Travel Tired

Well, we survived the trip to Ireland. Kahlil got about four hours of sleep on the plane. Jay and I got less than two hours. Once we landed at 8:30 am, we eventually got our bags, money and a lift to our hotel. The picture is of Kahlil on the taxi ride to the hotel. He was a little dazed. We arrived at the hotel at 10:00am. Unfortunately check in ,wasn't until 2pm... argh! So we dropped our bags and went for a walk.

St Stephens Green, a beautiful park, is just half a block from the hotel. Kahlil enjoyed walking around and watching the ducks and he kept us on our toes as we had to keep him out of the pond. We then found a pub to have some lunch... but we were foiled again. They didn't serve lunch until noon and it was only 11:30. Fortunately they also served breakfast so we ordered up a couple plates of toast, eggs, ham, sausages, tomatoes and a cup of tea. By this time Kahlil was doing his best to hold it together, but it was obvious he was exhausted and needed some sleep.

So we made our way back to the hotel hoping we could get into our room... and we could. Yeah! We were all set to settle in and take a nap. I tried my best to keep our nap to two hours, but we were all pretty OUT for about three hours. This was a mistake we paid for last night at 11 when Kahlil woke up and refused to go back to sleep until well after 2 am. But I think we are all mostly over the jet lag now. Thank goodness.

We just spent much of today - Thursday - with Margaret, one of our relocation ladies. She took us around town and to lunch at Phoenix park. She found us a place to stay and will move in December 10. The place is right close to and administered by our hotel. We will be just around the corner from St. Stephens park. It's a terrific central location. The only problem is that the internet access will be limited for a couple weeks until they get broadband installed. In the mean time, I can use the computer or Jay's laptop and wireless in the hotel lobby.

So in general, all is going well and we seem to be settling in well.

Post-Thanksgiving

We all had a great day at the Weisels. As you can see, Kahlil fit right in and matched Mark shirt for shirt. Everybody brought YUMMY food and great conversation. Kahlil liked the turkey and fixings, but cranberries and ice cream seemed to be his favorites.

Ernie and Kahlil spent today running errands getting ready for our trip to Ireland. Tomorrow will be spent packing to get ready for the shippers on Monday.

TJ's B-day

Yesterday we went to TJ's birthday. TJ was born almost exactly 24 hours after Kahlil. It was a lot of fun to visit and spend some time in the park. Kahlil got to swing (which he loves) and teeter-totter (for the first time).

Then we came home and watched some football. Ernie was hoping Kahlil wearing the Raiders jersey from Uncle Dean and Aunt Tracy, the Raiders would actually win a game. That was not to be. But Kahlil still had fun wearing the jersey during the games. To practice walking, he 'chased' me around the house. The way his walking is improving, it won't be long before it will be a real chase!

Today Ernie spent the afternoon with Kahlil. Sounds like they had a pretty laid back time. Or they just aren't telling me what they got into. It was very sweet when I came home... Kahlil walked right over to me and gave me a big hug and sat in my lap for several minutes. He is usually such a Daddy's boy, it's nice to know he misses me too.

Grandma Ettie comes tomorrow. It should be a fun week for Kahlil.

The birthday week

Well, it was hard to give an update everyday this week so I'll do a quick week-long update.

Kahlil had his one year appointment on Thursday and it went well. Kahlil is 23.75 pounds (60th percentile) and 30.5 inches (75th percentile). This surprised me because he seems like a BIG and HEAVY boy. He also got his shots. It is heartbreaking every time that happens. But he is almost done with those for a while.

Other than the shots on Thursday, there were a couple big head bumps. Before we went to the doctor, he fell on his new cart and cut the inside of his lip. That bleed pretty good. Then in the afternoon while we were at the shop, he bumped his head on the metal chair leg. It caused a little red lump. And finally at home in the evening he fell again and got a little cut on his hand. Thank goodness Thursday is over!

Friday and Saturday were a little rough but not bad considering the shots, bumps/bruises, a new tooth, and a slight cold.

One of his new tricks is to get a bottle out of the recycling bin and hold it up for us to blow on it. He likes the sound it makes. After we blow, he holds the up to his mouth and hums. It's pretty cute.

We also think his first word will be/is 'shark'. He really likes the shark painted in his bedroom. When you ask him where the shark is he goes straight there and looks behind the door. He also says 'sh-ka' which is pretty close to 'shark'.

Today we are off to a friends first birthday... TJ was born almost exactly 24 hours after Kahlil.

First Birthday

Today was Kahlil's first birthday. What a difference a year makes!

Today was pretty much a normal day for us: work for Jay, Suzy's for Kahlil, and Soft Star for both Kahlil and I. But Kahlil did get some presents from the Salcidos and DeAnn while at Soft Star. He was quite taken with the flip-flop duck Tivi picked out for him. He also got presents and a cup cake at home. He was not very happy with the cup cake... In fact we got a lot of tears over it. But he did like the cart we gave him. Pretty much anything with wheels is a hit these days.

We will have a little party weekend after next. Grandma Ettie is coming out for the celebration.