A New Year!

It has been a long time since I updated the blog .... too busy during the day and too tired at night to post. This past week, the kids have been unbelievably brilliant so here's to a New Year and hopefully the first of many new posts.

Ciara continues to be terrific with M & L and is in love with both of them. The excitement on her part, as well as theirs, when we pick her up after school is so cute. She has them both in fits of giggles the whole way home and it continues throughout the afternoon. At school, she is learning to read, starting with the colours and wants to go to school 7 days a week, not 5. She will be in Kindergarten next year .... where does the time go?

Liam and Maeve will be turning 10 months old this coming Saturday. I cannot believe we have all survived.

Some points of note ...

Firstly, Liam

• He hit 20 lbs by his 9 month appointment


• He is the proud owner of 5 teeth


• He is standing alone for a few seconds but still favours crawling and cruising


• His favourite things to eat are apple pancakes, black beans and broccolli/cheese nuggets


• He loves to sit and read


• He is a cling-on to his mummy


• He says bababababa and mamamamama

and Maeve

• She was finally outpaced by Liam and was 1 oz shy of 20 lbs at her 9 month appointment


• She is also the proud owner of 5 teeth


• She learned to crawl just before Christmas and is so excited by it


• She can pull up to standing and in the last couple of days has learned to get back down again (phew!)


• Clapping is her latest achievement and again, she is beyond excited about it


• She says babababababa and mamamamama but her favourite word is "brah" or something like thatHer favourite things to eat are anything I give her. Honestly, she eats anything and everything. What a blessing! Long may it continue!

I will finish up since I do not want to over-exert myself!

Some recent pictures ...

Thank goodness those few weeks are over!

The last few weeks have been rough (understatement of the year). I have been sick. Liam and Maeve have been cranky. Everything went to hell in a handbag basically. My mysterious illness pummels me with flu-like symptoms for a few days every week or so. Enough already ... three kids, two of them being in their sixth month of life and the other back to school is enough to handle for a healthy person. The good news is that I feel great today so hopefully things are on the upswing. We also discovered not one but two new teeth for Maeve this morning so that could explain her lack of cooperation lately. Liam, who knows?! He is probably just wanting to be on the go. He is almost crawling and sits very well and that is all before he turns six months. Life is about to get really interesting!! So here are a few pictures since they have been severely lacking lately.

The first ones are from Labor Day at Skip's Aunt Peggy's house with a private pool, no less! No shots of Liam since when we just dipped his feet in he cried. Okay, so it was cold but toughen up buddy ... your sisters are making you look like a wuss! The shot of the deer is from right beside the pool. Ciara was in heaven.

Liam getting ready to go, go, go ....

Busy Saturday!

SOCCER: Wow, I can't believe I made it out to soccer today! WooHoo! I have not played since June '07 and boy did it show! My Over-30's team - THE KILLER TOMATOES - took me back, after my fourteen month layoff, and put up with my lack of pace for a good portion of the game! We won 6-0, so no pressure on me to run too much. I pumped before I left, had fun trying to fit into my sports bra and then Skip gave them bottles, which they sucked down enthusiastically! Four hours away from the homestead - must be a record!! Thanks #1 Dad!

BIRTHDAY PARTY: Ciara went to her friend (and neighbours) Jolie's birthday party today. They had a travelling petting zoo for the big occasion. Ducks, Rabbits, Hens, a little goat, an alpaca, a pony and other little miniature things were running about. Ciara took a little while to warm up to the furry friends but as the photos show, her initial wariness wore off.

SITTING: Yes, Liam and Maeve are adding to their repertoires! They are both sitting for short periods - you do have to stay close as they still flop down after 10 or so seconds. I am not sure if they realise they are doing it yet but we are excited, even if they're not! Our babies are growing! (As the photos show, our competitive little boy does a little better than our laid back little lady!)

Has anyone seen hot and sticky August?

The weather has been so fantastic this month. Usually Washington weather in August is hot, sticky and almost unbearable! This year it has been incredible. Mild is the word of the month and it has been brilliant for me, home with all three! Our wonderful neighbour saw the kids taking turns in the only infant swing we have and kindly gave us an old one of theirs so now Liam and Maeve do not have to take turns! Which reminds me of something that Ciara came up with recently. We were asking her if three kids was enough in our family and she thought and thought. Then she said "We can't have any more kids because we only have three swings." I can think of no other reason better than that. Skip agrees!

It's official!

Liam has his second tooth!

Oneside come to town!

As most of you know, Skip manages a great band from Boston called Oneside. They were playing a gig this past Friday night here in Bethesda, so after it they all crashed at our house. Thankfully they were wonderful house guests and did not seem to mind Liam hanging out with them the next morning at a rather early hour. They even had Liam and Ciara jam with them for a little while Saturday, before they set off for their next gig at Rehobeth Beach, DE. Maeve slept through it all! Here are some shots of our little back deck jam session!

One of those weeks!

I know the week is not over (don't remind me!) but today just summed it up completely ...

First, after I was done feeding Liam this afternoon, Ciara patted my stomach and said, and I quote, "Mummy, how come that isn't flat?". I did not know whether to laugh or cry, so I chose the former.

Next, we were out for our normal evening walk and I noticed my shirt, that I had on all day, was on backwards and it was a v-neck no less. Not that anyone had noticed since we had not seen anyone all day but still.

To top it all off - I have had no energy all week to cook or do anything for that matter, but today I finally managed to marinate the pork that I had taken out of the freezer for dinner on Monday. I popped it on the grill before their bath and supervised it between feeds. After we put them both down for the night, I ran downstairs, plated the potatos, beans etc and went to grab the pork off the grill and sure enough the gas must have run out at some point. It was just sitting there, half cooked, looking quite unhappy.

AARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH ... I QUIT! Fine, I'll stay but only because every so often I do get a nice quiet, peaceful and calm moment ....