Spring Finally Here....

Yes indeed, I think Spring may finally be showing its face here in WL. I have the kids running wild around the house for the last two weeks chanting….”we all have cabin fever, we all have cabin fever….”, it’s hilarious to hear them. Today it almost hit 50F and with more of the same planned for next week we should see signs of life all around next week. I took these two pictures this afternoon so it's starting. The girls were out playing in the garden this afternoon, on their swings and I went on a long run (9 miles),…..did I mention that we all have cabin fever?
Enjoy the weekend!!

Short Update....

We are all feeling a little better here, relative to my post earlier in the week. The girls and Connor are mostly over their illness thanks to daily nebulizer treatments. I was also given an inhaler by the nurse at work this week so I’m also feeling a little better, although this nasty bug is lingering. Unfortunately, however, both Lynne and Brooke also now have symptoms which is not altogether surprising.

Other than this, no real substantive news update. We had Randy and Lorraine over for a dinner of wild caught Alaskan Keta Salmon last night and as a special treat for us all, Kay, their long-time friend from Chicago was visiting and also came over. I know she reads this blog so it would be rude not to give her a mention. Great to see you Kay, it was a pleasure as always. The pictures below are from this weekend, the girls had a fun time outside in the snow with Lynne yesterday. They built a Snowoman named Alice. Other than this, nothing major planned for this week other than the usual drill and a continued longing for Spring…..have a good one all!

I almost forgot to mention how chuffed I was to watch that little rugby game that happened yesterday.....for those of you who don't follow, it was the annual Ireland vs England clash in the Rugby Union Six Nations Championship.  Ireland came out on top this year, just about that is!

 

 

 

Photo Update!

Thought I’d share a few recent photos of Connor. He is growing so quickly, I sometimes feel that each day when I come home from work he has gained another pound. The reality is that he probably gains a small but consistent amount each week; he is well over 13lbs now. Lynne’s take would be; it’s not really that surprising since he feeds constantly. Taking photos is pretty tricky since he’s still very floppy. I do my best.

 

 

 

 

Sick Kids and Daddy's In DC

In my last post I alluded to the fact that the girls had a nasty cough. Well, they still have it, it has progressively gotten worse and Connor and I also now have it. It’s a barking cough, sore throat, sinus pressure; tight chest type of ailment and it appears to be hanging around forever. Obviously it’s no fun for all but Connor is our main concern right now given his age. Lynne took Isabel to the doctor this morning and she has prescribed steroids for her (she is definitely the worst affected) and has indicated that all three kids should be using an albuterol nebulizer (Isabel will have to use for the remainder of the winter). This will hopefully help them clear any liquid build-up in their lungs and hopefully to avoid a secondary infection. No fun at all right now, particularly since I’m in Washington DC.

Randy and Lorraine were willing (as always) to come over this evening and tomorrow to help Lynne out. Thanks once again to you both.

Run Around the Capitol

This evening I did something almost certainly for the first time in my life. As soon as I checked into my hotel in Washington DC, the Georgetown area, instead of rushing to locate the nearest bar and/or steak restaurant, I decided to grab my running shoes instead. I braved the rain, 35F temperatures, slush and headed out for a tourist run around the capitol. Although the conditions were awful, I thoroughly enjoyed my run. I ran through Georgetown past the University, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House and the Treasury Dept., over to the Mall past the Washington Memorial and up to Capitol Hill and the Congress. I would have dropped in to try knocking some sense into those folks but I decided I’d be wasting my time. I then headed back past all the museums, the national archive, the FBI building, the Smithsonian, all the way up to the World War II and Vietnam memorials and the Lincoln Memorial. I was pretty tired at that point. I headed back for a long hot shower to warm up feeling pretty pleased with my 7 mile run and having seen the sights!!

I then treated myself to a very tasty Ethiopian dinner and a bottle of beer from the Meta Abo Brewery in Addis-Ababa.

Mummy's Boy?

I would post a little more often if I had anything interesting to add. The girls have had a nasty cough this week which has slowed them down (just a little though). Connor is very well, growing quickly, feeding well and sleeping (sporadically). Generally though, we are all very well.

Still snowed in here. I was actually supposed to travel to Washington DC this last week but my presentation got cancelled (at the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine). I'll probably have to travel now the week after next.

I do have one exciting note to add, I recently upgraded our TV service to include BBC America which meant that got to see the England v Wales game last week and although I was very excited to see the Irish playing the French this weekend, the result obviously left me a little deflated. Now there is only the Ireland v England game to really look forward to. An additional advantage of this new TV package is getting to see some quirky British TV and some premier league games too. Enjoy the week everybody!

I took this photo about an hour ago!

 

Weekend Update

We are gearing up for the weekend here in WL. No major plans, primarily since Connor is still very unpredictable and the weather has taken a nasty dive into sub freezing temperatures. The girls and myself will go swimming as normal, I try taking them swimming at least once a weekend which they love, there will be the shopping and other chores to attend to but we’ll get through it. I’ve been off today which has been great. I get 5 days paternity leave and have been taking them on Fridays. Next week, however, will be my last.

I took a few pictures yesterday of Connor in one of Granny Owens’s presents. As you can see they contribute to his cuteness.

We just booked a vacation home for our summer holidays, a cabin in the woods two miles from Saugatuck. I’ll post on that later. Have a nice weekend!

Update

It’s been a couple of days since my last post, trouble is that now that we are back to the normal drill of work etc, there’s not much to report. We are all doing well here. The girls are fine and Connor is growing. He was 11 lbs at his first check up almost two weeks ago (up from his 8lb 12oz birth weight). he is sleeping....well lets just say that he sleeps often for not very long each time and that we are looking forward to him being a little older :)

Lynne’s mother, Pat, has been here the last three weeks and has been an enormous help. All good things come to an end though and tomorrow she flies back to London. We’re then on our own with the proverbial three kids under 5. Yikes!!

I took a few pictures of Connor this afternoon (shown below). He’s about the only one changing significantly on a weekly basis. Anyhow, have a nice weekend everybody!

Keeping Ourselves Occupied!

Not really much to report from this weekend, with the weather quite cold out, we are taking it relatively easy. Pat and Lynne has been busy doing some baking and other stuff whilst also watching Connor, I’m trying to keep the girls occupied. We are doing some board games, a few quizzes, the odd DVD and Anja and I went sledding over on the Purdue golf course. We also had Lorraine and Randy for dinner last night. I didn't venture to play with the goo (shown in the pictures below), way to messy for Daddy to deal with, Brooke did that this week and they loved it!

Rugby Photos

This post is for a lot of old friends, specifically my old Rugby League friends. I maintain contact with a few of them through Facebook and recently Liam Horrigan asked whether I had any old RL photos in my newly discovered scanned folder. Well I didn’t but that’s only because I forgot that I had old rugby photos in a separate box. I have now scanned those in separately.

For those of you who do not know, I was a rugby player whilst I was at University. Specifically, I played Rugby League which is a little different than Rugby Union. I only started playing when I went to University at Staffordshire University but soon picked it up (I was a Gaelic Football player which really helped). Soon after starting I was selected to play for the Irish Student Rugby League team and I played several tournaments and games with them. I was captain for most of my games.

In 1995, Ireland decided to start its first ever Senior Rugby League team. They kicked it off with a fund raiser at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester (home of Manchester United) and early the next  year (1995) we played Ireland’s first ever senior game against the USA on March 17th in Washington at RFK Stadium, home of the Washington Redskins. That game was shown live on ESPN2. I was the Captain of that first ever game and am very proud to say that we won, 22 to 24. I played eight additional games with the senior team before finishing.

I thoroughly enjoyed those days, the guys who I played with and the coaches, particularly Neil Wood who was instrumental in promoting Irish RL for many years. Today, RL is an active game in Ireland with a steady league and a very well respected senior team, the Irish Wolfhounds who are now an all professional group.

I have photos of my Student Ireland RL days posted here and my Senior Ireland RL days posted here.

Me in my rugby playing days!

Shown below in order is a flier for the game in Washington, signed by most of the travelling tour to the USA. The squad of players prior to the game, some celebrations after the game and specifically with Neil Wood who I mentioned above!

Steef and Ginette Visit

Right before the New Year, Steef, Ginette, Marissa and Aneka came to visit. Aneka is just about 6 weeks older than Connor so just like us they’re currently hunkered down for a while. We had a very enjoyable evening, Aneka was very well behaved and Marissa had a ball running around after our two girls. It was so funny to see Isabel desperately copying everything Anja did and then Marissa doing exactly the same. As always, dress-up was the favored activity! Great to see you guys again!

Let sleeping babies sleep right (or something like that). Aneka and Connor before dinner!

Aneka is a liitle older so she is already a pro at cute little smiles!

Isabel the perfect little Mommy, in their dress up regalia!

Weekly Update!

It has been a long week here since we returned to work. Nothing really like that first week back after an extended break. Nothing much to report really other than the weather has turned nasty. I realize I’m not going to get much sympathy since it’s lousy virtually over the entire northern hemisphere. For what it’s worth, it has been down to -15C on a few occasions and today we have had 6 inches of snow to deal with.

The girls are great, playing, reading and doing all sorts of arts and crafts as usual. Paying lots of attention to Connor. Connor is also OK, gaining weight, eating and sleeping (most of the time). We’re all bunkered in here and we’re not going
anywhere!

Back to the Grind!

That’s it folks, back to the grind tomorrow. I’ll be returning to work after having had one month off to the day, my last day in the office was 4th December. Since then we have had a new baby, had Christmas and New Year, had Pat (mother in-law) visit twice, have done numerous chores and odd jobs, blogged a lot as you know, relaxed a lot but at the same time we were quite busy! Tomorrow all that comes to an end and the commute, work, commute drill starts anew! I have so enjoyed this last month!

Shown are a few pictures that try to personify the month!

A new and pound Mummy and Daddy (Daddy is behind the camera which is appropriate since I have spent a lot of time there this last month!

Some bubbly on the day of Connor’s arrival with Pat who has been a tremendous help.

Two new sisters, who right now care a little more about how pretty their dresses are each day.

Finally, a picture from Lorraine and Randy’s house, we have been there a few times this month to periodically get out of the house and to have something for the girls to do. We were so glad to have somewhere so warm, comforting and simply so welcoming. Thanks to you both!