Choco Mum

Our first ever PLANNED trip to Italy.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 02:24:00 +0000

Getting my head straight was the first thing I had to do to plan out this trip. My husband told me he's taking me to Italy and I was like woohooo but when planning the itinerary for such a place where they say 'Rome wasn't built in one day' wasn't really that simple. We knew we wanted to see most of it but the question was most of what?? We started by first finalizing our dates and the airports. We were traveling from Ryanair to Rome and our return was from Bergamo (Milan).
It would be handy to keep the map of Italy open on another webpage to make sure about location and time distance amongst them. After booking the flight we realized that we wanted to see the south of Italy as well so we should have booked Pompei but since the booking was done and Ryanair isn't that easy in changing tickets we thought we would drive to Pompei for three hours as soon as we land in Rome. And that's exactly what we did. Will talk about that later but before departing Dublin there was lots to do.
Having a four year old and a nine month baby, we had to make sure that they were not to exerted with the trip but I must say a big thumbs up to them for what was yet to come.
We planned 7 nights 6 different cities 6 different hotels…lots of hotel booking was needed.
My job was to find good hotels and take my husband's credit card and book them. Simple!
It sounds like a fun job but…. it's not. You often hear people say 'book early to get a good deal' hence my search started three weeks prior to our depart. Believe me when I say "I went crazy". With the internet being overcrowded with unlimited websites it was quite a challenging task. However before finalizing the hotel I always gave the hotel a quick ring for any clarifications I had regarding the room, baby crib, parking…etc. Do bare in mind that most of my booking was not done on the hotels direct website, I mostly used: trip advisor, venere, agoda and trivago.

A few points when booking a hotel:

1- Breakfast must be included! It's always good to leave the hotel with a good heavy breakfast specially with kids. And Im not talking about B&B here, we had continental breakfast served daily with proper buffet.
2- Car park of the hotel. If you are renting a car it's good to know your car is parked in safe area. Plus some hotels would charge €5/€10 per night to use the parking whereas some didn't.
3- There's city tax in Italy so apart from the room charges there's extra charge per person per night ranging from €2.50-€10. Children are free :)
4-Location of the hotel. You don't want to waste too much time driving or getting to the attraction specially if there's so much you have to do in such a short while.
5-And of course the cost of the room on which you really don't have much control unless there's an offer going on or you book early. Do lots of research for good deals since there are plenty of sites offering different rates and when you call the hotel personally you can sometimes get a different price as well.

I must say the staff in each hotel were very friendly and they all had small nutella packs available for breakfast as well. We went for 4* hotels as they seemed to meet our requirements.

http://www.bighospitality.co.uk

Watch this space for more details about our trip in the coming post : 7 nights & 6 cities

Sleepless nights ain't joyful mommies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 02:27:00 +0000

I don't understand why; specially first time moms; say "joyful sleepless nights" when there little baby is born. Now if you seperate the two words 'joyful' and 'sleepless' they will probably make more sense. Yes being a first time or second time or everytime mom is definately joyful.. No matter what number child it is! Holding the priceless jewel in your hands is joyful, no happiness can fullfil that place but please, sleepless nights it ain't that. And it's just the beginning that has no end.. People say actually not people your own mother would tell you " once he's 6 months and starts weaning you will sleep better" like hello that is so not true! My daughter is four and these two reasons will prove this (atleast for me) firstly i've had another child whose three months and needs his feed just as im about to go to bed or its just night time toilet training for my daughter.. The waking up to take her to school.. Or morning vaccinne.. A mother cannot sleep in! Im not saying all this is bad, it's just that 'sleepless nights are not joyful'

(Picture from online source)

Its a tech world!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 22:45:00 +0000

In todays economy technology has taken such a valuable place in our lives or lets say taken over our lives that we are unable to differentiate what really is important and what is not. The quality time that was spent with family, friends or even at work is now more controlled by our iphones, ipads, notebooks whatever you may call it.

Honestly speaking it made me forget how to actually write..

Accept it or not your in it too not because you want to but theres not really much of an option. We are all aware of the positive sides; it being the most accessible, informationaly loaded, time pass product; and the negativity; unhealthy, stressful and time consuming; we still cannot seperate ourselves from it. With apps like viber, skype, whatsapp on the phone who needs; once upon a time; landline numbers.. When was the last time you actually used your house phone. Yes there is a minority out there who are not into this so please keep yourself out of it cause it is addictive and it will too take over you.

Sitting on the bed trying to put my son to sleep whilst I type this out on my iphone makes me think what will the world of techs be when he is putting his kids to sleep..

The second time

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 May 2014 13:43:00 +0000

Just when your about to get your 'me time' as your first one gets more independent; the second one decides to come. The joyful nappy changing and enjoyable sleepless nights will start all over again when the little bundle of joy arrives. Well it happens when it happens I guess. But is the second time around the same as the first time. The primary difference I've felt is lack of patience and excess of emotions,anything makes me cry and nothing makes me happy! Honestly it's funny when you come to think about it but that's the truth of hormonal imbalance. Secondly I feel is that you are counting days; like literally. Since you know what's about to happen to your body, you just want the time to go as quick as it can but like the first time it WILL take nine months. The only similarity between the first and second is the shopping excitement and it only gets better when you know whether it's a boy or girl and if you don't know then better play it safe with whites, yellows and greens.

There's always a next time mommy!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 13:56:00 +0000

Wow! what all does a mother must do leaving her with no choice because it's not really an option. She needs to be an all rounder and make sure that things are going perfectly right. Now.. perfectly right is not really possible with kids around. You try to make them nutritious food but they refuse to even touch it, you teach them manners but they still misbehave in front of guests.. Well the list just goes on. And at the end, leaves me, as a mother frustrated and stressed and makes me wonder where is it that I'm going wrong. Let me first correct myself here, first of all I'm not doing anything wrong because as a mother you only want to what's best for the child so how can that be wrong?? I just need to sit back and take things slowly and one at the time, if they don't work out it's ok because maybe it's not the right time but with time your child will eat that food you made, will definately start understanding what's right and wrong... The point is that sometimes the time is just wrong to do all that but don't give up: there's always a next time!

Picture is from a website

Montessori Teacher

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 23:58:00 +0000

Wow it's been a while since I last blogged and I would like to blame my new job for that.
I started working as the montessori teacher and am honestly loving it!
It is definitely tiring and by tiring I mean mentally (not physically). By the end of the day your brain is numb and stops functioning. What tires me are not the questions in fact they are the most creative and interesting questions that actually make you think of an answer that is true and can be told in a context that they understand. What tires my mind is them constantly calling out your name every second of the three hours that I am there for (As I'm only working part-time). As much as I love my job and enjoy working with the young, new generation explorers; I've started to hate my name.
For any one who is studying to become a montessori teacher DO NOT change your mind; you will with time get use to the goods and the bads and will become the super heroes in the eyes of the little ones. (They always think you know everything!)
It's been an interesting journey; in less than a year it has taught me lots of patience and most importantly the ability to understand kids and that sometimes they are too allowed to get their way around as long as it's safe to do so.

This picture was taken from the www.merchantcircle.com

'The Right Thing'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 22:30:00 +0000

Being a mum within itself is a pretty time consuming responsibility and tough at the same time as you have to make sure your kid is doing 'THE RIGHT THING' - Now what exactly is that

Every household or let's say culture has a few to do's and a few not to do's and based on that you judge what's right for your child and what's not but doesn't this limit the creativity of your child. If you stop them from doing what's wrong how will they know what exactly is the wrong thing before they even do it. When Sireen was born and she had just started walking I had removed all the dangerous things that would hurt but I didn't put safety guards for the stairs etc because I always wanted her to explore her way around. Obviously I did have to be careful but that didn't stop her from doing her new thing 'exploring'. I'm not saying I am the perfect mother but there's no perfect child either.

I feel there's no such thing as 'WRONG' for the child as they are simply innocent checking their new little world out but maybe it's just not the right time for them.

Enjoy their childhood cause it hardly lasts.

Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 21:09:00 +0000

Sometimes you just put all your effort in things and nothing seems to fall in place..
The moment you want to give up on everything and wish you could start all over again..
Think you might have started wrong..
But at the end all you have is the hope that things will fall in place with time, don't give up but learn from what went wrong
This is exactly how I'm feeling right now..

According to our popular google search engine the definition of hope 'A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen'

Maybe I am just not trying hard enough..

The Creche Investigation on Prime Time

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 May 2013 18:26:00 +0000

Now what do I say after seeing that program..I'm sure all the moms out there are surprised, shocked, angry and definitely would have no trust left whatsoever on the day cares.

I'm not saying all the day cares have those kind of staffs but I'm sure it does worry the mothers specially if your child is going there for the whole day.

But the question is How can you be so harsh to those beautiful innocent kids?? Well I didn't see when it was broadcasted so watched it on Youtube and my heart just melted for those innocent babies.

I am a montessori Teacher and in my time of learning the subject I understood that the first few years of childhood, from birth to 6years are very critical. What they see is what they believe and that's what they learn and adopt for the rest of their life. How we say 'Actions speak louder than words..' it's the same for them

But then again the parents know their children best and if there's something wrong or even right they can just sense it.. The program was an eye opener for the parents and maybe they should take it in a positive way and try to spend some quality time even if it's just 30 minutes with their kids. And the kids reactions or gestures will be enough for them to realize if their child is happy. I'm not doubting a mother's bringing up here but when I say quality time I mean just her and the baby.. no TV or mobile or laptop.

A child's smile is one of life's greatest blessing:)

Competition time!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:17:00 +0000

I will be giving away one of my favorite crystal bangles tomorrow on my Facebook page 'The All Trade Shop'
So watch this space tomorrow all you will have to do is share and like my page.
Winners will be announced next week!
Here's a glimpse of what I have:)
One of the 2 below will be chosen.. PERFECT FOR THE SUMMER!

CHUNKY BRIGHT YELLOW CRYSTAL BANGLE

THIN BRIGHT YELLOW CRYSTAL BANGLE

Bye to greys & Hello! NEONS..

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:25:00 +0000

Finally the sun decides to show up in this part of the world..
Finally I can put on my favorite neons..

Enjoy the pics

It's MAY!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 May 2013 23:19:00 +0000

Wow.. this year has really flown by four months have gone by since I got back from my long vacation- Miss it!
Time is really flying and we sometimes don't tend to realize that 'yesterday' will never repeat itself. Things we did, could have done, shouldn't have done.. all this doesn't matter cause that time has passed.
But what matters is tomorrow- What I can do, MUST do and shouldn't do!
If I sit back and think what I have achieved in those past months makes me slightly satisfied - Not fully- as I feel I could have achieved more.
I feel I could have had a more healthier lifestyle and focused on my workout a bit more rather than sit around and eat instead.
I could have focused more on my entrepreneurial goals and could have been where I will be by next month.
Spent more quality time with my daughter instead of getting stressed and frustrated at her for maybe just not going to the bathroom! Silly me!
Every one has there own particular set of goals they plan to achieve this year or in the future
Well it's never to late.. I can still get my acts together and focus on what I want in my life to what's not important in my life!
Well we can also look at this article in another way..
It's ONLY May! And we still have more than half a year to accomplish our goals for this year.. I can still focus on my healthy eating and workout, get my work together and quit on my stress and frustration and enjoy time with my daughter before she gets busy in her life.

“You can have it all. Just not all at once.”
― Oprah Winfrey

My New Stock! LOVING IT!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 01:40:00 +0000

Please contact The All Trade Shop to order!
Limited pieces!
Like, Share & Shop!

Facebook!?!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:44:00 +0000

Since I have started my Facebook page 'The All Trade Shop' I have started a hatred feeling towards it well I love it and definitely can't spend a day without being on it but to make your page popular and get likes on it.. who said it's going to be easy!
You come across pages that have 50K or 80K likes and I'm not kidding I have seen one with 220K likes and at the same time you just wish that somehow you were there and enjoying all that liking around. Well on the other side, these pages are a real motivation and when your feeling like your never going to get there just Facebook around and you will see people or companies who have struggled to get there and so can you.
Well it's definitely easy peasy when you are using it for personal gain but if you want to start a business through it it's more like chinese with all those tech words and I don't know what!

Well personally I am a very laptop person I can sit on it for hours and always find something to read, watch or do so spending time on it is not the problem for me but this liking thing can be very stressful as if I already don't have enough of it in my life..lol

Anyways Keep smiling, liking & sharing!

our page

My new Facebook Page!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 04:07:00 +0000

I have just started a new business on my Facebook page called 'The All Trade Shop'
Like it's name, we have a variety of different things which are mostly in limited quantity.
We regularly keep updating our products so we have something new for you often.

Please help me grow my business by liking it and sharing it amongst your friends and you can also shop from it too!

Here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-All-Trade-Shop/472756509445805?ref=hl&bookmark_t=page

Thanks a mill!

THE ALL TRADE SHOP

Part of motherhood

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 01:10:00 +0000

Becoming a mother is a beautiful feeling but being a mother is simply just another world. A beautiful world filled with tiny toes, tiny hands, beautiful eyes and those sweet words that make your day. The first time you here them say mama is like as if you have never heard anything ever before; you've been deaf all your life and this one word suddenly makes you hear differently feel differently.
As a mother a lot of responsibilities come to you; in my culture they say the mother's bringing up of the child reflects her character and her personality. This kind of does worry me because I feel as a mother; every mother wants the best for their children; strives for the best for their children so how can she be judged in such a way. She might care a little less, have less time for her kids but at the end she truly does love them. Anyways nobody's perfect but when I look through my daughter's eyes she sees the perfectness in me and believes that I totally rock!

A few quotes on mother

“Mothers and their children are in a category all their own. There's no bond so strong in the entire world. No love so instantaneous and forgiving.”
Gail Tsukiyama, Dreaming Water

“Before becoming a mother I had a hundred theories on how to bring up children. Now I have seven children and only one theory: love them, especially when they least deserve to be loved.”
Kate Samperi

She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along.
Margaret Culkin Banning

If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?
Milton Berle

Would love to hear some comments
Xx

A few things I wouldn't mind in my life

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:04:00 +0000

for my little princess..

Diamond studded Benz worth $4.8 million is actually owned by the prince of Saudi

The bigger the merrier

A peacefull home

$3000

Mixed emotions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:51:00 +0000

The time when you just don't want to talk to anyone and yet not want to make them feel your annoyed.. the moment where your trying to be happy but deep inside nothing satisfies you.. want to make good use of the time you have but just don't know what to do! Now this doesn't usually happen to me but for the past few weeks it keeps kicking in.

I like to be a busy person well by that I mean I like to keep myself occupied in doing productive things and not just sitting in front of the TV or my FB account but for the past weeks nothing entertains me for long.. a minute I want to read a book and the other I want to learn how to make a woolen hat for my daughter; which by the way is pretty confusing but once you get the hang of it, it gets easy but that's IF you get the hang of it and I didn't!

Hopefully these emotions will fade away just like the cloudy weather and there will be a nice sunny day

'The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.'

Baruch Spinoza Quotes

Welcome 2013..

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 00:54:00 +0000

I don't understand why people make new year's eve a big deal, why restaurants or even resorts increase there rates for that one night. It's just another night following a new date only this time with a new year. It's not like in 2013 humans will start flying!
I wanted to book a dinner at a restaurant in Atlantis for the 31st dec (just like everyone else I thought of actually celebrating the new year this time). So usually and by usually I mean 364 days a year (except the last day of the year) the rates are 190aed per person for that particular restaurant I was interested in but when I called them for the 31st dec there rates had gone to 995aed per person. Well not to my surprise it was fully booked, so I then asked for the 1st of January and they said they have availability so I asked them how much is the rate and they said its 190aed per person! I completely fail to understand the reason behind this it's not like the fireworks go on in the restaurant.

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. ~Hal Borland

Happy New year!

Things to do in Dubai

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:14:00 +0000

The popular landmarks of Dubai like Burj Al Arab, Madinat Jumeirah, Burj Khalifa, The dancing fountain at downtown Dubai and ofcourse The Atlantis. Each place has its own attraction. In Atlantis you will also enjoy the water park in which you can also swim with the dolphins
Shopping - Now here I don't mean going to the malls (you have that every where). I'm talking about Dubai's local bazaar like Souq Naif, Meena bazaar, Satwa and of course Dragon Mart where you will find all items made in China .
Arabic food - Even if you have never had it you will definitely fall in love with it. The hommus, kebabs, vine leaves, arayes and especially the mannish at Al Reef Bakery. They are all too good!
Shisha - You will find it in every corner of Dubai with many different flavors. You can also buy the shisha itself as a souvenir to take back home even if you don't want to use it.
Desert Safari - This is a fun filled day in the deserts of dubai where you enjoy desert safari, dunning and yummy arabic food. You can do this through companies like Arabian Adventures that provide full day safari packages.
Dubai Museum
Dubai Ice Rink at the Dubai Mall
Bab Al Shams

And the list just simply goes on...
Enjoy your stay!

*The pictures are taken from google images

DUBAI

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 21:39:00 +0000

Dubai; the place I totally love; for the first time does not excite me as it once use to. This is my home country, the place where I was born and brought up, the place that holds a lot of memories for me. I come here nearly twice a year and every trip is exciting as if its my first time but this time I feel like I've left something behind. For the first time I am missing my real home; Dublin. My space, my routine and most importantly my husband. The second he left me at the airport and went to the transit section to catch his flight from dubai to dublin I just knew that this was the wrong decision.

Anyways.. its been quite a while since I last posted I don't know what keeps me so busy. Hopefully this time I will be regular.

Crystal Bangles

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:05:00 +0000

This is a must have for all the ladies out there!
I personally have stacks of these bangles which I bought for myself cause I absolutely love them. They are handmade using shiny crystals from some part of the world. They will definitely add some shine in your life and make you stand out of the crowd.
They are available in most of the stores and online but I purchased mine's from adverts at a very reasonable price.
Go check them out and add some *Bling* in your life!

My personal collection

Tayto Park

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:41:00 +0000

We finally did make it to Tayto Park the last weekend and it was great fun. The weather was just perfect with the sunshine coming and going; finally made use of my chopard shades:)
They had some free stuff like glitter tattoo which I got one for my daughter and one for myself and then there was also balloon scultping where they would make a shape of certain things like flowers, animals etc out of balloon... pretty cool I would say.
We had taken our own lunch; they do have a restaurant there but we just wanted something homemade. They had really nice picnic spots where you can just sit and enjoy your food. There was a little open zoo and since my daughter gets very fascinated with animals it just made her day.
The entrance fees is €12 for adults and I think €6 for kids, and under 3 are FREE!!

Tip: An adult does not have to pay the entrance fee If and ONLY IF they use their tesco vouchers. If you visit http://www.tesco.ie/clubcard/deals/ and click on 'days out' there's an option of Tayto Park. The only thing is that it takes a week for the coupon to arrive so one should have this done before going to the park if they want to avail this Superb Value!

Will try posting some pics later on.
Enjoy
Xox

Oh and we got some free pack of crisps when we left:)

Fridays!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:26:00 +0000

Friday seems to be such a long and tiring day.. being the last day of the week and especially with this weather around it just doesn't get any better. Well the weekend is finally here and me and my husband decided that we will sit in and just relax but I guess that just never happens. We will be taking my daughter and another family, who has a son the same age as my daughter, to Tayto park on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will be a lot better and we will see the last bit of some sunshine:) as it is already the beginning of september and autumn is here to come:(

Enjoy the weekend guys..

Xox

Back on track

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:30:00 +0000

It has been quite a while since I last posted something on my blog, well I just got back from a never ending vacation and have been settling into the usual routine life. It takes a while for that to happen specially when you've been on a break for nearly 3 months.. but it's always nice to be back home!
My daughter sireen seems to be all big now and is now running around and getting her hands on everything.. literally! Well I'll keep posting regularly now..hopefully
Xox