baby going exploring

we went to the local soccer club's family fun day, a great way to enjoy the rare sunshine! my brave little baby went off exploring, without a look back! this is how far she got before she slowed down and then turned around...

swing night

My friend C and I went to a swing night in the Spiegel Tent, and it was great fun! it's such a lovely venue, i think it's 1920s style. lots of people dressed up in 1920s-1950s gear, i only had 2 hours notice and still had to cook dinner and look after the babe, so i just put on a dress and some danceable shoes, no strings of beads and feathered headbands for me... there were performances from The Harlem Hot Shots, Miss Dotty Pots, The Vaudeville Vamps, Dorothy Darker, The Hep Cat Strutters, and the 'Swinging Blue Cats' were playing (Here some more info). There were some great dancers on the floor, and even C and I got a few dances! I could hardly remember how to turn, it's been nearly two years since I went swing dancing!

Very few beginners and rusty ones like me dared to swing a leg,

but later on the dance floor was packed!


I love this picture i took just before we left, the abandoned rows of chairs in the coloured lights from the dancefloor! The roll of masking tape there is no coincidence, some dancers use tape to make their street shoes more slidy!
There's M waking up, gotta go! Will see can I find some youtube links to videos of the shenanigans later! Here's one from 2 years ago!

the time travellers wife

I went to this film tonight! I loved the book, but have to say it doesn't work as well as a film. Or maybe that's just if you've read the book? There were at least two girls sobbing their hearts out, in the cinema, so maybe if you don't know what's going to happen it makes more of an impact? They had lovely sets, beautiful furniture and lamps! I especially loved the round yellow lamps in Clare and Henry's apartment...

Oops. Half eleven. Busy day tomorrow, we're going for her check up at the local health centre. Apparently they test her hearing by standing behind her and making funny noises from two sides...

green grass

i know i shouldn't have, but i bought this nail polish today! green grass (236). i usually try and buy just one nail polish per year, because i only use it on my toes and with careful application (i do a base coat, two coats of colour and a clear top coat) the colour lasts for nearly a month, so you can do the maths. but - it's grass green! i didn't have one of those! i have 'coralicious', and a dark turquoise and a hot pink, and a more muted pink called 'frisky clover', and a nearly black purple that i never use. but the perfect green was missing.
i love opaque, non-pearly polishes, and i love mad colours, but they have to work without a tan. i like wearing my birkenstocks, which, without nail polish, can look very very alternative; and i have a few pairs of coloured sandals, that look even better with a bright colour on my nails (today i was teaming bright yellow sandals with dark turquoise nails). if i had better finger nails i would use it on them, too but mine are so thin and weak, they don't survive the taking off of polish, and start to splinter and seperate.
ah the shallowness... to get excited about nail polish!

my little girl

...is crawling (commando), and waving goodbye, and really playing with her toys... she's learning so much every day! she's so fast, you can't leave her alone for a minute, she'll be going straight for the sockets or a paper bag, or anything else she's not supposed to have... she giggles on the changing table if i blow raspberries on her belly, she shouts angrily if i take the remote control or my mobile phone off her, she loves other children and will 'chat' to them and smile at them!

she'll be 10 months old tomorrow! 10 months ago, around this time, i was retiring from a green thai curry dinner, allowing myself a half glass of red wine, and waiting for the water to heat up, for my warm bath! dreaming about meeting my baby. 10 months ago, i didn't even know if it was going to be a boy or a girl. although i'd had one beautiful dream, where i was holding my little girl's hand.

if i hadn't been approved for my career break i would be back in work on tuesday! i am so glad that i can stay at home, to spend time with emm, and watch her grow!

I baked bread!

This is the second batch of white bread I made this week! I'm delighted, two in a row that worked out! After a very bad attempt last week (the bread was stale as soon as it was out of the oven! too dry!) it's nice to see it work out. I don't have an exact recipe, but it goes like this

1 sachet of dry yeast
mix 250ml milk - and 250ml warm water
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of oil
enough white flour to make a good dough

I have a foodmixer, so I start with the yeast, half the milky water and a little flour, stirring it with the dough hook attachment to a yoghurty consistence. I then leave it until it starts to bubble up, maybe 20 minutes? Then I add the rest of the water, the salt and oil, and on the lowest setting, slowly add flour until the dough is nearly, but not quite, dry enough to handle. Turning it out onto a floured surface, I knead it some more, adding more flour if needed, then return it to the mixing bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and put into a quiet, warm place. There I leave it for about an hour and a half or until doubled in size. I knock it back, shape two loaves and put them into two loave tins, leaving them to rise for at least an hour, after that I check on them and if they look well risen I preheat the oven and as soon as it's hot they go in, 200 C in a fan oven for 45 minutes (although I think I might have done 220 for 35-40 minutes the last time... I really should write these things down...)

The loaves are nice and airy, with a hard crust on top, but squishable on the sides. There is some satisfaction in pulling good bread out of the oven! I already passed half a loaf on to my neighbour who's forever giving me thick slices of her cakes to sample! And today she brought two scones from Avoca, yummie!

Other news... we have realised Emm doesn't really need the night feeds any more, she's just waking up for a little drink and cuddle! So for the last week and a half I have more or less weaned her off the night feeds, with P's help. He's been looking after her when she wakes up, which is usually around 4. Some nights it just takes a soother to get her back to sleep, others she needed a little cuddle. Last night I tried to take over, but no luck, she could smell my milk and just wouldn't go back to sleep! When she also started to cry I had to wake P, and within a few minutes she was asleep. I'm a little sad to hand over that ability to soothe her back to sleep with a little milk, that connection we have at night, but on the other hand, I have so much more energy! I didn't just dream of going back to bed while making breakfast, I actually bounced out of bed in the morning, and getting lots done during the day! She's nine and a half months now, and becoming very aware of what she wants and doesn't want, so maybe it's a good time...

i've got plans

involving this:


and this:


and this fabric (the second one!)

P sanded this chair down, years ago, and I unpicked the cushions and was going to try my hand at upholstery, but the cost of proper upholstery fabric and the chance that it mightn't work out has kept me from it so far. But now, that ikea is here, i got some fabric at 6€ per meter, so even if it doesn't work out, it won't be a tragedy. We sold one of our big chunky brown leather armchairs today, and this fireside chair will replace it, and give us a bit more room in the guest room. We have another one to match it, but it's not sanded yet.

The living room was just getting too crowded, with a 3 seater couch, and two big armchairs. We also have a buffet and hutch, a tv cabinet, a couch table, two little book shelves (to be replaced with one big book shelve and a tiny desk or bureau, at some time in the future), a play pen and a play mat, plus assorted baskets (for magazines, firewood etc). Oh and the ironing board is hidden behind the buffet and hutch. That'll have to change when M starts to crawl!

It feels good to have gotten rid of that armchair, we never really used it anyways! The space and light we gained is worth it. I'm trying to evaluate my possessions at the moment, what do I really like, what do I hang on to for the wrong reasons... Hanging on to an armchair just because it's part of a set and because we might use it some time in the future - wrong reasons!

When I got the call after putting it up on gumtree and emailing with a buyer, I was at first a little worried, I'd thought it was a girl looking to buy it, but it was a guy! I called my neighbour and asked her to come over with her little girls, so I wasn't alone in the house. Better safe than sorry! Of course the guys turned out to be lovely, and one of them brought his little daughter along, who went out with my neighbour's daughter to look at our ducks in the garden. They were, I think, spanish, and one of them was very dishy indeed, as my neighbour appreciated greatly, a bit of eye candy for her, after a hard day involving potty training, a 70 mile drive and tantrums from both her two little ones! In true diet coke style he was wearing jeans and a nicely fitting pristine white T shirt, tanned skin, dark eyes, shiny black hair... OK OK, I did appreciate it, too!!

day out in muenster

P, M and I had a day out while we were in Germany, just the three of us, which was nice. We visited Muenster. Apart from a few showers to begin with, we even got good weather!

There was an organic market on the Domplatz, we bought a Waldmeister plant and chestnut honey for my mum, and had some yummie Bratwurst, and got some white peaches for M.

Muenster is very flat, so everybody cycles!

Emm had great fun in front of the mirror while her daddy was looking for new runners...

chickens

i saw these cute chickens in my aunts house, i want to make some!! they are very simple, i think, cotton, ribbon, rope and filling. love the photo, it's taken in the room my aunt keeps for her grandchildren, there's always been a huge assortment of playmobil in her house, and i'm glad to see it's still there! my granddad used to make willow baskets, i wonder did he make this one...

rain rain rain

it's too depressing to take pictures of, so here some photos from last week, when it was lovely and warm!

my nephew's cousin had this cool gadget for observing little critters

like this fat caterpillar!
you can't see it in this photo, but it's pretending to be a one eyed lizzard! no idea what it's called!



the older kids were delighted to get a ride on the combine harvester

i used the rain to do some sewing though, with fabric i got in IKEA (bedlinen).
A purl frog, I drew the pattern on an a4 sheet of paper (printer no work), I think he's quite similar to the original!
doesn't he look so at home in the rainsoaked greenery?

and a little turtle, from this book i think (i only brought the pattern, not the book!)


oh, i forgot to mention the most exciting and scary thing, I applied for a career break, and i got it!! 3 years off! I'm delighted to get the chance to spend so much time with my little one, i feel so privileged! we won't have much money to spare but i think we'll be OK, and time with the babe will be worth so much more than money ever could be!

I really should be sleeping... I better go to bed!

a 1st birthday party

my nephew turned one and we had a lovely afternoon in my SIL's beautiful garden! there were bubbles and games and toys and a paddling pool!

we had a champagne cocktail (made with this raspberry liqueur (with real raspberries in the bottle, i have to bring a bottle back to ireland!) and italian sparkling wine), after coffee and cakes and before a BBQ, the life, i tell you!




here some pictures of her garden!



these tables and chairs are really only for decoration, there is wooden garden furniture on the big patio off the living room, what luxury! there are advantages to country living...

love that little yellow bird house!

the crossover smock

Making the most of being surrounded by willing 'babysitters' i made a little smock for Emm, using this pattern. I shortened it a little, so it'll fit my little 8 months old, but kept the width as is.

This one is the first attempt with this pattern, so my mum gave me an old stripy shirt that my dad doesn't wear any more, it matched the turquoise-blue plain fabric I brought from Ireland really well.

I cut the pattern out of the stripy fabric, then pinned it, right sides together, onto the plain fabric. I sewed all around, leaving a gap to turn. Ironed, turned, ironed again and topstitched all around.

It didn't seem to fit very well when I was knotting the straps, so instead I attached snap buttons, and folded the pointy edge of the strap under. In this picture she's wearing it tied losely once, then buttoned. If that makes any sense, it's hard to describe in words... I will make another one, I'm sure, but I think I might make the straps longer, with a square edge instead of the pointy ones, so that it'll look a little bit like ribbons. Or I might attach actual ribbons?

vintage crochet baby dress

about 40 years ago, before she was married, and i think before she was even engaged, my mum crocheted a little red baby dress, and embroidered some flowers onto it. Years later she had a baby girl, and another, but somehow didn't get round to putting the dress on them, but she kept it through all these years! And presented it to my little daughter last week! the style and colour are very nearly back in fashion, and it's super cute over jeans!



...as you can see in the second photo emm has discovered her tongue and uses it a lot to make interesting sounds, mostly gerrell, brell, babblabblabb! she's having so much fun! the only downside is it's hard to take a picture that doesn't have a little pink tongue in it!!


i'm really touched to think she kept it all these years!

at home

It's strange being at home, it's hard settling in, with being a mother, but at the same time being my parents' daughter, fitting into their routine. I'm missing the husband, and of course Emm is missing her dada. It's strange being in my home country, in the lush country side, everything so green, I think it's greener than Ireland at the moment! I chose to live in Ireland, and not at home, for good reasons, but on a nice day, a leisurely day, it seems mad. There's such a strong network here, of neighbours and friends and family, I know it's partly why I moved away, I felt suffocated and fenced in, but at the same time, I miss it when I'm in Ireland.



Everything here seems so nice and well looked after, I missed several turns when driving around town, because many streets don't look like streets any more, no tarmac and sidewalks but everything paved or cobble locked, with flower beds and potted trees to calm traffic. I kept thinking it's somebody's driveway! But of course on a weekday I see the price that's payed for having everything picture perfect, an awful lot of work and money goes into keeping everything looking so tidy. I was talking to my brother about herbs I have in my garden. He asked
'Herbs? What for?'
'Cooking of course, it's much cheaper and fresher to grow them, rather than buy them'
'But all the sachets and jars already have herbs in them already!'
'Oh, do you use them often?'
'Yeah, of course, do you think we want to spend half an hour every day cooking, and chopping herbs and mixing it up ourselves?'
' - '
'We wouldn't have the time!'

I was really surprised. His wife is a stay at home mum of two little boys, and I thought she'd have lots of time. But that's the thing, healthy food, or 'slow food' is just not a priority for them. Food is made quickly and eaten quickly. It takes a lot of time to keep the house clean and super tidy, and the garden, too, and she does a lot of DIY home decorating projects. So different to us, we try to keep on top of the house, and do the projects that need doing, but we spend lots of time on cooking and eating, and we buy good quality unprocessed food wherever we can. And I'm glad we are able to live our lives that way, making time for meals and getting some time to ourselves rather than 'trying to keep up with the Joneses' when it comes to garden ornaments and polished windows.

Also, my family here hardly ever go out just the two of them, or my brother with just his family, all the leisure time goes on outings with 'the circle of friends' and the football club, and the neighbourhood, and the extended family (or getting the house ready to receive same). So much more couple and family time for P and me...

Being an expat is great in a way, I don't take anything for granted or feel I have to do something because 'it's the done thing', I always have the other perspective and can pick and choose from two cultures!

homeward bound!

My little one and me are catching a flight this afternoon and my parents are picking us up at the other end. Everybody's quite excited to see her, I can tell! I mean, my parents always looked forwards to seeing me, too, but for little Emm they just can't hide their excitement! Better go and make some lunch, and pack the last few bits and pieces! And put the many portions of bolognese into freezer, so my hubby won't have to cook every night!