QUICK NEWS UPDATE

SMITH IS WALKING AND ABBY GOT HER EARS PIERCED.

We got a Skype call from Kyle last night and had such a great chat with him.  We talked for 45 minutes .
England to the US like it is just next door. How amazing! The English kids are on summer break. School is out till September and the family is enjoying some nice summer weather. We were so surprised when Kyle told us that Abby got her ears pierced the other day. Smart English, they pierced both ears at the same time. Guess someone finally figured out that if you do one ear and it hurts so much there are just too many kids who won't go for the second ear. But Abby now has long hair and pierced ears. Kyle sent us a photo but you really can't see the earrings.  It looks like Abby is loving her new addition and now she looks like she is ready for second grade or level 2 as the Brits call it.
After Abby got her ears pierced Roman asked if he could also have his ears done. That got a great big NO from both mom and dad.  Kyle also mentioned that it lead into a discussion of what other body parts could NOT be pierced until the kids were at least 18!

 And then there are the Florida family who now have a one year old who is walking. We got a text this afternoon saying that Smith just took 6 steps from mom to dad and then back again. Just in time for his big party on Saturday. GO SMITH !  

TRIP TO MARYLAND

So you have waited long enough and it is about time to see some photo's of our trip to Maryland last week. Needless to say we had a great time and needless to say the kids are fantastic! Finley is now 4 months old ! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? He is just as happy and smiley as his big sister and he is quickly learning the art of self defense. When ever he sees or hears his sister heading his way he has learned to duck and cover. The throws his arms up over his head and shuts his eyes, trying to pretend he is asleep. Kaelin LOVES her brodder to pieces, which is exactly the problem.  She literally LOVES HIM TO PIECES. Finn is doing a great job of putting up with all his loving from Kaelin but I am thinking this boy will make up for some lost time when he is mobile.

Kaelin is being a great big sister and the perfect three year old.  When I tell you she is the perfect 3 year old I am not saying that she has perfect behavior, I am saying that she is acting like a typical three year old and God has given her the energy and will power of a tornado. Once again "THE CURSE" has come true for Keri. Kaelin is EXACTLY like her mom ! The word "NO" is key to Kaelin's vocabulary and she manages to have very selective hearing when it comes to listening to mom and dad. (That comes from grandpa!) Kaelin gets up in the morning before any child should be awake and she starts looking for her brodder. Once she realizes he is not getting anything that she isn't she is off to take over the house and the world. Napping has become a thing of the past. Much to the chagrin of mom, dad and grandma. I was counting on those 2 hour naps in the mid afternoon to regain my strength and have some quiet one on one time with little Finley. Kaelin knew what would happen if she closed her eyes so she never gave in to sleep during the day, even though there were days where she was literally bouncing off the walls. Grandma and grandpa got a real good work out this trip and Finn got to spend a lot of time with his grandpa.

While we were in MD Kaelin's daddy put together a swing set for Kaelin and she did enjoy having picnics in her tower. I think she went on the swing once and hasn't gone near the slide or climbing wall yet. She is a princess and the world is her kingdom. And all is right with the world.

THE CONUNDRUM

How is it that a three year old can navigate through cyber space on her moms computer but five grown men cannot put together a slide?

SAD END TO A NICE TRIP

We have been away, in Maryland, and I have been too busy/exhausted to write. More about that next week.
On Tuesday afternoon, our last day with Keri and her family, we received a phone call from a good friend of Ger's telling us that his wife had just passed away. We made some quick travel changes and drove to NC on Wednesday to be there for Nancy's wake and funeral on Friday.
I have known Nancy for about 45 years but we only became real friends about 3 years ago. Nancy was one of those "BROOKLYN GIRLS" that Husband always hung out with. The story goes that Nancy and her husband Jerry met while in Catholic grade school. From the first time her Jerry saw Nancy he declared that he was going to marry her someday. To which Nancy ALWAYS responded "NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN" or "IN YOUR DREAMS" and later on when they were older, "LEAVE ME ALONE!". But Jerry persisted and even though they went to separate High Schools and Jerry left for a time in the Army they would occasionally meet and Jerry would once more make Nancy crazy with his declarations of love.
Nancy graduated and started working and hanging out with a group of Brooklyn girls who frequented a few of the bars in the neighborhood. (Drinking age was 18 at that time but these girls were still only 17 so there are a lot of good stories.) This is all in spite of the "good Catholic girl" image that the girls projected. Seems that the girls ALWAYS wore trench coats where ever they went. Whether it was the beach in the summer or church in the winter they always had on their trench coats. (We have laughed over that many many times and even Nancy couldn't remember WHY this was their "uniform" but it was what they all wore.) One of the popular bars that every one met at was DeLeo's. And it was at this particular bar that Husband met Jerry Kenny and Nancy and "The Girls". I hear tell that Husband dated several of the Brooklyn girls but those stories shall remain untold. My Gerry and Jerry Kenny became very good friends, partly because they were both going to be NYC cops. My Gerry never made it due to health issues but Jerry Kenny went on to be a motor cycle cop in NY. Jerry is a terrifically funny guy and it was always hard to picture him as a cop "fighting crime". The 2 Gerry's became such good friends that when Nancy finally gave in and agreed to marry her Jerry my Gerry was the best man. This was around the time that I just started dating H and the Kenny wedding was one of our first dates. The fact that H would be in the wedding party and sitting with them, thus leaving me ALONE with total strangers in a strange land (I was from Queens, Brooklyn is very strange to me) never occurred to me. I survived the day and Jerry and Nancy's marriage survived for 44 years.
Over those years we would get together with them occasionally but our children were different ages and we really didn't have much in common, even though we both were living on Long Island only about a half hour away from each other. The two husbands would talk once in a while and would ask how each of the wives were doing but that would be that. Then we all retired. Nancy and Jerry moved to Wilmington, NC and we moved to Florida. About 6 years ago we got a call saying that the Kenny's were going on a cruise from Florida and would like to stop and see us on their way home. They spent a day with us and it was the beginning of a friendship for Nancy and I. Every year we would stop in Wilmington on our way from a road trip to Maryland or they would stop to see us coming or going from a cruise from Florida. All this time Nancy was battling with Emphysema. IT WAS BAD! These last 2 years Nancy was on oxygen 24/7. She traveled with portable tanks of oxygen and had a large oxygen tank at home with a long hose so she could stay hooked to the oxygen but travel all over their house. It is a lousy disease and it was wearing her down bit by bit. The doctors wanted to do a procedure on her to help her breathing but she fought that for 2 years. It was something that would improve her quality of breathing but restrict her in so many ways that she would be a prisoner in her home.

This past spring Nancy and Jerry took one last trip to Florida where, due to a faulty oxygen tank, Nancy became very ill. They drove back to NC and made an appointment with Nancy's doctors at Duke University. One look at Nancy and they put her into the hospital and went ahead with the procedure that she had been fighting. That was the beginning of the end. And so on Monday night Nancy gave up the fight and passed away leaving her husband, 2 sons and one grandson. And a lot of fond memories for me of these past several years that our friendship blossomed. We laughed a lot when we were together and we found a lot of common ground to share. It wasn't a long friendship but it was a very special one and I will miss her very much.

OH MY ACHING . . .

You name it, it's aching! We are now in MD visiting with our daughter and family. Who am I kidding, I am visiting with Kaelin and Finn ! Finn still isn't sure who the heck I am but he does give me smiles so I figure that is good. Kaelin knows for sure who we are and exactly how to get EVERYTHING she wants !
The day we left Florida on the 8:30 AM flight Kaelin woke her parents at 7:15 AM asking if THIS WAS THE DAY GRANDMA WAS COMING? Good thing she is such a cute kid cause mom and dad might have been tempted to sell her to the gypsies. But that was only the beginning for them. When Kaelin gets "ESCITED" there is no holding her and she was ESCITED to the max. She kept asking when we were coming till Keri finally told her we would be arriving after lunch. Five minutes later, at 10:15  Kaelin wanted to eat lunch. Is this kid smart or what ! By the time we arrived in BWI and rented our car and got on the road Kaelin was out of control.  She apparently stood on the couch for the entire afternoon looking out the window waiting for grandma and grandpa to arrive. Ker says if we had gotten there any later she and Steve would have been raving lunatics.
Needless to say, once we arrived Grandma has not stopped "DOING" with Kaelin. Doing involves sitting on the floor and getting up at least a thousand times a day. We have crawled under the blow up pool to hid in our "hideout" and used the bed sheets to make a tent that we also crawled into. Grandma and Kaelin are covered with dirt, leaves and God only knows what sort of creepy crawlies. I am hoping that the large doses of Aleve will not only dull the pain in my body but kill any sort of disease that I may be picking up out in the yard.
Today Kaelin decorated me in stickers and hair clips and bands. If only Ger had gotten away from the TV long enough to get a picture I could have shown you what a great time I am having.
As for Finn, he is loving my being here because I am keeping his big sister busy which means she is not bugging him. Kaelin does not leave Finn alone for a minute, Her love may kill him so he is delighted to have someone else distracting her. Tonight they have both fallen asleep and I am about to do the same  thing even though it is only 8:30 at night. Morning comes real early up here in Maryland and the days are at least 40 hours long.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUSBAND !

Aren't they just the cutest guys ever ?  The one on the left is H. You know,  that guy that I am usually pissing and moaning about. Well, tomorrow is the Old Boy's 72nd birthday! I think he is looking pretty good for an old guy. We were married when Ger was 29 and he turned 30 on our honeymoon. We happened to be in Zurich, Switzerland at the time and with all the excitement of wedding and a huge road trip through Europe, (great long story for another day), I totally forgot about Ger's birthday. AND IT WAS THE BIG THREE OH NO LESS!  I woke up at some point during the night like some one had smacked me and the one thought on my mind was "OH SHIT! It's Ger's 30th birthday and I have nothing for him!" I crawled out of bed and rummaged around in my suitcase and back pack for anything I could find that I could turn into a gift. When Ger woke up the morning of his birthday he found 3 sticks of gum and 2 silver 50 cent pieces wrapped in toilet paper and a home made card written in lip stick and pen, also on toilet paper. And that was 42 years ago and the man still is with me. (We always laugh that if we survived 6 weeks in Europe for a honeymoon our marriage would survive ANYTHING!)
As for Ger surviving anything, . . .  THANK YOU GOD but Ger is the healthiest person I know. He has been through 42 years of putting up with me and that would equal any battle with life threatening diseases. The man looks and acts like he is 50 and enjoys life the way he wants to. No bungee jumping or sky diving, no roller coasters or surf boards for this man. (Probably why he is so healthy) There is the occasional beer when we have guests, several hours of Fox News EVERY day, any food that I put in front of him, (although we have been eating out a LOT more these days) and the regular visits with the grand kids. I think this last thing is the key to staying young. Oh, and don't forget that we retired to Florida! That is a big part of staying young.
We will celebrate Ger's BD tonight by going to a base ball game at our minor league stadium, weather permitting, eating a hot dog and a soda and then flying to MD tomorrow on H's actual BD for a visit with Kaelin and Finley. Finley is being baptized on Sunday so how could we miss that?

I wish Husband many, many more years of a good, healthy life. He is a keeper, in spite of what I say and I do want to keep him around for a while longer. As I tell everyone who comments on "HOW GREAT GER LOOKS" . . .   it's all because I take such good care of him! Actually I think it is the other way around.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY GER !    I DO LOVE  YOU!

MY POOR LITTLE ONES

That would be Kaelin and Finley that I am talking about today.  The diva and her "brodder" are both having a tough week. Good thing Grandma and Grandpa are headed their way to help out.  Not that Keri and Steve aren't doing a fantastic job but just to give them a little break from 24/7 kids.

The middle of last week Kaelin started complaining that her ear hurt. Keri didn't freak, just asked where it hurt and figured she would give it a day to see what developed.  Next day Kaelin had the same complaint, (after having had a great night's sleep so this is not something that is keeping the child awake all night.) This time Keri touched Kaelin's ear and set off a crying fit of pain for poor Kaelin.  Off to the doctor they went and out they came with the diagnosis of SWIMMER'S EAR. Now the question arises of how one gets swimmer's ear in a kiddie pool filled with all of 3 inches of water?  But swimmer's ear she has and apparently it hurts like hell! Does it hurt enough for Kaelin to take Tylenol . . . NOPE! But she did allow mom and dad to put ear drops in her ear so that is making things better. (In all fairness I must tell you that Kaelin has learned to how to lie back in the tub and pool so her head goes under water so that probably explains where the swimmer's ear came from.)

                                                                              
As for our little man Finn . . . Keri and Steve found out the hard way that Finley seems to be allergic to formula or is lactose intolerant.  A couple of weeks ago they gave Finn a little formula to see how he would do with it. It had been a hectic day and Finn had been exposed to several new things so when he projectile vomited an hour or so after his bottle they really weren't sure what the cause was. He recovered quickly after a bout of dry heaves he has been super ever since. Then yesterday Keri had a doctor appointment and left Steve to give Finley a bottle of formula while she was gone. 2 hours later the poor little guy did a great re-enactment of the scene from the movie "Rosemary's Baby" minus the head spinning around. The poor little guy was so sick that once Keri got home she took him to the doctor to have him checked out. It was the formula for sure so no more of that over the counter food for him. It's mom's milk or nothing. They were concerned about him getting dehydrated but he did fine and as of about an hour ago all is well!

I think we will have to find some time for Keri and Steve to go out alone while we are in town with them. I think they earned it!

A YEAR AGO YESTERDAY

This is a photo of the England Lawlor's taken a year ago when they adopted Roman. (Actually this is the photo taken from his US adoption a couple of weeks later because the UK wouldn't recognize the adoption from the Ukraine.)

Roman has been part of our family for a year now and I thought I would share some of the adventures he has been having during this time.

I don't think any of us realized what an emotional, exhausting time it would be for Roman and his new family to just survive the adoption proceedings. But survive it they did and their lives have been blessed. 

No one knew a year ago that Roman would fit into this family so easily and perfectly. I can't imagine what Roman must think as he experiences life with his new parents and sister. All I do know is that this is one lucky, happy family!

Bruges, Belgium
6/2011

Going to Belgium with Grandma and Grandpa O'Connell

                                        Roman and his family have been doing all sorts of things in England. There are regular trips into London to see the city and different events that are happening. They have toured the English country side from Stonehenge to Brighton by the Sea.  And then there are the international travels . . .

Paris and Euro Disney  4/2010

Spain 4/2011

Not to mention the skiing in the French Alps during Christmas this past year. I have to confess I have lost track of all the places this family is going but I know that they are all getting experiences of a life time.  And the best thing of all is they are getting to see the rest of the family in between their European travels and that makes us all really really happy!

A Stop in MD to visit cousins Kaelin and Finn
Aunt Keri and Uncle Steve
 April 2011

A visit to Florida to see cousin Smith, Uncle Kent and Aunt Kristen
at Grandma's and Grandpa's
April 2011

                       

I MUST GET MOVING

I am becoming more and more lethargic with each passing day and cannot seem to break the cycle of eating, sitting and sleeping.  You have to take into account that it is SUMMER in South Florida and that does bring certain challenges with it.  Namely, H H H ! That would stand for Heat, Humidity and Holy Shit it's Hot out here !  In spite of the 3 "H's" I happen to LOVE summer in Florida.  It is the only time of year that we are free of traffic and crowds.  The Snow Birds have all flown north to avoid the heat so our restaurants are not crowded and the roads are clear of the dreaded Senior Citizens who don't know the traffic patterns (either because the roads have changed in the past 8 months since they were here or because they have forgotten.) People often comment that Florida drivers are among the worst in the nation. Considering that there really are NO true Florida drivers but drivers from all over the country it really isn't a valid statement. The one good thing about "Snow Bird" drivers is that most of them bring their cars with them so when you see the Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, or New Jersey plates you know enough to give them plenty of space. (After traveling back and forth across the US for10 consecutive summers when our children were young we found that those 3 states have THE WORST drivers in the world. That includes, Italy, Ireland, France and England! Massachusetts must give out driver's licenses in boxes of Cracker Jacks. They are by far the most horrid drivers we have ever seen.)

ANY WAY  .................  Back to summer in Florida and my expanding ass and waist line.  I would like to believe that the Urban Myths ARE true but in all honesty I know better.
1.  Humidity does not cause my body to fill with fluids and weigh more.
2.  Likewise, swimming every day also does not cause me to inflate with water.
3.  The heat does not cause my clothes to shrink.
4.  Wearing bathing suits 24/7 does not cause my body to expand because it is in "relaxed" mode.
5.  Longer day light hours do not cause my clothes to shrink on my body, due to the heat of the sun.
6.  Hotter weather causes me to drink more so I am heaver.
7.  Spraying myself with sun screen does not add 2 pounds a day.

In actuality this is more like it ;
1.  It is so freaking hot out that I spend more time inside where the food is!
2.  It is so freaking hot that I don't want to walk or swim.
3.  It is so freaking hot that all I want to do is sit on my ass and watch movies, play on the computer or read books while snacking on anything I can find.
4.  It is so freaking hot that all the projects I have put off till summer no longer interest me.

YEP!  IT IS HOT !

BUT . . .   I LOVE summer in Florida.  Go figure.  It is quiet down here. Peaceful,  calm and fun. There are wonderful restaurants that we can finally get into. The movie theatres are not crowded.  There are all sorts of street fairs and markets and best of all there are the die hard "Floridians" (from all over the country) who are some of the very nicest people I have ever met. The people who are here in the summer are here because we Love this place and we enjoy talking about it to anyone who will listen. Most people who are visiting or have tried to live here year round but couldn't take the heat have left town. So those who remain are just plain "life is good" people who aren't going to complain about the HHH and bitch about this and that.  Conversations are pleasant and the people are mellow.

This is the time of the year when you know for sure we ARE living in PARADISE ! And if you think otherwise I guess it's time for you to go home. This isn't the place for you.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Because they don't celebrate the 4th of July as a holiday in England Abby had something else to celebrate.  She lost her very first tooth a day or so ago and had a visit from the tooth fairy !
The note that came with this picture explained that
Abby stuffed 5 pieces of gum in her mouth and then lost the tooth in the wad of gum. The tooth was recovered and the tooth fairy arrived to exchange the tooth for a pound. I guess when you live in England the tooth fairy uses English money.
Abby called us on Skype yesterday to show us the space and the new tooth that is already pushing it's way in.

We got another Skype call on Saturday from Kaelin to tell us her BIG news. Nope, no new teeth for her but something even more exciting! Her caterpillars hatched into butterflies !  After our trip to Butterfly World a few weeks ago I sent Kaelin a butterfly kit. In the kit is a large net box and a post card that you fill out and mail in. Three or four days later a cup with 5 caterpillars arrives. There is food in the cup so you just set the cup some place, watch the little buggers eat and poop. About a week later the caterpillars climb to the top of the cup, attach themselves to the cover and go into cocoons. Kaelin and mom then had to place the cover with the cocoons on it into the large net box. A few days after that, VOILA . . . butterflies !

So Abby has a new tooth, Kaelin has butterflies and grandma and grandpa had a wonderful weekend with Smith.  Smith and his family came up on Saturday and stayed over night.  Smith is not sleeping well these days and we are wondering if he is getting more teeth. Poor little guy has had mom and dad up every night. We tried to tire him out with swimming in the pool and playing with the toys but nothing seemed to work. Until  grandpa held him and then he was comfy as could be. I think these 2 guys have something special going for them. I hope Finley doesn't get jealous!