A pox on the pox!

Little Miss has the chickenpox. She was the very last child in her playschool to get them, and for a while there we didn’t think she would get them at all.
On Thursday however, a tiny red dot appeared on her chest and by Friday evening she was a walking “connect the dots” puzzle.

She continued to be in great form though, full of giggles, hugsies and her usual array of “Knock, Knock”-Jokes. When Saturday night hit, things changed.
The spots were absolutely everywhere, her poor skull resembled a Braille dictionary and the rest of her body was not far behind.
The poor Honey was crying in her sleep and was writhing in her bed with discomfort.

Little Miss is nothing if not an adoring Daddy’s Girl and she really wanted him to make her feel better. Daddy rushed home and she was just SO happy to see him. Daddy has the magic touch and she felt lots better already by just having him there.
She had a few fever spikes during the night but Darren stripped her and have her some Paralink to bring that down.
When I woke up this morning and peeked in to her room, they were both sound asleep. Little Miss in her bed and Darren on the floor next to her. When she woke up, she was all delighted that “Daddy had a sleepover in her room!”

I will be staying home with her Tomorrow and Tuesday, and Darren will stay home Wednesday, if needs be.

Even though it’s very hard to see her this way, I am really happy she had them now, rather than in a few years. By all accounts it gets even harder when they’re older.

Here’s to our Honey’s speedy recovery!

Not cool

Yesterday afternoon, we received an e-mail to all be present in the largest meeting room at 16:00 hrs. They were shutting down the lines to facilitate this meeting... This set off my alarmbells straight away. The lines are holy, Service Level does not get compromised unless it's something BIG.

And, it was.

We all gathered there to see the general manager walk in with a very solemn face. He proceeded to read from an earlier prepared statement.
I work for an outsourcing company and we take care of the customer service for a VERY large software company. (Yes, that one) and this company decided to pull their business and give it to another company with a larger presence globally.

This means that as per the end of June, Mieneke is out of a job.
This is two weeks before my maternity leave is to start. Going job-hunting when you are very much pregnant? Somehow I don't see myself being all that successfull. Finding a part-time job that pays as well as this one did after my maternity leave? Snowball's chance in Hell.

But, things will work out. I am certain of it. "Worst case scenario", I get to spend some extra months with my kids... There's worse things! :)

No, seriously, I know it will be tough, not in the least financially. But getting myself in a state over it wouldn't help anyone.

In the meanwhile, If you are looking for a hardworking Dutch lady, to fill a part-time position in the North County Dublin area, please feel free to leave a comment! ;)

Video Post

Here's our Honey singing Jingle Bells on the last day of school before the Christmas Holidays!



Sorry for the quality, I uploaded it on the wrong size! Will try and fix it! (Footage is from my mobile phone)

Little Ted 2

Darren and I went for our first scan yesterday! I was very nervous as there is no guarantee that the lady will say all is well. But, thankfully, it is. The baby was having a blast in there, somersaults gallore and waving his arms and legs like a good thing! :-)))
The heart was beating strongly which was an amazing thing to see. The lady did some meassurements and it would seem I am 5 days more pregnant than I first thought. It doesn't make any sense if you go by my average cycle but I am guessing the scan wouldn't lie! So, the new due date is July 31. This happens to be a date that I have not been able to get out of my head for weeks! Now we know why! Also, I was thinking "Girl" all allong, but when I saw the little one on the scan I thought "Boy". So now, I genuinely have no clue anymore! ;-)

One thing that could possibly present a problem though, is that the placenta seems to be at the front, rather than at the back. This does not have to be a bad thing, unless the placenta starts to cover the cervix opening. In which case it will require a planned c-section. To determine this, we will be going in for another scan at 34 weeks.
I am not worried though, even if it does turn out to be the case, and I do need a c-section. It will not be the worst thing in the world. As long as the baby is healthy, I will do whatever is needed to keep it that way. There's people that have to endure a lot worse. My preference would ofcourse be a natural birth, but if that's not on the cards, so be it

So, without further ado, I present to you: Ted 2!


The head is to the right, then the beautiful round tummy, the white stripe is the bone of the upper leg and then the rest of the leg.

Bed-Time

When we put Little Miss to bed the routine is, she get's one page of poems and 3 stories. (The stories are not that long, it's done and dusted within 15-20 minutes).
Both Darren and I really love this time with her. She's all snugly in her jammies. Freshly washed face and minty fresh teeth. Carebear tucked up next to her, legs under the Duvet and her Disney Princess Go Glow Light in her hand to "help you read".
I let her pick out the stories, making sure she knows what number the story is. "Pick out story number 1 now, Honey" and I really feel like she enjoys the fact that it's her choice. And she knows that after story 3 it's time to put the book away and go to sleep.
Obviously, the little clever clogs will still chance her arm and try to stretch her bed-time by adding a visit to the toilet but it has all been incorperated in to a pretty set and predictable bed-time.
During the week however, she declared that she wasn't tired (whilst rubbing her eyes vigourisly, ofcourse) and she gave me the big, wide eyed "Pleaeaeaeaeaease Mamma???" look. So, the Mamma folded.... I handed her her new Dora Book (Dora's Bedtime Stories) and we made a deal.
She was allowed to "read" her book but when the book was finished she had to go to sleep. Well, you have never seen a little girl more chuffed with herself.
When I went back downstairs and switched on the monitor, I could hear her read the stories. She was quoting the pages word for word. I had to restrain myself from running back up the stairs to give her a great big hug!

Some news!

Just wanted to make the "anouncement" (although I am pretty sure that most of the readers here already know!)

Caíthlyn is going to be a Big Sister!

Finally! Another update!

Caithlyn's playschool is brilliant. They are very interactive with the kids and they focus a lot on responsibilities, as well as creativity.
One day last week, I went to pick her up from Playschool when she came running out to me. "Mamma, Mamma, I got a star on my jumper! I was a Pirate today!!" She was so proud! I shot a confused look at her teacher standing at the door who, laughing, tells me:"She was Captain of her table today!" My Honey! She was almost right! :))

They have very structured days in playschool and Little Miss really seems to be thriving on that. There's set time for "free play" for "Arts and Crafts" and they do things like being the Captain of their table for the day. (Which means you get to hand out the cups and lunch time and get the coloring pages at arts time etc. for all the kids at your table.)
They also have "Buddy Bear", a big brown, fuzzy Teddy Bear that the teacher "found outside of the school" and that the kids are collectively caring for. Each child gets a turn at taking Buddy Bear home for the night and they have to take good care of him whilst he is with them. It's amazing, the children ADORE Buddy Bear and the proud looks on the faces of the kids when they show their parents that they get to take him home for the night are priceless!
At the start of this week, the kids had to take in a recent photograph of themselves for a reward chart. If the kids deserve a star, they get to stick it on the wall, behind their photograph. I think this will be really great positive stimulation!

The one downside to playschool is that she is practically constantly sick when there's school. We had to take her to Temple Street Children's Hospital for blood tests and a chest x-ray when her cough and snotty nose just would not clear up.
Then there was the Christmas Holidays and she was fine again. Now, a week in to school, she's coughing and snotsing again....
The good news is that the blood tests came back fine, she has no allergies etc so there is nothing big to worry about. Thank Heavens!

Also, Little Miss Aunt and Uncle leave on their big adventure today! They are going to be missed in a Big Big way, but we all wish them the very best and hope they have an amazing time!

All the way to the moon, and back.

A week ago on Sunday, my daughter and I watched "The Little Mermaid" both 1&2. (Which sounds like a lot, but taking in to consideration all the fast forwarding involved due to scary bits, it was more like one movie.) Me with my large mug of Senseo coffee, her with her smiley cup of milk and her Dora plate with peanut butter crackers.(She LURVES her some Peanutbutter Crackers!) Together under her Care Bear blankie (Thank you Beppe!), snuggly and warm, with black skies outside. We watched, and talked about the movie(s).
I got this big lump in my throat. My Little Honey, it seems like only yesterday that she was a baby. She is growing up SO fast (Hellooo Cliché!) and hearing her chatter about how she's going to be a "Mermaid-Doctor-Princess-Queen" (What? It could happen! ;-) ) and how much King Triton loves his daughter and how much her Mamma and Daddy love her (Little Miss), almost reduced me to tears. Tears of pride.
We are SO lucky to have this precious little girl in our lives.

Every night, when I put her to bed. I say this to her while I hold her in my arms. It's from "Love you Forever" and "Guess How Much I Love You"

"I love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living, My baby you'll Be. Mamma loves you all the way to the moon and back!"

Only she will demand that I say "Big Girl" rather than "baby" and we will say "All the way to the moon and back!" , together. She loves these two books and it's something small that we have together that I treasure dearly.

And I do love you Little Miss, all the way to the moon and back.........

Love is all around

We had been telling Little Miss for a few weeks already that she was going to be sleeping a "big girl bed". Last weekend, the time had finally arrived.
On Sunday morning, while Little Miss and I watched "The Little Mermaid" on the sofa (me with the remote firmly in hand to skip the mean sea-witch scenes), Daddy was upstairs taking the bars off her cot. The cot we had, turns in to a cot-bed. It's great as she basically sleeps in the same bed thus making the transition easier.
As soon as she heard the noises from upstairs, she turned around to me on my lap. Those big huge blue eyes wide open. "Daddy take my bars off? My Big Girl Bed?" And she raced up the stairs.
The excitement on her face was priceless! She whipped off her clothes and declared it was bed time. Snuggled herself all nice and cozy under the duvet, grabbed Care Bear and said "Night Night!" The only way we could get her to come with me to Nannie's house for Sunday dinner and apple picking was by telling her that she could tell her cousins all about her new bed!

That night, Darren was out on his new motorcycle, I heard a heartbreaking cry. "Spider!! Spider!! Help me!!". I legged it up the stairs and the poor thing was sweating and sitting upright in her bed. I hugged her and asked her what was wrong and she was telling me that she had seen a spider.
I made a big show of looking for it but couldn't find anything. (Darren found a Daddy longlegs the next day).

When I held her though, I had noticed she felt rather warm. Actually, she was burning up! I took off her jammies and gave her some really cold water to drink and she settled back down. About an 1.5 hours later, she screamed again. She was crying and still very, very hot. I went to get her some Dozol and more cold water. She was talking strangely, the fever was really hitting her bad.
When Darren came home after I called him, he went straight up to her after she cried again. She was SO happy to see him. She was sick and she wanted her Daddy. They have such a special bond together, I am sure it made her feel better just by having him there with her. I figured that if this was going to be an all-nighter, we better take it in shifts. So I went to bed. A few minutes after Darren took her downstairs. He opened the sliding doors and every window in the house. When she stayed hot, he gave her ice cubes to suck on. Apparently she said "Hmmmm, delicious!" Bless her.

It was 02.00 hrs before she went back to bed. At 04.00 hrs I woke up to her screaming. She was in her bathroom with her Daddy and she was trying to have a bowel movement. She was so hot, and weak, she started retching. The look in her eyes! She stood next to the sink, her little hands clutching it. She was shaking with it. Darren told me that he was going to stay home with her the next day and for me to go back to sleep as I had no choice but to go to work as I had been out the week before.

When I woke up the next morning, I peeked in to her room. Darren was asleep on the floor next to her bed. So close, he was practically under the bed. She was in her bed, moved as far to the edge as she could get. They wanted to be as close as they could manage. Even in their sleep. Darren said he had felt her forehead every time he woke up. I just got all chocked up, seeing them asleep like that. Her, secure in the knowledge that her Daddy was there, him, wanting to keep his honey close in case she needed him. I just stood there, watching them, and wanting to crawl on to the floor next to them.

Little Miss is back at her Nannies today and is completely fever free. The antibiotics the doctor gave her, are working a treat. If all goes well, she will be running around in playschool again tomorrow. (We are giving it an extra day, just to be sure).

I could not have asked for more. My daughter has an amazing father, I have a wonderful boyfriend and we have a fantastic daughter, and together we are so lucky to be the family we are.....