Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Years Goals!

I've been thinking about these for the last few days and have come up with some that I know will make a happier me and a happier home :)

1.  Keep on top of my daily chores better... I know that when my house is a mess and there are too many chores needing done, I'm not quite as relaxed, happy or fun to be around.  I have a picture in my head of the housewife I would like to become.

2.  I want to start saving... This year James and I got way out of the habit of putting money into savings... but saving money is the only way we will ever get to have a family holiday or similar.

3.  I must learn how to use my camera!  I got my lovely Nikon D3100 in April last year and have still to take it off the auto setting.  I want to take AMAZING photos with my camera.  I need to sit down and figure out where to start first.

4.  Learn to drive... to me this is a must this year.  I'm 27 and have never learnt how to drive a car.  With baby boy number 2 almost here now, I know it is something that we, as a family, are going to need.  I have paid for my lessons... I just need to wait until baby makes his appearance so I can start!  I am hoping I can learn before the summer!

5.  Say yes more often... I am guilty of saying "in a minute"and "not just right now" a bit too often, when I am busy.  I want to be able to say "yes of course" to Ollie more... and then get stuck in playing with him properly.  I need to remember that the thing I am doing can wait "a minute"...

6.  Have PROPER family time each evening... I know this one will be hard to get used to.  There is always someone using a computer, tv, phone or ipad.... Every night I want to set time aside where we use none of these things and really spend time together as a family.

7.  Learn to use my sewing machine... I got a sewing machine for my birthday in July and have never used it.  I don't yet know how!  I must learn, because there are so many things I want to make for myself and for my two boys!!

8.  Learn patience... yep.

9.  Blog more often... and about more interesting stuff!  My last blog became a bit of a niche about only pregnancy.... I want to use this blog to blog about everything happening in our life :)

10.  Read more books...

Fingers crossed I (we) can stick by these :)

2011 Review

January

2011 started off pretty crappy for James and I.  After finding out on 28th December that we were FINALLY pregnant again (15 months after having our first miscarriage), we unfortunately started to miscarry exactly one week later.  The miscarriage left us wondering if we would ever have another baby.

At the same time as the miscarriage took place, Ollie decided himself that he would like to start using the potty rather than nappies!  He took to it extremely well and surprised us all!


We applied for Ollie to start pre-school in September.  We applied to a few different schools after having a look around them and kept our fingers crossed he would get in somewhere good!!

James turned 31 and Ollie and I made him dark chocolate brownies.


February

I discovered Pinterest.  Too addictive!!  I immediately started pinning all my ideas for decorating our house!  I'm still addicted!

Ollie and I had a lovely breakfast date for Valentine's Day.


Ollie had his first dentist visit and loved it!  The Dentist was very good with him and made a big deal about showing Ollie his 'magic chair'.  Ollie was impressed and really relaxed.  His teeth turned out to be completely perfect.... with just 2 back ones to come up.

My best friend asked me to be Godmother to her gorgeous son, Leo.  What an amazing honour :)

Ollie learnt to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all by himself!


March

I ordered my first SLR.  A Nikon D3100.  I bought it with the good intentions of really knuckling down and learning how to use it PROPERLY in the hopes of ONE day becoming a wedding photographer.  I've still got to find the time to learn to use it properly.  That's on my list of resolutions for 2012 for sure!

We spent St. Patricks Day in Dublin and joined in the celebrations/ watched the parade.  Ollie had a lot of funWatched the St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Dublin.  Ollie wore his green hoody and had a shamrock painted on his face.  He also went on his first ever fairground rides and loved them!!


Ollie did his first pee-pee standing up... momentous, he told me I was his best friend and he also got gastroenteritis!


April

We got Ollie's acceptance letter to a pre-school we hoped he would get into.  Forge Integrated Primary.


I had a lovely Mother's Day with my man and boy!  We got up and went out for breakfast.... coffee and scones and after that we went to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.  We relaxed for the rest of the day and James made a roast chicken dinner!


The weather was nice enough to visit the beach for the first time this year.


We had a lovely Easter dying eggs, rolling them down a hill and eating the chocolate type!  I have never seen such a little boy receive so many Easter eggs in all of my life!  I also planned a little Easter egg hunt for him which he loved.


May

I became Godmother to little Leo.  I left Ollie and James for the weekend and headed to England all on my own for a lovely baptism service, fresh air, fun with good friends and too much wine!


We got a dog!  She is a Jack Russell and we named her Lola.  She came from a pound and took a little while to come round with us... she is still a very shy little thing.


James and I found out we were pregnant again!!!!!


James and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary with a cinema date and Japanese food!  James bought me a Pandora ring.


June

Ollie celebrated his 3rd birthday and had a Mickey Mouse themed party.  His big present was his first bike!  He had all his friends come over to play and had a lovely day!


We saw our baby bean at 6 weeks!  My heart nearly burst when we saw our baby bean's little heartbeat flashing away.

We had a very relaxed Father's Day.  As always we had french toast, which has become tradition for special occasions in our family.


...and we had a visitor to our outside shed!


July

We were able to find the baby's heartbeat ourselves with an Angelsounds Doppler.


We had our 12 week scan and saw that baby number 2 was developing well.  It was so lovely to see the change in the baby from the scan at 6 weeks.  This time around it was jumping and moving and very active.  I had a feeling the baby was a boy at this stage. I started to feel relaxed about the pregnancy and started to believe that we were actually going to have a baby after all the trying and waiting and sadness.


We were able to visit the beach again!


I celebrated my 27th birthday with a lie-in, gorgeous breakfast made by hubby, a very fancy seafood lunch a trip to Seaford Butterfly Farm and cake.  The best pressie I received was reaching my 12 weeks pregnant milestone!


Ollie fed geese for the first time at Castle Espie.


...I felt the baby move and we bought the baby's pram!

August

Ollie got his school uniform thanks to Grandma and Grampa Harry.... and he looked absolutely gorgeous in it!!!


James went to Chicago for a whole week for work.  

I had my first midwife appointment which went really well.  We listened in on baby and heard the heartbeat and loads of movement.

I felt the baby move from the outside of my bump.

Mum, Ollie and I went to Dublin to have my gender scan!  It was such a lovely fun day and we found out we are having another boy!!!


James felt the baby kick :)

September

We went to The Ark Open Farm and came home with another doggie :)  He was just too adorable to resist.


Ollie started school.  From day 1 he loved it!  He was never one to be shy and so he had no trouble settling in and making friends!


I reached the 20 week, halfway milestone in my pregnancy!  By this stage both James and Ollie had felt the baby move and we decided on a name!


Ollie's drawings became recognisable rather than scrawly!!  The picture below is cars on roads!!!


We decorated the boys room!



October

We had our first parent and teacher meeting at Ollie's school.  It went really well and was very positive.  Stephanie spoke highly of Ollie and how polite he is and we were really proud that he'd taken so well to school.

I had my first eye test in over 13 years and found out I needed glasses!


Ollie went to school in fancy dress for Halloween!


We decorated the kitchen!

November

We entered the home stretch in this pregnancy!!  Third trimester!  The pregnancy really does feel like it is zooming in!!  Braxton hicks started!

James and I got our living room decorated!


Ollie had his first set of professional school photos done.  Can't wait to receive them!!


I decorated the bathroom!

December

It snowed!


My brother came over to do a bump shoot for me!  I love how the photos all turned out.  Such a special set of pictures.


At 32 weeks pregnant I ended up in hospital with contractions!  I spent 2 nights in hospital and received a course of steroid injections to mature baby's lungs in case he came early.  Luckily he settled down and everything seemed well enough for me to go home!  The Dr. did a fibronectin test and was able to tell me that there was an 80% chance of not going into labour in the next fortnight!


Ollie's preschool performed a Christmas concert!  It went perfectly and Ollie sang every word louder and slightly faster than everyone else.  My heart nearly burst with pride watching him. (Ollie is in the front row, second in from the left!)


I packed my hospital bags, made my labour playlist and nested like crazy!

Ollie visited Santa in his grotto at Castle Espie!


We celebrated our last Christmas as a family of 3!  Next years Christmas is going to be so different from this years.  Next year we will have a baby who will be almost 1, teething and possibly walking or crawling! 4 of us!!!


...and I seem to have managed to keep baby snug in my belly until 2012.  It's 5.39pm here now so we shall see!
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I am BEYOND excited about what 2012 holds in store for us.  2012 will start with the imminent arrival of our 2nd baby boy, James starts a new position at work in March, James and I will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, I hope to learn to drive and Ollie starts Primary School in September!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Our Christmas (In Pictures)

Ollie in his Christmas Pyjamas on Christmas Eve!

Ollie sprinkling 'reindeer food' onto our front lawn so that the reindeer have something to eat while waiting for Santa to come back!

Diving on in to his sack!

Mummy "How did Santa know you like Jungle Junction?".... Ollie "Because he's the best".



The moment he realises it is a MASSIVE Bruder cement mixer!



Toasting marshmallows at Grandma's!

Playing his new LeapPad with daddy!

Enjoying Christmas dinner.... (excuse our undecorated walls in the background!)

Enjoying dinner with a 'special glass' of juice!

Dexter in his new collar with his new toy!

Lola in her pretty new girly collar!