24 Weeks already!

I cannot believe how time is flying along with our little miracle.

6 months in!

Our lil man is bustling around inside me keeping himself busy and playing away.

Next appointment is 3 days after Christmas for the dreaded Glucose Tolerance Test but there will be a scan in the middle of it so we are looking forward to seeing him again! Yay!

Well its time to change the tune.. Good News (for a change)

Well it has been one tough secret to keep and perhaps I didn't keep it as close as I should have but the excitement was too much.

On Friday the 13th of July we got our first ever BFP!

We had an early scan at 7 weeks as our nerves (well my nerves) were driving me crazy as this has never happened before after eight years of trying.

Baby was perfect size for 7 weeks and we could see the heart beat, it was such a relief!

 

Then the sickness started. Straight after this scan. Typical!

 

Last Friday we had our first maternity meeting and had bloods taken etc... and our second scan, a day short of 11 weeks.

Baby was lying down just waving at us and again we saw a heartbeat.



Knowing when to get over yourself

So last week was a horrible week for me, a complete low filled with self pity and crying sessions I have got up out of my wallowing misery and dusted myself off.
There are only 5 days left for this cycle (if not less going by the way my body is feeling today), I have to keep aiming for the positive sides of trying to conceive a baby and keep saying:
"Onwards and Upwards baby"

Not only am I trying to conceive at the moment but I am trying to stop Molly from conceiving, she has gone into her second heat just as we were about to get her neutered... AGAIN!

I have started hiding status updates that all about kids etc... cut out the things that influence my negativity.
I need to concentrate on other things, get on with my life, my mam is really down at the moment, I think it is only now that its hitting her that her sister is gone, I am hoping to get home soon to spend some time with her.
I need to get focused for the new semester of college in September.

ONWARDS & UPWARDS!

Inside I am breaking decibel levels..

that even a dog could not tolerate.
I just want to scream but I have to hold my composure.

Looks like our treatment if it goes ahead at all will be delayed again by another few months.

So waiting now to find out if funding is there or not.

I hate my life right now

Social Media "share" status' and pics are getting to me

You know the ones, share if you are a Mom etc...
Here's an example

or

Well my facebook homepage is constantly showing me these pictures, sayings etc...  constantly reminding me of how I am failing in achieving a status of motherhood.

"My children are the reason I wake up each morning, The Reason I Want To Breath ... And The Reason My hair is falling out, My house is a mess & I'm Crazy!" (Anon, 2012).
Today I am seriously not able for these status', and of course I know if we do ever get this elusive pregnancy with hopefully a baby at the end I will be just as bad but for now... for now I cant take it.

I would love to start posting pics of how hard it is to try and conceive with everyone shoving their pregnancies or babies in my face on there everyday but I dunno how my husband would feel about it, how I may segregate myself from family and friends.

Lets see over the next few days if I can muster the courage to even post the picture from yesterday's blog, that might be a start?

Wish I had the BALLS to wear this...

It would stop those questions I get regularly;
"So do you have kids yourself?"

I don't think I would though cause I guess I am a whimp that way LOL

picture courtesy of:
http://www.cafepress.co.uk/mf/29224865/no-kids-yet-ttc_tshirt

I thought this one was funny too but I dont think my husband would appreciate it, its a lot of pressure having it said out like that lol...

A Year today we lost our beloved Becky

She was the Best dog ever.
She had such a character, so loving, so gentle with children just an all round great dog.

She passed from a quick agressive leukemia.
I am so glad I got some last shots of her that morning before she left us.
Hard to believe from the pictures she was only 9

She lost so much weight so fast.
Sleep tight my sweet angel.

There is a bridge connecting Heaven and Earth
It is called Rainbow Bridge because of its colors
Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge there is a land of
meadows , hills and valleys with lush green grass.
When a beloved pet dies, the pet goes... to this place
There is always food and water and warm spring weather
The old and frail animals are young again. Those who
Are maimed are made whole. They play together all day.
There is only one thing missing, they are not with
their special person who loved them on earth.
Each day they run and play until the day comes
When one suddenly stops playing and looks up !
The nose twitches! The ears are up! The eyes are staring!
And this one suddenly runs from the group.
You have been seen, and when you and your special friend meet
You take him or her in your arms and embrace
Your face is kissed again and again and you look once
more into the eyes of your trusting friend.
Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together,
Never again to be separated.

So its summer (pfffts to oneself) so time is going fast

So I need to focus more on getting ready for fertility treatment later in the year (if all goes well).

I have been told on my last 21 day blood that my progesterone levels were a little low, not enough to be worried about that it can be managed.
Now too much information perhaps but: my cycles have been all over the place since I was told this where I could have a very short cycle or a bit longer than what had been the norm.
Someone suggested that they have been shorter because of this low progesterone level.
I have managed to bag myself 3 gel packs from someone giving them away on a forum that I am considering using in the next 3 cycles of the summer.

What I might do then is ask my local gp to do the 21 day bloods again when I use them to see if they actually help the levels. That way I will know when the treatment comes round that the gels will be enough or if I will need the injections.

I am now trawling sites for the cheapest ovulation testing strips/tests and a new digital basal thermometer.

Wish me luck!

The Summer Break so Far...

Well the dogs have been on great walks, Molly has taken a figari to the halti but cant see why, she is just so stubborn, need to change up the walking regime.
Once I turn a certain direction in our estate and they know we are heading towards the river... The pulling and high pitched They sound like little dogs yapping, if you know what I mean. Not insulting the smallies.
Molly has made friends now with 3 more dogs, which I am delighted for because because of no fault of her own or my own she has spent much of her first year of life in Quarantine due to the parvo and going into heat a bit early.
I have been doing my best to get out  but have had a great few days of feeling sorry for myself and throwing myself onto the couch or staying up late and staying in bed late in the mornings. This needs to change.
I am down to 200lbs now for which I am delighted. The stop smoking campaign is up and down but in the right direction. The nicotine gum's are not really suiting me but I will keep plugging away.
Loads more to do before the end of the summer.

So the exams are over and changes I am investing in

Today I went to the doctor and told him I am still smoking and being honest was back up to nearly 20 a day during my study period and during my exams.
So I asked about tablets that I have heard about that put you off smoking.
He advised not to go down this road because they are in effect anti-depressants and would not really recommend them.
So we agreed on a particular branded nicotine replacement chewing gum.
So today I have had 6 smokes and 3 gum's.

If you read this please send positive vibes that the urge for smoking decreases because having tried cold turkey before it just does not work for me, I eat all around me, turn into a lightning bitch and get really figity.

So tomorrow's plan is to clean out the fridge and the hot press.

It's that time again

First exam of Semester 4 starts tomorrow,
Business Maths and Stats...
Oh Boy my 2 worst subjects are Thursday and Saturday.

I have 2 saturday exams. Disaster.

Wish me luck!

Oh and here are some pics of the girls to keep you going...

Kerri chowing down on some cool watermelon on a warm day

Molly doing what she does... misbehaving

Technically "It's not my fault"

So after my husband went up to bed tonight, I ran upstairs to get something and left the two dogs downstairs with the sitting room door closed so Molly moonshine couldnt steal anything from in there.
I came down and put them out to bed because it was late.
On my way back into the house I saw my husbands expensive running shoes inside the back door.
My heart sank.

Yes true to form Molly had gotten her paws (jaws really) onto them and took them out to her guilty spot where she chews things and chewed the tops off of the heels.
This is NOT the first time she has done this and we have had arguments over who was at fault, the dog, me for "not training her properly" or my husband for leaving them somewhere she could get them.
When I go upstairs she normally waits on the stairs for me. Obviously the shoes were too tempting.
Now my husband is in bed, blissfully unaware that his new running shoes are in bits down here and he has a marathon in 2 weeks time!
I dont have the money to buy him new ones, as stated above they are expensive.
How am I going to get myself and Molly out of this one?
If I never post again its because I have been killed (I joke of course but I know the storm will brew fairly fast in the morning)
My husband gets up at 6am to go running before his swim...
I am so Dead!
Wish me luck!

My only defence is he normally leaves them in the sitting room so she doesnt get them as she has done this before... his defence will be he should be able to leave them anywhere without the dog wrecking them...

Tiredies

What a long weekend.

My aunt passed away on Wednesday night, she had been ill for a long time and had so many close calls but always pulled through.

I think her immediate family, my mam included thought this might be the case again. Thanks to diligent children my mam and her female siblings made it to her home while the EMT's were still working on her to be there with her as she passed.

I could not get over the amount of people who attended either part of the funeral, people I have not seen since I was a child, neighbours from our own road and village came to pay their respects and to pass on their condolences to my mother even though they had never met my aunt, out of respect for my mother.

I was humbled by this.

Her funeral was sad and joyful at the same time, it is hard to explain. Her priest lived next door to her for the last twelve years and knew her and her character very well. He knew she was the joker, the woman who may have had nothing but gave all she could in time and knew when to tell a good or dirty joke, the latter usually getting the best reaction without causing any upset.

She loved hearing new jokes also.

Telling these jokes or stories, she would get so caught up in what the punch line was that she would burst into laughter before even getting to it. Crossing her legs at the knee's and bending over a bit, like the laughter was taking control over her body.

Whenever I think of the internet abbreviation PMSL I always think of her.

Because either she would be PHerSelfLaughing or I would be the one PMSL at the joke.

She was one in a million and will be greatly missed by her husband, sons, daughters in law, grandchildren, sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews greatly and missed as part of the local community of her town, her home village, nurses and doctors who treated her and anyone who met her in her lifetime.

My heart breaks for my mother, this is the first adult sibling to be lost in her family and she was the youngest sister at the age of 55. I felt bad leaving my mother to come home today as did my sister who had a flying visit for the service on Saturday. However with technology being as great as it is, like being able to blog my experiences, I keep in touch with family through facebook and twitter, it shortens the distance and the lenght of time between visits to family.

Breeda you were a fantastic, charasmatic, loving lady.

Your hugs were as warm and as welcome as Granny's. You are with Granny and Grandad now and your baby sister Peggy lost at the age of 2 to heart problems. Peggy was with you and around you for the last few months in your months of blindness which I hope elayed those fears of being alone and in the dark.

Sleep tight sweet Breeda until we all meet again.

Love You.

XXX

Oh Good God, Birthday's

So I turn 35 today.
No kids, grey, fat, wrinkly and not great looking to boot.
Wow this is going to be one great birthday.

Thankfully I have a husband who loves me for which I am so grateful for.

I guess I had better give myself that preverbial kick in the butt I have been threatening myself with...
I have the whole week off college for Easter break and have only done one hour's study this week. With exams 4 weeks away I really need to get a riggle on with catching up with everyone.

So so proud of my husband, he ran his first 5k race yesterday, it took him 46 minutes but he didnt stop for a break, his running companion complimented him on the fact he kept the same pace the whole way through. So happy for him, to think this time last year it took him nearly 2 hours to walk 5k and ended up with feet covered in blisters. I can't keep up with him for a short run!
Love him so much!

As promised, pics from today

A Sunny Day in Ireland in March no less!

Walking the Doggies

Ok so now I reckon all my restrictions for walking Molly are over, the parvo, her heat.
It was a fabulous day the other day so I cut the grass, the following day I played with the dogs outside in the garden for a littl while, then decided right its time to go out for a walk before it gets dark.
So I suited n booted the girls up with their halti's and leads, put doggy poop bags in my pocket and a tennis ball.
Off we trotted down to the river, the girls may as well have not had the halti's on, they knew they were going to the river and were pulling like mad.
There was one other person in the field when we got there with their dog. She went off to the other side of the field so I let the girls off loose and started throwing the ball in the river, of course Kerri was straight into the water after the ball, Molly of course was hesitant but enjoyed running around the mucky bank. Dashing in and out of the water.
Once I saw the field was empty I took them away from the river to retrieve on dry land.
The reason I guess is because if you have 2 dogs who have not been out for a while, one of which is still not totally used to meeting other dogs after being in quarantine for both above mentioned reasons, it is hard to control.
However, we came on leaps and bounds with recall and retrieval with Molly, making a huge fuss of her when she returned with the tennis ball.
We were out for about an hour and a half.
Today we didnt get out of the house/garden.
The plan is while my husband is gone out training in the morning that I will take the girls out again, hopefully it will go without issue so that I might bring my camera and get a few shots of them playing!

Tattoo's and Tattoo Design

So my sister turns 40 this year and she asked me to design a tattoo for her foot.
She like me is a tattoo virgin.
I am a severe needlephobe so I dont think I will ever build the courage to get one but who knows you can never say never right?

Her Requirements:
An Oriental Flower
3 Butterflies to represent each of her chidren.

I am not a big fan of the most common oriental flower for tattoo's; The Lotus Flower.

So I started to think about it and recalled an association with the Month of May (Her birth month) of when we were chidren. Our grandmother had a Cherry Blossom Tree and I only ever recalled it flowering a few times and it was always around her birthday (my sisters).
I thought that has to be it.
So I started there, my own Cherry Blossom has already started to bloom so I worked from that.

I then decided all three of her children are very different to eachother in personality so I needed three different styles of butterfly. So I got sketching.
This is what I came up with...

and the painted version

Ever tried SlideRocket.com ?

sliderocket.com

Up the Walls with nothing new really to report

So its been very quiet here, busy working away with college work, or at least attempting to. The dogs have not left the house in a month since Molly went into heat, she is still unbelievably showing signs of being in heat and with so many loose male intact dogs in our estate, I would not even bring her outside the front door incase it attracted these dogs to the house and it has worked.
I know from previous experience dogs can smell a female in heat for miles around. I did not want to take the chance of her getting pregnant at 9 months of age. I am hoping we get the funds together before her next heat to get her neutered.
Had a project to hand in this week with a team of 3 other mature students for our Innovation and Entrepreneur Module. I had a draft essay to hand in for Applied Organisation Behaviour and had feedback on a worksheet for Human Resource Development, ontop of all of this I had three evenings work in the Students Union. It was Charity Week this week so it was full on, it is our university's version of RAG week. There was a lot of money raised for charities as far as I can tell, no official figures yet.
I have not been able to stop eating all week and have discovered Philadelphia Chocolate, its a mix of Philadelphia cheese and Dairymilk Chocolate. OMG as Jedward would say, its frickin delicious! Stick it on a digestive biscuit and it tastes like a chocolate cheesecake! I prefer it though on a rich tea biscuit.
My thighs are enormous from cycling to and from college.
I am still managing to stay up late so am like the walking dead, so so tired. No wonder study isnt going well.

Update on the Ferret...

Posted to a local rescue page about the ferret sightings.
A Lady replied saying she had caught one.
The albino.
It was 4.30am and she awoke to scratching at her bedroom door, half asleep got up opened the door and picked up what she thought was one of her cats!
It wasnt, it was our little friend in the previous post!
He had come through her cat flap and the cats had chased him/her upstairs and he was scratching at her door trying to get away from the cats.
According to this lady they both got a terrible fright but she has since found him/her a foster home while they wait to see if an owner comes looking!
On a national radio station today there were several calls/texts/emails put in regarding spotting ferrets in various area's around the country and only one text in re a missing one, at the other side of the country!

Is this a new epidemic? The fad of owning a ferret wearing off and just dumping them where ever they want?

For Ferret's Sake!

A neighbour came to our door the other day to say she saw rats in her garden, I checked mine and upturned the compost etc..., nothing, no sign, so I am assuming the dogs have been keeping them out of our garden.

I say it to a friend who had been doing some bits and pieces in our shed who said he saw a ferret waltz in and have a good snoop around the other day and not to worry once a ferret has been around there wont be rats.
Now I have to admit I have not uncovered if this is fact or fiction just yet.

So tonight I let the dogs out the back to use the "facilities" when I hear an uproar and go running out.
I hear the dogs barking and something screeching!

Its the ferret! Jumping up at the dogs giving it welly, no fear of these two big labrador's!
Then it hit me. The smell! I have been looking it up and its a fear scent that they release from the anal gland which is usually removed in pets when neutered.
So now I stink, the dogs stink and its hiding behing a large flower pot.
I get the dogs back into the house and I go back out with a torch.
Its still behind the pot up against the fence that divides our garden to the neighbours. I pull the pot out and get look, by the time I get my more than useless camera phone out it has slinked in between the lats in the fence so the picture isnt great.

That drain pipe on the left is skinny so you can imagine how small the ferret is! I am assuming it is young as I always thought they were a big bigger than this but like I said before I am not an expert so who knows. So it has moved into next door's garden if not further. I have let the neighbours know it is in the garden, and I am hoping while it is there will it might venture a few gardens up for some dinner in the form of the rats. I am waiting to hear back from a local rescue regarding it and its safety, nothing on facebook that I can find about a missing ferret so assuming it was dumped or who ever owned it hasnt put anything up on local rescue pages etc...

Have no doubt that I will have an update on this.



How unfit am I?

My husband is on a major weight loss journey, now I couldnt be more proud, I had started out on his journey with him losing weight also.
I have been in a bad place hidden away from everyone else mentally, trying to look smiley on the outside but on the inside not so much.
I started cycling a few days a week to college last September then I started making excuses to eat fattier takeaway food while in college thinking sure I cycle in and out to college I can get away with this sausage roll or wedges, or both. Biggest mistake I ever made, I have increasingly added to this with this and that but have been cycling less.
I had been thinking of getting my ass off this couch and teaching myself that I am capable of running (jogging) 5 kilometers, Hubby dearest can already do this, I couldnt keep up with him on Inchydoney beach. I need to start this training now. I cant take the dogs out Molly is still in her first heat and is at her frisky stage so Kerri couldnt come out with me as  Male dogs would probably think she was the bitch in heat, I dont want to go there.
So with at least another week to go before I can even consider taking them out for a walk, because lets face it a whole lot of people play ignorant to their responsibilities as dog owners and just let them wander where ever and when ever they want to, fully intact, especially the males, now I know my pup is not yet neutered but due to financial circumstances I was waiting on a voucher to get her neutered and she went into heat a day before the vouchers were issued and due to demand they could not hold onto a voucher for me. So she can not be neutered until at least April.
I need to do this "training" I think while in college, between classes or something, I have just over a month to move these cankles that feel like lead when I attempt anything more than a spirited walk.
I really dont want to let myself down but would love love love to Join this race that hubby dearest has been ask to lead out in April as he is seen from his followers as an inspiration in his life changing journey, I still want to be part of it but need to get my head out of the doldrums to get myself back into gear.
I really need one of those preverbial kick's up the rear.
Inspiration please hit me with a whallop!

A Well Deserved Weekend Break

I will update the details in the morning but wow, Inchydoney Lodge and Spa, pure luxury!
Inchydoney Lodge and Spa

Ok so we were spoilt this weekend by the above mentioned 4 star hotel.

Upon arrival, management came out to greet us and personally take our bags to our room.
We were given one of the deluxe suites, the one on the top floor with the BEST view of the beach and surrounding sea/landscapes.
The room (or rooms) were to die for!

This is just the view from the lounge of the suite. You have a whole other section from the other side.

View from the four poster double bed edge.

Excuse the mess we had only just come back from a swim!

The lounge with our very own Nespresso machine, lovely!

So anyway, we immediately pulled everything out of our bags to find our swimwear and headed straight down to the Heated Seawater pool! You could not do "many" laps but the leisure facilities such as the jacuzzi's and power showers in the pool made up for this, the showers were like hands free massagers, bliss.

We ate in Dunes Bar the first evening, and wow, the seafood and meat platters each were enough for two to share, we could not finish them, stunning and all locally sourced food!

As it was late enough when we arrived we hit the hay on the most spacious, comfortable and inviting four poster double bed.

Saturday morning we awoke fresh and went for breakfast, and then went for another swim and opened up those pores in the steam room.
What sets this spa hotel apart from another I have been too was that the ladies changing room was adequately supplied with Elemis products from Shower Gel, Shampoo, Conditioner to Cleanser, Toner and Body lotion, there were even cotton pads laid out with the cleanser/toner etc... and supplies were never low. Bliss. I was in my Elemis, I mean element.

We then went exploring the beach. We challenged the waves to get around the rocky outcrop (ok it was only a few cm's deep and the tide was on its way out), once we got to the other side we jogged nearly the full lenght of the beach as in above pic.

We dined again for lunch in Dunes Pub before we set off back into the spa for our treatments.
I had a Seawater Bath, it was lovely however I was overcome by the heat after getting out of the bath and could really have done with a cold shower to cool myself off as the humidity in the spa was too heavy for me after such an intense bathe, I must admit though the staff in the spa really looked after me and helped me ease the dizziness and nausea.
They even pushed back my second treatment until they felt I was ready for it.
And ready I was, a Classical Algae Wrap, DIVINE!

We retired to our room for a quick nap before getting ready for dinner in the Gulfstream Restaraunt.
I had crabmeat with mango jelly as a starter, monkfish ( a bit too rubbery for me) and a chocolate dessert. Had a few drinks and again we were so overcome by being full and for some reason absolutely tired we retired to our room, where we curled up on the bed and watched the tv and then were out like a light.

For our final breakfast we went all out, tried a little bit of most things, just to sample it.
Again divine.

We then went back to the spa for our final treatments.
I had a stunning Elemis facial which I didn't want to end, and as I paid for it I was bought a little present from my fab husband.
Lets hope it helps reduce these feckin wrinkles! I am not that old but have "ageing" skin. Must be all that stress.

We packed our things and rested up in our room for a little while as lets face it we did spend a weekend eating a little more than we usually do, something to do with all that lovely fruit all around the hotel between meals!
Our very friendly manager Peter who had gone out of his way all weekend to make sure we had no problems met us as we checked out and gave us a lovely jar or Inchydoney Jam!
We got back to Limerick and were absolutely shattered, how on earth can a relaxing weekend away zap so much energy out of you?

We were greeted by two very mucky pups who had spent the weekend driving their minders demented!

Ah that rush of relief / overwhelming emotion

I went back to Semester 4 today in my journey to reach Graduation, only 4 more to go.
We had Business Stats then 3 hours to kill before Applied Organisation Behaviour so I went to the lecturers office for the exam I got that big fat F in and he was not in his office. ugh.
I thought, ok I will take out a book and start reading while waiting for him hoping he would come back.
I met one of the tutors and he took my details, within minutes I had found out I had not in fact failed!
SCORE!
I became overwhelmed with relief and a rush of emotion, I thought I would collapse (and I am not the fainting type). No need to repeat, no need to stress on where I was to get the money to repeat, no panicking on how I was going to keep going with the new subjects this semester and worry about doing this exam all over again.

My lecturer emailed me later today to give my transcript breakdown.

I got a C3!!!
Never so happy as I was today, well ok I have been but really excited about it!

A Lovely week with a Horrible result

So off I trotted from the car to the train station on Monday just gone and chugged all the way to the train station near my parents leaving my husband and dogs behind.

Hubby dearest drove to Dublin on Tuesday and had a great morning on the radio (he is a monthly contributor to a nationwide radio station). Being delayed on his way out his parking ticket ran out, and was clamped, he was only delayed by 15 minutes! They don't take prisoners in Dublin!

So I had a lovely few days at home with my parents and my brother and his family over the road

Thursday however was not so nice. I woke up and immediately logged onto mam's laptop to find out I had failed one of my college exams.
To say I was heartbroken was an understatement.

If I cannot get it changed it means forking out to repeat a subject I find really difficult and put loads into it and was totally knocked back by the big fat F staring back at me...

I have come home to my brilliant husband today and my gorgeous dogs, Kerri's Collar is MIA and Molly has wrecked the garden again!

Tomorrows job? Clean up the doo doo and all the mess she has made from entertaining herself while hubby was out at college while I was away...

New Experience... LOL

Well I woke up this morning and thought, right enough is enough of this lazing around lark while I am "waiting" to go back to college.
So took my bicycle out of the shed, dusted it off.
Went out to bring the dogs in out of the dog run, surprisingly Molly was still in the dog run!
I put their reflective straps and leads on.
It took me a minute or two to settle them down as the "thought" they were going out for a walk.
Surprise!
I sat up on the bike and just took off!
Molly went into Greyhound mode and just galloped and galloped, there was a guy sitting in a lorry outside and he just gawped at me.
I was laughing so hard inside at his face, on the outside I was pulling at her lead to reign her in a bit as her instinct was to get up on the path and a bit of a, how do you explain it, a giddy leaping around run?
Does that make sense?
Long story short, it was hilariously dangerous but I thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks the powers that be that there was no traffic at the time!
Lets see if this is going to be something that helps with Molly's hyperactivity and make her calmer on a post run walk?

First Challenge of 2012

So on Sunday just gone we got up at 6am and finished packing our bags/car and set of for Mayo.

We got to the base of Croagh Patrick outside Westport in County Mayo.
We could not see the top of the mountain because of cloud cover. The shop was not open so we could not rent walking poles so we set off, I was carrying our bag which contained a few bottles of water, some food and my camera.

We went up the laneway to the statue of St. Patrick and we set off.
The first section (Stage One) is a long winding trail of rock, shale and mud.
There are clear instructions signed in several places to stay on the path and not to stray off of it as it is dangerous to stray as the rest of the mountain is boggy and steep.

To get up to the gate you have to tackle the first of the rocky paths.
Once you opened the gate this is what lay ahead of you for... Stage 1 alone!

If you can see it through the cloud, that black line which forms a dip in the picture is the completion of Stage 1, to reach the Ridge, which is Stage 2 a flat trek to the base of "the mountain" Croagh Patrick. Stage 3 is a steep incline of Shale to reach the top of Croagh Patrick where a little church rests.

This picture may not do the trek justice, it is a tough climb and for novices like us.

As my husband is on a life long challenge to lose weight we were sensible enough to take plenty of breaks and people passed us many times on our ascent. All were very friendly, one group of young men flew past us and one said hello, the second said,"taking a break already?" without considering the man sitting beside me was just under 29stone and to get as far as we did even at that stage was some achievement!

It did not phase my husband, I dont know if he even heard him.

Considering this time last year he weighed 42stone 3lbs I am so so proud of him and this was just the first step in 2012's challenge.

We persisted on further up our climb, at one stage we watched the clound sweep down the mountain like a plume of smoke, wave over us and get sucked back up towards the ridge, you almost expected to smell smoke! You just got a wave of mist.

To give you some idea of Half way of stage 1... on the middle left section of this picture there is a little grey  square between a ridge of the montain and the waters edge, this is the car park!

The closer to the ridge we got the less you could see around you and the more uncomfortable you felt about where the edge of the path was.

This picture was as the clouds came down again with a very strong wind and the rain was heavier (naturally it was heavy cloud so larger water droplets).

Once we reached the top of Stage 1 we felt as novices we should turn back and tackle all 3 stages again later in the year on perhaps a clearer day.

So we commenced our descent.

I would definately recommend for any novices to dress well, ok I had no walking boots, hubby did.

Wear a few layers of clothes and luminous or Hi-Vis clothing, a simple vest like this is good enough for day time climbing. For anyone like me who suffers from earache from breezes dont attempt without a head hugging hat, wool or fleece. I found the gloves very handy as you will spend some stages of your climb hugging or holding rock for balance, especially on your descent.

The descent certainly worked the other muscles you did not use on your ascent. This is where the walking poles I am sure would have aided us, I ended up on my rear twice, not as bad as I thought it could be but for someone with hubby's weight I guess gravity pulled on his body a bit more than mine and altough he did not slip or fall at any stage he really had to take it slow and gingerly.

We were never so happy to see the statue of St. Patrick and know how close we were to the car!

We got fresh clothes out of the car and straight into the public toilets to change.

I drove home as hubby drove up.

It was only on Monday I felt any aches and pains, poor hubby had some blisters but after walking the Dublin City Marathon in 2011 these blisters were nothing.

I thoroughly I enjoyed it and cannot wait to do it again.

keep going...

well  I was starving last, not much but woke up hungry!
disaster, ate a big meal at 11am!
My hubby had gone out this morning to training and came back with groceries for me.
I was delighted, all sensible food with 2 treats, but mostly fruit.
Just need to be drinking more water now also.
My skin on my face is gone to crap from the lack of it.
We did not get out for a walk with the dogs today, gutted.
Extra long walk and possible swim for the dogs tomorrow.

Goals.. not resolutions

Seeing as my husband has been on a goal setting journey since this time last year and reaching those goals, I have decided I am going to do the same.
We are hoping to start IUI Fertility later in the year.
So my goal is to get down from what I weighed in today at 204lbs down to 150lbs.

Thats 54lbs this year.

Here's hoping I reach that target and dont let myself, my husband and our future children down because of my failings.

I walked the dogs last night into town and back in an hour, today I took them down to the river, it was fun for them a struggle for me as in one walk they have become the worlds worst behaved dogs, I couldnt get over the difference in their walk last night and midday today!
Today they just pulled and pulled etc... all the way to the swimming spot, I think it was my own fault today cause I let them see the toy I brought, as soon as they saw it the knew they were going to the river.

So my arms are feeling it now, so it was like a small workout...
Here's hoping tomorrow's walk goes better, its all in aid of losing thouse lbs for me and Kerri cause she too needs to lose a few lbs