The Beginning….. EAT.PLAY.LOVE
I have tried to start this many times before but I don’t ever seem to commit the time to it. Today I am going to try and start……
I have moved back to East Cork after 11 years in London. I have 2 little girls, 2 and half and 9 months. I decided about a year ago that I would start a blog about my moving home experience, sharing all the lovely things that I loved to do with my first daughter in London, where I loved eating and playing and then I was going to write about all the new places that I loved eating and playing when I got home to Cork!…….. 10 months on I haven’t written anything but sure this can be a starter for 10.
I have found the last 10 months quite challenging and decided the first post should be about what I have learned about moving home/having a second child. Finally getting them off my chest so that I can move on from them!!
…..A Year on I am going to repost this with the addition of some beautiful photos of my girls taken by Carol of www.littlefishphotography.ie and a few of my own from my iPhone! Can’t believe it is a year since I wrote this!……..
10 things I have learned since moving back to Cork!
1. Naievty is a great thing..……… We were probably naive to think that moving country at 36 weeks pregnant, renovating a house, moving into a new house/furnishing it, husband starting a new business, having a second baby, settling a toddler to a new life….. was something that would all go smoothly……. In one way I am so glad it’s all done now and we have got through some tough months but if anyone asked me would I attempt all that together again…. I would say HELL NO!!!!!! and space it out more logically!…..but then where would the fun be in that!
2. Logistics with 2……… I think I was so caught up with the move and finishing work and trying to get into our new house (not resting!) that I don’t think I really thought about what it was going to be like with 2 under 2! I found it really hard at the start. My little girl decided she would stop sleeping which my husband and I found incredibly hard with a new baby. This went on for months, she would lie awake/scream for hours while we tried to settle her back to sleep. Every day I found having a small baby and trying to keep a toddler occupied quite challenging. Some days I felt I wasn’t coping at all. In hindsight what everyone was saying was true. This time will pass and it did. Baby got hardier. I figured out a bit better how to handle the 2 of them and life is a little bit smoother now…. somewhat!
www.littlefishphotography.ie
3. It really does rain a lot………..I felt it rained from October to March but so did the rest of the country. I know it was a wet wet winter more than usual people said but I did feel like a caged animal a lot. When you have a small baby you are a bit protective of bringing them out in the wind and rain. I was so use to doing things every day living in London, bringing my toddler to things that were in walking distance from me, I found this initial few months very hard, stuck in the house in the rain. Thankfully I went to my parents house which is a big reason why I moved home…. Thank God for family on rainy days. Suggestions of what to do on rainy days in Cork are welcome…. I think I have got better at this since my second is a bit older now but would love a few more suggestions. Maybe a blog entry in the future so it can be a go to list for myself in times of need again.
Rain Rain Go Away!
4. I miss Amazon Prime…….I got very use to Amazon Prime next day delivery and one click buying with Amazon with my first baby…… I miss retail in general in London and wasn’t sure where to buy things for my new house, baby,toddler but an alternative I have been told about is ParcelMotel for Irish delivery without the extortionate delivery charges from UK to Ireland on Amazon. http://www.parcelmotel.com so I will be trying this very soon. Friends of mine have tried it and recommend it. I also now absolutely love TinyToes in Midleton for great baby products and great staff.
5. I miss IKEA….. I know Ikea is not everyone’s cup of tea but I love it for the toy organisation and few bits like reasonably priced armchairs/Mirrors/mats. I really wanted to get there before baby was born but it was a bit risky when I was so big and then after she was born it was hard to leave the house but I really wanted some things as we didn’t have much in the house and I was trying to do some post baby nesting! I used this service which was absolutely amazing idelivery.ie. Picked it out on the ikea website, exported as a pdf, sent it to them. They go around IKEA for you!!!!purchase it and deliver it to your door. AMAZING SERVICE!
6. ADMIN, ADMIN, ADMIN – my husband and I feel like we have been doing admin since we moved home, Movers, Tax, Insurance, VRT, Childrens allowance, PPS, Passports, Post office accounts……. I was thinking of making one of my next posts a list of all the admin things you need to think about when moving home a set of useful links for people but that might be incredibly boring….. but possibly useful…
7. Building up your Circle of Friends.…… It takes time to re establish a network of friends. I’ll be honest I do miss my circle of friends in London but I am so fortunate to have moved home to friends that I have known since school and college. However I have found that everyone has their own lives/work and can be busy and it takes time to re establish a network of friends or to build new friendships. After I had my first baby in London it is common to stay in contact with your antenatal group so I had a ready made group of people on maternity leave in close proximity to me and friends who had just had babies. This time is has been different. I needed to make the effort to get out there and meet people. I just moved back so I didn’t know what was going on in the area. I am so fortunate to have had one of my very close friends also recently moved home and a cousin of mine living in the area who had recently had babies so we did some classes to broaden our mammy friends. One of my college friends and another cousin live close by and have been amazing support since I moved home helping me get through some of the dark days and adopting me into their circle of friends.
We did Baby Pilates with Lyndsey in Midleton Pilates Studio which has been a staple tuesday morning event which kept me going! Lyndsey is brilliant.
We did baby massage with Colette and it was a lovely intimate class of 4 of us in Castlemartyr. www.allfirstaid.ie/baby-massage.
I found these classes really useful for a chat/rant with the other mammies after and a cup of coffee.
MidletonMums is also a great Facebook group to join for east cork info.
8. What will I do with a Toddler and baby!!! As I said earlier I found it hard to know what to do everyday with a small baby and a toddler but I have got better at organising my week. I think I was just a bit exhausted after the move and the baby, my brain stopped working for awhile. I felt like I didn’t know of any things to do in the area with kids (when it rains!). When I asked people they would say it is mostly word of mouth or Facebook pages. There are actually a lot of things to do in the area and I just didn’t know it at the time so I decided to make a table of baby/toddler classes in East Cork so maybe if someone needs it in the future they will have it to hand when they are pulling their hair out some rainy morning 🙂 Table of Classes/Meet Ups Also if I continue to write in this blog (most blogs supposedly last 6 weeks!) I was hoping to write about events in the area and good places to go with babies and toddlers. Upcoming Events and also a PLAY page for inspiration for indoor and outdoor activities.
Going for walks is what kept me sane!
9. Irish people really are that nice!
When I lived in London I did love being Irish! You always get a nice reception as you have the nations reputation behind you of being sound. Since I moved home it has really hit me though that it is actually so true. I am so lucky to be from a place with such amazing people, everyone is just so nice, so helpful, so sound. Proud to be Irish even more now that I am back in the home country!
10. Family are the best!!!
This is the main reason why I moved home and they haven’t let me down. We are so fortunate to live very close to my family and not that far from my husbands family. You really cannot beat family support. From child minding to house decorating they have all given their support. I am so happy to be spending so much time with them and that they get to spend time with my girls. I get to pop in for tea/coffee with my sisters and brothers and in-laws which we have wanted to do for years and the main reason why we moved home…. My absolute hats off to people who raise kids with little support. I think you are amazing. I would probably have had a breakdown by now if it was not for the relief I get from my family some days!
I have entitled this the Beginning as it is the beginning of a new adventure for us. I should embrace that feeling rather than worrying so much about the future. Things will hopefully fall into place…….. I want to EAT PLAY and LOVE …… my new motto. Hopefully I will get to write about these things and my adventures at home.
Dear Therese,
What a lovely initiative. You need to give yourself more credit for taking in such big changes in such a short time. In my experience, tough changes makes us fierce, and I mean fierce in the most gentle, strong and nurturing sense possible, Our girls will be all the better for it,
Big love and best wishes with your blog,
N x
Thanks Nors! xxx
Hi Theres, Great to read your story! I signed up today. I have a 5 year old and a 10 month old and am always looking for things to do (near Castlemartyr) with them, well done its a fab idea!!
Your old neighbour Orla Fronc ( Mc Namara)
Ah lovely to hear from you Orla. Hope the site can give you some nice ideas but you can probably give me more ideas to add! It’s only a start! Xx
[…] If you fancy doing nothing but sitting in your back garden enjoying the weather then absolutely enjoy it! This is the weather for it but if you fancy getting out and about below are a list of some suggestions. As always more events listed for the month of July on the events page or check out the PLAY page for some more thoughts on what to do. Suggestions always welcome. If you check out any of the above please let me know how you get on through the Facebook page or instagram @eatplaylovecork and hashtag #eatplaylovecork . This week is the 1 year anniversary of starting this site if you fancy reading The Beginning….. […]