Where does the time go?

Looking back on our first year as expats is hard for me to do. I will always be deeply thankful for Craig's calm presence during our international move. It was a very difficult time for me. Emptying our house and choosing only a very few select things to keep was so hard. Childhood toys and keepsakes went and more practical items stayed. It was a fresh start but it was like a fresh wound. It's amazing how much "stuff" can matter in our lives. It was hard to believe that we were actually leaving Victoria for good - or at least for a good long while...

This time last year we were on a flight (with 4 suitcases and various baby accoutrement) and I was trying to be brave. Trying to look forward to a new adventure but really scared out of my mind and questioning why we chose this path; why we were leaving the relative safety of a known place for the unknown. It was what we always wanted but the reality was still difficult to face.

Once we arrived in Dublin (at 6pm on new year's eve) we were both so happy- even Will had a smile on his face. The relief of getting there finally after a rough flight made us all giddy. But slowly, over the next few weeks, it really sunk in that this is where we lived now. I had no idea how to make a new life from scratch. The support we got from our family and friends back home and from others abroad was invaluable. Yay for Facebook, e-mail and Skype. I can never thank you enough and tonight we will be raising a glass of Tesco's finest champagne to you.

2012 has been a hard year for us. Moving here wasn't a mistake but it has had it's hardships. Living here isn't what we thought it would be - of course - and we had a lot of adjusting to do. But 2012 has also been a year of growth and I can sum it up in one word: Capable. I can do this. I'm capable. It's not a big shiny achievement but the quiet believe in my own strength and understanding my own boundaries better makes this year a successful one.

Hopefully 2013 will bring on many more adventures, funny stories, friendships and fortune for all of us. Happy New Year to you all! Athbhliain faoi mhaise dhaoibh!

Thomas the train overload

So Will in is a Thomas phase...and has been for a while. In order to cope I've started to imagine the engine's "toot-toot" and "choo-choo" noises as censorship bleeps...and suddenly the show is much more interesting. At least the adventurous engines keep him busy in the cold dark afternoons while I'm getting dinner ready like a good mum/reaching a deeply vegetative state where lax parenting principles run amok. Very short days here for those of us acclimatised to winters in southern Canada. The sun is setting at 4:00 here right now. Yup. 4:00. A big "toot-toot" to that!

Went to Church...no really I did!

 Having a hard earned glass of vino right now. Such a long day- but a good one! We went to Catholic church today (http://www.procathedral.ie/) for a baptism service for our friend's little girl Izzy. She was a doll and model baby the whole time. William wasn't. He was so bad it was actually funny. I almost called for an exorcism. I was tempted to douse him in the cistern of Holy water that most churches have for their flocks home use. (The mind reels with the possibilities!). Craig and I each missed about 1/2 the ceremony while we were running after him. It was a miracle (see what I did there?) that he didn't burn the place down since all the candle offerings are very much toddler accessible and apparently the altar candles were also a tempting target. I can see why sunday school was invented. He wasn't helping anyone get closer to God today. After the service was over a tiny little old lady came up to me, grabbed my hand, and wished me good luck with my wild boy...and also on my current pregnancy since she noticed I have a bun in the oven. Note to all fans and family: Am not pregnant- hence the wine. I let her get away with it because a) she seemed genuinely sweet, b) she had those nice warm old lady hands, and c) she was about 88...she can say what she wants. Still I find I must now consume the blood of Christ in order to recover. 

PS I'm not religious...can you tell? But I respect other's right to worship (or not) in their own way and was delighted to be there for our friends and little lady Izzy. Sorry for all the bad religious puns...only for you to roll your eyes at, not get offended by.

 xoxo- gossip girl...oh wait, not me.

 

 

Will, tell mommy where it is!!

5 minutes ago I gave William a Popsicle and now somewhere in this house is a melting Popsicle and only Will knows where it is. He's acting all cute and like he doesn't know what I'm talking about but I know he knows. Doesn't he realise this is a time sensitive matter?? He's not giving up the secret location and even my trusty dog can't find it. I'm sure once I stop looking for it I'll step on it.

Update: I have located the Popsicle stick in the fridge, other remnants remain undetected. God help us all.

Moules for dinner

Look at the size of these suckers! Yum! Thanks for the recipe Martha.

http://www.marthastewart.com/326506/moules-mariniere

The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle or How My Dog Learned to Avoid Hedgehogs

Once upon a time there was a dog. Her name was Maple. Maple is a fox terrier and fox terriers like to hunt....

Massive. Must have weight 2 pounds.

Cute little face

Last Saturday night our dog went out into the back yard and after a while started digging in the garden and refused to come back inside. Other people out there lucky enough to have some experience with terriers know that this sort of behavior usually means they're hunting. This hypothesis was confirmed after she reluctantly returned to the house with blood all over her mouth and paws. After checking to make sure she wasn't the one bleeding I bravely sent my husband out into the dark and rainy back yard to dispose of whatever rat or mouse she caught. Poor Craig didn't quite know what he was dealing with. The backyard is very dimply lit and the candle he was using as a torch didn't penetrate the back reaches of the yard very well. After nudging what he presumed to be a weird rock or gnarl of wood out of the way he informed me that there was no animal out there. Sure that escape from the jaws of our mighty hunter was impossible, I joined him in the search for the poor unfortunate creature.
     "I don't think this is an animal" he said "it's covered with leaves."
     "Babe, that's a hedgehog." I replied
After bravely using William's toy gardening tools to lift the prickly ball of rage (the size of a small watermelon) into Maple's kennel (she was NOT amused) Craig called the DSPCA. The vet was surprised that we were more concerned about the hedgehog than the dog (clearly not a lot of foxies at their clinic!). After explaining that the dog was fine and we were certainly more worried about the poor hedgie the vet told us to give the hedgehog some dog kibble and water and to call another number for the wild animal vet in the morning. In the morning all the food was gone and the little hedgie was wandering around the kennel begging for more. He ate the second serving of food too. Piglet. I couldn't find any blood on him or in the kennel at all and he seemed fit as a fiddle. As we couldn't get hold of the wildlife vet and he seemed pretty healthy I let him go in the woods across the road from us because I thought keeping him in a box any longer would probably do more harm than good.Will got a good look at it before we returned it to the wilds of suburbia. I think he thought for a minute that we got him a hedgehog for his birthday. Maple certainly would have been happy with that.

William's 2nd Birthday Party

I aplygize in advankce fur ne spelln' mishtakes...Spekk cheque is down.

Two years has gone by pretty fast. I feel like he should be about 6 months old, not two. The 2 year haze of sleep deprivation and worry (about, let's face it, everything) have certainly contributed to my cloudy sense of time. He's talking (ish), he drinks out of a glass, can put his own boots on, can do up his coat....he's hit all sorts of milestones and I'm so proud of him. His biggest achievement is, of course, turning me into a mother. I wasn't sure while carrying him what kind of mom I would be and I had a deep rooted fear that I might not even love him. I worried for nothing. He's lovely and our little family couldn't be happier. We've never been poorer, father away from home, or lonelier but so far this year away has been the best we've ever shared. We love you Will

The party decorations I ordered last weekend didn't get here on time (c'mon Amazon! I live in Ireland not Antarctica) so we had to go shopping on Saturday for all the party gear. And then we had to change the theme because I couldn't find any airplane themed decorations or toys. We had a choice between pirate and Peppa pig. We got pirate plates and Peppa Pig wrapping paper (Peppa's little brother George was wearing a pirate hat so it worked). And then I had to decide what to do about the cake. I had dreamed of a two tier, blue fondant covered, yellow cake with white cotton candy "clouds" on the layers and two model airplanes as a topper...nothing doing. So I made the best decision ever and bought two chocolate cakes from Marks and Spencer's (yum) and stuck the little one on top of the big one. Instant layers. Genius. I mixed blue food colouring into the icing (that we also bought...Thank you Betty Crocker- If we ever meet in real life I know we'll be friends) and piped waves onto the sides of the cake. A liberal helping of gold coins from Thorton's (like Purdy's for all my Canadian peeps) and some dentist quality jewels made the cake for sure. I'm very happy with the result and even more thrilled that I didn't have to miss half of my son's party to make the cake.

Will got many lovely presents from all his biggest fans. Lots of great books and toys and hats. The biggest present of all was from his loving daddy and mummy. We got him a Trackmaster Thomas the Train railway. It's four and a half feet long. Oi. After putting this epic contraption together we hid the railway in our room and left the wrapped the box for him to open. Once he opened the box at the party he didn't want to let go of it...at least until Craig took him upstairs to show him the new addition to his room. We haven't been able to get him out of his room since. Seriously, He ditched his own birthday party and refused cake to play with Thomas. We didn't realise how much of a hit the toy was until about 2:30am when Will woke up and started choo-chooing. He's never gotten out of his crib before but when I came into his room to settle him down I found him crouched in the middle of the track, thomas in hand. He got out two more times last night and Craig and I spent the hours from 2:30-5 facepalming the amazing parenting decision that led us to a) buy the big railway and b) put it in Will's room.

I got a bite of breakfast into him this morning before he decided that was enough sustenance and more train time was needed. We have a serious obsession on our hands here folks. I write this to you from the floor of the room I may never leave again. I might have to bring a chair up here or something.

Pirate theme treasure cake

a lot of male bonding going on in here

High five for blowing out all the candles on his own.

I've been reduced to odd limbs in his photos

And the "Most Photogenic Toddler of the Year" Award Goes to:

chilling with his favourite tree at Farmleigh

 Oh wait...never mind:

nom nom nom.

Halloween Party and Long Weekend

Halloween is t-minus 2 days away people. Time for things to get spooky. Like this:

Isn't he gorgeous ladies and gents? And he's all mine. Sigh .

So we had a little pumpkin carving party last night at a friend's house. Lots of good craic (fun) had by all. The kids had a blast bowling in the dark using recycled juice containers filled with glow sticks. We had meringue ghosts, gummy snakes in jello, and festive chocolate items from Marks and Spencer's. Will might have od'd on all the goodies as he's been a little sour puss today and he's usually so cheerful. But he was game for helping daddy sweep up the leaves in the driveway. Anything to get good and muddy. Our neighbors were very impressed with his leaf clean up skills and willingness to participate. He loves to do little chores; he likes to vacuum, "wash" the windows, wipe things down and sweep. Soon I'll be out of a job. Oh well, I'll survive somehow ;)

messy whoopie pie. yummy.

a little ghosty. Martha's recipe for Swiss meringue worked really well.

going to be a pro bowler one day

Caramel apple bar for the kids-chocolate, cookie crumbs and caramel

Luke was peeling all the chocolate eye balls and Will was eating them as fast as they were shucked

Superfast Toddler Man here to save the day

Fall Leaf Cleanup

Child labour

exploring sage seed pods

Double Trouble

Peek

Sidewalk chalk is for fall too- try outlining the leaves that have fallen on the ground

Jumping in the leaves

Of Revelry, Rain, and Radiators

So the weather is not the reason people come to Ireland. It rains here...a lot. Enough said. Pictures are worth a thousand words so here are some shots of the weather out the front of our house. Please note the "gorgeous" faux colonial pillars are not my idea of clever decoration; they came with the house...don't judge me.

On a drier note this little blog of mine has just gone over 1000 hits. I'm so popular! The numbers are probably skewed a little by my mom or other relatives checking the page every 10 seconds for new photos of their favourite golden haired toddler but I'll pretend it's about my snappy writing.

Will and I had a Hallowe'en party with our play group on Wednesday- he went as a tiger and I went as an over-tired, sarcastic, coffee addicted stay at home mom. So did all the other moms and a few of the dads. Copycats. Will was mortified that I dragged him into public with his tiger pj's on and didn't even want to get out of his stroller. After much bargaining, and once the sugar from the treats he munched kicked in, Will realised that being a tiger wasn't so bad after all. He thoroughly enjoyed pushing his little black balloon around in the doll's pram and judging everyone's costume. He loved the little girl dressed as Peppa Pig and went right up to her with a "Hi" and an "Oink".

Today we didn't get up to much as we had tradesmen over (for the 3rd time) to try to get this boiler system resuscitated. Today some brawny blokes came by to remove all the radiators from the walls (horrible, horrible dust behind them!) and flush the gunk out of them. They usually use this special machine to pump cleaner through the whole system but the plumbing in this house is crap (pun-tastic) and had they used the machine the pipes would have burst under the pressure. So instead of completely redoing the plumbing in the house our landlord opted for this much cheaper solution. Being a homeowner myself I can commiserate on the cost of an epic reno but we've never really been ones to put things off if they need doing. Anyways, the boiler still needs replacing but at least the rads are now full of hot water instead of warm rust.

The fellas that came by were very nice (like everyone else that I've met here) and were quick to ask all the important questions that we've become accustomed to: "Why did you move to Ireland?", "How long have you been here for?", "What kind of dog is that?" etc. They agreed that the house needs a little TLC but assured me that most of the houses in Ireland are in the same state, modern or not. One of the guys bought a newly built house in 2006 and it already needs repairs. Wowza. I'm grateful for the quality of our 1946 Fir house in Victoria as it is in much better shape than all the houses I've seen here so far. It's nice to know that it is waiting for us at home whenever this adventure ends.

The rain in Ireland

Pouring

Luke showing off his legs

Checking out Luke's awesome spider costume

A Tiger and his balloon

Stealing Daddy's Dinner