Luck of the Irish

A week prior to our trip to Ireland, I checked for the weather forecast in Ireland. Well, specifically at the places we were planning to visit like Dingle, Killarney and Dublin. Almost everyday and each time it showed a little sunny, cloudy, rain and cold which was why we packed our umbrella and jackets along. So when we flew into Kerry and arrived in the afternoon, guess what greeted us. Almost clear blue skies and sunshine. An old Irish man who was behind us when we were queueing up for immigration said to us as a matter of fact, "This weather is quite unusual for Kerry. I know because I live here." I guess we got struck by the luck of the Irish.Weather aside, Ireland is probably one of the most picturesque places I have ever been to. Rolling hills and green pastures, dramatic coastal cliffs, turquoise ocean and serene lakes.

Ireland is blessed with these natural beauties. As we skirted along farmlands and cliffs, we lost count of the cows and sheep we encountered. We stopped by prehistoric sites and castles and imagined how it was back then, how the people used to live, where kings ruled, peasants slaved and vikings attacked.

Our six days itinerary was jam packed with road trips starting from the small bustling tourist town and port of Dingle, Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry, both very picturesque routes making car rides bearable and almost pleasant, Killarney with its colourful store fronts, boutiques and restaurants and our final stop, Dublin, where we stayed for a night before flying back home.

Dingle

Dingle Peninsular

Killarney & Kenmare

Ring of Kerry

Dublin

The narrow cobbled streets of Temple Bar, which is Dublin's creative and cultural quarter, were bustling with locals and tourists, street musicians, restaurants and bars. This is the place to be if you like to experience Dublin's lively nightlife.

Our third day, we visited Killarney National Park and walked a total distance of over 8 kilometres and maybe more. That walk, although refreshing considering we only did road trips the first two days was tough because I was carrying Zachary most of the time in the carrier and this boy is not getting any lighter mind you. But I survived. Our friend, Andreea, who was over twenty weeks pregnant didn't complain much about the walk, so I should just hush.

Killarney National Park

And the food. How can I not mention the food being a food lover myself. We feasted on Irish stews, fish and chips, shepherd's pies and seafood chowders throughout our trip. Yum, yum, extra yum!

Beer battered fish and chip with tartar sauce and side salad.

Hearty and homey Irish stew

Seafood chowder

Traveling with two kids under three was interesting to put it mildly. There were stressful moments like when they got fussy in their car seats which was totally understandable because it gets tiring and not to mention boring just being strapped to the car seat for hours long. What helped was lots of snacks, singing, and iPads. Hey, don't judge! And because they were either in the strollers or carriers, it was also a good idea to at least go to a park or open lawn where we could just let the kids loose so they could run or in Zachary's case, crawl and burn off some energy. It helped mellow them down so they would sleep during the car ride. I would say Zachary had only one meltdown. Otherwise, we are so proud of him. He is becoming quite a season traveller and an enjoyable one to travel with.

Fun time with Sophia in Inisfallen

Our final stop Dublin is a great city to venture because most of the attractions were close enough to walk from one place to another. What I really love was the abundant of cafés all over the city with tempting and scrumptious looking pastries displayed on the front window and the smell of coffee just beckoning us to enter. Suddenly, Starbucks and Costa Coffee were not as tempting. In Dublin, we stayed in Trinity College's student dormitory because that was the cheapest accommodation that we could find. It was a good location though because we could visit the famous Old Library and the Book of Kells within the compound of Trinity College itself. This was the first time I have visited a library here in Europe and I was super impressed. This library would probably set a high standard for other libraries in Europe if I do plan on visiting them.

Other than that, we really didn't do much in Dublin besides visiting Dublin Castle, Christchurch Cathedral and walking the streets of Temple Bar because of the short amount of time we had there. We did however caught up with our friend, Josh, whom we haven't seen for more than two years.

Just a relaxing afternoon at St. Stephen's Green Park in Dublin.

Another worth mentioning was the dinner we had at The Brazen Head which is Ireland's oldest pub dating back to 1198. While the rest had the pub's famous traditional beef stews and guinness which was devoured with much satisfaction, I had an equally satisfying bowl of Irish stew.

More pictures from the trip in random orders. Mostly pictures of me and Zachary though because I just love our pictures together. :)

I can't believe he is turning one in a month time. :(

We stopped by at O'Carrolls cove beach to take a break from the long car ride. We were excited for Zachary to experience the beach for the first time. Because he loves his baths, so we thought he would love the beach as well. Alas, he was terrified of the waves and he was clinging to me the whole time for his dear life.

O'Carrolls cove

Pictures at a stone circle

Of course, travelling in the company of friends made it extra memorable. Our good friends, The Livengoods are moving to Dallas this coming September and one of the reasons for this trip was to enjoy some quality time with them before they head back.

Pictures of my two favourite people together.

Haha, this last picture was epic right. Don't worry. I don't think Oli threw him that high. I think it was more of the camera angle because I shot from the ground pointing upwards. Really.

And of course, what is a holiday without a couple of 'us' selfie.

We really hope to visit Ireland again because we didn't really get to enjoy the Irish music as much as we wanted to and watch the Celtic step dance. Not easy with a young toddler. Who knows. Maybe soon.

Till we meet again, Ireland.

i know, now.

i have been meaning to write an honest post about my role as a mum and more so as a stay at home mum. as much as i feel the joy of being a mother everyday since I had Zachary, i admit i do struggle. every single day. i had this idea of the kind of parent i wanted to be. I might have told myself I would never ever want to lose myself. i want to be able to take care of my child but also take care of myself and i mean to look at least decent because i am after all also a wife and I want to still look attractive to my husband. i want to be the kind of mum who goes about her day doing chores, taking care of the kid, cooks awesome dinner and welcomes the husband home with an open arm looking all sweet. I want to be able to keep my house clean and tidy. I want to go out, run errands and look put together. I want to feed my kid healthy food; vegetables, fruits, home made, organic you name it. I don't want to use gadgets and TVs to pacify my kid in order to get him to do something. I want to still be able to spend sweet time with my husband everyday. I want to do a lot of things. but i don't know how. 

which is why the house is currently in a total mess, dirty laundry is piling up, clean laundry is also piling up on the sofa in the living room, toys are scattered, clean dishes have yet to be put away while dirty dishes are slowly piling up in the sink and all the trash bins (we have three kinds of trash bins to separate plastic, paper and other wastes) are full. of course, there are days when all these are put to order only to return to its messy glory within the next 48 hours or so. when my husband comes home, most of the time i'll be with Zachary. if i'm not still in my pyjamas, i'll probably be wearing a three day old t-shirt stained with milk, food and what not. i know gross. my initial success of feeding Zachary organic cereals, pureed vegetables and fruits went down hill when he suddenly rejected any kind of purees. we thought it was time to try baby led weaning. somehow, he just doesn't fancy most fruits and vegetables except for the occasional bananas and carrots. he loves his bread and cheerios though. but that's the problem. it is just NOT healthy. and guess what, i have been putting on Baby Einstein and Mother Goose Club videos on youtube when he eats because it is just easier. for me. i also put it on when i change his clothes or diapers. otherwise, he fusses or cries. so yes. i am now one of the parents who use gadgets to pacify their kids. i can almost see the organisation who wrote the article about how parents should not expose their kids under the age 2 to medias shaking their heads. as for husband and me time. please. i rather snooze because i will be waking up several times throughout the night to nurse Zachary. yes, he still does not sleep through the night.

again. i don't know how. i tried. some days, it felt like i failed as a mum and wife. those kinda days, maybe i need to hear "you are doing your best momma" or a simple "i love you just because....". or maybe, all i need is to be reminded that this 'suffering' is necessary to remind me that I need to rely on God's strength and mercy which i often overlooked.

'we are pressed on every side by troubles. but we are not crushed. we are perplexed, but not driven to despair. we are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. we get knocked down but we are not destroyed. through suffering, our bodies continue  to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.' 2 Corinthians 4: 8-10.

'so the Lord must wait for you to come to him, so he can show you his love and compassion. for the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.' Isaiah 30:18

i want to be a better mum to Zachary. I want to a better wife to my husband. But most of all, I want NEED God more than ever. His Words are important to me. especially now when it is so easy to give up and despair. tomorrow His mercy and grace is new and i will draw strength from him to serve my household better. now, i'm just gonna clean up the dishes in the sink and go peek on my son who is sleeping. i hug my husband too if he is here but he is currently in Munich for work and will come back tomorrow evening. now, let's hope i put on a clean shirt when he comes back. 

Woah!

Time, time, time. How it flies! And just like that. I realized the last post I've written was in January. Where have we been all these times. Sometimes I feel like I am losing my sense of days. You know how you wake up and you don't know what day of the week it is. During my working days, dates are so important because we have deadlines after deadlines. But now, you give me a fill in form and when it comes to write down what date it is, my mind stalls before scrambling for my hand phone to check. Is that bad? Is it?

Anyways, it's been a week without Oli who is currently in Sri Lanka for work and he will be there for another week before coming back next Saturday. I was kinda dreading this 2 weeks without him but so far, I think I am doing okay with Zachary. It does make me think about how challenging it must be for single mums or even mums whose husbands are away for work or deployment to take care of a child or children. I salute them and being a mum is no easy job I kid you not. Well, Oli did ask us to come along for this trip but I figured it was just too much for Zachary because we just came back from Malaysia and fortunately he recovered from jet lagged after a week or so. Then my mum and brother were here and we did a bit of traveling here and there. And then we went to London for a breezy 3 days 2 nights for a friend's farewell and I decided that's it. No more plane travel for awhile. I mean I love traveling and although Zachary is a pretty good traveler it was a bit stressful and tiring. 

Speaking of traveling with Zachary, man, this boy has probably accrued enough miles to earn him a world traveler at least in the making. I must say, traveling to Malaysia, I have braced myself for the worst thing to happen on our 13 hours flight journey. Poop explosions, air pressure, melt downs and i mean, major melt downs. I even tried practicing my I'm-sorry-you-have-to-bear-with-this-smile just in case I need to use it. Thankfully, Zachary did pretty well in both his long haul trips. He slept a huge portion of the journey, woke up to nurse several times which I didn't mind, had his bits of playtime, changed his diapers which took a bit of skill when you had to do it in the tight spaced lavatory and yeah, that was it. He didn't really have problems with his ears due to air and cabin pressure because I nursed him both when the plane took off and when it was descending. And after surviving those long haul flights, I felt like any short haul flights were nothing although i do still get anxiety when traveling with a baby. 

Oh and also this recent news about the missing Malaysia Airlines air craft MH370 that carries more than 200 passengers and crew is just troubling what with the recent claim that it might be hijacked although that has yet to be confirmed until they find the transponder or black box to know what really happened or what is happening.  This really hits close to home because I used to work for Malaysia Airlines and it's my home country we are talking about. My heart breaks for the families and friends of those on board the missing aircraft. But what breaks my heart even more is the unknown fate of the passengers and crews and knowing that there are infants on boards, I can't begin to imagine. And I know I share the hopes of so many people that this aircraft be found and that everyone will be saved. We can only pray and let God be in control of this situation. Meanwhile, I pray for hope, strength and comfort for the loved ones who have to wait every single day for news of their loved ones on board.