Catch-update for 2009

It's sad that this is getting added in 2011, but have a read (if you're keen) to a summary of our lives in 2009. This is our Christmas letter that we sent out in December 2009. Too old? Too many repeats of previous entries? I won't hold it against you if you skip this post.

Big love

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Another year in the life of Emily, Kevin & Brendan 2009

What a year it's been! Packed full of fun time, a lot of work, travel to amazing places and watching Brendan grow & grow & grow!

2009 started up in Lancashire (North West of England) visiting with Emily's mum, Kathryn, and nana, Kathleen and her 2 cheeky Chihuahua puppies. Brendan loved them – especially when they gave him kisses!

January also saw Brendan and Kevin go on their first adventure together without mummy. They went to Canada for 5 days to help Grandpa McGlynn celebrate his 60th birthday. Both Grandma and Grandpa were surprised to see their two British boys standing at their door step! During the trip, Brendan perfected his walking, so was strutting his stuff to over-joyed grandparents.

The rest of the winter went by in a bit of a blur of activity. During term time at Cambridge, Kevin kept busy with football (soccer) and ice hockey. The Emmanuel College football team successfully won their division and has been promoted to "top-flight" college football for the 2009-2010 season. The ice hockey team also had a successful year beating Oxford in the annual Varsity match (the oldest running rivalry in hockey history, and now recognized in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto). At the end of the season, the team took part in a tournament in Linz, Austria. The tournament involved top quality men's teams from all over Europe and was great fun, yet quite challenging.

As the Spring drew near, we were all feeling the travel bug so we took off on an epic trip to Argentina, via Toronto (with a small side trip to Denver for Emily, who presented at a large child development conference). It was a wonderful trip to see Gurth, Muriel (Great-Grandpa & Great-Granny), Uncle Nicky and Aunty Sue in La Cumbre, Argentina. We spent 2 weeks exploring the countryside and playing in the vast grounds of Del Manantial (Granny & Grandpa's house in the hills). Brendan simply adored his time there and we were all very sad to leave when our trip was over. En route back to Toronto, we stopped in Buenos Aires for a few days. It is an incredible city – we’ll definitely be going back again.

Back in Canada we had lots of fun with family in London, Ontario (the McManus side of the family)... as well as Nana & Aunty Chloe in Barrie, Grandpa & Rocío in Toronto and Grandma, Grandpa and Aunty Tara in Mississauga, as well as all of our friends. The month of April most definitely made up for our long absence from everyone!

Once back in England, it took us a little while to get back into work after of fabulous time away. The end of the Lent term in Cambridge is famous for the May Ball season (even though the balls take place in June!). Emily and Kevin attended the gala event that was the Emmanuel May Ball. It was a night of decadence – drinking, dancing, eating, drinking, games, drinking, bumper cars – all night long! So much fun! Emily was definitely the "belle of the ball" in her stunning gown.

We tried to take advantage of the summer days as much as we could by visiting local parks, swimming at Emmanuel College, going to the zoo, or - our favourite - days away at the beach. Brendan's love of swimming definitely carries over to salt-water! Our biggest hassle is always trying to get him out of the water at the end of the day. We also went away for a few days to a quaint little cottage in the Yorkshire Dales for Kevin’s birthday. We visited much of the north, enjoyed lots of hiking (including along Hadrian's wall) and soaked up the ‘beautiful’ (i.e. rainy!!) British weather.

Summer fun is not without a few accidents. After a particularly lovely day in the back garden, Brendan slipped on the paving stones and fell into a patio chair, knocking out a front tooth! We rushed him to the A&E department, but the tooth couldn’t be saved. Despite the bump, Bren was fine, and we are just glad that his injuries weren’t worse. We’ll just have to get used to the ‘rough-and-tumble’ of having a little boy! The tooth fairy made an extremely early visit to our house! He’s still cute as ever... if not more-so, with his little gappy grin!

Before the Michaelmas term started in the autumn, Kevin took a quick weekend break to Berlin with some ice hockey teammates to take part in my first (hopefully of many) in-line skating marathon (a full length marathon completed on roller blades). It was an amazing experience rolling around the beautiful city and enjoying the experience with friends.

The very next weekend, the three of us went to France. We were house-sitting for Roger & Lindsay (Emily's god-mum). Kathryn came with us and we had a nice relaxing 5 days in the hills of Southern France. Their house really is heavenly, and we’re scheduled to visit there again in January 2010 for another French escape!

After 5 days in France, we then jumped on a train and a plane and ended up in Marbella visiting Eric and Aine. We had been dying to meet their little man Leo, and attended his naming ceremony. What a fantastic time away.

We spent the rest of the autumn in Cambridge, and filled our days with a hectic schedule of work and extra-curricular activities... both old and new. Kevin is now the captain of the ice hockey team, which has been engaging, fun and quite taxing at the same time. Emily, however, definitely takes the cake for most significant new activity (not including her first attempt at ice hockey in November!). Emily has joined the Emmanuel college boat club. She spent the Michaelmas term (autumn term) learning the ropes and developing into a star of the novice rowing boats. She helped lead her eight-woman boat to a top result at the end of term long distance race (called ‘Fairbairns’ against other Cambridge colleges. The woman's captain already has lofty goals in mind for Emily's rowing career. ;) Stay tuned...

The other big event of this autumn, was our beautiful little boy turning two. It's hard to believe he's officially a toddler and no longer a baby. His birthday was a wonderful day with lots of friends, family, toys and cake. We had a house full of little ones, and a running/jumping/screaming Brendan as a result. With so many toys and friends to play with, he had an extremely active day (which resulted in the longest sleep he's ever had).

After such a busy year (and no doubt a busy 2010!), we're planning on a quiet Christmas with just the three of us.

We hope this letter finds you and your loved ones happy and safe. For those that are going through difficult times, know that we think of you often and pray for your well-being. We wish we could see all of you more often... but just remember that you're always in our thoughts & prayers. Please have a happy and safe 2010 and we hope to see you very soon.

With lots of love,

Kevin, Emily & Brendan

Back from the dead!?

We hope so! This blog has been stale for quite some time, so now that Em's phd is finished (if this is news to you, be patient and read the impending catch-updates), and I apparently have more energy available to me now (having trained for and now finished my first marathon... again, wait for the catch-updates), we will endeavour to post updates as and when possible.

Love to all... and I hope these (catch-)updates find you all well! Please get in touch, or even better... come visit us, any time you can.

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"!

Blink... Happy 1st Birthday Brendan!

Both Kevin and I feel like we've blinked and Brendan has turned 1!!


It has been an incredible year on so many levels.

After a marathon labour, Brendan was born - and I can honestly say that we were both amazed at what a wonderful little creature he was (and still is!). We've had the most incredible time learning how to be parents - figuring how to change nappies and bathe him, feeding him solid foods for the first time, how to exist on stretches of sleep lasting no longer than 4 hours at a time (on a very good night!!), etc.
But most of all, we have been overwhelmed by the emotion and the love that we feel for our little boy. We have so much fun with him every day and can't wait for the years ahead!


To celebrate his special day, we invited a few little friends over for a party and had lots of fun throwing food around, playing with toys, and eating cupcakes... Lots of fun!!


Happy Birthday Brendan!!

Adventures in Baby Led Weaning

After 6 glorious months of solely breastfeeding my little Brendan (who knew that breastfeeding was so easy?!! THE original fast food!), we have been introducing him to the world of solid foods. As an avid "foodie", what Brendan eats is REALLy important to me (and Kevin). We've been trying to buy locally grown, organic produce when we can and have adopted a vegetarian diet for him.
(I suspect that a lot of my entries will focus around Bren's food! )

After we slowly introduced Bren to the joys (or not as the case may be!) of baby rice, I found some info about a new "philosophy" of feeding babies. Baby led weaning is the idea that you can feed babies whole, solid foods without pureeing everything. It teaches them a lot about foods, flavours as well as hand-eye coordination, and how wonderfully bite-sized foods can be launched across the room!!!
Seriously though - I love it!
To begin with, it was a bit scary - is he going to choke? can his tummy digest this stuff? is he going to develop allergies? Ack!! After refering to a number of sites (really like www.babyledweaning.co.uk), we've adopted a bit of both worlds... We mostly start each meal with solids (like some toast and jam, some pieces of fruit, some cheese and crackers, roasted veg) followed by some fun things that Bren can eat with a spoon (yogurt, risotto, pasta shapes and tomatoe sauce, etc). Did I mention he's a little whiz with his cup - no sippy cups here, the real thing!
So much fun for all of us - Brendan gets to explore his food while eating, and we get the joys of watching his meal-time adventures! It also makes food prep a lot easier - he just eats a lot of what we're having!
One thing I have had difficulty finding are recipes that are a little simpler for us all to eat - not too spicy, flavours not too complex, etc. I'll keep searching... I'm bound to find more!

Not a natural blogger...

After Kevin "gave" the responsibility of the blog to me, I thought I would take on the challenge with gusto... (see previous posting in January making promises to post every week! ha!)
And I've realised, and can now admit it openly without shame - I'm not a natural blogger. I think I'm more the type of person to look to the person next to me and say "hey, guess what?!" rather than sitting down and typing out the details. But sadly, most of the people who I want to share the "guess what" moments with are not close enough to me to tell them things in person.
With Brendan now along for our adventures in the UK, I think I'm going to have to try harder to make the time to override my non-blogging tendencies. Watch this space! (I think!)

Lil' wriggler

This morning we woke up to a little wriggler in our midst!
As usual, Brendan woke with a lovely smile on his face. He looked up, gave a BIG grin, and then buried his head into the bed once again. Instead of repeating this series of cute flirtings, his bum scooched up in the air, his knees tucked underneath and he propped himself up on his elbows. By wriggling around a little, he managed to move forward a bit in bed. It wasn't a full-blown "crawl" but it certainly looked like a very good attempt! Once he figures out that his arms need to be in on the action, look out world!!

Saying good bye to an old friend...

We've reached a point in time that I thought would never come. After 15 wonderful years, sadly Billy is no longer with us. Over the last few days, his health and well-being deteriorated considerably and got to the point today where we knew that his time had come.


A few weeks ago we noticed that Billy had a number of lumps in his throat and, after investigation, the vet determined that his kidneys and liver were failing. He also suspected cancer of the lymph system. We knew at that point that we didn't have long with our old friend.

During the last few weeks we've tried to make him as happy and comfortable as we could, not to mention spoiling him rotten with cuddles, kisses, and LOTS of treats.

As I sit here typing this entry, I truly cannot believe that he's gone, and that he won't be plodding into my office to sit down on his mat next to my desk, won't come over to me in the living room and sit on my feet to "join" in the conversation, won't snuggle into me on the sofa, won't come for long walks in the woods, won't give me "kisses" on the nose when I'm sad... like right now when I could use it the most.

Never in my life have a known a dog like Billy, and I know I never will again.
Billy, my old pal, you are going to be truly missed.

3 months old... how did that happen?!

Its hard to believe that 3 months have passed by so quickly! In the blink of an eye it seems our little newborn baby has doubled in size and is babbling away like a little chatterbox!
He is such a joy... he wakes every morning with a little smile on his face and can't wait to tell us all about the dreams that he had that night. He literally spends the entire time we are changing his nappy every morning chatting away!

In the last 3 months we've certainly done a lot!
I'll provide a quick synopsis here so that I can write more about them at length later on.

Week 1 - Nana Kata was still with us and we went out for tea in Ely (see posting below!)
Week 2 - We survived our first week of parenthood flying solo! Brendan officially became a UK citizen today as we registered his birth with the City of Cambridge.
Week 3 - All four of us (can't forget Billy the dog!) took a trip up to Great Nana's house in Eccleston (see posting below)
Week 4 - We saw the arrival of Grandpa Savage and Rocio as well as Aunty Chlo! We had a lovely visit with them.
Week 5 - Flying solo again! (Aunty Chlo went up to see Nana Kata and Great Nana in Eccleston)
Week 6 - We were lucky to have Jeff and Jocelynn came to visit from Italy and Chloe returned from up North. It was a bit of a squish in our little house, but we had a lot of fun with everyone.
Weeks 7 & 8 - We had Brendan all to ourselves as we prepared for our little family's first Christmas! I was so excited!
Weeks 9 & 10 - The McGlynn clan from Mississauga came for a visit. Grandpa McGlynn and Aunty Tara were only able to stay for a week, but Grandma McGlynn looked after us for 2 weeks.

Weeks 11 & 12 - Just the 4 of us again and having a lovely start to 2008. Brendan has started his swimming lessons and he seems to LOVE the water! He's a little fish! I continue to meet with the "First Time Mum's" group and has met a number of nice ladies with whom to chat about baby poop, leaky boobs and feeling sleepy all the time!

And now here we are in Week 13 with our smiley little chatter box. After a busy day today watching Kevin's football match and then making marmalade (I know I'm weird, or so Kev keeps telling me!) its time for bed! That is if I can manage to claim a little bit of space somewhere in bed between Brendan and Kevin!
Love to all!

New Year's Resolution

Each year, it seems, I vow to myself that I'll change something in my life for the better (like eating more healthily or exercising more), improve myself in some way (learn a new language) or simply do things more efficiently or more often (like cleaning!). Yet, within moments of thinking these virtuous thoughts, I've forgotten and I'm back to my old ways!
This year will be different... This year, I have a purpose.


This year will be the year of Brendan!! I've decided, in an attempt to keep all friends and family up to date with Brendan's rapid growing and development, I will aim to write blog entries once a week (or at least once a month!! Let's be realistic!!) showing a photo of Bren and providing an account of his week.

This is the official first entry... I've put my intentions into writing and hope that I stick to it!
My next entry (once all the photos have been uploaded from the camera from Christmas!) will be an account of the last few months.

Hope everyone enjoys it!

Brendan's first road trip

This past weekend we trekked up to Lancashire to visit Katy nana and Great nana. Everyone spent 3 days staring at little Brendan. I'm certain the house could have blown down, and none of the ladies (mum included) would have noticed. It was a lovely visit and great to have 4 generations connect at one time.



This should be the first of many visitors (visits) over the next while. It's so lovely to have people share in our experience with little Brendan... although not too much... we have this increasingly daunting feeling that there is a finite amount of enjoyment to be had from his newborn stage, and we're afraid it might run out. Let's just say we already cringe at the thought of him growing and leaving his current state of innocent bliss... we're trying to avoid the topic of his first month bday on Saturday. :)

On the growing note... he seems to be doing head presses on a regular basis. He also has a tendancy to practise his technique while on Daddy's shoulder... which usually results in head-butting Daddy's nose. His grip is getting stronger too... just ask Emily how much hair he's already pulled out.

anyway, nappies call...

Happy Halloween & Happy one week birthday.

baby's arrival - part 2 025
Originally uploaded by mcglynn99.

Katie nana and mum & dad took little Brendan out for his first adventure. A trip to Ely to take nana out for tea as a big thank you for the super support she's given us over the last week+. For all those expectant parents out there... take the offer of support. It's never as easy as you think it might be to cope (of course, how can 63 hours of labour ever be easy!).

baby's arrival - part 2 030
Originally uploaded by mcglynn99.

Anyway, we then came back home and dressed Brendan up and took a few Halloween photos with Daddy's carving.

baby's arrival - part 2 044
Originally uploaded by mcglynn99.

And we actually had two trick or treaters this year. Hurray!! Part of me thinks the motivation was their mum trying to get the latest on little Brendan's arrival, but we were giddy nonetheless.

Happy Halloween everyone.

K, E & B²

Brendan's arrival

Brendan's arrival
Originally uploaded by mcglynn99.

The day has finally come. On October 24th at 4:57GMT, our little bundle of joy was born after a lengthy labour (63 hours).

Emily was a trooper going 53 of the 63 hours without assistance or pain relief. In the end, the doctor's needed to go in and get him via an emergency caesarean. All is ok though... both mum and son are doing well and getting used to be attached to one another 24/7. Actually we've been an inseparable threesome ever since we left the operating theatre... the first day of school might be tricky if little Brendan has mum & dad attached at each hip.

Brendan's arrival
Originally uploaded by mcglynn99.

For the record, he's the cutest baby I've ever seen (perhaps I could be biased, but judging by nurses and midwives reactions, I think I'm right). Remember his name, because he may be a heartbreaker in years to come.

Speaking of name, his full name is Brendan Mark Patrick McGlynn. The middle names are both family names... one Savage, one McGlynn (and we liked the order of MP instead of PM).

Anyway, check out our flickr sites or facebook sites for more pictures.

Big love
Kevin, Emily & Brendan

to Canada for a pre-birth visit

100_8661
Originally uploaded by mcglynn99.

In August we took our last trip together as a couple (well... our little munchkin technically came along for the ride). It was fantastic to see everyone. Perhaps we tried to see and do a few too many things, but it was great to catch up and have a chance for family and friends to visit a "very" pregnant Emily.


100_8664
Originally uploaded by mcglynn99.

Em had two baby showers, one from Mum and Mother in law. I got to celebrate my 31st with family & friends... which of course included a Jays game (and copious amounts of alcohol).

It was good to reconnect one more time before we start down our adventure of parenthood.

Parents have left...

It's been over a week now since my folks left. Hard to believe actually. We had a brilliant time with them. They were here for almost 3 full weeks and did/saw tons while they were here.

First it was seeing Cambridge and how we lived... including dining at Emily's college and watching me play football.


The it was off to London, seeing all the sites... for 3 days.

Then they took off for Ireland and a whirlwind tour of the country, including a couple days in Dublin.


Then they flew straight to Edinburgh and had a two day tour of the highlands. I met up with them upon their return to Edinburgh from the north and we had a fun day & night.

Then we came back to Cambridge for a garden party at our house and then a few days of catching up.


Before they left we had one more little trek... we were off to Oxford to see where we lived last year. We toured the city including Em's college. I think the folks were getting tired by the time Oxford came around.

It's hard to believe they've come & gone. Hopefully they'll be back when the baby comes.

Another healthy scan...

Pic is too funny not to share. Our little one decided to tell us themselves how things were going inside...

2nd wedding anniversary

It's so hard to believe that 2 years have gone by since our wedding - it seems like yesterday, and yet so much has happened in those 2 years it seems like a million years ago!
After our perfect (albeit very hot!) day, we've managed to cram a whole lot into the last few years! Here is just a little recap:
- travelled around Bali and Hong Kong on an amazing honeymoon
- rented out our house in Milton and moved in with the McGlynn's
- moved to Oxford UK so that I could return to school for another MSc
- travelled to Germany and Italy to visit with Jeff and Jocelynn
- met some incredible people in Oxford from all over the world
- finished my MSc
- got a scholarship to study for a PhD at Cambridge University... I became a light shade of blue!
- moved to Cambourne, 10 miles from Cambridge
- went back to Canada and to Costa Rica for Christmas and New Year
- Got pregnant!
- visited Jeff and Jocelynn in Italy again
- moved to Cambridge: so much happier to be nearer to the city!
- visited Chloe in Australia for her birthday and her MA graduation
- Currently very happily married and awaiting the arrival of our little bundle of joy!

Not bad for 2 years!! Makes me kinda tired just thinking about it! But it has been an incredible couple of years - wouldn't change it for anything!!