Author: Oana

Why I love my toddler

Published by

It’s not a secret and I have written about it before, I didn’t have an easy start with my baby. She was refluxy, I had hypothyroidism, not a great combination. I am doing this volunteer course for supporting mothers with difficulties at the moment and I’ve come to realise that I should have had some reassurance back then. I found it so hard, coping with my own emotions and minding an ever crying baby. But this is in the past and I suppose it makes me appreciate even more having a beautifully balanced toddler now. I’m gonna, randomly and as it comes to mind, make a list of how my toddler melts my heart on a daily basis: -she uses “Peas(please)” and “Tenk(thank) you” all the time. Especially when she’s after a round of “Yeea, yeea,oooh” on my computer but also when she’s offered a drink, her favourite food or help with dressing up. -she’s ever so determined to do things herself. Be it either a puzzle, eating her cereal in the morning, putting her …

Home is where your heart is…

Published by

Today we decided, spur of the moment, to drive back to our old church in Carrickfergus. I have been missing everybody there and hubby knows it so he actually suggested it. That it was good to be back is an understatement. Our old church is a small but loving community and it welcomed us back in its midst immediately and unconditionally. It was wonderful to hear the older ladies saying sweet, heartfelt things like: “Welcome home!” and “You’ve been dearly missed!” Mind you, my own grannies died when I was young so these ladies have been the closest thing to the real thing for me. I have been to women’s weekends with them and I have grown to respect and appreciate their sharp sense of humour, honesty, love for God and genuineness. How did it feel? Well, like home, like we belong there, like we never left. I haven’t experienced this sense of grace very often in my life. Not even when we visit our own families. It’s much more complicated than this actually because …

Freedom Writers

Published by

I feel like I’ve been shooting my blog in the foot lately because I couldn’t post anything decent and coherent in the last week. But my mind has been occupied by more pressing issues since last Sunday and it’s only started coming back to a more normal state in the last day or so. Our family has been on a roller coaster of emotions, motions and locomotions since August and things haven’t settled yet. It looks like we can’t move forward yet although, as I have said in a previous post, this would have been hubby’s preferred option. So we’re staying in Northern Ireland for a while(sigh of relief from my side!). But waiting has its bad connotations, hasn’t it? It is more often than not associated with missing out on something bigger and better. A hindrance rather than a necessary step in the natural order of things towards a pre-established goal. Waiting room symptoms? Impatience, inability or unwillingness to enjoy the present moment. Irritability at one’s misfortune. Fatalism and indecision. Here’s where we’ve both …

Happy Mother’s Day, mama!

Published by

http://youtu.be/SEOTlxLMTjQ

I miss being in Romania for special days like the 8th of March, Mother’s Day.
I have been singing this song to my mum every single year on Mother’s Day since I was 5 and she’s still touched when I do.
The song says: Mummy, I have brought you my love because I couldn’t think of anything better to bring. And it expresses so well what I feel…
I miss just being there with my mum and doing normal things like having a coffee in her tiny, untidy but full of her presence kitchen. Love talking to her about everything and nothing in particular. Love waking up to the smell of fresh bread. Or staying up till late to have fresh from the oven cozonac(traditional Romanian cake) and sarmale(stuffed vine leaves).
Miss the carelessness of my childhood. Thank you, for making it as special as you could,mama!

The worst boy in the world

Published by

Last week was a week of excitement and exhilarating feelings. A break from reality we all need sometimes. But it wasn’t a break completely sheltered from reality. Every morning the hotels we stayed in dully provided us with the daily newspaper, either the Irish News or the Irish Times. Of course, when you travel with a toddler you can’t really have a proper read, you just scan the titles. Just to keep yourself up to date with what is going on around you and in the world. Well, on Wednesday morning this title caught my eye, a story of horrendous neglect and abuse in a family with five children, aged between two and nine. I managed to read it through actually as it was succinct and cold, a mere rendering of appalling facts. Children left hungry, improperly dressed and NEVER toilet trained, not even one of them…It took my mind a while to get around the physical facts in order to begin to assess the psychological damage those things alone would have inflicted on those …