Thanks to this contest Keeva has a chance at getting her wish. She wants to bring her own lunch to school. I never had the imagination for packing lunch plus she goes to a French school and yes they give a full scale French lunch everyday. Being a picky eater though she eats very little and always comes out hungry. I discovered this contest on a fellow bloggers site who I just envy for her Mommyness. I am totally on my way to being converted to Bentos...it's great and I'm sure Keeva would love some of these fancy lunches. So pop on over and see how Maisie gets treated everyday and maybe make a last minute entry like me!
Oh my....... How life has changed since I was last here. Updates and changes are on there way. Can't wait to introduce you all to our little boy.....promise it won't be long.
The search for a name has begun in earnest. I had my favorite girls names, I knew what I didn't want for a boy but what I might like. Joe didn't like any of them. The one thing I had made known years before we even started trying to have kids was I never wanted to name a boy directly after his Dad. Growing up we had my Dad John and my brother John or baby John as he was and still is, much to his dismay, known. With Joe's Dad passing and finding out it was a boy, everyone in the family began saying we should call him Joseph Michael...... I decided that maybe we could but call him Michael, Joe wasn't too opposed. I don't like Michael though (no offense to anyone out there called MIchael) and being Irish they'll call him Mickey back home. A friend gave me a book the other day with baby names from around the world which I have slowly been going through, making a list of anything that might remotely sound okay and Joe last night began asking about them. This morning he started looking through the book himself and he came to a decision- he would like a name with a meaning. The meaning he has chosen - GIFT. So anyone out there who knows of a name meaning gift spit it out, let me know. Or even a synonym for gift that I could look up names under.
We never bought a crib for Keeva as our old bedroom was too small and the stairs to the upstairs bedrooms were too steep for me going up and down with an infant. Plus there was no bathroom upstairs. This time around I have a room to decorate as a nursery and I am so excited. Only problem, I have a hard time being too typically babyish......I don't want to do the typical blue for a boy but I really don't like the unisex patterns that are currently out there. So I found this.....
Okay so your saying very babyish, but, I'm not getting the whole kit n' caboodle. Just the window valance and the bedding. The colors in it are very nice, bright but muted if that can be! The red is gorgeous and the brown cord trim is great. I think I'm going to paint the room a wheat color and I've ordered a glider in a nice brown brushed suede like material. I'll admit this was my gift to myself, my splurge. I spent so many uncomfortable hours on the floor nursing Keeva or just trying to get her to sleep that I promised myself extreme comfort this time and boy is this chair comfortable. The killer piece though is the crib, and I got it on sale, how excited am I. Now who can't love that. It's different......not all slats like most cribs, and no fluted edges. It goes all the way to a full bed which I think will be great in teenage years. I can't get a picture of it to post but, here is the link. I can't wait to start pulling the whole room together. I'll have to though....the furniture won't be in until January so I guess I'll have to busy myself redecorating Keevas room. I want to do something special for her so she doesn't feel as if it's all about her "baby brother". She wants to go girly girly of course. I guess I'll have lots to keep me busy!
The day before yesterday Keeva was busy as usual copying down phone numbers from infomercials, words from cereal boxes, anything she could find. She never stops, even in the car she has a pad and pen and copies down words from sign posts or numbers on buildings (she cutely calls these phone numbers!). One of the things she copied down was the word Love that is written on a Teddy Bear my Dad had given her. When I was tidying up this morning I found this note.......
Okay so it's no novel but, my four and a half year old has almost strung sentences together....and there all about love! My heart melted when I saw it, then when I realized she had done it all by herself.......genius! Harvard here we come.
Yep we're having a boy......Keeva has decided to call him George. We're having a bit of trouble convincing her that George George would be a bit strange!
Last month we said goodbye to Joe's dad, Papa. He had been living in the nursing home with Joe's Mam for a month when an MRI showed he had end stage cancer throughout most of his body. They gave him six weeks which was then shortened to within a week. The day after this he slipped by his bed and broke his hip and two days later we were called to say goodbye. It was thankfully a peaceful passing. He told Joe he loved him, kissed his wife, took a few deep breaths and left us. The fact that he was in the same room as his wife in the nursing home meant that Joe his Mom and his sisters got to spend time with him afterward before they removed him to the funeral home. It was actually very nice as they got to say goodbye to him in private and his Mom, being in a wheelchair, could sit right by him without a coffin in the way and process what had just happened. He hadn't wanted any wake or funeral so this was a great benefit to everyone. Joe has been up and down. He was very close to his Dad and misses him greatly, but he carries with him now some great childhood memories. Papa will be missed but we know he is looking down on us smiling!
We took Keeva out yesterday to get her a set of big girl wheels. She was very excited but slightly scared. Of course not knowing what size would be best we tried hard to get her to try on the different sizes. She wasn't having any of it. Then one of the store workers came over and I was sure that would be the end, but no, he actually made her laugh...thank you Mr. Store Person. After a while it came down to a choice of a neutral bike, a Barbie model...very cute with a little bike attached to the handle bars that Barbie can sit in, and a Dora model. I was very surprised she wanted the Dora one and not the Barbie. Of course I wanted the neutral model partly because it was the cheapest by quite a bit. But no she had her heart set on the Dora model. Turns out after I finally coerced her to ride all three bikes a tad, the Dora one was the one best suited to her. The Barbie one the distance between the seat and the handle bars was ridiculous, obviously not for my little sprite...so in the end I was glad she didn't want that one. Now I began to worry would she actually ride the darn thing once we got it home. She would never ride her tricycle so I had reason to worry, thankfully it only cost $5 at a yard sale (gotta love yard sales). She did!!! And she did it without much of a fight. Just a second or two of panic and of she went...I did have to keep my finger on the edge of the handle bar but, she did it, up and down, up and down, for about fifteen minutes. I was thrilled and so was she. The first thing she asked this morning was to go out on her bike so, out we went. Mammy knows better than to waste voluntary enthusiasm from nervous Nelly. This time she went all the way to the end of our street and back again. I was so proud..maybe she is starting to get brave. Go keeva.....
Theres my girl...not a great photo but the only one shed let me take
So I was saying to Keeva this morning where did she get those beautiful eyes. She said she was born with them and I said but where did she get them from, me or Daddy, and she said again she was born with them. I said yeah but you’re half me and half Daddy…you have my nose, my ears, Daddy’s bum…her response: no I don’t, Daddy’s a boy and boys have those sticky things remember, girls don’t. Then she asked how do boys do poops with the little hole in their toots…..Kids do say the darnedest things.
When I was about ten I went to Scotland on a school tour and we were taken to a Butterfly farm. I have never forgotten it, there was hundreds of them. It was amazing, all the butterflies with all their colors and sizes flying around us. It was almost like standing in a shower of confetti watching them all flying around us. When I discovered our local zoo was having a butterfly exhibit during July and August I had to take Keeva along. I was hoping it would be as magical as it was for me. It was as magical.....smaller and more crowded but still beautiful. I was afraid they wouldn't have much but there was a lot of different varieties and colors and seeing their cocoons was amazing. Some even had beautiful gold threads. Unfortunately the cocoons were behind glass so I couldn't get a good picture but I got some nice butterfly snaps. The more colorful ones were harder to get though...they seemed to hang higher up!
Keeva even got to color a butterfly which has since taken center stage on our fridge
They even had a cute little garden with toadstools frogs and caterpillars that the kids could climb all over....fun!
We were driving down the highway the other day when I noticed the animal control van in front of us. There was a little pug standing up scratching frantically at the window. You could see the distress on his face and imagine his yelps. It near broke my heart. I had read just a short while ago about how with the economic situation that a lot of dogs are being left behind when people have to leave their homes. The shelters both humane and not so are full to the brim. Which made watching this little fella harder. There is no room for all these dogs, a lot of whom probably had loving parents and families but, because of how things have turned could not take the dogs with them. The thought of that poor little puppy heading to the pound where a fate of a big needle and a long sleep most likely awaited him was hard to reconcile. I know after Hurricane Katrina a lot of people came forward to adopt the animals left behind. My sister in law Judy was one of them. But, who's coming forward to save these animals?
Joe started his new job on Monday [hear me breath a sigh of relief]. Although the funny part is that he spent the past four months looking for work and driving home one Monday, from his new job, he got 2 offers and and invite to an interview. The first offer was from that wonderful company which let him go with 20 minutes notice and, it was from the same boss for the same position. Needless to say that was a swift no thank you. The next was from a company he has done some consulting to in the past and the interview, which he is still going to go on is in Minneapolis. Anyone know anything about Minneapolis? So the future is feeling brighter around here that is considering last month we were thinking about putting our house on the market. My only problem now is Joe is taking my laptop to work with him eveyday. I am LOST. It's not even as if I used it that much or at least I didn't think I did....until now. I keep thinking of things [like do they have a French school in the Minneapolis area] and running in to look them up on line. The feeling of helplessness when I can't is actually laughable. What did we do before we had constant online access??? How did we become so addicted to instant answers and what did we do with those questions we couldn't get answered from a book we had in the house. We didn't go running to the library everyday, well at lesst I didn't. Did we just have less questions? So I'm computerless, save my blackberry which is not easy to post with, and answerless so I guess I'll have to actually do something today. Maybe I'll go play hopscotch with Keeva although I can't remember how to play, with no Google I'll just have to make up my own rules!
Is this allowed, am I a slob? (if you saw my elephant emblazoned ensemble you might say yes) No, I'm pregnant and my tummy is sensitive and nothing feels comfortable but my PJ's. All I ask is one day but, no, men keep knocking on the door...post man, someone soliciting a donation, neighbour......please just one day is all I ask!!! So now I'm dressed and yeah no one has knocked since....typical huh!
Growing up in Ireland I was surrounded by the music of Abba growing up.....loved it. Yeah so it wasn't lyrical splendor but didn't the music just make you feel good! Then they brought Mamma Mia to the stage, never felt inclined to go, guess I didn't really understand how they could transform songs into a play. Then they made a movie.....it got lots of hype, interviews with people who had seen the movie where full of "great" "laughter" "tears". Then the critics ran it into the ground...."staged", "rehearsed" etc etc etc... So the only thing left for my Mom and me was to go see it. We LOVED it!!! So did the whole theater....everyone was in hysterics and no one left until the last credit ran. Although the first 10 - 15 minutes I will admit wondering if it was going to be as bad as the critics said. No it wasn't, I never laughed so hard, tears where actually rolling down my cheeks with laughter. Granted teams of people do start running down the beach "spontaneously" singing and some of the vocals are not great i.e. Pierce Brosnan (although he brought me to tears when e first started as he reminded me of the ole fella down the pub who had too many pints and then decides to launch into an old deep throated rebel song) but, he does improve. And, there is the fact that some of the humour is specifically "British" but most people should get the drift. It's not real life people it's a light hearted, witty, well made musical. Has no one ever seen South Pacific...got accolades I believe when it came out and if memory serves me, plenty of people spontaneously burst into song and run down beaches singing in this classic. So if you feel like being light hearted and laughing harder than you have in a while....take a chance, you won't regret it.
A blogging friend is anxiously awaiting the coming home of her little girl from Taiwan. They had this tree painted in the nursery which will sleep little Hannah Clare when she joins her loving Mom and Dad. According to Sarah (a true fountain of Knowledge on all things Taiwan) "The plum blossom is the national flower of Taiwan. The blossoms are common subjects in Chinese art. They are beloved for their resilience and perseverance in face of adversity. Plum trees bloom most vibrantly during the winter after other plants have shed their leaves and before flowers appear" Little Hannah was a preemie so how appropriate to have such a symbol of strength watching over her as she sleeps. Just had to share.
The hardest thing over the past few months was that Joe lost his job at the beginning of May and has been looking and applying and talking but nothing seemed to be happening. We were becoming quite desperate as our savings were about to deplete our savings. Well just 5 minutes ago he called to say one of the people he had an interview want to take him on as a consultant and they are sending the paperwork today. I cannot tell you how relieved I am. After the end of August I don't know how we would have paid the bills. I feel so relieved....I can begin to breath. He had applied everywhere, Ireland, Dubai, Netherlands, every state in the union and nothing seemed to be coming of it. This time I'll make sure we have a years living expenses in savings, plus I'm pairing down what we spend...for real as Keeva would say.
So this is how I believe we did it The Fertility Diet by Jorge Chavarro. Having given up hope and all doctor visits I read a snippet in a magazine about this book so, yes I ran out and bought it. All seemed simple enough and straight forward. So I went about making adjustments to what I would have said was a pretty healthy diet. The biggest changes I made where eating/drinking only whole milk (yes this can include ice cream..the full creamy kind...yummy!) This was hard considering I am lactose intolerant. The second was I increased my intake of olive oil, more dipping bread before dinner and I began to eat nuts. I used to occasionally eat nuts but began to have a snack of them every day, primarily pistachio. I also learned not to trust the 0grams trans fat label on foods. Apparently they can say 0g even if they have small amount of trans fat. I can't remember the amount but by reading the ingredients you can see they still have partially hydrogenated oils in the product. Typical! Anyway these are the biggest changes I made. It was three months and the that faithful meeting of x and y chromosomes happened. This book is a definite for any of you out there ttc!!
Yes, this is the biggest piece of news we have.......we're having a baby!!!! The newest little George is due to grace the world in February. It was a total surprise but, needless to say we are OVER THE MOON.
An Irish girl in America following the twists and turns of life with my wonderful husband and two beautiful children. Just hoping for the best, all the while, living, laughing, loving.....
