For My Mom

Mom, just scroll down to the bottom of the page to where the music player is and click on the STOP button. THEN, click on the play button of the video above and ENJOY. Sorry it wasn't Sheffield, but this is a pretty darn good reminder. Love you!

One month old!

Here's Christopher's latest stats!

Weight: 8lbs 3 oz

Length: 20.5 inches

At the Movies

We hadn't planned on going to the movies today, but we were out and about after an appointment this afternoon and just so happened to be in Gilbert Towne Center when Brent said he wanted to go the movies. So, instead of going to Harkins where we usually go, we just stopped at the Hollywood movies there and went to see what was on.

Now I wanted to see something like Made of Honor or Baby Mama, but of course, they were only shown a couple of times a day and we would have had to wait hours to go and see either. The guy movies though, like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, were being shown numerous times a day and so once again, we ended up going to see a guy action movie instead of a gal chick flick. Why is that?

It was mediocre in my opinion, but what added insult to injury was the $19 I spent on a large popcorn, a teeny tiny bag of chocolate covered almonds and 2 bottles of water. Now that was diabolical.

Christopher

Here's the latest picture of Christopher taken today aged 3 weeks and 3 days. His lips look like Katelynn's did but his hands and wrists are definitely mine (and my dad's!).

My Sunday

Last night I went to bed with a blocked left nostril and woke up this morning with a stinking full blown cold. All morning long I felt miserable and pretty much stayed in bed just reading and relaxing. Brent and I were supposed to be going to a "Meet The Man" party in the afternoon where one of my work colleagues was showing of her beau, but I felt terrible and had no desire to socialise at all, so unfortunately we gave it a miss.
We needed to eat though and neither of us felt like cooking so we went off to Olive Garden for dinner where we had salad and garlic bread sticks for starters and I had a lovely apricot glazed chicken with broccoli and asparagus while Brent had his good old faithful lasagna. Thanks to a $4 off coupon which expires next Sunday (just had to use it up!) and a gift card that Olivia sent me for Mother's Day, the whole meal came to less that $2!!! Loved it. Thank you Olivia!
I might add that this evening I am back to feeling terrible again and unless I am much improved by tomorrow, I'll have to delay my grandma day until later on in the week. I do Not want to pass on these germs to Danielle.

San Diego

It's been over a week since I set off for San Diego and I have been so bad at promptly recording it on my blog. Better late than never though, so here goes. Let's just hope I remember the details.
Last Thursday morning, I picked Judy (one of my work colleagues) up at her home and we headed over to the airport for a quick flight to San Diego. This was pretty much an all expenses paid trip that Judy got as a reward for all the big bucks she spends at Harrah's casinos. There were some others on the flight who were part of the same group and at the airport, we discovered that there were in fact 73 of us in total! We loaded onto two buses and headed north, through Escondido and to the Harrah's Rincon Casino in Valley Center. The drive was bumpy and the scenery was a little blah, but we made it and were welcomed by a cold buffet reception which I found particularly satisfying as I was extremely hungry.
On to our room.

The room was just a little smaller than usual with full size beds instead of queen and a smaller sitting area, but the pillows were oh so soft and the bath tub was the biggest I've seen in a long while. Judy, however did not like it. She is a Seven Star player and is used to having a suite, but for me, it was just fine. We had a fruit basket delivered with a big bag of pistachios in it too, free soda and water and an elegant box of Belgian chocolates delivered to our room every day. That worked out fine for me as Judy gets bad migraines when she eats chocolates. Shame!
We dined in the buffet that night, then Judy set off to work gambling. I watched her for about half an hour but it held no appeal to me whatsoever, so I went to explore the gift shop then up to the room to relax and read my book. Judy got in at 1.20am! What a gal, I could never have stayed up that long.
The next morning, she went off to have a massage, so I filled up that bathtub with steaming hot water and boy, it was the best bath I have had in 8 years! Lunch was in the cafe and then it was out to the pool for some more r&r. There were a number of jacuzzi's dotted around the place, so we claimed one as our own. This is how it went: jacuzzi, sun bed, read, snooze, jacuzzi, sun bed, read, snooze...for over 4 hours. It was bliss! Dinner in some swanky steak and lobster house which had nothing I particularly wanted on the menu, so I settled for 2 sides of a twice baked potato with mushrooms and cheese and some steamed broccoli. It was lovely.
After dinner...you guessed it, Judy went gambling and I went up to read. I was really enjoying my book and having a really relaxing time. This time, I think Judy got in at about 2.30am. I sound like her mother, don't I?
Up early the next morning for our Trip to Seaport Village in San Diego. Oh no, another bus ride!
It was very pretty down by the harbor. We could see the USS Midway which is an aircraft carrier turned in to a museum, lots of boats out in the harbor and the village itself was lots of touristy type shops right on the waterfront with a pretty lake in the middle. I was the last of the big spenders and didn't buy a thing except my lunch. Talking of lunch, I made the big mistake of buying fish and chips! I don't know why I did it because I knew they would be terrible and they were. Who has ever heard of the fish being breaded and the chips being like french fries?The only saving grace was that there was malt vinegar!
When we got back on the bus, we were greeted by a very rude bus driver who proceeded to tell us that he had a very tight schedule and if we didn't hurry up, blah, blah, blah and we were not to leave any rubbish on the bus, blah, blah, blah. Then he decided to launch into a running tour operator commentary, which wouldn't have been so bad, except the sound of his microphone was extremely loud and he kept launcing into stories that had no relationship to anything we saw. And lets face it, what exactly can you say when cruising down the freeway?
We got back to the hotel, I went to the pool again, Judy went to the gift shop and treated her hubby to not one, but three Tommy Bahama shirt but my rumbling tummy eventually won and we went to the buffet again. I have decided that king crab legs are just not worth all the effort; too much picking and pulling and not enough crab meat. As Judy had no more gambling money left, after dinner we went out to the pool area to watch some people make idiots of themselves by trying to learn how to dance salsa. 1 2 3, 5 6 7 repeated the dance teacher over and over again; 1 2 3, 5 6 7. Why is there no 4 in salsa??? After an hour or so of that, Judy declared she was beat and we went upstairs. She was fast asleep within minutes, but I stayed up for another couple of hours reading.
The next morning it was back on the bus for the ride to the airport. The line at San Diego airport to get through security was the longest I have ever seen and we were beginning to doubt whether we would make our flight. Eventually though, more staff was brought out and we started moving a lot quicker. A Big Mac and a short plane ride and I was home. A short trip, very relaxing, 2 books read and a suntanned lobster chest as a reward. Thanks Judy, loved it!

Happy Birthday Paul

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL

You're lucky! I'm not in an embarrassing mood tonight, although some might say that playing with little Japanese figures could be in that category.
To show your gratitude, you could write, call, e-mail, comment on this blog, etc. :)

Happy Mothers Day!

Whilst I realise that it's probably not Mother's Day in England, here in the States, it is, so I wanted to wish a

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

to both my own dear mother and also to my mother in law.

Here is a picture of me and my mother when I was a baby. Sorry Mom, I know it's embarrassing for both of us. Be glad that hardly anyone reads this blog!

This is an up to date picture of us both taken last October when I visited England.
Mom, here are some reasons why I love you.

• You wanted me even before you knew I was there


• I know what it's like to carry and give birth to a child, so I love you for that


• You were a mother, not a career woman


• You gave to me and sacrificed yourself often


• You taught me to bake, firstly with plasticine, then with the real stuff (thank goodness for Tony the cat!)


• You let me string a washing line and sheets up in the living room so my friends and I could pretend we were singing on a stage


• You encouraged my spirituality early when I went to church with you


• You took me to fun and exciting places


• You encouraged my love of history when we went to museums and castles together


• You taught me to play cards OUR way when the electric got cut off in the winter time


• You wrote poems for me in English class when I couldn't (remember Dick Turpin?)


• You let me put Donny Osmond posters all over my walls


• You supported me wanting to join the Church


• You let me have my ears pierced when I was 16 and get contact lenses too!


• You were happy for me when each of lives happy experiences came my way


• You sat and listened to me when my heart was breaking and supported me through those rough times, even though I know your heart was probably breaking too


• You didn't complain to me when you knew that life was taking me thousands of miles away from you. Somehow you accepted it


• You eased my mind by taking Jet and I'm pleased he became yours


• Because of a lifetime of sacrificing for me, I learnt how to sacrifice too and received the blessing of seeing the smile and joy on your face during your special moment last October


• I love you just because you are my mother and you are you. Thank you for my life.

Here is my mother in law with Brent when he was a boy.

Here we are last October.

Mam, you are the best mother in law a woman could possibly want. You accepted me right from the beginning and welcomed me into your family. You helped me so much when my children were small and was able to do magical things like cleaning the house or ironing when you were babysitting. I had no idea how you did that and thought you were a Superwoman. Now I realise that grandma's can do those things! You make me laugh when you always side with me instead of Brent, I love chatting with you on the phone and learning from your strong spirit.
I pray that the Lord will bless you through this difficult time you are having and I want you to know that I love you. Get better soon. Happy Mother's Day.

The photo's are in!!!!

Here's Christopher just after he was born yesterday. As you can see, tall and skinny (doesn't get that from our side of the family!).

This is my favorite one so far!

And here is big sister Katelynn going to visit, in her Big Sister T shirt that I bought her especially for the occasion. Isn't she just a cutie patootie?
Well, this looks promising. She looks quite pleased to see her baby brother.
Oh, oh! I guess it doesn't take much for her to have had enough!

And as I remember what it was like to have my picture taken right after giving birth (Cindy Crawford I was NOT), I have decided to be a kind mother and wait a little while until Olivia feels better and has a chance to shower and put on her makeup before I post pictures of her. I believe in compassion.

He's Here!!!

Christopher Stephen was born at Warsaw, Wyoming County, New York at 6.45pm, local time. He weighed 6lbs 14oz and was 20 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing fine, although Olivia had to have him by C-Section due to him turning breech in the last week and her not having enough amniotic fluid. Katelynn went to see her new brother and gave him a big kiss, so that's hopeful! Olivia says he looks like her but has dark hair.
Now, I'm just waiting for those first pictures to arrive.