Tuesday, November 30, 2010

25 days Christmas Countdown (1st December - 7th December)

This year I have planned a whole 25 days of things for Ollie and I to do before Christmas. I will update at the end of each week, how our activities went and will be including the list of activities for the next week too!  As this is Ollie's first Christmas where he is really aware of what is going on.... I want to make it full of fun for him.

Week one

1st December - Start the advent calendar (we have a chocolate Thomas one this year!) and listen to Christmas music all morning!

2nd December - Write a letter to Santa and decorate with Christmas stickers.  Put the letter under the sofa and wait for it to be collected! (This is hubbys tradition.  He said he and his sisters always used to keep checking until it was gone!)

3rd December - Make a big snowman picture with cotton wool balls and black paint, buttons and anything else we might have.

4th December - Christmas movie night (with snacks!). Polar Express!

5th December - Make snowflakes out of paper and glitter.  Hang them all up when they are dry!

6th December - Make salt dough decorations, paint and decorate.  We will then have the special event of him hanging them himself on our mini tree here and then the big tree the next time he is home.  I'm hoping that seeing his own creations will make him super proud of himself.

7th December - Use cookie cutters and paint and glitter to make Christmas pictures.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Hello from Dublin (catching up!)

I am not sure if I mentioned before, but James' work wanted him on a project down here in Dublin for 5 months (until April/ May).  Dublin is a 2 hour drive from Belfast and his employers have rented us an apartment here.  The apartment is really big and quite close to everything we need.  This is where we lived when Ollie was born!  We only moved back to Belfast when he was 3 months old.

James was down here for a whole week on his own staying in a hotel because the apartment that was all arranged fell through because they didn't want to rent to someone who had a child!!  What a week!  I have never spent that long on my own with Ollie.... a whole week of single parenthood.  It actually went ok.  James spoke to Ollie via Skype most mornings and nights so he could see Ollie and Ollie could see him too.  It was so funny and cute watching Ollie talk to his daddy.... he kept running away to get toys to show him!

My friend Steph came to keep me company on the Monday night and my friend Bex came to keep me company on the Tuesday night.  On Wednesday my brother came to mind Ollie and I went for dinner and Christmas shopping with my mother in law.  I got so many things bought from my shopping list!

James was coming home on the Friday but that was the same day that Ollie and I were due to fly off to Bristol, England for a 'mega meet'.  Basically I go on an online forum and have been on it for a few years now.  It's a forum for mums and I've become really good friends with a lot of the girls there.  They regularly have big meets where they meet up and the children all play together.  It was stressful but worth it.  It was great meeting people I've spoken to for a couple of years but never met.  I don't think I'll be travelling on my own with Ollie again for a while!

It was so nice to see James on the Sunday night when he came to collect us!  We all drove here together on Tuesday with the car stacked full!

Anyway, that's where I have been for the last couple of weeks!  I now have the internet connected and am back to blogging, with a few posts in mind!  I also have a couple of nice new blog designs to show you soon OH and a huge pre-schoolers alphabet printable/ writable pack to show you also!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Our holidays 2010 (Part 2)

 

…and then there was London!

The last time Ollie was on an airplane, he was 3 months old.  He didn’t really have a clue what was going on.  This time was a lot different.  First of all we had a 2 hour bus journey to the airport in Dublin and he was SO well behaved.  During the journey he slept, ate lunch and opened a couple of surprises I brought for him for the long journey. At the airport he watched the planes and told me what colour they were!

DSC01245

 DSC01246

 DSC01252

When the airplane was taxi-ing to the runway…. we kept thinking we were there and I kept holding Ollie’s hand saying “are you ready?”… it was litterally another 20 minutes before we took off haha!  When we took off Ollie shouted “airplane going up a hill”.

DSC01260

The plan was for Ollie to sleep on an air mattress at Auntie Sandra’s house (SIL’s house she shares with her partner – Uncle Paddy, where we were staying), but that lasted all of one night.  The other nights he shared with either myself or James in the double bed while one of us kipped on the air mattress.

DSC01262

He loved the underground train (un-ga-gown train) and this picture was taken as soon as the train started moving.  It was quite a chore carrying him down the steps in his pram, because most of the stations do not have lifts!

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 DSC01264

Our first stop was Hamleys!!  OH WOW!  All their Christmas stuff was up and Ollie looked so overwhelmed by it all.  It didn’t take him long to start enjoying his trip and start asking me for EVERYTHING.  In the end he settled on a little toy underground train carriage.  I thought that would be a lovely souvenir for him!

DSC01266

Hamleys had a massive Hello Kitty section and he thought the massive Hello Kitty was hilarious!

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…and then he found the Thomas section.  Boy, was it hard to get him to leave after that!!??

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 DSC01278

 DSC01279

 DSC01282

After Hamleys we went to Nando’s for some lunch.  I love Nando’s!

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We went to the Natural History Museum.  What a gorgeous building inside and out!  There was a massive entrance hall full of real dinosaur skeletons!

DSC01289

 DSC01291

The first section was entirely devoted to different dinosaurs and had an animatronic T-Rex that we were so looking forward to seeing.  The T-Rex was really cool but as soon as we got past that area there was an announcement asking everyone to leave the building.  How annoying!  We made sure to go back on another day.

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We visited Covent Garden which I normally love, but Ollie was super grumpy that day and caused us a lot of heartache in an Indian Restaurant.  Talk about getting stressed out!!  I did get to pick up a couple of souvenirs there though.

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 DSC01305

 DSC01307

On the Friday we went to the Imperial War Museum.  It was amazing and definitely a highlight of the trip for Ollie.  When we arrived on the ground floor, Ollie was asleep in his pram and James and I dandered.  I wondered why we couldn’t see any life-size real life tanks etc, because I knew there were some here.  A lot of what James and I were seeing were just small exhibits with a lot of writing about the different wars.  I was glad Ollie was asleep at this point as he wouldn’t have liked it at all.  We went up a floor, and all of a sudden we were greeted with what we had come for!  We had to hurriedly wake Ollie up so he could see!

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 DSC01312

  He really loved it all.  He saw tanks, planes, rockets and submarines!

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 DSC01320

 DSC01322

 DSC01330

 DSC01333

 DSC01335

 DSC01338

 DSC01344

As Friday night was 5th November, Guy Fawkes Night, there was a fireworks display taking place locally.  It was so cool seeing so many people all walking to the park together.  I really wanted Ollie to see fireworks at Halloween but he didn’t get to, so I was pleased this was taking place, though nervous.  I knew he would either love it or hate it.

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He loved it.DSC01350

The firework pictures don’t do it justice at all…. they were really amazing fireworks.  I loved watching them.  Uncle Paddy met up with us there and brought with him some sparklers.

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 DSC01367

 DSC01374

On Saturday we just relaxed and hung out with James’ sister.  Sandra and Paddy had bought a whole load of train track and trains for Ollie and he was in his element.

 

On Sunday we got to go back to the National History Museum and got to explore properly.  Here is Mr. T-Rex!

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 DSC01384

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…and a sloth.  How cute!

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This is a life size replica of a whale!!  There were real whale bones everywhere you looked.

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 DSC01388

 DSC01391

 DSC01392

 DSC01397

On Sunday night James and I went out for dinner while Sandra and Paddy babysat.  Our meal was delicious!  I had garlic and chilli king prawns and they were massive.  They were the most delicious prawns I have ever had in my life!

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This was followed by a leek and pancetta risotto with scallops.  Yum.  James went for an antipasti platter to start and a steak for his main.  We even got 50% off our food bill because James’ sister lent us her Taste of London card (which gets you 2 for 1).

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Unfortunately we didn’t do anything on the Monday as Ollie was not well…. he had a rash and a high temperature, but I will write about that in a separate post.  We really wanted to do the Sealife Aquarium, but we can do that the next time we go.

Needless to say the journey back home was not so happy and exciting.

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All in all a fab family holiday.  It was nice to get away together and have James off work with us for 5 lovely days.  It was definitely well deserved.  The last time James and I came to London was the year before I became pregnant with Ollie.

Our holidays 2010 (Part 2)

 

…and then there was London!

The last time Ollie was on an airplane, he was 3 months old.  He didn’t really have a clue what was going on.  This time was a lot different.  First of all we had a 2 hour bus journey to the airport in Dublin and he was SO well behaved.  During the journey he slept, ate lunch and opened a couple of surprises I brought for him for the long journey. At the airport he watched the planes and told me what colour they were!

DSC01245

 DSC01246

 DSC01252

When the airplane was taxi-ing to the runway…. we kept thinking we were there and I kept holding Ollie’s hand saying “are you ready?”… it was litterally another 20 minutes before we took off haha!  When we took off Ollie shouted “airplane going up a hill”.

DSC01260

The plan was for Ollie to sleep on an air mattress at Auntie Sandra’s house (SIL’s house she shares with her partner – Uncle Paddy, where we were staying), but that lasted all of one night.  The other nights he shared with either myself or James in the double bed while one of us kipped on the air mattress.

DSC01262

He loved the underground train (un-ga-gown train) and this picture was taken as soon as the train started moving.  It was quite a chore carrying him down the steps in his pram, because most of the stations do not have lifts!

DSC01263

 DSC01264

Our first stop was Hamleys!!  OH WOW!  All their Christmas stuff was up and Ollie looked so overwhelmed by it all.  It didn’t take him long to start enjoying his trip and start asking me for EVERYTHING.  In the end he settled on a little toy underground train carriage.  I thought that would be a lovely souvenir for him!

DSC01266

Hamleys had a massive Hello Kitty section and he thought the massive Hello Kitty was hilarious!

DSC01273

…and then he found the Thomas section.  Boy, was it hard to get him to leave after that!!??

DSC01274

 DSC01278

 DSC01279

 DSC01282

After Hamleys we went to Nando’s for some lunch.  I love Nando’s!

DSC01286

We went to the Natural History Museum.  What a gorgeous building inside and out!  There was a massive entrance hall full of real dinosaur skeletons!

DSC01289

 DSC01291

The first section was entirely devoted to different dinosaurs and had an animatronic T-Rex that we were so looking forward to seeing.  The T-Rex was really cool but as soon as we got past that area there was an announcement asking everyone to leave the building.  How annoying!  We made sure to go back on another day.

DSC01293

We visited Covent Garden which I normally love, but Ollie was super grumpy that day and caused us a lot of heartache in an Indian Restaurant.  Talk about getting stressed out!!  I did get to pick up a couple of souvenirs there though.

DSC01303

 DSC01305

 DSC01307

On the Friday we went to the Imperial War Museum.  It was amazing and definitely a highlight of the trip for Ollie.  When we arrived on the ground floor, Ollie was asleep in his pram and James and I dandered.  I wondered why we couldn’t see any life-size real life tanks etc, because I knew there were some here.  A lot of what James and I were seeing were just small exhibits with a lot of writing about the different wars.  I was glad Ollie was asleep at this point as he wouldn’t have liked it at all.  We went up a floor, and all of a sudden we were greeted with what we had come for!  We had to hurriedly wake Ollie up so he could see!

DSC01308

 DSC01312

  He really loved it all.  He saw tanks, planes, rockets and submarines!

DSC01317

 DSC01320

 DSC01322

 DSC01330

 DSC01333

 DSC01335

 DSC01338

 DSC01344

As Friday night was 5th November, Guy Fawkes Night, there was a fireworks display taking place locally.  It was so cool seeing so many people all walking to the park together.  I really wanted Ollie to see fireworks at Halloween but he didn’t get to, so I was pleased this was taking place, though nervous.  I knew he would either love it or hate it.

DSC01349

He loved it.DSC01350

The firework pictures don’t do it justice at all…. they were really amazing fireworks.  I loved watching them.  Uncle Paddy met up with us there and brought with him some sparklers.

DSC01351

DSC01361

 DSC01367

 DSC01374

On Saturday we just relaxed and hung out with James’ sister.  Sandra and Paddy had bought a whole load of train track and trains for Ollie and he was in his element.

 

On Sunday we got to go back to the National History Museum and got to explore properly.  Here is Mr. T-Rex!

DSC01382

 DSC01384

 DSC01385

…and a sloth.  How cute!

DSC01386

This is a life size replica of a whale!!  There were real whale bones everywhere you looked.

DSC01387

 DSC01388

 DSC01391

 DSC01392

 DSC01397

On Sunday night James and I went out for dinner while Sandra and Paddy babysat.  Our meal was delicious!  I had garlic and chilli king prawns and they were massive.  They were the most delicious prawns I have ever had in my life!

DSC01399

This was followed by a leek and pancetta risotto with scallops.  Yum.  James went for an antipasti platter to start and a steak for his main.  We even got 50% off our food bill because James’ sister lent us her Taste of London card (which gets you 2 for 1).

DSC01401

Unfortunately we didn’t do anything on the Monday as Ollie was not well…. he had a rash and a high temperature, but I will write about that in a separate post.  We really wanted to do the Sealife Aquarium, but we can do that the next time we go.

Needless to say the journey back home was not so happy and exciting.

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All in all a fab family holiday.  It was nice to get away together and have James off work with us for 5 lovely days.  It was definitely well deserved.  The last time James and I came to London was the year before I became pregnant with Ollie.