Birthdays Galore!

Pleins d’Anniversaires!

The last few weeks have been birthday-celebrations filled in the Cathal & Co household. Late January it was the Mammy’s. On the 25^th February it was Oisín’s first birthday…. I am just wondering where that year has gone! And then exactly 2 weeks later (thanks to the extra day in February). Cathal blew out 4 candles.  Yes! 4!

Ces dernières semaines ont été pleines de célébrations d’anniversaires chez la famille Cathal & Compagnie. Vers la fin janvier c’était celui de la Maman. Le 25 février c’était le premier anniversaire d’Oisín… je me demande où est passée cette année ! Et puis exactement 2 semaines plus tard (grâce au jour supplémentaire en février), Cathal a soufflé 4 bougies. Oui ! 4 !

Here is a little taste of my Little Princes’ celebrations.

Voici un petit goût des célébrations de mes Petits Princes.

Oisín’s was very puzzled as to why he couldn’t touch the flame….

Oisín avait du mal à comprendre pourquoi il ne pouvait pas toucher la flamme…

Yum yum yum….

Miam miam miam…

How old are you Cathal? Four! Who is a big boy? Me!

Quel âge as-tu Cathal ? Quatre ans ! Qui est un grand garçon ? Moi !

The loveliest kiss EVER!

Le meilleur baiser JAMAIS donné !

The brothers relaxing after a hard afternoon of birthday partying

Les frères se relaxant après une long après-midi de fête d’anniversaire.

CELEBRATION!

The 10th March 2008 – Only a few minutes into our world
Le 10 mars 2008– Seulement quelques minutes dans notre monde

Next day, getting to know each other

Le lendemain, apprenant à se connaître

4 months old – 4 mois

5 months old – 5 mois

9 months old, with Super-Grand-Mother – 9 mois, avec Super-Grand-Mère

1 year old and so brave! – 1 an et si courageux !

16 months old – 16 mois

18 months old – 18 mois

21 months old – 21 mois

Now, at a full 2 years of age – Maintenant, à 2 ans complets:

Super dressed up for his birthday party – Super bien habillé pour sa fête d’anniversaire

Post-party tie and waistcoat off! – Sans cravate ni gilet après la fête!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATHAL!

It’s a Big One!

C’est un Grand!

Update 21.01.10 (evening): it seems there was a worldwide problem with Blogger.com, all videos are showing as black. Fixed now! - Il semble qu'il y avait un problème général avec Blogger.com, toutes les vidéos apparaissant en noir. Rectifié maintenant !

:-)

Today, 20th January 2010, Cathal’s Mammy is celebrating a Big Birthday. You know, one where the first digit changes...
Aujourd’hui, le 20 janvier 2010, la Maman de Cathal célèbre un Grand Anniversaire. Vous savez, un où les dizaines changent…


So, for this Big Occasion, we have recorded a special message for her:
Donc, pour cette Grand Occasion, nous avons enregistré un message très spécial pour elle :

Apologies for my fat lip and crooked smile (following my “incident” last week), but Cathal’s Mammy’s Brother had assured me they could not been see! Yea! Right!
Je m’excuse pour ma grosse lèvre et mon sourire de travers (suite à mon « incident » de la semaine dernière), mais le Frère de la Maman de Cathal m’avait assuré qu’on ne pouvait pas les voir ! Ouai ! C’est ça !

And Cathal’s own contribution is an example of his bum-shuffling…
Et le cadeau de Cathal est une démonstration de transport sur le derrière…

(Cathal loves this toy, especially pressing the button to make it go, then blocking its path. The extra noise it makes is great fun!
Cathal adore ce jouet, surtout d’appuyer sur le bouton pour le mettre en marche puis de bloquer sa route. Le bruit que cela fait l’amuse beaucoup.)

… as well as showing how to play with Marvin the cat.
… ainsi que de montrer comment jouer avec Marvin le chat.

So a Very Happy Birthday to my “little” girl.
Donc un Très Joyeux Anniversaire à ma “petite” fille.

What a Ride!

Day 1 (10th March 2008) started with the knowledge that a brand new little person was going to join our family that day.

Day 365 (9th March 2009) ended with this little person lying in Intensive Care recovering from open hear surgery that very afternoon.

What a ride it has been during these 365 days!

My little Prince Cathal, today, on your 1st birthday, while you are enjoying the relative comfort of full sedation and the care of the incredible staff of Crumlin Hospital, I want to thank you for coming into our lives, and making everything so differently meaningful.

On a personal note, I want to thank you for introducing me to a world I had heard of, but knew so little about, and educating me through it. I look forward to continuing this road with you.

Thank you for pushing me to explore hidden aspects of my being. Hey, you even got me to donate blood, me the squeamish one! And to consider walking the Dublin Mini-Marathon in June in aid of the Dublin branch of Down Syndrome Ireland (yes, I said walk, let’s not push it, and 10k will be more than enough!). You got me to learn all kinds of medical terms, to sign as I speak - and thus slow down my speech, some feat!

Thank you for the laughs we share, the hugs (oh, the massive hug you gave me yesterday morning as we were waiting for you to go in surgery), the big wet slobbery kisses (my face has not quite recovered from the one you gave me last Saturday as I picked you up after your afternoon nap), the absolute trust when you fall asleep in my arms, the great games and songs I have had to learn all over again!

I salute your joy, your strength, your courage, your energy.

I also salute the strength, courage and energy of your parents. Cathal, you have chosen well – I am so proud of them, of the beautiful transformation you triggered in them.

Little Cathal, keep recovering, so that your newly fixed little heart serves you for another 99 years – since I intend on reaching the grand old age of 100, so should you! ;-)

With all my love.

PS: Surgery went well. So far so good…

Just to let you know...

Just to let you know... It is Cathal's Mammy's Birthday today... the first as a "Mammy"!

My little girl, my first baby, is all grown up and moving up the ladder of life...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Cathal's Mammy!

What a difference a year makes…

As Little Prince Cathal was kind enough to publicise today’s significance for me (see today’s post from Cathal’s Mammy in Cathal's Big Adventure ), I started to reflect on the last year and its effects on my life - I won’t go too deep, promise!

Overall impression: what a steep learning curve! I have done more growing up (about time, I know!) in the last 5 months in particular than I have in the last 10 years or so.

Parenthesis opened here: Funny the way life happens in cycles? Early 20’s, major change, joined the Mammy-Club. Early 40’s, major change, re-joined the Singles-Club. Early 50’s, major change, joined the Granny-Club…. Which Club is next? Parenthesis now closed.

Key lessons learned:
- Anything can happen, to anybody, at any time. So enjoy what is presented to you today, just for the pure pleasure of it. Never refuse the cake. Don’t bitch about the taste, it could always be worse.
- What I experience every day is only a little slice of this Reality Cake. They are so many other slices in it, so many situations to be dealt with, coped with, but also enjoyed. My discovery of the world of DS and other “disability” slices has sobered up and humbled my taste buds. And I have barely passed the outer layer of icing? Bring it on!
- My slice had been quite comfortable until last March, until it got very eerie, and then re-settled itself at the edge of the comfort zone. The cake will be cut again (Cathal’s next Op) but this time I know that it’s coming. So I enjoy today’s cream and sponge, and put the hard bits to come on the side of the plate, until they need be picked up again, in their own time. No point dwelling on them now.

Scoring: 90% for sweetness and taste-bud titillating + 10% for the almost unbearable vinegar-bitterness of the difficult moments.

Conclusion: this new slice has my approval, I want more!

By way, how did a metaphoric cake join this post, today of all days??? I wonder!


Enough philosophical digression. Enough seriousness. I’m going to sit back and enjoy my special evening right now.

Here is to the next year! Cheers.