The North Coast.

A few days ago we traveled to the North Coast - Portballintrae to be exact.  I love the North Coast, and maybe that's because I love being so close to the water.  Or maybe it's because that's where Giant's Causeway is, and I think the hexagonal stones are the coolest thing.  Or maybe it's because that's where Peter proposed to me all those years ago (read about that here).  Anyhow, regardless of the reason, the reality is I love this place.  So the road trip up north was blessed and filled with anticipation.

And it just so happens that Peter's grandparents have a house in Portballintrae right across from the beach where they spent much of their childhood.  So of course we had to make a stop by the house to document our presence there.



Me and my little lovie.



All of these photos are taken by the one and only Peter Drennan.

The house is called Green Gables.

The house from across the road.

And we were so lucky to have Auntie Ruth come visit us from Dublin for the night.  And I was so blessed by her joining us on our journey to the North Coast.  We love her so, and I especially love the new hat she knit Jack to match the sweater she made him months ago.

And we couldn't drive to the North Coast without making a stop at Bushmills.  We just visited the gift shop so we could bring a few bottles of whiskey home - planning to stow them away in our suitcase.

And that's all folks - we have had many adventures since being here and we have spent quite a bit of time in the car.  Keep you posted on the latest!

Much love,

The Drennan's

Our time.

As I said yesterday, we have been here 5 full days, and it's crazy to think we have only been here five days considering we have done so much and seen so many great people.

Considering we are really only here for 14 days, we realized pretty early on we were going to have to make the most of our time.  Hence, the husband put together a google calendar considering I couldn't keep everything straight - all the dinners, all the engagements, all the people, all the fun.  And once we arrived, we were struggling to find an open night where we could go see the Hobbit.

The reality is...we just don't have enough time here.  Now we know for next time - we really should be here longer than 2 weeks, especially now that we have Jack and the beautiful thing called jet lag.

So what have we done with ourselves you ask?

Well we traveled the distance and flew the miles, and arrived in Dublin via Seattle.  You can read about that experience here.

One of the first things we did was venture to the Belfast Christmas Market, ate a bratwurst, ventured to Victoria Square where we visited Santa, got a photo and a present.

Jack's face in the photo on the left is hilarious..."Dad, what's that thing on your face??"  Jack's present from Santa - Peter kept saying the present was free, and let's be honest, the whole experience, with the photo, the present, and sitting on Santa's knee cost us 9 pounds.  So probably more than the average Santa experience, but it's the first so I can make an exception.

This is Jack's little face when he's angry and tired....and this is his sweet face when he's asleep.  Which do you prefer?  I kind of love the one on the left!  Poor bub and his jet lag (post here).  And more photos from the Christmas market.

And here we have the Santa photo, along with a mustache photo.  All the brothers grew mustaches for Movember, and they decided to keep them until they saw each other so that they could all shave together.  Which one has the best mustache?  I love Peter's face in this photo!  And we also have Waterworks Park in the bottom right.  Love that place.

And here we are with our food photos.  And Jack in his highchair that Grandma Gillian bought for him!  So thankful for that chair.  And I should say there are some things we have continued while away and there are some things we have not.  We have kept up with making our own baby food but we left the cloth diapers at home.  It's been so strange to use disposables for the past few days, and I must admit I feel a little guilty every time I toss one into the waste bin.  But I just didn't want to bother with transporting them across the atlantic and then having to wash them.  And if I'm honest, I'm so thankful with the decision we made, but I can't wait to get home and start cloth diapering again.

And here we have some family photos!  The past weekend was spent with both sides of the family.  Saturday was Gillian's family and Sunday was Jack's (father in-law).  And I couldn't resist this brilliant photo opportunity.  I realized about a month ago that ALL four of Jack's great grandmas are still alive.  Isn't that amazing?  And he's met them all now.

So many more photos to share...but this will do for now.

Sending so much love from the Emerald Isle,

Malia

Jet lag.

So we have been here 5 full days now, and Jack is finally going to bed at a normal time.  Man, I thought jet lag was hard on adults, but let me tell you, the poor baby is suffering the most, well mom is suffering too from the poor baby's suffering.  1 AM is not an ideal bedtime for anyone, and I'd rather not spend 2-3 hours of my night trying to put my baby to sleep.  I'd rather be decorating the Christmas tree, listening to Christmas carols and drinking beer (sounds selfish, trust me I know!).  He is rubbing his eyes and yawning all the time now, and he falls asleep as soon as we get into the car, as do I - Exhibit A in the photo above.  We are tired.

I haven’t traveled outside of the country in a few years, and I think I thought I was immune to jet lag or something crazy like that.  But let me tell you, I fell asleep sitting up on the couch last night and I almost fell out of my seat on the bus and I fall asleep nearly every time I crawl into bed to feed Jack, made us late to dinner yesterday because I fell asleep - oops!  Stuart, Peter's brother, said ...you don't seem to be suffering from jet lag much, and Peter said, well probably because we have been jet lagged for 11 months now.  So true!  I just said, I'm use to the lack of sleep now - so I think my body is starting to function on less.

And yes, jet lag for babies is rough as it's so confusing for them.  And we have Jack on such a great schedule at home that's predictable most of the time.  His morning naps are getting less predictable, but we know around when he naps and how long he will nap for, and we know when he goes to bed, and he falls asleep so easily at home, normally begging for bed time.  And here nothing is constant or predictable, and that's hard for me.  He may sleep for an hour at night and wake up ready to play until 12 or 1.  And he's so overtired that getting him to sleep is my worst nightmare.  I have never heard this child cry like he has here...oh it's so sad.  Breaks my heart to think about it.  Last night I literally just put him in his crib and crawled into bed and put the covers up over my head and bunched up into a ball.  I too wanted to cry.  And when Peter came upstairs to check on us, I just said, I don't know what to do...as the only thing that consoles him is feeding nonstop and sleeping in bed with us.  And all I wanted to do was join in on the fun with the adults.  

And as I type this, I'm realizing just how selfish that is.  The poor bub just wants his mom.  And he is definitely suffering from separation anxiety and he loves to have mom within eyesight.  Who knows if this is because he is just flat out tired or if this is a stage he is entering into, or perhaps both?  Don't get me wrong, I love my child, and I’m so thankful for him, and I love the fact that he reaches for me and knows me, and finds comfort in me, but I must say it's utterly exhausting when you're tired and you are THE person for this one little being.  I think I just figured that we would have extra help with all the extra hands, and I never once thought about how Jack might respond to all those extra hands or how he may favor one set of hands over another.  However, I can honestly say, he's changing.  He's getting use to all the sweet faces and all the love and the extra hands, and he's showing more of his true self.  And I know this stage won't last forever, and I should truly be cherishing this time and these sweet moments we have together and the comfort he finds in me as I am truly blessed.

I mean look at this sweet face!  How can you not want cuddles from him?  How can you not want him to nuzzle his little face into your neck?  

And this one...

Tonight was a different night though - Jack actually went to sleep around 8.  Christmas miracle I tell ya, well Jesus is the real Christmas miracle, but this was pretty great.  It's wonderful to have some time in the evening to just sit and rest, even if it was only an hour.  

However, I did fall asleep while putting Jack to bed, and woke up and immediately glanced at my phone, which said it was 4, and I instantly presumed it was 4 AM.  I was shocked I had slept for so long, couldn't believe my husband wasn't in bed yet.  And as I heard the rumbling sounds of laughter coming from downstairs, I instantly thought oh no...haha! The boys (men) are still up...which means Peter may not be his best self tomorrow, which means we may get a later start on everything than I wanted, which means I may be on my own with Jack in the AM so that Peter can sleep.  And then I realized it was only 10 PM, and I remembered my phone was 6 hours behind.  Best news of the night...the night was still young.  So of course, I ran down the stairs as fast as I could to join in on the fun...didn't want to miss another moment.

And then the baby woke up ...an hour later.

But don't worry he went back to bed in no time, so I was able to finish this post.

Sending so much love from the Emerald Isle,

Malia

The Flight.

So we have been here a few days now, and I can already tell you that our time is going to go by too fast.  I can already say, I wish we had more time.  I mean when you go three years between visits that’s bound to be the case.  There are people that want to see you and family that wants to spend time with you…and let’s be honest they also want to meet the newest addition to the family.

Even when we booked the flights I don’t think we realized just how fast our time would go.  And when we were on the plane enroute to Dublin, I was wishing the hours and minutes away. So ready to get off the plane! 

Traveling with a baby isn’t terrible, it’s just extremely different than flying without one and a little more interesting.   First you have security, which I already slightly despise to begin with. You have to take off all your clothes – well your shoes, your sweater, jacket, etc, your watch, your scarf, your belt.  And add a baby to the mix, and all of that is just a bit more complicated. 

I had brought magazines and my kindle, and I had hopes of watching movies and closing my eyes.  Think again right?  This little man loves to grab everything….he was grabbing my magazines, my kindle, my food, my coffee, my hair, my scarf, etc…I think you get the point.

The first flight was only 3.5 hours – a breeze if you ask me.  We let him sit on the floor and play with toys – ew germs right?  To be honest, I didn’t care at that point, I just wanted my lap back. 

And the layover in Chicago was an hour or so, which was just fine.  It was the flight from Chicago to Dublin that I was really nervous about as that flight was 6.5 hours.  And I don't know about you all, but I have been on flights where babies have been wailing the majority of the flight, and that my friends was my worst nightmare.  I mean I know Jack is a fairly sensible child and rather calm, but throw extreme exhaustion into the mix with a confined space and a limited play area, and you just may have a recipe for disaster.

If I'm  honest, he did just fine.  He fussed a little, which was expected, but what wasn't expected was the fact that he didn't sleep at all.  And I spent the entire time - at least 2/3 of our flight trying to get him to sleep.  Waste of time? Probably?  

We had a little bed for him that was basically a cardboard box hanging off the bulkhead, but we didn't get much use out of it.  However, it was nice to have a place to put him that was somewhere other than my lap seeing as that little bundle tucked up next to me, as fantastic as it was, just made me sticky and sweaty.  But the bed did make watching movies and eating meals a little tricky seeing as my meal tray only unfolded halfway and our little screens came up from our seats, which were blocked by the bed. I did manage to watch one movie as I was rather determined to at least watch one.

Anyhow, we finally arrived in Dublin, and we were greeted by Jack's grandparents (the in-laws) and so began our journey up north to Belfast!

All in all it wasn't a disastrous experience, not necessarily one I will look forward to with great anticipation, but not one I will necessarily dread, which is good right?  Just realizing that the whole travel experience is extremely different with a baby and not quite as relaxing as it is when you travel without one.  And I also realized that he doesn't need all the extra things I packed for him - like extra clothes, and all the toys - so my carry on bag for the both of us will be a little lighter on our journey home.

Greetings from Belfast,

Malia

Baking...in a different country.

Since when did I become so set in my ways?? And who would have thought that baking in another country and in another kitchen would be so...interesting! Peter decided that he really wanted me to make these oatmeal cookies that are frequently found at our house...but its not like I brought the recipe with me, along with all the conversions, in my suitcase. So I did what we all would do and googled oatmeal cookie recipe and came up with a HUGE selection of choices. I decided to go with the allrecipes website considering I had been there before...and found some recipe from there. But to be honest, I was a little sad that I didn't have MY recipe that I use or whole wheat flour or measuring cups and teaspoons...instead I would be baking with a little scale thing and measuring it all in kilograms. interesting...and fun. But when did I get so set in my ways? I would rather just bake without having to really THINK about it all...I mean who wouldn't right? It all goes a whole lot faster when I am not having to WATCH the cookies and pay attention to the countdown simply because I can't quite figure out how this oven works. But then again baking in my own kitchen, with my own oven, using my own measuring cups and things is just boring right?? ...yes it may be boring, but it is comfortable.

So when Peter suggested we bake cookies I was a little hesitant and not entirely up for this baking adventure! But I told Peter I would bake those cookies on one condition - that the man himself would help me. And help me he did...with the mixing and the weighing and the tasting while constantly exclaiming "I had no idea there was this much sugar in there" along with "I had no idea there was that much butter in there!" We made some pretty good cookies once Peter got over the shocking realization that the cookies weren't quite as healthy as he believed them to be and once he realized that he couldn't use the cookie cutters for these ones. And it was fun to be in the kitchen together having a baking adventure, and thanks to my dear friend Bekah another one awaits us and this time Peter will be able to use those cookie cutters!

We have Arrived!

So we have been in Belfast for nearly a week actually, and I suppose it's time that I finally got around to posting something on here about our time thus far!

We arrived last Sunday, after many hours of flying...and many airplane meals...and WAY too many movies. I think I watched 6 actually in a span of 10 hours and fast forwarded through some bits just to finish the films before we landed. I watched Letters to Juliet (loved it), Despicable Me, Grown Ups, Robin Hood (it was good, but a little long!), Charlie St. Cloud...maybe it was only 5..can't for the life of me remember the 6th.

When we arrived we went through immigration and then on to baggage claim. And Peter started to get a little nervous as everyone grabbed for their bags and disappeared soon after, and ours were still nowhere to be found! I was a little TOO hopeful and we waited for probably a little TOO long in hopes of seeing our bags come around on the turnstile. Much to our surprise, or mine at least, our bags did not ride the flight with us to Dublin. My darling husband had told me to pack another set of clothes JUST IN CASE our bags didn't show up with us. I, of course, reminded him that my bags ALWAYS show up...and if not it won't be the end of the world. Needless to say I packed an extra pair of jeans and a clean pair of undies, but what good were those things to me really?? At least I had my toothbrush and a few other things!

So Peter's sister, Ruth, picked us up at the airport and it was soo good to have arrived!! It was a beautiful, crisp, cold day, and as we drove through the rolling Irish hills my eyes started to fail me and I slept for a wee while. We arrived at the in-laws house a few hours later and stuffed our empty bellies full of glorious food and ended the meal with Mark's delicious chocolate guinness cake. I will be getting the recipe for that!

It has taken us a little while to get adjusted to the whole time thing, but know that we still have a few more weeks and by the time we are fully adjusted we will be flying back to Seattle!

We have enjoyed our first week tremendously...and now let me share with you some highlights.

Meals with the family and much laughter with the boys! Teaching Stuart how to play Wizard and all the fun that came with that! The Christmas market...and my new scarf and my amazing gloves. Irish music in a real irish bar where people were actually SPEAKING IRISH! Walking the streets of Belfast. the City Center - Christmas shopping and dinner with Peter
AND CAN't FORGET THE SNOW!!! soo much snow! hiking cave hill IN THE SNOW! and watching Peter, Mark and Stuart attempt to sled down a hill with a queen size mattress and last but not least...my NEW stocking from TKMAXX. its HUGE and amazing!

From the Inside Out.

So we sang this song at church on Sunday and as soon as the band started strumming on their guitars, I realized what song it was going to be. I must admit, my eyes started tearing up and the memories came streaming into my mind. There are certain songs and certain moments that transport me directly back to a specific moment in time. The first time I heard this song was in Belfast, and I instantly thought about how hard that year was, how I clung to the Lord, and how I would play this song OVER and OVER and OVER again, and while everyone else around me was tiring of the song my love for it was simply growing stronger! I thought about my dear friends Serenus and Lindsay who I haven't seen in AGES! I thought about how challenged I was that year, how much my relationship with the Lord grew, and how much I grew personally from that relationship and countless others.


So the lyrics...I love the lyrics.

A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
my heart and my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise
(love the imagery of losing myself in Christ)

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Chorus 2x
Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out Lord, my soul cries out

And the Truth is...the cry of my heart IS to bring Him praise, but sometimes I get so caught up in myself that I lose sight of that cry. My hope and prayer is that I will continue to cry out to the Lord even when things seem hopeless, when I am disappointed, angry, frustrated and deeply hurt, when all I want to do is turn into myself and wallow in my sorrow, I will turn to Him.