July 1/2 ~ Getting There

Hey look at Chad being all patriotic on Canada day at the airport. July 1st felt a bit like any other day in regards that we missed the good ole Abbotsford parade. Much more exciting things on the agenda though. My nerves were shot with all the stress of packing and the thought of flying. Yikes! All I wanted was to just be in Ireland already!

Do I look nervous in this picture? You know when you have to do something dreadful, all you want is to be on the other side of the situation. That's what I wanted. To get that plane ride over with!!!

The kids were such great travellers. Seriously! They acted as if they had traversed airports and flown in planes all their life. Such adaptable little creatures. Liam wasn't quite as impressed with the whole rigamarole.

The flight was very smooth. As soon as we were at flying altitude one could almost forget they were in an airplane. It definitely makes a difference going on a big 777 as oppossed to a small airbus like the one we took to Mexico last time. I am extremely happy to report that I didn't take my Ativan. It was enough to know that I had it in my purse if I needed it.



Nate sat across the aisle from us. He certainly enjoyed 9+ hours of movies and shows on his personal TV screen. We really didn't hear from him the entire trip.

Chad was my seat buddy. He was grand! He was the lucky one with the window seat and got to see some incredible views. It was daylight for our entire flight so there was always something to take a peek at.


Ah Liam. He didn't do too badly. I had forgotten just how loud planes are inside so it definitely helped to mute the whinging and whining. He napped or fussed. Babies just don't understand or care about travelling. They just want their routine! Thankfully, due to the excitement of the trip I found that the 9 hour flight didn't seem so long. Mind you it was plenty long enough and I don't think I'd ever want to be on a flight that was longer than that! Thank you to everyone that prayed for a smooth journey...God definitely answered all of our prayers!

Here are Nate and Chad on the bus that transported us between terminals at Heathrow. That airport is a nightmare....a total freaking nightmare. The weather was hot and humid in London that day and I think about three quarters of that airport does NOT have air conditioning! We were stinky and sweaty by the time we reached our gate. It took approx 1 hour to walk to our terminal. Eternal hallways, lifts, people movers, securities, check points....you name it. Crazy.

Waiting for our flight to Belfast. This area of the airport was seriously at least 35 degrees. We were wilting.

The flight over to Belfast was quick. A one hour plane ride is a piece of cake after a nine hour one! I was much more nervous on the small plane because you feel every bump. I would have taken a pill but for such a short flight it didn't seem worth it. I was already tired and was afraid I'd be completely incoherent if I took one at that point. We still needed to get to Letterkenny and be able to converse with our friends!

We were so glad to see Darryl's happy face at the airport to pick us up! We were just as happy to see that all our luggage arrived in good order. Yippee! As you can see it all fit into Darryl's car nicely. We even had room for this little boy we picked up along the way :) The drive to Letterkenny was just under 2 hours. I was just drinking in the scenery but the boys nodded off and Liam whimpered with exhaustion. We had lost a day in travel and everything was off kilter.

Our first meal with the Hamm family. We had some delicious quesadillas and lots of water. Flying does make a body extremely thirsty.

After dinner we decided to go on a refreshing walk. The older kids played games and all the babies went to bed. It felt so good to stretch our legs after all that sitting.

Sinead and I walking the beautiful country roads. The weather was a big muggy which is unusual for them. The road you see is not a driveway....it's a two lane road with an 80 km speed limit!

The boys had the downstairs bedroom/office to themselves for our stay. They also had an ensuite so were really living in the lap of luxury. Darryl and Sinead made it very comfortable for all of us!

Keith and I shared a room with Liam. Ceara graciously gave us her personal space and moved in with her sister Clodagh. We were so grateful to lay our heads down on our pillows that night. What a long day that was!

I'm BACK!

Hello everyone!

After years of dreaming and scheming we actually pulled off our trip to the Emerald Isle. Ireland is everything I dreamed it would be and we only saw a wee bit of it! We'll definitely be back.

I'm going to do a post for each day of our vacation starting soon.

I'll just leave you a little teaser picture in the meantime.

Four Leafed Clover and Leprachauns

The map is kind of small but we are staying in Letterkenny which is in the northwest corner of the Republic of Ireland. We are going to be fairly close to Northern Ireland and hope to spend some time exploring the sights there as well.

This is all very surreal since we have been talking about this trip for about 10 years and seriously planning it for about three. I can't believe we are getting to see Ireland. I'm also really thrilled that my kids will be able to experience such an amazing holiday in their youth. I don't know if they realize how fortunate they are but we will remind them :)

I won't be on the computer while we are away so this is farewell for a bit.

I can't wait to post pictures and stories of all our Irish adventures!

Serious Anticipation!

Packing, preparing, waiting, anticipating.......Ireland here we come!!!!!!

Celebrating a Big Accomplishment

If you are a long time reader of my blog you will know that Chad has struggled and struggled with swimming. I have sort of lost track but I believe he had tried unsuccessfully to pass level one of the Red Cross program around four or five times. I put him in lessons twice a week at the start of June. I told him that if he could pass that we would have a big tray of sushi for dinner. This apparently was just the motivation he needed. And I think he was simply 'ready' to learn to swim. He did awesome. At each lesson he got braver and braver and I was very proud to see him overcome his fears.

Last night was the last lesson with a very exciting moment as we opened his report card to see that he earned his badge! I called up Keith and told him to pick up some sushi on his way home as we had some celebrating to do.

Well done Chad! We knew you could do it.

Baby, You're 9 Months!

Naughty monkey...those remotes are a no-no!
Enjoying his Fisher Price Barn. So glad I saved it all these years!

So, Liam's now been 'out' as long as he was 'in'. Wow! His development has just exploded this past month. He's standing, walking on furniture, waving bye-bye on command, eating everything and anything, and our favorite, saying 'dada' and 'mama'.

He's a ton of work and I can't really leave him alone for a second. He wants to explore, taste, touch and destroy.

He definitely loves to pull himself up to standing on everything. Why sit when you can stand?!

He loves to hang out with Dad on the weekends to get tastes of his breakfast. Pablum day after day has got to be a bit boring!

Last Day...Hurray!!!

Well, there goes another school year. It went super fast for me Nathan has completed his elementary school career and Chad has been promoted to grade three. We are more than ready for the lazy days of summer to start!

The final assembly. The school sings a song called 'Low Tide' every year and it's a tear jerker!

I had promised the boys a slushie on the last day. I couldn't convince them to take a rain check for a warmer day! I wanted one but it was just too cold today to be sipping icy drinks.

Shot Nerves = Grumpy Father's Day

In the past several weeks Liam has been very difficult when it comes to getting sleep. All the trouble seemed to coincide with his new crawling/standing skills. I think that fact he can stand up in his crib and scream is something he is taking a strange delight in!

Anyhow...naps have been sketchy and the nights have been horrible. I sort of gave into him with naps and simply let him stay up as tired as he was just to avoid the screaming in the crib. That lead to nights with us getting up about 4-7 times trying to soothe him, rock him to sleep and even a desperate middle of the night bottle he wasn't interested in.

By this past Friday night we were DONE! It was like having a newborn...and we did not think his going backward in his sleep progress was something we could ignore any longer.

We decided it was time for a little tough love. Crying it out was the new sheriff in town. We began Saturday morning for his nap. One hour solid of screaming and a two hour nap. Saturday afternoon nap. Lovely..no problem. Saturday night.....he was up at 4:00 am and screamed to 4:30 am. I know this doesn't sound long, but to listen to your baby crying and not respond is so difficult. Difficult but for his greater good. He needs his solid sleep. We need our sleep. Nate and Chad need their sleep! Anyhow....today's naps weren't too bad. I put him to bed awhile ago and had about 25 min of screaming. I find that if I run away to the basement then I can't hear him as well and it doesn't bug me :)

With all that going on plus a very early morning on Saturday for a IAFF sponsored fishing derby, a wrong number phone call at 5 am and getting up early for church we were all quite edgy and cranky today. After watching Keith increase in his moodiness all afternoon I kicked him out this evening to catch a 'guy' movie with my brother. I do hope he comes back with an attitude adjustment :) LOL! Actually, all we need is a good night's sleep. One can hope!

Been Keeping a Secret

I can finally let the cat out of the bag.

I'm changing careers and have accepted a new job starting at the end of the summer.

My new position is a school secretary at MEI Middle School.

I am beyond excited!

I've always dreamed of working in a school office. I had a practicum in a school office way back in highschool and I just loved it.

I've been at the credit union for 16 years. It's mostly been really good there. The best part of working there are my co-workers and manager. I love them all so much. The job itself was not enjoyable for me anymore due to the sales pressure/goals that were placed upon us. It was time to make a change!

The credit union was really comfortable. To be honest, I'm a bit nervous about getting to know all those new people. I'm shy at heart. But of course it will all be worth it.

Of course none of this could happen without a support network behind me. Thank you to my mom and Keith's mom for stepping up on the daycare issue. Life will once again be a juggling act with me back to work.

So here's to Christmas break, spring break and summer holidays!!!!!!!!!

Flying the Friendly yet Terrifying Skies

The kids are debating which Webkinz stuffies get to go on the trip to Ireland with them. Back and forth...shall it be Woofy, Spot or Fertile the Turtle?

Mummy has her own worries. This is the treat I am bringing with me on the flight. A little something to hopefully prevent a 9.5 hour panic attack! Anyone else out there with a fear of flying? Any other Ativan users?

Trade Places, Anyone? ANYONE?

Funny or maybe not so funny how a baby can start off the day so cute and sweet and then....

turn into something I don't want in my house!!!!
He was a bear pretty much all afternoon and by the time Keith got home we were BOTH in tears.

Foresome

June always brings the annual golf tournament that my employer puts on. Even though I'm technically not 'at work' I still wanted to go. It's tradition! I do enjoy my once a year golf game. I didn't think I golfed too badly and even got a par 3 on the last hole. Thank you to Coach Roger who gave my all kinds of instruction!

The lunch afterwards was simple and quite tasty. Grilled burger with lots of fixings. Instead of heading to a banquet hall, this year we ate at the clubhouse. It made the afternoon a bit quicker which was good for us since we left my poor parents with three kiddies.

A great day out! Thanks Kori and Roger for yet another year of golfing with us.

Farewell Elementary School

Middle school is a fairly new concept to our province. Just a few short years ago elementary school went to grade seven. I'm not sure that this concept is any better but that being said Nathan is just about finished with grade five and is moving onto middle school in September. A very exciting change for him! For now we are sticking with the traditional school system and so he'll be at ATMS. Most of his friends are going there too so he'll be in fine company.

Here are a few shots from his graduation evening last week.

All dressed in his uniform and ready to go. Next year's uniform is quite similar so that's handy.

The gym was nicely decoarated for the event.

Each 'graduate' received a cookie with their photo....very cool!

Rotten Mother!

Well, not really rotten but maybe just a bit moldy on the edges. Seriously! I did two...actually make that three dumb things today concerning Liam.

First of all this morning I went to Rotary field to watch Nathan in his challenge track meet. The sun was shining brightly and it was going to be a warm day. As I sat down in the stands with Liam I discovered not only did I forget his sun hat, I also forgot his water and sunscreen.

After watching Nathan in the hurdles went decided to go home for his morning nap. That was a bit of a bust since he decided to sleep for only 30 minutes. After that I gave him lunch and we headed back to the track to watch Nate's final events. This time with the sunscreen, hat and water.

I stopped to talk to Nate's previous P.E. teacher for a moment and all of a sudden he said....'Your baby!' and I turned around to see my stroller rolling backwards away from me and making a sharp turn in a storm drain. Ha ha...I laughed it off but was mortified! Mr Tod said...is that how you drive too? Actually to be honest I've left my car in neurtral and have found it in places where I didn't originally park it! Blondie!

And to top it all off Liam finally fell asleep in the car on the way home. He was beyond exhausted and I was happy that once we got back home I could slip him into his crib for a nice long nap until it was time to pick up Chad from the bus. I was just laying him down when somehow I lost my grip and banged his face/head into the rails. Well of course he woke up and wailed like a banshee. There was no going back to sleep for him. So now he's awake...overtired and whinging at every little thing. There is no hope for another nap now since we having swimming right after school.

Can it be Monday on Thursday?

My consolation is that Nathan did awesome with 1st place in hurdles, 2nd place in high jump and 2nd place in the 100m dash!

***UPDATED 3:36 pm***

What happens to babies that don't nap when they should......they fall asleep in the stranges places! This is where I found the little man when I got home from the bus stop. I left Nate in charge. Now I have to pick him up to get to swimming...figures!

A Job Well Done

What perfect weather it's been to put up a new fence. This was a group project with three of our neighbors and with much cooperation the project is about 90% complete! We just need to put up our new gate and stain our side. The best part about this entire endeavor has been getting to know our neighbors better. They are all fine people and we are just so pleased to have formed some good friendships with them.

Just our side to be build and it's complete!

Our neighbor putting in the final screws. I'm afraid I didn't contribute much other than some

baking for coffee break and moral support!

The men made sure everything was straight and true.

The Business of Cooling Off

We had to do something. With indoor temps reaching highs of 29 degrees it was becoming clear we'd have to escape the indoors to cool off outdoors. I went and bought Liam a little pool from Canadian Tire and set it up on the deck. The boys were very keen to 'swim' in 3 inches of water. They are devoted brothers. Actually, Chad lasted only a few minutes. He got bored!

Liam enjoyed himself very much but quickly discovered he could easily escape to explore new and exciting places. So much for my idea of lounging on a chair with Liam plays nicely with some toys. He's an escape artist!

Flaked Out

Liam has a cold. Liam has been more than a little cranky. Liam is falling asleep at unusual times and unusual places!

PS. His legs aren't sunburned but chaffed from crawling!

Cooking

It's 27 degrees at 10:30 pm....indoors!

I'm just happy to not be pregnant in this heat.

Liam is doing what he can to sleep 'cool'.....

Summer Days are Here Again!

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