Capybara

Cheetah cubs

Waiting to go in for the night.

Can you spot the red pandas?

Choo choo!

Roo's favourite bit!

Thank you!

It's off to the toy shop today. Doctor's orders! Thank God, yesterday's assessment went very well. Aside from a couple of small concerns, the two ladies who met us were happy with his progress. Roo was happy because he got to play with a vast wardrobe full of toys while I answered the questions.

When I managed to pry him away from the toys, we went home with a prescription for a toy! One which will develop turn-taking skills in Babba Roo so he doesn't get flattened when he starts playschool in the coming months, please God.

I am so relieved. Heartfelt thanks to everyone for all your prayers.

Please pray for Roo today

Today, Roo and I are going to see a Speech and Language Therapist. His language was found to be a bit delayed when he was assessed in May, so we went on a course of Parent Information Sessions and now he's being re-assessed. Up until recently, I hadn't been worried about him, as he was clearly happy, sociable and not frustrated. But after the assessment and some of the questions the therapist asked, I looked up our old friend the internet and began to worry that he was showing signs of some disorder.

If you get a chance, please remember us in your prayers today.

What would you do?

Our visitors kindly left us a present of two lottery tickets, one of which was for the Euromillions draw which is very big: last week's was Euro €25million. So before I checked the ticket, we were amusing ourselves pretending we'd won that vast sum. Roo often answers for Lou by putting on a high-pitched voice. But we were still pleasantly surprised when, in answer to my question, "Lou what will you get with the €25million?" a little voice piped up, "a rocket!"...
By the way, neither ticket was successful, so we won't be buying any rockets anytime soon.

Noah's Ark gets a makeover

Babba Roo decided that Noah's Ark needed some colour, so he took some chalk to it. Initially he was just drawing in the sea around the base of the vessel, but he got swept away on a wave of creativity and continued with the little house that sits on the deck, even the inside of it. I'm just not sure how I can persuade him that drawing on the walls of our house is not such a good idea, after seeming to sanction this bit of DIY?
In Mass today, there was a scary bloke next to us who decided to give out to a group of teenagers chatting at the back. They did actually stop when he spoke to him, but it made me think. They weren't paying attention to Mass, but they weren't distracting other people as they were speaking very quietly. I couldn't help thinking, 'at least they were there'. After all, young children like ours can be noisy and disturb Mass, but they are rightly welcomed as part of the Church. (Although I was a bit worried yer man might give out whenever Lou made a little squeak.) I wondered if they'd come back next week after his outburst. Is it better to have them there in some capacity rather than not at all? I agree that they shouldn't have been talking, but it is quite rare to see people of their age in Mass and they could hardly have felt welcome after that. What do parents of teenagers do if their children refuse to go to Mass?

It's the Baby Monster!

At least, that's what Roo calls his little brother when he is covered in food after another food-exploring session in the kitchen. So far he has helped himself to banana, pear, strawberries, raspberries, red pepper, courgette, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, egg, cheese, bread, potato and porridge as well as less healthy options such as chips (in a Dingle chippy), ice cream (mmm... Murphy's Baked Banana flavour, Dingle again) and chocolate cake (an exception for Mum's special birthday). Even our visitors, who were new to baby-led weaning (BLW), embraced this voyage of discovery. Not a puree in sight for this adventurous little epicurean.

Sneaky sneaky Mama!

Here it is- proof that Roo can eat veg... When it's cunningly disguised as cookie dough. Oatmeal raisin and courgette cookies to be exact, from the cookbook I mentioned in my last post.
Meanwhile I've been in the new republic of Miltonia, otherwise known as cleaning up the house for our lovely visitors, due in 3 days' time.

On a more prosaic note, Babba Roo ate some cauliflower today. Wow, so what, you might say, but that is really quite an event in this house! Then again, it was pureed and cunningly hidden in some fluffy, buttery mashed potato, (an idea I got from my latest library cookbook find Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld). She purees all sorts of veggies and hides them in things as diverse as chicken nuggets and brownies. I'm quite looking forward to making oatmeal cookies with pureed courgettes (or zucchinis, as our American friends like to call them). Off we go!
On the subject of food, his younger brother has started solids in the last week or two. Solids before 1 are supposed to be fun and he certainly takes to the task with much gusto. He looks so cute sitting in his booster seat, trying to fit his food-filled fist into his mouth. I'm going down the Baby Led Weaning route this time, partly because of the afore-mentioned aversion to vegetables and am eagerly awaiting a book on the subject.

Jesus, the Little Prince and the fox?

Today at Mass, Fr Noonan read an extract from one of my favourite books, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, at the start of his sermon. It was the bit where the Little Prince meets the fox, who explains to him about 'taming' him and the two becoming friends. At first, the Little Prince says he is too busy, but the fox convinces him that it is worth being patient and taking the time needed to tame him so they can be friends. The priest was making a parallel between the excerpt and today's Gospel, where Jesus encourages the Apostles to retreat to a quiet place and rest after they have been out preaching the Good News. Fr Noonan said that we try to cram so many activities into our lives and those of our children that we have no time to reflect on things. 'No time to stop and stare', I suppose.

The mad, co-incidental thing is, I photo-copied that Little Prince extract for one of my English lessons in the school next-door to the church, when I was doing my teaching practice there nearly two years ago.

Sweetness and Light

I've been listening to a wonderful programme on the radio. You canlisten to it here. It's all about one of my favourite subjects: Bees.
I didn't know til now that the phrase 'Sweetness and light' originates from the importance of bees in providing honey and beeswax to our ancestors. One of the guests was a lovely wise fella with a Kerry accent called McGiollaCoda, the same surname as the man who gave the introductory Bee course (aka one of the best birthday pressies ever) that Lee sent me on last year.

Hope springs eternal

Today I planted out some Basil that Mum gave me at the weekend. I haven't had a lot of luck with Basil in the past. But if the weather is fairly warm and I can keep the slugs at bay, it may have a chance. Some good reasons to be hopeful, eh?
Roo got a new delivery of sand, but was reluctant to stay outside without me around.

Big Buzz

We were woken today by the postman for the second morning running. Yesterday he had a birthday parcel from my dear Australian friend and today it was this little lavender plant, courtesy of the Jordan's cereal bars we eat a lot of. It had managed to come all the way to our house intact and then got dropped by the postman. He always seems to be in a right tear.
Anyway, I got a chance to plant it while the two lads were asleep. Luckily, because if I'd attempted it while Roo was with me I'd have got nowhere. It was very windy, although sunny and warm, and he wasn't on for staying outside at all. To put it mildly. He just about agreed to water it for me when he got up. So here's our busy little bee helping our newest addition settle into its role as an official 'Buzz Stop'.

All aboard!

Trains and space exploration are Babba's main interests at the moment. In common with most other little boys, I suppose. Today we visited a great playground while doing the weekly shop. Roo was so delighted when we finally got there ('course he spotted it at the beginning of the trip)- it was so sweet. He practically floated in, 'the playground, yay!'
Job satisfaction is simple enough to come by in this game.

C'est quoi?

I found the following while looking for a french translation of the Our Father. It's mad seeing it written down like this and realising that every language in the world has its own text-speak.

Le « Notre père » en SMS (Français)
Ntr pR kié ociE ke tn nm swasanktFié ke tn regn viN keta volonT swafêt sr la tR como ciL don-ns ojordwi ntr p1 2 c’jour pardon-ns no ofenç cm ns pardonon oçi à cE ki ns on ofenC &ne ns soumé pa à latentation mè Dlivr-ns dumal amN

The Spoonbugs have emerged

Their air-drying clay exoskeletons have hardened overnight so they have emerged from their spoon dens.
Unfortunately, seconds after this picture was taken, an over-zealous toddler naturalist knocked two of their legs off, so they've had emergency surgery and are recovering in spoonbug hospital.

Last chance corn

Roo planted these pots with sweetcorn today. It's a bit late in the growing season, but it seems like a waste of Lee's hard work in clearing the veggie patch not to put plants there. And could it possibly encourage Roo to eat vegetables?

Babba Nana Bread

I am enjoying making things from Tana Ramsay's Family Kitchen. Last night I had a couple of too-ripe bananas to use up, so I tried her version of Banana bread. It varies from my usual recipe in that it has apple in it (rather than sultanas), and no vanilla essence. I thought Babba Roo might prefer it, now that he has gone off food with 'bits' in it. So here's the version I tried, only without salt and with wholemeal self-raising flour.


85g soft butter
150g sugar (soft brown Muscovado, etc)
2 large beaten eggs
4 mashed medium ripe bananas
1 grated apple
250g wholemeal self-raising flour
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp grated nutmeg

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs gradually and beat.
Mix in the apple and bananas. Sift in the flour and spices and mix well.
Scrape into a lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at 180ºC for 40-45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin for 20-30 minutes on a wire rack. Eat. Make appreciative noises, such as 'mmmmm, tayshy, myummy'.

Just sending this picture of our now clear veggie patch. Thanks to Lee for all his hard graft in scorching heat on Friday to clear the weeds and grass -a haven for slugs. Anything we plant should have a chance now.
It's back to our old roles again now...

Spotty & Shaggy go to the Fair

Yes, that's a goat pulling the cart. They reserved the right to refuse people on the grounds of weight.

We visited Charleville show today on the last day of Lee's holidays. Here are some of the things that caught our eye.

An old Steam tractor. Little Red was there too.

Roo took this photo of some of the vintage cars. There was a huge array of them.

And this little cutie is a baby alpaca. With the longest eyelashes ever.

Bad news for slugs

I can't understand why there isn't a queue of birds around our vegetable patch. I've just been out there and it is full of slugs munching on various bits of our plants. Big ones for main course, small ones for starters. Yum Yum. If you're a bird. All we seem to have is a skangery family of magpies. So I've been squishing and slicing. I'm not squeamish anymore. I used to give them a beery send-off, but now I despatch them quickly, so angry am I at their gluttonous robbery.

Yesterday, over some coffee and some iced lemon slices, we caught up with a dear friend over from America.
It was her first time meeting Lou, who she gave lots of cuddles. He in turn gave her plenty of smiles.
It's so great to see her and I always feel very fortunate to catch up with her as she only has a few days' holidays and she has a lot of relatives and friends to squeeze in. This time we met her fella for the first time and he seems a grand solid dependable lovely chap. They make a really cute couple.

Happy Day Dada!

We had a great day today involving bouncy castles, bric-a-brac bargains, book browsing, ham and tomato sandwiches, sausage hot dogs... Yes it was the Village Fete today.
In the evening we had Chocolate cake in honour of Father's Day. 'Happy Days Daddy' as Roo put it.

Sofa wars

We were in Kilkenny yesterday looking at second-hand stuff. The weather wasn't as promising as the day before. First we visited a salvage yard where we saw nice wrought iron gates and a circular seat that is designed to go round the trunk of a tree. It was very well-organised with everything laid out in easy to find piles- handy if you know what you're looking for. We just need a house and garden to put the things in! Then we headed into the city centre to find the Vintage Design Studio. It's in the Irishtown area, run by the extremely approachable and helpful Noel Green. He advised us on the best (cheapest) place to park and didn't seem to mind Roo clambering over the cool 20th century furniture including the egg chair in the window (pictured) which really took his fancy and looked like it was straight out of a Bond film. We were in search of a sofa and saw two with different merits. We went away to think about it and came back to find another couple looking at the same sofa which they'd seen online for considerably more than this one's asking price. Noel was quite shocked, not least because it had been sitting in his shop for a while and then suddenly had a few people interested in it.
We spent some time strolling around Kikenny's streets, stopping for lunch in Cafe Sol and coffee in Caffe 1 just down the street from the furniture shop.
It's become clear that Babba Roo has got very grown up in the last few weeks with great progress in his language and other areas. He can get quite cross if you try to get him to do something he doesn't agree with, such as eat one more mouthful or use a spoon instead of a fork (regardless of how big it might be). Poonch, meanwhile, is cutting his first tooth, although you'd never guess from his ever-cheerful exterior.

Sun, sea and shilly drinks

'What is an espresso martini?' I asked. The waiter smiled and explained: Kahlua, vanilla vodka and a shot of espresso: 'it looks a bit like a Guinness'. 'You must get one of those!' I said to Lee. It's what 007 drinks when he really needs to stay awake. And so it arrived. The perfect end to a lovely meal at the Tannery.

We called in for a special treat after a busy day on Clonea strand. This holiday lark is tough, you know, but it's got to be done!

Bijou residence for sale

Roo spotted this lovely howf while we were out and about today. We stopped into 'Petmania' and it is full of amazing pets (unlike some petshops which only sell accessories). Gerbils, rabbits, hamsters, dagus (I'd never heard of them either- they're like big gerbils), chinchillas, rats (not the type that raids your compost heap), a huge variety of fish and birds including an African Grey parrot that Roo was a bit afraid of.
Anyway, the little house in the picture is actually a cute little bird cage. The perfect starter home for a pair of lovebirds, perhaps?

(Sorry...)

first playday and last workday

We got to the playgroup for the first time at last!! There were four other friendly mums there, with little boys of various ages. Just one little girl, a couple of months younger than Poonch, who also won't drink from a bottle. Her Mum and me compared notes, rare enough as it is to meet a fellow breastfeeding mama.

Poonch stayed awake for most of the hour and a half. He was very interested in watching the big boys play and smiled at the mums who commented on how 'placid' he is. Roo, meantime, had great fun messingwith PlayDoh, browsing unfamiliar books and hanging out with other little guys his age. It was another unforecast sunny, warm day and he kept trying to go outside to the very enticing playground.

Eventually his wish was granted and everyone went out for the final half hour. The little girl's mum has a boy a few months older than Roo and by the end of the session, the two were sitting inside a little playhouse on opposite sides of a table. One of his favourite things was definitely this gorgeous little 'cosy coupe', which, like the cars in The Flintstones, is powered by your feet. Fortunately there were three more of them, as they were very popular with all the other boys too.

I think all three of us enjoyed it and we hope to go back soon. Roo actually asked for 'bed' on the way home and is due up any minute.

Today is a special day, because it is Lee's last day at work for two whole weeks. I can't really remember the last time he had that long off in one go, but I think it was on our sadly truncated rail trip across Europe. I hope he has a lovely relaxing time and doesn't worry about work.

It starts today!

The novena to the Sacred Heart starts today and there is a lovely website which guides you through it. You can write in your intentions/ requests and it incorporates them into the novena prayer for you.

Click this: Sacred Space :: Sacred Heart Novena 2009 :: » The Days of the Sacred Heart Novena 2009

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Grrr. . .

So much for growing your own. After all our efforts at organic veggie growing, the landlord comes along with his knapsack and sprays skull and crossbones labelled gunk everywhere!
So here's a picture of our inaugural broad beans before they wither and die.
I really wish someone would buy our house so we could stop renting, move from here and avoid worrying about my family absorbing herbicides through their socks.

I love my boys!

Just got the urge to say this. I am so grateful for my boys (all three of them). I really am blessed with them, they are wonderful gifts. Thank you God!


The Feast of the Sacred Heart is coming up and the Novena starts soon. You can pray along on the Sacred Space website from the comfort of your own computer!

I wish I could sew...

Just sitting here next to Poonch, waiting for him to nod off and squeezing in a row of knitting. I love knitting but the trouble is, it takes me SO long to get anywhere with it. This is a cardi for a little baby who's just a couple of weeks old but I'm so slow, she mightn't have it before she fits its 6-9 months' size.
On the other hand, I'm telling myself that being able to use my sewing machine would mean I could make things much quicker. So I'm on the lookout for classes. So far no success, so I will probably have to wait til the evening classes start in September. I suppose it's more realistic than wishing I could fly...
Well my littlest man is asleep now, so I'll stop rambling and finish that row.

Garden notes

We were all four of us out in the garden today. Lou was on my front in the Ergo carrier as I finally planted the sweet pea seedlings and other bits out, thanks to Lee sorting out the pots, shovelling manure and drilling holes.

Here's the back of the card.

Sunny inspiration

The sun is shining, so it provided the inspiration for a card for my Godmother. Along with a little help from the Boden catalogue. The character on the front reminded me of her own dog.
The weather is absolutely wondrous and it was lovely to be able to sit out at the picnic table with our Bank holiday visitors, eat homemade ice cream cones and watch the children run about.