Sunday, November 30, 2008

60 Years of Marriage

Wow where do you start when such an amazing couple celebrate 60 years of marriage! It was such a special day and a true honor to be able to be part of the celebration.

The day started for Grandma and Grandpa with a special mass and blessing. They were able to stand in the same spot that they got married at 60 years earlier. After mass we all headed back to the hotel for a big celebration. The amazing thing was that we were all staying at the hotel where Grandma and Granddad had had their wedding party 60 years earlier.

The party was a special celebration of the a happy couple. More than a few tears were shed when the speeches started and then we all danced them all away (though some of us failed miserably at the foxtrot and quickstep!).

The congratulations card received from the Queen was shown off to everyone! And Eoin was happy for the whole party as long as he could play with

Margaret's walking stick! It was a great day and I can only hope that Andy and I and all our family have such a strong marriage but with Grandma and Granddad as role models I think we might just be able to make it :-)

The Simpsons!

Well here are the original Simpson's (and not a blue hair in sight)! Great grandparents, their six kids and other halves, 10 (of 12) grandchildren and 1 great grandson. Then below we have the Irish branch of the Simpson clan.

Fiona made out the family tree (just the last four generations) and it was over nine meters long (or just over 29 feet long).

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Warrington here we come

After a few days in Cambridge we trekked north to Warrington for the main event of our vacation; Eoin's great grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary. There was a huge weekend celebration and time to catch up with family that flew in from all over the world. But first on the agenda was chill time for the boys as they sat and watched TV together.

Eoin loved having the space to run around the hotel and the fact that it was decorated for Christmas meant that there was a lot of fun glitter stuff to try and destroy.

The next day was time to catch up with everyone and a chance for Eoin to meet his great grandparents for the first time.

He also got to hang out with his Irish uncles who introduced Eoin to rugby and ummm beer. Well in fairness it was more the lime that Uncle JP had in his beer that Eoin was interested in (we all know that Eoin loves to chew on limes and lemons).

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Cousin Mark


Eoin just idolized his cousin Mark who is a couple of years older than Eoin. It was the first time they had met each other but they instantly got on and played together wonderfully. They both loved to chase each other round the house and get each other excited (as the photo shows).

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Leaving on a jet plane

Our adventure across the Atlantic started with a nighttime flight from San Francisco to London.

We got to the airport nice and early and it paid off because we were given a row of four to ourselves!
Poor Andy though wasn't feeling to hot and just before take off it was evident that he had got tummy flu (which knocked him out for the first three days of our vacation).

We really really hoped that Eoin would sleep the whole way and he sure lulled us into a false sense of security when he fell asleep during take off. We envisaged a quite flight with a glass of wine and a few movies but no just 40 minutes later Eoin woke up and played for around three hours. Eventually he did fall asleep again but on me which was a shame seeing as he had his own seat. But you can't blame the little guy for wanting to cuddle up and feel safe in a huge plane.
We landed on time and got through security and immigration very easily. The hire car was another matter but I won't bore you with the details of a 90 minute wait at Hertz for a pre booked car!!!
Our vacation had begun.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Entertainment while eating out.....



While in Monterey yesterday we had a yummy seafood lunch. Among other things Eoin learned how to dip his chips (fries) into tomatoe ketchup. We also gave him some ice to play with and well when we realised it was too slippery to pick up he worked out a novel way of eating the ice - the video says it all (we did clean the table first).

Saturday, November 22, 2008

13 months old!


Eoin is 13 months old today and as the picture shows he has discovered the TV. His favorites are The Backyardigans, Wonder Pets and Zoboomafoo.

Eoin is running around and into everything! We can't turn our backs for a second. He loves to dance and has almost learned how to roll head over heels.

Eating is a bit of a battle at the moment but we are working on it and just trying to take it a day at a time.

Developments this month include being able to use his shape sorter and stacking toys. He has also started to feed himself with a spoon. Eoin's speech is coming on. This month we have added Mommy, baby, down, again and airplane.

Unless he is teething or has a cold Eoin is sleeping from 6pm to 6am and still takes two naps a day.

Oh and he has grown another inch and now stands a cool 33.5 inches tall! NBA here we come.

Aquarium

Today we spent our first day of Thanksgiving vacation taking a trip to the Monterey Aquarium. We left early and got there as it was opening and we are so glad we did this as all the feedings are in the morning. We say the otters being feed and then briefly saw the diver in the Kelp Pool. Following this was the main attraction for the day -a penguin walking the red carpet! It was so funny and we had front row seats. The penguin stopped right in front of us and at one point looked like he was going to inspect our camera. Eoin really wasn't sure what to make of it all!

As far as Eoin was concerned the best bit of the Aquarium was going outside and chasing the seagulls. He also loved the outdoor nature part where he got to watch more birds.

Now that we are back home we are going to spend the next couple of days preparing for our trip back home to England. It is Eoin's great grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary and so family for all over the world are traveling back to celebrate with them. 60 years really is something!

So if the blog goes quite for a couple of weeks you'll know that we are enjoying seeing friends and family that we haven't seen in a long time - can't wait to see you all!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Funny sounds



If you listen carefully you can hear Eoin try and do his turkey sound - too cute!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

First big booboo!

Eoin had his first big boo boo today. He was getting down off my knee and went head first into the coffee table. He ended up with a gash above his eyebrow which surprisingly didn't bleed much but it was deep so off we went to the doctors to get it super glued back together. Eoin was very brave and loved the sticker and lollipop he got.

I'm not sure where I learned this but somewhere in my memory I remember being told that if a cut looks like it could 'talk' it needs to be seen by a doctor and if the edges are close enough that it can't 'talk' just clean it and put a band aid on. Strange I know but it worked today!

Sitting in sink


This is where Eoin has decided to sit while I comb his hair every morning (which can take as long as five minutes depending on the number of baby dreads he has!). I sit him on the side and he migrates into the sink and stays there until his hair is done.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Fun night with friends


Tonight our friends Todd and Marjel and their little man Jackson had us all round for drinks and food. The five little ones had so much fun playing until it was way past bedtime and getting doggie kisses. And the adults enjoyed the chance to have a drink together and catch up. Thanks so much for a great night guys! (Eoin was in his PJ's ready for a quick nighttime routine when we got home).

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Family Day

What a sunny hot day it was today in the Bay Area!

We hit record temperatures for November 78 degrees so it was the perfect day to spend with Eoin's birthmother Amy and head up to Sausalito and one of Eoin's favorite places the Bay Area Discovery Museum.

This was our first visit to the museum since Eoin started walking and boy did he enjoy his new found freedom. He splashed (and all the kids around him) in the stream and played music on the wooden xylophone and frogs. We all played hide and seek in the living tree house and dug in the archeology dig. Afterwards we headed into the town and had a tasty seafood lunch.


It really is such a blessing that Amy choose to stay in our lives. We love spending time with her and sharing how Eoin has grown and developed. In some ways it almost feels like I have gained a younger sister of whom we both love very much.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Honoring Eoin's African American Heritage

We have always wanted to make sure that Eoin's African American heritage was part of his life and so we have been thinking about ways of incorporating it into our everyday life (apart from keeping him up to see Obama win the election). So we have decided to start a new family tradition of celebrating Kwanzaa.

Kwanzaa was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966 and is a celebration of african heritage and lasts for seven days starting on 26 December. It is now celebrated across the world. The African celebration of Kwanzaa was a ceremony of appreciation for the "first fruits of harvest". The four elements that made up the original African meaning of Kwanzaa were unity, awareness of ancestry and heritage, recommitment to traditional values, and reverence for creator and the creation.
Gifts are given mainly to children, but must always include a book and a heritage symbol. The book is to emphasize the African value and tradition of learning stressed since ancient Egypt, and the heritage symbol to reaffirm and reinforce the African commitment to tradition and history.
We think that we are going to pick one day during the seven day Kwanzaa celebration and use it to celebrate Eoin's heritage as well as a time for us all to learn more about African traditions and way of life.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Milk worries

A couple of weeks before Eoin turned one we started to transition him onto full milk. We started with half milk half formula and while he did get constipated he managed ok. Just after his birthday Eoin started drinking full milk and no formula. Well almost over night the poor little fella 'changed'.
The constipation became so bad the doctors where thinking about some yucky procedures! Prune juice helped for a little while but not long. Eoin also started sleeping nearly 18 hours a day and went right off his food. All he would eat was mac and cheese, raisins and chocolate pudding.
So after a little chat with my Mum we decided to put Eoin back onto formula and within 24 hours he was back to normal. It was so great to have a happy little boy again. He ate everything around him and pooed for the US!

You turn your back for one second and....


there is toilet paper and tampons every where!!! Eoin thinks that tampoons are GREAT teething toys.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Concentration


In the last few weeks Eoin has really started to concentrate and try and work out how things operate. We got him this great tent for his birthday that has tons of activities on the walls of the tents. So far it has been a huge hit.

I'm beginning to notice that I am posting more video than photos at the moment. Well that would be because a certain little man is never still long enough to take a photo anymore!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Fun with Mommy



This is one of Eoin's favorite games. He sits with his legs around my neck and then I 'drop' him. He will do this for ages or at least as long as my back holds out! Then Eoin thinks it's funny if I almost let him touch his ceiling light. If you listen carefully you can hear him say again a few times towards the beginning of the video.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Learning to be gentle - update



Eoin has come so far in learning how to be gentle and not overpower smaller babies then him! He is almost petting the cats too rather then hitting them (I'msure Sappho's tail is two inches longer).

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Getting into everything!



Eoin is very much into exploring the house at the moment and if there is one cable or wire that he can reach he pulls it! He is also fascinated by how things go together and work.

Toddler communication



Eoin has become quite expressive and is beginning to use words in the right context now. He is always most chatty right after some sleep. His new favorite word is 'No'!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Playing with friends

Autumn Fun


The leaves have finally started to fall here. The three of us went to the park today and had lots of fun playing in the leaves. Eoin thought it was really funny to pick a bunch up and throw them in the air.


Saturday, November 1, 2008

Slow down dude!

Eoin has astounded us with his development in the last two weeks. First of all he is walking round like a pro now and can walk a good block to the park (though it takes 20 minutes because he has to stop and look at every leaf and crack!).

But what has really got us excited is the development of his speech and fine motor skills. Eoin has really gotten in to his puzzles and can get the shapes out and then back in.

He is mimicking everything we do whether it be putting something on our head or doing something like lying down.
Eoin's speech development is huge. Yesterday when trying full milk for the first time he said 'Yucky' and when given it again he said 'yucky no'. Tonight he looked at me and said mommy clear as day over and over again. He can also say cat, dog, woof, daddy, out, up, park, ball and balloon. We're working on drink, milk and down.