I really hoped that we would only be ‘blessed’ with one madly adventurous toddler in our parenting journey, but it seems that we are to have double the fun!

Daniel our 16 month old boy, has become the worlds fastest climbing toddler! Honestly, you wouldn’t believe how quickly he can get from the floor, to a kitchen chair, to the table, and then BANG!!!!! back to the floor again.

The beauty of our children is that they really don’t believe that there is anything they can’t do. In fairness we do nourish this quality a lot, we would like them to be confident and secure in their own abilities. But Daniel is just starting so young, and he wants to do so much more than he wee body is ready for.

It is extremely tiring, there is no room in our house in which he is safe. Our living room is fairly childproofed. You know all the sockets are covered, nursery guard on the fire. But how do we stop the baby from climbing onto the sofa and then trying to jump back off……you tell me!

I can’t cook dinner or clean up, or even go to the toilet without making sure he is securely strapped in his highchair or pram. There is only so long that he will endure that form of captivity before demanding his freedom…in an ear splitting fashion.

I am hoping this phase will pass quickly, though it didn’t with Jake. Thankfully though, he is still in one piece and just one minor scar later, seems to be settling down. I wonder if it’s just a boy thing?

When all my children were babies I said that I would breastfeed them for as long as they were interested (within reason of course!) and both Rachel and Jake weaned themselves at just over a year old. Daniel seemed a much more enthusiastic feeder though, and up until a few weeks ago I could imagine me feeding him for at least another six months. How wrong I was.

It takes very little to knock a baby out of his routine. Last weekend Gerard and I were exhibhiting our flashcards at a local craft fair and Daniel was looked after by my sisters for most of the weekend. Before this point Daniel would take formula or breast milk in a bottle very grudgingly, and would never drink more than a few ounces. By the time Monday came around I could hardly get him to take a breastfeed at all.

I am now lucky if he takes a good breastfeed first thing in the morning, after that if I offer it to him, he just bites me (he is cutting 4 teeth at once, so I’m sure that explains a lot). He loves his bottle and in fact when he saw me take one out of the dishwaher during the week he went crazy and tried to throw himself out of my arms to get at it. He only calmed when I made up some formula and gave him a drink.

I am guessing that my days of breastfeeding are now numbered. I am glad to have been able to give my babies the best start in life, and I will miss being the one to provide their nourishment in a way no one else can. But as I seem to point out on this blog at least once a week, my children are growing up FAST! Soon I will have no babies left at all.

I’m a great believer in the school of thought that all children need regular, one to one, individual attention. I notice that if one of the kids is going through a spell of bad behaviour and we make sure they receive more individual time with us, it makes a big difference to their outlook and mood.

Therefore both Gerard and I do try whenever possible, to do activities and spend time alone with one of the children. For example, yesterday my sister bought gifts for the kids from a local toystore. Rachel’s gift was a make your own jewellry set. It involved quite intricate painting and gluing, before actually threading the beads, and I knew that this wasn’t something we could tackle with the boys around. Gerard therefore offered to take the boys or a walk and Rachel and I spent a fun hour making necklaces.

She revelled in the attention she received, and for once she was able to complete a task without it being pulled apart by her brothers, or without me being called away to someone else.

Today though it was a different story. Gerard was at work, and I was at home with the three wee ones. Rachel wanted to read a new book she had recently got, Jake wanted to build train tracks, and Daniel just wanted lifted. I tried reading to Rachel first, but Daniel was screaming to be lifted, and when I obliged , he attempted to eat Rachels book. I then told Rachel I would read with her this evening when the boys went to bed, she wasn’t amused and started grumping and whining.

Jake then began to cry because he couldn’t get his train track to fit together properly, so I bent down to help him, once again Daniel wanted to be involved and pulled up the track as quickly as I was laying it. Jake panicked and then in temper swept all the trains and pieces of track away, declaring that he didn’t want to play anymore.

I was at my wits end. The three kids were crying and I could feel my temper starting to bubble. I was trying my very best to be attentive and interact with them all, but in the process managed to dissapoint each of them.

In the end I did what all bad mums do, I put on a dvd to keep them occupied, and rocked Daniel to sleep. I don’t want the kids watching TV all day, but sometimes I just can’t manage anything else.

If anyone knows a way that one person can split in three, or even better four, please let me know. Whoever patented that invention would be worth a fortune!

On Thursday I took Jake and Dan to Downpatrick for a day out. Downpatrick is a bustling old town in County Down, and supposedly the burying place of Saint Patrick.

We started off up at the Cathedral, where we were greeted by an eldery gent who took us around the building and described a little bit of the history of the place with me.

A short walk down the road is the County Down Museum (formerly an old jail). We had a great time in here, and Jake enjoyed walking around the old jail cells with their exhibitions of former prisoners and ‘gaolers’. In fact, he insisted on walking up and down the corridor a few times to see it all again. We had a spot of lunch in the courtyard (Dan was hilarious trying to steal Jake’s crisps), and I showed Jake how to put his hands into the stocks.

The friendly ladies in the local tourist office pointed us to a park outside the town called Delamont Country Park, which was stunning. We stopped for treats - Dan eating chocolate buttons was messy but fun - and then went for a short walk which overlooked Strangford Lough. We even sat quietly on a bench as a little lamb munched on grass at the side of the path.

All in all, it was a lovely day out. I really enjoy spending alone time with the kids like this. Sometimes when the whole gang is out for the day, somebody ends up grumpy or overlooked. When it’s me and one (or two) of the children, we’re able to go out and bond together and have fun.

Lisa knows some other parents where the father wouldn’t consider taking the children out alone. I know it can be daunting (I still need Lisa to do the baby checklist with for me), but it’s not as hard in practice as it seems.

It’s nice to spend time together as a family, but splitting off now and again does the one-to-one relationships a world of good and I wouldn’t miss that for the world.

Today I had a real taste of what summer will be like this year, in a town where I actually know and socialise with other parents.

A friend and I decided that as the children were off from school, we would take them all on a mini day trip. Since the weather forecast was favourable for once, we decided on a trip to the farm, and a picnic lunch.

We chose Brookhall Historical Farm as it is only about 7 miles from home, it is really cheap, and it has loads of room for the children to play.

The kids all had a ball, and for once there were no arguments and no fighting. My two were thrilled when a kid goat began chasing them around a field, and they were hysterical when the donkey began to ‘Hee Haw’ at a deafening volume.

Daniel was fascinated by the mini lake and tried to jump out of my arms and into the water many times. And when the kids were amused and playing in a safe environment, my pal and I were able to have a great gossip and chat, uninterrupted for once.

It was a lovely day, I am looking forward to repeating it many times during the summer holidays!

Where have my children gone….I haven’t seen them in days!

That is a bit of an exaggeration, but since the sun started shining earlier this week, I haven’t been able to keep Rachel and Jake indoors for more than 15 minutes at a time.

A month ago jake couldn’t ride a 3 wheeled scooter, now he is like a speed demon on the two wheel version. A month ago Jake was just learning to ride a small two wheel bicycle with stabilisers, now he zooms up and down the street on Rachels much bigger model. Rachel can cycle with no hands and rollerskate without falling over at every step. Daniel loves the baby swing and eating sand!
The time outdoors has been great for me too. Since the kids are too young to play outdoors alone, I have been spending most of my time on our garden bench watching over them. This has resulted in my usual blue/white skin obtaining a much healthier glow. My skin normally burns and then goes white again, but this year due to my vigilance with the low spf lotion and the lengthier periods outdoors I have a very very slight tan.

Long may this fine weather continue! If only I could convince Gerard to clean out the barbecue then it really would feel like summer time!

I came across this article “New Mom Seeking New Friends” a while back on Daily Bulletin, and it took me way back to when Rachel was first born..

Becoming a mother for me was quite an isolating experience. I was the first out of all my friends to have a baby, I didn’t know anyone in my area, and other than my mum I had no one to talk to all day while Gerard, my sisters and my friends worked.

As happy as I was to become a mum, (and I was ecstatic!) I was also daunted and lonely and terrified, it was the one time in my life when I could have done with support from people in a similar situation.

When Rachel was 9 months old I bit the bullet and joined a local mother and toddler group. I was so nervous when I walked in for the first time, but little did I know that I would in time come to live for those Thursday mornings when I could engage in some adult talk and gossip. Even if it did constantly revolve around our children, our lengthy labours and our lack of sleep!

When Jake was born we moved house again. I spent another 2 years knowing no one in our area. So in Septemeber when Rachel started pre-school I once again began to venture out of the house.

The kids and I now attend two weekly mother and toddler groups, we are invited to more birthday parties than I can afford, and Gerard is starting to worry about the cost of my much improved social life.

It makes such a difference having people you can call upon in times of need. It makes an even bigger difference having people you can just talk rubbish with for a few hours while you watch the children play.

I am happier, therefore my children are happier. We have finally made a life for ourselves in our home-town.

I haven’t had much of a chance to post this week, things have been a bit hectic.

Daniel started the week a bit off colour and not his usual chirpy self. I put it down to teething but on Wednesday he started vomiting every hour at least and didn’t seem to be able to keep any food down at all.

Rachel did this a lot when she was a baby. She seemed to catch some sort of vomiting bug every month. We were so worried that we brought her to the doctor quite a few times. We have since worked out that she gets like this any time she has the slightest temperature, so it was probably all teething related. It appears that Daniel is going to follow in her footsteps.

Jake on the other hand has decided to use his pee as a weapon against us!

Jake has been dry during the day for 4-5 months with very little accidents. We have been lazily putting off training him at night despite the fact that most mornings his Huggies Pull Up Pants were dry or almost dry.

Well they were up until this week! This week Jake has not only begun to wake up with his nappy soaked right through to his pyjamas, but he is also having accidents at each nap time and has had a few while outside playing with Rachel.

He used to get really upset every time he had an accident, now he thinks it is funny. We decided to take the plunge and put him to bed without the pull ups tonight and he stood at the stair gate and called us repeatedly to take him to the toilet, even though he didn’t need to go. But the little tinker just knew that we wouldn’t take the risk of him wetting himself again.

I think that he is either using his toilet habits as a way of getting attention, or he has just gotten lazy. Maybe both.

Hopefully if we perservere for a few nights (or weeks) we can remedy this. But with all the wet bed clothes, vomit covered blankets, babygros, soiled trousers etc my washing machine has been on continuosly. I thank the lord that I was not a mother 50 years ago with no washing machine and no tumble drier. That would be hell on earth!

For weeks our wee man has been rolling around on the floor. He could spin in circles and get to where he wanted to go by rolling over and over. But tonight, just as we were watching Coronation Street and enjoying some of the childrens Easter Egg, Gerard noticed Daniel chasing the balloon.

We watched in amazement as Daniel pulled himself forward in a bid to grab the evasive balloon, but each time he reached it, it slid from his grasp and he had to go after it again.

All this was done with a lot of grunting and moaning but as soon as he finally got the balloon he collapsed on top of it and began to lick it vigourosly!

It was one of those moments where you realise that nothing will be the same again. We are going to have to re-childproof our house (I think I’ll be popping over to LuckyMom for some tips!), as in the last two years since Jake was crawling we have definately let our standards slip. The cupboard locks are broken, we have fitted automatic closers on all our doors, and many of Rachel and Jakes toys have hundreds of little bits that can be easily choked on.

More importantly Daniel, who will probably be our last baby, has taken his first steps towards independance. Our baby is growing up. Its really hard to believe and sometimes to cope with the idea that this is the last time we will do all this……..

We have spent most of this Easter break either at Gerard’s Mums house in Ballycastle (a beautiful Irish coastal town) or at my Mums mobile home in Waterfoot (a beautiful Irish coastal village).

We all enjoyed some much-deserved time off and some great quality time together as a family. It was the stuff that memories are made of.

Today my Mum and I took the kids to the beach for a few hours to run off some energy. The weather was great for an Irish April day. It was sunny and mild but not particularly warm.

We set off, buckets and spades in hand and began by building sandcastles, which Rachel wanted to decorate, Jake wanted to demolish and Daniel just wanted to eat. There was a lot of fighting, some crying and some gagging, but we worked it out by digging a mote around the castle and sending Rachel and Jake off with their buckets to get some water. For 20 minutes they watched the water disappear into the sand and ran to refill and pour again.

As the minutes passed, the children’s clothes seemed to fall off! At first it was their socks and shoes, then they had their trousers rolled up, next the trousers were off, then the t-shirts. Before we knew it, both of them were running up and down the beach in their see-through white underwear, oblivious to the cold.

Daniel’s first encounter with sand was hilarious. He freaked as soon as I took his socks and shoes off and he felt the sand beneath his toes and he tried to pull himself back onto my knee. Slowly he became more confident and began to touch the sand, then eat the sand and of course as Karen Walrond at Blogging Baby predicts he rubbed it into his eyes again and again and again!

When it was time to leave, I couldn’t put Rachel and Jake’s clothes back on as they were saturated, but as the dip in the ocean was rather impromptu I hadn’t brought any dry outfits. So I hunted our van for some spare clothes, and my children ended up leaving the beach with Jake in a Batman dressing-gown, Rachel in a green top and purple skirt both of which were given to me by a friend and are at least two years away from fitting her. They looked like a pair of clowns.

They came home exhausted and hopefully they will sleep well tonight. I know I will!