Presents, vol. 2

Buttons came back home today and opened his presents.

Santa clearly knows he's homeschooled, as he got plenty of science kits, games and magnets.

And Lego. Always Lego.

He was a happy young man, as you can see.

Merry Christmas

I am full of food, and very happy.

I was up before anyone else this morning, cleaning and lighting the stove. I just couldn't wait to see Captain's little face when she saw the presents under the tree.

She was so excited, and delighted with every little gift.

I got to feed people, look at games and books with Captain, listen to Hubby play guitar and enjoy my little home.

I even had a nap after dinner was eaten and guests were gone.

It has been a perfect Christmas.

And tomorrow we get to see Buttons and all the excitement will start all over again.

Hope you all had a lovely day!

Christmas party

...or December breastfeeding support group meeting was last night. I love the atmosphere of the group any day, but the Christmas meeting is just magical! Babies dressed in Santa suits, a twinkling tree in the corner and lots of love in the room. It's one of my favourite dates in the calendar.

I came home with so many beautiful, thoughtful gifts. Little babakins got a gorgeous hand-knitted cardigan from Little Scallywags, which caused instant tears. I can't believe I'll soon have a tiny person to fill the teensy, warm cocoon!

The kids got a fantastic (and homeschool-perfect) gift; a rock painting kit! It was opened first thing this morning and both set to work before we could leave the house. I also got a super cute Frugi night gown for the newest arrival. I feel so lucky that my baby is loved so much already.

The icing on the cake was getting an exercise ball. I'm sitting on it as I type, and I haven't been this comfortable in weeks... I forgot how essential they are in the final weeks; silly me! Thank goodness for the bubble of supportive moms, who think of the things your baby brain forgets to.

Today we went into town to finish the Christmas shopping, and to enjoy the specially set up chill out room in our library. The kids took full advantage of it, colouring every kind of colouring sheet available (Buttons) and laying down on the sofa under my cardigan (Captain), while I had a cup of herbal tea and read some stories. It was so calming, and hopefully something that they will do again some time. I also finally got myself a block card, which made the homeschool mom in me incredibly happy. More books, less stress? Yes please!

Some of the winter, Christmas, or snow themed books we read last week

Mr. Snow was a hit all around.

Christmas carols one nearly drove Buttons crazy, because the CD didn't match the book.

Day to be thankful

 Today is the fourth anniversary of my mother's death.

I marked the occasion with my little pals.

They ran around shooting each other with a Batman cannon from Captain's Duplo set, being noisy and funny. We listened to music loudly, made magic snow and baked some more.

I also wrapped a few little gifts to some great people in my life and reflected on how thankful I am for them while writing cards.

Christmas crack -recipe from i heart naptime

Little gifts to some fabulous mamas, who have made my life amazing with their kindness

Making "magic snow", Captain supervising big bro

Do you want to build a snowman?

Hiding pom poms in the snow

Baking day

Captain woke me up this morning with her usual morning greeting:

"Will you bring me to the toilet? Then will you make me breakfast?"

But as soon as she had fully woken up, it was all business.

"Today will we make the CHRISTMAS COOKIES? I WILL WAKE UP MY (BUTTONS) and tell him it's time to MAKE CHRISTMAS COOKIES!"

I managed to convince her not to wake up her brother before seven to bake, for the sake of Christmas peace. We played Go Fish in the bedroom instead, and read some stories.

After that I got a message from Nana asking if we were home.

This was great motivation for a bit of a cleaning session.

And then, finally, we made the long-awaited gingerbread cookies while waiting for our visitors!

This kept the kids busy for well over an hour, and our guests had some freshly baked cookies with their tea. I ended up baking the rest of the gingerbread dough this evening, and Captain joined me for round two of baking. I also made two 'Tiger cakes' to give to some lovely people, who have been very good to us in the last year. The name is misleadingly exciting, but the cakes themselves aren't disappointing either, I hope.

Buttons, trying to use every cookie cutter. He even made an enormous one in the shape of Finland.

"I'm a baker!"

Moomin characters and hearts are my favourites to make

One of my "Tiger cakes"

("But does it have a nose and a tail and some ears?" asked Captain, and lost interest when it didn't...)

Building a model house Nana brought after bedtime

I don't know where he gets the energy to keep doing stuff all day long.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The postman brought two exciting parcels this morning. I'm trying to tell myself I'm a grown-up and can wait for a week or so easily. I'm not convincing...

Today Buttons started teaching Captain how to play various games.

They had so much fun, pyjamas stayed on until it was time to head out the door.

Apparently she won Scrabble. I think Buttons might not be the most competitive player, but definitely winning the big brothering game! 

I was actually shedding a few tears over this in the morning. I could hear him making up an epic Spider Man story, and she was really enjoying it, as you can see.

Also, it's good to know there is someone who has even less regard for folding clothes than I do... ;)

Guts and giggles

A lovely mama who homeschooled her daughter for a while surprised me with a big bag of stuff that wasn't getting love in her house anymore.

Both Buttons and Captain found instant favourites.

Buttons spent last night up in bed putting this guy together and taking him apart again.

He then proceeded to teach all the parts to his sister this morning.

So far the only thing tried and tested has been the 'Tell Me a Story' game.

Not surprisingly it was Captain who took to this, coming up with long, detailed stories about the adventures of all the characters in a circus.

Have to say I love it too, and can see this becoming a part of our chill out time for weeks to come.

Some activity books I can stash into the book case for the kids to discover...

There is nothing more uplifting than a surprise support package!

Fabulous Felt

Look what I got today!

I entered a competition on the Facebook page of HeartFelt and won a gorgeous prize I'm madly in love with.

I did my wrapping appreciation thing, which drives Hubby crazy.

You have to admit this is particularly pretty though, right?

                                                        

 I love little touches like this...

No, I didn't wait for my little one to wake up.

I just had to unwrap it and decorate our new Christmas tree by myself.

I feel no shame!

I look forward to putting it up on the wall tomorrow, and letting the kids play too.

Such a lovely idea, isn't it?

How to spot a librarian covering for holidays?

- She checks out your 22 books and says “See you after Christmas!”

No, this is not just a very dry homeschooling mama joke, this was my library day observation today. None of the regular staff would even dream of not seeing us for two weeks, to a point of them having worried that I’d had the baby early when Hubby brought the kids in a few weeks ago.

Captain and I read stories on the floor, she tried every kind of chair in every corner of the building and looked out of every enormous window. She rearranged the chess pieces, coloured some Christmas themed colouring pages that the librarians had printed out and admired the snowy little village scene under one of the display tables. Mr Buttons chilled out on one of the huge soft toys and did some math, playing “Spot Captain’s Furry Little Head” bobbing around the library.

I found lots of fantastic books. Some of them I had been eyeing up in the bookshop, and found them in the display of new arrivals. Buttons got a great kick at being the very first person to get to stamp the brand new books. (For someone not biologically mine, he’s often scarily like me in many ways…)

As always, I feel like a child waiting for Christmas morning on the night of library day, waiting to read all the new goodies…

(Also, another week of playing my library card Russian roulette and avoiding fines –Woohooo!)

Sorting hats and counters

The kids wanted a pyjama day, so that’s what they had. I opted for the closest thing, spending the day in leggings and a big, floppy jumper.

Buttons was working on his last few pages of math in the morning. He then moved into our bed and finished his Christmas themed Harry Potter fan fiction, while munching on an apple. He finished it up, I helped him tidy up a few details in the editing stage and he then read it to Captain and me. I was happy to see Harry having a nice Christmas…

Captain and I built forts in the kitchen and had a cushion island by the stove for stories. We read this nice little book about sorting for the first time, and she really enjoyed the questions in it. Afterwards she got her bingo counters and was sorting them into piles by colour and making them into castles and paths.

We had a family friend over for a warming lunch of soup. This was a lovely surprise, as the roads are still quite bad and I had been expecting a very quiet week. She is also the best kind of visitor, who understands chaos and considers the kid’s art on the table “great kind of mess”. I’m always happy to share my good cheese with someone like that!

I’ve drank my own body weight in herbal tea, added stuff to the stove about a thousand times and read so many stories I have to make another mug of chamomile tea to soothe my throat. And hopefully I’ll get a chance to read another few pages of my newest addiction before I fall asleep…

Sleep, glorious sleep...

Today was a battery charging one.

Hubby gave Captain breakfast number one, which gave her enough energy to potter around for a while, make her jigsaws and do some artwork. She then came into the bedroom, and asked me for more breakfast. I got up, fed her, cleaned the ashes and re-lit the stove. We went to bed to snuggle, read some stories and wait for the house to warm up a bit. I love opening the curtains first thing in the morning and staying in bed for a while just enjoying the view. Today we looked out and chatted about her new favourite topic; snow.

She snuggled into the crook of my arm and warmed her hands on my bump. Next time I opened my eyes, the light was different and the house was completely silent. My little pal was still exactly where she had been, fast asleep on my arm, which was now completely numb. Captain woke up soon after me, complaining about a dream in which her dad had dropped her food at the market. (Her nightmares are definitely inherited from me…)

We got up, went into the kitchen and realised it was officially afternoon. Oops! I can’t remember the last time we napped together, but it was a most welcome surprise!

We headed into town to have another look around the Christmas market. I stocked up on sugar-free salt liquorice (you can take the girl out of Finland, but not the part of Finland out of the girl that loves weird treats deemed inedible by the rest of the family). Captain and Hubby had a bite to eat, and nobody’s food was dropped, thankfully.

One of Captain's gifts

Hubby found some beautiful wooden toys for the kids at the stalls. I will post photo evidence on a night, when kids go to sleep at a more reasonable hour and I get to play elf. I managed to do my Christmas shopping for the littlest lady while Hubby kept her busy at the toy store, which means my shopping duties for this year are complete!

We had a lovely dinner at a burrito bar, did our grocery shopping and picked up Buttons. Captain is always so excited to see her brother after he’s been gone for a weekend, and does her best to do enough talking to make up for lost time. This time she made up the longest story in the history of storytelling, and had us laughing so much I had tears rolling down my face. I don’t know whether Buttons was laughing more at her story, or the way I went into fits of giggles. Either way, this was a great way to spend the very slow journey home. This is day three of snow in Ireland, where we’re not really all that prepared for icy roads, so we were crawling along carefully.

Because of the late start, I even had the energy to start practising ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ on ukulele after bedtime. Give a mother the chance to nap, and she can do anything!

Looking forward to another homeschooling week after the lovely weekend!

Snow school

Today Captain and I had a girls’ day at home, while Buttons was visiting his mom and Hubby was at work.

Miraculously there was still snow on the ground today, so we had to take advantage of this and head outdoors for some cold fun. We built a snow cat and his icy mouse friend, and as soon as they were judged to be good, Captain destroyed them with great big karate kicks and chops. She made some snow angels, while giggling loudly, and experimented by dropping snow into puddles and watching it turn “really dirty”. Then I was chased around, while being threatened with enormous snowballs. Hunger eventually drove us back indoors, where we warmed up by the stove before cooking a very filling prawn stir fry.

We continued the wintery theme by reading some of the seasonal picture books I picked up from the library last week. Lucy M George’s retelling of The Snow Queen caused fierce feelings of dislike in Captain. She was actually shouting at the picture of the “naughty queen”. But the definite snuggle time favourite is Harriet Ziefert’s Snow Party, with gorgeous illustrations by Mark Jones. The story of snowmen setting up a big party is so full of details and life, we have had to read it several times over the last few days. Captain even looks at it by herself and retells the story, inspired by the busy snow men, women and children. If you read it, look for the chef serving up snow dishes. This always features in Captain’s version.

We made crafts, had snacks, watched cartoons all snuggled up and just enjoyed having fun. We also set up a little band, with me on ukulele and Captain on cajon and a Tanzanian instrument her uncle gave us. Our version of Three Little Birds is certainly something else…

Homeschool snow days are great!

Snow day

We woke up to a strange light this morning.
Snow!
After the fastest breakfast ever, all of us headed out to play.
On days like this I'm extra happy that we're homeschooling, as the snow in Ireland only lasts for a few hours.
The kids threw it, kicked it, made things from it and lay down in it.
Not something you get to enjoy on a walk to school. (We've been there, too)
The dog was not impressed with our silliness, and thought that the one with the bump at least should be more sensible. You could see the disapproval on his little face.
What a lovely way to wake up!

Spotting tracks in the snow

The dog was trying to figure out who to side with, settling to defend me from a tiny snowman I made in  the yard.

Just some of the neighbours watching us frolicking in the snow

Cooooooold....

Attacking Dad

Our poor, short-lived snowman

Crime scene

Christmas craft season has begun...

I got this lovely Christmas present from Captain.

It's very mysterious, and very sparkly.

So far that is all I know about it.

She gave her brother a rubber band...

Buttons, feeling brave behind the elf's back...

Captain busy at work, creating more "Christmas arts and crafts"

Kids had fun messing with my creations, getting lots of inspiration for their own.

Annoying Santa was a big hit and gave us all a dose of the giggles.

Growing

Last night I had a dream about my baby.

Same thing happened while I was expecting Captain. Just one, really vivid dream. In her case it was spot on.

This time in my dream I had a pudgy little baby boy, with blonde, fluffy hair. He had blue eyes and I was completely besotted. In my dream I was at the La Leche League conference with him. I was carrying him in my arms (I don’t know why not the sling either, dreams work in mysterious ways…) and so glued to staring into his eyes, that I couldn’t find my room at the hotel.

I woke up incredibly happy.

Today we went into town. Captain listened to stories and built dens, while Buttons did some maths. Then they both had some time on the tablets. We ran some Christmas errands, had lunch and chilled out in the library for a while. Captain was showing her new coat to the librarian as were heading off. The librarian was suitably impressed, and inquired if she had outgrown her old one. “I’m so big now I can stand on top of the box (in the café) and reach the colouring pages!” was her reply. What a strange and wonderful way to measure your growth!

We walked to an indoor soft play centre, where the kids ran around for two and a half hours. Buttons made some instant friends, and sweated buckets during a game of tag. Captain explored the whole centre from bottom to the top, waving at me with delight every time I spotted her climbing down. Then the usual thing happened, and someone got to her. She ran to me screaming, and from her sobbing and Buttons shouting from his vantage point, I put together that someone had pulled at her clothes. This caused a meltdown of about thirty minutes. The poor little one was telling me she “couldn’t stop her drops from coming” and I held her screaming and crying little form in my arms. Buttons came down for a drink of water, and observed that just because someone makes friends with you, doesn’t always mean they’re nice. As upset as I was for my little lady, I couldn’t help but be impressed that he’d come to this conclusion. He often finds it quite tricky to spot that people can have several sides to them, so this was a big deal in our world. Things settled down, Hubby came to pick us up and we agreed it had been a good day all around.

Unfortunately it’s not just the kids that are growing in every way. My blood sugar readings are also reaching new heights. There seems to be nothing that’s safe to eat anymore. Tiny bowl of vegetable soup and a slice of brown bread sent them soaring, even with all our running around. So I don’t have high hopes for my next contact with the diabetes clinic… I am cheering myself up by trying to come up with the perfect post partum snack. Today’s contender was a sliced croissant with cheese. At this point though, just the thought of eating without constant worry and a side of various needles would make any meal heavenly…

Christmas market

Today we checked out the first Christmas market of the year.

The fact that it was held in the grounds of a gorgeous castle was a bonus...

We did not see any of the famous ghosts, but Hubby and Captain ate enough burgers to give me nightmares.

I found lots of gorgeous handmade gifts for some very special people and enjoyed all the colourful stalls. I also brought home the only kind of gingerbread girl my GD allows. She is particularly sweet - just see for yourself in the pictures below!

Tullynally castle

Gingerbread girl

Christmas shopping off to a good start...

Winter wonderland

Blur

It’s been a blurry sort of a day.

Kids pretending to be ninjas in the morning, while catching imaginary Smurfs.

Going to the hospital and reading John Holt in the cold waiting room, while holding back tears.

Being shown how to use an insulin pen by a sympathetic nurse. Wondering how poking a vaguely flesh-coloured cushion is going to compare to injecting myself.

Meeting Hubby and Captain for a coffee.

Going to buy enough baby clothes to fill the hospital bag.

Going to a doctor’s appointment. Hearing the baby’s heartbeat. Finding out I’m now lighter I was at my booking appointment.

Listening to Captain tell me about the adventures she had with Daddy. There had been killer whales and a deep dark wood in the hardware store, I was told.

Watching her dance wildly to a busker playing guitar in the cold night, while someone was setting up a Christmas tree stall.

Video chatting to Mr Buttons, who had gotten a letter from Hogwarts.

Reading the instructions to the insulin pen, while making supper and finding pyjamas.

The smell of peppermint from the oil burner.

Magical stories in bed, of wolves and ballerinas and mischief.

And the constant ache of missing my mom, as it would have been her birthday today.

Library day

Today we ventured into town.

We had a few errands to run, and I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while.

Then we went to the library.

Captain has finally gotten into Mr. Men and Little Miss series, so she was excited to find new ones.

Mr Buttons was delighted when I spotted a Captain Underpants he hadn't read yet. I'm sure I'll be seeing the newest Flip-O-Rama numerous times tomorrow...

I picked up a beautifully illustrated book about nature, which I can't wait to read for story time in the morning. My Little Miss was so tired after her busy day, that we only got in a story and a half before she fell asleep tonight.

I am happy to have 20 new books to enjoy with the kids in the next couple of days. We have everything from animals to winter and poetry to pirates. I love library days!

I got a call from the hospital saying I need to go on some insulin to control the gestational diabetes. That really shocked me, as I thought the diet controlling was going well and I had done everything by the book. So I'm feeling quite frustrated and upset. Thank goodness for a brilliant friend, who is minding me by being the most supportive human being you could ever meet (and promising me post partum cake dates). That will keep me going for the weeks ahead.