My life as a mum

It’s time for mommy kudo’s again as my lovely co-blogger Meg called it last week. At the end of the week I’m sharing things that I’ve been doing well as a mother to encourage myself as a mum and I hope that you want to join in too. We all need some encouragement as mums and it’s good to give yourself a pat on the back from time to time. So here is my contribution for this week. This week my oldest kids went back to school so I tried to work on their bedtimes and bedtime routines. Someone had been messing with the toothbrushes -read this post - so we got a couple of new kiddie toothbrushes at DEALZ and new kiddie toothpaste. I didn’t manage to get their bedtimes the way I wanted but I’m glad that I got them to listen and participate in the bedtime routine when it comes to tooth brushing. Nevaeh has had a lot of trouble with it but she’s doing great now. She never liked it if I helped her brush but yesterday she asked: ‘will you help me?’ and that was so great to hear. Such a m...

My kids really love the bathroom- too much. You seriously can’t trust them on their own to just go in and use the potty, wash their hands and then go out again. Especially the smallest. She can spend ages in the bathroom and unfortunately I end up with a wet bathroom floor again and again if I don’t keep an eye on her and her sister. They  are really partners in crime.  And they make toothbrushes disappear to somewhere: a place of which I don’t know if I want to find them back and use them again, So a few days ago I found myself in the exact same situation I was in two years ago. My toothbrush was missing. And yes I learned from then to put my toothbrush up on a shelf in the medicine cabinet but I guess sometimes I forget to do that. So we went to DEALZ last week to get new toothbrushes and some other stuff and what did I find there for 1,49 ? The exact same toothbrush that I wrote a post about the last time that this happened. So I decided just to post the same old pos...

I had a little run today. In the lovely sunshine, behind a stroller and on purple flip flops. It was Yovannahs first day today in ‘big school’ and her school had decided to only let them go in for 1,5 hours today. And I thought I would have enough time to run a small errand. But before you know it, it was time to collect her again and I didn’t want to be too late on the first day. So I walked extra fast and had a little jog from time to time. It wasn’t very pleasant on flip flops and while I was rushing to school I was thinking: I should’ve stayed home and cleaned the house instead in that 1,5 hour. But the running paid off. We (Nevaeh and I) arrived 5 minutes early. With a sweaty face (that would be me) but hey, we made it. Yay ! So today was Yovannahs first school day in 'big school' and that made it a happy day. Even though I had a lot of trouble getting the whole crew in bed last night and didn’t keep my cool about it, Yovannah was very easy in the morning. She must’ve...

I never really had baby rooms for my babies. So after we brought Nevaeh home, she had a little corner in my room. She had her crib, a changing unit and closet in my bedroom with her clothes in it and a nappy stacker on the door. But I always planned on getting her, her own bedroom one day. I saw video’s on youtube of baby rooms in the bird theme and fell in love with that theme. I loved the Pottery Barn theme and wanted to give her a room with birds and owls, a little bit like in that theme. So I started shopping last year and thinking of ideas for her room. I never really got to making that room though. Apart from hanging up a frame or two, it always stayed a plan. This Summer Yovannah got her own Hello Kitty room for her birthday and afterwards we also did the other bedrooms. Nevaeh and Yovannah are really close and they both love Peppa Pig a lot. And Nevaeh now loves Peppa pig a bit more than Yovannah does. So when we asked her what kind of room she wanted she said a Peppa ...

We mums, could all use some encouragement from time to time. We are often looking at ourselves and then coming to the conclusion that we are not yet the mums that we want to be. I’m one of those mums. There is so much that I want to improve and I remember when I only had my oldest daughter and I was writing in my private online diary. Every time that I felt that I did something good mummy wise, I’d give myself ‘mummy points’ to encourage myself. To make me feel good about myself, to show to myself that I’m not doing such a bad job. I think it is a good thing to give yourself a pat on the back from time to time. And for awhile now I’ve been thinking of doing that on my blog. To create a place where we can all come together and share our accomplishments big and small for the week. Not to brag but to share how we have improved in areas where we wanted to improve or just to encourage ourselves in case we haven’t done a lot of improvement but still have done some things that we feel...

Like I mentioned before in a post, I’m not the most organized person but I would love to be organized. I always loved the idea of having a nice home. But somehow I didn’t seem to manage to have it for long. I was too busy and too tired to keep it up or often I felt down and/or stressed and then that stopped me from being able to do much. But God promised in His word that He will give us the wishes of our heart. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 NIV I'm feeling better in general -thanks to God- and this Summer I took some time to de-clutter the house. There is still much more to do, but we had a great start. I was able to make some changes here and there and to decorate the house a bit in the way I liked. I couldn’t afford expensive things but I picked up things here and there and got a lot from the carboot sale as well. It's almost hard to believe the treasures that you can find there for only a little bit of mone...

Today I wanted to share another outfit that I've been wearing lately. I really love ruffles therefore I love this blouse. It is made out of a silky fabric and in the colour navy. I mostly wear it with grey dress pants. On the first picture I'm wearing it with a denim jack because it was a bit too chilly since the blouse doesn't really have sleeves. On the second and third picture I'm wearing it with a long sleeved shirt in about the same colour. And I'm wearing brown pants. The blouse is from: Awear but I got it in a second hand shop for approximately 2,50 euro. Linking up with The Pleated Poppy . Love,

Just about a week and a half and then the school holidays will be over here in Ireland.  Last week we started to get a few things for the new school year. Since I'm thinking of changing the school the kids are on, I haven't gotten any books or uniforms yet but we got new panties,vests, tights, socks and shoes. Hopefully this week it will be clear which school the kids will attend this school year and we can continue our back to school shopping. Have you finished your back to school shopping yet ? I got the chance to be apart of an amazing giveaway called Back to School Cash Giveaway . You can win $500 and it is open World wide.  This is your chance to win some extra cash to get those essentials for school or at least to get some extra money back to fill that 'empty space' that the 'back to school shopping' has left in your wallet. To receive the cash, you will need to have a personal paypal account or set one up which is very easy to do. It...

This week I'm linking up with the Sunday Social hosts Ashley and Neely again. 1. When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up? I remember that I wanted to be a flight attendant at one time and also a veterinarian because I loved animals and I wanted to help them. My oldest daughter is now very interested in becoming a veterinarian but I think there’s a bigger chance that she will really become one because she is much more interested in animals than I was (has loads of animal books) and loves to watch tv programs about animal hospitals ,vets etc. 2. What was your favorite way to kill time as a kid? I loved to read books, play outside with friends, go swimming or bike riding. 3. When did you get your first cell phone? I’m not sure but I think I bought it myself around 2000. It was a Motorola and a very big one and people were always surprised that it was so big and sometimes made jokes about it. 4. What is your favorite magazine ...

Ten things that remind me that I’m a mum. This post is inspired by this post from Christine Coppa. You know that you’re a mum when : 1 Every room in the house has at least one toy in it and also your car, back and front yard. 2 The tv is mostly on on childrens programmes. 3 You’re constantly picking up stuff from the floor and wiping off freshly made drawings from the wall. (oh no, they found a crayon or marker again !) 4 Your shopping list contains at least three items that are especially for kids. 5 You’re often interrupted from whatever you are doing by a child calling you; mummy. 6 You come back from the sales in town with mostly kids items. 7 You can often find a diaper in your handbag and sometimes even a toy. 8 You only get to eat half of your mugshot because you have to share it with two of your kids. (Luckily they have smaller mouths and so they are getting less on a spoon.) 9 You are excited about pink tutu’s, finding a he...

It’s World Breastfeeding Week from August 1st to August 7th 2013 and this year’s theme is Breastfeeding Support: Close to Mothers. You can read more about it on http://worldbreastfeedingweek.org . The focus is on community support, particularly in the form of peer-to-peer support. To show support for World Breastfeeding Week, the Irish Parenting Bloggers group is holding a blog march about varied breastfeeding experiences, including experiences with breastfeeding support in Ireland. This inspired me to write a post about breastfeeding as well. My breast feeding journey When I was pregnant with my first child, I decided that it would be a great idea to combine breast- and bottle feeding. But in the hospital they convinced me how healthy and important it was to breastfeed exclusively and then I decided to go that road. I got a breast pump to express milk so my baby could get a bottle with breast milk when I was out and about or for the scarce times that I would leave her...