Down 2 more pounds on Weight Watchers, woo hoo!

Making progress!

Was a very busy day today...did the walk with our regular crew... Then had Ann and her three kids over...made banana bread with overripe bananas...watched the kids and Ann in the hot tub...cleaned up after the kids...then went to WW meeting...finally sitting down!

Another day another euro...

Not too much to comment on today...

I weigh myself far too often and my weight is up on WW, but I've kept to my points. I learned last time that this can happen often...so now that my mind is set on weight loss, I didn't derail and pig out today...hopefully I will be down a pound at weigh in tomorrow!

Went for a walk with the girls, went to the shop, played with Aine, fed and played with Aisling... pretty uneventful. Aine likes to pretend to cook these days...using her Muddles (like Cheerios) as her food in her saucepans and bowls. Very cute.

Downloaded a decent photo printer so I can layout multiple photos on the PC and print them and get Aine and Aisling's albums updated and a few more Aisling photos mixed in on my "wall of Aine" collage in the hallway...needs to be a "wall of Aine and Aisling" now...

Told ya it wasn't exciting, but hey, "that's life" :-)

More quilting...

I finished my mom's birthday quilt today...she had picked out the fabric and design for it about 6 years ago maybe :-) Doesn't take me long, huh?

I worked on that pretty much most of the day. Dave and Aine arrived back from Dublin around 6pm...made dinner and hung out. Pretty uneventful, but am glad I got the queen sized quilt sewn up!

Long day of quilting

Dave took Aine off to Dublin this morning, so Aisling and I have been hanging out and I am laying out and sewing a quilt for my mom's birthday present. I needed the time alone...I could just imagine Aine picking up all the quilt squares and running off with them, as she likes to do with my fabric, either that or wear it on her head!!

Really just did a bit of cleaning and a heck of a lot of ironing and sewing for the quilt. Pretty productive but not very exciting day...

Look at Aisling smiling at her sister in the bacground. Aine is cooking me some "tea"! 

Yes...I sleep in weird positions! 

Gotta love this kid's smile! And look at her holding her rattle...clever girl! 

Aisling's Orthopedic Doc Appointment

Today was the day for the skin check at the hospital. Aisling was pronounced soft and squishy with good skin this week. The doctor also saw her and said "good" when manipulating her hip. He said they were in socket, so we can hope for good results in a few weeks time, but I'm still not going to assume anything, having read the horror stories on the website about other babies with hip dysplasia...

We went for a walk today, and I got some new onesies and a blanket for Aine's bed. It is so strange to have her in her own bed now. It really is the end of an era...my first born is growing up.

Aine managed to take a nap today...check out the weird way that she went off to sleep!! Aisling also held a rattle for the first time today! She is really starting to kick her legs and look around...she is growing up too! I've moved her into 3-6 month clothes already...she is definitely longer and bigger than her sister, yet not as pudgy! Aine was in 0-3 till she was nearly 5 months old for some things!

Anyway...I took quite a few pics today...I'll put some up here...

Flowers, Dogs and Cars

Aine was asking me to draw pictures for her this morning: flowers, dogs and cars, lots of cars...got a great kick out of it...I think she liked that she could say the word and I would draw it...that we were talking together...

Went for another walk...trying to go as often as we can during week as we are all trying to get in shape and the kids like seeing each other. I also went swimming with Marion today. I'd like to try to swim Tuesdays and Thursdays for now and maybe swim more later if I can manage it with two small kids...but I'll start with 2 days a week. I swam 5 days a week and 1 kilometer a day (50 lengths!) as I lost weight the first time, but just don't have the time to do it anymore with the kids!

I was bad! I had half a big chocolate cookie! But I recorded it in my points and I think I've done fine today now...just had a smaller dinner... Got Dave chicken and chips (fries) tonight and wasn't tempted...I must be strong!!

Not too much other news...Aisling has another skin check with the orthopedic nurses tomorrow to make sure her mommy is taking good care of her now!! I'm massaging and giving her cream and powder these days, so I hope her skin is in much better shape this week! We were treating her like a regular kid and she just isn't, we have to look after her skin much more closely when she is in the brace... We're doing much better this week, but boy we both felt bad when we realized how red her skin was under the brace!!

Anyway, must stop obsessing... Gonna do a bit of sewing tonight and jump in the hot tub...

Here is our little group in Mooncoin getting ready to start our walk this morning. Ann is on the left and Marion on the right. 

One won't sleep and the other slept all day...

Nothing truly exciting to report today...but Aine wore me out! That kid has endless energy and wants to drag me along with her everywhere. We took a walk with Ann, Marion and kids down to the river again...tried to get her to nap...but she was awake the whole time...got about half an hour, just enough to eat lunch...so no real break today!

Aisling slept the day away...from 10-5...she drank a huge bottle in the middle of this in her sleep! She must be having a growth spurt cuz she was smiley and happy when I woke her up eventually! Have a feeling I might have a long night though!

I lost 8 lbs on Weight Watchers!!

I can't believe it!! Very cool.

Of course I came home and had my "splurge" meal: chinese, and then 4 cookies!! But I always had a splurge meal after weigh in the first time I joined and lost 70 lbs then...so I hope that it will do the trick again... I figure if I get one meal a week to go crazy, I won't be tempted to cheat! My goal is to lose one pound for next week...any more would be an excellent bonus.

Aine was very cute today...kept wanting to dance with me...grabbed my hands and twirling around :-). She was upset tonight and woke up (from her big girl bed) crying because her sister woke up crying and hungry...I understood her baby talk and Dave was amazed when I knew, just from listening to Aine, what had happened after just coming in from WW. It is amazing how you can understand your own toddler's babble when you are with them all day. She went back down again after she could see her sister was okay and had some time to color and play for a little while...

Definitely heading to the hot tub now to float away!!

Aisling is starting to hold things now and is staring intently at the doggie mobile! 

We don't know how that cat escaped our notice and got into Aine's room! Sleeping Beauty... 

Waking up with a smile...love those Pooh jammies!! 

Aisling slept till 7am!

Aisling had her last bottle at 8:30 last night and fell asleep around 9:30 or so...she didn't wake up till 7am!! I kept waking up though...to make sure she was breathing!!

Aine is in her big girl bed for the third night in a row...even stayed in her bed and DIDN'T sleep during her nap so I could have a break for an hour!! I must say she was tiring me out today...she really has to learn how to play by herself more...but if I try to leave her she screeches and while I can let her do that sometimes...it really wears on me and I give in and play with her... Don't get me wrong...I love to play with her...but just wish she'd also like to play on her own a bit more with me supervising her...anyway...

Had another nice walk today with friends (Ann, Marion and Sandra) and various kiddies, and am now gonna get some sewing done... Tomorrow is my weigh in day for Weight Watchers and I've been sticking to my points...so wish me luck!

My little girl is getting so big!!

Aine had her nap in the bed and is now back in it again in her Winnie the Pooh jammies. Sigh. I feel like breaking into a rendition of "Sunrise, Sunset"!!

Have been reading about Aisling's hip condition online lately...as I'm worried about her muscle development with the brace on www.hip-baby.org has a lot of info about what she has: congenital hip dysplasia (her left hip is normal but her right hip has a shallow socket and can be dislocated with pressure). They have a forum where people can ask questions and read about others going through similar situations... I hope that Aisling doesn't need some of the more drastic surgical treatments later...she will have another ultrasound or xray in 3 weeks to see if her hip is improving. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Dave set up our new-to-us surround sound system that my bro sold to us dirt cheap (thanks B!) when he left Ireland to return to US soil...and we did a lot of cleaning and playing with crazy Aines...nothing too exciting...

Made real American comfort food tonight: meatloaf! Yum. Doing good with WW so far...hope to see a good result at my next weigh in!

Big Girl Bed!

Aine is in her big girl bed for the night and so far so good!

Not an overly exciting Saturday...did some quilting, a few star blocks for a sampler swap I'm doing (20 women, we each pick a star quilt block design and send one to each woman in the colors they choose)... The internet forum I'm on does these swaps fairly regularly and I've had a good time doing them...this is my fourth...helps me to learn and improve...and is a good relaxing hobby to have, with the benefit of making great presents!!

Aine is starting to put together more phrases...kinda cool to see her learning "bee sky" was one today, when she saw a bee outside...

Dave got the lawn mowed before the rain started...no hot tub for me tonight!

Guess that is it for today...never said my life was very exciting! hee hee

Bad Mommy! Bad Mommy!

Today I found out that I am a bold mommy! (bold is Irish term for naughty or bad) I haven't been looking after Aisling's skin underneath her harness as much as I should have and she had a little sore on her back. They took her harness off, gave her the second real bath of her life (we usually sponge bath her as we can't remove harness ourselves...but I haven't been doing as well underneath the harness as I should have), and they gave her the next size harness... I felt so bad...I usually check her skin and powder her to keep her skin from chafing, but obviously need to do better :-( We plan to massage her a few times a day to keep her skin supple. Poor thing trussed up in this harness...but will keep her hip (found out it is only her right hip that is displaced) from dislocating in future.

Other than that...it was a long but good day...had my friend Olive and her daughter Allie (same age as Aine) come over for a quick visit this morning, went off with the girls for our river walk again, then dropped Aine with another good friend Imelda (who happens to have a bouncy trampoline in her garden that Aine loves!) while I took Aisling for her hospital visit, then errands in town... It really is great to have such good friends to visit with!

Took a few pics of Aisling this morning being cute. Wish Aine would sit still long enough for me to get more pics of her!!

Aine's newest word: sky or "kye" she looks up and points and generally walks into walls, cars or various other objects while doing it!!

Oh yeah...she also took a shower with me this morning, like a big girl...she called it "rain" (or in Aine speak "main", the same thing she calls rain outside!)

My coy little girl 

Peekaboo! 

This was Aine at 2 Months...they look so different but still pretty similar! 

Aisling's 2 Month official photo 

Happy 2 Month Birthday Aisling!

Can't believe my little girl just turned 2 months already...how time flies!

Had a pretty good day today...Aine was only half as insane as usual...we played soccer, she fell down and got her first scrape (she kept saying that it was a crayon mark, since she often writes on herself with her crayons!)... went for a walk... did puzzles...nothing too exciting, but at least she gave me a bit of a break and wasn't running everywhere today...played inside and watched some TV to let mommy look after her baby sister. I really need to get Aisling on her tummy a bit more...but with her hip brace it is hard...I just feel that she is behind in learning to lift herself up...oh well...they all get there eventually...

I asked Aine what she wanted for dinner tonight and she actually told me...how cool! We're starting to communicate! "What do you want for dinner, Aine?" Her answer, her favorite food at the moment:

PIZZA!

Killer Butterflies

Another long day of motherhood...will I ever be less exhausted?

Met with 3 friends down in Mooncoin for another walk to the river...between us we had 7 kids on the walk with us!! Aine learned how to blow in and play a toy harmonica that her friend Avalyn had...and she didn't want to give it back!! Guess that sharing concept will come along at some point? I hope so.

We all took a walk down to the local public health nurse as well...I got Aisling weighed...she is weighing in at a healthy 13 lbs 11 oz at 9 weeks. She has been fussy since the afternoon...I'm pretty lucky as she isn't often fussy. I finally got her calmed and off to sleep...after quite a lot of cuddling :-)

Aine went down for a nap when we came home from our walk. 15 minutes later she was screaming and crying, shouting "bee" at the top of her lungs. I ran in and saw a beautiful butterfly that had landed in her cot... she was terrified of it!! I had to rescue her from the "bee" (she calls all bugs, flying or not, "bees") and she wouldn't go back in her cot again till tonight! When killer butterflies attack!! She was truly upset though, poor thing!

Aine is strange. She has hard words like "corn flakes" and "pizza" in her repertoire, but she just started saying "up" and "out" weird.

I haven't had one minute to myself to rest or relax today, so I'm going to close this now and go jump in our hot tub to drown my sorrows, instead of food...

Oh yeah...am doing well today...have kept within Weight Watcher points and even have some left for a midnight snack...cool.

Here is everyone in the hot tub...Aine just loves to "swim" with her water wings on!

A New Start...and a dip in the "bubbles"

Well...today was a much less stressful day. Had friend Ann and her kids over and we all piled into the hot tub (or "bubbles" as Aine calls it) in back (with monitor to listen out for sleeping Aisling of course!) and splashed around for a while. Both myself and Ann are frustrated with our weight, so we decided to start Weight Watchers officially here in a nearby village...luckily it meets on a Tuesday so we had no excuses to miss it!

Well...fully clothed in my heavy shoes I am 160, depressing...but I hope this is a kick in the butt to get me started in the right direction.

Not too much to add today...more tomorrow.

What a day!

Started off pretty good. Met two friends and their kids for a walk down to our local river, kids had fun and we had a nice chat...it was a beautiful sunny day!

Then I took Aine and Aisling into Waterford to do some shopping in town...something I hadn't done for weeks. The day was beautiful, so I left Aine's sun canopy behind thinking I wouldn't need it since the rain cover wouldn't be used (it supports the rain cover and keeps it off Aine's head in the double buggy...pretty useless as an actual shade from the sun...). Well...I was wrong.

I went to a friends shop to feed Aisling, then the bank and a charity shop where I bought Aine the cutest Bear in the Big Blue House "dollhouse" complete with furniture and Bear for one euro! It was sprinkling outside. Aine started wanting to get out of the buggy. It started pouring. I wanted to get at least one errand run (pick up some new socks for Aine who was running out of ones that fit! I know...exciting huh!) picking up my books for my Book Club's September and October meetings will have to wait.

Got that errand run...and it was a torrent of rain outside. Aisling was covered by rain cover, but since I hadn't brought Aine's canopy she wouldn't let me put the plastic cover over her... I tried to have her under my umbrella but she insisted on holding it and screamed when I tried to take it away...she screamed a lot today. While trying to cross at a crosswalk during heavy traffic she dropped the umbrella and I ran over it...cars were trying to get through intersection as I retrieved umbrella so we could move...and I sprinted across the road.

The rain came down in torrents till I arrived home when a gorgeous sun popped out again. I was livid.

Needless to say, I didn't stay strong on the old WW front, as I decided to drown my frustrations in food, since I was already like a drowned rat! I'll just keep on trying every day to get back into the swing of things.

The rest of the day was pretty standard. Aine took a nap...I fed Aisling, fed Aine, played, y'know...the regular stuff...

I cut out some fabric for some star blocks I'm working on for an internet swap on www.scrapquilts.com forum and did a few applique heart blocks for my moms quilt. Now it is time for bed!

I'm exhausted!

Rainy Sunday Evenings and "Pizza"

The rain is coming down outside on this dark summer evening... makes you want to curl up with a book rather than do anything really productive!

Been a fairly boring day...up early with the girls, lots of playing with Aine, a trip into Waterford (mommy didn't do too good on her Weight Watcher program today...how about tomorrow!!??) and some basic housework...

Aine surprised us this evening by saying the word "pizza" very clearly when we gave her some pizza as part of her dinner. She is really starting to say a lot more words and it sounds like a few sentences as well...but those aren't as clear "I go...slide, seesaw" I think she is trying to say... I'm sure it will get clearer as she gets older and wiser...she just turned 21 months a few days ago...

I am going to try to keep up with this journal every evening and add photos when I can...let you know Aine's latest words and Aisling's latest tricks...her main strength is her gorgeous grins at the moment, as the hip brace keeps her from any major rolling feats. Aisling is starting to bat at her toys on her swing though...which is cute to see...

I must get serious about losing weight now though...I don't ever want to go back to 190 lbs ever again!! I've looked through my WW stuff again tonight (I lost 70lbs with them before just eating balanced diet...will try it again!) and am getting my head around it again. Wish me luck.

If the rain stops I'm heading to the hot tub tonight...and I'll do a bit of sewing...nice quiet evening planned.

Obsessed with this new blogging thing...

Both girls are sound asleep and I don't know what to do with myself!! I have been obsessed with my new blog layout...have added the photo album links at the bottom, check out my cuties photos...

Dave is bringing a movie home tonight (he had to go into work for a few hours) and I will work on a quilt I'm doing for my mom tonight...only about 36 hand stitched blocks left to do...ack!! At least I can do them in front of the TV... I should have been doing them while girls are sleeping...but have been sucked into internet and my new blogging obsession!

Tomorrow I get serious about Weight Watchers again...want to lose 30 lbs after having Aisling...most of it weight I'd never lost after having Aine. Wish me luck...but I think a final chocolate bar is calling me! I must answer it!!

Ain't I cute! 

Dave's Girls: Mommy, Aine and Aisling

Getting Started

I hope to start this journal for family and friends to see pictures of the girls as they grow up. Hard to believe I'm the mother of two now!! Time sure does fly!