18 months today

...since you came into our lives, Babba Poonch. Our sunshine-headed buachaillín bán. xxxxxxx

Christening Day

Yesterday Lou was baptised in Adare. We were blessed with beautiful weather and some lovely friends and relatives. Lou was awake throughout the ceremony and was very brave. He only cried very briefly, despite the fire-and-brimstone booming voice of Fr Moriarty and a torrent of water over his head.

We slightly over-catered, which isn't a bad thing. Lee made some lovely sandwiches and worked like a trojan to get the place ready.

Today I finally remembered to look up the internet about St Therese's relics. They are back in Ireland again for a few weeks. They will be stopping longer in each place, which I think means they aren't visiting so many places. The full itinerary is here, nowhere very close to us, but we must go, especially as Lou is named after her beloved Papa. He shares his birthday with the Little Flower herself.

Babycake update

Lee and I went in for my 32 week antenatal visit yesterday. Nothing too serious... all's well as far as we can tell with the Babycake. They seem to think my hernia shouldn't cause any bother at delivery and might go away after the birth. I'm very relieved, as I was worrying they might use it as an excuse to induce us or do a caesarean.
We had a scan from a rather unfriendly lady which didn't really show us anything. The Babycake was hiding his/her little face.
Afterwards we had a lovely lunch in Delish.
On a different note, I'm afraid my Ebay habit has resurfaced.

I suppose I would...;-)

Here's a picture of the Babycake's cardi, a work in progress. I’m using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK, a blend of 55% merino wool, 33% microfibre and 12% Cashmere. It’s lovely and soft and I hope, practical. The yarn label says it can be washed at 30º, although it’s a bit of a risk for something that so much time has gone into producing.
I started knitting it on the October Bank Holiday weekend, when we stayed in Castlegregory.

We don't know the baby's sex yet so I picked a neutral colour. By the way, the most likely names at this stage are Toiréasa, Tess for short or Criostóir. Lee must read the Baby Names book though. He broke two ribs last week so he needs to take it easy.... but isn't.

I might have a hernia, I'm not sure. It depends on whether you can believe someone who tells you that Listeria is a virus.

Today is World Food Day according to an email I got from Trocaire. The picture shows one week's food, which costs this family in Kenya 2 and a half times their income, so they have to borrow to pay for it. Maybe Brian Lenihan's Budget doesn't look so bad now...

Babycake update: I went to the hospital for my 26 week check this morning- blood pressure etc ok, thank God and there maybe some good news on the Homebirth front. Babba Roo and I were looked after by Breda again.

And yesterday I put the last button on the long saga that was Wee's cardie. Here it is being modelled by the little man himself.

Yesterday, Gran came to the pool with us. I think she enjoyed it although she had been a bit apprehensive. We met another pregnant mum there with her 14 month old little boy, who had that worried look on his face that Roo used to have. The water was a bit colder than usual, but Roo is so comfortable there now that it didn't seem to bother him at all.

Looking ahead and keeping abreast ....!

Just discovered this new site: it's an Irish breastfeeding site trying to change this country's irritating attitude to BF. I'm proud to say I breastfed Babba-Roo until he was 15 months old and I'm looking forward to doing at least the same with Babycake number 2, please God.

It's a new site, so it's still under construction. I will have to check back to read how to prepare toddlers for feeding your new baby.

Happy Feast day!

Today is St Therese's feast day. It's raining again today here, but I bet it's lovely where she is.

On the subject of the Babycake, I found this little piece on Rollercoaster.ie. It's quite cute. BC is very bouncy and active inside my tummy at this stage. He/she can hear very well now, so I've been playing Ella Fitzgerald, although heavy drum beats seem to go down better with BC.

Happy Beeeeirthday to me!

Today I had a very very happy birthday! First of all, Lee wished me Happy Birthday and gave me a really cool pressie: a beautifully-wrapped wind-up radio! It's gorgeous: metallic red and cutely square-shaped. I love it. Then I discovered a beautiful, witty hand-made card on the kitchen table from Lee.

Next the three of us zoomed into town for my booking visit at the maternity hospital. We even got a car parking space: wonder of wonders.

We were seen by a lovely midwife of Mum's generation: Breda Daffy, who took a shine to Wee (surprise-surprise) and like a guardian angel kept popping up around the place for the rest of the morning, making sure we were doing ok. My bloods were taken by another Breda, a lovely, friendly lady who reminded me of the Pat Shortt nurse Moloney (but in a good way!).

Then we waited a long time for our scan. The Babycake was looking good: s/he did that thing with his/her hands that Roo used to do: covering the ears as if the ultrasounds were too noisy! S/he at one point put both arms behind the head as if leaning back chun a scith a ligeant! Taking it easy!

Then we joined another queue for the doctor: pretty pointless: Lee or Mum could have taken my blood pressure and asked me if I was feeling ok and we wouldn't have had to wait in a crowded room for ages to do that.

When Wee and me got home, we were surprised to see a car speeding into the driveway: it was Mum/Granny on a top-secret mission! She was laden with cards, pressies and more flowers. I felt really special! She also had a couple of piccies of my cousin's new baby and a scratch card that actually was a winner!

When Lee got home he had a chocolate bar which he was anxious for me to open. Inside was a shiny Willy Wonka style invitation to a Bee-keeping course! What a brilliant idea!! It was such a thoughtful, sweet present and tied in all the references to honey bees that Lee had dotted through the day. He thought everything out so well, the superstar that he is.

Finally we had a yummy homemade Chocolate Cloud Cake, courtesy of Lee once more. The dastardly oven didn't quite manage to burn it. I hate that oven, grrr....

On top of all this, yesterday Lee brought home a fab bouquet chosen by none other than Babba-Roo. The Babycake sent his good wishes too.

Talking of whom, I think I felt the BC moving about this morning while we were listening to Fred on the wind-up radio in bed.

Baby TV

We had a little look at the Babycake yesterday evening. It was the second time we scanned my tummy and there were huge changes. We could see much more detail: the baby's facial features, a little hand waving and lots of movement generally. There seemed to be a lot of room in there and the Babycake was making the most of it.

Great news

After I'd put Wee to bed this evening, I decided I'd find out what was making me so tired. I had suspected I was pregnant, but didn't dare hope that it was true. It's a bit early to be announcing it, but no-one else reads this and I'm bursting to tell everyone, so this is a safe place to say, Yippee!! We're expecting another baby!

St Therese must have been working away for us. I discovered a little cluster of green rosebuds on the rosebush this morning.