Our Family & Our Life

Dear Diary, Yesterday our darling girl endured the needle not once, not twice but SEVEN times... She's had immunizations in Northern Ireland, Canada and now America and it seems each country has a slightly different vaccination schedule. For instance, MMR is given at 15 months in the UK but 12 months here in America so she got that one yesterday. It took them a while to figure out what she needed but she is now up-to-date to the American schedule and rather than carry three vaccination cards, we have just one. She also had her first flu shot and the chicken pox vaccination. She has to go back in a month for a second Hep A shot and the second flu shot (only the first innoculation requires two jabs) if they are still handing them out at that time. I hope so because flu season lasts into May in this part of the country. She's been REALLY good. No fevers or fussing during the day, just a bit of difficulty getting into a deep sleep at night. She cried frequently during

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