Wednesday, 31 December 2008

BumBum is a GIRL!

There is so much to say, I barely know where to start. First things first, BumBum is no longer BumBum . . . SHE is now known as ELISA! She was born Sunday, December 21st at 2:32 am, weighing 6 lbs 8 oz and measuring 19 inches. It is quite a story (aren't they all?) so I will be sure to write about it soon. For now, I want to share some pics of her first 10 days. We are both so in love with her and most of the time I think she feels the same way about us. She does have a hilarious "WTF?" face that we get from time to time, but for the most part she has been a great baby so far.

One of her first pictures:

 
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Daddy and Elisa on Day 2:

 
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Leaving the hospital:

 
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On Christmas Eve (in Christmas outfit 1 of 3. good thing she was born before Christmas!):

 
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Christmas morning:

 
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Close-up:

 
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Her first dress and shoes:

 
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Monday, 15 December 2008

New Addition - not BumBum yet

You may (or may not) have noticed that we have a new addition on our blog - Twitter. Look to the right - there it is!

Pat plans to use this to keep you all updated during BumBum's arrival process, aka my l-a-b-o-r. For some reason, I am having a difficult time saying that word these days. Anyway, it is not going to be a play-by-play, even though that is what he keeps calling it. First of all, I don't think anyone really wants a play-by- play of that. Secondly, he has been warned (daily) that having his nose in his blackberry or computer is not allowed. So please, for my sanity and Pat's physical well-being (I am pretty scrappy!) do not expect or encourage too many twitter updates. Don't fret, we won't leave you in the dark!

And if you think we are geeky, check out what this guy did.

Merry (BumBum) Christmas!

We are pretty much ready (as ready as we will ever be!) for BumBum's arrival. Which is a good thing since BumBum's estimated date of arrival is a week from tomorrow! That means it could happen any day. AHHHH!

So now I feel like I can go back to the non-BumBum related items on my "to do" list. And first is to Christmas-ize our blog (notice the new colors) and share a couple pictures of our Christmas decorations. Our flat is a decent size, especially for London, but a one bedroom for 3 people is tight no matter what. And ours is now filled to the brim with BumBum's stuff, Pat's wires and my shoes. So between the lack of open space and the fact that most of our stuff is in storage in Chicago anyway, we went pretty light on the Christmas decorations.

First is our tree. It is really little, which is perfect for our little flat! It smells great, but the needles will not fall out so it is a perfect, low maintenance tree. And although we have collected ornaments during our travels this year, I decided to leave it au natural. When I put ornaments on it, it just didn't look right - it is so teeny that they overwhelm it. Without further ado:



And here is our wreath/centerpiece on the coffee table. I love it and even more so with my favorite Christmas candle in the middle.



And last but certainly not least, our favorite Christmas decoration ever - our stockings!!!! A huge thank you & hugs to my mom, grandma, Aunt Joanie, Maggi, and Laura who put this special "advent calendar" together for us. And also to all of you who sent the messages to fill them! We have absolutely loved reading the messages everyday(and looking at the stockings too!) and will treasure them for years & years to come. I already know that we are going to look forward to putting these up every year!

Friday, 5 December 2008

casino night

The ND Alumni Club in London joined with several other American colleges and hosted their annual event two weeks ago. This year it was a Casino Night with a "Roaring 20's" theme. We invited our friends Erica & Brad to come with us and we had a great time. The boys were not jazzed by the low buy-ins, but Erica & I loved it!

Is this perhaps our last night on the town pre-BumBum?

 
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Can you tell you has the most chips in this picture?

 
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C'est moi!! I think I did pretty well for not really knowing how to play . . . until I got bored and went on a "bluffing" streak! Oh well, I only lost 10 and Pat won 40, so as a family we ended up.

the cousins

You can't tell in the picture, but BumBum is giving Blaise a kick for slobbering all over his/her toy. Sorry BumBum, Blaise is going to have a size advantage for awhile . . . maybe forever - he earned the nickname Meatball!


 
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Tuesday, 2 December 2008

In case you were wondering . . . .

. . . Thanksgiving in London was great! We had visitors - my brother Tommy, sister-in-law Laura & their son Blaise. We had a traditional American Thanksgiving Day dinner, probably at the same time our families were eating back home. Tommy, Laura & Blaise spent their first full day here out & about (in the lovely London rain) and Pat had to work. It worked perfectly, bc what is turkey & stuffing without American football? This is the first time I have hosted a holiday and I have to admit . . . it felt like we were playing "house"! Here are a couple pictures from our dinner:





Aunt Becky and Uncle Pat loved spending time with Blaise! He is such a cutie and a great baby. Here are a couple great shots of the little meatball:

 

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