mum

Mum’s Getaway

| Tracey

One of the girls is getting married at the weekend. My group of school friends are going to be together again for a whole weekend! Myself and the hubby are heading away for TWO nights, count them TWO nights in a beautiful hotel to spend TWO days with some of my best friends, oh did I mention we are going to be kid-less, yep its gonna be Kieran and Tracey minus the three Ts aka the teenager the twins and the toddler!!

I am so bloody excited! Have you ever watched a woman prepare herself for a few nights away on her own? Especially a woman who has kids? Its a thing of beauty…

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She has mentally laid out everything she wants to wear for the weekend, the outfits she has planned are probably not in her wardrobe yet. They are probably hanging on a gondola in Penneys or River Island or in her cart in ASOS.

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She has sorted out what she is wearing for the journey, she has maybe purchased some new mascara or foundation. She has definitely gone out and bought new pyjamas, that goes without saying!! I mean you cannot take off for a few nights without sporting some new striped pjs with a cute quote blazoned on the top…right? I mean I think it may be a law or something!!Image result for penneys pjs with quote

All the appointments have been made, the plucking, the waxing, the tanning, the hair and the makeup… all timed with great precision around who may be available to watch the kids for those much needed hours.

Eyebrows become sisters again, as opposed to conjoined twins… lips are made bald, eyelashes suddenly grow an inch…you name it, if it grows its plucked and if it doesn’t grow enough its extended!! and they say women are complicated??!!!

The car journey to wherever the destination might be is another exciting factor. To those who are without offspring yet, a simple car journey might not seem like an exciting thing. BELIEVE ME from a mum of 6 year old twins and an almost 2 year old (the 15 years old is car trained now, she sticks in her headphones and tunes out *lucky her*) having a car journey with your other half or friends or even alone, is BLOODY BRILLIANT!!!! Its not just the fact you can listen to whatever music you want, no, its the simple fact you can listen to a song from start to finish without pausing it to shout at whoever is over on whoever’s side that they shouldn’t be. Or sort out who’s turn it is to have that feckin Super Mario Brothers game…or push the toddlers head back when he sleeping (now to be fair the teenager can do this, but she’s usually pretending to be asleep), or looking for a garage because someone really has to do “A POO MUMMY!!!” Oh the wee wees are grand, find a nice bit of road to pull in and open the doors and away with them, the poos, well the poos are something else. PANIC STATIONS to find a petrol station… mums you can all relate right?!

So having the peaceful car journey belting out the hits from 1999, being frizz free and tinted to within an inch of you life…what else… oh yea being yourself. There is nothing quite like being the person you were before you had kids, or a job or responsibilities…being around the right people will always bring this out in me. The belly laughs, crying from laughing, having a good gossip and just been genuinely carefree for those 48 hours. I adore getting away with the hubbie and its been years since we got away on our own, but add in being with the girls from school and its the perfect weekend for me. I will be Tracey again for a couple of days, not mum, not a co-worker, but Tracey, me, myself and I. Sometime you lose sight of being “you”, being so busy with kids, work, caring for parents whatever it might be, so to have a couple of days in a year where you are you is so bloody important. For you, but especially for your kids, you need to re-charge too. (I don’t know how this turned motivational!!)

Anyway back to preparing for your weekend away, if you are like me you know exactly what time you will be hitting to road at and you have whoever is lucky enough to be childminding for you aware of this time…in fact you may not need to head away so early but who needs to know this??!! You will have carefully packed everything neatly, your new clothes including but not limited to some new knickers and pjs, toiletries, makeup in a cute little makeup bag, brushes, straighteners, hairdryer, heels, trainers, pumps, extra tan and an extra 3 pairs of jeans and 4 tops cos…you never know!! Everything is done the night before leaving out your toothbrush and light makeup for the journey.

Hitting the road time, you say your goodbyes and give your littlest ones kisses…then the first pangs of guilt appear, “oh look at their cute little faces!! I’m gonna miss them so much!”, then one twin sits on the other twins face and all hell breaks loose…yep those will be the tyre marks from mummy and daddy screeching out of the drive…”See ya in a couple of days!!bring you back something niiiiiice…byyyeeeeeeeee!”

The funny thing is when your weekend is over and you are heading home there is nothing nor nobody you want to see more than your kids…”oh my cherubs, I have missed them so much, they probably cried for me every night…” now 60% of this is probably the nerves being gone from the copious amount of white wine consumed over the past few days and some of the fear lingering in your soul. There will be big kisses when you walk in the door…2 minutes later the tales start…Jamie said a bad word, Cian was cheeky to nanny…then someone sits on someones face and guess what its the sitters tyres that are now screeching out of the driveway while shouting “see ya next year!!”…

Welcome home mum, but hey at least your still hairless and somewhat tanned *in patches*for another couple of days right?!

*mum frantically searches diary for the next wedding or event*

p.s. Happy Wedding Day Jacinta and Tom xx

 

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My week as a teenage mum…

| Tracey

I was almost 6 months pregnant when my mam found my pregnancy book in my room, she fired it on the table and asked “who’s is this??!” I had contemplated using the old line I used the time she found my box of 10 silk cut purple…”I’m minding them for a friend!” But I knew there was only one way out of this situation and I was sure she’d notice the newborn crying my box room eventually…so I came clean, I defiantly declared “Its mine! I’m pregnant! in a ‘what you gonna do about it tone’. I was  19 and had just moved back from my college house back home. download-21

I love being a young mum. Now. I love the look people give me when I line up at parent teacher meetings. I love the way my old teachers ask her did you have a sister that I taught and she answers with “No, but you probably taught my mum!” Its great being 35 with a 15 year old daughter, we have certain things in common like makeup and TV programmes. We have the same daft sense of humour and can snort (mainly me) and giggle about something for much longer than its actually funny. Now don’t get me wrong just because I am a young mum doesn’t mean I am a walk over. I am just as strict as an older mum might be, maybe more (ask my daughter she’ll happily concur!).

Yep its all shits and giggles now but when I had just turned 20 sitting home on a Friday and Saturday night with my parents watching the Late Late or Winning streak wasn’t the best of craic. I had Chloe the week before my 20th birthday. I was a teenage mum for a week!

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While my friends were out dancing and drinking Smirnoff Ice I was bathing a  baby and praying the colic wouldn’t keep her up all night.

Although at the time missing another Saturday night dancing to Nelly’s “Its getting hot in here” was the worst thing in the world, myself and Chloe grew up together, I matured into a somewhat confident mother while she grew into an independent little girl. images-17

Its such a novelty to say my daughter has been by my side throughout all the highlights of my life, getting married to her dad, getting my degree, watching her twin and baby brothers grow up, masters, and this blog. Now its my turn to watch all the milestones in her life begin and I cannot wait!

But its funny how life comes full circle, most of my friends who were dancing their asses off in oversized belts and flared jeans 16 years ago are now up to their eyes in bumps,nappies and pre-schools and I, well, I’m still buying nappies, BUT, I now have not only a great little buddy in Chloe but also a live-in babysitter! No more pleading phone calls to grandparents to let us out to the cinema for a few hours. Happy Days!

I will never forget the feeling when the nurse told me I was pregnant all those years ago in LYIT’s doctors room, I was scared, angry, nervous, nauseous, all of the emotions and 9 months later I gave her life, but really, she gave me mine.

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Tracey xxx

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Which twin are you?

| Tracey

I thought about writing a post giving advice to parents about tips for twins or who may be expecting twins but to be honest apart from the practical stuff like product advice its pointless as the only way to raise multiple babies or (single babies) is through the good old accounting concept of trial and error! Keep plugging away until you figure out what works for you and your babies. I personally do not like baby advice books especially Gina Ford, soz Geen! Yes it is true when you have twins you need a damn good routine down early on, but figure that routine out for yourself not based on what a woman who has not had the joy of 2 screaming babies during witching hour. Yes I did buy the book when they were born and on page 3 of what looked like a military itinerary of navy seals for newborns I googled her and was delighted to find out she did not have twins…WTF? There were a few twin mammies I connected with on Facebook and I would have been lost without them.So instead of an advice post I’ve decided to basically gas on about my twin’s last almost 6 years amusing little lives.

From the minute they were born 6 weeks early I have had people approach me and say the usual things, “Oh are they twins?”, “You’re busy!”, “How do you do it?”, “How do you tell them apart?” , “Do twins run in your family?” and I have always nodded and smiled, “yes they’re twins, yes they are identical”, “Haw haw I can always tell my children apart” (that is a a lie, I cannot ALWAYS tell who I am looking or talking to), “They are identical so no genetics involved!” (here I might throw in a ‘any woman can get pregnant with identical twins, its just chance!’…just to watch the blood drain from their faces!).

I remember  two things about the day we were told we were having identical twins. Ducks and McDonald’s coffee…I had an early scan at 5 weeks and again at 8 due to some spotting, we had already had two miscarriages in the months previous so we were keeping our hopes low. I was lying there hoping against hope all was alright and she said everything is OK aaaand there are two babies in there… jaw. floor. dropped. We got the printed scan picture and there looking back at me were what looked like 2 little ducks floating on a lake. We floated out of the room and ended in McDonald’s at 10.30am I ordered a coffee (which was as it turns out the last coffee I would consume for 30 weeks,  it made me sick and I’m the Lorelai Gilmore of coffee addicts so this was a shock to the system!) But I digress…

I have often thought how would people react if you told them exactly what having my two wild boys is like! Now don’t get me wrong, my Dad used to say I won the lotto having these boys and that is a perfect way to sum up how I feel about them. I know I am blessed that they are healthy happy little boys, but sometimes I look back on the last almost 6 years and think mother nature has a beautiful way of helping you blur out the hard times! From the minute they grew legs and arms in my belly they took chunks out of each other and this has been happening since! Their teacher recently said at a meeting “they are always telling on each other!” and this is because they simply do not like each other. They love each other and they are rarely apart even in the same room, but they do not like each other. Here is one of the first examples…I had a beautiful Out n About Twin buggy and I was delighted with it, after 4 months I had to change it to a double buggy that had TWO separate seats…yes I had to purchase a new double pram because my infant sons did not like sitting so close to each other…they bawled and bawled when they were next to one another. I found a pram with two separate seats and what was better they could face separate ways! They didn’t like being in the car either, I remember my poor mother would have to chirp out twinkle twinkle on a loop sitting in the car with them while I ran into Tesco (good auld Tesco!). They cried constantly when they were out, singing was the only thing that would calm them for a short period. I still have the  nursery rhymes CD in the car..ya never know!!

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When I think back to when they were newborns and babies I remember how hard it was of course, trying to feed one while the other screamed, juggling getting them into their car seats and out again…but this was expected, I was prepared for this. Also I have to admit they slept, from about 8 weeks they slept through the night, so once you get your sleep well lets face it you can do a lot more than not, right? So the actual keeping them fed, clean and rested was not too bad and lets face it, you have no choice so you have to get through it.

The crying and screaming while in public was the first sign they wouldn’t be shy quiet boys…I had to stop going anywhere I used to including shops and cafes (the ones that I could fit the hummer version of buggies into that is!). Some people thought I had emigrated, I met a lady I worked with before I got pregnant with the twins during the summer and she thought I had died! OK… OK!I am exaggerating, but only slightly!

They walked at 16 months and that was probably the last time I saw my wedding ornaments or had clean walls! I had to change the buggy again around that time to a tandem (one in front of the other) because they were just to heavy for the other one and I missed being able to push my buggy through things like my front door. This new buggy brought about a whole new series of problems, Cian sat in the back seat because he was the quieter of the two, this did not stop wigging or kicking Jamie at every opportunity from his seat. Jamie being at the front was usually acting out a claw machine toward any item he passed, grab and go.

dsc_0308Its funny NOW looking back at things they got into but the amount of visits to Westdoc used to make me blush, here is a condensed list of complaints, and please don’t judge me!

  • Jamie got the little blue cap of a Bic pen stuck up his nose…we did not see this happening just noticed the little piece of blue plastic hours later, did not bother him in the slightest.

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  • Cian somehow got his hands on the oven cleaner that was way up high and in a plastic bag…he licked the top of the bottle…
  • Jamie drew all over Cian’s face with permanent marker…he was trying to draw eyebrows and a tash to be fair.20141222_121425
  • Their Granddad wallpapered my sitting room, 1 hour later they scribbled all over it with biro…not the same one that was up his nose.
  • They broke my mother’s fridge freezer.

 

When they turned 2 I bought two separate buggys (are you keeping track? yep Toymaster loved to see me coming!) now this was luxury! Sure, I always needed my mam with me when we went out but hey I wasn’t complaining!

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The last few years they are so much quieter, but the mischievousness and the twinkle in their eye will never fade and you know what, as much as I may complain, I wouldn’t want it to.

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Survival: One Mum’s story of her first family holiday

| Tracey

img_20161021_121135Okay, so we headed off to Vilamoura last week our first family holiday as a family of six!! The featured image might give you an insight into how it went but you would be wrong, apart from this moment caught in time (when twin 1 was playing out a scene as Damien from the Omen and the teenager was “NOT getting in a photo in the middle of the airport!”, my doodle really brings out her eyes don’t ya think?!) the holiday went well! Grab a coffee and have a read and hopefully a giggle!

I am the most unorganised and feathered headed person you might ever meet, but, I knew for a task this epic I needed to get my shit together. I toyed with the idea of heading over to Pinterest to get some ideas for packing up a large family (in number that is! although on the way back I was sure I was gonna get charged for being over-weight…me that is, not my cases! images-13

But I was too stubborn and I decided I was gonna tackle the 6 people into 5 cases head on, on my lonesome. I had been collecting t-shirts and shorts along the way since we booked the holiday, but somehow unbeknownst to me over the, what, 5 hours of summer we had here in Ireland the twins ended up wearing the majority of them and not keeping them crisp and clean like they should have been. I was faced with: 7 days = 14 t-shirts and 14 pairs of shorts, 14 pairs of socks and you get the gist! I did not have 28 summer outfits like I thought I did, improvisation was needed. Now any mum will know when they pack for boys especially, there is zero chance of getting a second wear out of any garment they have worn… if you are lucky to be greeted by a clean uniform at 2/3 pm after school its like a military operation to get them changed into their civies “Go go go get changed quick! There’s a suspicious looking yogurt lid edging its way to your jumper!!!”

So what became my best friend while packing for the three boys was sandwich bags… I put together an outfit for each day including underwear and socks and i rolled them into a sandwich bag and labelled the day… dsc_0708

I hailed myself the new Martha Steward (or whoever the Irish version is). Okay, okay I’m guessing this is not a new concept for most mums…but I will revert you back to the opening paragraph…I am the most unorganised individual this side of the Shannon so this was my Everest…yes I have completed a masters (in case you didn’t know already!) but being somewhat pedantic was a new feeling for me!

So packing was done, now all that was left was the check in case…the over-spill case. Obviously all liquids went in there…I have not checked in a bag in about 10 years so to throw FULL SIZE SHAMPOOS in there was liberating! Now in the interest of full disclosure the shampoos had to taken out again because it was them or my makeup case and brushes…no contest, I enjoy sporting hun-buns regularly anyway.

On arrival at the airport we sailed (drove) into the car-park which I prepaid a few days before  22 and jumped on the bendy bus (huge holiday highlight)to the terminal. In the airport my previous homer smug face droops a little, I should have paid extra for fast track through security… myself and the twins made out way through the x-ray thingy barefooted to the arms of a rubber gloved security man, there he began to swab me and the twins (not a huge holiday highlight for mummy) while I held the baby. EVENTUALLY I pulled on my trainers (the sparkly ones on the Facebook page…did ya see them?!) and gathered all my worldly possessions together and I grabbed the kids and made our way to MECCA aka DUTY FREE. Now this is how I seen duty free     download-11 the gate was just too far away and boarding too soon to chance browsing with the kids, now I didn’t mind this too much as I knew I was going to Sephora over in the Algarve (if you read my Facebook post on this you will know how that turned out!).

So the flight went as well as possible, the baby cried for a bit and fell asleep (I usually suffer from fear of flying but I am telling you, if you suffer the same get a lend of a friend’s baby/toddler and you will be well cured!). We arranged for a transfer to pick us up and they included baby seats and booster seats, top class service, if you wanna check them out here. We stayed in Eden Village, Vilamoura. The apartment was fab, all amenities covered and the place was spotless. Now we had a 2 bedroom apartment, there was 2 single beds, 1 double and a travel cot, I searched for a pull out couch or futon but there was none. They knew there was 6 of us, but i guess they presumed the boys could share a single… now do not get me wrong they are skinny 5 year olds who could easily share the bed comfortably but for their own safety we like to keep them apart when possible as they fight like savages. We had to make a bed up from couch cushions for one of the twins which was another holiday highlight for them. Reception was never opened so I couldn’t complain and by the time I seen anybody behind the desk the boys did not want a bed and requested we create a floor bed when we get home as it was ‘so cool’. There was a children’s pool and a full size pool on the property, the children’s pool wasn’t the cleanest and the tiles were cracked. The teenager, boys and hubbie spend every morning in the full sized pool which was ice cold, they used to have to come up to the apartment at intervals to have hot showers! But they loved every second…this is where baby napped and mum caught up on Gilmore Girls (November 26th people!!).  They splashed around with footballs and water guns every day, the sun worshippers that seemed permanently glued to their loungers enjoyed the show by all accounts as every so often they would look out from their Ray-Bans and smile…or sneer I’m not quite sure as the glare from their oiled skin blinded me a little. On our last day we noticed a sign that read “NO: water sports, rubber rings, inflatables, balls, water guns and NO to basically anything the Smith family were involved in during the week…download-13

The apartment’s location was very remote and in the end we hired a car along with my sister and brother-in-law to bring us to Albufeira and the beach near Vilamoura. Vilamoura is a beautiful resort but once you go around the marina and the beaches once, you’ve seen it all really, but this is purely subjective as I’m not one to go off the beaten path especially with the kids so if it wasn’t signposted near us we didn’t see it, its just the traveller I am! All in all we survived the trip away and more surprising than that me and the hubster didn’t have one row or dig at each other, even with a sick toddler clinging to us! High Five Mr. Smith!

The sandwich bags came into use on the way home too, dirty clothes were put into them so to not mix them up with what was left of the clean clothes! Again this is probably normal for travellers but I’m usually the type to throw it all in and wash everything just in case!I had my suspicions on a dubious bottle of sun cream that looked a bit delicate, so I sandwich bagged it for the flight home and low and behold it exploded but all within a confined area (highlight of mum’s holiday!). All credit to Tesco on their sandwich BAGS (your saying that in Radio Roy’s voice, aren’t ya?!).

So our the kids and our marriage survived our first family holiday! I cannot say the same for my washing machine though, it hasn’t stopped since we came home…I am back to the gym Monday and detoxing for Christmas in Functional Fitness (I can feel the pain already), but for right now, there’s a little room left for more carbs and sugar…and dream about those delicious Gin Fizz’s… Tchau! T xx

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Wanderlust Kids

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