Our Dublin House

Here are a few pictures of our “Dublin House” as Tyler refers to it. As mentioned in a previous post when I was complaining about the “lift,” a.k.a. elevator, not working, we live on the 3rd floor in the corner apartment. (By the way the lift is still not working – 2 weeks later.) It has 2 relatively small bedrooms, 1 semi-nasty bathroom that I have cleaned and cleaned, a very tiny kitchen and a small family/dining room.

When we first got here, James was freaking out because he thought there was no fridge. Little did he know that our kitchen is so luxurious that we have a built-in fridge. The only downfall to this is that the fridge is the size of one lower cabinet. The only dishwasher is me (or James) and I have finally figured out how to work the oven, however, there is nothing to bake in except the broiler pan that goes in the oven.

Our nightly entertainment is provided by the church meetings in the building next door that we get to see and hear through our apartment windows – every night. We can see everything that goes on in these meetings. That means they can also see us if our windows curtains are open. This was especially funny the night Tyler got out of the bath and started jumping on his bed stark naked. I am sure they could feel the Spirit strongly at their meeting when they looked over and saw him flashing his bum at them. The weekend karaoke next door at Murry’s Pub is also pretty entertaining, but usually starts late enough that we listen to it as we fall asleep.

In all actuality, the location is pretty great. It takes James just 8 minutes to get into the hospital, so that will be nice if he is ever on-call. Right at the hospital is a stop for the light-rail, so it’s really easy to get into the city center. There is a small grocery store that takes about ten minutes to walk to, and there are plenty of convenience stores along the way. If you walk another 10 minutes past the grocery store, there are 2 huge cathedrals, tons of great restaurants and the Temple Bar district (where all the tourists go to “socialize.”)

Here's Tyler enjoying his new bed in the room he and Ryan were supposed to share. That hasn't quite worked out too well. Now we put the Pack and Play in our room around 7 - 8 pm when we put Ryan to bed, and then around 10 pm when we go to bed, we ever so carefully move him and the bed out to the family room. Usually he wakes up and wants to play, but the alternative is pretty painful.

Here is a picture from this morning of the boys in our family room. Tyler was watching Robin Hood on his little DVD player and Ryan was practicing his new trick of standing up. He was so excited when he figured out he could watch the movie with Tyler this way. He was desperately clutching the couch trying to make his little legs last a little longer so he could watch some of the show.

Some pictures from other Dublin adventures that I'll explain later...

We're Here!

On Friday, October 3, James, Tyler, Ryan and I packed up for a month in Dublin, Ireland. James is doing a 2-month oral surgery rotation at St. James’s (not a typo – it’s how the Irish really spell it) Hospital here in Dublin, so we decided to come with him for the first month. We took the red-eye from Newark and landed the next morning. The boys were amazing on the flight as evidenced in the picture below. Tyler closed his eyes right after take-off (in his seat) and slept there for a few hours. All of a sudden I felt him twist around, fall out of his chair and land kneeling up on the ground. I think he would have fallen all the way to the floor, except his seat belt got stuck around his neck. We unbuckled him and made a little bed on the floor for him.

We took a cab to our new apartment, which is about a 5-minute walk from the hospital, but not in the greatest part of town. It’s not exactly scary at night, but I probably won’t be doing a lot of walking around after dark. It’s fine during the day. But I wanted something close to the hospital so that if James ever got called in, he wouldn’t have far to go. When we got here, the rental agent was “scrubbing” the apartment, even though I had been told that it would be professionally cleaned before we got there. I’m not going to fill you in on all the disgusting details, but we spent the next 2 days cleaning, and it’s not that big of an apartment (in fact the whole apartment is smaller than our kitchen and family room). But we got it all clean and then spent the rest of Sunday afternoon walking around Dublin.

Dublin is a beautiful city – everywhere you walk, there is an important historical site. I think I could spend the next 3 weeks exploring, and I would still not see everything there is to see. We first went to Christ Church Cathedral, which Tyler was not that excited about. It is so huge and impressive. We are planning on going to Evensong there tomorrow night.


We then walked around Temple Bar, the party section of town. We ate a good late lunch at a bagel shop and then made our way to Dublin Castle. Tyler was so excited about seeing the knights and swords so we bought tickets for the next tour and then headed back out to walk around for a while. Of course Tyler fell asleep in the stroller and so we opted to forget the tour (they were nice enough to give me a refund when I explained how grumpy Tyler would be if I woke him up and how he would probably ruin the tour for the rest of the group) and headed across the Liffy River to explore that part of town. Luckily Tyler had seen a knight in the gift shop so he was ok with that decision when he woke up.
The highlight of the day was finding ourselves in beautiful Phoenix Park. This park is twice as big as Central Park and bigger than all the major parks in London put together. We’ve only explored a small part of it so far, but will go back soon to go to the zoo and keep exploring. It was a gorgeous day and we saw so many people playing soccer, lounging with their families, hanging out with friends and playing at the playground. Tyler loved playing at the playground after being in the stroller all afternoon.

There is lots more to post about, and I will. But right now I am going to go to bed because in the morning I have to get up early to go to the airport to pick up Jill!!! Yes, my little sister, Jill, e-mailed us Monday asking if she could come visit! We are so excited! I am especially excited to have her come play with me and keep me company during the day – you can only have so many meaningful conversations with Tyler and Ryan. Plus the “lift” broke in our building on Wednesday and getting out the door by myself, both boys and the double stroller is a little difficult. But not as difficult as getting back up to the 3rd floor when we get home. So I am excited to have another pair of hands around here.

Tyler's First Day of Preschool

This afternoon, Tyler had his first day of preschool. I cannot believe he is this old! A few days ago, we went to pick out backpacks for school. He had such a hard time choosing between the Cars backpack and the Superman backpack. Of course, his everlasting love of Lightening McQueen won. Ever since then he has asked me every day when he gets to go to "Tyler's preschool" and has been practicing being a big boy and putting his backpack (along with other items of clothing) on by himself.
So today was finally the big day. He was so excited all day for it. He is going to the Hilliard United Methodist preschool 2 afternoons a week. He did great. The only hesitation was when I told him to give me a kiss, hug and tickle (our goodbye routine that he came up with). That's when he said, "You you you please please please please stay with me?" I told him that preschool was just for big boys and that I had to go. He got distracted playing the Ben (his buddy from our ward who is also in his class) and I snuck out the door. When I came to pick him up, he was happy to see me (yeah!) and ready to come home. I was a little worried about whether or not he had fun, but then he ran back and slammed into the back of his teacher's leg to give her a hug and said, "Thanks. See you next week!" So I guess it went just fine.

Tyler in front of his school.

Ben and Tyler in front of their lockers.

About 10 minutes after we got home.

Bad to the Bone

This morning was a little on the cool side, so I dressed the boys in the only matching outfit I've ever bought for them. I thought they looked pretty cute. After I took this picture, Tyler was looking at the picture on the camera and said, "Mom, we look cool!" I said, "Yeah, you guys look pretty bad." Then Tyler replied, "Yeah, we look bad to the bone!" Where does he come up with this stuff???

T-Ball Part 1

A few of Tyler's little buddies were playing T-ball this summer through the YMCA, so I decided that it would be a fun way to spend our Tuesday evenings - laughing at our kids with some of a best friends. The "season" started in June with a few weeks of practices and then a few games. I was amazed at how much Tyler improved the first week alone! This first practice started out like this:

By the end of the practice, Tyler would participate, but only if James was holding his hand.

During the first practice, Tyler would not go get the ball. So all week long, James "coached" him on how to get the ball, telling him over and over that he had to be the one to catch the ball. So of course, the following week, as all the kids were making a mad rush for the ball, Tyler was trying so hard to do just what his dad had told him to do. This caused a few little fights over the ball, and we had to adjust the brain-washing James had done earlier. By the following practice, he was pretty good at staying in his spot and only going after the balls that came his way.

Tyler has loved playing T-ball and we have had fun watching him. It is rather obvious that he is the youngest on the team and the only one (I think) that hasn't played team sports before. But he is learning that sports are fun and that's the experience I wanted him to have.

T-Ball Part 2

This was the game this past Tuesday. Tyler acted decently when they were playing in field. However, our boy provided a lot of entertainment for all the parents when his team was outfield. These pictures say it all. About halfway through the game, James started telling me that we should just take him home. The worst (and most comical) part was when he decided to lie down between 1st and 2nd base and, of course, a kid on the other team tripped over him as he was trying his best to get to 2nd.

As amused (and annoyed) as we both were getting with him, I decided it was all worth it when both of his coaches (independently) told us after the game that Tyler kept saying, "I love this game. Do you love this game? I love this game." over and over as they were man-handling him back into position. Luckily, score is not kept and so Tyler wasn't really hurting anyone and none of the kids were upset with him (except after being tackled) for not playing the game right. Next week is Tyler's last game and all in all, I'd say that this has been a fun experience for both him and us.