Well it has been a few months since I last posted and for good reason really as I am now a father! Amelia Lily Berry joined Niamh and myself on August 1st 2011, only a few days after my birthday. She actually should have joined us on my birthday as the process started on July 30th, but it wasn't meant to be and she arrived about 48 hours later.
I was there along side the amazing Niamh through the whole experience and I am so happy I was able to be there to support Niamh through everything but also to be there when Amelia first took her first breaths, Amazing!
It is now 9 weeks later and our lives have had to adjust which was to be expected. The first couple of weeks were madness of trying to use parent teamwork to stay ahead of the game. As Niamh is breastfeeding a lot of the work has been keeping baby feed, which is most of the time. She really has been a good baby and only really gets upset for the basic necessities of food, sleep and changing.
I was able to take the better part of 3 weeks off from work after Amelia was born which was really nice to be able to do. I was able to see her first few smiles after about a month which was really special.
After the first few weeks we started to get a trickle of visitors from Niamh's family to friends and eventually my parents, more on that later. We have already made a trip down to Galway for week 7 to visit Grandma Higgins and Louise on the train which was a big success. Grandma Higgins stayed with us early on in Dublin for a weekend to lend a helping hand and was a great a spoiling her first grandchild in Galway as well.
Grandma and Grandpa Berry arrived for week 8 from Canada as they couldn't wait until Christmas to get their hands on their first grandchild. They spent the week in Dublin with us and we managed to get in a few short outings to Howth, Dun Laogharie and Powers Court Gardens. Somehow Gma and Gpa managed to get a decent week of weather. There was one rainy day which just happened to be on the one day we invited a few friends around for a barbecue, which we didn't let dampen our spirits.
Daddy and Amelia
After the many years of child minding Grandma Berry said she hadn't met a little one like our Amelia. She definitely knows what she wants from an early stage and Niamh and I are fully aware of who is in charge of this household.
Approximately 8 1/2 months ago we found out we were going to have an addition to our family. Since then we moved into a new house, did some major renovations to the house and have attempted to prepare as much as we can for the little one. As I have not had to carry the baby around the last number of months I don't think the realization of all of this will be with me until I am holding something in my arms. Needless to say I am so excited about the thought of our new arrival and cannot wait to meet him or her.
Before I go on about the baby I wanted to discuss what has been distracting us for the months leading up to the birth which has been our renovations to the house. There were three major things that we need/wanted to change to the house before the baby arrived, which were: to lay new flooring in living room and kitchen, completely redo the kitchen and make upstairs spare room larger by cutting into the hallway.
First was the floors as the original floors from 1850 were still down in the living room and needless to say they were worn in places. So much so that we feared that the new baby could get lost down one of them if we were not careful. We went with some reclaimed pine boards that were 125 years old but in pretty good condition. See image
Secondly was the kitchen and to be honest the original kitchen was really nice to look at but not overly functional as there was only half of a fridge, the oven was broke and everything else was just a bit worn out. So we decided to gut the whole area and start fresh which was both exciting and challenging. Old kitchen picture: We ended up getting referred onto these two builders from a friend and they ended up being brilliant. They actually were involved in all aspects of our renovations which was a bit risky but totally paid off in the end. They hand made the kitchen to spec as we had an image from a magazine for them to reference from. The only gaps that we needed to look after were the appliances (Fridge, range cooker and dishwasher) as well as a tap for the sink and tiles for the splash back. We soon found out that we had expensive taste and the thought that we would have these for many years to come was a great excuse to go for quality. This resulted in a Gorenje retro style fridge and Rangemaster cooker. Here are some pics of the final product which we are really happy with.
Finally the last part was making one of the rooms upstairs larger so we could use it for a spare room and my office. Basically there was a hallway upstairs that we felt was wasted space and we needed a second double bedroom. This was the easiest part which simply involved moving a wall.
The actually time took about 3 weeks which meant living in a dusty work site, but the planning bit took a few months which was a great distraction from the baby as the bump continued to grow and grow. We are now in the final days before baby arrives and there is definite excitement in the air. The Berry patch back in Canada are excited, well actually for some excited doesn't do it justice. We have already received a baby package full of all sorts of goodies which is very much appreciate. We have also had help from Niamh's mother who managed to get a few key bits from a friend who was giving them away via facebook (Pramette and toys). The one bit I wanted to get right was the Pramette and this one we were given is practically new which is a huge help.
Last thing to mention before signing off is that I was fortunate to have my mate Grantus come over from Australia for a visit in June. He was in Ireland for a friends wedding and then was in London for another week for business. Was great to have the house ready for him and the spare bed showed up 2 days before he arrived which was handy. We spent most of our time discussing how our lives has moved on (he is expecting as well) and how it would be nice to live a bit closer. Other than one major day out in the Dublin pubs it was a very respectable and quite catch up.
For those who are interested here is a video preview of the house after the renovations. No commentary unfortunately only a walk through.
That is all for now, next time I will be a new father, bit mental but I am up for the challege......I hope!
Hmm, well it looks as 2011 could be one of those years where my world is flipped up side down. Big changes have been happening here in Ireland and I have to say that things couldn't be better.
Firstly, Niamh and I have moved into our very own house. From the moment we walked into this place we knew we wanted it after looking around for about 6 months previously. We feel really fortunate that we were able to find a house we both really love and somehow ticks many of the boxes we were looking for.
The house was built around 1850 and there are still some nice features within the house. We are looking at doing some renovations in the kitchen as well as lying some hardwood floors as the current ones are original and a bit banged up in places. We got the keys Dec 15th and moved in soon after. The first night was interesting as the boiler wasn't working so we had to cuddle by the fire and use an electric blanket because there was no heat, but we managed through it and got it fixed the next day.
It is a three bed, mid-terraced house which is in a decent location close to both the Irish sea and city centre.To get a quick look around the house, I have added a short video to Youtube. To get a view location wise you can see it here, it is the white house. Click here for google maps.
In other news, which I believe most people know by now is that Niamh and I are expecting a little one. The due date is one day after my B-day July 31st, so we have a bit of time to prepare. We are obviously delighted with the news and hoping that both Niamh and the little one keep healthy.
The timing of the house has been fortunate as we now have space to prepare room for the baby. We are now focusing on getting some of the renovations completed before we have little feet tapping around.
So with two major changes in 2011 the only thing left is my job. Late 2010 I knew that I was going to be moving from my current role within Fronter and joining into the larger parent company Pearson Education.
In early January, I attended some meetings thinking I would continue with Fronter and found out that my focus with this new team was to develop a new product called Equella. At the moment there are only 2 others in Europe and Middle East who have been trying to introduce Equella. There seems to be a lot of interest and opportunity with Equella and so it makes sense for me to change my focuss onto this newer technology. I see this as a challenging role within a great organization and couldn't be happier.
That is all for now, next time I doubt I will have so much to talk about, however with a new baby on the way we have a lot to prepare for. I really do have so much to look forward to in the year ahead... hope you are all keeping well where ever you may be.
