Giveaway – 10 Emirates Toy Packs

February 22, 201322 Comments

Emirates thinks of everything for customers flying daily from Dublin to Dubai and onwards to over 125 worldwide destinations. And now, Emirates’ young globalistas can enjoy the company of new travel companions, a collection of onboard toys to entertain, occupy and educate. Playful monsters, Magnetic Sketchers and iconic Quicksilver goodies are amongst the onboard toys that will help your child tap into the spirit of adventure with Emirates.

Emirates has 10 toy packs to offer followers of TheClothesLine.ie. Simply tell us to which destination on the Emirates’ network you would like to take the family.

Check out www.emirates.com for details.

You can comment below or over on our Facebook page and we will pick two winners of a toy pack every day for the next five days.

Best of luck.

Terms And Conditions

Competition open to Irish residents only.

Winners will be announced below

Winners must email info@theclothesline.ie with their address and the prize is non-transferable

On Turning Five…….

February 21, 201314 Comments

The first cry from my boy was magical. When he cried, we all stopped holding our breath in that delivery room. He took his first breath and cried and the rest of us exhaled too. There was total silence for a minute in that room. It felt like longer than a minute. I did not panic. I just lay there holding my breath, concentrating on the sunshine out the window and squeezing my husband’s hand. Total stillness. Then that wonderful loud and strong cry.

The cry wasn’t instant like it was when my daughters were born. Some things were overlooked during my labour with him. When he came into the world, his umbilical cord was around his neck and his skin colour was more grey than pink. He wasn’t handed to me immediately, he was taken to the corner of the room and massaged and given oxygen. While it felt like an hour, it was only a minute, then there he was on my chest. Loud, spiky haired and staring at me. All was fine, all was perfect, he was here.

Its his birthday today. He is five. Like most mothers do, I am reliving all the details of the day he was born and all the days since. It is that minute that will always remain crystal clear in my mind. Then that relief and then that love. My boy is my second child. I had worried before he arrived how could I love another baby as much. I didn’t realise until that minute that the heart it a remarkable thing and can expand to love all your children equally and instantly. I did fall in love with him instantly and realised how ridiculous it was that I was worrying about my capacity to love him with all my heart.

The other stand out crystal clear memory I have of his first year is how he went from being the most contented baby and sleeping so well to being unsettled at night. I was sick when he was seven months old. I was away from him for two weeks in hospital. He went from falling asleep happily every night to needing someone to hold his hand or rub his cheek. At 7 months old his heart also had to capacity to love greatly and at 7 months old he had the ability to miss me. My own heart aches when I think of that memory. I was home after two weeks but it took a couple of months before he was able to fall asleep without his hand being squeezed. At 7 months he loved greatly. He loves greatly now. He has the biggest heart. The kindest heart.

And now he is five. Just like that. Five. At five- skylanders, moshi monsters, making a mess effortlessly , drawing, lego, books, dinosaurs, playing with his friends and sisters and being noisy are of huge importance. Vegetables, keeping his room tidy, listening to what I say and doing what I ask him to do is of a lot less importance to him. He is funny, he is clever, he is good company, he tests my patience and frustrates me and then within a minute he makes me smile. I shout at him more than the other two. I have more guilt about whether I am being the best mother I can be with him. I hope I am. I am trying hard. He has a beautiful mix of shyness and confidence. I hope he always has this mix. He can appear ninja like beside me in the middle of the night yet makes the noise of three children during the day. One of his favourite things still is to make a fort in my bed. The two of us lie together under the covers and we chat. His hugs could win awards . These snatched moments when it’s just me and him under the covers are one of my favourite things too. I am enjoying them more because he is five now and I know our forts and cuddle times are limited. Very soon he will be too big for this…..

Happy Birthday to my boy. My boy who has taught me so many things, from day one when he thought me the capacity of my heart to today when he teaches me about how dinosaurs became extinct. I love you greatly O X

A Wish For Ireland’s Little Girls

February 20, 201313 Comments

This post is one of a series of posts from the Irish Parenting Bloggers to welcome two baby girls to two of our Irish Blogger Mama’s, a virtual baby shower if you will. For me, also, its a wish for a new baby girl due to arrive into the world late next week and all of our little girls.

Welcome to the world baby girls. There will be over 30,000 of you born in Ireland in 2013. Each and every one of you special and unique. Here are my wishes for you………

Dream Big.

Laugh a lot.

Don’t ever be dependent on somebody else to make you happy and know that you are not responsible for other peoples happiness.

Read everything.

Love greatly.

Surround yourself with true friends.

Be fearless.

My biggest wish for you though is that you can have it all.

Via shinethislight.com

Ireland has experienced a period of rapid social change over the last thirty years. Your great great grandmothers helped bring about Ireland’s independence, they fought for your right to vote too. Your great grandmothers and grandmothers fought for your right to education and equal employment and contraception amongst other things and your mothers are reaping the rewards but do you know what baby girls, in 2013, we are still not quite there. For you, my wish, is that we will get there, you will get there.

I wish for you to have an education outside of the remit of the Catholic Church. Regardless of your religion, I hope the church and schools finally separate.

I wish that the division of Church and State also accelerates and we see the catholic church’s influence removed from hospitals . Writing and thinking about you, baby girls,made me think about another baby girl who should have arrived into this world this spring. Your Mama’s, history books or internet searches may tell you about Savita Halappanavar , my wish is that her death will not be in vain and it will spark legislation to allow you, full body autonomy.

I wish that the Irish legal system always truly values and protects you.

Just this week The Constitutional Convention has voted in favour of an amendment to the clause within the Irish constitution which places special emphasis on the place of women in the home. Yes just this week in 2013. Some changes take a while but they come and we will keep pushing that they do so when you grow up you can be truly valued wherever you want to be ,be that in the home, in the courtroom, in a maternity hospital, in your place of study and in your place of work.

Shards still remain in the glass ceiling in 2013. If the last census report is taken as an example, your father still earns more than your mother. We’ll try hard to get rid of those shards for you , you can and should and will earn just as much as a man in the same position as you.

So big wishes for you baby girls, I hope they are realities, you deserve them to be. Welcome to the world.Be fierce, be kind, be happy, be everything you want to be.

And, finally, always follow the advice of Dr Seuss………..

Oh The Places You’ll Go – Dr Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look ’em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.”
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
You’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact
And remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

Kid, you’ll move mountains!

So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
Or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

You can catch up on all the other posts on the Irish Parenting Blogs Facebook page and check back daily as we’re only have way through. Today’s post comes with the letter P.

14 Things That Husbands Should Know

February 16, 201312 Comments

I appreciate this list is heavily stereotypical and gender biased. None the less I will fire ahead anyway. My husband has never ever done any of these things. I just made them all up in my head……..

A woman can mention many times how they do not like Valentines Day.They can even write a blog post about the reality of Valentines Day when you are married, they still expect a Valentines Day card. A handmade card will suffice. If you live in a house with children ,chances are there are hundreds of crayons/markers/paints/colouring pencils and paper at your disposal. The same rule applies to Birthdays.
If you ask your wife “Would you like anything in the shop?” and her reply is “oh…..mmmmmmmm….I don’t know…..I probably shouldn’t” Then you should bring something . You should not come back with nothing for her. If her reply is “a surprise”. You should also bring back something . Nothing is not a good surprise.
If you wife asks you “did you hear that noise?” when you are fast asleep at 3am in the morning, everybody will sleep better if your reply is “No I didn’t but I will immediately get up and check every room of the house to be sure”. Saying nothing, grunting or saying “No” is not the correct answer in this scenario.
In the middle of an argument it is not best practise to leave the house to clear your head. It is better to stay and finish the argument so it can be done with quicker.
Men and Women have different ideas of what nagging is. Simply asking a man 7 times are they sure they have done something is not nagging, it is the sign of a conscientious wife. Men should realise this.
Sometimes women are fully capable of using the remote control all by themselves. It is possible for men to relinquish it from their grasp.
Never ever call your wife the wrong name. Although If you absolutely have to, use a name of a woman who is not an ex,neighbour, friend, colleague. That makes it possible to get over quicker.
If you do call your wife the wrong name, the excuse of “I couldn’t remember your name” isn’t a great one.
Calling your wife the wrong name in bed is probably never forgivable.
Never ever ask your wife has she seen your shirt/trousers/sports gear etc. This implies your wife is fully responsible for the laundry and upkeep of your clothes. Even if your wife does the majority of the laundry, you should still never ask this question. You are clearly regressing back in time because the only occasion on which it is acceptable for a male to ask a female this question, is a small boy asking his mother. Do not confuse your wife with your mother. You are a grown man.
If your wife cannot find anything to wear, you are probably best to leave the house. Quickly. You can not give the correct answer or opinion in this scenario. This situation is in fact Mission Impossible. Leave.
Nobody can ever win the “Sleep Wars” – Life with small children is exhausting. It doesn’t matter who does what, everybody is tired. Although there is strong scientific based evidence somewhere that mothers should get more sleep in’s. Fact ( ish).
There is never ever any point in starting conversations with “If this was the olden days”. Pointless. It is not the olden days. We have no way of knowing if life was indeed easier for men in the “olden days”. The end. However, If you think working longer hours, spending less time with your children and having a shorter life expectancy is easier ,maybe you are right and you would have been happier had you been born 80 years earlier.
It is ok for your wife to drive if you are out together. It is no reflection on the size of your manhood.

I hope this clears up some commonly misconstrued ideas and scenarios………

Have you anything to add to the list?

The Fiver Birthday Gift

February 12, 201334 Comments

My children get invited to lots of birthday parties, they love them. The general rule seems to be a girl invites all the other girls in the class to her birthday and vice versa with the boys. All good, birthday parties are great.

Now I have two children regularly going to parties and the youngest will soon be at this stage. Again, generally speaking, the birthday gift is in the region of €15. Which is ok but what happens when all three children get two party invites in a month, there’s €90 gone out of the monthly household budget.

Even leaving the expense aside there is the present shopping and then wrapping and then the card and the visit to the toy shop or the book shop.

Again this works the other way. I have been shocked at the amount of toys my kids have received in recent years at their parties. Of course, its lovely and I am grateful but it’s too much.

Anyway I read about this idea somewhere a couple of weeks ago and I think it’s the best idea ever. The “fiver” birthday gift. Instead of buying the birthday boy or girl a gift you put a fiver in the birthday card. No shopping and wrapping, no big expense and the child gets a wad of fiver’s which they can then use towards a bigger purchase or on what they want. Everyone is happy. A simple but beautiful idea!?

So now to instigate it. Can you just start giving fiver’s in cards and explaining the idea or will that be slow to catch on? I am going to send this to the parents association of my children’s school and everyone reading this should do the same and in no time the fiver party will become the done thing. No more gift shopping. No more too many gifts for the birthday child. No more gift wrapping .The birthday child can use the money for a game or towards a bike or give it to charity, or save it or do whatever they want. Everybody wins.

What do you think?

When The Cat Is Away……….

February 11, 20136 Comments

The mouse will play. In this case I am the mouse. My husband has been away for the last two weeks. He travels regularly but has never been away for so long before. Here is what I played at:

Plumbing – I am not a plumber. I have no qualifications in plumbing and there is a reason people do. Our downstairs toilet broke. The tank kept over-filling. I felt the best way to deal with this was to at first ignore then leave it to late to contact anyone about it. This resulted in me spending four hours with one hand encased in a rubber glove in the tank and the other hand holding my phone playing YouTube videos on toilet fixing. Quell Surprise it didn’t work. I spent one long night getting up every hour on the hour getting up to flush the toilet. The next morning, I gave in and phoned a plumber. I didn’t even smirk using the words ballcock and masking tape in the same sentence.

Fire and Safety Officer– We have smoke alarms. I have an over active imagination. One night I imagined a fire gripping the house in vivid detail. These vivid imaginations only occur when I am home alone with the children.I did not sleep so well. We now have many many more smoke alarms. Their alarm is loud enough to pierce an eardrum and they light up and flash too.

A Brave Person– I do not like the dark. I never have. I have a night-time routine that ensures at no stage am I left in total darkness. Then came the night where I was lying in bed and I saw the boy trotting past my door not making a sound. I called him and got no reply. I waited and nothing so I got up. I called him again. I went downstairs and found him sitting in the pitch black on the sofa staring at nothing. My immediate reaction was to scream and run back upstairs and hide but then I remembered I was the only grown up in the house so I tried to wake him and got him back upstairs, all the time he was reminiscent of the boy from the Sixth Sense. Had he mentioned seeing dead people, I probably would’ve left the house.

Brave Person Part Two -Another night I was lying in bed and could hear banging from outside. So I went out with my coat and wellies to check the side gate. Delighted with my bravery I got back into bed and then the banging started again. At 1.45am I had to walk down the side entrance of my house, over our decaying Christmas Tree ( I know) and kids bikes and relock the side gate. Absolutely shitting myself. Another night with little sleep.

A Doctor and A Nurse– My children are rarely sick but of course they were during this fortnight. I cleaned up puke, rubbed hair, took temperatures, bribed them to take medicine, sat up all night,gave cuddles, gave the chemist and doctors a lot of money.

A Scuzzy Person – I am not proud of this but on at least three nights I went to bed fully dressed. I eat crackers and cheese for my dinner more often than not in the last two weeks and I reached a new low the other night when I got into bed fully dressed with a carton of ice cream and a bottle of caramel sauce. I poured the sauce directly into the carton with no delph or no shame, apparently.

A Person with no Job – I do work. In the last two weeks it was nearly impossible to work because there was no break whatsoever from the children. Granted they were sick so that didn’t help but the time I got them to sleep at night, I was practically comatose myself and couldn’t get the energy to turn on computers and during the day I couldnt get out to appointments or post offices. My earnings nose-dived in the last two weeks.

A Grumpy Mammy- My children are amazing. I love every ounce of them but I am a better parent when I get a tiny bit of time alone every day. Two weeks without this has made me not such nice a person.

A Grumpier Wife– Facetime is a remarkable means of communication. I spoke with my husband most days for free on Facetime and we could see each other. It was like he was there in the room, so much so I even managed to have a face to face argument with him despite him being half a world away. Just to note, I was arguing, he was not. I am that wife.

All the above were fine though as was doing the male things that the husband usually does in this house- bringing out bins, locking up at night time, carrying the ridiculously heavy children to bed every night, putting water in the car blah blah blah, those things were fine, I don’t like doing those things but I can do them.

There were two things I hated in the last two weeks

Sitting up with a sick child in the middle of the night with a sky-high temperature and having nobody there to get their opinion, I was arguing with myself in my head about whether her temp was coming down or did she need a doctor. I was back to imagining worst case scenarios and had nobody there to tell me it was ok or yes she did need a doctor. Also, it dawned on me, had I needed to go to A&E quickly in the middle of the night with a sick child, I would have needed to bring all three children with me.
I went to my sons first parent teacher meeting. No big deal to anybody but me and his father. It was brilliant, I was bursting with pride. I wanted to tell everyone every single detail but I know nobody else wants to know every single detail and I missed that my husband wasnt here to discuss in great detail this prodigy we had created.

Anyway we survived, we had fun, we did not have much sleep. I am glad all is back to normal though now.

I am not likening two weeks alone with the kids to single parenting, I know it is not comparable. I have friends and family who are single parents. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about their lives as such but if I did I would think about the big things that may be difficult such as childcare and finances and things and have never really given much thought to the little things such as not having somebody to share the elation with after a parent teacher meeting or reassurance when a child gets a fever at 3am. The little things might well be the hard parts and really single parents deserve a lot more praise,support and crowns and applause. Or its probable I haven’t a clue what I’m talking about. Wouldn’t be a first, wont be the last and I am sleep deprived………

First Valentines Day -Vs- Tenth Valentines Day

February 10, 201316 Comments

It’s Valentines Day this week, are you a fan? I am not. I don’t like a day telling me I need to be romantic and Id probably get quite annoyed with a bouquet of overpriced red roses. Id prefer that money was spent on something I liked on a random day. I think we buy into when we are younger but wise up as we get older but maybe that’s just me…….

The Card

1st Valentines Day– One hour is spent in a card shop choosing the correct card. The hunt for the perfect card that conveys both thought and maybe humour is not easy to find. At least another hour is spent writing the message inside the card.

10th Valentines Day– You remind yourself to buy a card. You forget. You eventually remember when you see the crap selection left in the garish display in the 24hr garage when you are there to buy milk. You grab one. It has a cheesy or smutty message. You don’t realise as you dont read it. You place a cup of coffee on it home and then try and wipe it off but the imprint of the cup remains on the envelope. You scrawl your signature.

The Preparation

1st Valentines Day– The restaurant has been booked for 10 days. You are waxed, moisturised and primped to perfection. You have bought new, expensive, not very comfortable underwear. You worry about how your body looks in said underwear. You have no idea just how perfect your body is and what three kids will do to it.

10th Valentines Day– Does not exist. You may change your top or you may get into your pjs because its been a long day. You would’ve gone to the beauticians but every spare cent of this months disposable income has been spent in the pharmacy because its February and your kids have picked up every bug going. You consider dragging out that uncomfortable underwear that you bought ten years ago that’s in the back of the drawer but realise there is no way that bra is closing on you now……. You laugh at your 10 year ago self for being self-conscious about your body. Your body rocked 10 years ago.

The Present

1st Valentines Day– After a lot of thought and searching you have found the perfect gift for your Valentine.

10th Valentines Day– See above. All disposable income has gone to the pharmacist.

The Meal

1st Valentines Day– You sit in the nice restaurant with all the other shiny, loved up, slightly awkward couples in the flickering candlelight. You sip your wine, talk and order something that wont be messy or likely to stick in your teeth. You share a dessert.

10th Valentines Day– You might make the effort to eat later and separately from the kids. You light candles, the hide the mess as well as being atmospheric. Or maybe you go out to eat. You gulp your wine, it’s a rare occasion when you are out in a restaurant that doesn’t come with a crayons on the table. You eat your food with gusto, no plastic cutlery here. You try not to snap when your beloved refuses a dessert but then eats half of yours.

The Dance

1st Valentines Day – You’re back home. You put on a carefully chosen cd. The dancing is a little awkward but its part of the plan for the perfect Valentines evening so you get on with it.

10th Valentines Day– Its a special dance. There is no music. Its called getting to bed without the kids waking up. You avoid the creaky stair, you have perfected brushing your teeth making minimal sound. You pirouette in to check the kids are ok and back out of the room like a ninja.

The Sex

1st Valentines Day– Its long. There is lots of eye contact. It is fine.

10th Valentines Day– It is short. It is good. A lot better than 10 years ago……..

So Valentines Day- love it or hate it?

I’ll take random romance throughout the year instead thank you.

Related Posts

Gift Ideas For The Man In Your Life – These were suggestions for gift ideas for Christmas but they will work for Valentines Day too.

A Bench In St Stephens Green – Real Romance……………

Painting……….

February 6, 201310 Comments

Yesterday afternoon I listed the things I am banning from my house. Yesterday evening a belated birthday gift arrived in my house for the small girl. A big arts and crafts set. The small girl was thrilled. In the arts and craft set was paint, lots of paint. Karma’s a bitch.

I calmed the excited three year old down and promised her we could paint the next day. Roll on 7am this morning. Still pitch dark outside. There she was opening my eyes for me with her fingers saying “Get up, its painting time”…………..

8.25am this morning and the girls were painting away. They were both home sick from school so they painted and then they painted some more. Then the boy came home from school and more painting took place. Then after dinner they painted again. Their paintings are drying on pretty much every available surface downstairs. I already got caught this week throwing artwork in the recycle bin so I am afraid to touch them as I can’t go through another round of “why would you throw my pictures out” and “Did you not think my art was good?”

There is paint on the table, on the floor, all over the bathroom, all over the kitchen, all over uniforms and clothes. There is paint everywhere. They went to bed with paint under their finger nails and in their hair.

When the small girl was going to sleep she told me “today was the best day because I love paint”. Then I came into my room and the big girl had left this on my pillow.

The paint can stay, for now.

The Clothesline

Chronicles of an overwhelmed mother

Month: February 2013