Nathaniel's 1st Holiday!

Its always difficult to come home after a fantastic time away. However, if you don't come home, you don't have the excitement and anticipation of going away again! Kev and I took Nathaniel on his first official holiday over Easter (Thailand not included as an official holiday!) and we all had a really enjoyable though, in true "Kev n Lou" style, packed-to-the-brim time! Here's a summary and some pics of our week...

Wednesday 4th April -

Woke up at 5:30am!
Left home at 6:30am!
Arrived at Holyhead for the Stenaline fastcraft on time!
Enjoyed the short and sweet journey on the boat to Dun Laoghaire

Drove from the harbour to (Great) Great Aunt Alison's house in Shankill!

Went for a lovely lunch with (G) GAA at recently improved and very nice, Sally Noggins

Drove (G) GAA home!

Drove down to Colla with various stops on route!

Thursday 5th April -

Enjoyed a lie in at Fresh Springs

Went to visit Helen Ross but she was out

Went into Schull and saw Helen in Brosnans!

Visited Altar Church

Spent the afternoon at Ballyrisode Beach

Went to visit Joel (friend from World Travels last year) in Ballydehob!

Sadly didn't get to see Dee today - :o(

Friday 6th April -

Packed up all we needed for the day!

Went to Barleycove Beach for the day

Sun, sand and sea - yes Lou managed a swim - in April!

Spent the evening at Fresh Springs

Saturday 7th April -

Had lunch in Ballydehob with Dee and Joel!

Went to Unionhall with Dee and Joel!

Visited the Drumbeg Stone Circle with Dee and Joel!

Went shopping in Skibereen with Dee and Joel!

Had a BBQ at Fresh Springs with Dee and Joel!

Sunday 8th April -

Went to Altar Church for Easter Sunday

Saw and chatted to few Ross' as it was Kiera's baptism!

Introduced Nathaniel to his Great Uncle Keith!

Went to O'Sulivans, Crookhaven for lunch

Saw traditional Welsh and Lancashire dancing at O'Sullivans!

Saw horses swimming in Colla Pier!

Visited Dee and Joel in the evening

Monday 9th April -

Packed up all we needed for the day!

Drove to Bantry

Drove onto Glengarriff

Drove the Ring of Beara stopping frequently!

Visited Kenmare

Drove back to Ballydehob for tea with Dee and Joel

Tuesday 10th April -

Kev went on an early bike ride!

All went to Colla Pier

Picked Joel up on route to Ross Carbery for Pitch and Putt

Played 15 holes of Pitch and Putt!

Had a lovely last meal at the Courtyard, Schull

Spent the evening with Dee and Joel

Packed our bags!

Wednesday 11th April -

Kev went on an early bike ride!

Loaded the car

Cleaned Fresh Springs!

Drove to Ballydehob for fuel - bumped into Dee and Joel again!

Drove to Dun Laoghaire with various stops on route (Inc. Cashel for lunch!)

Arrived early, so decided to pay a surprise extra visit to (G) GAA!

Drove back to Dun Laoghaire

Enjoyed the short and sweet journey on the boat to Holyhead

Drove back home!

Not a bad week eh?! It was really great to see the various people we know again and in such good weather too! It was especially amazing to catch up with fellow World Travellers, Dee and Joel. We actually met them in a place called Turkey Creek - a very remote Aboriginal community in the Kimberleys near the extremely popular Bungle Bungles, in the North of Western Australia! We happened to have stopped on the same patch of grass at the same service station for the same night! Obviously we got chatting and we discovered that they lived in Ballydehob - a place very well-known to our family! We exchanged e-mail addresses then went our seperate ways the next morning. We then happened to choose the exact same campsite (out of however many there are!) in Darwin. We spent alot of time together then realised we were heading to South East Asia at the same time. The final result... we travelled together for a few weeks through Singapore and Malaysia and had great fun. Of course, at that time, Nathaniel was a fairly conspicuous bump, so to introduce him to friends who actually got to see me pregnant was very special!

Roll on our next family holiday, whenever and wherever that may be!

My First Mother's Day!

We had great fun at Orton over the St Patrick's Day and Mother's Day weekend (Fri 16th - Sun 18th March). Mum only returned from her travels on Thursday 15th, stayed at Tony's overnight, then came to Runcorn on the Friday. After taking Nathaniel to Musical Mayhem and his weekly weigh-in, we headed upto Orton for the weekend. Peter, Lorraine and Benjamin followed us up after work that evening and Kev joined us on the Saturday as he has been working 6 day weeks recently - bless him!

It was lovely to see mum again after her 7 weeks away. She thoroughly enjoyed having us all there! On the Saturday night, the middle lot of the three generations cooked a meal to celebrate us 3 mums!!!

On Mother's Day itself, my beautiful little boy (helped, methinks, by his gorgeous dad!) got me a lovely card, a single red rose and a sweet little teddy with tufty hair just like Nathaniel's own!!! I also received a 1st Mother's Day card from dad, which was very thoughtful of him - especially as he was still travelling then!

So summing up... good food, good walks, good gifts, good company and good laughs... what more could a new mum ask for on her first Mother's Day?!

Granny with her two grandsons

Sunday 18th March

Mother's Day 2007

Nathaniel's First Half Year!

Ok, I've finally got round to getting back onto my Blog. As Nathaniel is now 6 1/2 months old, I thought it would be a good time to share his first half year with you all!

After starting out at 4lb6oz, we are very pleased to announce that he now weighs in at 16lb7oz!!! He is right on track with his weight, length and head circumference for his age (taking into account his 10wk prematurity) He is adjusting to eating solids really well and Kev and I have managed to prepare home cooking for every meal so far rather than buying pre-made jars! Not sure how long that will last but we'll go on as much as we can! The weaning verdict... Nathaniel loves his food! From carrot to sweet potato, to butternut squash to cauliflower, to rice to chicken... from banana to apple, to avocado to peach... you name it and if he's old enough to eat it - he will! Today he had his first weetabix! 1 whole weetabix, I couldn't believe it! The Health Visitor said to me this morning, "He's not overweight, he's not underweight, he's just right. However much he wants to eat... let him eat!!!"

Our little dude is now rolling himself and is edging closer to the 'sitting by himself' stage! His legs are really strong and he loves standing up - only requiring adult hands for balance! We're getting an abundance of smiles and gorgeous giggles everyday now, which believe me, is the best remedy after a hard day at work. Every Friday, I take him to Musical Mayhem. This is a lovely group for children under 4yrs. They dance, sing and play instruments for 1hr. Nathaniel loves it and I get a great workout! Its really funny as I have to do all the moves unlike the other parents whose children can walk!!!

Here's some pics of the little fella...

Nathaniel has seemed to enjoy his first 6 months and has loved meeting his family... parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles, cousins, great aunties and uncles, 1st cousins once removed, 2nd cousins, his great great aunt. In fact he's now seen practically everyone from both mine and Kev's families! It is so exciting to know he is part of such an extended family tree with roots all over the place!

Its really been an amazing first 6 months for the 3 of us and we look forward to many more where they came from!