Duty Calls

Jim just left for Keesler to be with other medical personnel to be on standby and go wherever needed when Gustav hits. He'll be at the hospital until they release him--hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday. In the meantime, we're at home with our fierce cats to ride out the storm. I feel pretty safe otherwise we would have gone with Jim to the hospital. We've got neighbors staying who are a stone's throw away from us should we need assistance. I ventured to Walmart half an hour before it closed today at noon and it was the most efficient grocery shopping trip I ever made.. I was just going to get some brownie mix and milk---well then $150 worth of groceries later--done in less than 45 minutes. Eerilly calm---calmer than post Thanksgiving sale. We're planning to sleep on the hallway tonight just in case there's a tornado in the middle of the night. We don't have a basement, so the next best thing is either the bathroom or the hallway. We opt for the hallway. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We will be alright--our neighbors in Louisiana and west Mississippi will not be so lucky. Please pray for their safety. Internet connection is starting to be sporadic now, so I'll update as often as I can. 'Till tomorrow!

Should I stay or should I go?

Oh baby stay stay stay..."
As of 10:30pm this evening Jim got put on the essential personnel category at Keesler. He has to stay at the hospital along with the residents. I could evacuate with the boys--if I was not 37 weeks preggers, I probably could do it without any problems but as it is, it's even hard to stay in one position for more than 30 minutes--it might not be safe to put me in a driver's seat and drive 100 miles to our "safe haven". We've studied and studied the forecasted path of Gustav and unless it decides to veer east --we think we'll be safe. We' did not flood during Katrina, and the house withstood Cat3 windforce. We'll keep our fingers crossed---and a lot of prayers. I'll keep daily blog updates. Please pray for those who will be in Gustav's path. 'Till tomorrow...goodnight!

On Stand-By

Possibly heading out of Mississippi tomorrow afternoon. Scrambling to pack but how fast can one hippo pack?
Apologies for phone calls that didn't get done today :( I'm tired and achy...and in no mood to evacuate. Blah!

Gustav Go Away!

I must be in denial, 'cause I'm not freaking out over this potential Cat3 hurricane. Argh! I don't want to evacuate because that will surely start my labor. I'll go see my OB tomorrow morning at 8am and we'll see if I'm even close.
Gustav Go Away!

Patrick, the first grader

The joy of "sleeping in" (waking up after 8am) is now reserved for weekends. We now have to wake up early enough to get Patrick out to the bus stop by 6:40 to be in school by 7:15am. This past Friday, a day after they got back from Ireland, he started the big boy's life as a first grader at Pecan Park Elementary School. Fortunately, he and Ronan was still on "Irish" time that by 6am, they were up and ready to go. The transition to waking up early was hardly an effort at all.
Patrick has 19 other kids in his class. Mrs. Warner is the teacher's assistant, and Mrs. Streiff (here with Patrick) is his teacher and has been teaching for 17 years! She must have started when she was 12. She also attends mass at St. Elizabeth where we go.
Since he missed the first week of school, he came home with a ton of worksheets. They sure do a lot of school work in first grade. We spend about an hour doing homework and reviewing vocabulary and spelling words. I'm glad he's an older first grader --he has more patience and can focus better in doing his work. When we were working on his makeup worksheets, he was able to tolerate doing it for two hours at a time. I was the one who was getting impatient.
The school bus ride to and from school is probably his favorite part of school. We had planned on him just taking the bus going home, but after the first day of school he announced that I didn't have to drive him to school.
Ronan and my favorite time of day...meeting Patrick coming home from school. It just seemed like yesterday when he was two and a half and upon seeing a school bus in our neighborhood he announced he wanted to go to school. I had no qualms sending him off...First Baptist Preschool prepared him and ME for the "goodbye" and spending 8 hours a day away from each other. There's something nice about seeing him fly on his own... (sniff sniff --a little).

Ireland 2008

The boys spent their first hours in Ireland exploring Jim's old family house where he grew up. It's just a few yards from their current home.

Ronan was the ring bearer in Mickey and Kathleen's wedding. How cute is he in a tuxedo!?! The paparazzi chased him all night
And after a while, he got tired of people taking his photo.
"When Irish eyes are smiling...."
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Dolan!! Woo hoo!
Their cousin, Sean David, was baptized in the same church Ronan got baptized in two years ago. Berni and Big Sean are the godparents.
Jim took the boys fishing and they caught a few perches. They look so proud of their catch.
They had a great time getting to know their uncles and aunts. It's so neat to hear the boys talk about them. It's too bad we leave so far away from New York, California and Ireland. A fun reunion for them, wish I was able to join them. Next one...2010--Gabriel and I will be able to go!

*Slideshow coming soon after I get more photos from Debbie & Berni*

Woo Hooo!

How exciting was that event!?!?! Go Team USA!

Feet SOS and other surprises!

These feet were crying for help. There were two more pairs that were in dire straights. So when Maribel suggested we get a pedicure, I jumped on that idea. Four of us (Blake, Kristen, Maribel & I) were scheduled to have a pedicure for Saturday morning. I was so excited that I even called the nail salon the day before to confirm the appointments Maribel made. I was a little annoyed when they didn't have us on the schedule so I rebooked it.
Saturday morning, I was to pick up Maribel, then Blake and then head to the salon were Kristen was to meet us. Since the boys weren't home I was ready to go 20 minutes ahead of schedule, so instead of picking up Maribel first, I went to pick up Blake. When I got to her street, I noticed there were a lot of cars parked infront of her house. I thought...dang! she has a boyscout meeting at her house and she forgot about it...and now she can't go to get a pedicure? As I'm looking for a place to park, I see Tammy, who is in our book club--I'm like "what is Tammy doing here? --then I thought her older son is in boyscout. It was strange..when she answered "oh...Blake told me to come to the meeting--gotta go!" So I park my car when my phone rings, and it's Maribel, I started to tell her that I was picking up Blake first and before she could answer, I told her I'd call her back since I see my other neighbor parking in the car..now Libby also in book club also has a son, I thought Erik is also in boyscout?? When I asked her, she got all flustered and grabs a gift bag from her car and says oh...let's go in, let's just go in the house. So I'm standing in the middle of the street as she walks fast ahead of me--I'm on wobble speed these days--I'm all puzzled and a little confused. Wait...Jill's shower is next week and at Kristen's house. Kristen and I briefly discussed having a little something at the end of August. I get to Blake's door, Libby has disappered...and I rang the doorbell.
I don't even remember who opened the door, but I was surprised to see a whole lot of girlfriends in her house. That's when I realized the party was for me! Blake, Jenni, Kristen, and Maribel had been planning a surprise baby shower for me for the last two months!! How they managed to contact nearly 50 people and keep it a secret from me...I don't know. Needless to say I was very overwhelmed and very very touched. There were about 26 girlfriends who took time out of their busy family schedule to come and celebrate Gabriel's upcoming arrival. I just couldn't believe it!! The girls created pages for Gabriel's baby scrapbook, we played games, ate and laughed and laughed until I about peed in my pants (and these days...that happens a lot--the peeing part). They showered Gabriel & I with lots of presents and love. I am so incredibly blessed.










Thank you Blake, Jenni, Kristen and Maribel for organizing a great surprise and a beautiful and fun filled day. I'll never forget it!!













Click on the cake to view slideshow

Baby Shower 2008

OR here (this one takes a while to download)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ireland 2005

Dolan Family Reunion from 3 years ago.
I spoke to the boys this morning, they made it to Mammy's house without any problem. Lucky for Jim, they slept the whole flight and had to be waken up for breakfast. Soon after breakfast they landed. Patrick didn't want to stay too long on the phone. He wanted to explore and walk down the creek to check out the old house where Jim grew up.

On their way to Eire!

Jim, Patrick and Ronan finally made it out to Ireland after their flight got delayed twice then ultimately cancelled out of Mobile IA.Their flight had to be rescheduled for Friday, Aug 1st.They had no problems saying goodbye. They're so excited to travel and see nana. They were in Atlanta for nearly 5 hours before their plane finally left.I spoke with Jim before the plane took off from Atlanta, he told me for both flights from Mobile to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Dublin., he and the boys were seated separately. Patrick and Ronan sat together while he sat behind Ronan. No one wanted to trade seats so they could all sit together. But according to him, the boys liked it as it made them feel like "big boys".Ronan so proud of his passport!! I'm going to miss them! I've never been away from them longer than 2 nights. But I have to say, I'm looking forward to two weeks of quiet, working on projects, prepping for the baby's arrival, catching up on neglected phonecall backs, watching foreign movies with subtitles (woo hoo), listening to my opera cds, reading,cleaning and hopefully spending some time doing nothing.