The O'Neills! 

Godfather Ollie 

Christening 

Aisling's Christening

Our little baby was christened today. She was so good, lots of smiles, very content, even fell asleep at some points. Her sister on the other hand was insane! She kept walking up and down the aisles and talking to her friends, laying her coat on the altar and generally being crazy. The priest was really good about it and since I was holding the baby, there wasn't much I could do! It was a nice christening though.

Everyone came back to the house afterwards and boy did I fall off the WW bandwagon. Yesterday I made 2 apple tarts, and today I ate several pieces, along with some cake! But I enjoyed myself, and as long as I don't make it a habit, then I'll continue going in the right direction. After all, if I want this weight loss to be for life, I'm going to have to enjoy myself too!! Just not as constantly as I used to... I'd say if I stay the same or lose this week it'll be a miracle. More than likely I will be up... But it is only one week...

It was great having Dave's family here and friends over despite the miserable rainy weather.

Aisling's 4 Month Photo

Isn't she cute! Got a strong back that one...

Had a busy day doing errands. Took the girls to the mother and toddler group, did the grocery shopping and generally ran around and got nothing done in the house today! Went for my walk, went to Weight Watchers (down 3 more lbs!!)

Not too much new to report... We took the girls to the US Embassy yesterday to get Aisling's passport and US birth certificate...we were there AGES, bureaucracy!

Aine is saying all kinds of new things, but her new favorite is "Okay!" followed by "I'm coming". She is also starting to pick up on colors...she is getting so grown up! Aisling has a bit of a cold but is improving today... Have officially finished Aine's I Spy quilt and am happy with it. Now on to dad's quilt...to see if I can finish it before I leave for the States!

Here is our little baby - 4 Month old already! 

This is fun! 

Here I go! 

Nearly there... 

I made it! 

Aine's quilt top...need to finish it up this weekend... 

Heads up!

I can't believe how bad I've been about keeping up with this blog...10 days since my last post. Shame on me!

Well nothing hugely exciting has happened in the interim...my days are full of kids and cleaning up after them...walks with them and friends, visits, errands...the normal day to day stuff. This week I went all over Waterford in search of a soft Elmo doll (the only one I could find was a "chicken dance elmo" which wasn't very cuddly at all!). No luck. So grandma came to the rescue in the States and found one which will be awaiting Aine's arrival in November!

Aisling is starting to lift her head off the floor! I know this is quite late at 4 months, but considering she has spent most of her life in brace that made her head smoosh into the carpet if I put her on her tummy, she's doing pretty good!! She's had the brace off 2 weeks now and is loving being able to stretch out and move around more!

Of course, the reaction of Aine to her sister's freedom is that she is taking more of mommy's time as mommy is playing with her on the mat on the floor more often instead of just smiling at her in the swing! Whenever I go to change Aisling's nappy, Aine screams no, and lies down to get her nappy changed! I had to resort to pretending to change her nappy lately!

I still try to find time to work on quilts in the evenings after the girls have settled. I am close to finishing Aine's I Spy quilt for her birthday, and mom has received her quilt...I'll post photos of those here... I am also doing internet swaps, and am making star blocks for those...I'm really learning a lot with each project I do, getting more precise, etc. I have my eye on an expensive quilting/embroidery sewing machine for my next few birthday/anniversary/Christmas presents rolled into one...need to convince Dave of it. Thinking of starting a small business personalizing kids and babies things...anyone interested in personalized blankets, quilts, onesies, bibs? I also think that bringing over cool baby gadgets from the states would work too...have to think about this idea here...

Anyway...Weight Watchers is going slowly but surely these days...20 lbs down...20 more to go...would like to get to 120 again... I am definitely taking a break and enjoying myself in the States though...up to a point!

Smile for the camera, Conor!! 

Madness and Mayhem

What a day!

Some Wednesdays we visit my friend Imelda...also my friend Olive is often off work on a Wednesday and we might get a walk in... Imelda was busy this week, but Aine and I planned to meet up with Olive and her 2 year old daughter Allie in the afternoon, so we planned a morning walk with Marion and her daughters. Well, that was great, did some cleaning in the morning and went off on our walk. Got pelted with rain, but luckily only at the end of our walk...

I also had plans to watch my friend Sandra's little boy Conor from 2:30-5:30 when his dad would pick him up...

So...after the walk, I came home to a messy house, toys all over the living room, washing from last night stacked up, laundry to fold...

Oh yeah...and they called from Florida to ask if I could do a quick design job for them...so worked on that last night and this afternoon.

Didn't feed Aine till 3pm! Didn't feed myself either... Ended up making lunch for Conor and Aine, some Teletubbie pasta, hee hee, and cheese toast for myself... Looked after the kids while trying to do the dishes and straighten up a bit... got lots of calls, then Ann called to see if I could help out typing her 8 year old's short story and print it out...told her I would if she watched the kids for me...so soon we had six kids here running around, my 2, Conor and Ann's 3 kids! She watched them while I helped her daughter Joann... The other kids kept coming in and out of the office to show me toy cars, new shoes, lollies (guess who that was...as if you need to, hee hee). I just about managed to get my design job out... Ann was great, watched the kids and straightened up my kitchen and living room for me, how nice was that!

Anyway... Conor seemed to enjoy himself...didn't want to go home... I have a cute pic I'm going to post here of Conor holding Aisling. By 6pm the house was relatively quiet, so I got a bottle for Aisling and dinner "(AKA "pizza") for Aine...daddy was home by 7, mom called, Henny came over to borrow the sewing machine, and finally ate some dinner around 9pm, of course while making some jam with my extra blackberries...

I'm tired.

So now I'm just surfing...was checking out the Wiggles concert dates in DC...they are playing the day we arrive, bummer...if it was one day later...Aine would have been a very happy nearly 2 year old!

Aine made a new discovery today, she pointed to me, daddy and baby, naming us, then pointed to herself and said "me"!! We'd never seen her do that before...cool!

My happy little girl! 

Another Rainy Day in Ireland!

Well...today was pretty gray and dismal, but we had a few interesting things happen... Aisling finally had her first bath this morning (kept falling asleep for her evening baths!) I took her in the bath with me on the "safer bather" bath pillow we have...keeps the baby from slipping and is warm for her! She was really good, no crying, just a few false alarms...looked like she was going to cry, but didn't! Aine wanted to hop in the bath too!

I put Aine down for a nap today, and like half the times I do it in a week, it didn't work, got about 20 minutes of quiet from her then whining then shouting...when I got to her door to let her escape, she was out of bed and in her shoes!! That is right! Our little girl put on her hiking boots all by herself...and amazingly on the right feet!

Yesterday I took a 2.5 hour walk all over creation to make up for my lack of exercise and because it was a beautiful day. I had plans to call Dave halfway through the walk if I got tired, but persevered. I walked from my house to the Centra grocery store in Mooncoin and back! I'll have to see how many miles that is tomorrow! I hope to do one long walk like that a week, on the weekends, just to have some time to myself and to get a nice bit of exercise!

Am working on a few quilt projects, the I Spy quilt for Aine, some star blocks for an internet swap I'm doing, and my dad's Christmas pressie quilt... Also reading The Blind Assasin (Margaret Atwood) for our book clubs October selection!

Aisling is adjusting well to life without her brace...I've introduced her to the mirror I had for Aine and she loves to see herself and mommy in the reflection. Will have her on her mat and doing tummy time more often! She'll be behind for a while, but hopefully will catch up with her developmental milestones! If she doesn't...I've got to learn to be a less worried mommy...they all get there in the end! She is a happy girl and that is more important.

I'm free, I'm free!! 

She's Free!!

Aisling had her appointment with the orthopedic doc and he said "set that baby free!!!" Okay, so he didn't say that really...but he said she could have the harness taken off!! My baby wore trousers today for the first time since she was a week old. She didn't actually get her bath as she fell asleep. Tomorrow...

Aine went to my friend Sandra's house while I took Aisling to the hospital for her appointment. She apparently was great. Sandra's son Conor took her off down to his room to play with cars and blocks. It is nice to see her reaching the stage where she plays with other kids and interacts!

Haven't gotten much exercise this week, hope I don't do too badly at WW next Tuesday...we shall see...will try to get a walk in a few times this weekend.

Anyway, this is one happy mommy with a long and squishy baby!!