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...

This is taking a bit of time to figure out as I'm new to it all - but we're getting there! Here's Ben on Sunday...

So, this is how it begins... My first step into publishing on cyberspace.

As you are all so far away from us, I want to use this space to create a diary of Ben's development... Use it to keep in touch with us, and in that way watch him grow. I can't promised that it will be a daily account, but I will try my best to make sure that all his milestones - big and small - are documented for you...

And how wonderful for him too, to have a diary to look at in later life

Today is a big day too for him as his top two teeth have cut through - four teeth in four and a half months... Not bad!