Our Family & Our Life

Dear Diary, This afternoon Isla and I finally broke in the red wagon by going for a walk in the sunny, 65 degree Colorado weather! To say the least, she LOVES her wagon. I'm so glad we bought it for her, I know we'll get some really good use out of it. Sorry, I couldn't decide which photos to post so I uploaded all three! I think she's finally adapting to the sun. Until recently, she HATED the sun - I called her the vampire baby!

Dear Diary, 1.YOUR REAL NAME: Heather Marie 2.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names) Ann Ike (they don't have middle names!) 3.NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad) John Gerardus 4.STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Blahe 5.DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Cat 6.SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, town where you were born) Marie Burlington 7.SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning) The Green Coffee 8.FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name) Heck 9.STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie) Chocolate Chocolate Chip 10.ROCK STAR NAME:(current pets name, current street name) Pearl Cherokee 11.YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle) Heaizzle 12.YOUR IRAQI NAME:(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first two letters of your midd...

Dear Diary, On Monday we drove into the mountains to visit Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park . I can't help but sing to myself "Home, Home on the Range, where the deer and the antelope play.." No antelope, just deer and a lot of elk. It is a beautiful park and we have plans to bring a blanket, a bottle of wine and sandwiches with us this summer.

Dear Diary, To recap the events of the past couple of days, we had two birthday "parties" for Isla. The first was on Sunday with our church family. We really wanted to share her birthday with everyone as they have been so supportive and encouraging to us since we arrived. They are not a replacement for our family, they are our "Colorado" family! Colin and I brought a cake, candles, balloons and other party gear along with us to church. After the morning service most people came downstairs to sing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and enjoy good fellowship and cake. Colin made her cake She didn't like wearing her birthday hat and wasn't really sure what was going on but despite not napping at all that morning, she was a good girl. Yesterday was her "real" birthday and it was mainly just the three of us for the day. Although she looks excited to see her cake, I learned this weekend that my dear girl does not like cake! What's all that ab...

Dear Diary, We were blessed with Isla one year ago today at 10:20 a.m. (N. Ireland time). When times were tough, she got extra hugs and her cheeky smile and hearty laugh calmed our tattered spirits. She is such a special beautiful little girl and praise God for entrusting her into our lives and care! Here is the link to the original blog birth announcement that Colin wrote. She came into this world weighing 5 lbs. 4 ozs. and today she weighs 20 lbs. She is still a munchkin and I know we take it for granted but she is very healthy. All she had this year was ONE cold. Nothing else, not even an ear ache (I had loads of those as a kid). We are so very thankful for her (and our) good health. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ February 17, 2008 February 17, 2009 A month by month walk down memory lane: 1 month 2 months 3 months (and meeting great-Oma for the first time) 4 months 5 months 6 months 7 months 8 months 9 months 10 months 11 months ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...

Dear Diary, On Valentines Day 2008 I was admitted to the hospital. My blood pressure was 140/101. Ummm, not good on any day but especially Valentines Day, six days before my due date. I cried (raging pregnancy hormones) when the midwife showed me to my bed and I really thought I would only be there one night for "observation". Little did I know. I left the hospital with Isla in my arms a week later on February 21. The day after I was admitted Colin brought me a sweet homemade Valentine card and took the day off to stay with me. What a sweet man and just one reason why he is my Valentine . Look what he bought me this year.... He surprised me again although on Thursday night before going to bed I reminded him to buy me flowers (he needs LOTS of gentle reminders).... but my Valentine still managed to surprise me Friday at lunch. This a much better Valentines Day. I'm home, I have my baby and I have my Valentine . Thank you for the flowers dear. I love you too...

Dear Diary, Well, after a night of not-so-good sleep, we found out this morning. WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!!!!!!!! We'll just have to reschedule our trip to Tahiti that we would've loved to take from the profits. It's a sign of the economic times but we're happy, relieved and contented just getting it sold. BUT in Northern Ireland the closing process is different than in North America. Either side of the process can back out for any reason whatsoever until the Contract is signed. From my experience working in a law firm, this can be either 1-2 days before closing or even hours before closing! I am so relieved and thankful that we are 90% complete selling our house. We'll miss it, we really liked it and it's sentimental to us because it's our first house together. Here are a few photos that our realtor took just before we put it on the market a year ago: Yes, that was my granny car - 2002 Nissan Micra - don't laugh, it got me around and it was cheap...

Dear Diary, I don't want to jinx it (if I actually believed that stuff) but hopefully we'll have good news to report tomorrow... Can you guess what I'm talking about? Let's just say if it goes well, you'll hear about it because I'll be screaming for joy from the mountain tops!!!!! While you think about that, I bought Isla's birthday present today. I've been told we'll get good use out of it and it's also something that she can get more than 6 months of use out of. Isn't it cute?

Dear Diary, It's been a while since I last posted on "Thankful Thursday" which is a shame because I have so much to be thankful for but I'm back this week! This week Iris at Grace Alone has chosen the theme of love specifically as described in I Cor. 13: 4-7: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Personally, this is one of my favourite passages in the Bible because it sums up a true Christian lifestyle. It teaches us how to show love to others, how to interact with others we may not like let alone love and how others should view us. God first loved us so who are we not to show love to others. Are we above God? Jesus also commanded us to love when He said: Jesus replied, ...

Dear Diary, There is nothing interesting going on over here. Colorado is great for winter. It's spring actually but I gotta admit I do miss the snow. We are getting a bit of snow tonight and later this week but basically it's brown and warm here. We are also getting ready for the big day next week Tuesday. I told her today it was her birthday next week and she clapped her hands so I think she's excited and I'll be sure to post lots of pics of her special day. I've been out shopping for little bits and pieces and we've decided on her present. We just have to go out and buy it on Monday when Colin is home (he's also home on Tuesday). Her daddy dressed her on Saturday but it's obvious he's colour blind or has really bad fashion sense or both. He calls this "rhubarb and custard". I call it ugly! He's not allowed to pick out her clothes anymore. We often go for walks along a pathway behind the apartment and I took a couple of p...

Dear Diary, I drink copious amounts of water. Probably about 80 ozs. a day or 10 glasses because that's what the "experts" say to do when trying to lose weight. I've never had a problem drinking water but recently I've increased my intake especially when working out at the gym. Lately I have been noticing that I am up to 1.5 lbs. heavier once I get back from the gym. That seemed odd to me since I do sweat a fair bit (sorry, TMI) but a few hours later I would be back to normal so I didn't give it much thought. Today I was surfing the net looking something up when I came across an article about a lady who worked out 3 weeks a month and then took a week off. She noticed that she lost the most weight the week she didn't exercise. Strange, eh? Well, it turned out she drank too MUCH water. Go figure?! Her body was retaining water the three weeks she worked out and it was eliminated the week she didn't exercise therefore she lost more weight. I t...

Dear Diary,

Dear Diary, Here's a clue of what's coming up really fast!!!! Yes, Mommy is more excited than the little miss...

Dear Diary, Well, Punxsutawney Phil , the American cousin of Wiarton Willy, saw his shadow this morning so that means six more weeks of winter. I'm OK with it if this is winter, bring it on ! PS - Happy Birthday my Ziggy!! The big boy is now 11 years old. (Mom & Dad, you better not have forgotten...)

Dear Diary, Saturdays are the busiest days of the week, are they not? With Isla having swimming lessons until Feb 21, we have to schedule our outings around her lessons. They are going well and she loves them! This week she learned how to go below the water but the little miss wasn't co-operating, she refused to close her eyes. Work in progress but she went down the slide with her daddy. Here are some photos: After swimming we went to the park for a bit of fun... The last photo is a bit funny. Colorado grass in January is apparently rather prickly and the little miss didn't like it all, she cried. Poor girl... We went home for a spot of lunch and rather than go back to the gym (I was there at 8:45) for strength training together as we originally planned, we couldn't resist the summer weather and decided to go for another walk and pick up a few things from the store. By this time Isla was exhausted but she fought sleep, as usual. She finally slept after so...