War Wounds

It's been another rollercoaster of a week! As you can see on the photo, the hospital cauterised the little blood vessel on his face to stop the bleeding... Which only worked temporarily I might add as we had A LOT of bleeding from... But on Tuesday the majority of it fell off and now he just has a small little spot on his face, and thank goodness, it's much better now.

It's a Bank Holiday weekend here, which means I have Monday off... and Bob is taking Tuesday to be with Ben so it's going to be a good week next week.

Will post again soon with pics from the weekend - two kiddies parties to go too... busy busy....

New Shots

Enjoying Tigger - thanks Lisa

Ben's lighting up cause he saw the frozen yogurt

Fun with Dad!
Love you Dad!

Gotta get in the pool on those good summer days

Working 9 to 5

It is fair to say that the last few weeks have been a period of chaotic distraction adjusting back to work – and getting to update Ben’s diary was a luxury that I wasn’t able to fit in!… I can’t believe that it’s been so long since I wrote an entry…

As most of you know, I’m back to work now… And while the first week was excruciating I think Ben and I are both settling in to our new routine. I hate being away from him, but I have to admit that there have been some positives to the move to crèche. Ben seems to be a lot happier with his own company, and while he is still quite clingy he’ll play with his toys on his own for a lot longer than he used to. Robin drop him there every morning, and I get to pick him up in the afternoon – and I must be honest it’s the highlight of my day…

I find I’m very busy now… there are always bottles to wash, food to make, clothes to fold, and it is very rare that I’m able to relax before 9 or half 9 at night… I’m not complaining mind… The up side is that I feel very productive these days … Isn’t it a case of the glass being half full…

The big news is that Ben is now crawling properly!! Classic textbook – and he is pulling himself up to stand against anything he can find. Anyone want to take bets that he’ll be walking before his first birthday??? We are in the midst of a heatwave here (temperatures in and around the high 20’s) and so we took him swimming on Sunday at the National Aquatic Centre and he had a great time – both Robin and I want to encourage his love of water… The only little down side is that he now has a very chesty cough… He’s not sick and doesn’t have a temperature, but he does sound like he’s been on a pack a day since birth…

I have been quite surprised, and pleased, that my little scribblings are actually being read… Who knew… ? Robin has come home a few times and said that people are complaining because I haven’t blogged for a while… So thank you, it’s nice to know that my Ben has an audience of people who care about him… With that said, I’ll promise to write more frequently…

Summer Holidays...

We’ve had such a wonderful week away… I can’t believe that it’s taken me four years to get back to visiting Clare and the Burren. Mom, Ben and I stayed in a wonderful B&B in Doolin – from there we traveled all over visiting the sights. We went to the Cliffs of Moher and spent a day on Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands, we visited Bunratty Castle in Limerick and picnicked in Ardgillian Castle with gardens that slope to the sea… And the weather played ball too – I actually have a tan would you believe! Just from the few days away!!!!


Ben is back to his bright sunny self and is really making us laugh at the moment… He is trying so hard to crawl and I can proudly announce that today he leopard crawled for the first time. I bought him a new tape of childrens’ songs (I was about to do a Michael Douglass in “Falling Down”if I had to listen to his compilation of Wheels on the Bus one more time! ) and it has a version of the Chicken Song on it – well, it’s his best. He can’t stop chuckling each time it comes on… he’s very funny with it. I was doing the dance with him in the kitchen and he was beside himself, laughing hysterically with the actions.

I had a bit of a panic attack this week though because I realized that I’ve only three weeks left before I go back to work – for some reason I thought I still had a month. It is going to break my heart to send him off to crèche, but at least I would have had nine wonderful months with him… And it won’t be all bad, he needs to have more interactions than just me… I know that he’ll be fine, it’s me that I’m worried about …

Hope you enjoy the pics… xx

Our Ben isn't to Well

Unfortunately, this is going to be a quick one because my dear son is not well at the moment and is a bit demanding of my time - he has tonsilitus and is VERY clingy at the moment... But here are a few recent shots. We've been out and about - today we went to Howth for lunch... you have to enjoy the weather we've been having... Even Ben had a good time and a long sleep in the stroller... Which was exactly what he needed. Will write more soon...

Finally - A bit of Sunshine

I haven't posted in a while because we haven't really been out and about much because of the rain. May has been the wettest on record - EVER! But come the first of June the weather seems to have turned thank goodness and we spent the whole day out yesterday ... Ben even got a bit of colour at the beach. He is so funny now flapping his arms has become his language. Let me translate:

Fast flapping with "mmmmmm" sound directed at toy = I want that!

Very fast flapping, accompanied by kicking feet in cot = Ha Ha, no WAY am I sleeping now

Arms straight out and stiff with low growl = seeing something/someone different for the first time



So, now you are all fluent in "Ben" :)... Mom is arriving in two days and Bob is off to SA next Friday for a week and while he is looking forward to catching up with everyone and seeing his family I know that he's going to miss Ben (and me)...

With summer finally here I'll have lots to write about, so check back soon...

Newbridge House

Yesterday we decided to be optimistic and make the most of the grey day – at least it wasn’t raining… We met the Kents and their two girls at Newbridge and toured the farmyard. It is such a wonderful place to go, and I’m glad to report that Ben was a lot more interested in the animals around him this time – was fascinated with the goats … And our optimism was rewarded with the sun coming out which made the day even better. Here are a few shots of the day… and I couldn’t resist the pretty one of Sammy in her pink coat…

Heading towards those Lazy Summer Days

Just a quick note to say... It is beautiful here at the moment - honestly, Dublin when the sun is shining is the best place to be. We've been out and about today, because it would have been criminal to stay inside. A walk at the Malahide Estuary this morning, washing the car when we got back and discovering grass this afternoon in the back garden. All in all, a very productive day for young Ben.

While he isn't crawling yet, Ben definitely manages to roll all over the place. This morning found him, inevitably, infront of the CD rack - why?? is it such a magnet for children... Soon we will have to start baby proofing the house. In fact, it might be a job for this weekend.


Ben is starting to experiment with sounds now too... He gasps with delight when he sees his favourite toys, or himself in a mirror. His expressions are getting more complex too - you can see him "connecting the dots"

I have been doing some research into baby sign language - and have decided that it's something I would like to do. Research shows that babies as young as nine months old are able to sign - I will let you know how we progress... I'm having such trouble trying to teach him how to drink from a sippy cup, that sign language seems very ambitious...

May Bank Holiday

We had such a busy long weekend, that it's just flown by... Boat shows in Malahide, Home shows in Swords and a lot of optimistic South Africans braaing, hoping that the weather would be good - unfortunately the weather didn't play ball at all and it's been rainy and cold for most of the last four days...

Ben is doing very well, but is still waking a lot through the night now... While he is easily settled, and we rarely spend more than 10/15 minutes getting him back to sleep it is still distrupting and worrying for us... we don't know what is waking him and we aren't sure of the best way to "train" him to settle himself... Do we let him cry it out, do we use the pick up/put down method???? What???...

We have also noticed a love of mirrors in our little boy - anywhere he can catch a reflection of himself, and as seen here - even the oven door will suffice ...

Newbridge Weekend

When we were in Hawaii the one thing we missed was a rug sack carrier for Ben... So, the first thing we bought when we got back was a rug sack carrier for Ben - so now we have to be outdoorsy this summer... This weekend we put it to the test. We took Ben to Newbridge and went for a long walk around the park. It was lovely to get out, and it's inspired me to get out and about a lot more this summer with Ben... I have ideas of hill walking in Wicklow and walking the heads at Howth and taking full advantage of the "good" summer weather - okay, maybe not good weather so much as it being light longer.... Here are a few pics of the day :)

The First Fever

For the first time in his six months of life Ben has been sick! And it's been a crash course in nursing for his over anxious, first time parents... How high is to high? when it comes to Ben's temperature. I took him to hospital on Thursday morning after a night of trying everything to keep him cool. The nurses and doctor at the emergency ward were lovely, but we got the bland cover all diagnosis when they can't find anything wrong - viral infection. Coupled with this "diagnosis", we got the vague "all children are different", "could last 3 days could last 10"... Unfortunately, Ben is still not the Mae West and we have to feed him Calpol and Neurofen every couple of hours... He's figured out that there is no spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down and has gotten quite adept at waving his hands frantically in front of his mouth every time I try and give him something - this has also extended to food - so now meal times are quite messy...


Because he's moving around so much we've got him a play mat, but all it seems good for is eating :)...

Happy Easter

We met up with the South African social club yesterday :) for Easter... Determined as we are we braaied and the weather did hold out for us... Actually, was really cold when we started as the wind was blowing, but I think our determination paid off and the wind dropped and we could enjoy the garden for the first time this year. Ben had his first kick about with a ball, which surprisingly he could actually pick up! The babies had good fun on the little trampoline too - here he is with Sam, the older woman :) All in all was a very good afternoon... This morning though I am missing the skottle braai around the campsite :) Maybe next year...

Morning Smiles and Tigger Rides

Happy Easter everyone!... April already - and I was due to go back to work on Tuesday. I can't believe just how quickly that's come about. Thank goodness I organized more time, I couldn't bear to leave Ben just yet in the care of someone else. To be honest, I am dreading the day... But we have to do what we must....

It is such a pleasure to wake up to his smiling face in the morning... and he never disappoints. Ben is always in a good mood - in the morning anyway. We had a few issues this week as he got his six months vaccinations AND was diagnosed with Exzema. I was so disappointed because it was the one thing that I was trying so hard to avoid.

He is in love with his Tigger toy at the moment - looks for it constantly. And it's great fun to see him so delighted with something

And then there is eating... He's been on solids now for about 3 weeks, and I'm upping him to 3 meals a day now... but he's really not all that interested! He is eating veggies and fruit but there isn't anything that he seems to love at the moment. Still refuses a bottle or a sippy cup - all they are good for is teething :) Hope you are all well... 'til next time...

23 pounds already

I took Ben to the clinic yesterday - for a general check and to have him weighed... and was floored when she told me 23 pounds(10.4kgs)! No doubt that he's growing well. I've had a tough few days with him, just in that he's been whinging every time I put him down... he's holding his ears so I'm assuming teeth are the culprit...
The weather is starting to take a turn for the better and so we are optimistically planning a walk and a picnic for Saturday... Lets hope it doesn't disappoint...

The park, and another new tooth

So, I took Ben to the park today to let him play on the swings - and he loved it, still a bit small to sit on his own... But give him a week or two and he'll be grand on them himself.


We got there before the schools let out, so we were pretty much the only ones there... True to irish style it started bucketing down after about 10 minutes and we had to run for the car







You won't believe it but he's cut another tooth, only spotted it this morning. That makes seven in total.. He's also doing really well on solids and had avocado for the first time today too :) Wasn't so sure about it at first, but then loved it... !!

So, we're back from Hawaii... and I swear, Ben's grown like a weed in the two weeks we've been away. Hawaii was amazing, truely, one of the best holidays ever. Okay, the weather wasn't the best, the torrential rainpour was a bit of a problem but the up side of that was it wasn't too hot :) Still got a bit of colour on our pale irish skin...

We had a bit of an issue with a coconut tree - Bob was showing him the trunk and all of a sudden Ben decided that the tree was not his friend and he got very upset... This bad temper lasted for a few days and so we decided that we had to visit the tree again and give it back its temper - piece was restored after that :)

Here we are at the hot pools in Puna and on one of the black sand beaches near Mauna Lani - Ben loved the pools and we spent a good part of Monday swimming there...

This is the Caldera at Kileau... It was humbling and a little scary to be standing on one of the most active volcanoes in the world... The steam vents are all over the terrain and it was an amazing experience visiting this place... The only problem was that we didn't realise the enormity of it and didn't give it enough time... We got lucky with the B&B we were staying at because our host had written about 24 tour books on the island and gave us the most amazing information about where to go and what to do and that really made our trip very special

I could go on and on, but I'm going to sign off now - a small aside... we've finally managed to take a few photo's of Ben smiling - hopefully there will be more in the months to come... :)

What a few days...

It's been a bit crazy here these last few days... Everyone is trying to convince me that it's Spring now (in March!!) but the last two days it's been snowing!!! Nothing has stuck on the ground but it's freezing cold and we've had some pretty rough snow storms (well, pretty rough for Dublin anyway)

Luckily so far Ben hasn't gotten sick at all - all the other babies round here are on antibiotics for chest infections and tonsilitus and even Robin is as sick as a dog at the moment with a cold... I'm hoping it stays that way because the last thing I want is for Ben to be sick when we're off in Hawaii.... That's right, we leave next Friday and we're all really looking forward to it - both the location and the break... Will think of you while we're away :)


So long, til next time...