Hi everyone! As you can all see, my aim to blog every week is going really well - ha!

We've been lucky to do some travelling this year, which is proving to be more challenging with a wriggling toddler in tow! In April, Brendan and I flew to Canada for a few days whereupon I left him to the care of my Mum and I flew to Denver Colarado to attend a Child Development conference where I was presenting a poster of the research I conducted in Oxford. For those of you unfamiliar with academic conferences and poster presentations, Kevin likens it to a big science fair!! After the conference, I flew back to Toronto to collect Brendan and to meet Kevin, who was in Austria playing ice hockey with the Cambridge University team "The Eskimos". From Toronto, we flew to Argentina to spend 2 weeks with my Grandparents, aunt, uncle, dad and step-mother.


What a fantastic time we had! It was the first time the Argentine side of the family had met Brendan and everyone got along so well!


It was great to be able to spend long sunny days, walking in the hills of Cordoba or riding into the sunset (or waddling as was the case with my almost-dead horse!) like a true Argentine gaucho (A.K.A. cowboy). We had some lovely barbecues, lots of ice cream and a few slide shows to bring back lots of family memories. Great times!

We were lucky to have a few days in Buenos Aires which we spent site seeing and soaking in the atmospher - what a city. Sadly, the city was too big to see it all in 2 days - we'll just have to go back!
We then flew back to Toronto and spent another week with friends and family there. Thanks to a terrible ear infection and flu, we extended the trip by an extra few days - we were so glad of the extra time with loved ones. During our time home we had the chance to indulge in sushi, dim sum (yum yum!) and also celebrate Chloe's birthday.
Sadly we had to return to the real world, and after being away from home for 5 weeks, Bren didn't quite know what to make of the house when we finally made it home. Since our return, we've stayed close to home (I think the 5 week trip tired us all out!). We've done a few day trips and explored the sites in Cambridgeshire.
Kevin's work is coming along really well, and despite the economic slowdown in the rest of the world, his company Phoria is still doing very well. His sporting efforts are somewhat on hiatus at the moment because the University almost closes down for the summer without the Undergrads around to keep it alive! He's signed on for a rollerblade marathon in Berlin in September - we'll keep you posted on that!
Brendan is growing so incredibly quickly... He's gone from a little, stumbly, walker to a runner - he runs everywhere! Its hard to keep up with him. He's growing so tall, he's nearly half my height (although that's not too difficult, as I'm somewhat vertically challenged!!). A few weeks ago, while we were enjoying what could be the only TRUE week of summer (warm, sunny, no rain!), Bren and Kev were playing in the back garden in the paddling pool. Bren slipped on the pavement and managed to knock out one of his front teeth! Despite the efforts in the A&E (emergency dept), the tooth couldn't be saved, so we now have a little "toothless wonder"! He was a bit shaken, but completely fine, and we have to console ourselves with the thought that the accident could have been so much worse.
I'm doing well, and it feels like I eat, live, sleep, breathe being a mummy and a PhD student at the moment. My project is coming along well, if slowly. I just keep taking it one step at a time! I've also been trying to keep going with my photography, and evidence of our adventures can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emimcglynn/

Kevin has also posted some more videos of our crazy life, and these can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/toolagio

There are now 84 videos for your viewing pleasure - just select them from the right side of the screen under the heading "Uploads (84)". If you click on "see all" it will show you all of the options.

We hope you and yours are doing well, wherever you happen to be in the world! We also hope for your sake that the weather is better than it is here! I think Mother Nature missed the memo that its supposed to be summer!

Lots and lots of love to all,
Emily, Kevin & Brendan x

800 years and going strong...

On January 17th, Cambridge University entered its 800 year. To mark the beginning of the anniversary celebrations, there was a slideshow presentation shown on the side of Senate House marking the milestones (events, people, discoveries) across its history... Darwin and his turtles, Stephen Hawking and the black holes, Sir Isaac Newton and his apple, DNA, were the stars of the show. It was great to watch, and an honor to be part of.

Our little walker and the snow...

Brendan has discovered walking. After nearly 14 months without much interest in getting around on his own, he seems to be making up for lost time!
He took his first steps over the Christmas holidays, and then managed 5 steps across the kitchen in mid-January. When he and Kevin returned from their whirlwind journey to Canada, he returned a little walker. To show off his new-found skills to me when they arrived from the airport, Brendan got up in the midst of a nappy change with Daddy, and walked right into our bedroom! All I saw was this nudy little boy walking into our room, and right up to me. It was the cutest thing I've EVER seen!!

He loves walking. He toddles around with a HUGE grin on his face, so so proud of himself. And he's really great at it too - very few wobbles and he's very steady on his feet.

One of our favourite things to do together is go for a walk at the Botanic Gardens or to our local park. He loves walking between Kevin & I, being swung up into the air. Such fun!

Last week, the UK was blanketed in snow... We were so excited to wake up to a winter wonderland! I spent hours taking photos (soon to be posted on Flikr) - Cambridge is amazingly beatiful in the snow. We took a family "snow day" - We built a snowman in Midummer Common, followed by yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows.
Now that the novelty has worn off, the slush and ice are a little less magical. That said, all this cold, winter weather certainly reminds of us of home.

2008... What a year!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009 to everyone (sorry this post is appearing a bit late! Its been on my "To Do" list for weeks!)

As Kevin & I look back upon 2008, we are astounded at the year we had. When I think of 2008, I come up with some key adjectives: wonderful, exciting, chaotic, loving, amazing, busy, lively, exhausting... and the list continues.

2008 was Brendan's first full year and we managed to pack a lot into that year. January 2008 was when we sadly said goodbye to the last of our "Baby Brendan" visitors. We were so glad to have so many friends and family come and see Bren in his early newborn days.

Much of the early part of 2008 was spent in Cambridge, enjoying time with each other and getting to know life in Cambridge with a baby. I met some great mums through my "1st time mum's group"and they proved to be a great support through some of the unfamiliar baby territory.

In April, we stretched our wings and took a trip to Spain. It was Bren's 1st flight, and he was a natural. We had a terrific time with Eric and Aine - they were terrific hosts and we enjoyed spending time with them. While we were there, Bren was teething very badly - his top front teeth were coming through and caused him some major pain. Eric proved to be a natural Dad with his magic pram skills, and Aine proved her patience as Bren cried almost non-stop for our entire stay. Sorry guys, but we did have a great time!




May and June was quite a busy time for Kevin and I. For Kev, his consultancy business was going from strength to strength and was gaining new contracts all the time. Combined with his full-time job with the UK company he was working with, Kev was a very busy guy! At this time, I was also in the process of getting back into my PhD studies. It has taken quite a lot of time to sweep out the cobwebs that seemed to have formed in my ol' brain during the pregnancy and early days of motherhood. I'm sure the sleepless nights also had something to do with it!

It was during this time that we were introducing Bren to the wonderful world of solids. We decided to follow the "Baby Led Weaning" method, and it proved to be great fun. Rather than pureeing everything, we gave Bren food in its whole form. He had a great time munching his way through pears, biscuits, cheese, pasta, grapes. We now have quite the little gourmet... He loves his food and is quite adventurous. He now eats just about everything we do - curry, chinese spring rolls, and of course fish & chips!

In August, we headed home for a Canadian holiday. We had a very busy but great time seeing everyone. Our first week was spent at a cottage up in Muskoka. It was great to be outdoors, with my boys enjoying the lake and the wilderness. Back down in Mississauga, we enjoyed seeing our friends and family at the parties and gatherings. While it wasn't quite the same as before Bren was born, we still had a great time. Bren didn't really settle into "Ontario Time" and was awake for A LOT of the time we were home. I dont' think that we slept for more than 2 hours at a time! I don't think I've ever been so exhausted in all my life. But that said, it was still nice being around those that we love. It made us realise how much we miss everyone from home.

Once we got back to Cambridge, we enrolled Bren with a childminder so that I could spend a bit more time focussing on my PhD. Bren & Lyn get along really well, and he has a great time with her. They attend a play group and a music group, both of which he loves. Its so reassuring having him looked after by someon you trust and feel totally comfortable with. We're really lucky.
In early October, we decided to visit with my godmother and her husband in the South of France. They live in a lovely stone house in the middle of the Languedoc region, surrounded by rolling hills and vineyards. We had an amazing time eating amazing food, hiking, and enjoying wonderful company. I'll be honest - the thought of escaping to France crossed my mind a few times while we were there!

On the 24th of October, Bren turned 1. I feel like I blinked and 12 months had passed. So hard to believe! We had a lovely party with some friends and celebrated. See the post below for all the juicy details.

For Bren's birthday, Kev surprised us with a mid-week getaway to Belton Woods, a country hotel for families. We had a lovely time together, especially the swimming pool where our little "fish" splashed the days away.

Before I knew it, the holiday season was upon us. We decided to have a quiet family Christmas at home. We would have liked to travel to be with family and friends, but the thought of travelling with Bren and a million others was too much to bear! We had a great time at home, just the 3 of us. Santa was very good to us and spoiled us rotten. The Chrismas tree glowed while Raffi's Christmas album played. It was great to have the soundtrack from Christmases past become part of new memories. Boxing day was a lazy day for us. Bren helped Kevin try out the new bicycle seat that they got from Santa. On the 27th, we headed up to my Nana's house to visit with her and my mum. We spent the week with them and had a great time. It was nice to be out of Cambridge for a little while. Nana had recently gotten 2 new chihuahua puppies - Bren LOVED them! They had great times chasing each other around the sitting room! Too fun! Kev & I went up to the Farmer's Arms pub to ring in the New Year with a few fireworks and a few drinks. A quiet celebration, but a great way to ring in the new year.

We thought we'd keep the holiday spirit alive with a few more days away in East Anglia. It was rather a spur of the moment decision to go - We woke up and saw the sun shining and decided to go exploring. We ended up in an amazing little village called Levanham. The whole village seems to have been frozen in time from the 15th Century. It was so wonderfully wonky. We liked it so much that we decided to stay at one of the country hotels. The Swan is now one of my FAVOURITE hotels. The room was unbelievably beautiful and the food was fantastic! I'm trying to convince Kevin that we should go back!

I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband and an amazing little boy. They make me smile everyday and make me feel like the luckiest wife/mummy in the world. Its been a challenging year, but I can honestly say that its been a great year... After all, "the harder the climb, the better the view"!