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.