Dublin - September 24th

Today began and ended with rain. We decided to use a wet weather programme. So my Mom, Marisa and Liam went to the National Gallery, and Dad and I went to the National Library of Ireland. After having a short look around the Library, we took out a microfiche of the Church records from Valleymount. To our surprise, we quite easily came across several names of ancestors from the Valleymount and Blackditches area. We headed back to the apartment for lunch and then Dad and I continued our search online. We found a few census records that gibed with the information we received.

Mom and Dad went for a walk in the very cold rain later on in the afternoon.

Dermot and Laura came to dinner. Dermot brought photocopies of birth and marriage records for the Irish side of the family, a tree to the mid-1800s and a few other gems of information. I have not had the time to investigate it all, but it could answer or at least begin to answer a few family legends that have been passed down, including possibly who the stone carver was that produced some of the stonework at St Patricks Cathedral in New York. Overall it was a very interesting evening.

Blessington - Valleymount - Wicklow Pass - Glendalough - Laragh, County Wicklow - September 23rd

We decided to get an early morning start (in relative terms). We had breakfast and then headed out at about 10:00. We drove to Blessington and then off to Valleymount. We stopped on the way at a couple of vista points on the reservoir to take a few photos and look around. We tried to feed and photograph a rook, but only achieved a few blurry pictures. We arrived in Valleymount at about 11:30 and took the track to the reservoir next to St Joseph’s Church. There were a number of fishing lines set up with no visible signs of their being attended. However a dog did run up to investigate us, and having had a good sniff decided to go off where it had come from.

We got back to the church just as the service was ending and waited until everyone had exited before we went in to have a look around. We then walked down the street to the car. Following this we drove towards the town of Hollywood. We took a detour to look for a power station, but never found either the town or the power station.

From there we headed to Glendalough via the Wicklow Pass. At least this time the clouds were not completely shrouding the hills. We stopped at the saddle at the top to look down at the valleys below. Down the hill we stopped at the visitor’s centre for the St Kevin’s Way. However it was soon decided that lunch was a bit more important, so we went off to the Wicklow Heather Restaurant, where we had been 5 years ago. They were quite full, but did have a table available for us. The meals were once again excellent and each of us enjoyed them. Liam made a lot of friends, with one couple next door giving him a bag of white chocolate buttons.

From here we drove to Laragh, where we again went to the woollen mill. Grandma and Grandpa bought Liam a “maaa” (a lamb stuffed animal toy). We then drove back to Dublin, stopping at a Tesco’s to buy a few things. My dad and I sat in the car outside. Then an alarm went off and a few minutes later the Gardai arrived and took away a guy in handcuffs. Marisa and my mom didn't even realise that anything had happened in the store.

Now we are back at the apartment preparing a light supper. Mom and Dad are presently entertaining Liam with a number of stories.

Dublin - September 22nd

We had a lovely night's sleep... thank goodness! Liam woke up maybe twice in the night and after some milk went back to sleep quickly. Once we got up we had a lazy morning in our apartment around the breakfast table. We were going to meet up with Aidan's dad's 1st cousin, Dermot, around lunchtime so we decided to head into the city center for the morning. Aidan's mom wanted to walk in so I joined her and we would meet up with the men at St. Stephen's Green.

The walk was superb. We walked past Aviva Stadium and then past where I took a course in 2003. We then walked through the neighbourhood that I walked every day for class and across the canal and quickly into the city center. Once we got there we didn't see anyone so we then walked around the outside of St. Stephen's Green. Apparently, Aidan then drove through as we came around the corner.... but we didn't manage to meet up with them for another 45 minutes. Yeah, between parking and figuring out what Aidan meant by 'passing the National Gallery to get to St. Stephen's Green', we didn't meet up for quite a while. It got to the point that Aidan's mom and I split up and while I found the car, she ended up walking through Grafton Street. Thankfully, when we finally got together and called Dermot he had not left home yet.

We met up with Dermot and Laura in Ballsbridge for lunch. It was great seeing Dermot again and Aidan was so excited to see him and his dad finally meet each other. We went to Roly's and had an amazing lunch. The conversation was even more wonderful as Dermot, Simon and Aidan shared family information. Laura surprised us with a Strawberry cheesecake for our anniversary and we made sure everyone got to share it. We stayed at the restaurant talking for hours. Aidan moved the car once and the second time we decided to move the conversation to the apartment. Mary and I walked back to the apartment while everyone else drove (we beat them!). The conversation continued well into the evening. We're going to get together for another evening during the week. Everyone is already looking forward to it.

Dublin - September 21st

We landed in Dublin about 4.45am and boy were we tired. We immediately found a family bathroom (wonderful - we need some of those in Bermuda!) and got Liam changed and dressed for the day. We took our time after collecting our bags since we had some time until we needed to pick up the car and go to the rental office to get our apartment keys. We had breakfast at a cafe and let Liam play a few games on the iPad.

Our wait for the car shuttle was quite cool for me and Liam - Aidan loved it. Liam snuggled into his blanket and my jacket until we made it to the car. We then took some time to head out because we had to fit the car seat into the car. And then we were off... with directions saved on my iPad because our GPS was with Aidan's dad. Well, the directions weren't great. It took us quite a while to find the apartment rental place and we literally figured it out using a tourist map and memory from our last trip here... so much for mapquest!

We followed the gentleman to our apartment and Aidan got to see what it looked like while the cleaner was cleaning it. We then headed out to pick up Aidan's parents  from the train station. We drove around Heuston  Station a few times because we could not find parking. Thankfully, we managed to find one with 20 minutes to spare. We picked up some lunch and then met the train as it arrived. Liam was so confused to see his grandparents in a strange place! He warmed up quickly through as his grandmother joined him in the back seat of the car.

We got to the apartment and were pleasantly surprised at how lovely it was. We have 2 bedrooms along a long hallway. One room have a bathroom with shower en suite and the other has a bathroom with full bath off of the hallway. The hallway opens into a nice sized living/dining room and there is a small kitchen off of the dining room. The kitchen has an oven, full sized fridge and freezer, dishwasher and a washer/dryer. And the views from the windows are residential. We love it!!

We went out and did a grocery shopping trip at a Tescos Extra. Talk about selection. We got enough for breakfast, a few lunches and a few dinners. We then went back and settled in. We had pasta, meatballs and salad for dinner and then got Liam ready for bed. We then made some tentative plans for Saturday.

Bermuda-Boston-Dublin September 20th

We spent the morning making sure we had packed everything and trying to reach Grandpa to wish him Happy 98th Birthday! We did manage to spend some time with Grandpa before we headed to the airport for a 1pm check-in. All went smoothly and soon we were boarding the plane.

Liam enjoyed the flight. He sat next to Aidan and learned rather quickly how to open and close the seatbelt. We ended up shifting Liam back and forth across the aisle so when we got up our seats were covered in animal crackers and blue chips!

The change over from Jet Blue to Aer Lingus went better than I had expected. We collected our bags and walked over to Terminal E. We had an interesting check-in where the ticket agent had no idea where Bermuda was and even asked what language we spoke there. She finally managed to understand the code allocated to us (GBD - Great Britain Dependent Territory) and we were checked in with about an hour to spare. And then we saw the line to get through security. People were being pulled out for flights and we were so sure we would end up being pulled out as well. And then we saw the 'Family and Medical Liquids' line. Aidan asked about it and was told we could go through it since we had Liam. We got through that line in less than 5 minutes. Excellent!

Once we got through we needed to get some dinner and milk for Liam for when we got on the plane. They called our flight just as we finished and we immediately go on the plane. We were seated in row 11 so we didn't have to walk far from the door. There was another family sitting next to us with a 17 month old girl. She and Liam got on really well. They spent a good part of the flight playing with each other's toys and copying each other. Unfortunately that meant that they also didn't want to go to sleep. Liam got maybe 2 hours sleep on the 5 hour flight and the little girl didn't sleep at all. Aidan and I maybe got 1 hour... and we had a full day ahead of us!

Liam - 20 months

Date/Week: 20 months

Milestones: 

• He's the big 2-0... He'll be 2 before we know it
• Likes marching around the house as the drum major or drummer or playing some sort of horn (using his yellow hoe)
• 'Sings' the 3 beat roll to start the parade and the base drum beats at the end
• Likes visiting the Lizards who live in our blind every morning and evening
• Likes saying 'goodbye' to the little girl in his English/Spanish book at night
• An old pro now at catching the ferry - first time to St. Georges during Cup Match Friday
• Had ice cream for the first time (loved it)
• Tries to copy mummy doing yoga (usually results in him being wrapped up in the yoga mat
• More teeth!
• Giving kisses, usually with the sound 'mmmm-smack'

Developmental Progress:  

• Must feed himself and is working on spearing food on the fork
• Colouring with more strokes and less dots
• Sings and acts out 'head & shoulders, knees and toes'
• Can drink from his juice cup on his own without spilling anything
• Counts to 10 and recognises the numbers
• Forming more and more 3 word or more sentences.
• Makes decisions on what to eat with clear 'no' or 'yes' comments and a fair amount of finger waggling with no
• Tells the cat to get off of the counter
• Starting to ask 'why' almost as much as he says 'no'
• Tries to negotiate for more stories when it is bedtime
• Potty training is interesting.  He'll sit on the potty and then go after you put the diaper back on.  He will tell you that he needs to be changed. He will tell you (sometimes) what he's done. He will take off his diaper if it's wet in the morning and you do not come fast enough to change it. He will sit on the potty and sometimes go before he gets his bath (but then get him into the bath quickly because sometimes he will take having his diaper off as an invitation to keep going...). So basically, he was probably better potty trained at 6 months when we were doing elimination communication than he is now...

Thoughts and Feelings? 

I cannot believe that Liam is almost 2.... but then he reminds me with the word 'no', the laughter as he runs around the house, the conversations that he has with his stuffed animals and the dogs, the request for 'bread' at breakfast and when we get home from work. It is an amazing time to experience... both a joy and exhausting all at the same time. So many evenings we have put him to bed and I want to go and climb in mine because he has me worn out in just 90 minutes at home together. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Each night I absorb as much as I possibly can and I live in that moment because it is where I truly want to be. Yay for my 20 month old! And yay for the wonders that I have been privy to over the last year and 8 months!

Other than that, in a months time we'll be on vacation. Ireland and Boston are booked! I'm a bit nervous about the trip over. We're doing Jet Blue to Boston and then Aer Lingus to Dublin. I'm the most nervous about the baggage on Aer Lingus. I wonder if Liam's Stokke stroller will cost us extra since it isn't a lightweight collapsible stroller and should I therefore get another stroller that will be easier to travel with. Then there's the car seat. Since he'll be a lap baby, will they charge us for his car seat (the website isn't helping in this regard...). And finally there's Liam and hoping that we can get him through a day of travel with two flights and a few hours in an airport. We got an Elmo kiddie strap to allow him to walk with us but not go to far. It probably won't go over well in the US airport but I would prefer him to be safe if he wants to walk with us. 

In any case, I am looking forward to some time away.... so I now just need to finish off this dissertation before I go...

What I am looking forward to: 

Cycling from Dublin down to Dun Laogharie and Dalkey; taking Aidan to the Merry Ploughboy Pub for dinner and a show for his birthday; going to see Idina Menzel at the Wang Theatre in Boston to celebrate our anniversary (a few days late but worth the wait!)

Liam - 17, 18 and 19 months

Date/Week: 17,18 and 19 months

Milestones: 

• 32.5" long and 22.8 lbs
• Climbs up and down stairs without help
• Loves his sandals for the summer but misses his sneakers (he carries them around the house)
• Just getting comfortable with the toothbrush
• Survived Daddy's 10-day trip away from us... and won't let him out of his sight now that he is home
• Has started  asking 'why?'
• Loves 'peek-a-boo'
• Climbs out of his crib - even when lowered to its lowest setting
• Appears to favour his left hand
• Eats cheerios in milk for breakfast 
• Has his own cups, bowls, plates and utensils
• Loves chasing bubbles
• Has a horrible reaction to mosquito bites
• Is registered for 'Parents and Tots' dance class in September

Developmental Progress:  

• Loves to throw a ball or toy.... or anything as long as it comes back to him to throw again
• Dances to music (Mummy's influence???)
• Conducts music (Daddy's influence???)
• Sweeps the floor
• Picks tomatoes out of the garden
• We're able to understand more of the words that he is saying (they're clearer)
• Loves to say 'hi/hello' and 'bye' along with your name and sometimes says 'hola' instead of 'hi'
• Can put on his shoes
• Can identify most animals and the noises that they make (often followed by 'ei-ei-oooooooo')
• Will point out flowers, trees and facial features when we read his books
• Repeats just about every word that we say and appears to retain quite a few 
• Jumps - on the bed, on the couch...

Thoughts and Feelings? 



I haven't updated anything since April.... it has been busy. At this moment, I am busy at work, busy with data analysis for my dissertation, busy trying to keep working out and busy trying to spend as much time as possible with my boys. No rest in sight though!


We are planning a family vacation in September... Ireland and Boston!


What I am looking forward to: 


Doing a reiki class. Considering career options once this degree is done. Sorting out the dance class schedule for the fall.