The Big Freeze

It's been a while since my last post but there seems to be little to report except that we have had freezing cold weather for two months now. It all started with the "Big Freeze" we had in early January. It was the worst cold, snowy weather Ireland has seen since 1947 apparently. James even got a couple of days off school because of the treacherous conditions. Most of the time there was thick ice or compacted snow that froze everywhere. It was terrifying at times trying to walk or drive as grit for the roads and pathways ran out. Lots of people slipped and fell, including Gav who sprained his wrist badly. We were just glad he didn't brake it. In the middle of it all there was one beautiful day of sun and snow. The highlight of which for James was a sleigh (a tub with a rope attached) ride down to the supermarket and a snowball fight on the way home.



Because of the cold weather we have had to spend a lot of time indoors lately and to get a little excercise the kids have taken to having a daily dance session. James insists on rock music like AC/DC or G n' R. Lily asks for "Mia Mia" which refers to 'Mamma Mia' by Abba. Here's a clip below from Christmas day of James and Paddy dancing to 'The boy's are back in town' by Thin Lizzy.

Christmas Holidays '09

"Sick, I am Sick" is what James exclaimed at 6:30am on Christmas morning upon seeing the table full of gifts that Santa left.



Simon (Gav's bro) came over from Miami this year and helped make a very memerable Christmas at the Wards. Below is a few of us posing, trying to be like a 1950's ad.


On St. Stephens Day Dad and Trish arrived over from California and we spent a few days in Dublin together before braving the icy, snowy conditions to travel to Clare for New Year's.

Here is Lily with the pram she got from Bama which she adores.

By chance it just so happened that all the Spillane's (and crew) were down in Clare at the same time. This is most unusual. We all met on Lahinch beach for a walk on a most spectacular, cold but sunny and calm New Year's Day.

The Cali Trip

I can't believe Christmas is only 1 week away. Since we came back from our holiday to California in November it's been a bit hectic, hence the lack of blog posts. Sitting here in the freezing cold it's mad to think we were in the lovely California sunshine only 6 weeks ago. Here is a slide show of our trip, bear in mind we broke our camera 3 days in so we are missing photos of many people we saw.



The holiday itself was magic. It gave all of us a huge boost and we have been on a high ever since. It was really a holiday to connect in with people including some special little ones we had never met before, cousin Claire and Alexis and Tom's baby Luca. Thanks to Jessie's very generous Aunt and Uncle we got to stay in an lovely Condo right on the beach in Watsonville (south of Santa Cruz). Meeting baby Claire, and seeing Joe and Jessie as parents was the main event of the holiday. We couldn't get over our beautiful new niece (and cousin) Claire. My heart was melted by this precious, peaceful creature. She was very popular with James and Lily as well. Lily was very curious and immediately fond of her while James thought she was "so cute" and by the end of the trip had developed a lovely friendship with her. And to witness Joe and Jessie as the most loving, attentive and mellow new parents was a pleasure.


This is a little clip of the cousins together.



The other big highlight of our trip was hanging out with Auntie Alicia. The bond formed between Alicia and James on this holiday was a most beautiful thing. She spent endless hours making Halloween decorations and "beaching" with him. He completely claimed her as his own, not really letting anyone else near her, only riding in her car, and trying to wake her at unreasonable hours to play. She was the whole reason the holiday went so well. Her organising and care-taking during the 10 days was phenomenal. We packed in loads on this trip but it all felt so easy thanks to her. She even organised a wonderful BBQ up at my Dad's place for all our old family friends from Pope Valley. It was such a bonus to see all these people including another couple of new arrivals I hadn't met before.

Although our trip was short I still managed to get in quality visits with my much-missed best friends from California Alexis, Jenny, Emily and Chanda. This was a bit of a miracle especially since Emily and Alexis both live on the other side of the US. For them to meet James and Lily meant a lot to me and getting to meet the main man, Luca was amazing. What a gorgeous, friendly boy. After hanging out with him for a couple of days we are taking out bets on him being a world famous pitcher. What a throw this boy has!

For me it's been the season of meeting close friend's babies. Since I started ahead of the gang having James I feel I have waited a long time for this pleasure. But over the last few months I have had this three fold with Amy and Paul's Sam, Alexis and Tom's Luca and most recently Naomi and Adam's Luke! We got to meet little Luke a couple of weeks ago as they had come home from LA for a visit! What a treat.

Well I am off to do some preparing for Christmas. Santa has had some unusual requests this year from James including: a bucket of mud, the roof of a house and a 'make-your-own-gun' kit! These were the ongoing requests until he suddenly re-decided to go with a more manageable request which of course is for another Lego set. Is there anything that exists besides Lego in this boy's head?

Through James Eyes

Above is a self portrait that James did this week. Also he wrote his name for the first time, on an ice-pop stick, complete with backward J. (I wrote the W).

Going To California

We all survived the first six weeks of school for James, creche for Lily and work for the Mammy. It's been hectic but we are now settled in to our new routines.

James absolutely loves school. I was hopeful that he would like it but I am amazed at how much he loves it. He also loves his after-school care which he goes to three days a week while I am at work. The bonus at the after-school care is that cousin Paddy goes to the same place! The fact that they have each other at their after-school made it so much easier for the two of them to settle in.

Lily has settled in really well at her creche. This past week, which was her sixth week, she didn't cry at all when I handed her over. I couldn't believe it. She just reached over to the minder and looked happy to be going to play with her new friends. I thought it was a fluke the first day she did it but then she did the same thing the next two days. It is a huge relief and surprise that she is content to part with me. The big screams that were happening when I handed her over in the weeks previous were so upsetting for me before I went to work.

Next on the agenda is our big trip to California, which is less than one week away! So I am off to pack and I leave you with a slideshow of the past few months. Gav has been busily studying up on fatal Bear and Cougar attacks on wikipedia in advance :]

James' First Day at School!

The big day finally arrived! Today was James fist day of school at the Monkstown Educate Together National School. It was a nerve racking morning for me for obvious reasons but also because myself and James got a tummy bug yesterday and while I was not so bad, James threw up numerous times during the day. This left me wondering last night would he make it to his first day of school at all. I said we would see how he was in the morning as from previous experience I know tummy bugs are usually a 24 hour thing with kids.

When I asked him how he felt this morning he said he felt great and asked when was he going to school. On that note I decided to go for it knowing it is only a three hour day (for the first two weeks). So here he is making shapes as he leaves the house this morning.



Here he is outside the school before he went in doing his famous eyebrow move.



When we arrived we qued up with our class group and were brought into the classroom. In the classroom there were tables pushed together to make four large tables which each had lots of toys in the middle. This was very enticing for all the children. I stayed with him for a few minutes and then said goodbye and he just waved and kept on playing. So it went really well.

I collected him three hours later and he was in great spirits. He said to the teacher as we left "I really like this place." Here he is as we left the school, again posing.


On the way home he told me many fanciful tales of things that happened. It was hard to decipher which were true events and which were not. I don't think the story about watching a video called "gun wars" was true, nor was the story of the boy slapping him in the face. I think the stories about colouring, and learning to tie shoe laces were definitly true. However the story of catching bugs outside, I really can't figure out if that's true or not. Do kids get to catch bugs on their first day of school? If so I think that's cool.

Lily at One

A new house, a walking baby, and a child soon starting school, are the big news items of the moment. The house move went well, all things considered. Thank God I was on summer holidays because it was a lot of work, especially with Lily who was learning to walk and thus refusing to let go of my hand for any length of time. Not to mention the fact that she had the chicken pox. Needless to say we still have plenty to do to get the house in proper order but we are functional at the moment and very glad Ikea has just opened last week in Dublin.

Poor Lily with the Chicken Pox a couple of days before we left Brighton Rd.

Lily did start walking about a week and a half before her 1st birthday. It's a big relief all around as she is much more content and independent. Also her first eye tooth and moler arrived last week. She hasn't eaten much at all since the tooth cut but I am hoping that will change soon.

Lily, at one year old, is dying to communicate but only has a few words so far which are Dada, Nana (banana), Yeah and Moo! She is able to communicate much more by sign language including waging her finger at things she doesn't like for example the vacuum cleaner. Her favorite past time is trying to put on clothes, hats, shoes or sunglasses. She also loves pressing buttons on remotes and phones and trying to get keys into keyholes. Dogs, birds and other babies get the most attention from Lily. She is very charming, smiley and cuddly but don't be fooled she is also fierce when she doesn't get her way. She already knows how to bite, pinch, scratch, pull hair, hit and throw mighty kicking and screaming tantrums. The benifits of being a second child.



James starts school (Junior Infants) in one month. He attended three days of summer camp at his new school to help him get to know some of the other kids. He dragged his heals going in on the first day but ran in on the other two days. He loved the camp much more than I expected him to and he is now looking forward to school. He has asked for all army/camouflage gear for school, thankfully an easy request to meet. I must admit I am enjoying shopping for school stuff for him.

James definitely found the move difficult. It was all fun and games for the first week and then boredom set in and major parent pestering started and well as general misbehavior. He misses his old friends from Brighton Road and from his creche. We have been here for about six weeks and it seems to be subsiding a bit now.

We just came back from a weeks visit to Co Clare where James discovered the sea in a big way! He has always been a bit wary of the sea and only ever played with the sand when we were at the beach. However this time for some reason he just ran straight into the sea and played in the waves the whole time. At one point he exclaimed "I am taking all my clothes off and that's final!" as he striped down and lay down in the water. We were shocked at the big change in him but delighted all the same. He seems to be taking a turn away from being cautious and towards being adventurous in general lately.