Moving!

Our Adventures in Ireland are coming to an end. I will no longer be updating this blog, but please feel free to visit us at our new blog for a glimpse into a brand new chapter in our lives.

Happy Birthday!

Happy First Birthday to my little lion man.

At his birthday party last weekend

A birthday picnic in the park, April 23

A more detailed post and update to come next week!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoy the day, wherever you are... Irish or not! Just promise me you won't drink any green beer. Make it a Guinness!! 

Our Family

Most days, it's just the three of us in the wide, wide world.

We have ups and downs and none of us are perfect, but we learn and grow together.

At the end of the day, I thank God that I get to walk down life's path with these people.

Mom's Visit

My mom left on Tuesday after being here for 11 days. We had a marvelous time despite both Liam and I being sick for part of her visit. Poor Liam had an ear infection for the first few days she was here and after it cleared up we went on picnics in the park, did a bit of shopping on Grafton Street, saw the seals in Howth, went to lunch and coffee, and went for a beautiful walk up Killiney Hill with my mummy friends where we dined on olives, cheese, crackers and humus. We may or may not have enjoyed sips of prosecco and champagne....

Howth

Mom and I on Dun Laoghaire Pier

Kara, Jenny and their boys on top of Killiney Hill

Playing at H's house

Towards the end of the trip, I got hit with a nasty flu bug. It hung on for 4 days! I was so annoyed to be sick when all I wanted was to enjoy my mom's time here. On the other hand, I was so thankful to have her here to help with Liam. Not fun taking care of a baby while you're sick! 

Watching mom leave was harder than ever before. Now, with Liam, I have this unrelenting desire to be nearer to our families. I want them to know him like we do. And I want him to know and love them like we do, too. It was incredible watching Liam fall in love with my mom. It makes me sad that we're not sure when the next time we'll see them will be. (probably this summer, one way or another)

"I love you, Grammy!"

We miss you so much!!

10 Months Old!

10 months old

When I posted Liam’s last update he was 5 months old. He’s now twice that and I’m not sure how it happened! He doesn't seem like a little baby anymore... which is kind of sad, but great at the same time. Watching him become a little person with likes and dislikes and sense of humor has been more fantastic than I ever dreamed. I was afraid with Liam being so active and curious he would fast forget his mama and be constantly on the move. Much to my pleasure, my sweet boy loves to give his mama cuddles and will even sit on my lap for three books straight! He definitely keeps me on my toes 90% of the time though, but I wouldn’t change it a bit.

Stats:

• Weight: at 9 months he was just over 21 lbs. I would guess he’s still in that range. (50^th percentile)
• Height: 29 inches (70^th percentile)

What he’s doing:

• Pulling himself up in his crib and on furniture
• Starting to cruise between furniture
• Says mama, dada, uh-oh (though it sounds more like uh-uh) & other strings of jibber-jabber
• Understands “no” but usually disregards the command by cheekily smiling and continuing the behavior
• Eats well! He has tried many, many foods and likes most things. I’ve discovered a dairy sensitivity which we’ll reassess when he’s 1.
• Starting to sleep well at night – yay! He finally learned how to self soothe. He only needs about 10.5 hours at night though. I’ve tried everything to get him to sleep longer and he just won’t!
• Takes 2 naps during the day
• “Dances” to music
• Has 4 teeth (top and bottom front two)
• Absolutely goes nuts over Classical Baby. We watch it every day before his morning nap. He always waves when the "busy caterpillar" turns into a butterfly. It's so cute!

A few favorite photos from the past month:

Mommy and me at our friend Cecelia's house

Welcome, Auntie Kate!

Lunch at the Porterhouse in town

New cars from Gramma Irish!

Ready for the Ireland v France rugby match! 

Liam's first Christmas

A lot has happened in the months that have passed in my blogging hiatus, most of which I'll just skip over (Thanksgiving, my and hubs birthdays, etc) . Liam's first Christmas is not one of those events I can let slide by without notice! I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Liam with the Christmas package from Grammy and Grandpaddy!

After a trip to the A&E on Christmas Eve (we discovered L had croup, poor thing!) We let him open this lovely lion hat from his Grandparents, he smiles even when he's sick!!)

Christmas Day Liam was feeling much better

 Christmas morning!!

Our little Santa

Santa and his elf (aka Henry B)

An out-take from the Christmas card photo shoot

A white Christmas in Dublin!

Apologies for the pictures being a little out of order. You get the idea! We had a great first Christmas with our little man despite the illness. We made the most of the situation and enjoyed some relaxing time, just the three of us. It was actually quite nice not to have any obligations, though we did miss our families dearly. 

6, 7, 8, 9!

Holy cow, I have a lot of catching up to do on my growing boy! In a little over a week Liam will be 10 months old! I'll give a proper update and progress report then. For now here are his "bunny and me" pictures from months 6-9. 

6 months

 7 months

8 months

9 months

We are having a ball trying to keep up with our very active little man!

Fresh Start!

Gave the old blog a bit of a face lift in hopes that it would inspire me to get back at it! Here's hoping... the dilemma is: should I re-cap the last few months or just begin from the more recent past?