{It's been a while}

Four weeks in and already my blog is suffering from neglect! I've just been having too much fun I guess. I am absolutely loving it here, I've settled in so well and the children adore me, which is always a good thing! I'm struggling slightly to make friends, although I've met quite a few really nice people, I think it'll just take time - it's certainly not like when I started uni and I met some of my closest friends on the very first day! I'm sure I'll end up with some brilliant friendships through, so I'm not too worried. 

I've not really done many 'big' blog-able things over the last few weeks, just popping to Newbridge or Kildare or whatever after work and stuff... Nothing much really! I was home at the weekend for my parents' anniversary party, but I'll do that in a separate post. 

I'll just leave you with a few photographs from over the last few weeks, since I've not done a great deal out of the house! 

The youngest two and I 

Tom's trying to feed himself - VERY messy indeed! 

The view from my bedroom window at night - wow!

Looking angelic - looks can be deceiving, she can be such a little monkey! She's a total gem though.

Isn't he gorgeous?! Such a loving little boy too, he's a real sweetheart. 

Such a good baby, couldn't ask for an easier child! He's so chilled and lovely. 

{Tatyo Park}

On Friday, Catherine and I took the three kids to Tayto Park, a children's fun park and the Tayto crisp factory in Ashburne. 

It was about an hours' drive from Rathangan, and it felt like a fairly quick journey - Tom slept the whole way, and Lucy tried to. Jamie didn't even bother trying, but he was quiet at least! 

We met up with two of Catherine's friends from show jumping, who had both brought along their kids/grand kids, and au pairs. 

We headed off in the direction of the magician first, so Tom could have his lunch and we could all shelter from the rain a little bit! It was horrible all day, but that didn't stop us having a good time. After the magician tent, we headed to the Tayto factory, for a look at how the Tayto crips are produced. Jamie was so interested in it all, Lucy wasn't too bothered by it all, but I suppose she's just too young. 

By this point it was time to head off for a picnic lunch (provided by Niamh - not a single soggy sandwich in sight!) with everyone, before going down to the petting zoo with the little ones, whilst the big ones went off in search of some adventure! Lucy and Jamie loved the little zoo, and loved looking for the next animal. 

At the end of the zoo there was a park, where the two little ones happily played for over an hour in the sand! It's the simple things that always seem to please them :) 

{Day Three}

Again Emmaline and I headed over to the house for 8am, and again the kids were already up and awake. Lucy was in the livingroom with her Dad, and the other 2 were still in bed with Niamh. we got the boys up and all the kids chilled out in the living room watching tv to wake up properly. 

We gave them breakfast, and Emmaline was really letting me take the reins today. They had Catherine's amazing homemade bread for breakfast - which is AMAZING in a really odd way! It's all seeds and nuts and healthy stuff, odd that I like it haha. I fed the baby, then got the three of them dressed and ready. 

Niamh went out to do some stuff and took Jamie with her, so we were just left with Lucy and Tom. Tom went down for a nap around 10am as his teeth are really bothering him just now, so we were left with just Lucy. We did some colouring, then I took her outside to look for bees and butterflies. We bounced on the trampoline for ages, used up some of her energy!! She's got tonnes. I was so surprised when the tesco man turned up with the shopping, he just opened the door and came in - which is what everyone does around here! Very strange - but then I've never lived rurally before. They even leave the keys in the ignition of the car when they get out at home and stuff - very strange to me! I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Tom then got up, so we fed both kids and got them sorted out. Niamh came home with Jamie, so we fed him too and they coloured in for a while, before Lucy went down for her nap. We played for a while, before Tom went down for another nap, and Jamie resisted his by fighting me for ages! We were having a dinner party for Emmaline leaving at night so didn't want him to be too grumpy so had to just keep putting him back to bed. 

Emmaline left to go home to pack and get ready to leave, so I was left on my own with the kids for the first times! Nerve wracking. I had a silent 45 minutes when they were all in bed, before Lucy woke up. She wasn't too happy when she first woke up, and had a bit of a major tantrum! I didn't quite know how to deal with her, so I just brought her to the living room and let her scream. Tom then woke up not long after, and once Lucy calmed down a bit we went back out into the garden to look for bees! She was perfectly fine after that, thank goodness. 

Niamh came back home, and I left. I came home for a shower, then decided to drive into Newbridge to go to Tesco. I drove around Newbridge in circles looking for it for ages before I finally found it haha. I had to try to pretend to not be completely amazed as all the prices were in euros, and the packaging for so much is different... Easily amused! 

By the time I got home it was time to go back to Niamh's to get the children into their pyjamas before all the guests arrived for Emmaline's leaving meal. We played for a while, and got things ready for everyone coming over. Everyone started to arrive around 7pm, and we had a lovely dinner of ante paste; steak, salad and gratin potato, then a MASSIVE pavalova for dessert. It was lovely, even the salad and I don't usually like salad! Emmaline was given all of her birthday and leaving gifts, then I left at 10pm. I'm really sad she's leaving, we hit it off right from the word go and she's been an amazing help to me over the last few days, but if she wasn't leaving then I wouldn't need to be here.

When I got home, I Skyped Emily and Nathen at home, and managed to speak to them for an hour before wondering where the last hour had gone and what we'd spoken about! Oops :) 

{Day Two}

N wanted E and I over for 8am, to get the kids up and fed and dressed. They were all awake and in N's room when we arrived, so we took L and T from her and took them to the living room. J wanted to stay with his mummy so we left him for the time being. 

We let the kids wake up a bit by watching telly and the wee one was rolling around the floor like he does. We then fed them, and got them dressed, then N and J came through and had their breakfast. N went to work, so it was just E and I with the kids for the morning. We played with playdoh (seriously, I get paid for this?!)  and the baby went to bed for a nap. L went down for her nap and T got up, so we watched Monsters Inc with J, then made lunch. J had a bit of a tantrum when N came home, but he was needing his nap. He then went to bed and we left for the afternoon. 

We sat in C's and watched John Tucker Must Die all afternoon, before E headed over to her apartment to do some packing, as she leaves tomorrow. I just faffed around, messaged a few people and tided up a bit. 

We headed back to N's around 5:30pm, for dinner and bath time. We bathed the kids, then gave them their tea, before we ate ourselves. We had chicken casserole, potaaaaato and veg, omg the food is amazing. Working for a chef has its benefits, definitely!

Later in the evening, we headed to Naas for the au pair meeting. There were 8-10 girls there from a mix of countries. There were a couple of other new girls, from Italy, Germany and Sweden. I didn't really click with anyone, maybe I will next time. 

{Day One}

It's 2:32pm and I'm sitting in bed eating custard creams and drinking (strangely amazing) water. Woo, what a wild life I'm leading over here ;) 

My day's have been busy. Very busy. Yesterday I arrived at 9:30am, and Emmaline, the current au-pair met me at the airport and brought me to N and M's house. The kids were brought home after I'd had a wee tour, and I was pretty (well, far too!) surprised at how full on they were! Not quite sure what I was expecting with a 3 1/2 year old, a 2 year old and a 7 month old baby. The kids seem to be in a pretty good routine though, and E and I gave them lunch then the 2 older ones went down for their naps. The baby had already slept, so he was just rolling around. E said she was totally amazed at how fast he was rolling around and the noise he was making, and how quickly he was running around in his baby walker, as he wasn't doing that on Sunday when she'd seen him. 

We left for the afternoon, and E brought me along to Newbridge, so she could show me the nearest proper town with a shopping centre, and try to start showing me the roads and where I'd be going and stuff. Newbridge is one of the biggest local towns, although it's pretty small. There's a shopping centre with all the shops I'd need, and apparently there's other stuff nearby too if I needed to go anywhere else. Plus there's Dublin too for shopping! We had a Starbucks and wandered around the shops for a while. We went to Meteor and got a wonderfully fabulously amazing phone (ha! It doesn't even have a camera), which is what I needed, just to be in touch with N and M, and the local au pairs. My iPhone will work when I'm connected to the WiFi, so I'll be fine with that since I'll only really be able to use it for Whatsapp and stuff whilst I'm over here, to keep in contact. 

After we were done in town, we went back to N's for bath and tea time. Imagine the mess three under threes would make splashing in a bath, then triple it. SO MUCH WATER. It was a bit of a nightmare haha! Then getting three babies out of the bath and dried and dressed is tricky. I'm sure I'll get used to it. We gave them dinner then let them run around whilst we ate. N made proper Thai green curry, which was AMAZING. I did have a bit of a breakdown during dinner, I think it just got a bit too overwhelming for me. It was a hell of a lot to take in and a really long day. 

After tea N started to put the kids to bed, and E and I went home.  I'm staying at C's for the time being, whilst E is still here living in the apartment. The house is AMAZING. My room is huge. I spoke to my Mum on FaceTime, then I was asleep by 10:30pm, I was so tired.  It was such an overwhelming day, but I'm sure I'll start to get to grips with it all once I'm a bit more settled. 

{Three Days}

I've now got just three days to go before I fly to Kildare, meet my host family and begin my Irish life for a year! I'm excited, although still really nervous. I started packing today, it's so difficult to try and think about what you might need for a year - especially as the weather is going to start turning colder in the next couple of months, before I'm back in Scotland for Christmas. 

I've got a few friends who have started to plan their trip over to visit me in November, and another couple of friends who will definitely sort something and come over too - which makes me look forward to it a bit more, knowing that people will come out and spend some time with me in my new home!

Three days to go... Where have the last three weeks gone?! 

{Checked In}

Checked in online tonight. Six days to go. Getting really nervous now... Need to start packing soon too. Not long to go!

{Two Weeks}

I fly to Dublin two weeks today. I am terrified, excited, scared, nervous, all at the same time. I really hope that I like it, and I'm not about to make the worst mistake of my life.  I'm almost convinced I'm not, once I'm there I'll be fine - just like with uni - but obviously I still have my hesitations and reservations. I've got a busy couple of weeks coming up, visiting friends, lots of meals and nights out, and of course spending time with my family before I leave. I still need to get a case and start packing too - the next two weeks are going to fly by I think! I'm apprehensive.  

{Dublin Bound}

In just three weeks time, I will be boarding a plane to Dublin, Ireland, to begin my year as an au pair. I can't wait! I will be living in the countryside in County Kildare, not far from a couple of different towns. I will be looking after three young children, which I'm sure will be a challenge in itself!

I'm going to document my preparations over the next few weeks, and then my experiences and adventures over the next year!