8 Month Update

I haven't written in ages! Honestly I have been so busy with the wedding that I don't seem to have any time to myself!!

Anyway,

Sienna is now 8 months!!! I can't quite believe it but it's true. Not only that but \i am due back to work on the 1st of July which is next week - MENTAL!

I am sad to be going back to work but its only three days a week so it's not too bad. I hope! I will be fine after the first few days it will just take some getting used to.

For being 8 months I expected Sienna to be able to do more. I see her cousin who is younger shouting "mama mama mama" all the time and her other cousin rolling around the floor and I wonder why she can't do it. I thought maybe it was because I wasn't putting her down enough but she is lying on the floor surrounded by toys and about an hour everyday and still nothing.

Well not nothing - when you lie her on her stomach she stiffens herself up and she flips herself onto her back. progress!!

She is however sitting up all by herself! And she can do it for as long as she wants - not just ten seconds before she falls sideways or backwards. And she can pull herself up to sitting position if she has something to hold onto (usually a finger).

Another thing she cam do is she can pull hair really really well. And by god does it hurt!!

I am continually trying to get her to get her to roll and to crawl. I put a toy just out of her reach or I sit just a little too far away and put my arms out to her. she is making all the motions of trying to crawl but she just isn't moving.

But watch this space......

If you have any tips let me know

xx

Thrush nightmare!!

I am no expert but when a doctor guarantees that a perscription is going to rid your child of something and it doesn't that usually means the medicine hasn't worked and something else is needed?

Since Christmas Sienna has had thrush around her mouth 4 times! Every time the doctor prescribes Nistain for us and it seems as soon as the perscription is finished there is about four days wait until its visible in her mouth again. And the stuff tastes awful! She just seems to keep spitting it out - which the doctor told me she would do and that so long as she was getting it in her mouth it would be effective, even if it didn't stay in for long.

At first I thought it was because her dummy or bottles weren't being sterilized enough but I bought all new bottles and dummies, threw out the old ones and I even bought a seperate dummy sterilizer. I washed all her toys and sterilised the plastic ones and nothing seems to have worked.

And the main pain is that each time it comes back it seems to be worse than before!! So again I took her to the doctors and again they gave me Nistain. Well I nearly cracked up!! It obviously wasnt working so why did they keep insisting in giving it to me. Colm picked up the perscripyion and it went straight into the bin when he got home. its usless so why even bother with it. The next day I went into the doctors again and seen a different doctor. As soon as i mentioned that she had been given nistain 4 times nd it didnt work she laughed and said "Im not surprises - its crap!". If it was crap why have i been given it so many times? She gave me a different perscription instead. something that actually tastes nice and already today I can see the difference.

Why is it one doctor swears by one method and another doctor swears by another? It's very strange to me!

But thankfully she hasn't been sore with thrush she's still as delightful as always.

I have to admit that when it comes to my kids I have been very lucky. My kids sleep all night and hardly ever cry. They are very happy babies. Thank GOD!!

Chicken Pox and Getting ready for Easter!

I knew this time would come! I have been dreading it for ages but it has finally come........the dreaded chicken pox!!!

Mya was picked up from school about a week and a half ago by her granny (Colms mum) so she could play at her house. It wasn't too long after school when her granny rang. When I saw the name pop up on the phone my first thought was that she forgot to pick Mya up from school. But that wasn't it. Mya was complaining that she had an itchy ear so Colms mum checked it out and found a rather large lump behind Maya's ear so rang me to ask me if I noticed it.

I have to admit I honestly had not noticed it. But she had mentioned the night before that her neck was itchy but I hadn't given it much thought.

I knew straight away what it was without even seeing her and sure enough when Colms mum checked Mya she had spots on her belly and back - chicken pox!

When Mya got home I had the calamine lotion at the ready and plastered her. I know a lot of people will be thinking why had I not noticed but they literally appeared overnight and Mya dresses herself in the morning so I hadn't seen and I didn't notice anything as I brushed her hair!

Thankfully she wasn't ill with it and she was actually not even itchy although I had her plastered in lotion every hour so she might not of had the chance to get itchy. She was miserable though that she had to miss school. Especially as she was in the school choir and had to miss out on the competition between all the local schools. Her school care first without her but she was still gutted to have missed it.

But thankfully after a week and a half she is over them. Every pox has stabbed over and when I rang the doctor he said the lump behind her ear  was just a side effect of the chicken pox and not to worry and because her spots had scanned over she could go back to school.

Yeah!!!

So As any parent knows, Easter is a very important holiday in a kids life and Mya is no exception! Every year the Easter bunny leaves a mini egg trail around the house which Mya has to follow and the trail leads her to her Easter egg goodies!

This year I want to do something extra special for Mya. Sienna is still too young to really eat chocolate or appreciate the holiday and as Mya has had the chicken pox for the last two weeks I want to treat her.

So I am getting everything Easter related! We have Easter baskets, egg decorating kits, Easter bonnets, Easter flowers, lots and lots of chocolate eggs, banners, pictures to colour in and lots more.

We are going to have an egg and spoon race and a egg decorating contest. I also have a recepie for Easter buns which we can make and colourful pancakes we can make for breakfast on Easter Sunday!

I will upload pics on Sunday of all our fun!

I am also making Easter dinner for all my family so if I dont kill everyone with food poisoning I will let you know how I get on!! Wish me luck?!

Mother's Day!!

I have to say that I really look forward to this time of year. Before I became a mum myself I never gave this day much thought. It was just another day to buy presents for someone. Now however I realise exactly what this day means.

When I look back now I realise just how amazing my mum is. She had 7 children all of whom she loved unconditionally and would do absolutely anything for. My sister sadly passed away when she was a baby and I don't know how my mm was able to cope! I couldn't imagine loosing one of my girls. The agony she must have went through and yet she put on a brave face in front of us.

There is nothing I could say to my mum that would make her love me any less. When I got pregnant at 18 she could have went mental and to be honest I thought she would but she was so calm and did everything for me. She even looked after Mya for me and I was able to go back to university 3 weeks after having Mya knowing that she was in safe hands and it also meant that I didn't fall behind.

I owe my mum so much and I don't know if she will ever understand how much she gave me and taught me. I am a good mother to my girls because of what my mum taught me. If not for her I would be totally lost!!!

So now Mother's Day is very special to me and not just because I am a mother myself but because I know have a greater appreciation for my mum!

In saying that I do love getting my homemade card from Mya every year! And this year was even better because I had both of my girls.

Poor Colm isn't very organised and because he works all the time (I'm not complaining - thank god he has work) but it does mean that he never gets the time to buy presents and usually I buy them. But as we haven't had a car this last few weeks I only managed to get my mum and his mum presents yesterday and didn't have time to look for myself. Although I am quite proud that both mums loved their presents!!

So today Colm and the girls and I went to Newry to visit the toyshop and took a wonder into Currys just for a look around - I am a real geek and love visiting stores like Currys which is a techno geeks dream!

Never did I imagine that I would be leaving with an iPad mini!!!! Best fiancé ever!! I absolutely love it and feel very very spoiled! I actually felt quite bad getting it. Colm wanted to get me something as he was in England on Valentines day and I didn't get a present and he was working on my birthday a few weeks ago and I didn't get a present then. No matter how many times I tell him it doesn't matter and I don't mind he doesn't believe me!

Now I feel bad because the presents he got for Valentines day and his birthday don't compare at all to my amazing gift :-( I can't win lol

Xx

Damn Car!!

So Colm and I have a Ford Focus Ghia. We have had it for nearly 3 years and its only 5 years old and it has served us very well........well until Colm went to England and on the Thursday of that week it decided to break!!

I couldn't get it to start and when the mechanic took a look at it he asked if I had been through a flood. That week was probably the driest week all year so I definately hadn't even been through an overly large puddle.

But the engine had flooded and we need a new one. Why do these things cost so much money to fix? It's ridiculous!!

The worst thing is waiting for it to get fixed. It could take up to two weeks and we are stuck without a car and I have to borrow my mums car to collect Mya from school and pick Colm up from work.

Pain in the butt!

Where have I been?

It's been like 3 weeks since I last blogged which is a disgrace!!!
So firstly - sorry about that!

Colm is now safely home from Huddersfield and working very close to home which is a huge relief. I don't see him during the week but it is a great comfort to know that he is close by if something goes wrong.

So basically we have been keeping very quiet these last few weeks. I have barely left the house besides to go to my mums or to collect Mya from school.

Oh and we got a new edition to the family lol. Everyone meet Ellie Rose (Mya named her)

Basically we have been looking for a pet for a while but didn't know what we should get as Colm and I both work during the day so it wouldn't be fair to get a dog as we couldn't give it all the attention it would need. We thought about a cat but Colm doesn't really like them. 

So I saw this little thing in Pets At Home and I fell in love!! She is small and so so cute! The cage is big for her but small enough to fit into our dining room without looking ugly and out of place. And even Sienna loves watching her!!

So we are now a family of 5!!

Home Alone...

I was supposed to update this yesterday but I never got the chance.

Yesterday was Pancake Tuesday and Mya was so excited to make pancakes that for the first time ever she wasn't excited about going to school. I don't mean to judge but I am not one of those parents who who let their child take the day off just because they don't want to go to school although I know people who would. Unless she has a fever or vomiting or looks genuinely ill Mya will be in school.

Colm left on Sunday night and it's been pretty lonely without him. Mya is at school and after school she usually comes home, has a snack, does her homework and then she is allowed to play for a while before it's tea time then she has time to watch the bedtime hour on Cbeebies before brushing her teeth and having a story read and then lights out before 7.15pm.

Sienna is still at the stage where her day mainly consists of eating, filling her nappy, and sleeping. She is becoming somewhat of a mummies girl and is starting to make strange with everyone so I try not to handle her too much. I still play with her and nurse her but she no longer gets to fall asleep in my arms.

So I am pretty much spending my time cleaning or reading. I have taken into the Harry Potter books again and I am a pretty fast reader. Yesterday evening I started reading the Philosopher's Stone and by 11.30pm last night I was done. Today I'm onto The Chamber of Secrets.

I can't wait til Saturday morning when Colm comes home so I have someone to talk to. Tomorrow will be depressing - it will my first Valentine's Day alone in 10 years. Mya is missing her dad so much and she is counting down the days til he is home again.

So back to pancake day. I was rather bored yesterday so I decided rather than sit at home just me and Sienna I went over to my mums and after I collected Mya from school we ended up staying in my mums for dinner that evening and I am so glad we did. My mum makes the best pancakes ever!! I am awful at it so I'm glad Mya got to see how they should turn out.

I think I ate my body weight in carbs yesterday but it was worth it. Pancakes with fresh cream, grapes and blueberries, syrup, sugar and lemon (not all together btw). Yummmmm!!

Sienna the past few nights has been waking up at about 3 in the morning looking fed. This was a baby who after about 4 weeks was sleeping all night. I was at my wits end as when she woke up she was also waking Mya up who would then look like she was out partying all night the next day.

So on the phone to Colm on Monday night he suggested I put a pillow in her cot under her to prop up her head. We did this a few weeks back when he had a bad cold and a cough and it worked a treat so I thought I would test it out again.

She still woke up at about 3.30am but I simply put her dummy in her mouth and she fell right back asleep. Thank God!!! I am a much more functional person when I have had a full nights sleep. Although at about 6am Mya came into my bed and curled up beside me and fell asleep. I usually wouldn't let her. Usually Colm or I would get up and put her back in her own bed and after a cuddle she was fine but last night she crept in as quiet as a mouse that I didn't even realise she was there until she started snoring.

Other than that we haven't really done very much. Today has been quiet but the weather has been awful so we haven't left the house besides picking Mya up from school.  Now the fire is lit and Sienna is having a nap while Mya watches some Disney movies about puppies and after writing this post I am going to read some more of my book before I have to get up and feed the baby and make dinner - I'm such a housewife this week!!