Fall Fun

My pretty pumpkins
In search of the perfect pumpkin to take home.
Got it!

Matheson and Ronan in Courtney Farms with their class

Fall Festival at Pecan Park
First Grade Fall Musical
We love fall!
Patrick's first grade class fall party

Buon Compleano!

Kristen, Jenni, and I all have birthdays in October. We celebrated last week at a local Italian restaurant with some girlfriends. Had a fun night of gab and femme bonding. Turning 43--not such a big deal. There is some certain inner calm that comes as one gets older I suppose, and I'm beginning to appreciate that. Life is good. Now...the astigmatism is another story...the reading glasses has to be within reach a lot more times nowadays.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 2008

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We were blessed with a beautiful fall day for the 3rd annual breast cancer walk for the American Cancer Society. Our team raised over $9k !!! . I'm so grateful for friends and family who helped me surpass my personal goal of raising $500. Our team's top fundraisers, Julie and Jay collected $6500. Jay told his friends that if he raised $3k he will do the walk wearing a pink tutu, pink wig, and pink boots. The paparazzi were all over him. Patrick and Ronan wore their fushia pink tshirts without complaints --no complaints walking either. It was nice to see many survivors walking among the approximately 5000 walkers today.


WE MADE IT ON THE LOCAL NEWS !!! Click here to see Dulcinea's Angels Team on WLOX News

Dulcinea's Angels Team Walkers

Two peas in a pod

No copy needed for these series of pix. These boys crack me up!

Trash party--and talking trash

We met Patrick's Cub Scout troop (Pack 271) this morning to participate in the annual MS Coast Cleanup. It actually felt like fall this morning. It was nippy enough to don a sweatshirt and cap. We found quite a bit of trash--lots of beer bottles, plastic bags, plastic caps. Weirdest finds--a doll's leg, a whole doll, top of an icebox and a condom.The Browns
We met the Brown Clan--that's Morgan with me. Isn't she a doll? She loves Gabriel Note how I strategically placed the trash bag infront of my postpartum belly and in some people's eyes--still a pregnant belly. Someone inquired this morning as to when the baby is DUE!! . Dangit!!

Burning Questions

Did you get a new car to fit all the kids?
Nope! Have not acquired the official soccer-mom-mobile. What I do have are two new narrow booster seats and a new infant car seat so all three treasures can fit in the back of my good ol' car. Good to go for one year (or less) and then a red Kia Sedona for us.

Is there such a thing as a perfect playdate?
YES! it happened yesterday. One of Ronan's friends, Matheson came over to play. They played independently from 8:30-11:00 in Ronan's room. There was no whining, no fighting over a toy, no screaming. I had to keep checking to make sure they were okay. They only came out to have a snack. We've known Matheson for a couple of years now and I hardly ever hear him talk --but yesterday they were just chit chatting away about Power Rangers and Bakugans and Bionicle worlds. After lunch we headed out to the playground and they ran around 'till Matheson's mom picked him up. Another playdate to be scheduled soon!


Does Gabriel have dimples?
We've been dimple hunting now for 4 weeks--he started to smile a couple of days ago--the answer is YES! he has one on his right cheek.
Go ahead..squeeze my chubby cheeks!

Is Gabriel still using cloth diapers?
You betcha! So far so good...I feel a little less guilty about filling landfills with diapers. Cloth diapers have come a long way in the last seven years. I tried using them with Patrick and I lasted a total of 3 days. We use Bum Genius--easy to use and they give Gabriel a fluffy butt.


When is that baby going to come out?
Two weeks after I had Gabriel, one of the moms from Ronan's school asked me when I was due. I smiled and told her, I already had the baby . It just takes me a while to loose the weight. She on the other hand had already lost her pregnancy weight after having twins two months ago.
The week after, the nice little old lady who greats parishoners before mass gave me a hug and asked "Oh, when is that baby going to come out?" and then she proceeded to make the sign of the cross on my belly and gave it a blessing. I told her I already had the baby but she had a little trouble with hearing. As we were leaving church, she was surprised to see Jim carrying the baby.
This past Sunday, another inquiring mind posted a queston. Gabriel stayed home with my parents. Patrick, Ronan & I went to church. After mass a nice lady came up to me to tell me how cute the boys are and asked if my third one is going to be a girl. I smiled and told her, I JUST had a baby and it's a boy.

Dang! it's a good thing I've got thick armadillo skin or I'd be crying all the way to a Weight Watcher's meeting. I'm not one of those celebrities or even regular people who can lose weight right after giving birth (at 42!). I don't really start losing it 'till I start weaning the baby off breastfeeding, and then even then I have to really work out to get back to prepregnancy weight. And yeah..isn't the equation for post pregnancy weight loss equals total weight gain minus baby weight minus placenta weight minus rate of diuresis multiplied by amount of excess vascular fluid divided by metabollic rate minus maternal age plus number of calories consumed during midnight snacking minus caloric needs to produce 4 ounces of breastmilk every 2-4 hours mutliplied by degree of self esteem to the factor of 10 and the square root of the number of inquiries of when one is due after having a baby...yeah that's it I think I got the equation right. Who knows--I just might look like Salma Hayak in 2 years!

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.