A month old

Hey everyone! that's right that's right, I'm four weeks old. Has it really already been that long? The first couple of weeks, I slept most of the day. My mama was so psyched to get a shower before 9am---I think she remembers some days in the past when she was not able to get in the shower 'till my dad came home. My brothers are cool--they adore me! Sometimes they fight over who's going to hold me first. Mama just tells them, whoever washes his hands first get to hold me first. My grandparents, lola and papa, are in town for a month. This makes my mom and me very very very very happy. They help mama a whole lot. Lola cooks yummy food and Papa plays with me and my brothers. My grandpa also helps my mom with the laundry--he's been folding laundry ever since he got here. The best thing about my grandparents is I get to nap all day in their arms. Oh yeah...when they put me down--I grunt here and there and then I'm back in their arms again. I don't really cry much --only when it takes my mom too long to change my diaper or when I really have terrible gas pains. My grandma sings all sorts of lullaby or what my mama says "best of karoake" songs when she's holding me and I like it. My dada left for Oregon but when he was here I enjoyed hanging out with him. Sometimes he'll even let me check out what he's working on in the computer. I'm sure everyone wants to know my sleeping and eating schedule (hmmm there's not much going on with me that I enjoy more than sleeping and eating) . Like I said, I eat a lot during the day every 2-3 hours --at nighttime every 3 hours. I even have tried taking breastmilk from a bottle--it wasn't too bad at all. At night time, I only wake up to eat and then I go right back to sleep...so my mom is getting more sleep these days. Lastly, I am the burping and farting king in this castle. Thanks Mrs. Katie and Mrs. Diane for the burp cloths you gave--we've been using them (wink wink). And I'm afraid that until my GI system matures and I grow out of my gastro-colic reflex--I remain the fart king.
My Aunt Nicolle made this special onesie for me. Mahal means love in tagalog!
This is why God made grandparents! I love my lola and papa!
A lot of people think I look like my big brother Ronan. What do you think?
My proud mom!
Whoa! my mom caught while I'm passing gas...

Turn off the Dolan Island tunes and you can hear me "sing in my sleep".

Leavin' on a jet plane

Jim headed to Portland today. Some friends came by yesterday to say goodbye and he also went to visit some of our neighbors to bid adieu. We both can't believe how time here has passed by quickly and his little over 4 years tour here is over. So much has happened at Keesler especially after that gal Katrina--he really got to develop his leadership skills! The two deployments also brought lots of lessons not just clinically but also in our family life. Some life lessons not so easy but can't help but be grateful for what better person it makes you and be supremely grateful for friends& family (near and far) and God to let you get through things. And so as he leaves for Portland, we are both surprisingly calm and totally not freaking out that I'll be here with a newborn and two active boys. My parents will be here for a month to help with the "single mom with 3 kids" transition. And we both know that we've got a great circle of friends here we can rely on for just about anything.
Here's Jim, sending Patrick off to school at 6:30 in the morning for the last time. Since he went on leave, he's been the one preparing Patrick's lunch and getting him up and ready for school..as well as getting the boys to and from martial arts and t- ball practice & game.
A final tet a tet with Ronan before getting on the plane.
And a snuggle and coo time with Gabriel.
En garde Pacific Northwest---the Dolans are coming back!

Ronan is 4 !!

Hard to believe that little Ronan is now four years old! A wise crackin', probably will turn into some sort of lawyer /Greco-Roman wrestler someday. Lola and Papa arrived night before last so it makes a pretty special day for him. We decided to have a quiet celebration at home and have a joined birthday party for him and Patrick sometime in October.
On Thursday, he had a little birthday celebration with his friends in school.
Papa and Roanie
Lola's big boy
Happy Birthday Ronan!

Chubwub wub with lots of love

Some pictures speak for themselves.

Live on CNN Morning Express Blog

Okay, so we didn't make it on TV but we made it on their webblog.
Morning Sunshine with Robin Meade

CNN Update

I got an email from one of the producers of Morning Sunshine. Looks like another story supersedes the iReports segment for tomorrow. Oh well...once it's posted on their blog I'll put a link to it.----------------

Hi ladies! Sorry to disappoint, but I’m afraid we may not be able to run your Morning Sunshine I-reports tomorrow. We had a change of plans, but they will definitely be posted in a blog on our website, cnn.com/robin, before the show airs tomorrow. Again, sorry for the confusion, but thanks so much for sending them in!

Dianna Hill
CNN Headline News

Gabriel on CNN Headline News

Watch CNN Headline News-Robin Meade's Morning Express
this Friday Sept 19th between 6am-10am and you might just catch Gabriel and Me!

I just got a phone call from CNN to confirm he'll be on tomorrow's show...his actual due date YEY!

The Boys got accepted!

I got a phonecall today from Cedarwood Waldorf School in Portland to let me know that Patrick and Ronan have been accepted to their school. Woo Hoo!!

Happy Anniversary !

September 12, 1999 Stanford Memorial Church
9 years of marriage and 14 years together! How blessed can one be? Thank you James for being an incredible father and wonderful husband!! and for saying "I do!" on that beautiful Indian summer day 9 years ago.

Life is GOOD especially with YOU!

I love you forever!

Our Baby Angel Gabriel is here!!!

Born on Sept 6th at 4:31 am 8lbs and 4.6 oz
and 19.75 inches!!
I'm so so so proud and so so so IN LOVE!!

We are so HAPPY to welcome Gabriel Terence !!

Oh Pomodoro!

That's right...Io sono enorme di pomodoro! And this tomato is ready to burst! T-minus 5 days but the way the contractions are coming this evening, Gabriel might make his debut a little sooner. Jim and I had a dinner date tonight at Al Fresco's...maybe our last dinner alone for a while. My friend Kristen suggested I try the eggplant parmesan as rumor has it that it will help bring on labor but the duck and shrimp fettuccine sounded yummy. Hope the next blog update is a birth announcement! Woo hoo!

Pre-K 3

Two weeks ago, Ronan's pre-K teacher came for a home visit. Since Patrick started school, he's been talking about going back to Mrs. Kelsey's class (his teacher last year). He wouldn't believe me that he'll be in a different class. When Mrs. Jackie arrived at home, he wouldn't stop talking and telling her about his trip to Ireland, his fish, his worksheets, and his new Bakugan toys.
A week after the home visit was school orientation, where the kids got to meet the other kids in their class. It's a really nice way to get them acquainted first with their teacher, then with their classmates.
Today, is his first day back to school. He didn't want me to take a photo --he just wanted to go in and see his friends and Mrs. Jackie. Look how "thrilled" he is.
My cutie patootie telling me to quit taking photos and to go home. He said "bye mom" before I was even ready to say goodbye. I'm like, wait I want to take another picture--and he's like "aw mom.." Nicholas, Matheson, Katie, and Avery are all returnees from last year. Mrs. Jackie is so excited with her class--all of them will be 4 years old by the end of October.
All smiles at 11:30 am pick up. Here is Ronan with his buddy and our neighbor Elijah. His favorite part of the day was "making gingerbread magnets", and being the "line leader". Apparently he volunteered to be line leader when Mrs. Jackie was giving them their "jobs" for the week. A fun morning for him, and a nice quiet morning for me. We went to Salsarita's for some Fresh Mex after school for lunch and treats with Maribel and Elijah.

Eye Candy

There's the eye of the hurricane....and then there's CNN's eye candy--Rob Marciano. We got "to know" him really well during Hurricane Katrina--he was all over the place pretty much like Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel. The two dudes make meteorology much more interesting. Anyway, you can guess by now, our little town faired very well today. No power outage, no flooding in my neighborhood and no injuries!! We are pretty darn lucky! Jim is still in the hospital on stand by --will probably be released tomorrow. Our neighbor, Kelly who just had a baby 4 days ago got the boys and I out of our house this afternoon and we walked around the neighborhood. Thank goodness! because they were going stir crazy and I was ready to get out to get some fresh air. Areas of highway 90 flooded because of the storm surge..(9-12 feet). The Hard Rock Hotel flooded but just the first floor and they've already got the pump running and cleaning up. Folks who evacuated will start returning tomorrow when the curfew is lifted. So all in all, there's some damage, some flooding, some power outage but nothing like Katrina. Thank you for all your prayers. Now---Hurricane Ike awaits in line after Hanna--hope he stays away from the gulf coast!

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*