Mad As A Hatter....

I just had to post a few photos from my wee nieces birthday party. She had a Hatters Tea Party at my Mums house and it was a great event.  I really just want to load some of the pics on here to remember in the future as everyone looked class :)

 

Getting the party ready.

Most of the clan ready to feast. 

Aunty H and the birthday girl.

Rosie enjoying a proper cup of good English tea from a miniature china cup that actually looks the right size when she holds it!

Aunty M

Tarja, aged 15

Sisters :-) All mad as hatters.

Best photo ever.

The times they are a-changing....

So much has changed lately. As always, life is never dull, and I find myself entering yet another new phase in life. I feel optimistic and excited.

In March I completed training as a birth and post natal doula and have been part of a doula charity since then. I'm also a quarter of the way through my training as a birth preparation (ante-natal) teacher. I've lots more work to do on that yet and it'll be a good few months before I finish the course, but I am learning so much and enjoying the process. But what I am most excited about at the moment is that I recently trained and qualified as Northern Ireland's very first Placenta Encapsulation Specialist. Yep, I'm gonna be turning placentas into tablets. Yay! It's not every ones cup of tea, I grant you that, but I am excited to be able to offer this service to women in NI. If you want to read more about it you can visit my new website.

So, I've been down to citizens advice and found out what I have to do to get working. I need to write to the benefits office and write to the Inland Revenue and then I will be ready to go. Part time at first, as my life doesn't have many free hours as it is!

In other news.... I joined slimming world, and in 5 weeks I've lost 18lbs and gone down two jean sizes. So that is good and I have legs to die for now (although I still have a wobbly tummy, but after 4 kids I don't think thats gonna change too quickly!)

Now that I'm single again I've gotta make sure I look a million dollars at all times, so I'm losing weight and I dyed my hair red. Not so that I can get a man (I'm sick of men!) but so that I can feel good about myself and build my confidence up. I have been on a few dates but nothings really caught my fancy. I don't think theres many decent fish left in the sea. Plenty of perverts and lunatics from what I can tell.

I took a weekend trip to Derry recently with a very good friend. We stayed in a travel lodge hotel for two nights and spent literally the entire weekend talking. We didn't see very much of Derry, apart from a brief walk across the Peace Bridge, but we talked non stop. It was so nice to spend time with her and catch up and I can't wait to do it again.  Although next time we might venture a little further and drink a little less gin.

The kids are all growing up way too fast.  No blog post would be complete without some photos of them, of course.

Here we have young Barney dressed up as a King for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations at school, with his little sister who is his best friend at the moment, and simply adores him.  She can't wait until 3pm each day when he finishes school.  He's a good big brother.

Rosie will be starting nursery school in September and has suddenly grown up so fast. She is very like Barney in her personality and behaviour.  She's a hilarious little madam and great company.  Her vocabulary is brilliant, just like Barneys was at that age. She sounds like a little professor at times.

Badger will be turning 17 next week. I know! Seventeen! As you can see Rosie loves him to bits too. She is so lucky to have so many people around that adore her.  I am sure to write a blog post about his birthday. He wants a laptop but he's saved up a lot of money towards it as there's no way I could afford to buy him one.

And here are the girls with a cake they made their Daddy for Fathers Day.  Aren't they both so beautiful?  Tarja is like a second Mummy to little Rosie.

So, just to finish this is a family photo we took a few days ago on Fathers Day.  The girls made Daddy the cake and the boys helped me cook Daddy a roast.  He was spoiled with presents and drawings and the usual stuff.   The kids had a great day spoiling their Daddy and he didn't seem to mind either.

Ballycastle Break, April 2012

During the end of term holidays I took the four kids away for 4 nights in Ballycastle at a holiday park where we hired a static home.  We had a fab time, despite a hell of a lot of rain!  Ballycastle is on the Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland and so we had lots of beaches to visit.  The two little ones loved the beaches despite the cold.

We managed to pack a lot in. We are far too many portions of fish and chips, the 3 bigger kids spent the 5 days playing out a 'Jack Changes It' tournament which kept them well occupied in the evenings. We visited two castles and climbed hundreds of steps. We took the boat over to Rathlin Island and saw seals on the beach.  It was really nice to spend time with the kids without the pressures of every day life.

Gunge, gore, snot and blood clots.

It's been ten days since my operation and I'm finally starting to feel a bit more human again. The nose itself wasn't too bad (except when a little person accidentally head butted me in the nose which was painful beyond belief!) But the tiredness from the anesthetic has been far worse that I'd expected. I've had two aesthetics before, one for an hour long surgery and one for a c section. Both those operations were far more serious than this nose jobby, but took half the time to do. I guess an extra hour of anesthetic really does make all the difference.

I went back to the hospital on Thursday to have the plastic splints removed from my nose. 'Hank' came with me. Partly to drive me because I was still a zombie, partly to be supportive, but mostly because he wanted to see how much blood, snot and gore would come out of my nose with the splints.  And he wasn't disappointed! I got to see the surgeon who again explained to me (and three very eager students, a nurse, and Hank) that the operation had been very tricky indeed.  I told him how pooey I was feeling and he agreed that it is indeed a nasty operation that leaves people feeling a bit yuck for a while.  He explained to the students (who looked like they could have been my own kids) what he had done to me then proceeded to spray disgusting things up my nose, undo stitches and pull out the splints.  Having the splints pulled out was nowhere near as uncomfortable as having the 8 inch tampons pulled out was a few days before!  Hank and the three students all leaned in for a closer inspection at the gorey parts.

After removing the splints he stuck a suction thingy-ma-jig up my nose and gave it a good clear out.  Then he asked me to take a breath through my nose.  Well !!! I nearly sucked up the surgeon and the three students with my turbo powered super nostrils! Never in my life had I realised how much oxygen the average person can breath through their nose till this point! I was totally astonished. The surgeon explained that I would get congested a lot over the next few weeks (up to 3 months) but that eventually I would be able to breath properly through my nose all the time. He then told me that he thought I'd got sinusitis since the surgery so prescribed some antibiotics (which might explain why I'd been feeling so unwell?)

I will be reviewed again in 6 weeks. Since then my nose has been quite congested, which is disappointing but expected.  I can't wait for it to work properly. A few times a day I have to squeeze a half pint bottle of saline solution up one nostril and let it pour back out the other nostril.... which is a strange feeling! But it really helps clean out the blood clots and gunge and make it less congested. Now it doesn't feel too bad apart from the stitches that are inside my nose. I don't like them.  It's just like having had a bad cold. Congested.

For a good 8 days I could barely move with the tiredness. Tiredness like I'd never felt before. Like someone had removed every last drop of blood from my body and replaced it with liquid metal. But the last two days I've been more human and can see myself getting back to normal. Horrah!

Click here to watch a video of a super cute 5 year old girl using the same saline bottle method to clean out her nose as I do. What a brave wee thing!

Oxygenate me!

Last Friday I went into hospital for a septoplasty and turbinate removal. I didn't know I was getting turbinate removal until after the operation (in fact I've never heard of turbinates until this point).  For years I have had trouble breathing through my nose and my GP has suggested it might be the cause of constant headaches and feelings of tiredness. But I was never keen to get it fixed. But then the last few years I've started snoring like a wart hog and choking during the night when I stop breathing.  So once my blood pressure was under control it was decided that I ought to finally get my nose sorted out.

I was lead to believe that septoplasty was a very simple procedure and that I'd be allowed home the same day if all went well. However, after a 2 hour operation the surgeon came to tell me that things had been far more complicated than expected.  My septum appeared to have been broken in two places and was completely bent out of shape. They tried their best to fix it but said they'd had to remove so much cartilage that I might have some trouble from this.  Then he said that my turbinates were so enlarged that I couldn't breath anyway so they removed them too. I've since read that turbinates will enlarge if you're suffering allergies and can be the cause of snoring. 

I stayed in overnight until I could get the two 8 inch long tampons pulled out of my nostrils! Man, that was not a pleasant experience!! I was glad to get home but have to say that the recovery has been slower than I'd hoped. I feel completely and utterly drained most of the time, and really nauseous. I've barely eaten since Friday but have lost half a stone, so it's not all bad! 

Today I am going back in to hospital to get the plastic splints taken out of my nose. I am hoping that I'll feel a marked improvement in sinus and tooth pain once these are out, and might even be able to breath again.

A new addition to the family

  And no, it's not a baby!

Meet Basil, our new puddy cat.

We adopted him from the Cats Protection League in Belfast last Sunday after being assessed by them and approved a few days earlier.  The kids couldn't wait to pick out their new pet.  We had already been told about Basil and so we met him first and fell in love with him.  Tarja and Barney came with me to choose him.  But it was hard to choose. So many beautiful, friendly cats, all waiting for a home. How does one choose?? In the end we went with Basil because he was super friendly and we'd already seen photos of him and had him in mind. 

It took well over an hour to get home, because it was rush hour. But Basil sat in his box on Tarjas lap and made no fuss at all.  We had been told to keep him alone in a room for a day or two until he got used to the new environment, and to expect him to be out of sorts and scared.  

But when we opened his box up at home, he came straight out, jumped down, did his own tour of EVERY room in the house and then started purring and cuddling! Within no time at all he was up on my knee, lapping up the love and making himself at home.

The kids absolutely adore him, and I get the impression he will be very happy here. He used to live on a farm before it was demolished and he became homeless. I can tell that he really wants to get outside into the great outdoors, but he will have to wait a few weeks until he is allowed. 

The first night he snuck onto by bed in the night and took as much space up as he could! He is going to be one spoilt kitty!

Christmas 2011

My baby turns 3.

My baby has turned 3 and is really no longer a baby. She is a little madam! She is so like both Tarja and Barney at that age... but in different ways. She can't entertain herself for a second! But loves someone to play with. She loves Peppa Pig, swimming, going to the park, play dough and playing with her new 'doggies' set.

She had been waiting for months for her birthday and was very excited when the day finally came. This year we had a little family party for her at home. Her aunts, uncles, cousins and Nanny came and the next day she kept saying "wow, Mummy, everybody really loves me!" So she obviously felt really special and was feeling the love!

Here are a few photos of her special day.

Marrakesh, Morocco, Nov 2011

Marrakesh has to be one of the most magical places that I've ever been to. It's like another world. Tiny streets filled with masses of people, motorbikes, donkeys, horses and carts, all bustling around competing for space to get by.  At first it was a bit of a culture shock, but very quickly we realised that the people were lovely and felt really safe and at ease.

We stayed in Riad Linda which is in the heart of the medina. The Riad is a grand old house and we stayed in the Kings suite which gave us more space. Such luxury!  The staff and owners were lovely and most helpful.  But the best thing about the Riad was its closeness to the Djemaa el Fna or main square. 

The main square is where we spent most of our time. The smells, sights and sounds were from another world. In the centre of the square are hundreds of stalls all selling traditional Moroccan food.  One night we sat on a balcony in a restaurant looking down over the square. We just watched the hustle and bustle, whilst the steam from all the food stalls rose into the sky and across the mosque. Such an awesome way to spend an evening! 

We spent days just wandering around the maze of souks, which are never ending. Getting lost was part of the fun but often locals would try to guide us to their shops in the hope that we would spend lots of money.  Of course we brought back souvenirs and I got presents for the kids. We sampled all the Moroccan pastries and ate all sorts of tagines in various restaurants. You can't go to Morocco and not try all the local food. The only thing we didn't try were the snails. They just didn't appeal to us! 

We did a sort of cooking course at the Riad, which turned out to be more of a demonstration. Then we ate it that evening in the Riad courtyard.  One of the staff took us shopping and we both bought tagines to bring home, along with lots of local spices to cook with.  The smell of the spice souks were totally intoxicating! 

I would have been happy enough just wandering around for weeks with my camera as the entire place was just one amazing photo opportunity. I made Hank a photo book of Marrakesh for Christmas so that he can keep the memory of our amazing trip alive forever. 

I could add hundreds of photos to this post but better not or the page will never load. But here are a few of my favourites.  I would definitely go back there again. Without a doubt.