings more presents for kids than for adults and she wanted to know why… so i said that Christmas is more about children than grown ups.. she looked at me with the most decerning face and said.. “Actually mom, Christmas is about Jesus”…(!) That was me told!
June 15, 2009
Motherhood is dangerous. It should come with a warning.. not onlyare you at risk from severe sleep deprivation and a nervous breakdown, you can also get whacked over the head by a dolly!
OH YES! DD2 was putting her dolly to bed on the couch where I was lying down tryingto regain my sanity among the chaos when WHAM.. down came the all singing all pee-ing all burping, 2.3kilo BabyBorn doll on my head. Well on my eye specifically. I screamed, she screamed and dd1 (ever the calminginfluence) ran and got the ice pack from the fridge! Check out my other post about DD1′s amazing medical knowledge (“First Aid”) and she is only 5 years old! (I would say that she is going to be a doctor but her bedside manner is too good!). So now I have a lovely shiner on my right eye.
And as if thatwasn’t enough.. while at the doctor giving a blood sample the following day DD2, gave an almighty wriggle while sitting on my lap just as the needle was approaching and the doc kind of missed the vein, thus inflicting another huge bruise right down my inner arm and elbow. (in fairness to DD2 she had just had her vaccinations the other day so she prob thought the needle was heading her way!).
So I kind of look like I was beaten up. Great. To give you an idea of how bad I look, one friend (friend?) even commented how lucky I was that DH was away or people would be talking.
But NO… thats not quite enough. I am on antibiotics (for yet another chest infection.. we are the house that harbours every illness!).. and they have been making me VERY dopey.. so by Fri night I was also slurring my speech.
Black eye. Bruised arms and slurred speech.
I told you motherhood was dangerous!
May 28, 2009
Well my lot seem to get it all. DD1 woke up with cheeks as red as if she had been slapped and loe and behold.. there is a medical name for the virus.. “Slapped Cheek Syndrome”!
She had been playing with makeup at the weekend and i thought i was going to have to add it to the (long) list of things that she is allergic to. .. but no.. her teacher said several kids have it.. and that she hasnt been getting heavy handed.. so it must be slapped cheek syndrome.. which is a virus that shows itself in a red rash on the face!
So to adding to the list of all the things DD1 has caught since she started junior infants in school is of worms, nits, chicken pox, we now have slapped cheek syndrome!
May 27, 2009
There were leaves in my washing machine yesterday… lots of them. All floating around and mushed up and washed in with the clean clothes.
DD1 swears blind it wasn’t her! But I have been known to find all sorts of gunk in her pockets so despite her innocence she may actually be guilty by default!
DD2 shook her head vigorously when asked if it was her. But that could mean anything. Ask her if she wants chocolate to eat and she will shake her head vigorously.. ask her if she wants smelly socks to eat and she will shake her head vigorously!
DH looked at me as if i had 10 heads when I asked if it was him.. but he his so absent minded sometimes I wouldn’t be surprised if he put the dirty dished from our lovely rocket and Parmesan salad in to the washing machine instead of the dishwasher… But actually no.. it could definitely NOT have been him.. he would NEVER load the dishwasher anyway!
So I can only blame myself. Long suffering mother.. guilty of stuffing leaves into her own washing machine!!!! Oh dear. What a day!
May 25, 2009
I dont think I am supposed to be letting on that I whizzed off on holidays in the middle of my busy period but WHAT THE HECK! Its one of the benefits of being your own boss. So thats why I didnt give you an update for the last 2 weeks! I was on a cruise ship sailing around Greece with MSC Cruises.. best holidays ever! If you fall into any of the catagories:
1) Couple with kids (of any age (the kids that is!)
2) OAPs
3) Babies
Then this cruise is for you! The only people who would not like it, is young professional with no kids who dont enjoy singing YMCA (or in our case.. staring at amazment as 200 totally sober adults sing it!) The funny thing about the cruise is that even if it isnt all your cup of tea.. the people watching is fantastic! Like the eldery couple from Australia.. “rememeber our cruise in 1952 dear.. we ate cheese cake on the tues that was just as good as this cheese cake!” or the adult twins from Napoli who wore matching luminous binkinis the entire week!
And of course.. no holiday is complete with DH being SICK AGAIN! (seriously.. he gets sick every time he is with me.. I am getting worried!). But the cruise ship had several gorgeous doctors from Latvia serving in the mini medical hospital (honestly.. the ship hospital has more facilties than the Blackrock clinic.. no joke!) so he happily spent several appointments there and was right as rain in a couple of days. And true to form, despite having a fever of 39.5C he didnt miss a meal, and still managed to knock back a bottle of wine each evening!!
DD2 was the belle of the ball! The girls wore matching Benetton dresses to the captains dinner and the little one waved like the queen in a parade at everyone!
AND she SLEPT! That was the best part of the holiday.. I think a combination of only going to bed at 11pm each night and being fed breast milk that had the contents of half a bottle of wine in it and a couple of cocktails did her the world of good because she slept in her travel cot the WHOLE night, EVERY NIGHT for 7 nights. A miracle!
DD1 lived in the kids club which was open till 11.30pm each night with a kids disco and all. We had to drag her off to bed as we were wrecked by 11 but she wanted to stay up and party. I am already getting worried for her teenage years!
And as for me!.. well I am so rested and relaxed. The first holiday since my honeymoon where someone else made my bed. I am so grateful.
May 9, 2009
Its like this:
I like the window open and night but the curtains or shutters closed tight.. he like the window closed but the sun or moon shining in.
I like my food mushy and covered in sauce or gravy.. .he likes crunchy dry stuff.
I like TV and music on quiet.. he likes it loud.
I like early nights and early mornings.. he likes late nights and early mornings.
I am hungry first thing and NEED breakfast and elevenses.. he could starve till 2pm and then just eat all afternoon and evening.
I like evening cuddles.. he likes morning ones.
He likes esspresso. I like milky coffee.
I like fiction.. he likes non fiction.
He buy them icecream.. I buy them carrots.
but somehow it works!
6 years of marriage and I love him more than ever!
April 27, 2009
Well the EYE show was a great success. My sales on the day were 500% up from last year and I am thrilled. But the best part was having customers come up to me saying things like they ordered last year and the quality of the aprons is so good that they are back for more! One lady even started talking to other customers at the stand telling them to buy the Long Sleeve Painting Aprons that they were so great and she had bought them last year!
I met some old friends there.. www.Montessori.ie , hometrain.ie and Eolas Education and the boys from Galgorm.. all great people.. all great stuff for sale!
My feet were KILLING me after 2 full days standing though! I felt like I was pregnant again. Actually that is the first EYE show that I was neither preg or carrying a small baby.. I had DD2 in the baby sling at the stall this time last year! It was quite a relief to just focus on SELLING for once.
And most importantly DH did a great job of looking after the girls byhimself for 2 days! I give him full credit! They had a blast with him, ate lots of junk, watched lots of TV, but also did some great things like.. did a food shop, did arts and crafts with them, fed them healthy dinners and even TIDIED THE HOUSE! I think we should keep this swap up! And although i have a sneaky suspicion that dd2 didnt get her nappy changed the whole day, I will look beyond it and give him lots of praise as I think he did a great job (better than myself in fact!).
April 22, 2009
Tomorrow is D-Day! Well its the day for setting up the stand at the trade fair in the RDS. I spent the morning packing stock and sorting rails etc. I had better sell it all as I dont want to be lugging it all home again! The attic looks strangely bare.. quite nice actually.. gives me an idea about how my life might look if I DIDNT run this business!!!
Poor DD2.. she has no idea that she will be spending so much time away from me over the next 2 days! She is only ever away from me for the 3 or 4 hours that the childminder has her! I am already missing her!
SHe is such a cutie! I took her swimming again and she LOVES it! Later on when we were heading out to pick up dd1 from school she ran back to get her armbands and the swim ball and made such a fuss about them that i had to throw them into my handbag in order to persuade her to leave the house!
I got a big order in from the USA today! I reckon its all you guys reading this blog who are placing the orders from the US… i never had as much business from there as recently. It makes me feel great to think that in a nation as big as the US, someone prefers to buy my aprons from lil’ ole’ Ireland!
April 21, 2009
A miracle occured last night. DD2 didnt wake once. She slept 10.5 hours without waking or crying.. not even a murmer!
I am in shock! This is the first time she has ever done that.. the first time i didnt have to get out of my warm bed to go to her in nearly 18months! I would love to be able to say it was the first time I also had an unbroken nights sleept but I actually woke several times to check she was still alive.. so in shock was I! I am hopeful that life and sleep as I knew it will return soon. Oh thank the sweet Lord.
Meantime.. I have learnt a new skill… how to make a flashing image (a gif i think its called!).. some kids person on IrishBusinessWoman.com answered my plea for help in doing it and posted a link to an easy peasy website on how to upload 2 images (or more) and make them flash. I will try to show you here!
AMAZING!
I am so proud of myself… when i set up in business 3 years ago i couldnt even open a photo on a computer and now look at me.. graphic designer extraordinaire!
