Rosie, age 5 months

I'm so pretty!

Don't you think Rosie is just the cutest thing in her new dress? She's gorgeous alright. Adorable. Today she went to 'rhyme time' at the local library and met some other babies her own age. She seemed rather cool and collected about the whole thing. I think she prefers the more intimate setting at baby yoga.

Talking of Yoga, I'm quite looking forward to going to awful yoga tonight. Last week Julz and I started a yoga class here in Banbridge. It was awful. Terrible, in fact. But we are going again tonight and hoping that there is some improvement. I'm looking forward to getting a bit of exercise tonight. I missed bellydance on Monday as I was just feeling yuck.

What better way to start a blog post than with a photo of two of the four most gorgeous children in the world? Isn't it just an adorable pic? I don't know how us two ugly old farts managed to produce such beautiful children though! I seem to have a lot more photos of the younger two than the older two. But I put that down to the fact that the older two never leave their bedrooms. So unless I barge in with a camera I'm not likely to catch many good pics.

I've been a bit slow on the blogging. I guess there just hasn't been time. My social life has been hectic the last month or so. I tell you, it's either a feast or a famine! My lovely Mum babysat for us on Saturday night so that we could go to Julz birthday party, which was a great night. Good food, good company, good craic, good friends. Unfortunately for my Mum the littlun's weren't feeling too well, so she had quite a hard night looking after them. That with the girlie nights we've had lately, the bellydance classes, yoga, baby yoga, parents evenings, shopping spree's with friends, it's been so busy. Every spare moment has been spent doing laundry and tidying the house!

Rosie is learning to eat solid foods. She loves food much more than bottles. She drinks her baby milk very unenthusiastically, just enough to survive on (although you wouldn't think it to look at her!) But she LOVES real food. She would easily eat three square meals a day and forget about milk if I let her. But her little tummy is not coping as well with the food as her appetite is, so I'm limiting her to one small meal of fruit puree a day. She gobbles it down and shouts at me for more if I don't get the next mouthful in quick enough!

I had my second appointment with the Osteopath, and he did some more work on my neck, head and lower back. It felt good at the time but I was in agony for days after. Today is the first day that I've not been in too much pain. I'm not sure if the pain is due to stress, the aftermath of pregnancy and surgery, or a side effect of all the medication I'm on at the moment. I hope whatever it is that it passes soon. Poor Marty is getting fed up of having to massage the knots in my shoulders every night. His thumbs get sore!

Click me better

Yesterday was a first experience for me. I paid a small fortune to see an Osteopath. I've been in so much pain for so long. But recently it got unbearable. Especially in the right side of my neck and shoulder area. So I booked an appointment with an Osteopath who came highly recommended. I've never been to one before so wasn't sure what to expect. After chatting about my medical history for 15 minutes he decided that I should see him twice; once for treatment on my bones, and once on my muscles - a week apart. I need so much doing that he said it would be too much for my body to do it all in one session!

After looking at my posture he seemed rather shocked that I wasn't in even more pain than I actually was. He said that my hip joints were both out of alignment, so badly so that I had one leg an inch shorter than the other! When he realigned them he told me I might fall over when I stood up as I'd be used to walking with different length legs! Both hips joints were twisted, but in the opposite direction to each other, which I guess is why my back and shoulders were in so much pain. My back was probably compensating for my wonky hips. After discussion we decided that it had probably happened 18 months before when I'd fallen down the stairs and broke my toe. I landed on my butt so hard that night that my hip joints were in pain for weeks.

Anyway, my pelvis was also out of alignment due to the SPD I'd had during pregnancy so he clicked that back into shape, then he realigned all the vertebrae up my spine with a lot of clicking and crunching sounds! He twisted my body into all sorts of shapes to shift everything back into line. A big crack from my chest area made him exclaim 'oh my goodness, it looks like one of your ribs was out of line'. Eeewwwww. But he did the most work on my neck and head. Usually every time I turn my head I can hear crunching sounds in the base of my spine. Those sound have gone now, thank goodness. He clicked my neck and head this way and that, then I felt a tingling warm rush go up the side of my head, which he said was the blood flowing more freely as it had been trapped. Lastly he manipulated the back of my skull in an attempt to relieve me of the migraines I've been suffering with for years.

So I had a big old overhaul and felt very stretchy and limber afterwards. I'm going back next week for my muscle treatment. No idea what that involves, but I'm sure it will be just as interesting.

Nothing like Mum's home cooking

Don't we all love our Mum's home cooking? (It's true that my Mum is an exceptional cook - I'm not sure my own kids would say the same about their Mum!) Anyway, today I spent the morning cooking up Rosie's first batch of baby food. She's only just started having her first few tastes of real food; banana being her favourite so far. She's not having very much every day, just a spoonful or two, but I think it's important that what she does eat is healthy and good for her. And helps her poop! (That's always important - remember your five a day folks!)

So I cooked up various vegetables and fruits and made her some main courses and some desserts. The main courses are all a base of potato, carrot and parsnip, and then I have added cauliflower to some, broccoli to others, courgettes to some more, and asparagus to the other. I made two types of fruit desserts. The first is steamed apple, pear, and strawberry mixed with banana. And the other is banana and raspberry puree. And I must say, they all taste yummy! Let's hope Rosie agrees!

Baby Yoga, Osteopaths and drongo's

So what's new? Life has been so busy that I've not had time to post anything here really. Everything is ticking along. Rosie is getting absolutely huge! I started her on one solid feed a day this week. Yesterday she tried mashed banana and really seemed to love it. So I am taking her to the supermarket in a while to buy various mashable fruits and veg to make her some meals with. Maybe some strawberries, mashed carrots and parsnips, mashed berries and bananas. I don't like these packet baby foods made of dried flakes. It seems like giving the baby a microwave dinner to me.

I'm going to see an osteopath tomorrow - to the tune of £50! I hope it's worth it. That's far more money than I can afford, but I am in so much pain that I'd almost pay anything to get some help with it. I have some huge muscle knots in my upper back and neck, all on the right hand side of my body. They are agony. The neck strain is causing me migraines, and the knots in my shoulders are so huge you can sort of pop them around. I can barely move my arms sometimes. I've been getting Marty to massage them every evening, which is agony. So hopefully this osteopath will be able to relieve some of the pain. I know that after the C section I could not stand up straight for weeks and I had a lot of shoulder pain then. I think that, coupled with stress, is what is causing it all.

I took Rosie to her first 'baby yoga' session on Saturday, and boy did she enjoy it! There were 6 babies there, all in the 4 - 5 month age group, and she was delighted to be making new friends! She chattered, laughed, squealed and sang for the entire hour, smiling at all the other babies. The babies lay on their own yoga mats while we moved their little legs and arms into stretches and yoga positions, whilst singing nursery rhymes to them. But we also did some Mummy Yoga ourselves, with our babies in our arms. Needless to say I was shattered after doing yoga with the equivalent of a 16lb medicine ball baby! Can't wait to take her again next week though. She really enjoyed the whole experience.

I attended Tarja's parents evening at the college last week. It was interesting to talk to all her subject teachers but I have decided that science teachers are drongo's! Badgers science teacher had told me at his interview to tie a card round his neck with a list of things he should remember each day! (Yeah, why not just give him a bell and call out leper as he walks by!) But Tarja's science teacher obviously had no idea who she was talking about. I sat down at her desk and said 'Hi, I'm Tarja's Mum' (except I obviously didn't use her blog name!) and the teacher looked panicked, ruffled through some papers, then proceeded to talk about my daughter as a boy! 'He is doing ok, he this... he that'. I sat in amazement until she said 'do you have any concerns about him?' at which point I got the giggles from embarrassment for the poor woman who obviously had no idea who she was talking about. She ended by saying 'if anything he's a bit chatty in class'. Well, then I knew she wasn't talking about my daughter, as every other teacher had said how quiet she is! I'm sure she felt embarrassment when she realised her mistake.

Rosie's first feed

What's going on?

Where does the time go to? Where have all the years gone? My life is flashing past so very quickly. I'm still in denial that I'm having baby number 4, even though she is now almost 5 months old! Where has that time gone? Am I going to wake up tomorrow and realise I am 70 years old? Am I going to live to be 70 years old? Everything is so uncertain, so unpredictable. It's all a bit scary when you start to think about it. I've been changing dirty nappies, cleaning grazed knees, reading bedtime stories and tidying up kids toys for 14 years now. In some respects I can't believe it's been so long. Whereas at other times it seems like an absolute lifetime.

Time is a strange thing. I don't understand it. Sometimes I wonder if I'm living in my own little world and that no one else even exists outside of my imagination - like something from The Matrix. Perhaps this whole life is what I make it to be. Or perhaps its all one big long dream that I shall wake up from one day!

I'm feeling irritated today, although it has been a good week, all in all. I'm just feeling a bit house bound I guess. Really feel like going out but have no money and no babysitter - a common problem for parents I fear!

Rosie is really developing this week. She is starting to become attached to toys, and soon I feel she will attach to people too. I hope she doesn't become as clingy as her big sister did. I think she may be starting to teeth soon too. She's dribbling a lot and lets out little painful screams every now and then.

I started back at bellydance this week, which was good. I looked a sight, but was glad I managed to keep up with the routine. I really thought I'd be too unfit to keep up, so I was pleasantly surprised, although I've certainly lost some poise and grace in the year that I've had off! I've also signed up for a local yoga class, so hopefully will be feeling a bit fitter soon. Theres is a baby yoga class in the library on a Saturday which I am thinking of taking Rosie along to. I think she might enjoy the company of other babies. I just need to remember to phone up and book a place on it.

I'm getting a bit frustrated at having no money. Not that I've ever really had any money. But us both being unemployed is very hard. Things keep breaking. We had to replace the cooker. The car is falling apart. Moan, groan, whinge.

Easter Holidays

The Easter holidays are over and the kids started back to school today. I had hoped to be up bright and early to make a new start, but instead I woke up feeling as if I'd spent the night swallowing razor blades. I seem to have caught the sore throat and cough that Badger had. Ho hum.

It was nice to have the kids at home for a week or so (2 weeks for Barney!) Little Rosie enjoyed all the extra company and attention. They all ate a criminal amount of chocolate at Easter (even Rosie had a lick of a Double Decker!)

The best day of the holidays, for me, has to be the day we all went to Tollymore Forest Park to enjoy a family day out in the sunshine. None of the kids wanted to go. Barney thought it was going to be boring, and the big kids would rather spend hours slobbing around in their bedrooms than spending time with us old folk. But we dragged them all along and ended up having a fab day. It was like being back in America again. A wholesome, happy, fresh air filled day out with each other for company.

Barney said he didn't realise it was going to be so much fun, and the big kids had a great time. Rosie enjoyed the outdoors and loved staring at the trees from her buggy. We started the day with a picnic in the car park. Barney ate a full punnet of raspberries all by himself, whilst Badger and Marty played football. Tarja enjoyed playing Mummy to Rosie. And I just sat watching my lovely family.

After our picnic we did the shorter walk first as we weren't sure how long it would take and whether it was buggy friendly. Badger and Tarja climbed every tree that was climbable, whilst Barney led the way, stopping every 30 seconds to examine a new plant, tree or flower. Then we did part of the longer walk. Not much of it, as Rosie needed a feed. So I sat and fed her in the sunshine whilst the others found their way to the other side of the river to wave at us.

I really enjoyed getting out as a family. It's the first time we have really been out all together since our trip, as I was so ill and pregnant when we got home from America, and then I was run down after the C section. We will certainly have to get out a lot more now that the weather is nicer. Taking days out walking is one of the few things all four of our kids can enjoy together.

Here are some photos...

Lego Times

Happy memories...

Barney, Tarja and I spent a good fun hour yesterday playing lego on my bed. Barney wanted some Mummy time and I suggested a few things that we could do together. But Lego won. So we made lego starwars spaceships together. Tarja made a lego jacuzzi! (see photo).

It was nice to spend an hour with Barney just chatting and creating. We had a competition to see who could make the best space ship, and Daddy was the final judge. Of course, Barney won the competition as I'm pretty useless at lego (growing up in a household of 4 girls didn't give me much experience in boys arts!)

So, I thought I'd post the photos of our creations, and a happy memory of every day life in out little household.

Girlie nights

Oh I am way behind with my blog writing. I just wanted to write a few lines about last weekends girlie night round at Jool's house. What a blast. Jools and Anna are a right pair, and we had such a laugh. Actually I think that Anna and I laughed so much that we forgot what we were laughing about and Jool's probably just thought we were nuts!

Jools got out a box of old photos which we had fun looking through, we watched girls of the playboy mansion and had a giggle at that, ate chinese food and lots of nibbles, and talked to Aleksandra for hours on Skype. It was so nice to see her again. I know Jools and Anna really miss her heaps.

Dublin, midweek break

It's taken me ages to get around to writing this blog post, and even now I don't have much enthusiasm for writing it. I'm just doing it to get it out of the way! That said, the trip to Dublin was great. It's just that I've been so occupied since then that it's been hard to find the time or motivation to blog. I've got three books that I'm reading at once on the go, so any spare moments are taken up with that mostly. And I've been getting out of the house more, and trying to walk everywhere.

We had a great two nights in Dublin. My Mum very kindly offered to have all four of my little monsters for a few days, so we jumped at the chance and took the bus down to the Irish Republic's capital city. The north star hotel is very central and near to the bus depot. We have stayed there before but this time we had an upgraded room with a massive bed! As parents of 4 children (including a newborn) the first thing we did when we got there was to desperately rip off all our clothes, leap into bed and fall asleep!!

We did the usual Dublin city walk, saw the pointy spike thing in the centre (see photo), walked along the river, wandered into a few shops, and ended up in an Irish pub where we met up with a friend and drank & talked the day away.

All in all it was a good rest, and great to get away from the responsibility of being parents, temporarily. So, thanks Mum!

Off we go

We are off to Dublin for 2 nights. Just me and the hubbie. My Mum has bravely OFFERED (Yes, she offered with no blackmail or cajoling necessary!) to have my four kids for 2 nights. I guess she remembers what it was like to bring up 4 kids. So we are off to spend 2 romantic nights down in Dublin. We are planning nothing but some good hard reading, drinking of lots of tea, lots of drinking anyway, lol, and some rest. I do hope I don't miss baby Rosie too much. We haven't been apart since she was born and I'm not sure I can totally manage without her! I'm sure she will be fine without me though!