Updates

The health visitor was here on Wednesday (one day shy of seven weeks old) to check on Cian's growth and development. He's a big boy measuring 62cms and a whopping 12lbs, 6ozs. He's around the 91st percentile for both his height and weight. Cian is full of smiles and cooing like mad. He's starting to lose his hair around the back and sides from moving his head around so much to see what's going on. We're still doing the combination feeding- nursing for 10-20 minutes and taking 4-5ozs of formula. I'm really struggling now with expressing and hardly manage to get an ounce out these days, but I'm probably just producing enough for his feeds. The health visitor was really impressed with his development and growth. We have his 8 week immunisations on Thursday and I'm really not looking forward to it! Poor little thing is bound to be cross with me for letting the doctor stick him with a needle.

Luckily, Bronagh (the health visitor) had a stadiometer in her car and the baby scales converted into stand on scales so we were able to see how big Liam is now. He is huge! 40.5 inches tall (91st percentile) and a massive 41.5 lbs (98th percentile)! She was so impressed with his development- he was talking to her like mad and wrote his name and Cian's for her. She couldn't believe he was only 3 years 4 months old.

Our big, beautiful and genius boys ;-)

Easter

Liam woke up very early and wanted to see if the Easter bunny had been. He was super excited to see a basket full of yummy chocolate treats and some colouring books.
Cian's basket had some new dummies, gruffalo onesies, some formula and a bib.
After a packed 11 o'clock mass, we headed down to Great Aunt Annie's house for Easter dinner. We had a little egg hunt while we waited for the festivities to begin. Here's a nice picture with my new little man.
Best buds...
Liam's looking what's in his eggs... mmm, chocolate.
One of Liam's prizes for getting all of the eggs in his easter egg hunt... Gruffalo pajamas!
Modelling his Easter crown.Auntie Susan cuddling with a sleepy Cian.
I was in charge of desserts and made another tasty victoria sponge, yummy carrot cake and some little egg cookie sandwiches with buttercream. My baking skills were hailed a great success... always nice to impress the inlaws!

It was a very long day and we all were very ready for our beds when we got home!

Nana Jersey's visit

My mom came for a 2 week visit and arrived just before mother's day (in the UK/Ireland). We spent the Saturday looking through all of the goodies she brought over- clothes, toys, food... and let her get some cuddles in with the boys before heading to bed early to try and beat the jet lag.

Sunday was mother's day so we went to early mass and then headed to St George's market for a bit. Liam got his face painted like a tiger- he loves having his face painted! Ollie made us a tasty mother's day dinner and we exchanged some cards and gifts.
My mom was a great help over her stay- especially with Liam. I feel bad that Ollie and I haven't been able to give him as much attention since Cian's arrival. I also dropped Liam down to 3 days in daycare so he's now with me on a Monday and Wednesday. So she really entertained him while I took care of Cian- nursing, pumping, nappy changing and all that fun! Every night mom would take Liam up to bed and spend an hour telling him stories- they had the best time together.

We had a few trips out to the park and indoor play areas. We lucked out with good weather for most of her stay.

We also got a lot of organising and cleaning accomplished which had become a low priority since Cian's arrival. She was also able to sample some of my homemade cooking and baking which is pretty darn good (if I do say so myself).

Nana and Liam enjoying some ice cream in the sunshine...
Pudgy little man...
Nana with her two boys.
Thanks for all of your help mom. Liam still asks for you each night. I'm going to get this picture framed and put up in his room.

Our busy weekend

I had some friends up for afternoon tea on Saturday. I made a victoria sponge, lemon & poppy seed muffins with a cream cheese filling, raspberry and oat muffins and carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Everything was super tasty.
Close up of my victoria sponge...
My super yummy carrot cake cupcakes... mmmm....
Sunday was beautiful and sunny so we decided to head to the park for a picnic. It was jammed full of people enjoying the 20C weather. Here's the little man enjoying the fresh air.
Liam got a 'poke' (an ice cream cone) which he devoured in no time...
Enjoying his ice cream with Nana...
Liam laughing hysterically... big proper belly laughs.

Cian pics...

I ordered Cian's announcement cards from Tiny Prints and my mom brought them over from the states for me. They are really cheap when you covert from USD to GBP and I am SO pleased with how they turned out. The colour is lovely and Cian looks like a wee angel... that reminds me I have to leave my feedback for Tiny Prints. Everyone has been complimenting us on them- especially here. Announcement cards aren't the done thing here and they are pretty special.
Some cute photos from the last week...
Doesn't he look like Liam in this post...

1 month!!

Well our little man is already a month old! He had another check up with the health visitor at 4 weeks and is gaining like a champ... up to 11lbs! Liam was 11lbs 4ozs at 4 weeks and considering that he was more than 1lb heavier than Cian at birth, he's certainly doing well and thriving! I'm still struggling a bit with breast feeding. Unfortunately I'm not producing a lot of milk and this means he needs a top up at each feed with a bottle. He's latching and nursing well, I'm just not making enough for his hungry tummy. I'm okay with it and will just continue nursing and bottle feeding- I know he's getting the best of both worlds.
I forgot how significant the milestones are at this young age. He hit a month and started smiling like crazy, cooing all of the time and staying awake for longer periods throughout the day. He's such a sweet boy. He has a pretty laid back/relaxed personality- it's probably because we are so much more relaxed with him.
He's sleeping pretty well for us at night. He normally goes down for 4-5 hours from 10pm and then another 3 hours after his 2-3am feed. I'm still pretty exhausted, especially with Liam to run around with. I'm happy that my mom is here for 2 weeks. She's really going to entertain him!
Brotherly love... Liam loves to hold his wee brother especially when I have the camera out!

Out and about

We went to the park the weekend before last to enjoy some warmer, drier weather. Liam got a bubble wand from my friend Anna and he couldn't wait to get his bubble on.
For some reason Liam thought it would be a good idea to pop the bubbles with his mouth... ick!
Cian enjoying the fresh air in his pram...
Liam and his daddy kicked around the football. He's getting pretty good!
We try and get outside whenever we can to tire out the boy!