US Trip, October 2010

I know it's been far too long since my last post (2 months!), but this should be a fairly long and action packed one for ya'll. Just a bit of laziness has been holding me back. I'll try and get my act together!

We were back home in the states for 2 weeks in the middle of October. I tried to fit in as much as I could, but didn't manage to see everyone. There were a bunch of fall festivals going on and we thought Liam would love running about on a farm. Here he is enjoying the bouncy castle at Windsor Farms the day after we arrived.

Pony rides with daddy- he was a little hesitant at first, but couldn't stop talking about it afterwards...
Family shot- we never get these, it's always one of us taking the photo. We took advantage of the extra set of hands.
He's not standing up completely straight, so it's not the most accurate measurement of his height. He's tall like me and Ollie...
He had to pick up the biggest pumpkins on the patch- showing off his strength!
With Nana Jersey- he's saying 'cheese'.
We got him a proper short haircut when we were home- I thought it was about time. He's looking cute in his Ireland Rugby kit.
No rugby balls, so an American football will have to do. He's not too bad at throwing and caught a couple too!

He's getting so big, but I still think he's my little cutie.
Celebrating uncle Mikey's 30th... Liam really wanted to blow that candle out first!
I took a trip down to North Carolina to visit with my bestie Heather and her family. It was truly a quick visit- about 24 hours, but brilliant to see her! Here's Sam holding the newest addition Annarose. What a complete angel Annarose is, I didn't hear her fuss or cry once! And Sam is so smart and inquisitive. He loved showing off all his toys and dance moves!

Since Ollie was only staying a week, we had a big birthday celebration for all of us- Ollie and I were the 23rd of October, my grandma is 90 on the 18th of November and Liam is 3 on the 8th of December. We had yummy Carvel Ice Cream cake and had presents too! Here's my grandma with Liam. I love this photo. He has her wrapped around his little finger- every time she would come over to the house Liam would say 'Oh Biznona (Great Grandma), I missed you'.
Silly kid smiles.
We checked out another farm, Terhune, on the following Saturday. It was cold and windy but Liam had a great time with the animals, especially another little pony ride with Rigatoni the Pony.

My mom, Liam and I all piled into the car for a 6 hour road trip up to Massachusetts to see my best friend from university, Rachael, and her 2 cute little twins. Here's little Miles napping away.
And Blake snoozing on Grandpa George's chest.
It was great to see them all, even though it was another super quick visit. Hopefully next time we come home, we'll have more time!

On the last night I was home I had a little pizza party with a few of my old high school friends, Lorie, Cherie and Suzanne. It really felt like we were back in high school, gossiping, sharing memories and just enjoying our time together. Here's Suzanne's little cutie, Lauren. She was full of smiles (not in this photo) and laughter.
I hope we can all come back next Autumn with our newest arrival (due in late February).

We're expecting!!

Most of you loyal readers (all 6 of you) will already know our great news... we have another bun in the oven! Baby Reynolds number 2 is due on 28 February 2011... although if s/he's anything like Liam it will be more like early March.

This pregnancy has been a little different to Liam's. I'm still fortunate not to have had any morning sickness, but I've been so much more tired, my hair is dry and dull, my skin is super oversensitive and I'm really struggling in the number 2 department.

I had my first midwife appointment at the beginning of the month and had to go back for a fasting glucose test because results from my first test were high. Luckily the 2nd test was normal so no gestational diabetes.

My first hospital appointment was yesterday and we got to see the little bean for the first time. It was very exciting- I don't really feel pregnant, so seeing a scan is important for me. Baby is measuring +6 days, but they're not planning to change the due date. This was the average for Liam too, so looks like we're going to have another big baby (at this stage anyway). The consultant I saw was really nice and had a lovely manner about him. A lot of the time with the NHS healthcare system, you feel like a number at the meat counter. So it was a welcome change. He spent a lot of time with us going over my last delivery, which complications I had never been fully explained. I had a condition called Uterine Atony which is basically the Uterus is too tired to contract following delivery and a postnatal hemorrhage occurs- it’s a fairly common occurrence especially with larger babies and longer labours. I was given a few different drugs at the time to encourage the uterus to contract which it eventually, after a scary 15-20 minutes, did. I lost around 1litre of blood, which is double a normal vaginal delivery and why I needed 2 blood transfusions. He said in the scheme of things (although it seemed a traumatic experience) it was not that serious- the worst case scenario is that if they cannot stop the bleeding in surgery they have to perform a hysterectomy. If you put it on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being a hysterectomy, I was about a 3 or 4. There is a good chance of this extra bleeding happening again with this delivery, but they are not considering a c-section at this stage. They are going to make sure my iron count/blood count remains high to allow for loss of blood through delivery and just keep an eye on the baby's size.

Here are the first pictures of Baby Reynolds...

S/he was kicking around alot and didn't seemed impressed we were disturbing him/her. My big scan is 8 October, the day before I come home. That's when we can find out the sex (if we decide to) and see all of the organs and limbs in more detail. I love that scan... there are always a few nerves worrying whether something abnormal will show up, but it's be best feeling when you are told the baby is looking perfect! Post more picture after that scan.

Musuem and other pictures

We decided to visit the newly reopened Ulster Museum last week. It was closed for 3 years while it underwent a £17m renovation. It was a great family day out. We tried to check out a 3D planetarium show, but Liam wasn't keen to sit still or keep the glasses on.The museum is split over 4 floors exploring Art/Fine Art, Nature, History, Cultural History and Natural History. Each of the floors also has a 'Kids Interactive Zone' which Liam loved. Sculls and other artifacts.

Exploring the nature section... what are the birds up to?

The art section- Liam loved this... they had dress up and drawing and puzzles and loads of mirrors. He wouldn't be quiet or stop running around the galleries, so Mommy and Daddy couldn't really enjoy the paintings... but that just calls for another trip back!

The cultural section had loads of masks and artifacts from around the world. Liam enjoyed trying on some of the masks.
"Wow, a dinosaur!"
Throwing a coin in to make a wish. I'm sure it was something involving food...
We had a great day exploring the museum and will hopefully go again when Liam's a little older.
Here are some other random pictures of Liam.

Smouldering.
Silly kid smile.
Pouting again.
This is a look we get a lot...

Tiger Boy- Liam's first face painting

We had a fairly fun filled weekend despite the weather being disappointing. Ollie took Liam swimming on Saturday morning and he didn't want to leave the pool. We had to coax him out with promises of bananas and chocolate. He had a great big nap and certainly worked up a big appetite for my pasta with homemade cheese sauce followed by Ben and Jerry's Phish Food frozen yogurt in a cone.


Yesterday we popped down to Victoria Square for the 'Big Toddle' event. Barnardos (the children's charity) was doing a family fun day with face painting, balloon animals and various other children related events. We quickly registered and then head up to Frankie and Benny's for lunch. We rarely eat out - especially with Liam. We're always a little afraid of how he'll act. Happy to report he was fairly well behaved. He was a little greedy with his adult sized pizza and only shared a slice with Ollie when his ice cream arrived. He has a ferocious appetite and eats bigger portions than me! After lunch we 'toddled' around the Big Toddle walk to the face painting station. We passed Domer the Dinosaur, but Liam was a little afraid and didn't want to get his photo taken. Liam decided (with some help from me) to go with a tiger.The artist was so lovely and really patient with Liam. He was pretty close to perfect, allowing her to paint all over his wee face.

Liam kept licking the face paint.

He was a little cautious when he first saw the finished face looking at himself back in the mirror.

But he soon thought it was the best thing ever.

He wouldn't let the mirror go and kept smiling at himself. The official photographer for Victoria Square asked if he could take some photos and Liam posed like a pro (wonder where he got that from)! Hopefully we'll see his cute tiger face online or in the magazine soon!

A final rrrroooaarrr for mommy when we got home.

Great family fun weekend.

Chicken Pox- take 2

So the main reason for our lack of posts and communication over the past month has been Liam's big battle with Chicken Pox. Although he had a very mild case just before his second birthday, his daycare had a major epidemic from Easter. He was one of the last of about 24 kids in his group to get it and boy was it a bad one. He had them everywhere- ears, mouth, body, scalp. Poor wee thing was covered. I took some pictures to document the mess.

He was pretty miserable with them. I made him some 'special bath's of ground oatmeal to help soothe and dry out the spots. He had to stay out of daycare for a week and was pretty much guaranteed for 2/3 weeks. The spots have all pretty much cleared up, but he has a few marks on his torso and face. I'm definitely going to petition for the introduction of the vaccine as part of the childhood routine vaccination programme over here. It was so hard to watch him suffer like this.

Gardening and other bits and bobs

A few pictures from the end of May and June. Liam loves to play in Annie's garden. He's very helpful with watering the grass and plants.

Liam has also mastered riding his little Trike. We need to remove the handle since he won't let us push him anymore.

Liam loves blowing bubbles, although he mostly blows up towards his brow than through the wand.

Cute picture of Liam enjoying some ice cream in the rubble that was our back garden. Ollie has now finished laying the patio and we're just finishing off the landscaping. Will post some pictures of the final project soon.