Making new friends, sickness strikes again and again and Gruffalo!

Week of Feb 3rd

I can't believe it's already February it seems like time is flying by so quickly. I don't know if it's the fact that were in Ireland or because I have a new job being a stay home mom or because we are away from our family but whatever the reason it doesn't seem like we've been here six months already...but we have.  One of the things we are still getting use to is all the rain and wind here. I hear from the locals that the winds this year are not typical but I have a hard time believing that.  And the rain has just been crazy, which they also say has been a little but more than normal.  The combination of crazy strong wind and rain has caused a hell of a lot of trouble in Ireland, Cork specifically. Like last night there was so much wind while it was raining that the river came over the banks and flooded parts of downtown Cork. It was crazy looking at some of the pictures on Facebook of the downtown area, I just couldn't believe it.  It was so bad that people were on canoe boats paddling thru the streets and some crazy kids swimming in the street (mind you this river is not very clean so that water was disgusting and cold)...it's just crazy. And the sad part is that even if the water goes down during the day when the high tide comes back in the evening most of the places will be flooded again.  

Some of the pics I found on Facebook of the flooding. 

This week I was prepared to stay busy. I did have a play date scheduled for Monday but since I had such a horrible night of sleep I don't even know if you can call that sleep it was more like a nap I didn't feel like getting up and doing anything plus in the middle of the night Lino started to feel warm so I was worried about him getting sick again. So I ended up canceling our play date and we just sat on the couch and watch TV and I tried to nap but only got a few minutes of sleep before one or the other boy wanted or needed something from me. Since I wasn't getting any sleep I decided to clean up and maybe I would be able to get the boys away from the TV for a few minutes. Shaun decided he didn't want to have anything to do with cleaning so he took a nap and slept in his swing for about four hours...that little snot!  But for some reason Lino was actually interested in helping me clean up which I was okay with.  He help me sleep then he helped to sweep up the dirt in the dustpan he thought that was a lot of fun.  Then I was cleaning off the couch and noticed a bunch crumbs in the cushions so I decided to take all the cushions up and vacuum out the couch why I have no idea I guess the sleep deprivation is making me go cleaning crazy.  Even though Shaun was sleep, I needed to vacuum out the corners of the couch and I was worried that he was going to wake up but I figured I would take a chance.  I think he was so tired that he barely even noticed the noise. Usually when ever I pull out the vacuum cleaner Lino runs across the room because he doesn't like the loud noise but today he was really interested in what I was doing and wanted to use the hose I guess he thought it was cool.   So I was trying to vacuum and Lino kept taking the hose away from me so I just let him have it and he basically vacuumed out all of the couch...he did a pretty good job too.  

Mommy's Little helper but my little helper is becoming my big helper. 

While we were doing our cleaning I did get a surprise text from a lady I had met at one of the coffee mornings and she was interested in coming by and since I was stuck in the house with no car and two kids I was more then open to having visitors to try and break up the craziness of my day.   Before she arrived we were able to clean up pretty much everything that I wanted to get done before Shaun even woke up... so even though I was super tired I actually got a lot of stuff done which made me happy   So she came over with her daughter and they spent a couple hours playing with the boys it was nice then we made plans to try meet up on Tuesday as well.  Also I was super tired it was nice to have visitors but honestly I was so ready for bed I couldn't wait until nighttime.  It was a long day for Mike as well since he did not get very much sleep either so we were very happy for bed time to come... so are the boys thank God. They both went down fairly easy but unfortunately Shaun did not stay sleep I was up and down with him a few times in the night but at least I got more sleep than I did on Sunday night.     Tuesday we had coffee morning and I told myself that I was going to get out of the house and not come back for a while. So since coffee morning was near the park that Lino likes to go to I decided to pack us a little lunch so that after the coffee morning we could go over to the park and have a snack outside. I also need to leave are going to get there earlier than the coffee morning started so Lino would have some time to play in the play area at the mall before we headed to the café. When I told Lino about the day he seemed pretty excited about it ... I can only hope that excitement would last. So we played and we went to the coffee morning I didn't expect Lino to stay in the café for very long because there was only a few toys and most of the toys were for small babies not kids his size but he was actually okay with staying and playing with the toys and the other kids.  It was nice that he was having a good time because I was able to meet some new moms while I was there. I met two Americans in the Canadian just by chance and it was nice to have a chat with them.  It was crazy because I had never seen them before but apparently they only go to the big coffee morning they don't go to the ones at the house and I usually only go to the ones at the house and never to the big coffee morning so that's why we had never crossed paths.  They were really nice and pregnant which was funny but I was glad I got to meet them and we shared information so I'm sure we'll hook up again later.   I did actually get to enjoy a cup of coffee which was nice I was going to have a scone but decided that was going to be too many calories so I just enjoyed my coffee and didn't complain about missing the scone.   It seems like Lino made me buy half of the junk that was up there but I didn't mind because I just wanted to keep him happy and quiet so he had biscuits, brownies and an orange I think ... a little bit of everything basically.  But like I said it was a fairly successful coffee morning at a café so I really should not complain.  I had made plans to meet up with the mom they came over on Monday but it took me longer to get Lino out of the café and I had expected.  So by the time we got to the park she was almost ready to go because it was getting close to nap time for her daughter.  And even though it was cloudy and cold at least it was dry and Lino got to ride the zip line and we pushed Shaun on the swings and we had a nice time outside. We actually spent almost an hour outside which I was shocked about and Lino did not want to leave.   I had told him before we left the house that we were going to have our snack at the park so he was very confused when I told him we were going to leave and have our snack somewhere else. But I could tell that the rain was coming and I did not even bring the snack with me so we had to go back to the car anyway but he was not okay with that. It took a while for me to convince him that it was time to go but eventually he was ready plus Shaun was getting fussy so I knew he was getting tired and ready for a nap. So he said goodbye to our friends headed to the car to get our snack then decided to go back to the mall area and eat there because Lino wanted to play some more before we went home. He is getting so funny about going home most days he asked me "what are we doing today mom?" and if I say we are going home he will start fussing at me and say, in a whiny voice "I don't want to go home!!!!"  I can't say I blame him we spent a lot of time at the house and it's not that fun so I had told him we would stay out today so I better keep my word or I will be in big trouble.  So we got our snack and ate in the little lobby area...Lino actually a pretty well which I was happy about then he went back to the play area and played for another hour or so. It was getting late and I knew I needed to get dinner started so I dragged Lino out of there and we headed home. On the way home he said he had a good day so that made me really happy. Mike was very happy to hear about our day as well and probably we were able to fill it up with simple things but fun.      Wednesday was school for Lino and Mike gave me a new challenge...he wanted me to make this protein bar recipe that he had found online but there was some ingredients that I needed to hunt down. I had to find Stevia in the raw, whey protein powder,  almond flour and cottage cheese I thought it would be fairly easy but I was wrong.  Since I was going to be looking for these ingredients for his protein bars I figured I would also look around for coffee filters since the only ones we could find for the small pack Tesco that had about 10 or 15 filters.  So I started my journey at the health store and my home point shopping center and I was able to find the Stevia & whey protein but they didn't have almond flour.   I asked the lady if she knew where I could find some and she act like I asked her about finding an ingredient that was extinct from the earth it was kind of funny. She was no help to me of course so I just figured maybe they would have it at Tesco since almond flour is commonly use as a substitute for people who don't eat wheat.  But of course they did not have almond flour a Tesco all they had was rice flour I didn't think I could make almond flour so I didn't even bother getting almonds and trying.  I told Mike that I would just make the recipe with regular flour but he kind of flipped out because the regular flour was going to throw off his nutritional composition so I guess I better keep looking.   Then he asked me why can't you just make almond flour by grinding up the almonds and I thought it was a ridiculous question but after I looked it up it really was basically just as simple as that...taking almonds and putting them in a food processor to make almond flour... who would've known my husband would have another good idea.   In the meantime I had stopped at to other stores to look for the coffee filters. I went to the Home and More store then I went back to Harvey Norman where we purchased the coffee pot at and ask them for coffee filters. The Harvey Norman sales rep thought I was crazy when I was asking about coffee filters because most of the coffeepots that they had their head reusable filters or one minutes for espressos for instant coffee.  At that point I was getting kind of frustrated and tired... I had gone to five stores and basically wasted my three hours of Lino free time looking for crap that didn't exist...very frustrating.   So back to pick up Lino & have lunch.   I had made plans for us to go over to friends house for the afternoon so after Lino finished eating we headed over there. The stadium play for a couple hours and then I decided I should try and make the almond flour so that I can make the protein bars for Mike so we left there and headed to the store yet again so that I can get ingredients for his protein bars.  My friend had mentioned that she would come over on Friday so I also picked up some ingredients to make a cake for her. She is kind of my taster which is nice I make a cake and I can send her half of it for her to taste and consume so that I don't have to eat all of it.  I think it's a pretty good deal I think...I bake the cakes and she gets to enjoy them with her family.   So of course I was running late to pick up Mike since I had decided to go to the store, so instead of picking him up first we just headed home and I got dinner ready for the boys slept in the car and we picked him up.  I knew it was going to be a bad night since Lino had a late nap but there really was no avoiding it.   I had to get dinner prepped so it made sense to let him sleep while I got dinner in the oven but that just meant he was going to get a 30 to 45 minute nap which is always bad because he is usually really tired after he wakes up... Well after we wake him up.  After all the screaming and fussing he ate a little got in the bath and went to bed.  I should've been ready to go to bed as well but for some reason I just wasn't tired so Mike went to bed and I ended up staying up another couple hours on my phone.  I wanted to catch up on my blogging plus I just needed a few minutes to myself so I had to sacrifice sleep in order to get it which I didn't mind.  Of course the timer to tell me it was time to stop my meantime was Shaun, so I had to get up and there's him around midnight but thankfully he slept until around 545 so I got over four hours of sleep consecutively which was great!   Usually he doesn't get up until 630 for whatever reason was 545 I tried to get him to go back to sleep but he really wasn't feeling so we set up in the chair for a little while until it was time to get up.        Thursday after me know got out of school we have friends come over and play.  It was actually a last-minute play date arrangement which I was happy we were able to make happen.  Before they got to the house I did have to do a little bit of cleaning because there was crumbs all over the floor from Shaun's lunch and I wanted to whip up a batch of cookies so I made these semi-healthy cookies for them.  It was a pretty easy recipe that I had modify, it only had bananas, oats, apples and cinnamon oh and raisins so they were naturally sweetened and they were actually not too bad.  The play date was with an American mom that we had met up with last week so it was nice to be able to continue our conversation.  She was super funny talking about all my American stuff that she wishes she had.  It was funny because it was simple things like I had a boxer Puff's tissues and she was just like "I can't believe you have those here!!!!" I was dying laughing.  Lino and Molly actually got on pretty well which I was happy about.  I was a little worried about making play dates with other girls because I didn't know if they would have enough in common but I actually think it works out better because they don't end up fighting about the same toys. The only toy they were fighting over was a bicycle which is pretty universal so it really was not bad at all.   At one point the weather cleared up and Molly wanted to go outside so you all put our boots on and ran around outside for a few minutes.   It was cold but no rain so they got on the swingset which I was kind of embarrassed about because it is falling apart. The poor thing has just been beat to hell from the wind knocking it over in the canopy being ripped off it's just a mess.  There is actually pieces of wood that were ripped up from the wind and they need to be pulled out and replace but we just haven't got there yet I think I'll mention something to Mike about it tonight but I know his response is not going to be what I wanted to be.  The kids did not seem to mind as much about the damage which was good.   Of course the break in the rain did not last long so we had to race to get back into the house when the rain started coming down.  The kids play for a few more minutes and then it was time to go but it's never just that easy to say it's time to go but we did have a lot of fun so I can understand not wanting to leave.    We had a good day and I'm glad Lino got someone to play with. But later that evening, while all the kids were screaming because they were tired and wanting to play, we exchanged text messages about how rough it was being a mom.  All those fairy tale stories about parenting completely leave out about 95% of the reality of parenting...which is the tantrums, crying, vomits, poops and all the sleepless nights.  It's a wonder we reproduce but I guess it's something about the cuteness, smell & smallness of a baby that keeps us going back.           Is it lazy Friday yet???? Well it's Friday but I'm not sure it's lazy Friday!   Last night was a rough night of sleep for the kiddos, not horrible but not good either, so everyone is a little tired.  After the drop off I usually come home and chill out for a while but I decided to make a cake that Mike had saw online and wanted me to bake. I had planned to have a friend come over to enjoy it with us but she was sick so that was out.  I called Nicole I see if she was free but her and the kiddos were sick and had Dr appts so that was out but I already had all the ingredients and the produce was going to go bad so I made the cake anyway. Then I decided that it was way past time to get the 12mo clothes out of the attic for Shaun since he's 10mo and still in 6-9mo clothes but they look more like they are 4mo too small...probably because they are. So I spent an hr trying to sort thru the clothes because most of them were shorts & shorts sleeves because we were in Texas and in the middle of the summer when Lino was 12mo. Thankfully there were a few clothes that would work for this weather so I pulled those out. I wanted to see how bad the 12mo stash was going to be so I knew how much stuff I needed to buy Shaun this weekend...if we made it to the city.   Needless to say I basically need a full set of winter 12mo clothes.  So between baking a cake, sorting thru clothes for Shaun and doing laundry (I actually put clothes away today) I didn't have my me time or my reality TV time...oh well.  Even after I picked up Lino from school I thought he would want to watch a movie and he didn't really ask to watch a movie so we ended up working on the puzzle and playing together for a while before he mentioned a movie.   It was repeat Friday, aka leftover Friday, so I did get to chill on the couch for a few min before heading out to get Mike. But I didn't get to do it alone, the boys were all over me on the couch and normally I would enjoy the snuggles but I was looking forward to a few min of "me" time and that just was washed away completely. Oh well...one day. 

So we sat on the couch watch TV for a few minutes until it was time to get Mike. Instead of going swimming today Mike just wanted to chill at the house plus he had super dry skin...he thinks from the chlorine, so we chilled watch for movies and had a pretty relaxing evening.  The night on the other hand was horrible Shaun was up all night long and I have no idea why!!!   Lino even woke up two times so it made it even worse trying to put Shaun back to bed. The problem is always the same, usually when Shaun is about to fall sleep Lino wakes up and Shaun sees him get up out of his bed so that starts the cycle all over again for Shaun.  Hopefully, one day soon, Shaun will just sleep through the night and we won't have to go through this every night, or at least not nearly as much.  So the last time I was able to get Shaun to sleep was around 3:30 AM and he was back up at 5:45am and despite my best attempt he would not go back to sleep until finally around 6:45am but at that point Lino was up again.  I had went downstairs so that I didn't wake up Lino but once he was up, he woke Mike up looking for me and they both ended up coming downstairs. We all ended up sleeping on the couch for about an hour. On Friday night I thought maybe we would get up on Saturday and go swimming with Cuidiu group but at this point I thought it would be crazy to try and get up and go swimming.   So by 830 Shaun was up and we just sat around for a few minutes until we all decided to get up and get going.  So I made breakfast and realize we were actually making decent time so I suggested to Mike that we should try to make it to the swimming...so that's what we did.  The weather was crazy and raining so I knew we weren't going to make our normal walk so I wanted to do something to get us out of the house...so I figured the swimming would be something fun for us to do.  I had text one of my friends on Friday to tell her that we were going to make it and then I texted her on Sat morning saying we weren't going so I didn't even bother texting her again saying we were going to make it because I knew when she saw me there she would think I was crazy.  So we raced to eat breakfast, get our bags packed and get out the door.  The swimming session had a very small window to get dressed and swim because it was sandwiched between 2 other swimming groups. So if you got there late you would miss out on some of the swimming time because we only had an hour scheduled for our group.  So Mike mapped directions and we made it there just as it was time to get into the water so not bad timing at all. The place was small and a little old but I guess it could have been worse.  The funny part is that we spent and hour there and I spent about 50min of that talking to the moms that I haven't seen in a while. One mom was from the breastfeeding group I went to a couple of times and she remembered my name and everything. I felt so bad because I couldn't remember her name.  We chatted for a while ad it was nice to get caught up. She was heading out because she was there earlier for the water babies swimming session.  Then I saw another mom that I had met at one of the coffee mornings over the summer but she stopped going to the coffee mornings at the end of the summer because she went back to work.  So it has been about four months since I had seen her. We chatted for a while while we were in the pool and she was giving me some suggestions on language courses from Lino is really nice to get caught up with her too. Then I spent a few minutes talking to the mom that I had told originally that we were going to make it like I had expected she thought I was crazy but totally understand the situation.  So swim time would quickly Lino was doing lots of swimming and did not want to get out but with a little bit of convincing he did get out and we all got changed to head back home. Brilliant me totally forgot to pack a change of diapers for Shaun to change into after swimming so I had to get one off of the other moms.  I was a little embarrassed but they all just laughed at me and said they had done it at least 2 to 3 times themselves so they understand. It's pretty hard trying to get your kids already on Saturday morning to make it to swim at 10 o'clock I'm not sure will make it back again but we will see.  The boys fell asleep in the car on the way home from swimming so we let Lino sleep for little while. I took Shaun and woke him up because I wanted to wash him off so that he didn't sit with all the chlorine on him.  He gets super dry skin really easy so I just new he it would be bad the longer it stayed on him.   We know ended up sleeping for a couple hours when he finally got up he ate a little then we headed out to the store to pick up a few things for dinner tonight.   We were all exhausted by the end of the night and we were hoping that everyone would sleep well since Friday night was such a horrible night of sleep but that wasn't the case.  Lino was the one that was up all night Saturday night and I couldn't believe he was up so much. He was out for the first couple of hours and like and I was able to watch a little bit of the Olympics but then by the time we went to bed he was up fussing about his ear hurting. At first I just thought he was tired and didn't want to sleep but that he may have slept on his ear wrong so I just gave him a kiss and laid him back down in the bed but he would not go back to sleep.   At one point he was fussing so much about his ear that I just got him some Tylenol to see if that would help with some of the pain. I was thinking that maybe he had some water in his ear from swimming so maybe there was a little extra pressure that was causing him some discomfort. So I thought the Tylenol should help with the pain and he should be able to go back to sleep which he did. But only for about 1.5hrs and then he was back up screaming again. I really did not know what was wrong with him I just thought he couldn't go back to sleep so I let them fuss for quite a while until he finally calmed down and we were able to lay him down in the bed.  Of course he had woke up Shaun so I ended up sitting in the rocking chair for about two hours trying to get Shaun and Lino to go back to sleep... it was pretty miserable.  Lino was back up again...bythis point it was around 5 o'clock in the morning and Mike was up as well.  I had had enough so I told Mike it was his turn to take over so he ended up getting a blanket out of the closet and sleeping on the floor in front of the boys room so that Lino would  actually lay back down. At that point I had Shaun in the bed with me, Mike was on the floor trying to rest and I think we may have got a total of two hours of sleep before Lino got up yet again fussing about his ear. Something must have just clicked in my head because at that point, 6:45 AM, I put two & two together that Lino probably had an ear infection...great. So I called the 24hr care clinic and got him an appt for 7:15am so we headed out there. Mike and I felt so bad because we let him fuss most of the night but I just didn't think ear infection. He was a little warm when I was calling the clinic but it wasn't a fever and I just thought he was trying to get out of sleeping...how was I suppose to know. Anyway, we saw the Dr, which I might add was a little sketchy and he confirmed ear infection in the right ear.  The crazy part is that Lino wasn't acting sick any more but I guess that's because he wasn't laying down. I Guess the ear pressure increases when they lay down so that's that all the screing was about and if he is sitting up it's not so bad...that's good to know.   The South Doc place wasn't the nices, the room we were in you could tell had not been cleaned from the previous patient. There was a utensil bin with used utensil with blood on them, yuck, and the exam table had a grease mark on the headrest from whoever used it last. I just wanted to run out of the room and I could only pray hat the ear microscope was a disposable one...ugh.  And the Dr was weird and scary...he didn't even check Lino's temp, listen to his hear or check his pressure. Then it took him about 20min to figure out what meds to give him and how much...it was scary and I couldn't get my kid out of there fast enough!!  or So we go paid our 60€, which wasn't bad for a late night Dr visit and then set out to find a pharmacy that was open at 8am on a Sunday. This turned out to be a major challange, like mission impossible really.  Mike looked on the internet for 30min and couldn't find anyone that opened before10 while I drove around town and stopped at 4 pharmacies checking to make sure no one was open. It was pathetic...thankfully Lino wasn't really in any pain so he wasn't complaining. There wasn't much we could do so we stopped by the newly opened Starbucks to get coffee, then to Fitzpatricks to get JUNK to eat (scones, croissants & baguette for lunch) and some eggs/bacon for Mike to make Eggs Benedict then we headed home. By this point the boys were out so we snuck in the house and had our scones with our horrible Starbucks coffee...I'm never going to that Starbucks again. It was a small & quick moment of pure pleasure in the midst of a horrible day.  Not soon after our morning snack, the boys were up and Mike started making breakfast. I was starved at this point and getting a little inpatient so Mike called the pharmacy to make sure they were open and that they would fill a new prescription (the website made it seem like they only did refills or maybe we were just reading it wrong because we were exhausted) and they did. Mike was nervous and excited about his first attempt at Eggs Benedict so every step he was second guessing his self. The Benedict sauce was first and he wasn't sure what "double the volume" was and if he was over cooking the eggs but it came out ok. Then on to the poached egg and he was freaking out because his first one kind of spread out in the pot. But it seemed to be ok to me and like I said earlier I was getting impatient so I ended up pulling the first 2 out myself and was trying to put them on the bacon and it toppled over and the yolk cracked...oops :-/   Of course Mike game me the look of death so I left them alone and went to put more eggs in the pot and figured out the secret to getting the egg from spreading out in the pot was to crack and drop the egg very close to the water...which actually worked. So I thought I was being helpful and Mike was excited about the eggs so I thought I would be even more helpful and heat up the Benedict sauce since everything was almost ready...bad decision. I only put it in the microwave for about 15sec (I think) but when I pulled it out, or I should say Mike grabbed it out of the microwave like it was on fire and it wasn't in the same condition it was when I started the microwave. Crap...I cooked the eggs and the sauce curdled...it was bad. I tried to make Mike feel better so I told him it wasn't that bad and I put it on my eggs anyway but he just stood there stunned...disappointed...disgusted...sad.Ifelt so bad and tried to apologize but it wasn't working. I even ate most of the curdled sauce and that still didn't make him feel better. He wouldn't even put any in his plate...he tried to find a substitute but there wasn't really anything in the fridge that could be used as a sub so he just had a perfectly poached egg (thanks to me...hahahaha), bacon and roll...poor baby. So he sulked for a while and we finally moved on, I to him to try again next week and I promised not to touch anything in the kitchen except the bacon and he seemed to be ok with that. Man talk about completely crushing someone's heart...I felt so bad.  So we were about to leave and I just all of the sudden got hit with a load of emotions and completely broke down. I started laughing at nothing at all then started crying and Mike just looked at me like I completely loss my mind...which I had.  I have no idea what was going on in my head but I knew I was just exhausted. So Mike let me have my psychotic break then I told him I couldn't drive...he gave me the look of "really Renee u think I'm going to let you drive after that meltdown??"  Ahhhhhh what a freaking day already. So we went shopping and I went to fill the prescription that the lady wouldn't give to me because she wanted me to make sure we were leaving right after getting the antibiotic because it needed to be refrigerated...I know women just give me the damn meds!!!!  So back to meet Mike in the store and I had to fix the shopping that he did...he tried but just didn't get the right stuff (this is why I didn't let him go shopping by his self because I knew I would't get the stuff that I needed) so we finished our shopping and headed down to get the prescription when I ran into Nicole. Actually she saw me and I was walking around like a complete zombie and didn't even recognize her at first.  So I told her what happen to Lino and we had a quick laugh before Mike joined us then we went our separate ways.  I felt so embarressed because I was a complete mess and didn't think I would see anyone at the store but oh well. So we got the med, got a cupcake (because we were tired and make very bad food choices when we are tired) and we headed to the car. Lino started fussing about his ear again so Mike to me to go ahead and give him his med so I did.  It took us 2hrs to get out of that freaking mall and I was pooped.  We got home turned on the TV and went into a complete trance...at least I did.  Shaun was in the car sleeping and Lino & I were cuddled up together and ended up falling asleep.  Shaun woke up and I think I fed him, I really vaguely remember and then Mike took him and I went back to sleep. I must have got a 2hr nap in and it felt great. I should have felt bad for Mike because he stayed up with Shaun and I did kind of feel bad but I so needed that nap it wasn't even an option.  So I was way more normal now and Mike and I just kind of shuffled around until dinner. I just wanted something easy for dinner, like takeout but there are no good places here...this food sucks. So Mike decided to make quesadillas...I didn't want to be bothered with cooking and cleaning but there were not any real options so he cooked and I cleaned and we had dinner. Lino slept for about 4hrs before waking up and he didn't want to eat of course which was fine but then we were worried he wouldn't want to go to sleep since he slowly so long and was only up about 1.5hrs before it was time to go back to sleep but he actually went to bed pretty easy and so did Shaun. Mike was in bed 15min later and I ended up staying up to midnight blogging, cleaning and catching up on Facebook stuff. I couldn't believe I didn't just pass out but at that point my mind was racing and I couldn't sleep...oh well. Eventually I crashed but of course it wasn't without being interrupted by the sounds of my lovely kids...thank God I love them so much or else I might have to kick them out until they sleep thru the night unassisted.   I can truly say this has been the weekend from hell and I am so glad it's over!!!

Week of Feb 10th

I can't believe it's Monday already the weekend with so quick but yet dragged on so long because of the lack of sleep.   I had a play date scheduled for Monday morning and almost canceled it because of Lino's ear infection but since he really didn't act like he was sick I just went ahead with the plans.  Two of my American mom were coming over with their two kids.  I had planned for the kids to make red velvet brownies while they were here so that they would have something to do but when I was pulling out all of the ingredients I realized I picked up a devil's food cake box instead of a red velvet cake box ...oops.  I didn't think it would really matter I could add red food coloring to give it a slight red tent but I don't think the kids really care if it's red or brown they were just excited to have and make brownies.   So Mike ended up taking the car even though we were up before he was I just didn't feel like being bothered with having to go and pick him up from work.  So the play date lasted for the morning and we had nice chat and laughs about all the differences in Ireland and all the things we miss from the states.   One of the moms is slightly newer to Ireland and I am so we were trying to get her slightly up to speed on some of the things that she would have to get used to.  It really ended up being a very nice morning and I was sad to see them go and they both have two daughters the same age as Lino and I always worry about the girl play dates but it seemed to work out pretty good.  The kids have fun making brownies the hardest part was making sure that each one got a equal chance to mix the dough, add ingredients and scoop it into the pan... Oh the real challenge was making sure they all had the spatula for mixing.   I had to spatulas the same size and one that was smaller that I ended up giving Lino and he about had to fit that his spatula was smaller than the other girls.  So I had to dig out another one for him to use and it ended up being a massive one and he was happy about that.  After the brownies were done cooking and cooled off I let the kids cut out heart shapes since its valentines week.  In my head I thought they would be able to share the one little heart cut out my head but the reality was they all wanted their own cut out so I have to pull out a star in the circle so that everybody can have one to use... I guess the Christmas cookie cutters that I searched high and low for really did come in handy.  So we ended up with a bunch of little hearts stars and circles they are pretty excited about that.   And I had an idea that they would ball up the rest of the brownies that was left over from all the cutting out and they would make little balls and put them on toothpicks like cake balls.   I had saw something online that they that idea seem feasible but the reality is that it did not work out nearly as well as I would've hoped. The girls didn't seem to mind and Lino didn't mind at all either because they were eating brownies and crumbling brownies with their fingers so it was all good fun for them.  We did end up with a couple cake balls or brownie balls so my mission was at least accomplished I think I was supposed to have the balls dipped in chocolate as well but I just thought that would be too cruel to send home the kids with all that sweet stuff.  So everybody made a little bag with all the cutouts in a couple cake balls and they were really excited to take them home and share with their dads I told them they had to make sure their daddies was able to try them and that they were not able to eat anymore until after they ate all of their dinner so I was hoping the moms would be too mad at me sending them home with brownies.    Like I said it was a nice morning good chats lots of fun with the kids and I look forward to doing it again except one of the moms is about to go back to work so we'll see if we'll be able to make it work sometime during the summer.  The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet just hung around the house since I didn't have the car so I made dinner for Monday and Tuesday night since I had the time.  Tonight was the monthly meeting for the Cuidiu group so I made sure to get everything cleaned up for Mike so he did not have anything to do other than put the boys to bed.  We actually had dinner pretty early so there was time for the boys to play before that time which was better for me because I was able to sneak out without Shaun seeing me.  So went to the meeting and it ended up lasting about three hours or so which I wasn't exactly expected but the first hour there is a lady there talking about fussy kid eaters and I was really intrigued about what she had to say.  Lots of months had lots of questions about their kids and how to get them to eat new foods or how to get them to eat dinner like a normal human being which I thought was great because I have the same issues Lino.  Everyone thought I was funny because I told them stories about Lino wanting to eat in the bathtub and us spoon feeding him while he was in the tub and about him asking to eat dinner once he was in the bed...my kid is a professional at getting out of doing things.  So the lady had a couple of helpful hints and I had at least another half dozen questions to ask her but there was just not enough time so we will start with what she said and see how it goes. The couple big things that really stuck with me was not to make eating such a negative event the more we force food down Lino's throat the less he's interested in doing it because it's so negative.  She did agree that if he was malnourished and very thin and maybe we should do more aggressive eating but if he was well able and healthy he would definitely get the calories he needs. So the first thing was don't spoonfeed him anymore because of more than able to feed yourself and if it's messy meal just be prepared for the mess but he has to know he's big to so and it's okay to make a mess as long as you clean up after.  And then she suggested that the best way to get him to eat foods that he would normally touch is to try several different methods before you try to get him to eat it. Like start with seeing if you will smell the food to see if he likes the smell of it, then asking him to touch it with his hands to see how the texture feels, then maybe asking him to take a bite and chew it something we can get the flavor in his mouth and see if he likes the flavor and if he doesn't then allow him the opportunity to spit out the food so that he doesn't feel any pressure to try new things.  The spitting out of the food was a part that I had a hard time with but I guess I understand what she's saying if he ask it does put something in his mouth but he doesn't like he has to eat it so why would I try new things because if I don't like them I'm going to have to eat it makes sense.  She also mentioned trying to get them to help cook with you so they can see all the ingredients going onto what are their having dinner or that something that we started doing with Lino before the holidays and that has helped quite a bit.  So I was excited to try some new techniques to try and get Lino to eat foods that he would normally have eaten that he now asked like he doesn't like. Oh the other thing was that the kidneys to try the food at least 14 to 16 times to determine if they really don't like it.  I thought that was interesting because I would give him something maybe two or three times and if he didn't like it. So I guess the point is to be persistent without being too aggressive and letting him try things slowly piece by piece so that there's no negative consequences around eating new foods.  All good tips and tools to start trying out my little fussy eater tomorrow so it was well worth the three hour meeting.   After the talk was the actual meaning recapping events from the previous year and getting some things in order for the current year.  I'm new to the committee so this is only my second meeting but I enjoyed getting out and I am excited about actually doing something more than just being at home with the boys.  But I finally made it home it was 11:30 and Mike was fast asleep, so are the boys and actually Shaun didn't wake up until around 3:30 which was nice.  I didn't have the chance to pump any milk so instead I gave Mike a sippy cup with a little bit of soy milk in it that he warmed up to give to Sean for bedtime and I guess that seem to be enough to soothe him to sleep.  I was so happy about him sleep that long that I was thinking about making that a normal routine maybe if he doesn't see me before he goes to sleep then he won't wake up so often looking for more milk... You never know what will work with these kids.    Tuesday was pretty chilled, we went grocery shopping and to the Dunnes store to get some warm clothes for Shaun, then went to the coffee morning in the city.   I didn't have much planned for the day so we just went home for a little while until the boys got super board  then I decided to take them to the park since the sun was out and it wasn't raining.  I didn't realize how cold it was until we got to the part but it was freezing but Shaun seemed to enjoy being outside so we ended up staying for about 45 mins.  My fingers were frozen after about 30 mins but Lino did not want to get off of the swings so we stay for a few more minutes until I couldn't take anymore. I was glad to be able to get them out of the house for a few minutes but after we got back in the car it felt like it was worth it because I spent about 30 mins trying to get them dressed and out the door and we only spent 45 mins at the park.  I guess it's worth it because they need to get out of the house but it just seems like so much work for so little reward.   So we came back home made dinner and headed back out to give Mike we spent the rest of the evening trying out I need eating tactics on Lino. The first one was to try and get him to feed himself which he did for a few minutes then he was done eating and wanted to play around but I made him sit at the table or at least try to.  He wasn't interested in sitting at the table so I tried to focus my attention on Shaun and how well he was eating to see if he would get the message that he would get more attention if you could sitting and eating his food. You could tell he knew he wasn't getting the attention he wanted because and one point he was trying to make me laugh about something silly he was doing and I was completely ignoring him.  He didn't like that I wasn't paying him any attention and that I wasn't laughing so he ended up getting on the table and getting in my face and trying to make me see the silly joke he was doing but I didn't take my attention away from Shaun.  So after about 10 minutes of getting no reaction from me he decided to get in his chair and start eating like Shaun was. And he immediately looked to me for a reaction and I made a big deal about him eating his food by his self and about how good the food was. He was excited about that but that was about as long as that lasted. He had his one bite of dinner his big smile for mommy and daddy and then he was done he sat at the table but didn't take another bite of food...oh well I guess I have to try again tomorrow.     I always seem to look forward to Wednesdays because I know Lino's going to go to school for a few hours and I can kind of relax and not worry about him being too bored and me trying to find things for him to do.   Unfortunately today I have to stay home because the landlord hassle of coming out to do some work on the house so hopefully I'll get a quiet morning at the house with Shaun.  Trying to prepare for Lino's return I made a phone call to a friend to see if they wanted to meet up later this afternoon for a play date and they seem to be in so now I have plans for the afternoon so I don't have to sit around the house.  The weather is supposed to turn bad at least that's what they say on the radio so I'm not sure if we should go out or not but I really don't want to stay in the house if I don't have to so we will just play by ear I told myself.  Well I hoped for a quiet morning at home but about an hour and a half after I drop Lino off the school was calling me up telling me Lino was sick… Oh great.   I knew that something was wrong with him this morning because he had a fit but we got into the car because he couldn't take his phone with him.  He never takes his phone with them in the car so I was really confused as to why he was making such a fuss about it today.  Then when I dropped him off at school he didn't want me to leave and I basically had to sneak out of the door without him seeing me otherwise I don't think he would have let me leave... And that is totally not like him.  When the teacher called me she had told me he had through which he has never done so that made me a little more worried about him.  Thankfully not thankfully the guy who was supposed to come to work on the house didn't make it so I was able to just leave and go get Lino so all the plans that I had made for the afternoon were now out the window.  When I got to the school and got Lino he was in another room away from the other kids I guess to keep them isolated so that he didn't get anyone else sick. I could see you right on his face that he wasn't feeling good and I just felt so bad for him.  Once we got the school he started crying and gave me a big hug and told me he missed me that just broke my heart and made me feel so good at the same time.  He cried in the car for little while and then he ended up falling asleep he must be tired and sick poor baby.  I didn't want to wake him up we got home but I had to get them out and I wanted to try and get him to take a little soda to hopefully help with his belly.   He didn't give me too much fuss about getting up which I was happy about but of course he didn't want me to put them down so I had to hold him for a little while which I was okay with.  He drank a little soda and just stood around kind of in a daze so I started to get a few things together and before I knew it he was crying and told me his belly hurt and I knew he was about to throw up.  I try to hurry him to the toilet but we didn't make it exactly and he just started bawling I had never seen him like that and I just did not know what to do.  Once he finally calm down I got him some of the couch just relax well I got a small trash can in the back for him in case that happen again I would be ready.  He took another couple sips of the soda set down in a couple minutes later told me he felt better.  So I was hopeful that maybe he got all of it out and that was it with puking… But I was wrong.   He had another puking episode a few minutes later after he drink most of his soda so I knew his stomach was still upset.   In between puking I was trying to set the fire because the winds were so crazy there was lots of cold air blowing in from the garage into the living room and I thought the fire could be nice and cozy for us.   I had never made a fire before but we bought some stuff over the weekend and I thought I can make it work.  My first attempt was pretty pathetic so I got on the Internet and try to Google instructions on how to make a fire.   I don't know if I really was getting closer not let Lino was noticing me messing around with a fireplace and just kept asking why was I doing that and I didn't have a good answer for him.  It was kind of funny but sad all at the same time, poor pathetic mommy can't make a fire and the three-year-old is confused as to why I would even want to bother with such a task… Hilarious.  So while Lino was in between pukes I was trying to decide what to do about his medicine The problem was that he needed to take his medicine for his ear but I was worried that he was going to throw it up to so I didn't know if I should give it to him or not.   I figured you were looking through some of it if you got most of it down and intersystem that that would be better than not having it at all.   I told him he would have to take his medicine during lunch so was trying to get him prepared for it because he doesn't really like it.    Then I went into the refrigerator to get some food out to heat up and noticed that the light in the refrigerator wasn't on...what the heck?  I looked around the kitchen and noticed that none of the appliances were on so I guess we lost power.  I sent a message to Mike to let him know we lost power and try to start the fire again because I knew it would be cold soon and I failed completely.  After about 15 minutes of fooling around with the fire I decided I just needed to call my neighbor and see if they would help me out.  Of course they were more than willing to come over and help me out but I told him just to walk me through starting a fire with the stuff that I had but they insisted on coming over to lend a hand.  I really couldn't refuse the help so I was really blessed that they were willing to help me out.  Once I got off of the phone with them I realize I needed to get the gate open so that they could come over. My first instinct was to push the button to open the gate but of course dummy there's no power so the gate didn't open...duh.   Then I decided to go outside to see if I could just open up the gates myself which of course I couldn't.  So I had to put in another call to my landlord to let them know that I needed the gates open...at some point at least.  so he told me he will come over later to open them up for me because he had a tool that it could use to open it...great!   I tried to text my neighbors to let them know at the gate wouldn't open but between the two boys I didn't get to send the message before they had already arrive.   Thankfully they were able to just find the door was open and they knocked and came in.  We had a nice laugh about the wind is crazy weather then Dan got started on building a fire.  At this point I know I needed to give Lino his medicine so I tried to convince him that if he took his medicine he help us with the fire.  It did take a little convincing but once he saw Dan pulling out all of the stuff for the fire he wanted to be involved so he did take his medicine...thank God. So Dan explain to me how to get the fire started if he wasn't so nice he would've laughed at the mess I had started but instead he told me I had a good start going… He's very kind.   So Dan got the fire started while Collette played with Shaun.  It was really helpful to both of them came over one can help with the fire while the other help distract the kiddos...I tell you I'm really blessed to have such great neighbors.  Once the fire was built Dan asked about the fire gaurd and I told him I didn't have one but that I would just keep the boys away and he was not okay with that.  He told me that he had an extra fire gate that he would go get from the house and bring over.  I felt bad because they were tracking in and out of this brutal wind and rain to try and help me out so I didn't want him to have to go back over to his house and come back again just for a fire guard but he insisted.  I was really appreciative and could not turn down the offer because I know I needed it especially with Shaun been so busy.  So we chatted a little more about the power outage then Dan went back home to get the fireguard and came back to assemble it.  While he was working on the fireguard our landlord showed up to open the gate. He wanted to show me how to open it but my hands were full with both boys literally.   At one point I had Lino in the sling on my back and Shaun in my arms carrying them both around trying to sooth them both at the same time...a tough job.  Lino fell asleep but not for very long because once I put them on the couch maybe five minutes later he ended up throwing up in his lap and on the couch of course...the poor baby.  So I was no help at all to Dan and in our landlord just it they're not sure what exactly to do it he raced out the door as I was trying to clean up the mess.  It was just an awful afternoon I can't even go through all the details because it's just exhausting.  Basically more throw up, Dan fixes the fireguard but had to go back to the house to get more tools because we have none and we were able to sit by the fire for a while and wait for Mike to get home.  I say wait for Mike to get home because there was no way I was going out in this crazy weather with the boys even though the wind and rain has stopped by the time Mike was off of work I just didn't want to put Lino in the car if I didn't have to.  So Mike made arrangements to get someone to drop them off but he waited kind of late to ask so he wasn't going to get home until after 5:30.  Collette had called over to see if she could go and collect some for that I didn't have to go out of the house sorry for him to hitch a ride with one of his workers. They had already done enough there was no way I can send her out to go get him from work that would just be asking too much of them.  By the time I got home it was getting late and getting dark out and I had a whole list of stuff for him to do: figure out how to open the garage door because the car was stuck in there when the power, get gas in the car, he called for the fire and get something hot for us to eat for dinner.  We had expected the power to come back home around 6 PM at least that was the first set of information that we had got from the electric company that afternoon.  But by the time I got home from work the 6 PM time had changed to 8 PM and by the time I got home from all the shopping that time had changed till noon the next day. So we basically were planning on a full day of no power so good thing he was out to get plenty of coal to keep the fire going.  He called to tell me that at the store it was completely mobbed with people trying to get food from the hot bar. We kind of expected that but it sounded like it was a little more overwhelming than what he had expected. The debate was she stay in line and get something there or leave and go to the KFC in Little Island because maybe it would be quicker and not as crowded. I told him it was a tossup because we didn't know if the power was out over there as well and I didn't want him to waste time to go over there to get something to eat and then power be out then he would have to go back to Supervalu so he decided just to stay there.  It took forever it seemed but he finally made it home the stuff we needed but then I was worried about my cell phone died because I barely had any battery left.  We talked about him possibly going to his job to charge it up and coming back or me going over to Nicole's and charging it and neither one of us really wanted to go back out so I figured I would just deal with it until the morning.  So we had a quick dinner of pizza and potato wedges,  Lino had a couple bites to eat as well and Mike went to get the stuff from upstairs to bring downstairs for us to camp out in the living room in front of the fire.  We had pretty much got everything set and then I heard the beeping in the kitchen…the power is back on!!!  It was almost 9 PM when the power came back on and was so exciting.  We had already moved everything downstairs to sleep by the fire so we decided just to stay downstairs anyway for the night.  Before we could close her eyes though Lino threw up again and I was hoping that would be the last...but I knew the chances of him turned up again but pretty high so I just covered the couch that he was sleeping on with tons of towels so that it didn't get completely destroyed if you do get sick during the night.  It was kind of funny because Lino wanted Mike to sleep with him and I was secretly happy because I did not want to sleep with a sick kid.  Please God don't let him get sick during the night!!!    Well we had a nice night by the fire we kept putting coals on and I think the fireplace is starting to get a little loaded with ashes but thankfully we have heat so I don't have to rely only on the fireplace for heating the room.  Mike's snuck out and took the car so that I didn't have to go out and get him later shortly after he got up both boys were so we started our day.   When we looked outside I could see snow or ice on the grass and I was kind of shocked that I got that cold.  Not even 10 minutes later it started snowing and I was just shocked because it was actually accumulating…a little.  This weather is really really crazy. 

There was nothing really exciting for the day I made pancakes for the boys because that's what Lino wanted and I ended up having some as well.  I kind of felt like I was cheating because I don't normally have pancakes during the week so I knew I had to do a double workout for the day in order to make up for those extra calories that I consumed. And since I was going to do a double workout I added some peanut butter to my pancakes which make him tase oh so good!!!!  Lino seem to be doing much better he was getting around playing with me and Shaun and even asking to watch TV.  I told him if he help me clean up a little bit he can watch TV and he said that was a deal.   I really just want him to pick up his toys off the floor but when I started spraying down the tables he wanted to do that so I let him. 

Mommies big helper!!! And it's kind of payback for throwing up all over the house :-)

So we cleaned up for a while then I let me know watch TV so that I can get my first workout in.  Tim we ended up playing games for the rest of the afternoon because I didn't want him to be attached to the TV.  I knew he was feeling better so there's no reason to just be watching TV so we started playing Uno and he kind of enjoyed that.  Then we got a nice surprise from daddy he had brought us some tools for the fire because we had none.   He went to the store to get a fireplace set with the poker brush and shovel and even been to put the ashes and I thought that was really sweet of him to do that during his lunch break he loves his family so much, what a good daddy and husband!   The funny part is that when I was trying to put the pieces together I realize that the fireplace tool set was missing the shovel which was the key tool that I needed to clean out all the ashes.  Mike was not happy to hear that...it was almost a wasted trip but it was nice anyway.  I was just trying to keep the fire going so that we didn't have to heat the house but looks like I'll be turning on the heat ok well.  So after putting together the toolset play some more games and after Lino got tired of Uno I pulled out Jenga and we played that for another 30 minutes or so.   Actually had a really nice afternoon with him... playing games.  Shaun enjoyed playing Janga as well... well he actually enjoyed eating the pieces more than anything.  Oh Lino really surprised me because when we pulled out Uno he started saying his numbers in Spanish.  He was able to count to 5 in Spanish and I asked him if he had learned that it's cool and he told me no.  I wonder where he picked it up at... we have a couple toys that are bilingual and he watches some YouTube cartoons in Spanish so maybe he picked it up from there.. who knows?   After gametime I thought it would be fun for Lino to help me make dinner so he help me to cut up all the vegetables any help me to bread the chicken.  I also thought if he saw himself cooking that maybe he would be more interested in eating.  I did get him to eat raw mushrooms and raw sweet potatoes and he said they both tasted good.  It was funny because he even said that the sweet potatoes tasted kind of like carrots which he likes so I was hopeful that he would eat it when it was cooked.  I was a little freaked out about him helping me with the raw meat but I guess he needs to get in there and get his hands dirty so he knows what he is eating.  He actually did a good job and didn't get raw meat and eggs everywhere which I was thankful for.  Once we were done with the prep I figured I would take a moment to relax.  Shaun was sleeping in his swing so I made a cuppa tea, had a little slice of cake and watched my reality show...not by myself of course.  Lino was right on my lap and in my face and all into my show...so there goes my quiet time.  It was nice and relaxing anyway even though Lino was watching it with me I was just happy to be able to sit down and relax for a little while.    Today is Valentines day and our best friends Alicia's bday...but for some reason it just doesn't seem like it...seem like it's Vday.  So today I got to do a little TV interview with Nicole's breastfeeding group. I almost didn't make it since Lino was sick earlier in the week and he didn't want to go to school this morning so it made me super late plus the weather was horrible, raining, and I didn't know where I was going so got a little loss.  But I made it and it was pretty cool.  The TV crew was for the Today Show and they were doing a special on breastfeeding & mother toddler groups and somehow picked Nicole's.  So we spent about 3hrs there filming and chatting so it will be interesting to see how much they actually use and how much they cut.  I think it will air next week so it will be cool to see the final product.  So after my few minutes of blabbing on about breastfeeding I raced to get Lino and headed home.  I decided to make Mike a special vday brownie heart with Reese's peanut butter frosting...yum!!!  I actually made the powdered sugar myself because I forgot that I had used all of it last week and I just needed a little for the frosting so I used the coffee grinder to make it.  I wast sure if it was going to work but it did...very cool. Hopefully he likes his treat, I know he will I just hope he shares :-)    So we hung out the rest of the afternoon  and we waited for daddy to text to say he was on the way but Mike came home without sending a text...surprised us. So I popped everything in the oven and on the stove and got cooking.  We tried to make a big deal about Lino making the dinner but will be made his plate he said down, took one look at his food, and said he wasn't eating...go figure. Even though he wasn't eating he did sit down at the table and was talking to us so that's one step in the right direction.  We did get him to take one bite of broccoli and one bag of the sweet potato and that was pretty much it.  I know he was hungry but his stomach still be upset either way I didn't want to push the issue to eat so just let them be.  We had a quick night routine because there was no light bulb in the boys bathroom so no baths for them so we played games as a family and put them to bed.  Lino was more than exhausted and so was Shaun so they went down pretty quick. I pulled out Mikes vday gift while he was upstairs but he didn't even notice it.  I had to tell him and then he was shocked and happy...I love my hubby very much and I know I dorm show it enough but hopefully he knows it anyway. Happy bday hun!!

My sweet husband did share his treat with me which was so yummy we said we were only going to eat half big we pretty much ate 95% of it then left a few pieces just so that we couldn't say we ate all of it...it was so good and I felt like I kind of cheated because I had saved the extra brownie batter that the kids made on Monday so I didn't really have to make the brownie, just shape it and bake.  Oh well, it was good and that's all that mattered.   So Mike enjoyed his treat and we only stayed up for little while today before heading to bed...well before Mike went to sleep and I stayed up to work out again and finish blogging.  I should be more tired but I'm not and I needed to get that workout in.  I guess I have a lot of motivation since I've been losing weight on the regular basis and I want to keep up the trend so I guess is worth missing a few minutes of sleep.  Now let's see how long Shaun sleeps before I'll be back up.  I'm sure by the time I get into the bed and get settled he'll be waking up for his midnight feed which will be more than typical for him...oh Shaun Shaun.  As expected Shaun was up around the time I was going to bed but for some reason he just was not interested in going back to sleep.  He ended up waking up Lino and I was fighting with him to go back to sleep and just got so overwhelmed with both boys fussing and crying and being tired I was completely at my wits end.  I was sitting in the rocking chair with Shaun and Lino was in the bed crying and a lightbulb went off in my head, maybe I should move Shaun into his own room so that I can avoid waking up Lino in the middle of the night????   The first place I thought of was putting Shaun  and our closet but then I thought that would be crazy to put a kid in the closet.  Then I thought I would put them downstairs in the bedroom but then that would mean we would have to heat the upstairs and downstairs all night which is a little bit unreasonable.   Then I went back to my original thought about putting him in the closet and I wasn't sure why I thought it was ridiculous to put him in the closet because our closet is big enough for the pack and play so why wouldn't it be enough for him?  That was all I needed, so I went to get the pack and play and I moved into the closet then I moved the monitor into the closet as well and I got Shaun all set up in there.   I know Mike thought I was crazy but he kind of just stayed out of my way, probably because he was scared I would bite his head off.  Of course both boys were screaming at this point because I left them in the room and make them stay there while I moved Shaun's pack and play but once I got back and told Lino what I was doing he seemed to calm down a little bit.  I told him since Shaun keeps waking him up I was going to move him into another room so that he wouldn't wake him up anymore.  The first he was like okay because Shaun keeps waking me up then he was like I don't want to be by myself so we were at a crossroads.  I finally was able to convince him that Shaun's move was only temporary until he would sleep through the night so Lino seem to be okay with that arrangement… Thank goodness I got approval from the boss.   So I got Lino back into the bed and went to feed Shaun in the closet and finally was able to get him to go back to sleep, let's see how long he last in here...   Saturday was pretty normal, pancakes, family walk to Fitzpatricks, stopped at the playground for a while because weather was nice and Lino insisted, cleaned up, went shopping and chilled at the house.   Sunday we celebrated Mikes bday because we didn't want to have bday dinner on the weekday, too many calories.  So first Mike made breakfast, eggs Benedict which turned out the same as last week...and I didn't even touch the hollandaise sauce.  I made the eggs and bacon which turned out fabulous but for some reason the hollandaise sauce broke and was super oily.  Mike was so disappointed and he couldn't even be mad at me this time but I did feel bad so I tried to make him feel better by saying he saved himself a bunch of extra calories by not eating the sauce. I think that helped a little but nt completely.  Well we will get a week vacation from his Eggs Benedict attempts so hopefully when he tries again it will work out.  So after breakfast we tried to get motivated to go but no one was interested.  Lino wanted to watch a movie and that was my signal to nap...I was so tired for some reason.   Somehow we comvinced him to watch Captian Phillips so that's what they put on...and he was totally into it which was crazy.  So Shaun & I ended up napping for about a hour which was nice, I really needed it. Then at some point I guess Lino got board so he had Mike change it to Despicable Me and as soon as Shaun heard the theme song he popped up...such a bad sign...my baby is already addicted to TV.  So that was pretty much it for nap time for me but I did lay around for a while tryin to hold on to my last few minutes of sleep.  Once I got up it was decided that I would go shopping while Mike stayed home with the boys.  Why didn't we go shopping for all the stud we needed on Saturday you might ask, because my husband thinks it a good idea to go shopping on Sunday so we have something to so.  But every Sunday we are always dragging ass because no one ever wants to get up and do anything.  And about 50% of the time we go to the store on Saturday so it doesn't make since to go back on Sunday too but we do.  Anyway I went shopping and must have had lead in my shoes because it took me an hour to shop and that's about how long it normally takes me when I have both boys...something is wrong with that picture.  So I got all the stuff we needed for the week (3 days really), my coffee morning and a few last minute things for Mikes traditional bday dinner: mac & cheese, cornbread & fried chicken.   Mike fed the boys while I was out, commented about my stay at the store, I made us a little sandwich for lunch, started prep on dinner which took forever, we FaceTimed with Mikes parents, I cooked dinner which turned out ok, Lino actually at mac & cheese for the first time ever which shocked the shit out of us.  For the past year he has to us he didn't like mac & cheese and he wouldn't eat it for nothing and now all of a sudden he likes it and is eating it...go figure.  The mac & cheese was ok, no match for velveta mac @ cheese or gruyere mac & cheese but it was ok, the cornbread was nothing close to Jiffy (not sweet enough at all) but the fried chicken was on point at least...so at least they won't take my black card from me.   Last but not least we had the traditional apple crisp with ice cream.  We tried to entice Lino with dessert and encourage him to eat dinner which only partially worked.  He ate a few spoons of mac & cheese, one bite of chicken (he said he didn't like it...crazy kid) and a couple bites of cornbread.  So I told him if he are he could have dessert so he pretty much ate what we agreed on but once he was done he wanted iPad time instead of dessert.  This kid is crazy, he would rather be on the iPad than have dessert...who does that?   So no dessert for him but he did eat so I was happy.   The bad part was that he acted a complete fool when it was time to turn the iPad off so I told him no iPad for a week.  It's been getting worse and worse with him and the iPad or phones so I had enough...hopefully he will learn.  So the boys went to bed and we pigged out on the whole pot if apple crisp...a portion big enough for 3-4 servings...including ice cream.  It was so good and I made the crisp part a little more salty so that it would balance better with the sweet filling and it was amazing...so 2000 calories for dinner/dessert later and we were stuffed and happy.  I knew I was going to have to work out doubly hard to get rid of those extra calories but they were so worth it.  I hope hunny had a good bday!  Love you Mike!!!!

Week of Feb 17

Happy birthday Mike!!!!!!  

So Shaun has been in the closet for the last three days and it seems to be working out pretty well.  The first night he did get up and cry for little while but I was able to sit outside the door and calm him down within about five minutes and he didn't wake up Lino so that was pretty exciting.   The next two nights he woke up but went back to sleep within a minute so I didn't have to get up to sooth him… Maybe this is the beginning of a new sleeping pattern.  Actually like the fact that he's in the room with us but in his own little room I think it's a good transition instead of just going directly into the room with Lino.  I think we will keep him in there for another week or two to make sure he is used to sleeping through the night... that way we have less chance of him waking Lino up when we move him back into the room.  Fingers crossed this is the beginning of the end but I guess only time will tell…  Today we went to a friends house to play...I kind of made last minute arrangements but it seemed to work out anyway.  Lino had a good time and so did I.  Then we came home for lunch and so that I could get dinner in the crock pot then back out for a second play date near the city.   Another good but quick afternoon and the day completely flew by.  Mike got off early for his bday which was nice but we didn't have anything special for him since we did all of it yesterday.  But it was nice to have him home and him and the boys wrastled for a while since they had the extra time with him.    Tuesday was coffee morning at one of Lino's most favorite houses...the mom has 3 boys and they love Lino and he loves them!   It was a lot of fun and busy but trying to get Lino to leave after 3hrs of being at the house was not easy. Eventually I was able to get him into the car but not without a lot of resistance.  I would have been more embarrassed but this was not the first time he acted like this so the mom was more than prepared and totally understand.   Oh well.  I gave Nicole a quick call to see if she has any plans for the afternoon because the weather was nice thought it would be a good idea to go to Fota.   But she had plans already so that meant our afternoon was going to be free.  I decided to go to the Dunnes store after leaving the coffee morning but I passed my exit and was about to just go home but decided to turn around and go to the store anyway since we did not have anything planned for the afternoon.  I only needed to get a couple of items, Greek yogurt that I can't find anywhere else, but we ended up spending almost 2 hours at the store.   Mostly because Lino wanted to try this and that pick up that run around and I was chasing him and fighting Shaun at the same time...it was a little chaotic to say the least.   Oh and both kids were hungry so they were super fussy and wanted me to get things to eat but didn't understand we had to wait to eat them until we got out of the store...it was bad.   So we got our food, when outside to let them eat, had to make a restroom break, and finally made it to the car to head home.   I preped for dinner, played games with Lino then went to get Mike.  It was kind of funny because we had planned to meet Mike at the gas station but apparently I was moving slower than I thought I was because I passed Mike on the main road and didn't really realize it until after I had passed him.  Lino and I thought it was funny but I'm not sure Mike agreed.   So even though I had dinner pretty much prepped it still took longer for me to cook then I had expected so that meant we were behind schedule a little bit for the night.  And to add onto that neither one of us remember to turn on the hot water so we had no hot water for the boys bath. Mike just wanted to skip the bath but I thought it would be a good idea just to boil water so that the boys could at least have the bath… It was a little bit of a pain but we made it work.   Lino was pooped so he was out quick Shaun took a little bit more time but eventually he gave him is well.  Mike and I worked out for little while, relax and watch the tube, then Mike went to bed while I stayed up to finish up a few things.    This week is school break so Lino is home all week. I should be sleeping since tomorrow I'll have another full day with Lino but for some reason I'm just not tired yet.    Wednesday we met up with Martha and the boys to play at Go Safari.  We had a good time other than one incident that completely turned both of us off.  The story goes like this... we were there for a little while when the boys wanted something to eat. Neither Martha or I wanted to give them the crap that they served at the cafe but we also knew the boys were not ready to go and since we can't bring outside food in we had to settle on getting food from the café.  So we both ordered burgers and fries for the boys and waited for them to come.  Lino was so hungry he kept asking me where the food was a really didn't take long but it seems like forever because I knew he was hungry.  Eventually the food came and we saw the lady walking towards our table, we had table numbers to indicate that we were the ones that order the food.  So the boys are already sitting at the table waiting for the food and like I said we saw the lady walking over to the table and we started to head that way.    Before we could get to the table we both were stopped by the smaller kids and it took us an extra few minutes to get over to the table and by that time the lady was walking away from the table back towards the café.  We looked at our table the food was already there Lino went to reach for his bowl or something like that and he knocked the food on the floor.  I was so confused, I didn't know the lady just left the food there and especially leaving it with 2 kids at the table.  It really took me a min to realize that he did knock the food over and that the lady had just left it on the table with 2 kids.  So Martha told me to go and complain and get them to replace it which I agreed but I knew that they wouldn't, Ireland just doesn't seem to be customer oriented at all!!!  So I went up there and told the lady what happen and she just told me that it's not her responsibility to "mind the food" so they wouldn't replace it.  I told her I didn't want her to mind the food just not to set it down with 2 kids and expect it to be ok. She wasn't budging and Lino was getting upset because he was hungry and I threw his food out so I didn't want to waste anymore time fighting with the lady over a €6 meal, that probably only cost them €1.50 to make, so I paid for another meal and asked the lady to hurry.  That was the end of it for me but not for Martha.  She was really upset that they wouldn't replace the meal and was trying to talk to one of the managers but she was just blowing her off.  It was bad and I couldn't believe the manager was acting like that. If that had happened in America most places would have replaced the food with almost no hassle at all. First of all the customer is always right and they don't want to lose the business so most companies will do whatever they can to keep customers coming and keep them happy.  You would think that the same logic was true and Ireland especially with the recession but no they don't care about the customers and they don't care if they're happy or not it's just crazy.  So Martha went back-and-forth with the lady for a little while and as expected really gotten nowhere.  And it wasn't the fact that we had to pay another €6 for a meal because that is pretty small, it's just the fact that they weren't willing replace it and that they didn't admit any fault in putting the food on the table with kids sitting there.  Martha even made a point about putting hot food on the table, like soup or coffee, and seeing how that could be a danger to the kids in the play center.  To that statement the lady was like "we wouldn't put any hot food like soup or coffee down at the table unless an adult was there".   So now that didn't make any sense at all, because just a few minutes ago they said they don't have the staff to mind our food, but now all of a sudden they do have the staff to make sure that they don't put hot soup coffee on the table with kids.   To me that means they basically don't know what the policy is all they want to do is not replaced the food and brush off any blame onto the parents which is pretty horrible if you ask me.   We even mention to them that when we go to monkey maze if you place an order they usually call your name or your number over the intercom so that the adults could come to collect the food.  We suggested that they do something like that and the lady was like we don't have enough staff for that and we don't want to make a lot of announcements over the intercom so no. I just couldn't believe how combative the lady was and how determined she was that she was right and we were wrong it really just blew my mind.  So after that debate we sat down with our new meal finally and we just fuss about the situation.  We talked about not coming back to that place but we both agreed it was a little bit better the monkey maze and there aren't very many options so it would be hard to boycott it.  I guess that's why they didn't bother with replacing our meal because they knew we will be back because there aren't very many choices in Cork.  So the point of the story is that customer service means nothing here in Ireland and it very much so bothered me but there's not much we can do about it just live with it and keep going and that safety is it really the highest on some of these places list at least not this place.   So it was a little more stressful than it had to be but the boys got their food we let them play some more of them ran for the door because we couldn't wait to get out of there.   Although we will not be boycotting the place I think he will be a few weeks before I go back and I know the same is true for Martha.  So instead of going back home after I go Safari adventure Martha invited me over for coffee so we headed over there to spend the afternoon.  We had a good time hanging out with the boys Martha made a quick lunch which was nice and then eventually I had to go because I had another friend coming over to the house to help me bake and prepare for the coffee morning on Thursday.  Of course Lino didn't want to leave but had to be done I took him kicking and screaming and Martha left as well to try and put the boys down for nap.  We know was pretty tired from all the fun at go Safari so of course he went to sleep before we got home and I let him sleep for a little while so that Amelia and I could start baking.  We had fun baking and it was funny because Amelia doesn't bake and she thought it would be a good idea for me to trying teach her.  I'm not sure why she thinks I'm a good baker but I said she could bake with me anytime.  So Lino slept for about 30 min before I woke him up and I knew he was going to be cranky so I made sure to have the TV ready so that he would have something to look forward to.  Between all the kids we were able to just barely get the cheesecake done and in the oven before it was too much for them.  I started to make dinner and tried to invite Amelia to stay with us but she declined because she thought she was intruding… Hopefully next time I can convince her to stay.   I took the cheesecake out just in time before she left and it looked great so I can't wait to taste it on Thursday.   We have one more cake to bake on Thursday but I wanted to wait to do it in the morning because I knew it would be too much for the kids for us to make two cakes in one day… Plus it has to be fresh for all the moms :-)   So I made a quick curry for dinner went to get my homework we had a quick dinner that Lino actually ate which I was happy about.  He is actually not doing too bad with trying new foods and eating new things as long as I don't push the issue too much he usually at least tries the food.    Thursday morning came quicker than I wanted it to.  Amelia said she would try to be there at 9 to start on the last cake but I knew there was a 50:50 chance of her making it right at 9 because she has her hands full since she is kind of on her own.   So after we dropped Mike off at work I stopped by Fitzpatrick's shop to get more eggs and sugar  because we were out.  I tried to stall for a little while I getting everything prepped, like the banana smashed all the ingredients pulled out the pan greased but it was getting too late so I had to go ahead and make the cake.  I knew it wasn't going to be an issue because we would have plenty of time to bake so I just finished prepping for the visitors.   Although I thought I had pretty much everything done and I didn't think I would be rushing around, I was rushing.  I was glad she was there because she helped to distract the boys so that I could finish up the last few things before everyone started to arrive.  I was expecting a slightly big crowd because this week is school break and it was a nice crowd the parking in the driveway was crazy.  But it came out pretty good the case for nice and I think all the moms had a good time so I was happy about that.  My new American friend even showed up with one of her friends so that was nice and another friend who usually doesn't make it today Thursday coffee mornings came over so was good to see her as well.  Lino had a ball and the kids had a ball as well, the weather was nice so they ended up going outside and playing on our Brokedown swingset and everybody thought it was great.  The time flew by really quickly but by the time everyone left it was already 1:30 and I was pooped.  I had told Martha that I might come over afterwards but I was too tired to do anything and Shaun was just finally going down for nap so I spent a few minutes cleaning up before Lino and I sat down to play.  For some reason I really enjoy having the coffee mornings at the house I just love having people over making the cakes and seeing all the kids run around. Even though the house is usually completely destroyed afterwards, it just seems to be so worth it I would do it twice a month if I could I really look forward to hosting the coffee morning.    Friday was a quick day as well Mike asked me what I had planned for the day and I kind of gave him a roundabout answer because I didn't want him to know what I was actually doing.  I actually went to go get my hair done, braided, which was a big adventure for me.  When Mike asked me what I was doing today I gave him a very generic answer because I wanted to surprise him when he got off of work.  I had planned to take the train to the city with the boys walked to the salon...the weather wasn't the greatest and it was a little bit far from the station but we have to time and I need to exercise so we just went for it.  Lino and Shaun both had a good time walking even though it rained, slightly, a couple times on the walk but we made it with pretty much no problems.  I was a little nervous about having both boys there but there wasn't much I could do.  I didn't want to drop them off at a friends house especially since it was kind of a last-minute decision and I didn't want to wait until the weekend to do it because that would just take away from family time.  So I sucked it up and took him with me but the ladies are really nice house to watch them and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I had packed a little lunch for Lino because I knew he would get hungry so he was able to eat, had snacks, had his iPad and there was even another boy around his age that he ended up playing with for about a hour or so and that helped a lot. Now Shaun on the other hand was a different story.  I made sure he didn't fall asleep on the walk to the salon but when we got there I thought he would go to sleep but he was so interested in the new place he just roamed around for a while. It wouldn't have been so bad but the problem is there is hair all over the floor and he just kept picking up little stuff and putting it in his mouth so I was up and down picking him up trying to keep him out of trouble.  Eventually he did take a nap which was nice so I got about 40 minutes of peace but then he was back to being busy again. Overall he was pretty good so really I'm not complaining at all and my hair turned out nice so it was worth the trip. It took a little longer then the lady had expected but that's just because I had to keep getting up and down with Lino and Shaun so of course it added extra time but I was prepared for that.  Lino actually didn't want to leave when it was over but the other little boy left a few minutes before us so that helped to push them out the door. We walked back to the train station and of course there was a little bit of rain on the walk back but otherwise it was a nice walk.  That pretty much took up the whole day so once we got home there was a lot of time to do anything else...I got a few mins to do a couple things then it was time to go get Mike from work.  Lino told me he didn't like my hair but I kind of ignored him because he had never seen my hair braided like that before so I knew he would say something like that...hopefully in a couple days he'll be use to it.  Mike was also surprised when he saw me and stared at my hair for about an hour but eventually he said it looked fine.   He too, doesn't like my hair braided like this but it's the most convenient thing for me especially with this weather so they will both have to just suck it up and deal with it.  Of course my head was throbbing at this point because the lady sprayed so tired but I know the pain will pass so no reason to complain… Ha ha ha.  Nicole reminded me that the breastfeeding interview was going to be on so I recorded it so that we didn't miss it when I went to get Mike from work.  Thankfully it's repeat Friday so no cooking was needed...we got home just in time to eat and watch the Today Show. Unfortunately our little 2min segment was at the end of the show but it was worth the wait.  It was pretty cool and all the momma's did a good job.  I was pretty shocked because they actually spent a little extra time talking about me and my experience as an American mom breastfeeding while working.  It was cool to have an extra 5sec of fame...even if it had to come while in Cork.   The boys played for a while then bath & bed and were able to hang out for the evening.

My new do...very convenient even if it's not super fancy!

      Saturday was a busy day for us but fun... We were going to see Gruffalo with my new friend and we had planned to walk to the train station but the weather was kind of bad and I thought we might not walk but we decided to go ahead and put all of our rain gear in the stroller and go for it.  Luckily it didn't rain on the way there so that was nice, so we got the train, went to the city and made it to the opera house a few minutes before the show started.  I wasn't exactly sure what to expect but there was a lot more kids there and it was more crowded and overwhelming than I had planned.  But we bullied our way through with our big double stroller and managed to get to our seats.  Unfortunately we didn't buy tickets together so my friend was down below and we were up top but we did see each other so that we knew where the other person was at.  Mike ended up by Lino a little cheap plastic Gruffalp stick puppet and when I asked him how much it was he said it was €5 and I about dropped my jaw on the floor!  This was the cheapest looking little thing I had ever seen in my life and I couldn't believe it was €5...but I guess since Lino wanted it he didn't want to turn him down.   So overall the play was okay, to me, and Lino seem to like it as well.  Shaun was even intrigued by the show for the first 10 minutes or so, so I guess it was good enough for them.  

My boys at their first play/musical!

Lino laughed and smiled pretty much the whole time.  There was only one time during the play that Lino got scared and that was because all the kids were yelling in anticipation for what was coming up next and since Lino really didn't know the story I think it scared him.  And then at the end because he was kind of on edge about all the screaming from the kids when it was actually over and the Gruffalo was waving goodbye Lino was trying to figure out what was going on and hesitated in saying goodbye to the Gruffalo…and that that was a very bad mistake!!!!!  He basically freaked out because all the characters were gone and he had to say goodbye and then the tears started flowing, then the screaming, then the tantrum came… OMG!!!!  Mike and I were a little bit surprised by his reaction but then we remembered he got up so early today he was probably super exhausted. So the combination of being overly tired I'm not saying goodbye just set him in a whirlwind of emotions.   We met up with my friend to make plans to walk to the café for brunch and I'm trying to calm Lino down but he just kept crying    "I didn't get to say goodbye to the Gruffalo!  I told him maybe the Gruffalo would be downstairs so we went down to see but of course he wasn't so the crying increased.  Then I tried to talk to him to see if he could come up with any options for what we could do to say goodbye to the Gruffalo and he had nothing.  I told him we could go and see if he was on the stage again and maybe we could say goodbye then and he said okay and I just cross my fingers that maybe he would be on the stage but I knew he wouldn't be.  And of course he wasn't so as expected the crying increased yet again. Then we just sat and talked about it for a little while and I told him that we could write the Gruffalo a letter to let him know that he said goodbye and he seemed to be okay with that.  I thought we were in the clear and that the tears were going to be over we got outside and walked only a few steps before he started crying again about not saying goodbye to the Gruffalo...this is going to be a long walk.  At this point my patients was wearing thin so I tried a couple more times to let him know we were going to write a letter but after 5 minutes of him screaming as were walking I had enough.  So they kept walking and Lino and I stopped to have a powwow...I let him basically scream and cry and I told him when he was done we would keep walking.  It took a few minutes but eventually he calmed down and I reminded him that we were going to write the letter soon as we got home and I think it finally clicked and he was really okay with the solution... Maybe he wasn't exactly okay with a solution but he seemed to be settled and at least not in hysteria about not being able to say goodbye.  I really did feel bad for him but I needed him to come down because he was just going to get yourself even more upset and more tired and it was going to be a rough afternoon for him.  So we got to the restaurant and of course there was a long line but it wasn't too bad of a wait.  We had a good time had a nice brunch a really good talks I wish we could do this more often but it's pretty hard with the kids.  The funny thing is that every time we go to Liberty Grill Lino has to go poop and even though it's been months since we've been there Lino had to go poop before we left… Mike and I just laughed.  On the walk back Lino and his friend  wanted to sit together in the stroller so they did and I carried Shaun in the sling while they played...it was really cute.  It seem like the day went by so fast I guess it's because we had such a good time.  We made it to the train station just in time for the train and we got to our station just in time for the rain to start so the walk back to the house was filled with lots of rain and wind.  I guess it wasn't a lot of rain but with all the wind it just made it kind of annoying but thankfully we didn't get soaked and thankfully my hair was afraid it wasn't too stressed.  We cleaned up rest for little while inside to go shopping we need to get food for the week and stuff to have dinner on Sunday because we were having our neighbors over for lasagna.  For some reason shopping always takes us forever so we spent over an hour in the store and spent way too much money on nothing but in the sweetie have a shopping down for the next few days.  Once we got home it was already late so Mike made a quick garlic and oil pasta, we had dinner, put the boys in the bed and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.      Sunday was super super busy… We were going to have just cereal for breakfast but I didn't want cereal so I ended up making breakfast tacos.  We should've just had cereal because I made a complete mess with the kitchen but since the kitchen was already destroyed I suggested to Mike, or he suggested to me, that we should just start cooking so that we didn't have to clean the kitchen two times.  It wasn't even noon and we were having dinner until 5:30 but it ended up being a good idea.  Whenever Mike cooks it always takes forever because his meals per so intricate and has a million steps so it was a good thing that we started early.  We ended up having to go back to the store because he needed a few extra items that we didn't get the previous day so we multitask and I went to the store while he went to the auto store to get a fuse for the car.  Even though Mike was all the way across the street and I only had a couple of items to get he was way quicker than I was made it back to the store just in time for me to check out.  So after shopping, again, fluid home had a quick lunch and finished the prep for dinner.  We thought we were done we just relaxed and played with the boys and watch movies and then a little bit before it was time for our neighbors come over we started getting things ready.  I had told my neighbors before that we would probably not be on time and of course we were but they didn't seem to mind.  The bad part was that Shaun was super tired and I didn't put them down for nap soon enough so he fell asleep right before they arrived but didn't sleep long and he was super cranky the whole meal.  Lino wasn't interested in eating either so he was a handful as well.  So basically I was chasing Lino and trying to figure out what was wrong with Shaun and didn't really can't to talk to our company.  I know they totally understand but I still felt bad but anyway we had a good dinner.  The lasagna came out pretty good it was a little cheesy but still good and the Toffee Pudding that Mike made was delectable as always.  Poor Lino was so upset when you're eating dessert because he wanted cake but he didn't eat any dinner so I told him he couldn't have any cake.  I hate eating sweets in front of him like that but he wouldn't even eat two bites of the lasagna and I know he likes it...my hands were tied.  So after dinner we got the boys ready for bath and that's when I found out that Shaun had a major diaper rash.  It must've happened between him waking up from his nap and I guess leaving because I checked his diaper when he woke up and he had nothing in it but after they left his butt was completely raw...poor baby.  So we let him run around for a few minutes to try and air out the soreness before putting him in the bath.  It was funny because both boys got naked and ready for the bath but then started playing with the bicycle and Shaun ended up pushing Lino around in the hallway and I thought it was the cutest thing ever so I had to get a picture...

Shawn's diaper rash was worse than I thought because he wouldn't even sit in the bath water.  I just felt so bad for him and was shocked by how quickly his butt is so sore. I knew he was teething but this is just horrible, I just hope it goes away quickly... for his sake and mine.  So before bed I tried to put diaper cream on his bottom but he was basically screaming the whole time and with tears in my eyes I pushed on because I knew he needed to have something on his bottom.  I just said a prayer that hopefully overnight it would get a little bit better you never know with these things.  That was actually his first real diaper rash so I was a little bit lost about what to do...please God don't let it get worse overnight. 

Week of Feb 24th

I can't believe it's the last week of February already...time is flying by so quickly and in a couple of days Shaun will be 11 months and before you know it one year...where does the time go??   So unfortunately this morning we got up and change Shaun's diaper and the rash was still there and it looked to be slightly worse than before.  I tried to be as soft as possible cleaning up the diaper cream he had on him but he was screaming his poor little head off.  So we let them run around with no diaper on for the morning to try and help dry it out.  We dropped Mike off at work thing came back to the house because I needed to get some laundry done. I worked on that for a while what the boys played and we headed out to monkey maze to meet up with some friends.  I have packed a lunch us just in case we stayed longer than a couple hours.  Even though we love in a decent time we know eight his snack almost as soon as we got there and thankfully Michelle invited us over for lunch and coffee so I didn't have to stress too much about him not having food.  We had a good time playing and it was good to see one of my other friends and unfortunately she's going back to work soon so I have to take advantage of these times while I can.  After I was finally able to drag me know out of the play area we headed up to Michelle's house, it wasn't that easy because I got lost of course but eventually we made it.  Michelle was super gracious and made us lunch and we hung out there pretty much all afternoon. I kind of felt bad once I realize the time but she didn't seem to mind and I really enjoyed the company it was nice to have a chat with her.  And of course before we left Shaun had another poopy  diaper that basically just kept eating away the skin off of his bottom so Michelle help me to clean him off and gave me some cream to use that she swears by.   So we got him all set then I had to drag Lino out kicking and screaming because he wanted to keep watching TV and we headed home.  But like I said I didn't really realize the time and when I did I saw it was almost 5:30 so I called Mike to see if we could just pick him up now instead of going to the house for 10min and having to turn around and come back out for him.  The weather was getting bad at that point so I just wanted I be in the house if possible...and he was able to leave so that worked out good.  So once we got home I scrambled to cook dinner while Mike stripped Shaun of his diaper again so that his butt could get some air.  We scarfed down dinner, Mike & I did, the boys didn't eat at all it seemed, then got the boys ready for bath.    Tuesday was coffee morning then back home for the day. I didn't set up any play dates so we just went outside to play since the weather was sort of nice for the moment. I actually got Lino to play on his swing set for a while which was nice.  We even kicked the ball around for a while and had a mini quick picnic outside. I say mini because Lino barely ate but it was nice to get out and have a change of routine.  I'm do glad the weather was nice, it seems like it's been months since we were able to just go outside for a while and enjoy a little warmer weather and some sun on our skin.  So I tried to extend our time outside by bringing the bikes out so that the boys could ride them on the driveway but after about 5 min of Lino trying to climb up the hill of a driveway he ended up rolling down the hill and falling off of his bike and he was done with being outside. Oh well for that idea, but it was fun while it lasted.  It ended up working out anyway because it started raining about 20min after we got in...but I was able to capture the moment before the clouds came in!  

Shaun Shaun is 11mo today!!  I can't believe it's been that long...time really does fly by. Happy 11mo Shaun Shaun!!  At this stage Shaun is taking steps but not walking...any day now. He is pointing at things and babbling, super cute.  He eats almost everything, loves rice, apples, grapes (new favorite), and popcorn.  Says momma, dada, pop pop, car, night night and ball. Loves to feed his self, only drinks water (we don't really give him juice but I'm sure if we did he would drink it), loves to go down the hall by his self to play in the play room. He's starting to fight back with Lino and won't let him just take his toys...it's funny as heck. Oh and he loves to go up the stairs and when I tell him to come down he just crawls even faster...he thinks it's a game. He loves bath time but doesn't really like the water to be on his face, he loves to be naked. He is such a joy and loves his brother more than anything in the world, and Lino loves him just as much. Shaun is so mellow yet demanding he is just the most perfect balance to our crazy family. Love him to pieces!!!!!   

So Lino went to school and I did a few things around the house. After school we had lunch then met up with Annett at the park for a quick outdoor time.  Even tho it was completely gray and cold it wasn't raining so we just toughed it out and let the kids play. I think they had fun but Annett and I were frozen!  I couldn't wait to get out of the cold!    Thursday after dropping the hubby & Lino off I headed over to Nicole's house for a little before going to the breastfeeding group.  I had planned to go to the breastfeeding group for a little to sell tickets to the Cuidiu talk then go to the coffee morning in Midleton but decided to just stay there...I didn't feel like rushing to Midleton then back to Glanmire to get Lino. So I had a nice relaxing morning and we just relaxed all afternoon as well.  I love lazy Fridays!   Saturday was fun, busy and lazy all at the same time.  We got up earlier than we wanted to but the kiddos were up and wouldn't play nice so I ended up getting up with them at 7 and Mike slept in until 8:30.  I tried to make pancakes but needed Mike to go to the store to get more buttermilk so that I could finish the batter.  I totally had a brain fart and didn't know how much butter milk I added so had to so a slight formula adjustment on the pancakes.  Lino scarfed down 6 cakes so I guess they turned out ok. The we went for a walk. We had only planned to walk to Fitzpatricks then back to the house but at the last min we decided to take a ride on the train to the city to get more cheese for Mike.  Since we didn't time it right we had about 30min to spare so Mike went back to the shop to get us a little snack...how sweet.  While we were waiting we were trying to decide what we were going to have for dinner on Sunday and neither one of us could come up with anything we wanted so we decided to I to Eco for dinner.  So Mike called to make a reservation and even tho it was a little later than we wanted we were kind of excited to go out, it's been months since we have eaten out so it's like a big deal.  We went to the city, got cheese & a rice ball for Lino at the Italian shop (he saw the rice ball and had to have it), went to the English Market to get fresh mozzarella & Sundried tomatoes for a sandwich on Sunday, got Lino a sausage that he devoured then headed back home.  We didn't make it home before the rain came but it wasn't too bad so I can't complain too much. We go cleaned up and went back out to do our shopping for the week. We decided to start shopping for the week on Saturday so that we could just chill on Sunday...not a bad idea.  So shopped for a while and ran a few errands before going back home.  We were all pooped from the walk and running around so we watched a movie before getting the boys to bed.   Sunday Mike tried to take the boys downstairs so that I could sleep in for a little but I was pretty much up and couldn't go back to sleep...all I could think about was all the laundry that needed to be done and the fact that Mike didn't have any underware so I got up and got on the laundry.  I got so motivited I made mike keep the boys so that I could sort thru their clothes and get rid of the ones that were getting too small.  I had a bunch of clothes for Shaun that I needed to rotate in but I just never did so it was nice to finally get rid of all the 6mo clothes that I've been squeezing him in and put out the 12mo clothes that actually fit him.  Lino even had some clothes that needed to be removed because he is just getting to big for them.  So after 2hrs of doing clothes I was finally done and it was almost lunch time and both boys were tired so we had the great idea to drive them around for a while to get them to fall asleep so that we could go to the shop to get our scone and come home and have 5min of peace while we enjoyed our snack.  We are staring to call this scone Sunday because we actually get 5min if peace that we share together while we enjoy our amazing Fitzpatricks scones. So we drove around for a while until Lino fell asleep, Shaun was out pretty quick.  We got home and were able to enjoy a moment...it was nice. Then we had lunch, fancy grilled cheese sandwiches and I felt a nap coming on so Mike told me to go upstairs and nap...so I ran upstairs before he changed his mind!!!!  He had to wake up Lino because we didn't want him to sleep to long or else he wouldn't go to sleep until late so I did hear him getting him up and I guess Shaun woke up at the same time too because it was like a dual screaming match.  I was so tired that it only kept me up a few min before I completely passed out...I so needed that nap.  I guess I slept almost 2hrs and I felt so good!  I went downstairs to see what was going on and Mike was trying I nap while Lino was watching a movie but I could tell Lino wasn't allowing him to and Shaun seemed happy playing.  So we all vegged out on the couch, decided to not go out to eat because no one wanted to be bothered with leaving the house so we had leftovers and did FaceTime with the family.  It was a great end to the week, I love just chilling out with the family...no stress no drama!  

Need to get out more and Super Bowl week!

Week of Jan 19th

This week actually went by pretty quick. The beginning of the week is always slow because I have both boys at home all day and I usually don't have enough activities set up for us so we get board quick but once Lino goes to school it gets better. Hopefully I'll get better at making plans for us but for now I pretty much suck at it.  Monday we didn't have anything to do except go to the GP because Mike was worried about Shaun's caught. We ended up going to a new place because I had heard it was better. After we went there and I gave them my 55€ to tell me Shaun was fine we went to Monkey Maze because Lino was dying to go. We spent most of the day there and right before we left I met an American lady that Mike had met before. We had actual exchanged emails before but never met so it was kind of funny that we would meet in such a way. It's crazy how small Cork is. Lino didn't have a great time there but I think it was good enough.   He was kind of board to begin with because there were no other kids his age and the little girls he tried to play with would't play with him so it made it hard. Eventually he found some boys to play with but one of them was kind of a bully but Lino wanted to keep playing with him anyway.   He wasn't a bad kid he was just pretty aggressive and a boss anyway I have to try and so better about getting some friends for Lino to play with. That evening I made these lettuce wraps that were pretty tasty and I was even shocked when Lino ate his. I did cheat a little because I put a little honey in his but I knew he would eat it if it was a little sweet...so I was happy.     Tuesday we went to coffee morning then back to the house. I was going to go to the playground but it was just to cold and gray outside for me. So we cleaned up the playroom then played a few games before heading out to get Mike. We had started a puzzle and Lino was really into it but the funny part was that he wasn't really doing the puzzle it was me finding the pieces and he was just fitting them into the spot...it's funny how that works.   Lino was tired and ready for bed so it was an easy night to get the boys to sleep.     School on Wednesday so I had a few hours of Lino free time. I went to look for a craft store because Lino has about 10 pairs of pants with the knees all torn out so I wanted to patch them if possible.  I went to the Mahon retail area and asked around for a place that would have something for me but the place they suggested was closed for another hour...I couldn't justify staying for a hour doing nothing so I went home. I was able to clean a little while Shaun napped then when he woke up I vacuumed because he likes the vacuum for some reason. I finally was able to put away all the suitcases from Christmas since I finally unpacked the last bag...it's only been 2 weeks since we got home.  Then off to get Lino. I had made an appt to get him assessed for swimming but I knew if he was going to be cranky we were not going to make it. I also was trying to find him play dates for today but couldn't pull it together so we ended up staying home...again...this is getting old fast. I told Lino about the swimming and he was excited. So I told him he had to eat his lunch so we could go and he said ok but that is Lino code for No Way In Hell!!!!!  We went round and round about eating for hours and finally I gave up and told him we had to go to the swimming pool so that I could talk to the teacher. He thought he was going to be able to swim but I wanted him to see the pool and get excited and hopefully motivate him to eat. So we headed out there and he was excited to see the pool and he wanted to get in!!!! I had to convince him that he couldn't go today because be didn't eat but if he ate dinner he could go tomorrow. "I don't want to go tomorrow I want to go today!!!"  He said that about a million times and finally he gave up and we left. I felt like I might have made some impact but only time would tell.  So I rescheduled our swimming assessment apt because Lino didn't eat and I was hopeful that he would eat tomorrow then we left. He was a little of a mess in the car, he really wanted to go swimming.  So we hurried to the home focus place so that I could get the patches and the lady kind of looked at me like I was crazy because I wanted to patch up my sons pants. I know it's cheep and I should just buy more but he's just going to rip them up in a couple of weeks so I need something to do with them in the in between time. Anyway, Lino found some superman patches that he liked too so I got those as well and we headed to get Mike. The traffic ping thru the tunnel was crazy but nothing compared to Dallas traffic so I couldn't complain too much. So we got Mike went home for dinner and of course Lino didn't eat...no surprise. He looked at dinner and was like "I'm ready for bed"...hahahaha. I had to laugh and if I was really sensitive I would take it to offense but it doesn't bother me anymore...it's not my cooking it's my son :-)    Oh what am I going to do with Mr Lino???         Coffee morning Thursday but I went to the store to get a few thugs for dinner/lunch first.  The whole morning I was thinking of ways to get Lino to eat and came up with: let him cook what he wants to eat and taste the food and put it together like he likes it!  So I was excited to try and see how it would work out. I went to the house for a few min before heading off to the coffee morning and I even got to patch a few pants first.  I didn't want them to show so I put the patches on the inside of the pants. I wasn't sure exactly how well it would work out but I figured I would give it a try. It seemed to stick ok but now let's see how many washes I get out of it before they fall apart again...I love the home craft projects. So I headed out and I got to see a bunch of the moms I hadn't seen in a while so that was nice. I finally got to give Nicole the card for Cian and we ended up making plans for later in the day so that was nice. Once I went to get Lino I told him he could make his own lunch and if he made it I would tak him swimming. He seemed to be interested so we talked about what he could make and he came up with rice. Then I suggested a wrap with ham and he said no but when we got home he was like "I want to try the ham mom". So he made his own rice then we pulled out all the fixings for a ham wrap: ham, mayo, mustard, cheese & tortilla. He tasted all the ingredients then put them all in his wrap and freaking ate it!!!! I've made him a ham wrap about a dozen times and he might have eaten a whole one combined...I was shocked but happy. I guess he wants to be in charge of his cooking which is cool with me as long as is a semi balanced meal.  So we ended up meeting Nicole and the boys at Go Safari and we had a good time. Lino loves going there and before Nicole made it he was going down the big slides all by his self and was so proud.  I was glad he was keeping his self entertained but once Cian got there he was stuck to him. One of Cian's friends was with him too so the three of them just ran around together.  Before we left they opened the go karts so Lino got his first drive on a go kart...he was excited and wanted to keep riding but the rides were 1€ each and we needed to go so we could go to the swimming assessment so I had to kind of pull him out. But after I mentioned swimming a couple of times he was better. 

On the way to the leisure center I realized at that moment that this was going to be an issue. He was going to want to SWIM and he wasn't going to understand that we just went for an assessment so I started telling him that we were just going to swim for a few min to show the teacher how good of a swimmer he was. He was like ok ok but I knew he really didn't understand what was a out to happen. Anyway we got there and Lino put his suit and was all excited. Mike couldn't make it because of work so it was just us.  When the guy took Lino to do the assessment you would have thought he gave him a huge candy or something because he was so excited...I was worried because he was to happy. The assessment took less than 5 min and really was a waste of my time....I was so pissed.  So basically the guy said since Lino was 3 he would be in the toys class "straight away" but he would do the assessment anyway. After the assessment, which consisted of Lino jumping on the stairs in the kiddy pool and the guy splashing water on his face/head, he said he would be in the toys class which is the same as level 1 but he would be wearing floats and stuff. So Lino was upset because he was only in the water a few min and the guy told me before he got into the water that he would be in toys anyway. So what the heck was the pout of the assessment??? If they are automatically going to put them into the tots class because he's 3 then don't waste my time with some assessment. Because if the guy took 2 min to actually see if Lino could swim instead of just splashing water on him like he was a baby he might have realized he was ready for level 1. Ugh!!!!!! So frustrating and now my kids all worked up for nothing. So I ended up having to buy Lino a bag of candy to calm him down.  Then I had to talk to the lady at the desk about which class to put him on the freaking waiting list for and that was a fucking joke too.  So the form I had to fill out asked which day I would prefer and I put down Monday because I assumed he would be in the level 1 class but the lady was like there is no class on Monday for tots so what day would you prefer??  I told her I didn't really care and I would take the next open spot. She looked at me like I had 5 heads and was like "you have to have a preference day and I'll put you down on the list for that day". I told her again that I didn't have a preference and just wanted the next available time and she got activated.  So I asked her to check the Tuesday class to see if it was full...she checked and it was.  So I asked her which class isn't full I would like to go on that list.  Her response  "We can't put your name down on every day, I need you to pick a day and we will put your name down and call you when a spot comes available."  I couldn't understand so I just said keep us on Tuesday. I thought about it the whole way home and picking up Mike...why was it so complicated to check the list to see if there would be an opening sooner on Wed than on Tue or something like that??? And why do I have to wait 12 weeks to hear back from them? Isn't that a little ridiculous???  I couldn't understand it and neither could Mike when I tried to explain it to him. I guess it's an Irish thing or an American thing because at home I would be able to know what spots are available now which ones are available later and about how long it would be before we could get in...if the classes were all booked. Here I couldn't get a straight answer out of that lady without getting attitude...for her and me. Very frustrating...tomorrow I'll call around and see if there are other options. I know Cian went to a place not to far so I'll check with them...I just don't understand.          Finally it's Friday, these last couple of days have actually flown by. I guess I just look forward to Friday because I get to chill. So I did the normal drop off and I was going to go to the store to get meat for Sat but forgot my wallet and decided to get it later anyway. Mike gave me his card on the way to work but then have me more work to do so I told him to keep his card...and his errands...hahaha.   So instead I went home and watched my reality shows ad got a quick workout in while Shaun slept. Shaun actually had a good night last night and only woke at 11:30 and 6:30 so I was happy about that. I guess having his last nap at 3 vs 5 helps a little ;-)   After I got my few things done at the house I decided to try and get 3 things done in the 40min I had before Lino got out of a school. First to do Mikes errand which I was not able to fully complete because I needed his signature. I was just going to forage it but I couldn't do it right I'm front of the lady so I figured I would come back to them. Then gas then raced to the store to get chicken for dinner Sat. I didn't think I would actually make it to all 3 places and be on time to get Lino but I did and I was even a couple min early...go mommy!!!  So I got Lino then got stopped by one of Lino's friends mom and she invited Lino to a bday party. I was more excited than Lino but then I was worried because it was a little girl that was dying to invite Lino to her older sisters bday party...a girl already going crazy for Lino...it starts early. So after we talked about the party for a few min Lino was excited too and wanted to oh to his girl friends house now!!  Haha oh Lino. So Lino made his lunch again, a repeat of Thur and he ate it again so I was happy. We worked on his puzzle that we had been working on for the past 3 days and Lino actually finished it his self. At the beginning his idea of "us" working on the puzzle together was mommy & daddy find the pieces and tell Lino where they go and Lino will put the pices in place...fun huh. But once I got board and there were only 5-7 pieces left Lino was determined to finish so he finished it his self...I was very impressed. Then I decided we would go swimming today so I went on the hunt for Lino's old baby swim suit and I ended up having to go to the attic to find it. I told Mike about the plans and he was ok with it so I was excited.  Then I remembered that we don't have swim caps so I thought it wasn't going to work. But then another thought crept into this little brain...why don't I go to the store to get swim caps then go back to the bank to drop off the forms then go get Mike?????  I thought I was going to be able to do all of this in less than 40min so that I could get back to Mike before he got off. So I tried to pull it all together...get the swim stuff packed and get the boys in the car and got on the road. About 1/4 of the way there my brilliant husband had a great idea (it happens about 1/quarter)...buy the swim caps at the pool!!!! Duhhhhhhhh Renee. Of course they would have caps at the pool, so I called to confirm and they did so that saved me. So I was able to go by the bank but it was all for not because freaking Ireland banks close at like 3 or 4pm everyday. How does that work??? I can't believe the banks close so early. If you worked a full time job how would you be able to make it to the bank...ever!!! So I told Mike I was on the way but he had an emergency so he was later than he planned. We almost decided not to go swimming because he was late and I thought that by the time we got there Lino would't have much time to swim but we decided to go anyway. The traffic thru the city was crazy and it took even longer than I expected. We didn't know how to get there either and the google map directions were not the best but we made it. After all that worring they let them stay in the pool for the full hour...you pay by the hour but only get one hour of swim. It's kind of expensive for an hour of swim but I guess it's not too bad, 7.50€ for Mike and Lino was free. We got the swim caps there too so that was nice. The pool was nice and the kid area was really nice, Lino really enjoyed it. They had a little play house with a slide then a nice sized kid pool area to let the kids swim...but not too deep. Lino played there for a while but by the time it was almost time to go he was ready to go to the big pool. I was happy that he didn't forget how to swim and he was swimming to Mike like a pro...he loves the water. So after their swim time we raced home and I made a quick dinner, then bath and bed. Lino was beat and so was Mike. It was a nice end to the week. 

Saturday was pretty normal, pancakes for breakfast, walk to the train station, ride to the city, stopped at the Italian shop for a few things for Mike, stopped by the travel agent to check on holiday flights (they were not as helpful as we would have liked but it was more because we have specific request not that they weren't nice), stopped to get Mike a haircut and the guy talked his ear off but did a good job, then back to the station and a long treck home. Of course it started raining on the way back but at least it hardly ever rains long so it rained for a few minutes then stopped and started again. We made it home without getting to soaked so that was nice. I was worried that if it was too wet & cold the boys might get sick again...or we would get sick but thankfully it wasn't that bad. We were all pooped after the walk relaxing was in order. Mike made his garlic & oil pasta which was good as usual and we watched Despicable Me 2...about 3x :-)    Nothing fancy for Sunday either. Shopping and handing out around the house.  Shaun got to ride on daddy's shoulders while we were at the store and Lino didn't really like that...someone was a little jealous. 

We ended up going to 2 stores for our shopping...one because Mike wanted to try the new Starbucks that opened in Mahon Pt and because I wanted to get some stuff from the health store and two because I just like shopping at SuperValu better...Mike thinks I'm crazy which he is probably right. We got all our suff for the first part of the week but I knew I would need to go back to the store before Tue...it never fails I always need something. We had crazy burgers for dinner which was yummy and we had oven fries which I thought were ok..Ike thought they were great. Hopefully we didn't over do it with the calories but we will see next week. 

Week if Jan 27th

I guess you can say Shaun is pretty much sleeping thru the night which is kind of exciting. I say pretty much because he almost always is up for a midnight feed but then usually sleeps until 7am...on the dot. I can't complain too much because it's definitely a longer stretch than he was giving me.  Mike was saying that he pretty much is set but I'm not so sure. I still go to sleep with my extra warm pjs on because I was having to get up 2-3x a night and sit outside the boys room and try to calm Shaun down. Usually the hallway is cold so I ended extra protection against the cold and instead of putting on more clothes everytime Shaun would wake up I would just layer myself before bed. Anyway it's not the most comfortable sleep because I'm usually hot which makes Mike hot but I just know the day I go back to regular pjs Shaun is going to be up and I'm going I freeze...I guess we will see how it goes. This week was a good one, I had a couple play dates and activities set up for Lino so it was nice to have something I look forward too. On Monday we didn't do anything because the boys slept in so Mike took the car.  As usual we planned on Mike bringing the car back around lunch but Lino was to into the TV and Shaun was napping so I didn't even bother with it. I was able to get a few things done around the house which was nice. Mike tried to use the time that he was going to pick us up to go run a few errands on his own. Only to find out it's not as easy as that. In Ireland all the businesses have weird open and closed hours. So he tried going to the bank but they were closed for lunch then he went somewhere else and they were closed too. Then back to the back to get a money order or bank draft as they call it only to find out he can only do that at the post office...unless it was for over 500€. Why would a bank draft mainly be done at the post office and not the bank??? Isn't it called a BANK draft???? Unbelieveable.  So then to the post office but guess what...closed for lunch. Hahahaha. The funny part is that we passs the post office almost everyday and Mike has never seen them open...they have the weirdest hours.  He told me all about his adventure when he got home and I told him that's exactly how I felt when I first got here and was trying to get things done. I mean the bank is barely open 5hrs in a day, the open at like 9:30, close a hour for lunch then close at 4pm. How the heck to you expect anyone who is working to be able to do any banking???? Just crazy to me. Anyway his adventure became my new adventure as he tasked me with getting his passport sent off...geeee thanks hun. So Tuesday I was on a mission to complete mission impossible. First off Mike gave me horrible and incomplete instructions. He starts off telling me we need a specific sized envelope for the passport and stuff and I didn't understand why. We had envelops that would fit all the stuff in it but he was adimit about getting this freaking 6x9" envelope. He was like "just get it at the post office...it's not a big deal". He obvious has never been to the post office because of he had he would know that there is freaking nothing at the post office. It's not like an American post office that is a shipping office with all your shipping needs & supplies. No this post office is just to post, get stamps, a couple bday cards, a bank draft and I guess multi-use cards (like gift card). So anyway we headed to Tesco after dropping him off and I was able to buy a pack of 25 envelops that were the correct size that he had specified. Then to the house to get another envelop (talk about inefficient) then to the post office to mail the stuff and get a bank draft. I had a feeling I needed a name to address the bank draft to but my lovely husband didn't give me one so I had texted him for a name but he didn't respond before I got to the post office. So I got the blank bank draft and had to come back later to actually mail it because I needed to know who to address the draft to. So in the mean time was coffee morning then we went to meet a friend at a community center for a play date. There was actually a book club group, home schoolers, that was meeting there and she invited us to come join. It was actually a nice little setup...the lady in charge puts on this event once a month and they have crafts, story time and do some sort of group activity. So today's theme was Gruffalo which I had never heard of. Actually my new frond had invited us to go to the opera house with her and her family to see the Gruffalo musical and I said I would go but I didn't really know the story...it just looked cool and looked like something that would be entertaining for a kid. So it was cool that they were going to do a little skit and read the book. They also had a little craft time so they had clay and some little nick nacks that the kids could use to put on their clay sculpture. Lino enjoyed playing in the clay then when it was time to read the story he was super excited. He loves story time and was right in the middle of the group trying to get a look at the book and all the pictures. It was pretty cool story and they even said it in German which was cool. I really enjoyed the afternoon there but before everyone left the coordinator made and announcement about the group being a closed group and only for home schoolers and by invitation only and stuff and I felt a little out of place. I felt like we was talking to me directly but I was invited and I isn't know it was just for home schoolers so I wasn't sure what to do. Anyway I told my friend about it and she told me not to worry about it because she invited me so hopefully I won't be escorted out. Talk about feeing awkward. Anyway it was fun and we were going to go to the playground afterwords but the weather was turning bad and the kids were getting restless so we just went back to the house.  I did stop by the post but they were closed of course so I had to stop by on the way to get Mike.        Wednesday was school so I had a little break from Lino.  I actually washed and dried my hair before the morning drop off which was impressive for me.  I'm getting a little better with the time management but not that much.  Shaun slept for a little while in the morning so I had time to do a few things before Lino got home and even was able to flat iron my hair too. We were planning to meet up with another mom that afternoon but she couldn't make it so we just hung out at the house.   Lino made himself a huge (but small) triple decker hamburger sandwich for lunch and he actually ate it. He is really into tasting all the ingredients and he is more likely to eat the stuff if he taste it. So he made a little sandwich with his hamburger, mayo, mustard, ketchup mad lettuce (because mommy said he had to have at least one piece of lettuce). Then he wanted another piece of bread so that he could put the pickles on the top so he did that and put more ketchup and then another piece of bread. I couldn't believe it and I just knew he wouldn't eat it all but he actually did and I didn't have to force him to eat it. It must have been good and he must have been hungry. 

So after lunch I decided to take a trip to the city to buy the tickets to the Gruffalo musical. I was going to buy the tickets online but they charge a 3.50€ Booking charge per ticket. PER TICKET!!!!  I couldn't believe that when I saw it and to make it worse when you book online you can't even pick out your seats so that really sucks.  So it's either pay and extra 15€ for a booking fee and get whatever randome seats they give you or go to the city to buy them at the opera house and pick out the area you want to sit in. Since I had nothing planned for the day I said what the heck...so we drove to the train station and just bairly made it before the train left. We had a nice little walk and Lino and Shaun shared the single stroller, because I want going to truck the double stroller up and down the stairs at the train station by myself. They didn't really seem to mind sharing the stroller so that was nice but I can tell I only have a few more months of them being able to both fit before I have to use the double stroller all the time. If link would just walk we wouldn't have this issue but I can't even get him to walk at the grocery stores so I know that he's not going to walk around the city center the whole time. Anyway we got our tickets and Lino like the place so much he didn't want to leave. I got him to leave but then he walked back in so we ended up sitting down and ordered a sandwich because he said he was hungry...I couldn't believe he was hungry after eating all of his hamburger. He wasn't really hungry but he did actually eat half of the sandwich that I got him...crazy. So after he terrorized the whole opra cafe we were able to leave and head back to the train station.   Of course it started raining on our walk to the train station and all I could think was "why the heck does it always rain on the days I wash my hair???"   I thought about my question for a second and answered myself quickly "Renee, it always rains...this is Ireland and it has nothing to do with you and washing your hair!"  Ahhhhhhh, reality is so brutal...hahaha.   We got back to the station a little early so se hung out in the waiting area for a while. I tried to get Lino to go pee worth me but he refused it. He was so mad when I made him go pee in the girls bathroom when we first got there that he refused to go in the girls restroom again.  He said he had to go and he wanted to go to the boys bathroom with daddy but since daddy wasn't there he said that he was going to go by his self!!!   By yourself?????  Talk about growing up right before your eyes. So I let him go in there by his self and I gave strict instructions to not touch anything and to not put his hands in his mouth...I'm so worried that he would touch the urinal with his hands then put his fingers in his mouth or something...gross. Anyway he was in there for a couple of min and I was getting a little worried and sent in an old man to check on him but at that point he was coming out...with his pants half way down. I had to laugh then I almost had a tear in my eye because I couldn't believe he went by his self for the first time. Time flies so quickly and my little man is just growing up so quickly. Well he's growing up in some areas and other areas he is still struggling to find a reason to move on...oh well. We ended up having a nice afternoon in the city. A nice little walk around the city center, a snack at the cafe and a train ride...I can't complain. Once we got back to our car there wasn't much time before we had to get Mike so we just decided to go to the park.  Actually I had to do a bit of convincing to get Lino to leave the house but eventually we left. It was cold out there too but at least it was dry. It was nice to get out for a little while and Lino I think enjoyed it too and Shaun did too...until he fell asleep. We were only there about 20min when it was time to get Mike which was ok for me because it was freaking freezing and I was ready to go but after all that convincing to get Lino to go to the park he wasn't ready to leave. Thankfully I saw one of the moms from Lino's play school, a mom that I go have coffee with, and she said she would watch Lino. She use to work at Pepsi too so she knew it wasntva long drive, plus she lives about 6 houses down the road so worst case she would take Lino home with her if they were ready to leave before we got back. So that was helpful because I wasn't in the mood to fight with him and I was hoping that he would be ready to go by the time we got back. So I went to get Mike and he was looking all over the place for Lino in the car. I was playing around with him and told him that I left him at the park with the other kids since I knew it wouldn't be long before we were back to get him. He was all freaked out and thought I was completely crazy. Then I really started putting it on thick and was acting like I was getting worried about getting back because it was taking so long to get back there...the freaking traffic to go 2km is crazy. So we get to the playground and Mike sees the mom and gives me the look of "I'm going to hurt you". Hahahaha...I love messing with his head. Well my plan of having an easier extraction didn't exactly work out either, Mike had to go and chase him down and grab him from the slides then brought him to the car kicking and screaming because he wasn't ready to go...talk about a melt down. At least I knew the other mom there and she has delt with the same thing so I didn't have to be too embarrassed. After all that we got home and enjoyed our evening together.  I decided that tonight I wasn't going to wear my heavy pjs to bed since Shaun had been sleeping pretty well the last week or so. I had been sweating like crazy the last few nights because I've been so warm that I was just ready for a little relief. I have no idea what I was thinking because tonight Shaun did not want to sleep. It was horrible. We, I said we because we were all in the house but WE, as in Mike and I, we're not sitting up all night but WE did have to listen to all the screaming. I'm not sure what the deal was but Shaun just wasn't in the mood to sleep and he didn't want to nurse and all he wanted me to do was to sit with him and I didn't want to do that.  And of course after about a hour of Shaun screaming Lino got up and was screaming too...what a nightmare. I can't blame Lino because Shaun did wake him up but I just wish Lino would go back to bed but he won't.  So at one point I had both of them on my lap and I was trying to nurse Shaun and rock Lino and it just wasn't working. But Lino didn't want to go back to his bed because I was holding Shaun and Shaun... Well Shaun just was a mess. So I told Lino that I was going to put Shaun in his bed so he could go back to his bed too and he agreed. But that just enraged Shaun so that meant another hour of screaming. Eventually I was able to get Shaun out of his bed and nurse him without Lino giving me too much grief so he finally went to sleep. But that was short lived because he was up again a couple hours later...thankfully this itme Lino didn't wake up so it only took about 45min to get him back to sleep. Of course he was back up so 7am, his normal time so at that point I think I had got about 4hrs of sleep...but not consecutive. What a night, I should have never changed out of my sleep training pjs... WTF was I thinking??? Never again!!         After a hell of a night I was ready for a big cup of coffee so I was glad it was coffee morning Thursday.   I did the nor,mal drop off then had to get a few things and of course Shaun was passed out in the car before we even dropped Mike off. I was worried Lino was going to be super cranky today too but there want much I could do about it. The debate in my head was so I let him sleep in the car if he falls asleep or do I wake him...oh the tough decisions a mom has to make. But before all of that I  had my coffee and a very small but very delicious slice of NY cheesecake that a lady made for the coffee morning...it was sooooooo goo and I know it had about a million calories in that little bitty slice that I had so I shared it with Shaun so that I didn't eat all the calories.  God knows I don't need any extra calories. After that got Lino from school we had a quick lunch then headed out to meet up with one of my friends for a playdate at Chuckies. I had never been there but it ended up being nice. It's pretty much the same as Monkey Maze just smaller and the parents are allowed to get inside of the structure which is nice because you aren't suppose to go inside of the structure at the other places. So we had a nice afternoon there and I got to catch up with my friend that I hadn't seen in a long time.  I could tell Shaun really liked the place too because after a little while of being there he started trying yo crawl up the stairs to the big slide. At one point I had turned around to talk and when I looked back he was already up three of the stairs. So instead of me fighting him I just took my shoes off and went up the stirs with I'm then went down the slide with him. He absolutely loved it then I realized that I started something bad. Now he wanted to go up the stairs by his self and for the rest of the time we were there. I ended up going up with him a few times then played with Lino and Molly for a while which was fun. I don't really like going to those play centers all the time but I could actually enjoy going to this place since I can play with the boys.  After a few hours it was time to go and Lino didn't want to leave of course but he did. He ended up falling asleep on the drive home, as expected and I just let him sleep for a little while because I knew he was pooped and I needed to get dinner ready so it was a win win for me...I'll let daddy deal with the fussiness at bedtime.   I had such a night and I was so stressed that I decided to make me a little dessert...a little treat for my torturous sleep or lack of sleep last night. I remember seeing a recipe for a chocolate chip cookie in a cup so I found it and made it.  I had to top it with a little peanut butter too and talk about delicious!!! And fatty!!!!  It was so good and it was nice that it wasn't a full batch and I could just cook it in the microwave for 50sec. Mike helped me to enjoy it, thank God, so I didn't have all 500 calories to myself but I did have a big portion. It really hit the spot, oh so good and oh so not good for me. I know I had a rough night but I definitely can't indulge lie that every night or I won't loose any weight...but tonight was with it.  Tonight I put my sleep training pjs back on because I just knew that was the issue... But unfortunately it didn't help too much.  It wasn't as bad as Wed night but still a broken night of sleep.       Friday couldn't have come any sooner, the week flew by because we actually had things to do so that was nice but I was ready for my lazy Friday.  So I caught up on my shows and chilled with Shaun Shaun. When Lino got home it was Despicable Me then Monsters vs Aliens...then repeat until it was time to get Mike. I was ok with that because I was finally able to fold the 8 loads of laundry I had waiting on me to fold and put away all week. Then since it was Friday Mike took Lino swimming. But unfortunately there was an issue at the plant that Mike was dealing with so he had to make a few phone calls when we got to the pool before he could go swimming and Lino was loosing his patience quickly. At one point I thought I might have to take him in the water myself which would have been bad because my arm pits were so hairy that someone might have thought I was a boy if I lifted up my arms...hahahahahaha. But have no fear daddy came thru and the boys had a good swim.  I keep bringing Shaun and my suit in case I decide to take Shaun in but I never do but I think next week I will...as long as the pits get shaved first (wink wink).   Lino did a lot of swimming so we knew he was going to be pooped which was nice.  Once their hour of fun was over we raced home to have dinner and get the boys in the bed.  It was actually a good and easy bedtime routine for us...just a little later than normal.  These last two days of no sleep have wore me down is I headed to bed earlier than Mike, I need a few extra winks.  Plus I was praying for a good night sleep for the boys but that didn't happen either...oh well. Shaun woke Lino up 2x last night and Lino was so upset. The only way we finally got him to go to sleep was to remind him that he had a party to go to in the morning so he needed to go to sleep so that he wouldn't be tired.  He didn't exactly believe me but he knew he had a party so I guess he decided he better at least lay down so that he could go to the party...what a night.          Shaun was up early on Sat and I tried to let Lino sleep a little longer but he must have heard Shaun & I lave the room because he came downstairs about 15min after we did. So since it was still early and I had tried to get Shaun to go back to sleep, with no success, I let them watch a movie while I got breakfast started.  For some reason I had it in my mind that the party started at 1 so I thought we would have time to have breakfast, walk to the train station, take a quick trip to the city and head back in time to get showered and dressed for the party but the party was at 11 and ended at 1 so that plan was out the window. Plus it was raining sideways and there was no way I was going out in that mess and getting all wet and the boys wet...it totally wasn't worth it plus we didn't have time. So we got ready and I had planned to go to the store really quickly to get the bday girl a present before the party but it took longer than planned to get us all ready so I didn't have enough time to go to the store before the party so I dropped Mike and the boys off and I went to get a gift.  Mike thought I might be able to get something at the Ballyseedy but to me that was a plant shop and it wasn't going to have gifts for a small girl. But really I didn't think long enough about his suggestion because that place is like a 4 in one shop...gardening, clothing store, toys for kids and crafts all in one place...and super expensive too. I guess not super but kind of expensive. Anyway I ran to the store that wasn't so close but I made it there and back within 20min which wasn't bad.  Martha had texted me earlier in the day to say she was heading to Go Safari too so I knew she was already there. It had been a while since we met up so it was nice to see here. The place was so busy tho and I was trying to talk to some of the other moms from the school so we really didn't have a lot of time to catch up but it was nice anyway.   Lino was excited to see his friend Partick so that was nice.  I did kind of feel bad because Lino was there for a party but he was spending more time with Patrick than he was with his school friend. Then cme to find out he was the only boy at the party too...how funny. I don't think he minded one bit.   After that we went home and just hung out. The wind and rain was so bad we didn't really want to fight with it if we didn't have to.   We let Lino watch what he wanted and Mike and I took turns napping on the couch. I complained that he got more sleep than me during his  ap so he let me take a second one and I slept way longer than he did...that was a nice gift from my husband.    Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday and my big sisters birthday!!!!   The weather had actually cleared up some so we decided to take our normal Satuday walk on Sunday. Lino was a little confused because we didn't take the train to the city but we were able to distract him by buying him a chocolate treat at Fitzpatricks so that helped to avoid any excessive crying...ah the power of chocolate.  So he got a treat and so do we, we almost got a cake but we knew that was going too far...that shop is dangerous. So back home we went to get cleaned up, we went shopping for food for the week and for our Super Bowl big out (a batch of buffalo chicken dip just for us...talk about being pigs) then headed back to the house.  We all got our foot ball gear on for the last game of the season...Denver vs Seattle!! 

Future Super Bowl Champ here!!!

My Super Boys!!

My Super Silly Boys!

It's a hard decision on who to root for because we both hate the Broncos but we want Payton to win one more Super Bowl before he retires and it's exciting to have the Seahawks finally in a major game too. Apparently Seattle hasn't had any real major sport win in about 40yrs so they are more than over due. We might just be neutral but slightly more for Seattle ;-). So after we got home we had lunch and Mike wanted to watch Monsters vs Aliens with Lino so that's what we did.  We made a light dinner but we had lunch late and no one was hungry so I had dinner for Monday already ready...sweet!!  Mike had a great idea for us to take a nap when the boys went to sleep so that we could have a couple hrs of sleep before being up late watching the game. So we got the boys all in bed and we tried to nap but Shaun was up about 30min later and it took about 20min to get him back to sleep. After I finally got him down I barely had an hr to nap and I don't think I even got 30min but I wasn't complaining. Mike actually got up before me and started the buffalo dip then I pulled myself together and was starving at this point but the dip wasn't ready so I pulled out a bag of chips and discovered that we had one bottle of our favorite salsa from Texas in the pantry so we snacked on that. The funny part is that when they came to pack up our house in June of last year they basically packed it up exactly as it was but when we got to this house everything was put away in different places so we've forgot what all we had. So we had a bag if Tostitos Cantina chips that we were obsessed with when I was preggo with Shaun but the expectation date was like Nov 13 so when we tried them they tasted a little off, a little rancid. But they were not bad and we were so excited about having real chips and salsa that we just ate them and didn't complain a bit. Well I would like to say that we had a good night watching the game but the truth is that I only watched about 25-30 min total because Shaun was having a horrible night and absolutely refused I mean refused to go to sleep without me there. I tried nursing him but he had been nursing all night and there was really nothing left so he was frustrated. And I know he was tired so he was frustrated about that too and I was frustrated too because I had just barely sunk my chip into the buffalo dip when he first started whaling. So needless to say this was the worse Super Bowl that Mike and I have ever watched, or not watced. The game it self was even terrible, I couldn't believe the first 12sec of the game was such a cluster f^*% for Payton. I guess I didn't miss much but I still would have liked I have watched the game and the half time show. At one point Shaun and Lino were up screaming and I was about to loose my mind so I went downstairs and told Mike it was his turn. He had tried to come relieve me and update me during the halftime show but I told him I was ok, I felt bad that he had to watch the game with all the screaming but I figured someone should be able to enjoy the game. But after 2hrs of straight screaming, well no not straight screaming...at one point Shaun was about to give up but that is when Lino had enough and he got out of his bed and made me go in the room and that just set Shaun off again...otherwise 2hrs of straight screaming I had enough. So Mike went up and I watched the last 10min of the game. Really there was no game to watch I just wanted to see the commercials. After the game was over Mike went to bed and I stayed up with Shaun for another hour or so until he finally gave up...I could not believe it took over 3 hours for him to finally giving and go to sleep. At that point it was about 3:30 or 4 in the morning and I thought maybe I'll be able to get three hours of sleep but no Lino decided to get up about 40 minutes later and I was up with him for another half an hour. At this point I knew that Lino was just overtired so it was a complete battle... winless battle to get him to go back to sleep. I ended up having to sleep on the floor outside of their room so that I could get about 45 minutes of sleep ... what a rough night. At one point Mike and I were talking about why it was such a bad night and the only thing we could come up with was that the boys didn't want us to enjoy the football game or 2, the song that we had playing for Shaun was the wrong song. We usually play rock-a-bye baby on my phone on repeat and that's his "Night Night" song but I had also downloaded an album that we had played for Lino every night when he was a baby and for some reason that album was playing instead of the rock-a-bye baby song so we think that might have threw him off. Lino used to listen to the Metallica baby lullaby album every night for over two years so we just knew that Shaun would like the same thing. But I found the rock-a-bye baby song before I found the Metallica baby lullabies so we started Shaun off with the rock-a-bye baby so I guess it was too late to make the switch. Whatever the issue was it was a bad night and we will never put on the Metallica song again just in case that was the issue. 

First couple of weeks back in Ireland!

We made it back with 4 suitcases filled with junk and every day I tried to unload one suitcase....except the first day. It is such a battle. I can't believe we have so much crap and I even left a butt load of stuff at Nini's house so that we didn't have to bring anything with us when we come back in March. One of the suitcases was just filled with all the stuff that we bought from the stores like granola bars, syrup, Lysol stuff like that.  The boys got a ton of clothes and I was debating on leaving them there but they can honestly use them now so I have a suitcase full of new clothes for them too. Lino what back to school on Wednesday and he was actually happy to go he missed his friends I think. I was happy to send him to school as well I needed a little bit of a break. On Thursday after I drop Lino off at school I went to Mahon Point to meet a new friend. It was actually an American who had rented a house that we were looking at when we came house hunting in June ... somehow I met the landlord for that house during one of the coffee mornings or sling meets and she passed my phone number on to her. She is super nice and has two kids similar age to mine so I can see that we will be spending a lot of time together. She was happy to talk to an American and asking questions about the Irish ways ... I felt so seasoned and it made me feel good that I was able to help her out with a few things. I couldn't stay long but we had a nice chat. I had dropped off the car to get cleaned because it was a complete mess so thankfully it was done in time for me to get Lino. After I picked up Lino from school I was going to take him to the park but he didn't want to go. So we came home and he wanted to watch movies so I let him. I'm such a bad parent but we have been letting Lino watch movies pretty much all week. 

Mostly because I'm pooped because I told the boys, Lino & Shaun, that 2014 is the year of the boys sleeping in their own beds so we have been up most nights fighting with Shaun to sleep in his crib. Lino only gave me trouble the first night because we have been letting him get into our bed in the middle of the night but I'm done with that now. So when he came into the room on Tue night and I d him he couldn't sleep with us he about had a fit. I told him he could sleep in Shaun's pack & play if he wanted but he couldn't sleep in the bed. He stayed in the room crying for a good 45min and even laid down in the pack & play but he cried saying it wasn't comfortable...I kind of laughed. But eventually he just decided it wasn't worth it and he was tired and he went back to his room and went to sleep. Mike and I were actually a little surprised but I knew if we made a point about Shaun sleeping in his bed that Lino wouldn't have much room to fight with us. I'm just glad he got the message so quickly. So anyway all that to say the last 3 nights have been less than fun. I wanted to do the gental sleep thru the night routine but with Shaun that would mean I wouldn't be sleeping at all bc I would be in the room all night so I'm doing a combo of gental & cry it out. It's all tough and it breaks my heart but I'm tired and I need him to sleep in his bed...it has to happen. Mike has actually been a big help as well and very supportive. Even tho I don't have to get up to go to work it's hard to function with no sleep and he does have to get up and go to work but he still tries to help me...there isn't much he can do since Shaun just wants me but it's the thought that counts. By Friday we could see that Shaun was getting better and Lino was getting better too. He would get up after Shaun would be crying for a min and he would be like "Shaun is waking me up" hahahaha...too funny. I was actually able to convince him that this is what we are gonna have to deal with for a few days while Shaun gets use to sleeping in his own bed so I needed him to be my big helper and he was ok with that. Again, shocked that he was ok with that...I guess my Lino is growning up.  I can't say that we did anything very productive the first week back but at least we're starting to make some new routines that'll be good for the boys and us for 2014.  Other than that I started to work out a little bit at home because I put on a couple extra pounds during the holidays as most people do and I'm just tired of being cranky so it's time to make a change. I downloaded a couple apps on my phone and I do a quick 15 minute workout which is nice because 15 minutes is about all I have with Shaun and Lino. They actually think it's kind of funny me working out which I had to laugh myself because I haven't done it in so long but after the first day or two they were trying to help me work out as well. Mike even started to work out to and the funny thing is that Lino ended up being both of our drill sergeant so it's really hilarious. It's just too funny to watch Lino try and look at the exercise on the scream and try to explain what we're supposed to be doing he's so serious and he thinks he's right sometimes he is it sometimes is way off basis but he yells at you if you don't do it the way he says it's very very funny!!!  We love that little guy for sure. 

On Saturday we got up and made pancakes like normal and decided to go ahead and walk to the city even though we didn't need anything. It was just good to get out the house and do a little bit of exercising with the family. So we get our walk which seem to be very brutal it took us about 3 1/2 hours after we moseyed around the city, went shopping at Tesco and then took the extra long route back home we were all pooped so we just chilled for the rest of the evening. Leno was unusually me pooped and after being at home for a little while we realize he was actually sick he was running a little bit of a fever. So we gave him some Tylenol and just watch movies for the rest of the evening... he seemed to be okay with that hopefully it's just a little 24-hour bug will pass quickly. 

Sunday we got up I realize Lino's little cold was a bit more than that... his fever was up to around 103F so I knew he wasn't doing good at off. And you know when Lino is sick because all he wanted to do was sit around and watch TV he didn't even want to play, rides bikes or do anything else so that's very unusual for him but it's also nice for us because he's a lot more chilled. Even though we like the chilled Lino we don't like a sick Lino so we spent Sunday afternoon trying to get him better. I had told Mike that I wanted him to make soup so he spent all day cooking and catering to us. I just hope he doesn't get sick too.  Then by Sunday night I was starting to feel bad myself... so I guess were going to start the game of pass the crud. I hate playing pass the crud.  Ugh. I was a little worried about the 103F temperature but every time I give him Tylenol it will go down so I just make sure to keep a cold towel on his head and neck and I think it seemed to help a bit. Even though Lino didn't want anything to do with the cold towel it was really the best thing for him since he was so hot.  Finally, before we went to bed I could tell the fever was starting to break without the medicine so that made me happy.  Mike finally convinced me to take something so I took Nightquil and I passed out!  Well since Lino was sick, most of our night training went out the window because I was so worried about his fever spiking that I let him come sleep with us for little while on Sunday night. When he got into the bed he didn't feel as got as had so I knew it was coming to an end. 

On Monday Mike just took the car to work and we stayed home so that the boys & I could sleep in. The boys slept in until around 9 which is crazy. And Shaun actually slept all night long!!!  I thought maybe it was the Nightquil that just made me so sleepy that I didn't hear him but no I think he actually slept thru the night which is so crazy. I didn't think it would last because when we were night training Lino he had a random "sleep thru the night" night then it would be back to the normal up & down routine. Anyway I was excited, even if it doesn't last it's nice to have a night without crying. It would have been even better to have a full night sleep but after me passing out for about for first 3-4hrs I was up & down the rest of the night...why??? I don't know, maybe because God hates me...hahahaha no I don't know but I'm not complaining about getting a break from the crying. So once everyone got going I could tell Lino was getting back to his self but guess who's getting sick now...Shaun Shaun!  I knew it was going I happen but I was praying it wouldn't but it did.   So for the morning while Shaun was feeling his best the boys played in the playroom, read books and wrestled.  Then Lino had enough of that and wanted to watch a movie so I didn't fight him. I had told Mike that we would pull ourself together around noon so that we could get the car from him but by 11 I was still feeing bad, like my head was just spinning and I felt so dizzy, and Shaun was getting worse so I didn't want to go out if I didn't have to. So we just stayed in the house for the whole day. By that afternoon Shaun was fully sick and just looking so pitiful.  I felt so bad for him because there isn't much you can do for a baby when they get sick except love on them lots. 

Poor baby was so miserable that he just sat in the high chair kind of in a daze. Breaks my heart. 

So I spent the day babying Shaun and letting Lino run a muck in the house...which meant he wanted full control of the TV. Then I spent my day cleaning up snot left & right and trying to convince them to eat soup & drink OJ which just didn't really happen.  So we ended up watching Monsters Inc about a million times...talk about mind numbing.  I wasn't feeling super great myself so dinner was kind of "fend for yourself". Mike got a sandwich from Fitzpatricks, I had more soup and Lino & Shaun munhed here and there but they were not very interested in eating.  Mike was shocked that we were all such a mess but he tried to help out as much as possible. So after dinner we pit Lino in the bath and bed. Since Shaun was sick it was his turn to sleep with mommy. Hopefully we get a little rest. 

Tuesday was about the same. I told Mike to go ahead and take the car so that the boys could sleep in some more. Shaun didn't sleep well last night at all and that means I didn't sleep well at all either. Somehow I forgot that quick  how miserable it is to sleep with Shaun. He is just restless when he sleeps with us and nursing him doesn't fix it...it makes it worse!!   So even more motivation to get him back into his room. Anyway, Shaun slept in a little and Lino did too...which was nice. We spent the rest of the day almost the same as Monday except I was getting tired of all the mess so I started cleaning. I had about 10 loads of laundry that needed to be done...4 loads that were ready to be folded and 6 more to wash. So I worked on that for a while then decided to start sanitizing the house. Even tho Shaun was sick he wasn't completely unreasonable so he actually let me clean up a little. So the main area was the living room since we were in there most of the day but I thought I better save it for last since wee were going to do nothing but recontaminating it right away so instead I worked on the playroom. Do you know how crazy of an idea it is to sanitize a playroom...crazy but it needed tone done. So I made a bleach water bath and  just started chunking car after car into it and anything else that could be dunked in water.   I made me a sanitize area and just kept the assembly line going. The funny part was when the boys would try to get to the toys I would freak out and push them away. I would lose it if they contaminated my work of art!!!!  So I got them to play in the other room and was able to do a semi-sanitize on the rest of the toys in the playroom.  Then to finish it all off the playroom area got a nice Lysol spray...thank God I brought a can back from home because for some reason Ireland doesn't believe in it...they have no idea what they are missing!  That was about all I got done before the boys were done playing on their own and since I didn't go to the store and Mike wasn't going to have time to go to the store after he got off it was another "fend for yourself" kind of dinner.  Mike did stop to get Lino some KFC so we finally were able to get Lino to eat something...crap yes but at least he ate something.  After dinner was bath then a serious Vicks rubdown for Shaun and bed!!!  Shaun wasn't feeling sleeping by his self so it took a little while to get him to bed but finally they were both out and I was able to rest with Mike for a little while. I was tired after my day, even tho I didn't do very much I was just super tired from all the sickness. Here's to praying for a better day tomorrow and a good nights sleep!

Wednesday Lino has school so I was looking forward to sending him there so that I could have a few hours to get something done...maybe. So the night was crazy because Shaun was up and down as expected but it wasn't too bad. Lino woke up pretty mellow which was ok so we got out of the house in decent time and took Mike to work. But on the drive to work Mike mentioned that Lino didn't look to great and when I finally looked at him I saw it too...was he really sick again...seriously?????!!!!!  Mike said I shouldn't take him to school but Lino said he wanted to go so I took him but he quickly changed his mind once we got there. He wanted to go home and go to sleep he said...I didn't believe him so I kept asking him and he was like no I don't want to go to school. So I told him that if he didn't go to school we were going shopping then home and he as of ok but once I left he was like "where are we going?" I told him the store and he was like "NO I want to go to Monkey Jungle!!!" (which means monkey maze) so I pulled over and we talked about it. I told him we couldn't go to Monkey Maze because he told me he didn't want to go to school because he was sick. If you are to sick to go to school you are too sick for Monkey Maze for sure. He thought about it quickly and was like "I'm not sick anymore!!! I feel better now". So we went back & forth and we agreed that since he was feeling better he would go to school and if he was still feeling good after schoo we could go to Monkey Maze...he agreed so back to school we went.  I almost just took him home anyway but he said he wanted to go and he wasn't really fighting me to go so I dropped him off.  I knew that he wasn't 100% but I couldn't pull him out so I let the teacher know he was a little tired...then said a prayer and left. My 3hrs of Lino free time went fast. I had to go shopping first because we had nothing in the house to eat...nothing. I tried to be efficient and not spend a lot of one there because I knew I had a few things I wanted to get done at home. So I gave myself a max of 30min to shop so in order to be efficient I made a quick list of what I needed, planned the dinners for the next 3 days then headed in. Of course before I get into the store I see someone that I know so I talked to her for a little while but I didn't take that out of my 30min because I didn't think it would be fair.  Other than that small delay I was able to do all my shopping & check out in about 20min so I was very impressed with myself...I'm normally muj slower than that. Then headed home unpack and get some key cleaning done around the house which made me feel good. After that I got Lino from school and the teacher told me he was off form today & tired so I knew he was sick...again. So I started heading home and Lino was like "I thought we were going to Monkey Maze?"  I told him no since he was sick and he insisted that he wasn't...but I knew better this time. So I told him we would go home to get my wallet then go to Monkey Maze and he agreed but I knew he would fall asleep and he did, so I didn't have to fight with him about that. So both boys slept in the car for about 30min while I had lunch then Lino woke up but he was still tired...but forgot about Monkey Maze.  So I gave him a little cough med because he was coughing up a storm and he passed out again, this time on the couch.

Shaun wouldn't let me go more than 6inch away from him so I didn't get anything done. Just tried to keep the germ level down so opened some windows and wiped down some toys & stuff. I did have a few min in the afternoon, when Lino woke up, to make dinner so we were finally going to have a decent meal. I felt sorry for Lino because he was just so tired and had a horrible cough. He didn't want to eat and I didn't make him since he actually ate good yesterday.  While we were eating he was like "I'm ready for bed, I'm tired!" I still can't get use to that...so we gave him and Shaun a quick bath I gave him another dose of cough meds and in the bed. He was out cold!! I was almost worried that he had passed out but I think he was just exhausted which was good because Shaun was up all night crying because he wanted to be held. So it kind of worked out because I wasn't too worried about Lino waking up.  I just pray these boys get better soon. So the boys were in the bed and Mike and I got a couple hours of kid free time which was nice.   

Thursday Lino was a little better and Mike drove to work so we didn't have to worry about waking them up.  I told Mike last night that I thought the oil tank was out but he wasn't convinced. I could tell the heat upstairs wasn't on because everytime I got up to sit with Shaun the fernce wasn't on. Usually the fernce is either on when I get to it or comes on before I leave but either way I feel the heat come on and I was up with Shaun 4x and not once did I feel the heat. I knew something was up and I told Mike and he was like maybe we turned the temp down. I asked him, "did u turn it down??" "No!" He said. And I was like "well I didn't turn it down either so I think we can check that one off as not an option".   I love when Mike ask me questions like that because that's really code for "I really don't want to check so can we say it's something else wrong??"  Hahahaha. Anyway when he got up he did check the tank and it was empty.  We knew it was low before we left for Christmas break so I knew we probably used it all so I wasn't surprised.  So he ordered us a tanker but wasn't sure when it was going to get there so we just kept an eye out for it.  We spent the rest of the day pretty much the same as the rest of the week but I could start to see them both getting better which was good. I am getting super tired of this staying home with 2 sick crying fussy snotty boys...not fun at all so I hope they get better soon!  The oil company ended up calling for directions around 1030 so I was impressed.  I was also happy because I was able to give the guy directions to the house and he knew exactly where I was talking about.  Giving directions in Ireland is more like an art than science.   

"Follow the road until you get to the petrol station. Past it and take the first right. Follow road until you get to cross road but don't turn yet. Go until you see the green house and turn left there. Go up the hill past the estates on the left and just after that you will see a small sign post, turn left there. We are the 3rd house from the end with a red ford, house name Cahill"

Now if I was to give directions like that in the states the person I was giving directions to would be completely lost!  Not one street name or number...how do you find our way around with those kind of directions???? Well those are the direction in Cork.  All I can do it laugh at them. Anyway he made it fine and filled us up all before lunch. That's kind of a cool service because Mike ordered the oil online in the morning and less than 4hrs later we were all set. The not so cool part is that the gas cost a freaking arm and leg. It was like 840€ for 1000 liters. That over $1100!!!!!  Totally insane and totally expensive but when in Ireland do as the Irish do I guess. But maybe we could conserve our oil a little better but we had no idea how fast it would go so we will do better on this one. Thankfully it doesn't get too cold so I know we can cut the heat on and off a little more during the day so I'll start working on that next week. For today I did keep the heat off because the sun was shining most of the day and it warmed up the living room pretty well, I keep that practice in place for now on :-)

That was all the excitement we had for the day.  Later in the afternoon I made dinner for tonight and Friday but my taste buds aren't fully back so I couldn't really taste the stew that I made. I needed to get rid of all the veggies in the fridge so I made what I called Refrigerator Stew. It had tomatoes, cauliflower, carrots, celery, butternut squash and some spices. I was praying it would taste good so when Mike got home which was earlier than normal, I had him try it and he said it just tasted like salt. So I was a little bummed out but at least it didn't taste like crap!  Anyway dinner, bath and bed. Shaun didn't go down very easy so I had to sit up with him for a little while then finally he was out too. Lino's coughing was pretty much gone and he seemed to be feeling better during the day so I think he will be ready for school on Friday. 

Finally Friday....I was determined to get out of the house. I had made plans with Lisa and Claire to have coffee on Friday and I almost canceled but decided to go ahead anyway.  So we dropped Mike off, a little late because the boys were not interested in getting up & dressed this morning.  So he was a little late and we got to school a little later than normal but we made it. Once we got to school and I told Lino today was baking day he was pretty happy to go.  Then the other moms & I talked and headed out to the cafe for coffee. We ended up going to Midleton and to a cafe that I didn't even know existed so that was nice. Shaun was still sick but wasn't horribly bad so I wasn't too worried. The other little boy had the same little cough and sniffle so that made me feel better. So we had a nice little brunch and chat. They are super funny & cool moms and I really enjoy hanging out with them. It's funny tho because sometimes I can't understand everything that they are saying but I usually figure it out at some point.  Wen we first got to the coffee shop it was pretty dead but by the time we left it was jam packed, must be a popular place.  I got an Eggs Benedict that was pretty tasty as far as I could taste. I also got Shaun a scone that tasted ok, I've had better...overall a good place.  The funny part is that I can't remember the name of the shop but it's in a unique location so I can at least find it iven if I can't name it.  After our morning lunch it was time to get Lino.  He was happy to see me and the teacher said that he was still a little off form which surprised me. I think he was just a little less active ad that's so totally not Lino but otherwise he seemed to do ok. Today he made a marshmello treat with cereal rings...he was excited to have some.  I told him he could have a little When he got home but he was fussing at me because he didn't want to go home but I somehow convinced him to go.  So we got home and Lino wanted me to do exercises. I wasn't sure if I was really up to it but decided to go for it anyway, I needed to do something. So I did my 15min of exercise while I made Lino a quick taco for lunch. I actually didn't feel to bad after I was done so I guess I'm pretty much back to normal, other than not having my sense of taste completely back.  After Lino ate we agreed to go to the park since we hadn't done anything fun all week. I was a little sceptical about taking Shaun out into the cold but I knew we needed the fresh air so I just made sure to bundle him up so that he didn't get any sicker. So we went to the playground for a hour and I think Lino had fun. He did ask if any of his greens were going to be at the park and when I said no he told me to call their moms and ask them to come...so smart this little guy. I did feel bad because I know he would have had more fun with one of his friends but I didn't want to make plans with anyone because I didn't know how he was going to be after school. Anyway next time I'll make arrangements for a friend to come play too. So after a hour outside with Shaun in the stroller we decided to leave but Lino was like "where are we going now?" Home Lino!  "No I want to go to Monkey Jungle".  I thought we were past that but I guess not and since he had been sick most of the week and we didn't do anything fun all week I figured it wouldn't be that bad to go to the play center. So we headed to Go Safari. I knew Mike would be getting off a little early since it was Friday so I knew we wouldn't be there for too long. Thankfully it's pretty cheap to get in, 5€ so we stayed for a hour before we had to get Mike. Shaun slept most of the time there so it was nice because I was worried about him snotting on everything. Lino was also getting hungry so it was time to go...I just hope he will eat some dinner.  So we left to get Mike then headed home.  The boys got some movie time with daddy while I got a few min to blog while the stew warmed up. I tried to pump up the flavor by adding some cardomon and cumin and since my taste buds were not fully working I had Mike taste it for me and he was like "it's ok". I added more seasoning and let him taste it again and he was like "yeah it taste fine". So we went with that but when I gave him his bowl his first bite he was like "what did you put in it???  It taste like...pine!"  Dear God!!!! I asked you how it tasted 3x to make sure it wasn't disgusting and you said it was fine now all of a sudden it taste like pine! Great...thanks hun. So I made him eat it anyway...hahaha. Shaun didn't seem to mind it at all and Lino didn't want to eat...he never does. I still couldn't taste it and Mike just shook his head at me and I shook my head right back...oh well I guess I'll toss the rest but that's what we ate for dinner. At least I can say Mike is a great husband for that, he will most times eat whatever I cook...even if it's not the tastiest. After a long week of sick kids we were more than ready for the boys to go to bed. They actually were asleep before 8 the last 2 nights so that has been nice. So Mike and I watched an old movie that Mike hadn't seen before, 8mm with Nicholas Cage. It was good and I pretty much forgot how it ended so it was almost like watching it for the first time for me too. 

Saturday...well I was hoping to sleep in a little more than I did but I slept in until 8:30 when Lino wanted to get into our bed. I was a milasecond away from putting him in the bed but I didn't want to confuse him so I told him he couldn't get in. I took him back to his room hoping he might go back to his bed but he wasn't having it and started fussing and woke up Shaun...that's it...there goes any chance of going back to sleep. So we got up and got dresses...we as in me and the boys (Lino & Shaun)...well the boys got dressed I didn't :-). For some reason it was a small war to dress Lino and he was full of reasons why he shouldn't get dressed...very annoying but eventually he gave in. We went down stairs and Lino helped me make pancakes while Shaun fussed for me to pick him up the whole time. Lino also started trying to direct me on how I make the pancakes and sausage. He kept telling me the sausage was done when it wasn't and he was gettig super frustrated because I wouldn't take them off the stove. At one point he was like "you aren't listening to me mommy". I had to laugh then I asked him, how many times have you made sausage??? He looked at me...I think that meant none. So I to him over and over again I knew what I was doing. Then he started fussing at me about the pancakes...geeze Louise kid...you are becoming your mother!!! Hahahaha but he was a good big helper and eventually we got the pancakes and sausage done to his liking.  Lino & Shaun had their breakfast first and I was scared there wasn't going to be any pancakes left because Lino ate like 6 pancakes. Actually I wasn't too worried I was just happy he was eating. I knew Mike wasn't feeling good so I let him sleep in and he finally rolled out of  bed around 11:30 so we ended up having brunch :-). Mike was still tired so we chilled for the morning. We wanted garlic & oil pasta for dinner so Mike sent me out for chicken.  I was just going to go by myself but Mike gave me the look of "oh no you didn't" so I ended up taking both boys.  I stopped by the barber to get Lino's hair cut...even tho I knowMike wanted me to wait until Sun I had already mentioned to Lino we would go and now he wanted his sucker/lollipop so I took him. Plus I knew the chances of us actually get hair cuts on Sunday were slim so I wanted to get Lino's out of the way of possible. So we got in and out of Esters pretty quick, I really like that place, the headed to Supervalu. We ended up seeing Cian and Ivan so we talked to tem for a while. I felt bad because I didn't have Cian's card with me togive  to him but I didn't think I would run in to them either. I'll get it to him at some point I guess...just feel bad I'm so late. So I hurried to get our few items because I knew that if I spent too much time there I would buy way more than I needed. Once we got back it we ended up watching Monsters vs Aliens...well the boys watched the movie and I blogged.  Mike made dinner and the boys gobbled it up...even Lino. They love pasta which is so perfect for this family. After dinner Lino was ready for his bath and bed. He actually fell asleep while Mike was reading his books...he hasn't done that in months so we knew he was tired. Shaun didn't go as easy but it wasn't too hard to get him to sleep either so another night gone. Mike & I enjoyed another good movie while the boys slept, we watched 42 which neither one of us have ever seen. It was actually a really good movie so I'm glad we finally got to watch it. 

Last night Shaun was up and down and I didn't want him to cry it out because I think he's still sick so that meant I was up a bunch last night too. He kind of would go back to sleep easy so at least that was a nice bonus.  But around 645 he was about done with sleeping so I ended up sitting in the rocking chair with him for 2.5hrs. At some point he went to sleep but I must have already been sleep myself because I couldn't tell you how long it took him to go to sleep. Eventually he woke back up and Lino was up too so we started our day. Mike didn't sleep much longer than the boys so once he got up and said he was feeling good I knew we were going to have a good day. We all had breakfast then Mike & Lino decided to go outside for a run.  It looked cold outside so Shaun and I stayed in.  Dad & son had a good time and Mike even put the soccer net together so that they could have a little one on one game. Mike was excited to "play" Lino was so so. But it was good for them to get out so I can't complain about that. 

After they wore each other out we decided to get ready to go shopping for the week. We debated on which store to go to because I prefer Supervalu but Mike needed to get his haircut and he likes the barber in the mall so we went to the mall. The funny part is that we did all our shopping and still didn't get his hair cut...now talk about silly. When we got home Lino watched movies while Mike & I looked at vacation stuff. We are already starting to plan our 2014 vacations, actually I think we are a little behind but it's ok. Mike made us an amazing dinner, that Lino didn't touch and we got the boys all ready for bed so that we could have some quiet time. It was funny because when Mike was reading Lino's stories Lino was like "can you please hurry up because I'm really tired". We both were in a ball laughing and Lino thought it was funny too but when Mike started reading faster Lino told him to slow down. The kid doesn't know what he wants.  So the kids were in bed so we thought we would relax with a little TV but the internet wasn't working very well so we ended up playing a couple rounds of domino. It was actually fun except Mike kept beating me...oh well. A glass of wine helped to ease the pain.