New online home

Whoa, we moved! (online)

Well, soon we're leaving Ireland, so we decided to get a new website, too. The 'eire' in the address seemed a little strange once we weren't going to be in Eire anymore. Plus the 'mt' didn't leave any room for Finn!

One of the reasons I liked mulitply was the nice photo albums I could post actually on the site. However there are a bunch of times I've been really frustrated with multiply, mostly when I'm trying to post and the site is moving at about the speed of cold molasses, so I poked around on a few other free places to see what I could see.

So now you'll have to navigate away to see photo albums but I hope you'll eventually come back. Since I've been better about blogging and updating on munchkin progress that part of the site has been getting more use anyway. I'm guessing a couple pictures here and there are more exciting for most then the massive albums of European architecture we were posting. Fun for us but you all really want to see the wee one, we know ;)

Hope this works for all of you, keep us bookmarked in your favorites and check back often.

Toe Balls and Pea Pods

As Travis' mom so aptly put it, we have jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.

Finn is three months old! Whoo hoo! This is when he turns the corner, starts to figure out the world, and will STOP CRYING! Oh no, faithful readers, lady luck does not shine upon our wee one. It appears that he's probably starting to teethe. Towards the end of last week he started drooling everywhere. And rubbing his face. And I won't share the amazing things he's started to excrete... We were all excited because it looked like he was figuring out that he has hands, as he's starting to chew on them. But really he's just chewing on them when they accidentally get into range...and he needs to soothe his gums. Poor little guy.

I finally was able to get a finger in to rub his gums and they do seem a bit swollen to me. I give him some baby Tylenol when it seems to get really bad and have some homeopathic herbal gel stuff the pharmacist gave me to rub on his gums (pharmacists here have way more prescribing authority than ones in the US, you can avoid a lot of dr visits for little nuisances and just chat with your pharmacist instead). *sigh* someday we'll have one of those happy burbling babies...

So in the meantime we do lots of distracting play time. During some of this playtime I noticed Finn's little toes were totally round. And I mean round like bb's. It cracked me up! First I wondered if he had a blister or something, then decided he's got round toes because he doesn't put any pressure on them yet. Maybe all babies have perfectly round toes and I've just never noticed. I'll admit I've never gotten much chance to study other babies' toes much. We tried to take a picture of his 'toe balls' but it's a little out of focus. Seems the camera focused on his face. I posted it anyway, maybe I'll get another better picture of the toe balls later.

It's also gotten a lot cooler around here lately. No more crop pants and sandals, time for the scarves and heavier jackets. Still not super chilly, but feels like autumn. Finn's still a little furnace and cranks out heat like nothing else, but even I have to break down and put some warmer clothes on him when we go for walks. Today we walked with the baby carrier, and I used the 'winter' cover for the first time. It's made of wind stopper fleece with reflective piping. What a outdoorsy fellow this Finn already is. So here's Finn and I preparing to go for our walk. He looks like a little black and white pea pod or baby silk worm. We had to prop the camera up on the book shelf so it's sort of a weird angle on the picture, sorry.

Anyway, the crying stopped once we got going, Finn LOVES to look around. He'll really enjoy it when he's big enough to sit up in the big boy stroller but for now he'll have to be happy with occasional front facing jaunts in the carrier. Now, in Dublin once it gets cold the entire city puts away all clothing with any color in it. Everyone dresses in black, white, gray or if they're feeling really outrageous maybe some brown. So here are Finn and I going for our afternoon walk, me in a bright orange scarf (not in the picture) and Finn in his bright red hat. We made quite the picture. It was quite obvious we were not Irish.

Happy Advertising

So there's this ad on TV here now that just makes you feel good. I have no idea if it's actually selling the product or not, but I really enjoy it every time it comes on. Here's the link on youtube, it's worth taking the time to watch... enjoy and I hope it brings a smile to your face. Make sure you have sound :) I suppose this probably is especially appealing to those of us that are of an age that the music reminds us of fond childhood memories...

Chip off the Travis Block

Somewhere Finn has some of my genes, but other than the fussy, crying one I'm not sure which ones they are yet. This morning I was struck by how much he is *just* like Travis. I gave him a bath this morning and his little skin puckered up in the funny way that Travis' does (Travis' sister's skin does it, too). Then when he went down for his morning nap (yay!) in the pram (double yay!) he threw his arms up and put them under his head, elbows out, just like Travis does every night, and just like I've heard Travis Dad did, too.

Photos are from this weekend when Broncos played the Raiders at home. The game didn't air on TV here, but Travis dressed Finn as a true supporter anyway - all the way down to his socks. Finn fell asleep and napped this weekend sucking on his fingers, helpful for prolonging naps! We're still struggling with tummy time, but the new game with the inflatable tube (sort of like a beach ball which was suggested to me) has been a big hit. The picture is blurry as it's an action shot.
Broncos won the game, thanks to Jason Elam. What will we do when he retires!?!?!?! 2-0 for the season now :)

Be a Pepper

It's a good thing Dr. Pepper USED to be available in Dublin. For a very short window you could get Dr. Pepper here. When we moved here, no Dr. Pepper. About the beginning of June we could get Dr. Pepper, and up until about the beginning of September it was available in a few convenience stores in the area.
You may not know this, but I'm not much of a pop drinker. I don't do coffee or tea, so I don't really do caffeine, either. But I do like Dr. Pepper. Moving here it was OK to not have it, I really didn't miss it that much, but when I need a caffeine fix it's the thing I look for. As the parent of a newborn, I NEEDED CAFFEINE in a really bad way. Some caffeine distribution planets aligned and for a brief time Dr. Pepper was indeed available here in Dublin. Travis would go to Spar in Blackrock (one of the few places that carried it) and clean them out. He'd buy 12 bottles at a time. At 1.40euro a piece it wasn't a cheap trip to the store. Right now that's just less than $2 for a 500ml (16oz) bottle.
Now, my Dr. Pepper supply line has dried up. I prowl around in hopes that someone will start carrying it again. Travis has even asked around to see if anyone has any left buried in their storage closets. No luck. Apparently the floods in the UK have disrupted Dr. Pepper distribution and no one knows when we'll see it again, if ever. I've got three left, and they're going fast... it's a good thing Finn's sleeping pretty well these days or we'd truly be in a dire situation!

SMILE!

We're having a much better week this week. The picture is dark, but you should easily see the grin in this picture. Finn's been grinning all afternoon today and I can't help but giggle and be giddy about it. He's obviously feeling much much better, the tension in his body is less and less each day. Just shows what a little reflux medication, a little touch therapy, and just growing a week older can do. I am crossing my fingers but I am pretty sure the worst is behind us now. He still cries, but it's crying now, not the screaming of before, and it's not never-ending. Now he has several periods of lucidity a day which I treasure and I wish Travis was around to see more often. Pesky job that he goes to so he can provide for us to keep us both in smiles :o)

Blueberry Burrito

This is our little blueberry burrito baby. So named by Travis as his swaddle is baby blue. Pronounced in the local vernacular as 'blue-bury' burrito. Finn likes being swaddled right now, the trick is to do it without making him too hot. It keeps his little hands from flailing around too much at night - and accidentally waking himself up (he's so small he doesn't have control over his arm and leg movements yet). Between swaddle, growing up, and we think the reflux meds he now sleeps from 7:30pm through to 4am. Didn't want to advertise that until he'd done it for a week or so...it's so exciting!
Things are looking up. The reflux medicine is working wonders, spit up is greatly reduced and fussing after bottles is getting much better. After our second visit yesterday to Evan the cranial osteopath Finn's settled a bit more. Evan has this thing I call the miracle touch. Yesterday Evan hit upon a muscle group in Finn's neck and shoulders and it was like flicking a switch. Finn went from a purple faced, flailing, screaming, seriously unhappy guy to peaceful, burbling, gurgling smiling Finn in two seconds flat. It was absolutely amazing. Apparently he's carrying some tension in his neck and shoulders...sounds a bit like something his mom tends to do :)
Today was round two of shots. And a weight/length check at my request. He's in the 97th percentile for his age - 10 weeks and 16lbs (he's a big little guy) but the GP and I created a good plan of attack to make sure he eats appropriately for his age and size. No nonsense about cutting back, he's not overweight, he's just SO long that he weighs an appropriate amount for his length. Finn has been BIG since conception, and neither Travis or I are shorties, but I still want to make sure he's as healthy as I can have him be. As big as he is I was getting concerned about the volume of formula he's eating, and at what point I'd have to start supplementing with solids. Age wise it's not recommended before 4 months, but he's so big that soon he'll need the additional calories to keep up. Many of you will not be surprised to hear that Travis' mom had to do the same thing (start solids early) when he was an infant. So in about 3 weeks the GP wants us to start with a couple of teaspoonfuls of rice cereal a day. Oh boy!
As far as what we adults have been doing, the big news for us is that we're excited to be getting back in the exercise groove. The weather has been glorious and Travis has started riding his bike to work. I'm trying to get to the pool for a swim more often, and Travis getting home a bit earlier helps that.

Rough Week

It's been a long week. Finn is not a very happy little guy these days and there's not much we've been able to figure out to change that. Due to various different circumstances in his short life Finn's seen FIVE different doctors (note, if you're going to have a baby in Ireland, or probably any of Europe, doctors tend to go on holiday for months at a time during the summer leaving you with non-contiguous health care). On one hand it's great that he's had so many different sets of eyes to check him out but on the other hand it's been hard to get people to listen when I tell them I truly think that there is something causing all this upset other than him just being a baby.
First couple of check ups it was just too early, and everything was fine, third check up we all just thought it was colic/growing pains/no big deal and frankly I was coping OK. Fourth check up it was getting exponentially worse and the doctor seemed totally unconcerned. Finally last week, when we went in for 2 month immunizations, someone started to listen. Luckily this is Finn's registered doctor so it will be the one he should see from now on, barring any more holidays. She thinks Finn is having reflux issues and put him on some meds which we hope will help...so far some improvement but nothing spectacular. I have to admit I'm a bit frustrated with the health care profession at the moment.
More medical adventures, we took Finn to a cranial osteopath. Touch therapy, I have high hopes, but we've only been once and Finn screamed the entire time (not due to anything going on during the appointment, it's just normal behavior for him now). Will update on this as it progresses.
We still are trooping onward, he seems to do OK hanging loose in the Baby Bjorn carrier which actually lends some credibility to the reflux diagnosis (staying upright is generally most comfortable for anyone suffering from reflux). He still hates his 'pram' and won't lay in it for any period of time at all. We go for walks during the day and he usually falls asleep in the BB, like a ton of bricks! I'm going to either have a strong or very sore back...
Pictures are from this past weekend and the one before...this past weekend Travis and Finn on the beach at Bull Island with Howth in the background. The heather is blooming and Howth is all purple. It was gorgeous. Even though Travis is wearing his coat the day was really quite nice, I made him wear the coat so he could zip it over Finn if the weather turned. Other picture is the weekend before at the Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire. Finn's hanging out on the pier in his CSM sweatshirt. I promise it really is him under there.
So, here's hoping that next week is better that last week...it may be a while before the next post if things don't improve soon...don't want to post again until I can do it without whining :/