Granny and grandad gets lost!

Good evening.

Grandad and granma arrived as planned on Monday midday after a pleasant enough flight from Sweden. Dad did not complained about being scared so I guess all that talk before might have been him fibbing! :)

As soon as they saw Leon they were in love. It's great to have two "mothers helpers" around the house.
One thing that does stress me out from time to time is that I need to find things for my dad to sort out otherwise he'd be climbing the walls in no time.
So this is what they've helped us with so far, except playing with Leon;

• Drilled and put up two big mirrors on the wall in the hallway.
• Put up a shelf (especially resting place for my straightener :D).
• Altered, ironed and hung some curtains that they've brought with them from Sweden.

And here are the things that they will do later;

• Wash the windows
• Dust all the window blinds
• Defrost the freezer (My dad really want to do this!)
• Drill and hang a mirror in the bathroom if I can find one that I like
  

These are actually things that they gladly (and desperately) want to do. There will probably be a lot more added to these list before this week is over.
Well, when Leon's sleeping (which is a lot) there's plenty of time to get things done.
Today we've been shopping and then eating at Eddie Rockets, just for the sake of spending some time and money..ha,ha..

Anyway, now to something rather funny.
Yesterday mum and dad went to town to meet up with Mr.T's dad.
He'd showed them around Dublin and so on.
They took the bus into town and I gave them a my key to let themselves in when they got back later.
I and Mr. T went and sorted out Leon's birth certificate and other errands during the day.

Mum called us later from Mr. T's dad just to let us know that they were just going to have some tea and then get a taxi home.
Great, I thought and went to bed after 10 pm.
They were still out but I knew that they were coming home soon so I thought nothing more of it.

Later when Mr. T woke me up for the "swap" he told me that my mum and dad have been driven home by the Gardaí (Irish Police)!!
Apparently the taxi driver let them off at the wrong estate. (My mum's fault as she thought they were at the right place.)
They've tried to open the entrance door to an apartment block but of course the key wouldn't fit!
The thing is that the other estate, where they were at, is built by the same developer as ours so the place look more or less identical.....if you don't know better.
So there they were, after 11 at night, in a strange place in north Dublin with Mum's evening school English and our address written down on a piece of paper.
And no, they did not have a mobile phone with them either... :)

They spotted some people and asked for directions. But either the people they met didn't know or gave totally wrong directions so they ended up walking around for over and hour before my dad in desperation flagged the address note in front of a passing car.
Little did he know that it was a Garda car. :)
This was a good thing though as they offered to give them a lift home!!

God knows when, and if they'd ever would have found their way back again if it they hadn't been "rescued" by the Gardaí .
But at least the experience has been an excellent lesson for mum to practice on her English! :D

The proud grandparents and Leon

Take Care!
/Jess

The young rebel.. :)

Good afternoon.

Today I've been meeting up with Jeni and Nathan again. Fun as always!!
Leon was awake most of the time but was pretty happy laying in the pram and watch the world go by.
Nathan was sleepy and almost missed his feed. :)

I've taken some pics of Leon after I tried to make a little Mohikan hairdo on him! :D

Cool kid?!

He,he..

Imitating Bambi with his little beautiful peepers (eyes)

Have a fab weekend and happy midsummer to yous who celebrate!!
Only 2 more days before granny and granddad will be here to spoil him rotten!

/Jess & her boys!

Report from the early bird...

Good morning.

I'm sitting here looking at my son, who's laying in his pram cot, on the table, next to me.
I still can't get my head around that he's actually mine and here to stay. I love him so much!!
As the breastfeeding got a bad start from the very beginning I've not been able to pump out that much milk these days. I suppose I need to pump more frequently but it's hard to fit it in.
But I have the pump next to the table so whilst sitting here at the laptop I'll hook myself up and milk away for a bit! :D

Except for the odd bottle of breast milk we mainly feed the little one on Aptamil formula for infants.
However, little Leon seemed to get tummy aches after each feed and yesterday he was having trouble pooping.
He went all red in the face and it's breaking my heart to see him in pain.
We decided to try another type of formula, designed for sensitive tummies and colicky children etc, and I must say that so far the changes are amazing...and instant!
He managed to "do his business" after drinking the bottle of new formula and even burped straight after which is unusual for him.
And once fed now he's happy to snuggle up and falls asleep almost straight away.
Before changing formula, he used to squirm and arch his back due to wind and I had to rub his back for a long time before he settled or walk around with him bouncing and patting his bum.

Leon's also been very dry in his face the last day or two. I was wondering if there might have been something I've eaten as the skin looked really dry and became hard and blotchy, just like my own when I get a bout of eczema.
I tried to put as much baby oil on him as I could but it didn't helped that much. I also think that the warm weather made it worse. It's been really warm indoors and even with the window open the temp stayed high.
But yesterday evening it seemed to become much better. The temp outside dropped and it became more pleasant indoors and I didn't gave him any breast milk at all just to be sure that it wasn't the eggs I've eaten that upset his delicate skin. And now his little cheeks are getting better and better by the minute.
He's almost back to that baby softness now.
The good thing is that it seem to disappear as quickly as it came.
But he did look, and feel, very bad before. Poor little mite!

Snoozing in style

Mr. T woke me up at 4.30 am and went to bed himself. Little Leon was wide awake but he seemed to "smell" my breast milk as I held him so I decided to breast feed him a bit if he wanted to.
And it actually went pretty okay. Not that he fed for that long on each breast but he ate and eventually he fell asleep at the breast and is still sleeping now although he otherwise would be due another bottle feed now.
I'm so happy to be able to give him breast milk for as much as possible.

Later today we're going to collect Leons birth certificate so that we can get him a passport for our upcoming travels.

Take Care!
/Jess

Monday, Monday...

Good evening.

Today has been the first day of Mr. T's eight days off. Great to have him home all day with me and Leon again!
I've been really tired today and slept more than usual. Reckon the sleep deprivation is getting to me.

We went shopping at Tesco in the afternoon and just as we were at the check-out the little one woke up from his sleep.
He must have been hungry as he was more or less inconsolable and wouldn't stop crying until we started the car and drove home. A baby's cry can certainly make your heart rate shoot up but I tried to keep my cool and just "ignore" it.
So now we'd have that experience too but I hope we won't get much more of it! Very stressful!

Tonight after Mr. T and I had dinner it was time for Leon to have a bath.
This time I made sure that the water was warm and nice before undressing him. And to our amazement he seemed to really enjoy it. No crying was done this time.
Mr. T kept scooping water over him to prevent him from being cold while I tried to wash him.
We then swiftly removed him from the water and into a snugly towel before he'd get cold.
Then we washed his hair when he was more or less swaddled in the towel and even this seemed to be very pleasant.
So now there's no bath oil in his hair but his body is well rubbed in with the stuff to keep him soft.

After the "pampering" he's been sleeping until now. That's over 3 hours so he must have been tired and/or very content with life at the moment.

Here he's sleeping next to daddy in the bed.

The sleepy boys

Leon in a very relaxed state after a feed

Take Care!
/Jess

Coffee meeting at O'Briens Sandwich Bar!

Good afternoon!

Today I had my very first outing with Leon without Mr. T.
I took the buggy and walked to our local shopping centre to meet Jeni, the girl from Liverpool that I mentioned in the previous post.
On my way there I noticed another girl walking a bit behind me and wondered if it might be her but seeing there's a lot of girls with buggies around here I didn't looked to much but it turned out it was indeed her. :D
She's an absolute gem and her son Nathan is gorgeous. She couldn't remember him ever being as small as Leon is now. :D
Leon got some more people cooing over him at the café. Even though he doesn't look his best at the moment. He's very dry in his face and I've put some Sudocreme on him which makes him look even worse but apparently he's still cute enough for being ooohh and aaah:ed over.

Jeni and Nathan

Nathan, of course a Liverpool supporter with a Scouser mom

Leon woke up during our coffee but was a little star who just laid in my arms and watched the world go by. Not as much as a beep from him. Not even when he did a poo poo. :D

My dry little fella

Mummy is now starving and have put a salmon in the oven with a knob of butter on top. Mmmm...
Leon's sleeping soundly after the the exciting day out and will probably be out as a light for several hours as he also had a big feed just before nodding off.

Have a great weekend to yous all!
/Jess & Leon

Taped scratch mitts...

Good evening.

Yet another evening here at home with my little prince.
He had a bath yesterday and we put loads of baby oil in the water as he's so dry.
Unfortunately he must have inherited his skin type from mummy.

He screamed during this bath too but not as much as the previous one.
Maybe he water was a bit warmer or he's getting used to it.
We washed his hair but rinsed it in the same oily water so maybe that wasn't much of an improvement on the hair front.
But at least he smells gorgeous, not that he didn't before but now it's even better.

Today a health nurse popped by to see Leon just after noon. That's a service they have here after you've given birth.
She gave me a bit of info, nothing that I haven't heard or read about already though, and took some measurements of Leon.
He's 51 cm "tall" now so you can imagine how small he really was at birth. And his head circumference is 35. All good according to her.
I'll go to and get his first immunisation shot in July as this wasn't done at birth due to shortage of the stuff but apparently they have it here where we live.
But I must admit I'm not looking forward to it as his arm might go red after the shot or maybe get some other side effect but I really hope it'll be fine.

Tomorrow Leon and I are going to our local shopping centre to meet a girl that I've found through a discussion group online. It'll be great to meet another new mum who also lives around here.
She has a 13 weeks old son, Nathan, and is from Liverpool.
I reckon I better listen carefully so I understand her "Scouser" accent! :D

Here's a picture of Leon doing his "o-mode" thing with his little mouth.

Oooh la la...

Life's hard when you're this cute...

Have a nice Thursday!

/Jess

Oops!
I forgot to tell you what the title was all about.
Leon needs to wear anti scratch mitts all the time as he's otherwise scratching his little face and start crying.
But those damn mitts are always falling off his hands. They are a bit too big and the elastics at the cuffs are crap.
So I came up with a, somewhat silly, solution and taped them so they're snug and cant fall off.
If I can get them off later is another story tho... :D

Leon with taped scratch mitts..

Like father ,like son..

Hello.

We've been to the hospital for a routine check up again with Leon.
He's gained weight and now weights 3,3kg. Not much but for him it's an improvement.
When we got home he had 80ml of formula and is now soundly asleep....just like daddy.

If tiredness is in the genes, he definitely got it from daddy. Just look at the picture.
I don't know which one of them sleeps the most! :D
Mr. T actually slept when I took this picture although it looks like he's smiling a bit.


I got the tubing today that I ordered last week and have now successfully expressed loads of milk with my little automatic pumping machine.
No more hand pumping for me I hope! Long live automatic pumping! :)

And here's another little video of our sweet little boy.

Take Care!
/Jess

Sleepy Sunday..

Good evening.

It's Sunday today and the pace in the McKinney household is slow.
Mr. T is working and me and Leon is just chilling out. Well, he's sleeping at the mo and I'm updating my blog.

Just a short while ago I did something adventurous....I went and had a shower..ha,ha...
Seeing that the little one was fast asleep after a big feed I decided to take the plunge and shower.
It might sound silly but being by myself with Leon and my fear of sudden infant death makes it hard for me to leave his side for longer periods. Yes, in my case this also includes showers as I'm taking my time.
So while he was sleeping in the pram I wheeled it into the bathroom and had a shower.
It was a great success although I was well aware that he might start roaring in the middle if my shampooing but things worked out just well...at least this time. :D

Last night I spoke to my mum and we decided on a date when they're are to come over to visit us.
We booked the flight tickets for the 23 of June with return on the 30th of June.
It will be my dad's first time in Ireland so hopefully we'll get good weather and can manage to get out and about a bit.

Saltis put a cute little video of their gorgeous baby daughter Ella on her blog so I'm playing copycat and do the same.

Here's a little teaser trailer of the epic, what is otherwise known as baby Leon. :D

Take Care!
/Jess

Saturday night without Mr. T

Good afternoon.

It's Saturday afternoon and Mr. T went to work just after 2.30pm so it's only me and little Leon here at home.
At the moment he's asleep so I can use both of my hands for typing. :D

I've expressed a lot of milk today. It feels good to give him as much as possible of my milk instead of the formula. But I cant wait to get the tubing spare part to my automatic breast pump to give the manual pumping a bit of a rest.

Yesterday Mr. T put the barbie on again and we had lamb. Lovely it was! Mmmmm... Today I'll just make myself a little potato gratin and some pork chops for dinner.
No fun to eat alone.
Hope those four days when Mr. T's working flies by. And then we need to sort out the flight tickets for mum and dad.
I really miss them and want them to see the little bundle of joy as soon as possible.

Take Care! /Jess

Nightly writings...

Hello there.

It's 3.21am here and I got roughly awake to the sound of my screaming son as his daddy carried him into the bedroom.
I got the first "sleep shift" earlier which means that I went to bed around 11-11.30 and Mr.T stayed up with Leon. I thought that I'll be able too sleep until 3am but Mr.T cheated and handed over the little one earlier. Leon's been screaming and I can understand why when I see (we keep track on paper) how much daddy has fed him. Poor little mite must have a sore tummy.

At the moment I'm writing this with my right hand as the little one is soundly asleep on my other arm/on the kitchen table.

I rather have him snoozing like this for a couple of hours in peace and quiet than stirring in the cot.
I've got a music channel playing in the background so I must say it's pretty cosy at the moment.

Take care!
/Jess
UPDATE!
Saltistjejens little girl has arrived safe and sound!
Congratulations to you my dear blogfriend and all the best of luck in the world I wish you!!

Remembering Milo!

Just a thought for our first born boy..

Even though I'm happier than ever at the moment there's still a cloud of sadness at this time of year for me and Mr. T.

A year ago, on this very day, the 4th of June 2007, we lost our first born son Milo, so having my second son Leon here today safe and sound is a miracle and a blessing.

But no baby will ever replace the one that was lost and I hope that someday, in another place, I'll see my first born again.

This song, The soft goodbye, by Celtic Woman is for Milo and was also posted in his memory in 2007.

*Milo - Forever in our hearts. Gone but never forgotten*

Leon one week old...

Good evening.

Today Leon's one week old and we went to see his granddad whom I hadn't seen in ages.
We got loads of clothes for Leon.

Three generations of McKinney's

Tomorrow we're to go back to the hospital AGAIN. We were there yesterday to check if Leon's gained weight but unfortunately he hadn't.
But he's eating very well so now he just have to gain weight otherwise there's something wrong.

Last night was a hard night. He was a bit grumpy and nothing I tried seemed to help.
And to make matters worse, he managed to wet 5 pair of clothes changes. Almost ran out of sleep suits.
He had his first ever bath earlier in the evening and screamed throughout the whole experience and then slept for ages after so I reckon that's what made the night a bit though.

Sleeping beauty

At 5 in the morning I was like a zombie and crying out for sleep when daddy made an appearance and took over. I slept until 11. Zzzzzz.............

Today's been a sunny and warm day and we'd just been for a little walk to our local shopping centre to buy some coke and bread. Good for mummy and daddy to get some exercise.
Oddly enough, I'm almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight..in just a week! :D
Hope it continues this way... maybe I'll turn out a yummy mummy....ha,ha...

It's fun to shop with Leon I've discovered.
The girl at the checkout said congratulations and said that she'd seen me before with the bump. :D
I think having a new little baby really makes some people go all "AAhhh..."....
Yesterday whilst shopping in Tesco, two women started talking to me as I had little Leon on my shoulder. They said he was adorable and asked how old he was. I felt so proud of our little miracle. I still can't believe that I'm his mummy.

Reckon I'll go and cuddle with my big lad before I fall asleep here.

Take care!
/Jess