On Rocket

Octavia is wearing her new school pullover in this photo. As you can see, it says "On Rocket School" which to the rest of us looks like An Droichead but sounds a bit like On Drocked (if only I had fancy linguistic symbols here!). Octavia started going to the playgroup a couple weeks back with her friend Alex. Other friends are there, too--Lorcan and Seona. And let us not forget our new friend in the class, Mohammed Ali. For real. The cutest 3-year old I can imagine and not a boxer that I know of.

So far, O has learned to say a few things in Irish: blue, red, yellow, goodbye and who knows what else since I don't speak it. She seems to be changing her original opinion--"I'm not sure about that Spanish." Very clever of them to lure her in with colour words as colours have always been her favourite part of life.

Geronimo!

The inevitable has happened. Whilst I was filling in my Precise Periods of Presence in the United States of America (yes, for my entire 35 years on earth), Baby Aodh leapt from his bouncy chair. The chair made more cozy by (STOP READING NADJA!) a sheep skin, which makes fastening the safety belt fiddly. Since the Big Mon was asleep in his hand-me-down pink-pink sleepbag, I let my guard down. I heard him stirring but by the time I turned around he was on his knees, arms crossed afore him, executing a roll even Uncle Mikey could be proud of.

Not much crying ensued as I don't think he was much injured. A bit surprised, yea, even shocked since he hadn't quite awoken and thought out this exploit. I felt a twinge of guilt. And some annoyance at the bureaucracy that requires me to forego thinking about the baby for whom I seek a passport to rack my brains about which day in March 1996 I arrived back in Houston from Managua. The bureaucracy that didn't bother to require its minions to stamp my passport on arrival those many times.

Who's There?

The week before last, the knock knock jokes were flying and dominoes were bending all over 58 Knock Eden Park. The source of fun and hilarity? Grandpa Jim and Grandma Amy. Following closely behind Big Mike and Laurie might have been a challenge...tired children, the return to school after Easter, the possibility of the good weather bubble collapsing. However, the visit went off with out a hitch, if you discount Octavia's first visit to the slide in her rain gear with Grandpa Jim.

Tourism was on the back burner although Scott and I did take Jim and Amy up the latest attraction in Belfast, Victoria Square Shopping Centre, to see the 360 degree view. From the grown-up point-of-view, the hour or so in the evening when (most) of the children were in bed provided lovely conversation, relaxation and cups of tea. Jim might have gone through 2 whole tea bags during the visit! And those of you who know him well know that that is pure luxury. Or about 17 cups of tea.

Boo Who Who just about sums up the tenor of the house these past few days without the nannies.

Knock Knock

On the way to St. George's Market.

Mr. Aodh, Grandma and Grandpa in the Victoria Square outlook.

Aodh and Grandma love shopping for tea and bikkies...

and taking an afternoon nap.

Easter with Big Mike and Laurie

Egg dying gave Baby Aodh-gg a new game: Duck, Duck, Chicken! Since about 9.9927% of eggs in Northern Ireland are brown, we obtained some white duck eggs to complement our stock of hens eggs. But I forgot and left the duck eggs out of the fridge for several days. In the interest of food hygiene, we decided to sort out the duck eggs and eat the chicken ones. Thus, duck, duck, d-u-u-u-u-ck, CHICKEN! We will try to get you a video clip of Aodh-gg enjoying this easter game.

On Good Friday, L'Arche walked across town to the 174 Trust on the Antrim Road (North Belfast). Big Mike and Laurie joined us and enjoyed a picnic in the spring sun outside City Hall.

Easter morning comes EARLY to the Shively-Blinns. This year we were at Lady Dixon Park for the sunrise service just before 6. The primping happened after breakfast. This photo doesn't do justice to the springy attire exported by Dannette but anyone can tell me how to manage my camera settings and get 3 children to look in the same direction all at once is welcome to help me out for the next major dress-up day.

Now we are experiencing the emptiness of the nest after having grandparents around for 2 weeks. Octavia finds everything despicable and is 'cold' or 'hot' or 'hungry' or 'tiiiiiiiiired' no matter what we do. Noah is in his room crashing the Hot Wheels around and moaning about the necessary clean-up job. Aodh is...sleeping like a baby, when his bottom teeth aren't making him howl. Scott and I are washing all the laundry that backed up when the washer broke down on Wednesday. Ah. Real life. It's hard to take, at least for the next 6 days till the other grandparents arrive!

Busy Day

I've been busy today.
I ate.
Woke up just in time to miss Kristin Flory's departure.
Ate, changed. Ate.
Went to Tesco to cry about a lack of Green & Black's Easter Eggs.
Napped in the car.
Woke up. Changed my pants. Napped on Mama's lap.
Ate. Puked.
Tried to hold onto my keys.
Skyped Joe Rooney. He was scary so I howled. Then fell asleep while eating.
Pinned Mama to the Big White Chair.
Woke up in my little rocker.
Watched Raymond watching me.
Ate.
Got weighed by Michelle. 7.1 kg. My hands and bum nearly froze off and Michelle has a scary laugh.
Put on a new nappy.
Ate.
Stood on Mama's lap waiting for Brother to come home. Drooled.
Smiled at Brother and tried to entice him into coming near my face so I could use his nose for a teether.
Had no luck.
Whined in my chair while Brother made biscuits and mama helped him.
Ate.
Slept on Mama's lap.
Watched them eat dinner. Thought about touching a biscuit but my hand wouldn't move.
Changed my drawers.
Went to the library. Got my own library card and a book bag!
Put my jammies on.
Played with Octavia. Scratched her face. Moaned a bit.
Ate.
Went to Bed.

You Don't Want to See the After Pictures

Here is the cake for Noah's sleepover birthday party. Chocolate from the cake mix Grandma Amy sent. And, yes, those are eggs on top. Not Easter eggs but fried eggs, gummy fried eggs. This party was fantastic from my viewpoint: Noah made the cake. Noah made the salad. Scott put the frozen pizza in the oven. Scott turned on the Charlie Chaplin DVD. Scott went into the front room at least 5 times between 9 and 12.15 to threaten the children with eviction to separate beds. I fed Aodh, enjoyed a bit of ice cream, got my teaching supplies ready, read my book.

The main characters in this comedy (well it was a comedy until about 5 this evening when tragedy struck. "Hark, what dread in Noah's eyes is kindled! By Heaven's merciful light! Let it not be fatigue!") were Finn, the birthday boy himself, and Alma. They thought there might be a burglar in the street, which caused them all to lose sleep and wonder. Overheard on my way to bed: "Maybe we should go to that house and ask if anything was nicked!" (Finn)

By the way, Noah got The Guinness Book of World Records 2009 and a telescope!