Reflections on our trip.

Our trip back to America was everything we wanted it to be and more. My husband was able to get some part time jobs and put more in our savings. He also got to bring our Mustang, or his baby out of storage for the whole time we were there. He even was able to change some components to it. I was able to visit with so many of my friends and family. My mom came out from Denver to visit and we had a wonderful week together. I didn't get to see everyone however and if we didn't catch up, I'm sorry. You would think that 6 weeks would give you plenty of time to visit everyone since O and I didn't have many plans. Nope, It's hard to coordinate everyone into the week and weekends were even harder. But the trip back was just what I needed.
Nothing makes you feel more loved and missed then seeing everyone you love after 6 months. I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about since some are in the service and don't see their loved ones for even longer. But I'm not just talking about family, I'm talking about best friends, friends and co-workers. Without these people I don't know where I would be. What was also a wonderful  was kind of feeling like a mini-celebrity since many of you would come up to me and say how much you loved my blog. That means a lot to me and gives me the motivation to keep writing.
To be perfectly honest, I wasn't exactly excited to go back to Northern Ireland. Don't get me wrong, I love living in Europe and know in my heart that we made the right decision. But coming back made me realize just how rich my life was in Maine. Also my husband and I realized that living with the in-laws is taking a harder toll on us then we thought. It just gives us even more motivation to get a house ASAP!

The weather has been crappy since we got back. But I have faith we'll have a good summer. Today I'm getting some much needed pampering for the big wedding tomorrow.  One on R's cousins is getting married. A is the first cousin after my husband to get married, and there are 25+ of them. It will be nice to have the family all back together. I can't wait to tell you all about the wedding.

Here are some pictures of our trip to Maine!

Easter Morning. She discovered the M & M's hidden inside

With Daddy at a test event for Kraft Lunchables



Family photo at C & B's



Eating popcorn with auntie K

O all dressed up for Sabbath School

Perfect picture taken by my mum

4 generations. My grandmother, mother, me and O.



A windy day at the Deering Park playground



Another day at the park

Enjoying the beach with Granny.



O wasn't afraid of the water at all. Even though it was freezing



oíche mhaith

Trip back to N.I

Hello. It's me again. I am back in Ireland after a good flight and a days rest. It's been a long time since I've blogged or written anything. I don't know where to begin or how to tell you all the feelings that are going through my mind. I didn't write the whole time we were over there because we were out straight visiting friends and family and I was with most of my blog audience. But now that I'm back, I will definitely be more diligent.

We made it to Ireland safe and sound. The trip back wasn't as bad as the trip to America. Everything seemed to work out so well. When we flew the first time, my husband and I each had a suitcase and a carry-on each. Well, we ended up getting alot of stuff that we wanted to take back with us that they don't sell in N.I or that we know of anyways. Such as popcorn kernels (for my air popper), Pepperridge Farm Gold fish, Foldgers coffee, and our deodorants. It's funny what you're will to find a substitute to and what you're not. O also got alot of toys and clothes from my mom and grandma C. So lets just say our bags were stuffed to the brim, we added an extra check in, and we also added an extra carry-on. On top of that, I dug through my old baby clothes and since we didn't have any room for those, C is sending them to us. I honestly didn't think we'd come back with this much stuff. But oh well it was nice to shop.

Anyways, our flight was good. We left Portland just shortly after 6 pm, when the Rapture was supposed to take place (I won't bore you with my thoughts on that). We had an hour flight to Newark and that was okay. O didn't like being confined to our seats, but there were only 8 people on the whole flight so we each got a seat, much different then coming to Maine. We got to Newark in plenty of time to grab some McDonald's and get O into her jammies. Just before we boarded I ask the clerk at the check-in counter if we could get a baby bed for her, but they said they didn't have any left, but she said she could work it so that we could have more room, but she didn't really tell me what that meant since the flight was full. She ended up getting O her own seat between us . The first 20 minutes of the long flight were not very nice since we weren't moving, baby was over tired and the lights were on. As soon as we started moving and they dimmed the lights she was out, well like a light. It was a smaller plane, so only 3 seats on each side which was perfect. She slept almost the whole way and only cried a little bit when we strapped her into the seat for landing.

We got to Ireland safe and sound and completely exhausted. My husband and O slept all morning and I got about a 2 hour nap. It is nice to be back, but I am really missing everyone and also my brain hasn't quite wrapped around the time change and the fact that I can't just jump in a car and see people.(more thoughts on that later). We're all unpacked and falling back into our routine.

I hope all of you are well and I'll be posting pictures of our trip soon.

oíche mhaith

Thoughts on "home"

I thought that when we flew into the States I would feel right at home and back to normal. Nope. When we were flying into Portland and especially Newark I already missed the green fields and small towns. Can someone who has lived in one place for 29 years and another for 5 months really get that attached to a new place? Maybe it was because I had told my brain that, "no,we're not just visiting Ireland, we're living here" that it started to replace the familiar with the foreign.
We've now been here a few days and I'm hoping these feelings start to go away. I'm also afraid that if I enjoy my time here to much and get comfortable it's going to be even harder to go back to Ireland and I'll have to start over mentally again.  You just don't realize how much you really miss "home" until you've been welcomed back with open arms.
We've also hit the ground running. It's been nice to be busy everyday.  We haven't been at the house at all during the day. We arrived Saturday and tomorrow will be the first day we don't have any plans, well during the day anyways. It's been so nice to see my friends again and to talk and socialize like a normal adult. One thing I do worry about is that I'm bitching too much to my friends. I'll probably get it out of my system after this first week, it's been building up for 5 months (ha ha). If I do please let me know. However the worst experience so far of this whole trip was my first trip back to Wal-Mart. Now I hadn't thought I had gained any weight since I left, just stayed the same. However an older woman at Wal-mart decided to ask me when I was due. This has never happened to me before (while not pregnant) and I thought I was going to burst into tears right there. However I laughed it off and made her feel really bad about asking. Yes, I haven't been gung-ho about exercising and I'm not what I wanted to look like when I got back to everyone, but no reason to ask if I'm pregnant. Why is that older woman feel the need to comment on other people. While I was pregnant older women processed to tell me how "big" I was and didn't believe I was only have one child. You won't get that in Northern Ireland thats for sure. (Well here's hoping)

Enough of my rant and ramblings. It's been great being "home." Can't wait to see more of you! O has fallen right back into the swing of things. In fact she's been awesome. We've had her out and about everyday with little to no nap and she's had such a great time. I am going to feel awful when we take her away from all her friends here. But we won't talk about that anymore.

***Pictures to come once I can get them off my camera.*************
oíche mhaith

Yes, that is my baby crying on the plane. (Back in the USA)

Well I'm here, safe and sound. After our visitors left last week, we were in full pack mode. I also was fully consumed with filling out the visa form. Let me tell you that it was not a fun process at all and I'm still working on it. The worst part of all of it was they don't tell you what you need for supporting documents until you submit the application online and you can't set up your appointment for the biometrics until you also submit online. Both of these could have been a huge problem because I had to submit in America when all our documents were in the UK and who knows if I'd get a biometric appointment soon or even in Maine. All of this was a complete stress while we were packing.

Then came travel day. I'm going to everyone a word of advice, if you are flying with an infant on your lap that is over a year old and the flight is more then 4 hours, pay the extra money to get them their own seat. Not only was the day very long as we started traveling at 9:30 am GMT (4am here) and didn't finish until 12:30 pm GMT, but being with O on our laps for a 6.5 hour flight almost put me over the edge. She is on the constant move and gets bored very quickly. We had to wait about 45 minutes just to check into the Belfast airport and then run through security and do a quick grab of food before we boarded immediately. So O was already getting tired and bored while we waited in lines in her stroller. It was a completely full flight so no extra seat next to us. Luckily we had a nice guy about our age sit next to us that O kept flirting with the whole time. The plane did have the individual touchscreen TVs in the back of the seat in front of you, but that still wasn't enough to keep O entertained. Plus she got overtired so everything made her cry and she was very hyper. Finally about 3 hours in she fell asleep and we got an hours peace. After she woke it was just as bad. I would also like to mention that the flight crew on our flight to Newark was horrible and you could totally tell that they didn't like their job at all.

Once we landed in Newark we had to go through security and then collect our luggage just to give it back again. Then we had to check into airport security again to get back to our connecting flight. All this would have been ok, if we didn't have a bored, hungry, tired baby. They even make you take the infant shoes off. Again if you have to fly with an infant and you're flying on your own, I would practice folding up the stroller if you're taking, one handed holding the baby. Also pack lots of snacks or get food at the airport cause snacks are the easiest way to keep them quiet and happy for longer period of times.  Anyways, after the hour getting in and out of security we had another 2 hours to burn, so we bought expensive, crappy food and let O run up and down the powered walkways. Luckily the flight from Newark to Portland was just over an hour cause we were all at the end of our rope. She was the only baby so of course when she cried everyone I'm sure rolled their eyes. We did walk up and down the aisle about 5 times just so she could try and charm everyone. Everyone did think she was adorable so that made her crying not so bad.

Our friends, C & B picked us up and they are so happy to have us home with them and to see us. O has settle right back into life into their house. (We stayed at their house for 4 weeks before we left for N.I) They have two cats so she is constantly chasing them. I'm wondering when it's going to get old, but it probably won't. We've had a lovely morning. I was finally able to submit the visa so everyone please pray for a smooth process. Out of the two problems I mentioned at the beginning, I was able to make the appointment for biometrics early this week in Maine, so that's great. However, there are some random documents that I left in NI that R's parents will either have to copy or overnight them.

I am looking forward to seeing most of you very soon. I'll be at Brunswick church next weekend but have plans afterwards. We're going to try and get a cellphone number so you can contact us, but if you want the house number where we're staying, just let me know.

oíche mhaith

Home Sweet Home

The weather here has been perfect. Sunny and in the 50's all week. It's weather like this, that makes me very happy we moved when we did. However it's weeks like this that make me miss my old apartment, my job and my cars.

I was going to write a blog about how hard it is to live with your parents and or in-laws, but it was too hard without making it sound like a bitch session. If any of you have moved in with your parents/in-laws as adults, especially when you are bringing the grandchildren along, I don't have to say anything. You know exactly what I'm talking about. If you are still curious, email me and I'll give you the low down. Let's just say it's hard for grandparents to just be grandparents when you're under their roof. But instead I'm going to talk about our much awaited trip back to the states.

As I have mentioned previously, I need to go back to the good old US of A to sort out my visa. For those of you who do not remember I have a visitor's visa right now, but can only stay in the UK for 6 months and even though I have birthed a UK citizen and married one, I cannot change my status here. So I have to go back to the states, fill out a huge form and then get fingerprints and photos taken (that part is called biometrics). My husband had to have that done when he was getting his US citizenship.  This all comes to a large $$$ price tag and to rush it so that I can have it in 15 days versus 12 weeks is even more money. The whole thought of all of this has been stressful, there is no guarantee I'll even get one, not that they wouldn't, but still the possibility is out there. Out of all this I do get a chance to come home. We fly out of Belfast on April 9th. This was a hassle in itself. We normally fly out of Dublin to Boston, since it's alot cheaper, but since I have overstayed the Ireland visitor visa (3 months) I'm not supposed to travel down there. Plus I have to fly back into the UK to have my visa validated. However flying out of Belfast has it's advantages. It saves us 3 hours in the car and we land straight into Portland which also saves us 3 hours in the car. We'll be in Maine for about 6 weeks and I really can't wait.

I have missed all of you greatly. I won't have to concentrate on your accents, TV will be horrible and lovely, and the food will be comfort foods.  Any weight I have lost here (very little) will probably come back with reinforcements as I try to get a hold of anything I can. Things they don't have over here that I have missed, are Miracle Whip, Lima beans, proper sour cream, diet coke that takes like it should, proper oreos, regular tortilla chips, margarita's (blended), Olive Garden and good cheap restaurants, oh and most importantly, good old fashion American hot dogs! I'm sure there is more, but I just can't think of anything. They might have some of this stuff in the larger stores, but since we never get a chance to go grocery shopping, ever, I haven't been able to find them. Now I have some of this coming in care packages, so don't worry about getting me anything. I will make a request on facebook if things are needed.  Last weekend I did get a wee bit homesick over something silly. Normally I'll watch the Oscars as I play around on the computer and really don't think anything of it, but since I couldn't watch it this year, that's all I could think about. Really annoyed me actually, silly I know. But thanks to my friend, A, I was able to watch after the fact, which made me happy. I owe you some Jaffa cakes as mentioned for payment. If anyone is wanting stuff from the UK, please let me know so we can do a wee shop before we fly out.

It's funny when I think about flying to Maine, I keep saying I am headed home, but I'm not, I'm going for a visit. Yes, Maine will always be a part of me and is who I am, but I don't have a home there anymore that is my own, we have moved our life to Northern Ireland. When I leave Maine again it will be like starting all over again, but it will be worth it. I miss all of you so much and can't wait for you to see O as well. She is so grown up and getting so big she'll seem like a different baby all together. I'm am looking forward to fresh sea air, left hand drive, going to church and Sabbath school and just hanging out with friends! I guess you don't really notice how lonely you are until you start thinking about your "previous life" What makes the wait a little easier as well is our best friends A & D are coming the 28th of March and leaving 4 days before we do, so it won't be too long before we see friends again!

I apologize for the ramblings. As an update on the smoking. It's been okay, no nervous breakdowns or things being thrown. I have made it through the toughest part of the day, which is after O goes to bed. Luckily I had found a good mushy novel to read to that kept me busy. Now I'm starting Dan Brown's latest book, Lost Symbols. We'll see how it goes. I'll also start watching Jane Austen movies over and over again. That will keep me busy.

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The Battle of the Wills

It has been an uneventful week except for Ms. O and her temper. They say babies hit their terrible two's, well we've hit terrible one and a half. O has been testing her limits to the extreme. If she doesn't want to do something, she fusses and fights you off. If you still insist on her doing something she doesn't want, for example a nappie change, then it's cries and tears that can be heard all over the house. Today's incident was me trying to clip her finger nails. We were in her room hanging out and I decided that since she was in a good mood I would try to clip her nails. You would have sworn I had cut off all the tips of her fingers. Tears and snot all over place. I had to wrap both my arms and legs around her just to sort of finish.
The temper is also starting to flair. She has lashed out with hits if we scolded her for something. After she does it she gets another scolding and we get more tears. She then comes for kisses and hugs so at least she acts like she feels bad.
The best/worst part of this is the dirty looks we are now getting if we ask her to do something or tell her not to do something. The look is "how dare you tell me what to do, I am a princess." She's really coming into her personality, as if she didn't have enough before. All the faces she has been making lately are hilarious.

So other than that our week has been very low key. We did finally book our tickets back to Maine to sort our my visa. We're going to be in Maine for 5 weeks. I'm getting really excited to see everyone again. I am also looking forward to a visit from our best friends A & D at the end of March.

Tomorrow we go to playgroup again. I'm hoping we'll have some more stories to tell .

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