Irish Winter Wonderland 

Aine feeding her sister! 

Winter Wonderland

We woke up yesterday morning to a light covering of snow here in Ireland. As this doesn't happen very often here, I commemorated it with a photo!

We are doing well here, though the girls are nearly through a cold/flu thing that had me with a severe lack of sleep for several days. They are both doing better and sleeping better, but I'll keep my fingers crossed as there were several days when I averaged 3 hours of broken sleep with Aisling crying/moaning in sleep with her blocked nose, and her left top front tooth coming in. Poor girl!

Aine is definitely feeling better, as she has turned into Monkey Girl. Every time I turn my head for 30 seconds she is climbing on a table, scaling bookshelves and generally wearing me out. She is wearing herself out as well, which is a good thing, as her bedtime is getting earlier which gives me more time to get things done in the evening! A mom needs her alone time!!!!

I am doing well at Weight Watchers these days. Got my second stone tonight (one stone = 14 lbs) so I have lost 29 1/2 lbs since starting a few months after Aisling's birth. I am the receptionist at our WW meetings these days, so I get weighed for free and earn a little money, very cool! Hard to believe I went to WW in 2001 at 190 lbs and my short little 5'1" body. This morning I tried on a pair of size 6 Calvin Klein jeans and they fit! Didn't even have to suck in...I'm loving getting back to these sizes again. Only 11 lbs left till my original goal of 120 lbs!

I've recently finished a quilt block swap on www.scrapquilts.com for bear track blocks...you can see a photo of the finished blocks here: bear tracks if you are interested. I've also started a very long journey to make a quilt based on an 1860s original, called the Dear Jane quilt. I'll be hand-piecing and hand quilting this one, and there are 225 different blocks, so I guess I won't be finishing any time soon! Should learn a lot doing it though...

Friend Audrey also had a boy, Cian Thomas 8lbs 9oz, guess I better get started on those baby quilts!

More soon and hopefully more often!

OK...I know Christmas is over, but she is too cute! 

Aisling is loving her doorway jumper! Boing!! 

Happy New Year!

I ended up falling asleep at 8pm on New Years Eve...guess I'm getting old! Could be the late night and then early morning of the night before (3 hours sleep!) babies that are teething are to blame!

Dave is back to work after having been off since Christmas Eve, so back into the regular routine...did a ton of cleaning today, then into town to post some letters, get a few bits and pieces and do the shopping. I got a sweater to send to a friend in DC...

Aisling is sitting up well at this point...am passing the swing onto my friend Sandra, who says it will be perfect for calming her little one...glad it will continue to be useful! She is letting me borrow her "play nest" (fabric covered innertube to sit baby in, no bumps and bruises if they topple over while sitting!)

Aine is saying so much these days...but it takes me to translate for folks, as I'm around her all day and understand her babbling! She was helping me do the dishes tonight, I use the word help in the loosest sense, LOL!

I am continuing with Weight Watchers, and if I'm lucky I'll do alright after a few holiday splurges!

Am working on a couple of quilt swaps now that I must finish, then I'll be doing 4 baby quilts! All but one have arrived: friend Sandra's girl Holly, Sis in Laws Claire (Noah) and Ciara (Emmet)...just waiting to hear about Audrey's baby!

Anyway...life is pretty mundane, but we like it!