Some very dull things indeed

Emmet is slowly getting back on Ireland time. Much of last night was spend grunting and squirming and he finally conked out about 2 am. But he's been sleeping ever since waking only three times to nurse. It's 3 o'clock now.
Somehow, as an exclusively breastfed baby he is already a picky eater. Offer him one side, he screams in unholy terror. However, the right side he attacks ravenously. It's a fantastically comfortable situation for me.
Otherwise he's been really super good. Tolerating his brother's "I'm just patting him," "I'm just checking him," "hey you Emmet," and "look at those little hands, look at those little feet! (squeeze!)" with the patience and decorum that I surely can not muster at 28 years old.
Silas's potty training regression seems to have come to an end, thank god. But he's sleeping like a newborn again- awake every couple hours, screaming, and wanting to be in body contact with one of his parents. He was sick for a couple days after we returned and I know he's had major upheaval with a new baby in the house, and traveling, and all. So I'm trying to cut him some slack, but it's wearing pretty thin.
He's extremely cute when he's not screaming, so that's a saving grace. He helped me make potato with ham and cheese sauce casserole for dinner tonight. Of course his obsession with grating meant he handled the swiss cheese and also, "I find the the nut egg, I grate the nut egg, I hold the nut egg."
Grandma Linda will be happy to know that he is hooked on board games already. We bought the Hungry Caterpillar game and a friend brought over CandyLand (a preschool version that is just matching colors and shapes) and he wants to play them all day.
And of course the new books from Aunt Catherine and Great Aunt Anne have been a hit, and that's all we've read. The Give a Mouse a Cookie Treasury only has one draw back, that it is so big it's hard to hold while also nursing Emmet. I tried convincing Silas that I could tell him the story of "the mouse book" but no, he needs the pictures he needs "the book of the mouse book."
Pictures from Christmas as soon as I untangle the card reader from the nest of electronics on top of the book shelf. Anyone have any brilliant storage ideas for cameras, mp3 players, camcorders, etc. that prevents cables and batteries and all from becoming a terrifying mess. It really doesn't even have to be brilliant, just not idiotic, as our current throw it in a wicker basket system seems to be.

My weekend

As for my weekend alone, it was 48 hours all to myself. And all I have to show for it was about 60 pages in the scrap book. Sadly, that still leaves me a little over a year behind in getting photos put into the book. What can I say, new parents with their baby's first year. Silas is heavily featured. Not to mention all the traveling we've been doing.
I camped out in the living room floor surrounded by stickers, pictures, ribbon, and paper. I ventured out only to find more acid free double stick tape.
That's not entirely true, I also went bra shopping, (whee!) and scoured Boots for the perfect lipstick and came up short. Although a did find a lovely Dr. Hauska one in the health store. Sadly, clothes shopping was limited by the bump in my middle, but I did find a cute maternity tank for 1 euro.
I also made a couple chicken pot pies, one for us and one for a friend's family while she is in the hospital getting both knees replaced. And baked some malted milk bread because we had no bread in the house and I didn't want to walk into town in the rain.
I slept in until 9, an extravagant break from the usual 6:30 wake up call of "Oh, Mommy!"
I ate ice cream for breakfast and cereal for lunch.
Wish I could claim some wild times in the pubs, but there again, limited somewhat by the bump. Ah well, up next pictures!

A little something about nothing

I am kicking ass today!
I baby sat for a 10 month old for 5 hours. Neither infant, nor toddler, nor I was harmed in any way.
I vacuumed the entire downstairs. And rearranged the living room and dining room/sitting area. And mopped the kitchen floor.
I fixed the scrapbook I finished a couple weeks ago so the pages aren't falling out anymore. It involved an exacto knife, a cardboard box, a pencil, a pair of scissors, and Orrin's leatherman tool.
I did pre-natal aerobics, sweet 1980's Kathy Smith style, showered, made the bed, watered the plants, have plans for dinner, talked to a friend on the phone, did a load of laundry.
And posted something on the blog!
Now, Silas is still napping so I have to call and harass the bank about why they are charging us fees this quarter even though our balance was never below 500 euro. And call the VW garage to get the car serviced.

A post of more usual length and content

Just a quick recap of what transpired during the week it took me to get that last post written and all the pictures sorted through.

Monday we made our usual journey out to the duck pond/bird sanctuary and after weeks of watching the mama swan incubating her eggs and pulling down from her chest for the nest, we were finally rewarded with this

And this (try to ignore the rusting out 50 gallon drum in the background)

Aww, look at those little fuzz balls. Now only a week later they are starting to look gangly and like ugly ducklings. But we will watch them everyday this summer and this fall the little cygnets will become as beautiful as their parents.

Tuesday Orrin took Silas to an antique auction in Cahir while I went to a doctors appointment, finally at 17 weeks pregnant I went to the doctor. I took all my medical records from home which the doctor kind of laughed at and didn't care to look at. I guess I told him everything was pretty normal, so there really wouldn't be much of interest anyway. But he talked to me just a bit about folic acid, took my blood pressure, listened to the baby's heartbeat (which was amazing to hear, even though I was thinking this was going to be just walking through the paces, the sound of it startled me), sent a referral to the consultant OB and sent me on my way. No forms to fill out, no height and weight check, no urine sample. I did go back a week later and a nurse drew blood, I peed in cup, she weighed me, and asked me a few questions about my pregnancy and labor with Silas. Still, the process is much more laid back, and seems much less formal than in the US. Much like everything in Ireland I guess.

I also found out that the hospital that is five minutes away has gotten much better, so we definitely will not be driving the hour down to Waterford while I'm in the middle of labor. I'd wanted a homebirth, but the closest independent midwife is an hour and a half away and she's not willing to travel that far. None are any of the others I phoned that are farther. But, I learned there is a midwife from Poland (she's been in Ireland for the past 3 years) moving in next to us in July. So maybe, just maybe... although I doubt it.

Wednesday, Thursday... can't really remember what we did. I can say Silas was being a pill all week. I don't know if he had just gotten used to the excitement of having his cousin, aunt, uncle, and dad around all day for a week, or he was over tired from the week of Spain, or he was sick. Or maybe it was me who had gotten used to having a helping hand in having Orrin around all week, and was just no longer equipped to deal with the whining all alone, all day. It was much better by Friday and everything was back to normal Saturday and this week. So at least it was temporary, but it was hell.

Friday, Orrin and I went to a ceili in Mooncoin. I was a little uneasy about it because it didn't start until 9:30 and we had gone to bed at 9:30 the night before, so I didn't know how we would hold up. But we danced all but one dance, and had a great time. Although not getting home until 1:30 kind of wrote off our Saturday, we alternated napping and lying on the floor while Silas jumped on you. I have to write about the floor in the Mooncoin hall though. It was incredible. There was so much bounce to it, I honestly felt seasick when I was sat out for a dance. It wasn't just a springy floor, you could see it rocking up and down and the dancers jumped and stomped. It was great fun for dancing on, and so easy on your legs. when you are Irish set dancing there are top couples and side couples and they often take turns dancing during the set. The bouncy floor made the side couples feel like they were still dancing even when only the top couples were.

Saturday: See above. Napping and lying on the floor. No wait, we also went to the farmers market in Cahir. Found some sausage that almost tasted like American sausage, in that there are no rusks or breadcrumbs or other fillers in it. Very exciting!

Sunday we took Silas over to Arfinnan to the tractor run. I thought this would be something like an all day fair, akin to a tractor pull in the US. Instead, it was more like a tractor parade. 265 tractors and varying age, size, and condition drove from the GAA pitch (sorry, the Gaelic Athletic Association field for hurling and Gaelic football) through the main street in town. Luckily it was only a short drive away, we somehow managed to arrive right on time, despite the time of the event not being advertised anywhere, (maybe we've lived here long enough we're getting a sixth sense about that kind of thing) and Silas loved it. 263 times Silas said "mo trakor?" and one of us said "here come another one!" He waved frantically at all the drivers, and clapped after each one passed, perched on the stove wall with the branches of sumac surrounding and shading him. Stupidly, we forgot the camera.

So we're all caught up now. Which is great because Orrin's parents arrive tomorrow which means I'll probably be too busy to post much in the next week.

The weekend in bullets

-went for a hike in the freezing rain
-went out to dinner in Kilkenny with friends
-a non-parent put Silas to bed for the night (all went well, no crying at all)
-went grocery shopping
-took a nap
-watched the Muppet Show
-made two lasagnas
-washed Orrin's mud crusted mountain biking gear
-gave the boys haircuts
-knit a mitten
-went hiking in the freezing rain (when will we learn?)
-made chicken noodle soup and corn rolls
-started sourdough levain (today I bake!)
-ran my three mile morning route in under 29 minutes
-reserved Bath, England accommodation and car
-read up on Brussels and Bruges for this coming weekend's travel with Rachel, Trey, and Ellis
-worked on taxes (ugh!)

Dog Poop Miracle

No, no, an image of the blessed virgin did not appear to me in canine fecal matter on the streets of Ireland. But, because it's Ireland there is loads of the stuff on the sidewalk in our walk into town to pick up a surprise package from the post office. It was siding samples from a contractor to repair our hail damaged house in MN- very disappointing when I was anticipating a surprise! package! Oh well, there was a miracle en route.

Silas was careening down the sidewalk and I was maneuvering the stroller with one hand trying to ensure that he didn't step into oncoming traffic, and holding a small squashed red berry with the other hand, because, you know, Silas gave it to me and if I dropped it we'd have to go back and pick another one from the shrubs right outside our house. So we're walking down the sidewalk anyway. And Silas takes a direct heading for a steaming pile of fresh dog dung. And because I am not fast or smart I don't gab him, I just kind of say in a loud panicky voice, "Step around!" And then the heavens open up and his little dinosaur booted feet step on either side of the crap, and he straddles the pile and walks right around it, without even the the slightest whiff of a stench clinging to any part of him.

And that my friends is a fine illustration of why I haven't posted in a week. A week! And all I have is a stupid poop story.

Snippets- because bullets are so 2006

I used to just think that pockets on baby clothes were silly. I mean really what is a baby going to carry in his pockets, a pacifier? Now I know that they are downright stupid. For instance, tonight, Silas stuffed everyone of the five pockets of his overalls with bits of pastry, bread, mashed rutabaga, and corn.

In further food and baby related items, Silas really loves feeding other people food. The other evening he was delivering chocolate covered dried blueberries to me in the living room while I was knitting, and Orrin was washing the dinner dishes and supplying him with the sweets upon each return to the kitchen. Yes it's true, I do sit around eating bon bons all day, and I don't even have to hoist myself up to obtain them. Then today he actually made a cracker into airplane to try to get me to eat it.

Another cute things from the Silas front saying "beep beep" whenever anything is in his way from the hood on his sweater, to my legs in front of the cabinet.

Next time you are annoyed by someone talking on a cell phone consider that it could be worse. I walked back from the library today and for two blocks a girl behind me was screaming to her classmates a block or so ahead, "Amy! Amy! Answer your phone! Your phone! Rebecca! Answer your phone!"

I've been trying to eat more seasonal and also more local food, so when the Irish broccoli disappeared while we were home for Christmas and was replaced with Spanish broccoli (Spain has some of the highest pesticide usage levels on produce) I opted for some Irish savoy cabbage instead to provide some greens. So far we have had cabbage and avocados slaw with sour cream and lime dressing over black bean cakes and rice, and a braised cabbage and sweet pea pasta with cream sauce. Both were quite good, although I'm not sure I'll really be able to make it without any broccoli until the late summer when the Irish stuff returns, but it's a start anyway.

Silas peed in the potty! I know, it's crass and stereotypically mom bloggy, and he hasn't done it since Sunday. But at least it is making me pay a bit more attention to him when he drags me into the bathroom and points to the toilet.

And I promised more pictures, so here are a few, semi-generically captioned for your convienence.

Silas and Grandma Lise heading out to do the barn chores.

Silas feeds Rosalee the Alpine goat.

Cousin Ian takes Silas for a drag around the kitchen.

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper, I'm gonna dab myself with glue, stick some stamps on top of my head, I'm gonna mail myself to you.

The bearable saddness

I knew it would be sad coming back to Ireland after spending two and half weeks with friends and family over Christmas. I've been even sadder than predicted though. I feel like I did when Silas was first born and I was completely inadequate to love and appreciate such perfection that was all too soon going to turn into a facial hair sporting sullen teenager (Although, if he takes after his father, instead of his uncle Nathan, any facial hair will be fair and sparse). And the back of your eyes feel all pin-prickly just thinking about how quickly the time goes.

So I've been feeling like I spent the last 2.5 weeks generally taking for granted all the loving family I had around at both my parents and Orrin's parents now that I am back in the quiet of our house in Ireland. Silas is doing his best to fill the void with shrieks and giggles, and I've been picking the scab of sadness by listening to melancholy music.

I've not written anything, even a rejected draft, since before we left for Chicago because there was the excitement of packing, the rush to finish Christmas gifts, games to play, babies to cuddle, songs to sing, food to cook and eat, friends with which to try to get together (sadly, not as many as I had hoped), presents to be opened, and stories to be shared.

So it's been a busy few weeks at home, and I have started knitting obsessively. Or at least obsessively frogging. Did you know this was knitter speak for "rip it, rip it"? So yes my alligator mittens have had several false starts, but I'm on the way and if they don't fit Silas by the time i finish them perhaps one of my nephews will need a pair.

But we're getting through this bout of homesickness with healthy doses of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Muppet Show, planning our next trips in which family will visit or be visited, and lots and lots of Skype.

Pictures tomorrow. Really.

Still here

My apologies, faithful readers. I have not forgotten about you and am still writing here. Or at least thinking about writing here. I have lots to tell you about and lots of posts I've been thinking about writing. Just been busy here.

I've been meaning to tell you about Silas's preferred method of eating now. It is to distribute food along the floor and then lie on his belly and vacuum them up with his mouth. He did it first with the cheerios that I had left on floor following breakfast. Apparently I wasn't fast enough preparing lunch and he was hungry NOW! so cheerios for lunch too. Later instead of eating the cheese or banana set out on a plate for him he decided it would be much more fun and nutritious to eat the hard, dry, uncooked lentils I had spilled near the stove. He discovered there is an end table in the living room that is the perfect height for this mouth vacuuming and spread out popcorn along the edges and walks around the table sucking them up. I was going to title this post "Bobbing for Broccoli," as this was the only way he would eat the broccoli and couscous we had for lunch last week.

I also had a post I was going to write titled "Birthday Presents Unite!" I was going to tell you all about the wonderful presents my family sent for my birthday and how they transformed a dreary, blustery, miserable day into a snug, toasty, cozy day of whole grain baking, classic movie watching, and neck warmer knitting.

And speaking of birthday presents- King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book- it's wonderful. So far I have made the whole wheat fudge brownies, tortillas, apple cinnamon peanut bars, pumpkin cranberry bars, biscotti, challah, graham crackers (with barley flour), banana crunch cake (with oats), rhubarb coffee cake, Easiest 100% whole wheat bread ever, and pumpkin bread. See, I told you I had been busy. I probably wouldn't make either of the bars again but everything else is definitely staying my repertoire.

Silas is down to nursing only 2 or 3 times a day. It's some kind of Christmas miracle! Although it is making me kind of sad that nursing may be coming to an end soon.

He has been super cute the past week though, He's starting to say more and more "words." I swear he said raisin at breakfast this morning. And when he points to things he asks "Dees ees?"
He learned the dog and baby sign at my sisters house and makes those whenever he hears or sees a dog or baby( or doll or child) respectively. He also will sit down on the floor expectantly when he asks for food and I say OK. He plays with his train set! Actually puts the engine and the car together with their little magnets and pushes them around the track. He hasn't quite figured out how to put the track together yet, but he hands Orrin pieces and directs him where to put them.

I went to a cookie exchange last Thursday and came back with a recipe for really yummy chocolate and nut meringues, called Wasps Nests. This weekend we went for a bike ride, had lunch at a nice pub called Allens and did some Christmas shopping in Kilkenny. Sunday, Orrin went mountain biking in the rain with some friends from work and Silas and I ate pancakes and snuggled. Yesterday I went over to friends house and made buckeyes, those peanut butter and chocolate candies. I love them but I have never made them before. They are really easy, if a little time consuming.

I'm almost done with Christmas shopping and we're flying to Chicago on Saturday! We still have to figure out how to get to the airport and avoid paying the 160 euro for parking the car there. We also have to get tickets to go to London so we can visit Aunt Emily's family.

But I can't can't wait to get home and see everyone!

A mess

Correction: we would have been set for no grocery shopping for two weeks until I dropped 10 eggs on the kitchen floor.

Home Again

Silas and I made the journey safely back to Ireland.
Silas was getting his molars, two on the bottom are visible and one on the top you can just feel. I think it is hurting him more than I realize. I always assume that he is just being a crank, but his sleeplessness and general grouchiness at Rachel's may have been more due to the teething than I thought. On the way to the airport he was really fussing, but as soon as I started rubbing his cheeks and jaw he calmed down and fell asleep.
The nice lady at the Ryan Air desk allowed me to check the baby cot as a baby item, free of charge. It explicitly states on the website that you aren't allowed to use the baby allowance for anything other than a stroller, but who am I to argue. It saved me paying 10 euro to check an extra bag. The security line was very long, the passport control man scrutinized our documents, but the flight over the fog filled valleys of the Rhine (maybe the Rhine? Not sure actually) was very lovely.
Orrin collected us at the airport and we stopped for a sandwich on the way home. Rachel and Trey may have a tougher time with the language, but one area where Germany has Ireland beat is drive through restaurants. I don't think they exist here. No, I take that back. There is a drive through KFC in town. The road system in Germany is just much more similar to the American interstate system and I had gotten a little used to it while I was there. So, there a wee adjustment period needed now that I'm back in the land of sheep filled narrow windy roads. (Ok, they aren't sheep filled, but in general the pace of life in Ireland is quite a bit slower.)

Saturday night we went to the Christmas party for Orrin's workplace. We had an OK time. Dinner of turkey and ham and lots of vegetables, mincemeat pies for dessert and really sweet wine, which Orrin drank way too much of and ended up feeling pretty sick. They had a really good band, but they were very loud which made visiting very difficult. Nearly half of the people were dancing at any given time though, so I suppose it wasn't intended to just be background music.

Sunday we were all feeling pretty puny so we just sat around the house mostly. I was feeling a spurt of organizational energy and went through the pantry and refrigerator and made a meal plan to try to whittle everything down before we head back to America for two weeks at Christmas. Our one accomplishment of the weekend was going grocery shopping, but we are all set for the next two weeks I think.