All the old posts from the old Website

Ignore this post if you've read all the old posts from the other website! As you can tell...it didn't take as long as I thought it would!

21 April 2008
Wow...I'm so behind...to all my faithful readers, I'm so sorry. Things have been a little crazy since last we talked, so I guess i have quite a bit of catching up to do!!!
As many of you might know, the three of us had planned on being in the states the weekend prior to Brett's birthday (the 28th) and stay until the day after his birthday. The point of the trip would be to get our work visa so we could be legal in this wonderful land. However, in order to obtain a work visa, you have to have a work permit. THAT, was taking forever. The british gov kept coming up with more and more information that we needed. Needless to say, our trip that week was cancelled and pushed back until April 4th. It was a wonderful trip, but very very very fast. We had something planned every waking moment. We landed in Indy on Friday night...EXHAUSTED. Mom & Dad picked us up from the airport and we headed straight back to their house. We hadn't really eaten in a while, so we stopped at McD's on the way to Kokomo. I know that sounds gross to many of you, but after not having a hamburger or McD's french fries in over 3 months, it was divine. Once @ Mom & Dad's the three of us passed out pretty quick b/c, while it was only 9:30pm your time, it was 1:30am our time and I can't party like I used to :)
Saturday we drove up to Brett's Mom & Dad's for the weekend. It was a great trip. I'm not sure who was more excited to see Hazel, Grandpa Jeff, or Aunt Ashley, as they both met us in the driveway! We had a lot of fun, ate a lot of good food, and Hazel came back a very snazzily dressed little girl. Grandma and Grandpa (aka. Beth and Jeff) got her the cutest little bouncer toy. She lived in that thing all week I think. She was defenitely more fond of it that the one we got her here...hmmm :)
Monday, Brett and I headed to Indy for the day to get our fingerprints and mugshots done for the visas. I guess I knit entirely too much b/c my hands were really dry and they had a hard time getting my prints to show up...sigh. I'm not giving up knitting however. Then we went to lunch at Kona Grill in Carmel, Brett was dying for some sushi, then we were off running errands. We had to fedex our visa apps to a curier, who took it to the british consalette (however you spell that), waited for it, then fedexed it back to us. Then we ran to the Carter's Outlet in Keystone, like Hazel NEEDS more clothes, right? Then headed home. Hazel hung out with Granny (my Mom) all day so that she didn't have to get back in a carseat until Tuesday.Tuesday we spent in West Lafayette getting Hazel's 6 mos check-up and shots. Rough day. Good news, though, she's 27 inches in length and 16 lbs 15.3 oz!!!! She's wearing 6-9 month clothing now which blows my mind!!!! We spent the rest of the afternoon at Purdue hanging out with Matt (my little brother). It was fun and I got to stretch my hairstylist fingers by giving him a much needed haircut. We had Don Pablos for lunch which was fantastic...you can't get mexican food here and I miss it!
Wednesday was spent catching up on sleep and deciding what we needed to bring back to the UK with us. Granny and Gramps (my parents) watched Hazel that night, though, so Brett and I could go on a much needed date, as we won't get one until either family comes to visit or when we return to Indiana for Christmas. We went to Eddie Merlot's, and let me tell you...it was FANTASTIC. Have I told you about the beef here? No? Well, I'll save that story for another day. We left EM's so full that it actually HURT to be in the car, so we walked around Kohl's and Barnes & Nobles since they were the only places open that late.
Thursday was CRAZY! It was a good day though, even though it started out rough. My brother, Matt, 's best friend, Eric, is the most amazing photographer and he agreed to come to my parents' to do Hazel's 6 months pictures. And we were going to have a house full. That morning, however, Hazel woke me up at 10 till 4, and although she went straight back to sleep, I didn't. Gramps woke up very sick that morning and I volunteered to drive him into the hospital at 4:45. Bless his heart, he was not feeling good...which is a pretty big understatement. They admitted him, and as soon as I knew he was squared away, I ran to the grocery for Granny, and headed home to get H ready for her pictures and me a shower so I didn't offend anyone! Theresa, Layla, and Jillian arrived at my parents' at 11am...followed by Eric at about 11:30...then, mid photo shoot, my grandparents and cousin Mason swung by for the after noon. I can't remember the last time we had so many people and things going on in that house!!! But it was fun. I was glad we had such a housefull. The day finally ended about 11:30pm, and we were all ready for some rest.
H just woke up from her nap, so I will cont. later!
16 March 2008
Okay, so I'm a day early, but I wanted to make sure I remembered and lately, I've not been so good at remembering!!
Nothing too exciting to report from this weekend. We went to Antrim to buy Brett's birthday present (I know it's 2 weeks early, but it just made sense for tons and tons of reasons.) but the jersey he wanted wasn't at the sports store (like it had been for a good month prior) so we went on a hunt to find it. FINALLY after 2 towns, 3 malls, and 3 sports stores, we found it and in the right size. Thus is one of the reasons we bought it so soon as they've been flying off the shelves and it was impossible to find one in Brett's size.
Hazel got a lot this weekend, though. Nothing that she needed, mind you, but it's just not possible to pass some of those cute outfits...knowing how cheap they are and DEFENITELY how cute they'll be on her...and not buy them. We found her the cutest green sweater for just under 2 Pounds!!!! It's nice a thick and looks like it should be too big and too old for her, but it fits perfectly. Sigh. My little girl is growing up...and way way way too fast. She's mastering the art of getting up on all 4s in crawling position. It's crazy. She's getting it really well, but hasn't figured out that she needs to STAY in that position. We're still working on sitting up on her own. I know she'd be able to do it if she wanted to or found a good reason to, as she's good at sitting on her own if you're right there to catch her. I think she just gets way too excited about being there and topples over. But it'll happen soon and only when she's supposed to.
You may have noticed that we removed the link to Hazel's page. We also removed Hazel's page in general. There have been a lot of talk about people (sick, twisted people) downloading pictures of children and babies off the web and there have been a lot of abductions in Europe lately, so out of shear concern for our little one's safety, we're removing that aspect of our website. We would love to share pictures of her with you guys, all you have to do is ask and we'll happily send you pictures via e-mail or some other avenue. Don't dispair, though, I promise to keep you guys up to date about her!!!
Well, keep us in your prayers as Brett's work permit still has not gone through. The last bit of information needed was turned in this past Thursday and hopefully we'll hear fairly quickly that it has gone through. I think we're a little terrified that it will be denied for a second time...I know things will defenitely be smoother sailing once we have it in hand...we'll atleast sleep and breathe easier!
Well, I should say "Adios" for now. Hazel is taking her evening nap and I've got laundry to fold...it's either no more cute outfits and less laundry, or deal with the laundry...I guess I'll just deal with the laundry ;-)...
15 March 2008
So we thought of a couple more differences in terms....
Us Them
Stove Top Hub
Trash Rubbish
Trash Can Rubbish Bin
Kissed Snogged
And Brett's new favorite:
Drunk Pissed
Not that we're truly Irish and get "pissed" alot, I think he just likes saying it knowing it's not a curse word. Boys are funny! :)
13 March 2008
Hazel is 6 Months old today!!!!!!!!!
Hi all! Well, it's my night off, so I thought I could catch up a little on here. My shoulder is feeling 500% better, so hopefully I won't screw it up again...I'm trying to go easy on it so it fully heals.
Nothing exciting has happened as yet. We went to the Giant's Causeway on Saturday but the weather was horrendous so we only got to see the front edge of the cliffs. But it was beautiful what we did get to see. Then we tried going just a bit down the road to the Dunluce Castle, but the weather had made the path to the Castle very muddy and slippery, and as we were on the edge of a cliff, we decided attempting to cross in those conditions with Hazel in tow would probably be considered a "Darwin" decision on our part, so H and I opted to stay in the car while Brett got a few pictures from afar.
We ran by Bushmill's Whiskey Distillery (which is in the same town), thinking that it would occupy a lot of our day since Plans A & B were awash...well, it was no go...the distillery doesn't allow anyone under the age of 8 on it's tour. Like taking an 8 year old on a tour of a whiskey distillery is any less incriminating than taking a 6 month old who doesn't even know what her fingers are (except that they're yummy) let alone what whiskey is....so we ran by the gift shop and left.
We opted for the long route home along the coast as it's supposed to be gorgeous, and they weren't lying, it was amazing. Some of the road we took carried us inland a bit, but that's okay as it was all mountain side and valleys and just plain breath taking. We're excited to go this summer when the weather is nice so we can explore everything.
One cool thing we did see, though, is this INCREDIBLE rainbow. I've never in my life seen a full arched rainbow, but we did on the way to Giant's Causeway. It was HUGE and very bright and we could see where it touched the ground on both sides (seriously). It was one of the most breath-taking scenes I've ever witnessed.
So tonight I invited Brett and Hazel along for my Mommy's night off. Since it was H's 6 month birthday and I just didn't feel like being without them, I wanted to have dinner with them! We went to the Ballygally Hotel for dinner and it was fantastic. I had Carmelized Salmon on Mustard Mash (mashed potatoes with mustard seeds which was just delicious) with Garlic Cream sauce, and Brett had Venison Fillet with Currant and Raisin Sauce. They were both wonderful...so we left happy.
We were, however, laughing about some of the differences in terms and phrases over here compared to what we're used to...for example:
Americans Say... Irish/British say...
"What's her name?" "What do you call her?"
"She's cute/beautiful" "She's Gorgeous/Lovely."
Stroller Pram
Diaper Nappy
Vegetables Veg (if referred to as a side)
Vegetables Salad(if referred to as a topping)
French fries Chips
Potato Chips Crisps
Candy/desserts Sweets
Front/Back yard Front/Back garden
Restroom Toilet
1/2 bath Water Closet
Master bath (or any attached to a room) en Suite
Pants Trousers
Sweater (that would be worn over another shirt) Jumper
I know there are about a million more, but as it's 12:30 am, I can't think of any more....so I'll add as I come across them...
Another thing I find odd is that "Mum" is written on anything having to do with Moms. Actually, you'll be hard pressed to find anything that actually spells Mom, M-O-M. It's either Mother or Mum. So seeing as Mum is just plain weird to me, and Mother sounds too formal, I'll just have to forgo my "World's Greatest Mom" mug until I get back to the states.
We've been running across some accent issues of late. Not on our end...the longer we're here and the more we watch BBC, the easier everyone is to understand. Everyone else, however, is having the darndest time understanding us. I'm not sure how they pronounce Davis here that is so entirely different than how we do, but whenever we tell someone our last name, they always spell it D-A-V-I-E-S versus the correct way. I spent forever on the phone the other day trying to convince BT (British Telecom...our phone company) that our last name was spelled DAVIS and did not contain an E. I wanna laugh, though, because, I can only imagine how someone who doesn't speak english would feel. I'm atleast fluent in our lanuage, I'm just obviously not pronouncing it correctly, or I'm talking too slow, or I'm not drunk enough...or something. :)
Well, kids, I'm off to bed as finally I'm tired...Hazel and Brett have been in bed for over an hour and I need to go join them....
10 March 2008
Well, I know I've been pretty bad about updating this. I promise to catch things up as soon as I can sit down and concentrate on the computer...I hurt my right shoulder (for those of you who don't know, it's the one I had surgery on 2 years ago) and have been in pretty severe pain all week making it hard to do much but lie down or chase after my beautiful little girl. I'm really behind on emails, but please be patient as I swear I will get caught up soon. As for now, it's 1:20 am and I'm exhausted, so I should get a little shut eye before my QT gets me up in a couple hours. We love and miss you all!!!
29 February 2008
It's hard to believe it's the last day of February already. We're heading into Hazel's 6th month, which is so strange to me. I feel as though I just had my little sweetheart yesterday! This week has been fairly uneventful.
Hazel tried Cauliflower & Broccoli Cheese cereal this week. The first time was HYSTERICAL. The faces she made were so funny. But we got through it and now she prefers it to the Rice cereal. I can introduce her to a new food each week, but I think we'll stick with the C & BC for another couple of weeks until she's officially 6 months, as I'm nervous about introducing her to food allergies. We took her to the Leisure Center on Monday to go swimming. It was SOOOO cute. We bought her a swim seat and she was in heaven swimming in the "minor pool" which is the pool used for swim lessons for really little ones. It was nice and warm, and she just kicked her little legs, swinging herself in circles. Our friends, Matt & Jenn (who are here with us through Brett's company), were swimming, too, and Jenn came to play with Hazel and I while Matt got his workout. Poor Daddy had to sit in the bleachers and spectate as he wasn't allowed in the pool area without a suit. Maybe we'll convince him to go this week with us :)
Brett's still loving his job. We're still waiting for his work permit to go through so we can come home at the end of March for Easter and visits and such. That gives them 23 days to get it finish it and get it to us...here's to hopin and praying!
This Sunday, March 2nd, is Mother's (Mum's) Day here in the UK, so Brett surprised me with getting my hair done last night at a salon very near our house. I was super anxious all day about what to do with my hair as I've been feeling very frumpy for a while, and my hair has been falling out in clumps b/c after being pregnant hair just does that...anyway, I couldn't decide, but in the end, it just made sense to go shorter. So I chopped it!!!! And colored it red. I love it. Brett likes it. And I feel human again. Don't worry, I'll grow it out again, but hopefully this time I won't be balding and look like a shaggy dog!
Brett's taking Hazel and I to Belfast tomorrow. I'm so excited. There's a farmer's market there and we'll get to do a lot of exploring in the downtown area! We plan on getting tons of pictures, so hopefully I'll get caught up soon!
Well, we're off to bed, see everyone soon!
24 February 2008
Just a short note tonight, to tell you I've added a new page called "Family Pages" to the left...it'll have all the pics of us. I've also added a couple Ireland pictures but there aren't any captions, but bare with me...I'll get caught up eventually...for now, I'm ready for bed...

23 February 2008
Tired...sooooooo tired...
We didn't do much today. Brett woke up early to a cold townhome...our furnace gave out last night and fearing a fire in the night, we turned it off until the guy came this morning to fix it. Don't worry, it wasn't really that cold...just chilly. And I woke up with a really bad sinus headache. So we didn't get moving until 1 this afternoon. So we kept it slow and easy today. We had lunch at a place called Beattie's Traditional Fish and Chips, I had fish and chips and Brett had Ulster Fry. Then we headed into Antrim in search of the Antrim Round Tower, which was neat, but only because it was built in the 10th or 11th century and the only remains of a monastary dating back to 495 a.d. Otherwise it was just a tower in the middle of someone's back yard...that's Europe for ya! So we headed off to Junction One which is a Retail Outlet mall in Antrim. We went last weekend and found some really great deals. I found a Ralph Lauren skirt for 3 Pounds!!! I've never owned Ralph Lauren anything and to get a brand new RL skirt for basically $6.00...can't beat that! Brett's new favorite things are Rugby and Soccer shirts, and he's collected 4 so far and we found some in one of the stores there for very little!
So since I'm so far behind in ways of our travel news, I'll just list what we've experienced so far, and feel free to email questions if I leave anything out!
1. We go out every Saturday to a different village, and we start our day with Ulster Fry(there's a picture in the picture pages!) at the Ballygally Castle Hotel. There's a cute little French girl who serves us every weekend and it's funny b/c she can't understand anyone either! People here are so fun to get to know!
2. We went to Carrickfergus and got to see the coolest old castle. they started building it in the 11th Century and it took about a hundred years to complete! The entire castle consists of the court yard and then story upon story of staircases. So, we left Hazel's Pram (that's "stroller" to you Americans) in the welcome center and carried our chunky little girl up and down endless stairs. She had a ball...Brett and I got a work out! It was wonderful, and we can't wait to take you guys to see it when you get here! After the Castle, we walked around the Towne Centre to look at the little shops and found a cute little children's store that we ended up buying Hazel's Cot (again, to you american's, that's "Crib") from. The lady in the store was super sweet and even offered to deliver the bed to our townhome so we didn't have to find a car big enough to bring it home in! Just down the way from that shop was a little Yarn shop. Let's talk about HOW EXCITED I was to find a yarn shop. My fingers were itching to knit...and all my stuff was in Mom & Dad's basement...sigh. So I tried very hard not to go crazy and spend too much of Brett's hard earned $$$ in that little shop. All-in-all, it was a fun trip to Carrick and we couldn't wait to go back again...so we did...a week later!
3.We ventured out to Ballymena the 2nd weekend we were here with Matt Rodriguez in search of some familiar shopping. We found a large Sporting Goods store called JJB Sports (similar but smaller than Dick's), a Toy store called Smyth's Toys (like Toys 'R Us), a Hardware Store called B & Q (like Lowe's), and a lot of other odds and ends stores that are very necessary. We ate at a little restuarant called Solomon Grundy's which is just a little family friendly joint, then headed back out and discovered the best store of them all...Tesco. Fantastic. FANTASTIC. It's where we do our grocery shopping every Sunday. Food over here goes bad quickly so we basically shop every week only for that week, and we have to be very careful that it stays good for longer than a day or two. Our bodies are detoxing after years of American preservatives, I swear. We're going to go into shock when we get back to the States in a year and half.
Well, kids, that's all she wrote for tonight. I need to go relax a little with my love on the couch before we head off to the Land of Nod....I will write again soon if not tomorrow!



22 February 2008
Hahahahahah Don't you love my British dating skills? Gotta put the day before the month before the year. Makes for some confusing best by date reading....but I digress...
Sorry it's been so long since I've last written. We were without internet until yesterday, and I had 400+ messages in my email box that needed tended to...but here I am, trying to catch up on this little blog spot....
We've done a lot of exploring here so far. We venture out every weekend and try very hard to get lost in a new little village. So far the tally is: Ballygally, Carrickfergus, Glenarm, Ballyclare, Ballymena, and Antrim. We go to Ballymena every weekend to do our grocery shopping for the week...there's a fabulous store called Tesco. It's very similar to a Super Walmart although not as big.
Well, I know this is a short entry, but it's 1:38am our time and I need sleep before the Sirens go off around 6:30am (for those of you unaware of our terms "the Sirens" refer to the unnatural loudness of our daughter's SCREAMING...). But I promise to catch up within the next week as we have lots and lots of pictures to share!

January 10, 2008

Just some quick thoughtss...Things I'm not used to...
1. Street signs on the sides of buildings or in TINY signs in the corner yard
2. People just stopping in the middle of the street...whether to drop someone off, pick someone up, drop something off...whatever...they stop mid-street!
3. There is brown gravy on everything here. EVERYTHING. And if there isn't brown gravy on it, it's dry without any sauce whatsoever.
4. Things are very literal here. Yield signs say "Give Way" instead of Yield. Tires are spelled "Tyres" as in tyres for your car. Unless people are pronouncing a gaelic word, they're very literal in pronouncing words...each letter (consonant or vowel) is pronounced.
5. The stop lights turn yellow before turning green and before turning red. They warn you either way!
6. People talk VERY loudly. It's funny to hear them speak so loudly!
That's all I can think of for now!
3:30pm
So, in searching for formula to give to Hazel during our flights, I found something interesting out. It is illegal to advertise any method that discurrages breastfeeding. That includes ANY and ALL forms of formula. In fact, if you get to a website that has information about available formulas, you have to agree to a statement that says you are aware that breastfeeding is the best for you and your little one and that all information you are about to view was requested by yourself alone and that the foresaid company did not in any way encourage replacement of breastfeeding with bottlefeeding. One sight even stated that you agree that there are social and financial hardships with bottlefeeding! CRAZY, huh? I mean, I solely breastfeed H, and I agree that it's amazing, but my pump is in the states and she can't be out of her carseat when the plane takes off and lands so we HAVE TO HAVE formula to relieve pressure in her ears, and there was a time when I NEEDED formula so that she would gain weight.
I'm not knocking on the system...I actually kind of think it's cool, they aren't outlawing bottlefeeding, just outlawing the advertisement of it. Plus, none of the sights give a location where youcan buy their product...so I'll just have to find it myself!
I'll put a link above so you can see for yourself if you're interested! The link will be for Cow & Gate Milk!!! P.S. It's just one of the sites I found...not the only one! Click on one of the products and you'll get the disclaimer...
January 4, 2008

It's a new year! Can you believe it? Here it is 3:30 am, Larne, Northern Ireland and I'm wide (well, sort of wide) awake. Sigh. Brett and the Nut are sound asleep and I'm afraid my tossing and turning will wake them up. So here I am...making this page so ya'll (sorry guys..had to do it) can see what I'm up to!
We're trying to find our USB cord for the camera, so I can take and download pictures soon, but since I can't find anything in the disaster we call our luggage...it'll have to wait until this weekend when I can devote time and energy to looking for it!
Ireland is BEAUTIFUL, although I haven't ventured out of our apartment since Tuesday afternoon...I'm not brave enough to drive anywhere yet, so Brett has our car for the time being. He's going to take me driving on Saturday so maybe I can get out and do a little necessary shopping. It's also FREEZING and windy outside so I'm trying hard not to take Hazel out any more than completely necessary. I think her and I are coming down with colds, so sleep and more sleep are a must.
It's funny how different it is to live here. I'm learning new things every day that I thought I had mastered in the States. Like doing the laundry. Here, the laundry machine is one unit. Both Washer AND dryer in one. It takes 3 hours to complete one load of laundry...but that's an improvement to the 5 hours it was taking me! Finally figured out that the difference between 2 hours was a simple little button...sigh. Plus, all the appliances are hidden behind "cosmetic" doors. Meaning they all look like the rest of our cabinetry. So if you don't know where things are, you end up playing "find the dishwasher." Which is next to the hidden frig...and the washer/dryer combo is hidden next to the sink...I can't figure out THAT logic, but, hey, they didn't ask me.
The food over here, though, is AMAZING. Really. Everyone told me how bland and nasty the food is here, and honestly, I've yet to experience it being gross. We went to the Highway Hotel for dinner the first night we were here b/c my frig was empty, and everything we ate was delicious. I had Medallions of Pork Fillet on top of apple Mash topped Mashed potatoes. Now let me ask this question...why have I never heard of putting mashed apples on top of mashed potatoes before? HELLO?!!? So yummy. Us silly Americans are missing out. We went to the grocery on Monday and bought some essentials...we got potato chips (called Crisps over here) that were the most bazaar flavors, but surprisingly great! Their Sea Salt & Vinegar are far better than what you can get in the states. I've also become a huge tart fan...Rhubarb is just the best. Who knew? I've also become an avid bottled water fan as the tap water tastes of moldy grass...it's just gross enough to make you want to become dehydrated. So we stick to buying expensive (because everything is here in Europe) bottled water...
That's all the news here in ways of Ireland...
Hazel rolled over for the first time on Wednesday. It was the most exciting thing ever!!!! Can you tell I'm a parent? She did it by accident and just lay there on her belly looking at me with HUGE eyes and a big grin, like, "That was really cool, mommy!" It's her new favorite challenge, and although not for lack of trying, she's done it only once more...the way she goes at it like a mad woman, though, I'm not going to be bored chasing her around once she really gets mobile.
Brett's lovin his job. We met a lot of the people he works with on Monday night at Hani's New Year's party. They're taking him to a rugby game tonight...hopefully it won't get too rowdy!
Well, kids, I'm, surprisingly, getting sleepy again, so I should off to bed while I can get some sleep! I love and miss all of you!!!!