My 10 Answers

This is the famous "Ten Questions" as popularized by James Lipton on "Inside the Actor's Studio," originated by French television personality Bernard Pivot, after the Proust Questionnaire..

1. What is your favourite word? Onomatopoeia- it’s fun to say. I also like Albuquerque, probably because it was the first word that I used a cognitive technique to memorise the spelling of- I am normally a terrible speller.
2. What is your least favourite word? Scab- it used to be moist, but I love baking and moist is always a positive word in the world of baking/cooking. I used to really hate the phrase moist scab. Eeww.
3. What turns you on? Humour, wit, passion, humility, chivalry
4. What turns you off? Pretentiousness, dullness, close-mindedness and ignorance
5. What sound do you love? I cannot lie and I don't care if it's cliche... my favourite truly is the sound of Liam’s laugh. Sometimes I will tickle him until my fingertips are sore just to hear him giggle. It is utterly infectious and totally heart melting. I also love the sound of the tide coming in gently over the stones and rocks on the seashore, but I am so infrequently by the sea that it exists merely as a memory these days.
6. What sound do you hate? 5 Sports live- I have begun to loathe sports because I have a sport obsessed husband who watches sports, reads about sports on our satellite TV, listens to sports and sports talk every second he gets. Who cares what Bob the Builder from Coventry thinks about Alex Ferguson’s comments on the Chelsea match?!?! Not me. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has something to stand up on their soap box and comment about- it’s just noise to me, annoying never-ending noise.
7. What is your favourite curse word? I wouldn’t say I have a ‘favourite’ curse word, but I do use the f word way too much. I need to curb that habit before Liam’s next word is a nasty one!
8. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt? I would love to be a luxury holiday television presenter/ travel journalist. Exotic locations, sumptuous suites… now that’s what I call work!
9. What profession would you not like to do? A podiatrist or chiropodist, anything with feet really. I don’t mind mine or Liam’s, but the rest of you have gross feet with the toe jam and the hard skin and the weird looking pinky toe… barf!
10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gate? I would love to hear God say “excellent, the entertainment is here,” but I fear he will say “I think we both know you got the wrong bus” and I’ll say “ Oh sorry, I’m always getting my 6s and my 9s mixed up, but since I’m already here…”
    
    Did I tell you that for my friend’s Halloween hen night (bachelorette party) I dressed up as a pregnant nun (I was 36 weeks pregnant)? I think I booked my ticket then and there.

Cute pics

A few cute pictures from the past few days. My friend Kerry at work got Liam a super cute little outfit from Next. He looks like a train conductor. We don't have him in overalls very often- he's usually a little too long, but these fit him perfectly and he looks so cute! I took a ton of pictures at granny's house, but I just couldn't resist.Ollie and I took a little sneaky break up to Donegal yesterday. Susan minded Liam for the night and we stayed in a lovely 4 star hotel. We had a beautiful dinner, lovely wine and a gorgeous breakfast this morning. It was restful, relaxing and allowed us some well deserved time alone together. We headed back home to pick Liam up from daycare a little early. The weather was cold, but dry so we went quickly to the park. Liam is all about the slide. He gets miffed if we even suggest another apparatus.After watching the Ireland 6 nations Rugby match on TV with his daddy 2 weeks ago, Liam has enjoyed cheering whenever he gets excited. He scrunches his fists up and shakes his whole body. It's super cute.

Random

Well since everyone else is doing it...

My band name would be: Magnolia Grandiflora

Our first album would be called: Depart, be lost, but climb

And our album cover:

If you want to do this, you can follow the instructions below.Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random” and the first article you get is the name of your band. Then go to “Random quotations” and the last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. Then, go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” and the third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Just a few pictures from the past week...

Liam enjoying his dinner. He loves feeding himself (well, attempting to anyway). He's still a great eater and hasn't gotten fussy yet. He actually had some olives last night- proper Spanish olives with some sundried tomatoes. He was licking his lips and wanting more! He won't get them very frequently though, they are full of salt.

Last weekend while the sun was up and the day was dry, we headed to the park for a playdate with Oliver. Here's little Oliver giving me a partial smile for the camera.
Liam was more interested in his cheerios!
Oliver acting bashful.
Liam on the swings...

I let him try the medium slide in the park- until now, we mostly stuck to the swings. He loved it! I couldn't get any photos, because I was holding onto him. Next time, I'll get an action shot.

Yesterday we visited St George's Market in the city centre. The Ark Farm had a few animals for the children. Liam thought the sheep and lambs were very cute.

He was trying to feed them some of his cheerios.

They also had little day old chicks and 2 week puppies. Liam is still a little young to fully understand how to be gentle, so we had to be very careful when he tried to pet them. He really loved it and was doing little screeches of excitement.

Cute new PJs

An old bag for an old bag?

Thanks to a recent tagging by my friend Heather I find myself blogging about my bag fashion. I remember when I would search the department store for the smallest bag available- the kind that would barely fit my driver's license, lipstick and a few twenties. These days it seems like I cannot find a bag big enough to fit all of the little necessities mommyhood requires.

Luckily, I found a great fossil bag for $180 about 2 1/2 years ago at Macy's. I initially bought this for work- it was big enough to fit my laptop, notes, a book and research, but still small enough to fit under the seat in front of me on the plane. These days it hardly ever has work in it. Instead you'll find wipes, shoes, socks, pacifiers, toys, drink cups, snacks, my keys, phone and wallet... in fact this post reminds me I need to clean it out.

It's held up really well and I would definitely recommend the brand- the leather is nice wearing and practical... well sort of... I have a suspicion it is contributing to my aching shoulder and back (or that could be Liam). Liam has a little backpack for daycare that I keep an extra change of clothes and nappies- this tends to be close at hand in the car. And sometimes I dust off one of my nice Coach bags or a little clutch, but this is rare.

Liam's 1 year check up

I took Liam to get his 12 month injections and check up today. We arrived quite early to avoid too much traffic. I brought along his little lap top and some animal crackers to keep him busy. He was so cute dancing around the doctor's office and performing for everyone. He was giving the other patients big smiles and laughing loads. He weighed in at a big 10.9kg (24lbs) and measured at 82cm (32.3 ins) in length. I'm not sure which percentiles he is in, but he's normally around the 97th. He was walking all around the room and babbling and talking loads to the health visitor, which she was very pleased with. I tried to explain to him that he was getting a shot in his leg and it would hurt for a little while. He only cried for about 10 seconds when the needle went in. He was very brave and I gave him loads of hugs and kisses afterwards.

I still can't believe how big he's gotten and how much he has changed. This day last year, he was only 1 month old. What a difference a year makes!