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A New Kind Of Normality

14 weeks and 5 days later and we have finally got back some kind of normality albeit a new kind of normality. One that consists of the day usually beginning with the man of the house stirring in his room about 6am, we manage to fob him off another hour maybe an hour and half with the help of a dummy, if not cuddles in our bed always do the trick :) (bad habit I know but right now I wouldn't give up those cuddles for all the money in the world!)
From 7.30am our day begins properly. The day revolves around bottle and nap times, this makes the day go extremely fast! However its finally allowed us to have a regular routine (and I love my routines!) and get back on track fitting in all of life's little things that got thrown to the way side during the first 3 months of Junior's life.
So today it began, I decided it was time to get back on the healthy eating / regaining some kind of fitness wagon. I weighed myself on the Wii Fit this morning, woah, was I depressed when it told me I was obese!! Now I'm no slim jim but the fact I was back into my own normal clothes after having Junior, I felt pretty good..until told otherwise! Anyway this just spurs me on.
So I've downloaded my calorie counter app, myfitnesspal.com works best for me and have so far managed to have balanced meals, drink plenty of water (only have 2 bourbon creams :P) and go for a 60 minute walk...that involved 2 steep hills while pushing a pram! So far so good...for day 1!
Now I'm not one for rigid "Don't eat this, don't eat that" kind of thing because I love my food too much but I believe in moderation and an 80/20 approach, in the past its been Monday - Friday good, Saturday and Sunday relax.

Aims:

• My first goal is October 28th, 5 weeks from now, to be down a "couple" of pounds, hopefully 5 pounds
• Try a new, healthy recipe a week to broaden my spectrum of cooked dinners..theres only so much steamed fish and veg a girl can eat in one week!
• To do my 60 minute walk at least 5 days a week
• To use Bio Oil every night and see if it actually does work on those wonderful things call stretch marks!

Only 4 aims for now but I don't want to go over board with things. So I will check in here regularly, actually I should add that to my Aims list...to blog at least 4 times a week! I'll work on that one too :) 

Fingers crossed for October 28th that I can reach my goal. 

Anyone else have any short term goals they are working on?? I'd love to hear :)

xo

 

Wonderful

Well..its been an awfully long time since I've sat down to blog but boy have I been busy!!

On June 12th 2013 at 04.36am our perfect little creation, Luke James was born weighing in at 6lbs 8 1/2 oz. What an awesome day :)

Luke arrived bang on time for his due date of the 12th but not without a few complications. From week 38 on I suffered form high blood pressure so was in and out of the hospital for the last 2 weeks when on June 10th the doctors decided it would be best for baby if they induced me. Apparently the fluid around the baby was becoming less and less each time they checked and did not want to take any risks, not to mention my blood pressure which refused to stabilise at a good number. So off we went down to the induction "suite" to begin the process...and what a long process it was!! After taking the gas and air and pethadine, I was sent for the epidural, thats when things really started happening. We were getting ready to go to start the pushing, I was fully dilated when Luke's heart rate dropped quite a bit. The doctor did a few quick tests and decided that they would be better off acting fast in order to get Luke out ok so I was sent for an emergency section. I cant quite explain that feeling, of course I was terrified but I think I shut down. I didn't speak or anything, I stayed quiet until I knew that Luke was out safe and sound...of course he took a bit of time to cry which felt like hours but once he did a huge sense of relief rushed through me, he was out and he was ok :) My little boy was brought over for a quick cuddle before he whisked away again until I was in recovery.

I know this goes without saying obviously but seriously no one warned me of the absolute over whelming rush of love you get when you see your baby. I couldn't quite believe that I could feel this way, an immediate need and want to protect this tiny human being and give them all the love you can physically give. I couldn't even look at him without crying, I still cant some days!

Our little boy has well and truly integrated himself in our lives now and each day hes more perfect than before. We adore him.

The last 8 weeks have been hectic, emotional, happy, hard, a complete roller coaster but each day we are learning more about our little boy and each day he is growing and thriving.

A few hours old xx

8 weeks old xx

I hope everyone has been doing great and you have all been enjoying this crazy Summer we've experienced! More posts on the way shortly with the rest of my shenanigans over the last couple of months :) xo

A Fun Filled St Patricks Weekend

What an action packed St Patricks Weekend we had this year..and not one drop of alcohol passed my lips..there's a first for everything!! :)

I took full advantage of the extra day off due to our national holiday and packed in loads of out and about trips. 

First up, myself and the Boy took a trip to Kinsale in West Cork (I've blogged about this place before but it really is one of my favourite places in the county). We decided to pack a flask of tea and some rolls for our trip and ate them while looking out over Kinsale harbour from Charles Fort..an amazing view from up there. We then took a stroll around the town for a visit to Sundays Ice Cream Parlour..I love this place!! It's really retro and funky with 1950's style decor. We stocked up on some yummy sundaes in there. An extremely colourful looking shop caught my eye as we walked past so I just had to go in and have a look! It was like walking into my own little piece of heaven...it was filled with little trinkets, writing sets, 1950's style cups and signage, fairies etc. Its called Stone Mad, quite apt too. 

Sunday then of course was St Patricks Day. I'm ashamed to say I haven't actually made it to my local parade in a few years due to the effects of the night before taking their toll. This year, however I ventured down town to Cobh town centre to watch the parade. We were joined by the Mothership and Daddykins to watch it as the oldest niece was in it with her rowing club. It was the biggest turnout I'd ever seen and the town looked super! Thankfully the sun was shining for most of it with the odd shower here and there but it didn't seem to dampen anyones spirit. While most people were out in the pubs for the rest of the night, myself and the Boy ate loads of finger food, played cards and watched some films..couldn't think of any better way to spend a bank holiday Sunday night :)

And to finish off our bank holiday weekend...a picnic on the beach!! Some friends asked us did we want to join them on a trip to a beach near by for a little picnic which of course we did..we've grown fond of the flask! :) So we loaded up the car with the tea, goodies and a blanket and took off to Garryvoe. It was a bit cold but once the sun was shining it was lovely, we had a stroll along the beach, ate some sandwiches, visited the playground and of course finished it off with a 99!

Keeping Warm

The Boy <3

Garryvoe Beach

All in all I had a super awesome long weekend (thanks St Paddy for the extra day!) and really enjoyed our bit of sight seeing, picnicing and general chill out down time instead of the usual drunken antics...and we can't wait for next year already to bring Junior along to his first local parade to join in the festivities with us :)

<3 

I really hope you all had as good a weekend as me and celebrated St Patricks Day in style no matter where you were.
Keep Smiling :) xoxo

Mum's Fish Dish

Phew...finally a chance to sit down and blog!! Life has been hectic these past few weeks between work, car shopping, baby shopping and life in general - happy to say though that I finally managed to buy a car, with 5 doors, am I grown up or what?! Sad to see me reliable 'ol Civic leave my driveway though, but not too worry, Charlotte has only moved into the boys house where will now look after her :)

Anyway, I feel like my last few posts have been very "me" so I'm making a conscious effort to make a bit more interesting with more lifestyle posts.

So today's post is a quick recipe to give some fish fillets a bit of pizazz! I've aptly named it "Mum's Fish Dish" because it was just something she tried one night that I liked, so gave it a go myself.

Ingredients:

4x Cod Fillets
3x Scallions
3x Tomatoes
Breadcrumbs
Cheese - Grated Red Cheedar
Mayonaise

• Pre heat oven to 170 degrees (I was using a fan oven)
• I started by cutting my tomatoes into quarters, deseeding them and then dicing them up.
• Next the scallions were chopped up finely and added to the diced tomato.
• I mixed these together with approx 3 dessert spoons of light mayonaise 
• Next up I lined a baking tray with some tin foil and made a bed out of the mayo mixture and placed the 4 cod fillets on the bed of mixture
• There was a bit left over so put the mixture on to the top of the cod fillets also
• I mixed up my bread crumbs with the grated red cheddar and an egg to bind them
• I then made a topping with the cheese/bread crumbs and covered the fish into a tin foil parcel - rolled up the tin foil at the sides and folded over loosely on the top
• Popped them into the oven for about 30mins
• Served them up with mixed veg and some potato wedges

Yummy :)

xo

Dirty Old Town

I've been hating on my poor 'ol hometown quite a bit lately but I think everyone goes through that at some stage when they get sick of where they're living. Luckily for me I live in the countryside so wouldn't venture down town all that often but when I do it saddens me to see the place so empty. Every time I do there's another closed down or boarded up shop or building and the buzz the town used to have is almost gone. I've fond memories of Cobh growing up and in my teens the town was booming but now it's becoming a lot harder to see the positives.
However some photo's taken from a construction site in the town where my Dad is currently working reminded me of how beautiful our town is so have decided to share them with you all and try and focus on the positives of the place I call home.

The Promanade, Cobh

St Colman's Cathedral, Cobh

"Down Town"

Harbour 

Pops, supervising the job :)

xo

Need A Hug?? This Might Help

The Mothership brought home a card she'd come across at work the other day because of the poem on it that she liked and thought I'd like it too...it was so nice that I just had to share with you guys:

Just A Little Hug

A hug can say "I'll miss you,

or, "I'll be thinking of you",

It can say "You're someone special",

or best of all, "I love you".

It can soothe a hurt or calm a fear

or cheer us up when we're blue - 

It almost seems a miracle all the things a hug can do.

When the sun is refusing 

to shine on your day

and you're finding it hard

just to cope,

When you're seeing more rain clouds

than stars in the sky

and you just feel like giving up hope,

That's the time when someone 

comes along with a smile

and a warm hug 

that says "It's okay - 

Tomorrow is coming

so don't give up now -

brighter moments 

are soon on their way"

Sending lots of hugs your way 

xo