Santa Saturday

Well, Kahlil got to see Santa today. He wasn't scared, but he wasn't happy either. He was more squirmy than anything. I didn't get a chance to snap a photo because they had quite the assembly line going. They did have a photographer there and Jay should get the picture next week at work. I'll post it when we get it.

They don't mess around with their Christmas party here! There was face painting, a magician, kids karaoke (which they had 5-10 year olds singing to Brittany Spears' "Oops, I did it Again"), little gift bags on the way out, and BIG gifts from Santa. It was pretty impressive.

Here are a few pictures from the day...
- The ride on the train out to the site
- Kahlil's Santa gift
- Kahlil cruising with his gift bag on the way out

Tomorrow we move into our flat... YEAH!

For those of you who have written me e-mails, I promise to reply to you once I get my pc set up. Right now I only have access to Jay's computer for about an hour or less in the evening after Jay gets home, dinner & bath is done, etc. Our stuff should get delivered next week so replies will be coming soon.

Just a Quick Update

Kahlil and I checked out some day care places yesterday and today. We both really liked the YMCA and I think I'll enroll him for a couple mornings a week. The facility is safe, beautiful and new and all the kids seemed very happy and content. If we do this it will give Kahlil a chance to play with some other kids (which I think he misses) and me a break during the day. It should be good.

Tomorrow we see Santa at HP. I guess they have a big party every year. Jay had to register Kahlil to get him in to see the big guy. I'm hoping Kahlil finds it fun and not terrifying. I'm looking forward to checking out the commute Jay takes every day and seeing the HP site. (Nearly ten years at HP and I never made it to the DIMO site!)

Carrie H. is joining us tomorrow. She is here on a business trip and getting things arranged for Flor and Alex. It's cool they will be here when we are. It's a bummer they are planning to stay out by HP. Still it's close than Corvallis so I'm sure we'll meet up from time to time.

Here's an 'old' picture of Kahlil; another one of him chasing pigeons in the park. I post it because it's one of the last ones of this cool hat. It was lost the day after the pictures were taken. Sigh.

Bubble Boy

Not much happened today. I spent a little time looking into part time day care options. I'm hoping to work something out so I have a few free hours a week to work, shop at a leisurely pace, get my hair cut, or whatever.

Random thoughts on Ireland: The Weather
We've only been here a week so the weather we've had might not be typical, but this is what I've noticed so far.

What's similar: It is not much colder here than in Corvallis. The highs have been around 8-10C (which I think is about 45-50F). The rain is similar... Drizzly on and off pretty much every day.

What's different: It's SUNNY between the rain. The sky doesn't hold an overcast grudge here like in Corvallis. This tricked me once into thinking it would be warmer out than it was. Also, it's WINDY!!! I think this is why it feels much colder here than in Oregon. It's a bad idea to go out without a hat and/or scarf to keep the wind from sneaking into your coat.

Right away Jay and I noticed that most of the strollers here had a large plastic cover that covered the baby within. I thought it was strange since there really isn't THAT much more rain here. But Jay couldn't help himself and came home with one after being here about three days. At first I was "ok, whatever", but now I'm really happy we have it. It keeps the wind from whipping cold, red streaks into Kahlil's cheeks. Plus it makes him look like a local... And a little dorky.

Pigeon Exercise

I learned a few things a the park today:
1) pigeons can walk just a little faster than Kahlil
2) a fence will not keep Kahlil from a friendly dog
3) puddles are fun to jump in

Kahlil has been doing pretty good with his 'more' sign lately. It's nice to have him tell you what he wants. Funny thing though, he only apples the sign to certain things like pretzels and cookies - drinks and fruit are not covered by the more sign.

He has also been crazy for a particular fruit a day. A couple days ago it was bananas. Yesterday it was persimmons. Today it was tangerines. Once a fruit is the fruit de jour, he will have nothing to do with them the next day. It's hard to keep up. I'm not sure what he'll do tomorrow since we are running out of new fruit.

Jay's train was an hour late tonight. He claims he almost died of exposure waiting at the station.

Baby Sleep

Thank goodness, Kahlil seems to be settled into the Irish time zone. I had high hopes Saturday evening when he feel asleep around 8 while Jay was reading him a book. He had a little more than normal tossing and waking, but NOTHING like the previous nights. YEAH!

Now we just have to get me sleeping. Right before we left I got suspicious I had a cough coming on. I was right. It started to show itself Friday, so Saturday I bought some cough syrup.

-- The thing about Europe is the little differences.
-- Example. (said like Jules in Pulp Fiction)

The cough medicine label has the ingredients and dosage. But there is not mention of possible side affects or warnings. I realized this at 3:30am Saturday when I was WIDE awake and couldn't go to sleep to save my life. But we live in the internet age. I go online and Google 'dextromethorpan hydrobromide', the active ingredient in my cough syrup. I find a pretty good website that lists possible side effects-- drowsiness (I wish), dry mouth (maybe, now that I think of it I am a little thirsty), restless sleep (I knew it!!!). Sunday I forgo the cough syrup, but still sleep on the couch so as not to wake Kahlil and Jay with my coughing. Good news is that I'm on the mend.

Jay had his first full day of work today. He is commuting from Dublin to Leixlip. As the crow flies this is only about ten miles. As a human it takes an hour to travel. He is trying the public transport hoping this will give him a little time to read or nap to/from work. Plus, neither of us really wants to drive here in Dublin. He's still working out the kinks and trying to fine tune the schedule so he gets to spend some time with Kahlil before bed time.

Kahlil and I had a mellow day since I'm still not 100%. We just did some playing in the park, shopping and cooked dinner. I'm hoping to get more adventurous soon.

The picture is of Kahlil checking himself out in the bath faucet.

Saturday

Sleeping Plan B - have Kahlil stay up late and then, hopefully, he would sleep through the night - was unsuccessful. Jay spent a couple hours with him doing his nighttime thing from midnight until two. Jay sent me to the couch in the sitting room since I was sleep deprived and trying to shake off a cold. I did get some sleep, but there were lots of distractions... Kahlil in the other room, the party goers outside, and the clip-clop of horses pulling carriages until 3am. It was cool to hear the horses, but I felt a little sorry for them being up in the middle of the night.

Any way, we have moved on to Sleeping Plan C - keeping Kahlil to a strict sleep schedule. To bed at a reasonable time, up early-ish, and one normal-length nap. We started today and we'll see how it works over the next couple nights. If anybody has jet lag recovery suggestions for babies, please let me know! (Although I'm starting to suspect the real source of his night fits is a big tooth coming.)

This morning we had a mellow start-- breakfast, tea, showers. We then hit the street. First we showed Jay the way to our new flat. Next we spent a little time at the Natural History Museum (the Kahlil/badger picture is for all those Wisconsin alumni out there) and had lunch inTemple Bar. We then made our way home via the play ground in St Stephens Green. Finally a little grocery shopping and dinner.

It was a beautiful day... sunny, clear, and just a little chilly. I suspect it was nicer here than in Corvallis.

For those of you who are reading this, I must have had your e-mail on the old list I have access to. But that list is VERY out dated so alot of folks got left out. Please share the link to this blog with anybody who asks how we are doing. Thanks.

Still Adjusting

I spoke a little too soon when I said I thought we were all over the jet lag. Kahlil woke up at midnight and didn't get back to sleep until about three. It started with full on wails and cries. It then progressed to kicking and moaning. And it finally ended with quiet cooing and snuggling. I spent two of those hours walking, swinging, bouncing, and rubbing him. I'm not sure if it's jet lag, teething, straight up insomnia or some combination of the three. It was a hard night.

Today was Jay's first day at work. It was mostly a dry run for getting to and from the HP site. He is going to try using the train and buses rather than driving. It should take about the same amount of time but give him a chance to read or sleep on the train. Plus, I think we are both a little intimidated with the driving here. (Funny that LA, San Diego, San Francisco, and Portland pose no fears to drive. It's a little different in a foreign country.) The dry run went well and he made it to and from easily enough. Just a little trouble on the walk home... he ended up in Temple Bar - hum, maybe that wasn't a mistake.

After our hard night Kahlil and I didn't get much done. We did go for a walk to the new flat. I wanted to check out the neighborhood a little more. I think we'll have a great time there. Just around the corner is an ATM, a grocery, and LOTS of pubs. We then walked St. Stephens Green. Apparently we missed the playground the first time through. We found it this time and spent some time there. Kahlil REALLY liked the slide and swings. But once he fell in the mud and covered his whole front we came home.

Here at home I spent some more time figuring out the washer/dryer (see the picture). I think I can get it to dry clothes now... maybe.

Tomorrow we are going to do some more exploring. Jay wants to see our new flat and we might hit up the natural history museum.

By the way, for you music types, we love the radio station 105.2. They play Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Cult, The Cure, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, The Smiths, etc. I feel like they looked at our music collection and said that looks good let's play that.

Wish us luck for a good nights sleep.