The indescribable beauty of real imagination and innocence

                        The more I watch you at play little one, the more I fall in love with you..

“Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, a time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories, they’re all that’s left you”

Bookends, Simon & Garfunkel

The fragility of the older sibling

I had forgotten how incredibly difficult those first few weeks with a new baby in the house are. They are also very special days...but very tiring. I think it was so exhausting because I was recovering and trying to heal myself as well as care for this brand new, fragile little life. I was also very aware that my precious little Grace still needed my attention. She had missed me a lot when I was in hospital and when I came home, so much of my time had to be spent feeding, changing, bathing Michael etc. I could see her jealousy and her worry of where she now stood in this family. She definitely was very difficult to handle until Michael was about 10 weeks old. I couldn't leave her with him for one second. I learned my lesson very early - when he was about 4 weeks old she slapped him, hard. It scared the life out of me. But thankfully, after a few weeks she regained her confidence in how much we love her and she is now very protective of Michael. She includes him in all her playtime activities. And he loves sitting in his bouncer watching her.

It must be love

This is Michael's first day in the world. I love this photo.

It will forever remind me not only of how I looked the day Michael was born but also of how I loved...

Seamus was delighted to have a little son and Grace loved him from first sight. In fact, she loved him long before she ever seen him. She loved him and waited on him with the same anticipation as me and her dad from she found out he was in my tummy. My two precious babies...

Brand new...

On 25th October, my little man was born - Michael. He is so precious. So beautiful. So mine. There is so much beauty in the bond between a mother and her newborn. In a couple of hours I had memorised every aspect of his face. I would have recognised his cry among 100 babies in a room. And he loved the sound of my voice - it soothed him - instantly. He'd been inside - listening, dreaming, memorising. And now he was here and trying so hard to focus on the face of the voice that he knew so well.

                                                   I am so proud of my little bundle.

Donegal 4 Sam 2012

Bump photos

I hardly ever appear in photographs when I am pregnant. I suddenly become camera shy :-) But I am so glad that I do have bump photographs from both my pregnancies. In the photo below I was 7+ months pregnant with Michael. How I couldn't wait to meet him!

Sunny days

What a difference a little bit of sunshine makes to how we all feel. At the first hint of summer in Ireland we go crazy and try to fit all outdoor family fun days into one week (because that's probably as long as the summer will last!)

In May 2012 the sun shone for most of the month - and it was bliss!

Terry & Caroline's wedding

On May 4th 2012 my brother married his childhood sweetheart - the gorgeous Caroline. It turned out to be a fabulous day even though we had a very shaky start! It was Grace's first big family occasion so I wanted her to look beautiful. I had an appointment to have my make up done about 2 hours before the wedding. The make up artist ran over time and so when I arrived back at the house I had 10 mins to get dressed and into the car to go to the marriage ceremony. I hoped and prayed on the way back to the house that Seamus had dressed Grace and that they would both be ready to walk out of the house. As I opened the front door I was greeted with Grace having a complete meltdown. She was screaming, tears running down her face. Her hair was stuck to her face from crying and she was wearing her nappy and nothing else. I tried to comfort her but she was having none of it. She didn't want to wear the dress and when her daddy had tried to put it on she went crazy. I looked at the clock and we had 5mins left until we needed to be in the car (and I still wasn't dressed)! I finally got the dress on Grace and we put her in her car seat (she was still in meltdown) Her hair was a mess and her face tear stained and full of snot - not how I'd imagined her to look on the day I bought the dress! But at least her wee outfit was still lovely. Anyhow, her dad took her into the crying room in the chapel so she wouldn't disturd the ceremony. My brother in law and his daughter (who is 7 months older than Grace) were also in the crying room. When the ceremony was over I took Grace in my arms and all I could see were brown stains all over dress and bolero. I was fit to be tied! My brother in law had given her chocolate buttons in the crying room!

And then it gets worse...

On the way to the reception we were going to call in to my parents house so that I could change Grace's outfit. Seamus asked me to stop at the shop so he could get a drink. As he walked through the shop, one of the shop assistants dropped a bottle of Lucozade just as Seamus passed and he was covered from head to toe with the horible sticky stuff. I could not believe it. It was a brand new suit that he'd bought especially for my brothers wedding, brand new shirt and tie, shoes, everything! I felt really sorry on him. So we went back to my parents house, I changed Grace's clothes and Seamus tried his best to clean up his suit (and thankfully one of my dad's shirts and a tie fitted him).

Anyway, we finally made it to the reception and after a while we relaxed. It was a wonderful evening. I hope Terry and Caroline have a lifetime of happiness together...

Just do it!

Ok. This is it. I'm taking the bull by the horns! This is not much of a memory bank for my family if I do not dedicate the time to writing my posts. So I'm going to recall the last 10 months now with great gusto (before my baby brain kicks in and I forget a lot of what has happened!) So here comes the first post or the first memory after Easter last year :-) x