December 16th

Today is the day I dreamt I'd go into labor, but so far nothing has happened.  I'm comfortable with the fact that she'll come when she's ready, but I just thought it would be so cool if the dream meant something.  I suppose the day's not over yet :) 

1st day of maternity leave

Day 1 of approximately 274 days maternity leave:

I am now officially on maternity leave and officially full-term today at 38 weeks.  Two weeks until the estimated due date, 20th December, and only a week and 3 days until the 16th of December which is when I dreamt she'd come :)  So curious to see if there is any truth to that.

She continues to be very active and over the weekend I had an increasing number of 'practice contractions', though so far none today . . . oh I take that back, I just had one :)

Rob and I went to our 'active birthing' class on Saturday and I think it has excited us both even more for her arrival.  At the end of the class two birthing videos were shown and we both reflected on how long it had been since we'd seen a birthing video.  Of course watching that now holds completely different meaning!

Today, I'm cleaning the house , I don't think I'm "nesting" because I'd rather be doing anything else; I'm just cooped up in the house with snow and ice outside and nothing else to do.  Maybe I'll start blogging more often too!

Snow!

It would make for an interesting day if Baby Clements decided to arrive today!

Fierce and Fiesty at 29 Weeks

Hello! It's been over a year since I've updated our blog and I thought this was a good occasion to do so . . .

The proud hairy bump at 22 weeks:

(Believe me, it's hairy)!

And this is the beautiful baby girl inside:)

Face profile

Waiving hello

Top picture: face
Bottom picture: feet

Top picture: feet

Bottom picture: face

Top picture: face

Bottom picture: body profile

Top picture: body profile

Bottom picture: not sure . . . hands or feet?

Expected due date is December 20th.

dublin snow

Dublin rarely gets snow but it seems like it's been falling for the last three days straight! We certainly don't have much to show for it - it either stops or starts raining just long enough for it to melt into slush. Here's the latest from outside our door.

Pie!

This is my Chicken, Leek, and Tarragon Pie

So proud! And so delicious.

Thanks Caroline and Siobhan!

Cobh

After staying in Cork for one night, we took about a 20 minute train ride to Cobh (pronounced 'cove'). It is a beautiful little sleepy seaside town known for being the point where many people left for America during the potato famine.

St. Coleman's Cathedral on the hill.

The view from the cathedral.

Cork

We went to Cork and Cobh for our anniversary and the new year. We have a new found appreciation for Cork; it has a university feel as it is home to University College Cork, it's cheaper than Dublin, it is the 3rd largest city in Ireland (behind Dublin and Belfast), and has the 2nd largest natural port in the world (behind Australia).

A side street in Cork. There were so many cute little (affordable) bistros.

The former Beamish brewery. When tried to have a tour, we were told Heineken recently bought them out and they no longer give tours :(

Unfortunately we were in Cobh for the new year and were unable to attend "Freakscene" :)

Where we went for our anniversary dinner.

These Hillbilly's Fried Chicken restaurants are all over Cork; never tried it but got a picture.

Happy New Year!

We hope you have had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We accidentally left our camera at home when we went up to Belfast for Christmas, so we thought we'd post some pictures of Dublin at Christmas. Unfortunately I can't find a pitcure of Grafton Street, it was by far the most beautifully decorated.

The ferris wheel at Smithfield. It's not shown in these pictures, but they also have a skating rink where I went with work a while back.

The tree on O'Connell Street (changing color).