Wow,

its been over a year since I blogged last! Time really fly's by.

Stew and I have settled down - we bought a house. Never did I ever think that I would settle down in Dublin, buy a house in Dublin! I also never thought it was possible for me to have bought a house this early in my life. Things just sort of, fell into place.

With a generous loan to use as a deposit, and a friend of the family able to approve us for a mortgage, and house prices at the lowest they have been for a while - everything just worked out.

I love MY house (well, its not much mine, the bank owns it really!) it is in a nice small estate, an estate that has a residents notice board! an estate who organise summer games for children, and Halloween parties and other such stuff. My house faces a big green, and I am on a cul de sac, so I don't need to worry too much about the children.

I knew that this was the house i was going to buy, before we had even seen it. Before I had seen the neighbourhood, or the green it faces. I just knew. I don't know how, I just did. That didn't stop me from looking and looking at plenty of other houses. I had to make sure.

It is a three bedroom house, so nothing fancy. The attic is converted, so that makes another bedroom. The icing on the cake - it has an extension built onto the kitchen, and it was used as a play-school. Now, ever since transition year in school, where I did work experience in a Montessori that was joined to the house, I knew that this is what I wanted. My own little school off the side of my house. The house has its faults, but for us, it is perfect. I am like a mad woman trying to get MY Montessori ready - no PERFECT - for September.

My parents have built a log cabin in my back garden, and it is perfect for them, and for me. I love having them around, I love the help they give. I miss them when they are gone. I like a busy house, I like having people buzzing around.

My two little misses - not so little any more. Chloe started going to preschool full time in January, and since then, she has finally started talking. She is not as shy as she used to be, and has made friends. My shy baby has come out of her shell. She loves preschool, I'm so glad. We had a great 3rd Birthday party for her, in my new house :)

Megan, finally off of the bottle at 21 months (sound familiar - Following in Chloe's footsteps), The reasons for banning the bottle, she wasn't eating much and she still wasn't sleeping through the night. It was a hard 2 or 3 nights, but we all got through it, and she now sleeps from 7.30pm until about 7am. Sleep deprivation is no joke, and getting my sleep back now, I really don't know how I did it. Megan will be 2 in less than three weeks. 2 already??!!! I cant believe it. She really is still my baby, when Chloe was 2, she was a big girl. You know??

I tried to toilet train Chloe in January, she is three, she should be trained by now (says my public health nurse) no luck, I kept at it for a month, but I couldn't do it longer, so back to nappies. Perhaps I will try again soon.

The Price of 20 Minutes Peace

I was tired, I wasn't ready to get up. So I did the unthinkable... I brought the children downstairs, I turned on the TV, gave them a packet of biscuits, gave Chloe a yogurt and laid out some toys.

I went back to bed. It was about 20 minutes before Chloe came up and literally pulled me out of bed.

That night I spent over an hour cleaning up the mess that had been created in that 20 minutes.

Was it worth it? Its hard to say. Sometimes, peace is priceless. But I hate cleaning up...

Good Day

This morning, I looked out the window and the sun was shining, but the clouds were threatening to cover it up. It being Ireland and all, I bet that the clouds would win, so I took my time getting up and getting the girls ready for the day.

That meant that Chloe gave me a chance to remember why I love her so much (its been tough as of late, the two of them riding my last nerve). While Megan was crawing around (yes, she is finnally crawling at almost 10 months) Chloe climbed into bed with me and we had some fun. We sang, "If you're happy and you know it, Ticklce Chloe/Mommy" and we played "Peek-a-Boo" under the covers, and we just laughed. I really needed that reminder, you know, that its not ALL bad :).

Then it was apparent that the sun had won the battle! So as quick as lightning I threw shoes, hats and coats on the girls and chucked Megan into the buggy and we went for a walk before I had to leave to go to work.

Well, what fun! Chloe decided to chase the birds, what a sight, it made me smile. Then Chloe decided to play chase with me. She was running away with the best laugh ever. Megan and I ran after her, and Im sure that the boys who play in this particular football field wont be too pleased with the nice big marks my heavey 3 wheel buggy made right through the middle of their field. Oh Well!

It was just a great morning all round!

Then to finish off the day, Chloe was insisting to go into Megans door bouncer, and she just looked so funny! So Cute.

Good Day (Ill just leave out all the tantrum throwing, screaming parts)

"Young People" and Technology

When I was growing up, I was one of the lucky ones that had a computer in the house. So in First Year of Secondary school, in Computer class, I found it very funny when the teacher was explaining how to turn the computer on, and teaching us about double clicking the mouse. After that though, computers became very popular and I grew up with all the teens knowing more about "technology" than our parents or grandparents. When i say technology, I mean computers, CD writers, mobile phones and mp3 players.
I will admit that I am not a wizz with MP3 Players, because I never "got" the idea of buying music, when you could just listen to it on the radio! Teens a few years younger than me would know more about wireless Internet and other stuff than me.

Recently Stewy got his hands on (as in he BOUGHT it second hand, not stole it!!) an iPhone, and gave it to me. While it might be a little wasted on me, I still love it just the same.

For those who don't know, its a touch screen phone. To unlock the screen you have to slide your finger from one side of the screen to the other, but in a specific spot. Imagine my surprise when Chloe held my phone for one of the first times, and was sliding her finger in the exact spot to unlock it, and she succeeded! Yes, younger people may be more "in" with technology than me, but that just takes the biscuit!

Chloes 2nd Birthday Party

I had been planning it for weeks. Picking up bits and pieces for it as I went along. The day finally came for Chloe's 2nd Birthday Party.

I had invited family, and Chloe's little friends from nursery in Church. I had invited 13 children under 3! I knew 2 weren't coming, so expecting 11. We made up 14 party bags "just in case". Well, I needed them! I forgot to count Chloe's Aunty (who is 8) as a child, even though she really still is one. Stewy had invited a little boy and I forgot to count him as Stewy had done the inviting.

Anyway, with some people not coming, some bringing more of their kids than just the one, we ended up having 16 kiddies including Chloe (not including Megan who thankfully slept through most of the party!) Chaos? Madness? No, it really was great fun!

As the children arrived I had them colour in a big Christmas Tree that I had drawn. They loved it! Then we played pass the parcel. All the little gifts were Christmasy. They really loved that as well.

Then, the hit of the day, I got them decorating cup cakes. This is something that I did as a kid at all my birthday parties. I had smarties and other sweet for them to stick on their cakes. And of course, icing. Red, green and white icing, to keep in the Christmas theme. They had such a good time making them and eating them.

After that they pulled their Christmas crackers, ate sandwiches and just ran around having tons of fun!

I had decorated a small cake into a Santa face, and we sang happy birthday to Chloe. She didn't blow out the candle, but was fascinated with it.

Then as people were leaving the children got to have a party bag. Now the party bags were mini Christmas stockings with chocolate decorations and candy canes inside. They were also a big hit.

When people left we finally got to open all the presents she got. She was spoilt! She got clothes, and shoes (she loves her shoes) and endless amount of jewelry. Bags, colouring books, crayons, activity books and story books. A fairy dress, a pink bouncy ball, a toy phone. A few babies (dolls) and a barbie. She loved them all! One of her favourite things was a card! :) The card sings happy birthday, and it actually says Chloe!

All in all, it was a really great birthday party. I loved having so many children here, running around having fun. I loved that Chloe wasn't being shy, and enjoyed herself. And Chloe's Great Granny Betty did most of the cleaning up (Betty couldn't stop cleaning if she tried!) So I didnt have much to do afterward. Great. :)

Locked In

I had just gotten in with the girls after been out shopping. I put Megan down in the living room and went to the downstairs toilet to do my business. Megan is screaming as she does not like it when I leave the room. Chloe is playing in the hall way.I come out of the bathroom and go get Megan. Meanwhile Chloe wanders into the bathroom and closes the door. With Megan I go to play with Chloe, knock on the door, shout "Helllooo", that kind of thing.

SHOCK

Chloe locked the door! Its a new house and I didn't even realise there was a key in the door! All I'm thinking is, "shes not even 2, HOW am I going to get her to unlock the door and come out!?". I look through the keyhole, the key is slightly turned. I txt Stewy and my sister. Stewy says to take the handle off the door and see if I can get to the key to turn it. Sister says to put a paper under the door and try shimmy the key out the door, hoping it will land on the paper.

Just then my Mother in Law arrived, she was coming to get Chloe to go out for a few hours. HA! she starts laughing at me asking what I was doing sitting on the hallway floor. All the while Chloe is playing happily away, hears her Nanny and says "Hello". My brother in law is with Mother in law (he is 16) and thinks Chloe is very funny saying hello and knocking on the door.

We finally are able to shimmy the key out the door (with much difficulty) but Chloe picks it up! We try to tell her to put it under the door (shes just 2 for goodness sakes..), no luck. Then, the crying starts. Uh oh. the key is on the floor and we get a wire hanger and put it under the door (we can see the key) Chloe freaks out at this wire thing almost poking at her and is kicking it. When we manage to hook the key on the hanger, she freaks out even more and grabs the key and throws it! This happens a couple (hundred) more times when Chloe starts to get tired. She hadn't napped yet that day and it was past nap time. She sits on the floor just bawling her little eyes out. Now we cant get to the key as she is in the way. We need a new plan. We have to take the door off its hinges.. anyone know how to do that?? No, nobody there had a clue.. So we need to break the frame of the door enough to be able to pull the door open without having to unlock it. I talk to Chloe and tell her to lie down and close her eyes to have a rest. She does and falls asleep. All the while my Brother in Law is busy wrecking the door frame!

We finally got it open and poor Chloe was fast asleep. I picked her up slowly but she woke up and wouldn't let me go for the next hour. Poor girl.

Long Time

Its been a long time since I have been able to blog.
What has happened?

Well, Stewy was finishing the programme he was doing with work at end of October, and we didnt know where he would be working (or even what he would be doing!). So we decided to hand in our notice at our apartment as we decided that even if we were staying in the same county, we wanted a house, with a garden! The week before we were due to move out we STILL didnt know what the story was with Stewys job. We decided to move into the already full house of Stewarts "Ma". It was crowded, and hard to be all on top of each other, but mother in law was a great help with the girls. After 2 weeks (still not knowing what was happeneing with stewys job) we decided we needed to move out, we looked for a house and found a lovely one. We moved in over a week ago and we are still unpacking. :) Stewy finnaly starts his new job tomorrow!

Megan is sick :( She has a cold and is just misreable. Chloe had it mildly, but got over it quickly. (Shocking since she spent 3 quaters of the last year sporting a runny nose!) I said to Megan, "Oh, look, we need to clean your nose" and proceeded to do so. Chloe came over to me whinging and pointing to her nose... she wanted HER nose cleaned! Of all the things to get jealous over, she got jealous of me cleaning Megans nose and not hers!

Chloes birthday is coming up! She is going to be two. I cant believe how big she is getting, I have no idea where the time has gone. Same goes for Megan, she is just too big! Anyway, since Chloes birthday is so close to Christmas we decided to have a party a week before. I dont know where I got the idea to have a big party for her, but I am! A bunch of children from nursery at church are coming, and some family aswell. Its going to be fun! Im excited and nervous. (WHAT was I thinking!)

Oh, and other news, while all this moving out and in and out and in, our computer died :( Not so bad, Stewarts uncle is a wiz at fixing computers, and he did fix it. But we lost all our files, including all of our pictures. We didnt back them up, so they are all gone. A very hard lesson for us to learn.

I hope to start back blogging more regularly. I hope I remember my blog...