Ouch!

UK & Ireland trip - 2010 January

This trip was the first and the many more trips, which was all about Kian.
It was also a challenging one for us, to take a 3 1/2 month old baby on a 10-13 hours flight, and also figuring out his 'time' zones as he was already getting into a routine in Singapore but that was to become up side down.



Lucky for us, he was a super good baby on and off the plane. He slept through most of the flight and seemed to cope with the weather. Actually it wasn't as cold as I expected (well what do you expect?...on BBC it said The UK is in the grip of its longest cold snap for almost 30 years. )

When there was no wind, it was just cold and nice, and the snow covering the landscape was beautiful.
Kian had many winter clothes bought by his grandma, who had a perfect plan to hand them down to a friend who just gave birth to a boy. Like this red and navy blue ski jacket which was worn only once.

We had a relaxing time at Matt's parent's house, most of our time in UK. Kian had plenty of time to sleep and adjust to the UK time, while Matt indulged in home cook food.
Terry is quite a gourmet chef. His Italian dishes are really good.
Here, they have replicated a traditional X'mas dinner (with all the paper hats) to celebrate with the family, a belated X'mas.

We then took a cheeky 2nights 3 days trip to Dublin, Ireland on Mon - Wed. I think Matt thought since we are all O'Learys now, and what more with Kian O'Leary, it's only fair for us to visit the Origin.

But I know exactly why... we watch a movie called "ONCE" which is a story about a struggling musician in Dublin. Since then Matt's mind was set to visit Dublin - where the social scene is of musicians in pubs, birth place of world class beer and food is wholesome.

Here is us with Matt's friend Paul Grant (he lived in Singapore few years ago where they met through rugby) and his lovely girlfriend Emily.
Paul works for GUINNESS. It's especially cool to hear from the inside man on the wonder of the black stuff - GUINNESS.



Back in UK, we went to Matt's cousin's house where Kian met his relatives.
Here, Kian is being smothered by his doting second cousins, Katie, Joe, Connie, Daisy and Danny.






On our last day, on the way to the airport, Matt's good friends of whom all were at the wedding, gathered to see us off.









All in all, it was a very relaxing and refreshing holiday for us, thanks to Kian for being such a good boy, and so I guess... we as parents must be doing it right... he he

Looking back 1 year ago...

Look how svelte I was, last year around this time.

I was looking back on the photos when we were in Bali. http://olearysbali.blogspot.com/

My fitness membership resumes this January, since I suspended after knowing of my pregnancy, last February.

I must get back in shape... but tonight we are leaving for UK and Ireland...

Okay, diet starts after the trip....

Book Club

I joined a 'Book Club' which consists of the WAGS.
By the way, I've had this conversation with few people about the term 'WAGS' sounding negative, like demeaning or insulting as the wife or the girlfriend.
But I personally got over it for the convenience sake.
After all, we are the wives and the girlfriends, and it's easy just to sum it as WAGS.
Anyway, one afternoon while we were having a brunch, this forming of book club became a topic and we decided to read and review 1 book a month.
Each girl selects a book so we are 'booked up' until June or July.
I haven't chosen any book yet...

The first book of this year was "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency' by Alexander McCall Smith.
This book is basically about a Botswanan lady setting up a detective agency and solves her clients' requests.
Of course there are romance and thrills involved, but what's interesting is that it offers the reader with the story of the country, the town, the landscape, lifestyle and nature of South Africa.
It is also comical - which is why, as with most good books, it becomes a movie, and in this case, it became HBO TV drama series. http://www.hbo.com/no1ladiesdetectiveagency/ I've never been to Africa or Botswana but when I saw the casts and photos of the TV series, I thought my imagination was pretty close!
There are 5 series to the book and we are not required to read the whole series for the book club but I'd love to read more!