1 and a half going on 13

Woke up this morning to snow. Well it was more like sleet, but it still looked nice. It's been a very long time since I've woken up to a gray morning with snow falling. I kind of like it. I don't miss the hard Maine winters, but some snow every now and again is nice.

It's been a nice week. The weather has been horrible but we've been able to keep busy. Tuesday we went to the Cookstown Leisure Center to swim in the pool. The community centers here are amazing. They have gyms, courts, pools, padded play areas for kids, classes and more. It does cost to use the facilities, but it's pennies compared to a gym membership or a YMCA card. There is center in Maghera, but it only has a play area and gym equipment. The next closest is Magherafelt, but it's closed down until the end of this year for renovations. When it's done, it will have the only Olympic sized swimming pool in Northern Ireland, a kid's pool with indoor 2 story slide and much more. The Cookstown is about 20 minutes away and has a nice pool, a kids pool and also a slide. The slide is closed for the winter I think, but the kiddie pool is great, especially when we take O swimming.

This brings me to what we have been dealing with. Her independent nature. She's all about doing everything herself. Which is fine sometimes, but when she tries to push us away in the pool, I don't think she knows she's probably going to sink. Also can't help her hold a book, spoon or anything without a "no" and being pushed away. She's a girl who knows what she wants and is going to do anything to get it. I guess that's a good thing. O is growing up so fast. She's gotten really slim in the legs and is now running all over the place. The most puzzling behavior right is when she hits us, either on purpose or not, we'll say "ouch" or "gentle" and she'll immediately go in for a cuddle or hug. Sometimes we don't even have to say anything before she "apologizes". What's also odd is her tantrums will sometimes only last a few seconds before she's all happy again. If any of you have dealt with this before please let me know. I don't really have anyone else to converse with here.

I have really started to make progress I think with the mom's at the playgroup. No social invites yet, but they seem to be friendlier and friendlier every week. It seems we're just starting to get in the swing of things and we'll be headed off for 6 weeks. The only bad news this week is my husband still hasn't found a job. The economy seems to be just as bad here as everywhere else in the world. Keeps us in your prayers.

I hope everyone has a lovely Sabbath and also pray for all the victims in the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

oíche mhaith

A whole mess of things

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, there really hasn't been much going on. Well, enough to write about so I'll give a brief overview of what's been going on. O is on a walk with the grandparents so I get a nice quiet Saturday morning to myself for a wee bit.

We are still working on the temper and that battle of the wills with Miss O, but she at least has started saying "daddy" again. In fact it's the cutest thing as she follows R around like a puppy dog saying "daddy" over and over again. She loves her mommy, but when it comes to getting attention she seeks his approval all the time. If she does anything funny she'll stop and wait for him to notice her and then continue on.

During the last week we've all be fighting the cold. Runny noses and coughs have been the theme of the week. O has been pretty good with it, just a wee bit more clingy and grumpy then normal, but other than that it's been good. She probably handled it better then her daddy (just kidding hunny). He had it the worst I think out of all of us. The cold came from the mother-toddler group I'm sure of. I am dying to go in there with a big packet of bleach wipes and wipe every down. That is one thing I miss a lot is the disinfecting wipes. You don't see them out like you would in New England. Didn't realize how much of a germaphobe I was until you can't keep things out of your kids mouth. I swear every kid in the group has a runny nose which makes it worse. At least she hasn't gotten anything major or gross yet (knock on wood) and I'm building up her immune system, well I keep telling myself that.
You will be glad to know too that we've made headway with the mothers at the group. They have started including me in some conversations and I even had the guts to ask them all their names again since they all seemed to know mine. I found out that some of them aren't even mothers, but just child-minders that bring the kids they watch during the day to play with other kids. It seems that the popular thing to do in this area is to leave your kid with what we could call a daycare, but there are only 2-3 kids max at the house. Seems like a good idea.
What else has happened this week........Oh,R and I went out with our friend C and his brother K. We went to Mary's (another bar in Magherafelt). I don't know if I've mentioned this bar before, but it's an older crowd. Most of the people are in their early 30's and 40's. Mary's is more like a meat market then a club, but it has a good DJ and a nice dance floor. When we got there, no one was on the dance floor, so the 4 us took the middle and started dancing. Within 5 minutes the floor was packed. Nothing like being the brave ones to start the dancing to make you feel good. However, it got so crowded that we ended up leaving early cause we couldn't even move. I have learned something that is very important, never ever make eye contact with men around the edges of the dance floor. As soon as you do they take the opportunity to try and make conversation with you. I seem to attract men in their late 40's. I usually can't understand anything they are saying, but I have found the perfect out for talking to them. The conversation usually goes like this:
Man:"Hi, how are you? Having fun?"
Me: "Yes, it's fun to be out."
Man: "Where you from?"
Me: "America."
Man: "What part?"
Me: "Maine" They of course have no idea where that is. They usually ask "Canada?" I ask if they know where Boston is, then tell them 2 hours north.
Man: "Why are you over here?" I found that most people want to move to America and find it odd that I've moved out to the country when I could have lived in America.
Me: "Because of my husband and daughter"
This is when they smile at me and tell me to have a nice night. It works every time. R however usually gets the girl that is really drunk and leans in just a little too close. One even used the pick up line of "Have you been in a film? Oh no, well you look like should be" I thought men only used that line. It was funny.

Now that I've started writing again, I have more to talk about then I thought. Next time I'll discuss the joys of knowing the dates for a return visit to Maine. Right now I'm going to read a book I got from the library in Maghera. Its a very small library, but seems to cater to books for women, so I'll have a good choice of books. Then I'm going to get ready for date night with my husband. Hopefully we'll go to Belfast to see his movie. We're going to see Drive Angry 3D. Nothing like guns and fast old cars to make a romantic night, and I'm not joking. If you know the two of us, this will make complete sense.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

oíche mhaith

Exploring the town of Tobermore

It's been a few days since my last blog and I wish I could say there has been loads of stuff going on to fill the time, but nope, not really. It's been a normal week, except with a little more sun. We went to the mother and toddler group Wednesday and Friday. There really hasn't been any headway with any of the moms. They still keep to themselves and have now started gossiping alot more about people they know. I have started to take a more aggressive approach with them, but I'm not sure if that is scaring them away or they really just don't like me or Americans. I am just going to keep going until either they warm up to me or a new group of moms come in. A lot of the kids will be leaving in September to go to preschool at the age of 3.

We also went to the playground on Thursday. If you want to have a better look at the town you can do Google street view of Tobermore, NI.  http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=tobermore&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Tobermore,+Magherafelt,+United+Kingdom&ll=54.811914,-6.706038&spn=0,0.076818&z=14&layer=c&cbll=54.811791,-6.706013&panoid=T9e0CYI5n4XEfYlHpxZpGA&cbp=12,205.4,,0,1.75
It looks like they took the pictures of the town around July 12th, if you don't now why that date is so special over here I will share in the future. Since it was around that date you will notice there are British flags and red, white, and blue banner . It is because Tobermore is a Protestant area in NI. I still need to look up the history of the town to tell you why. It just means you don't where anything that has the Irish flag or certain teams, for your own safety. Now it may sound like it would be unsafe, far from it. You just have to know the social rules. It would be like walking into a huge crowd of Yankee's fans wearing Red Sox gear and a Yankee's Suck. It's just common sense. Once I learn more about the history of Tobermore, I will definitely let you know. I can promise you some history lessons coming your way.  Below are pictures of the local park. It's down the lane and in the town of Tobermore.


This is what happens when you ask O to say "cheese"



Looking alot like Daddy.

This is an example of the kind of graffiti you would see in an British supported area. U.V.F is the Protestant side of the conflicts. There is a lot more to it, but it would be a huge paper. As mentioned, Tobermore is a very Protestant area.

The small Tobermore playground. The ground is spongy rubber tiles.

Looking through the tunnel.

There were some city workers cleaning up the park and O thought that the man raking was very interesting. Kept calling him, "mama", but it's good to know that right now she calls everyone mama, except me, I get "Mommy".

The impish grin says it all

On the swings.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

oíche mhaith

Rainy days and ramblings.

My next blog was going to be a walk up to Great Granny B's house to show everyone the old ring fort, the house and just the beautiful view. However, it has been rainy and windy here for the last 3 days, so you'll all have to wait for that.

So today's blog is just going to be a bunch of ramblings about things I would have normally talk to many of you about if we were on the phone or the like. I've got my headphones into my laptop sitting in the dining room/kitchen listen to Cee Lo Green "What part of forever" from the Eclipse soundtrack. I will say one thing about the Twilight movies, they have the best soundtracks.

Anyways, since it's been so rainy it's been hard to keep the mood up. We haven't been able to go for walks up to Granny's or anywhere for that matter, so it feels like I've been trapped inside the house FOREVER! Which I know is lie cause we even went out to the mother and toddler group today. (I'll get to that in a bit.) I think the weather is going to be one of the hardest things to get used to. I live for sun. If it's sunny, I'm happy, full of energy. When it's cloudy, I'm tired, need a nap and just really can't be arsed to do anything. Well it is Ireland, so you can only guess what I feel like most of the time. Top that off with not being able just to go to the mall or shops to get out of the house or go to a friend's house to commiserate about the weather. I know many of you are in New England and would take rain over snow any day, which I would as well. But for some reason snow and the white doesn't create such a depressing feeling as rain, wind, and clouds. I'm sure it's a case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder). But enough of that, overall it hasn't been that bad. If it does rain, it will be sunny for the rest of the day. It's only been this week that it's been crappy.

As for the playgroup today, it was okay. There weren't as many moms and toddlers today. O was in a better mood as well.   They introduced a wee stand-up sandbox and that was a hit with all the kids. I still haven't been able to talk to anyone. I try to make eye contact and smile. However, I think I am oozing a desperate "be my friend" vibe, which is probably very frightening.  It will get better I keep telling myself. To put this in a better context, many of these moms are older and have two or three kids in primary school already. It also seems that they have all known each other for years. It will take time, I've been on the other end of this scenario, but I am also a little more friendly than these moms. After reading this paragraph again, it makes me laugh. I should have called this blog, "PLEASE BE MY FRIEND! Chronicles of a mother trying to make friends."

I hope you have all like my ramblings. I wish I had more exciting things to discuss or pictures. Once I can get my licence and R gets a job, I'm hoping to do wee day trips to castles and the coast. Then I will bore you all with history : )  Itunes on my laptop has me now listening to Gerald Butler sing as the Phantom of the Opera. (sigh, thought of you J in CT!) I think I'm now in the mood for a sappy Jane Austen flix. Which one should I watch?

oíche mhaith

Mommies and snotty nosed kids.

Today was one of our days to get out of house. O had a runny nose and woke up grumpy so that set the mood for our whole day as we head to our second visit to the mother and toddler group.

 The group is held at St. Mary's primary school in Maghera. It's in a mobile classroom. Below is a picture of the front of the classroom. It's full of toys, a wee table, and little chairs all around, like a kindergarten classroom. It's a nice space, but they always have the heat cranked up to 1000 degrees. There are about 5-7 Irish mothers with a kid each, I would guess about 3 years old. There is also a small group of Polish mothers that can speak a wee bit of English and then there is me.

As many of you know I don't normally have a hard time making friends, well this is one of those times I feel I just can't make friends. Not only am I trying to keep O from stealing toys from the kids that are playing with them and then try to make small talk just doesn't work. Now, I've never been to a Mother/toddler group in American so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but they are NOT New England moms. I'm used to everything be sterilized to the death, no juice, no sweets, no cookies (biscuits) and defiantly no pancakes with loads of butter. Everything at the play group is completely opposite. All the kids get juice, (to note: one mom did say that it was the only times her son got juice) and pre-made pancakes with butter. Biscuits are then passed around after for the moms, but I think the kids eat more of them than we would. Talking to my father-in-law I guess a lot of kids here get loads of sweets. I'm making an assumption since I'm only an outsider. I'm dying to get my hands on a parenting magazine from the UK to see where it would differ from US ones.

One of the moms did talk to me (high-five) and so did the girl that runs the group for the school. Other than that no one else talked to me, even when I was prying O off the toy their kid was playing with. Now this is going to sound like a small pity party, but I feel the loneliest when I'm at the group. It makes me miss all my friends. I have no one to talk to about what has gone on in my week while I chase O around. It's swapping "war" stories with other mommies that I miss so much. Hopefully after a few visits I'll be able to talk to more people, especially when O is feeling better and not so crappy and grabby. I was hoping this was going to be a way to make friends in the area, but we'll see.  As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.

oíche mhaith