Wow. It is really, really hard to believe that our last post was in April!! :/ For anyone who may actually still check on this-- mom, you're probably the only one at this stage-- I'm sorry! We have totally let our little old blog go by the wayside. I think the more time passes, the more daunting the thought of an update is.
Anyway, better late than never... here goes!
So the last few posts talked a lot about the kitchen. Boy am I glad that it's over!! Sure, believe it or not, there are still a few little things here and there that need a finishing touch, but overall, it's complete; and I LOVE IT. It is so functional and beautiful and I give all the credit to Niall! He did a great job designing, resourcing, and managing the whole project. I'll take credit for making it look homey :)
finally!
Anyway-- we won't spend any more time talking about that... because to be quite honest, I just want to enjoy it now and not even think about the time when I was doing dishes in the bathtub and microwaving dinners!
May and June seem like a blur now. One disappointing thing that happened that perhaps prevented me from doing a blog post before we flew home to CA was I lost the camera card. :( I had taken it into the shop to get a few photos printed and *poof* I haven't seen it since. It had some good ones on it-- I ran a leg of the Belfast marathon which went right by our house so Niall got some funny shots of me on my 10k leg! I barely trained at all and was quite dead by the end of it. Also, I was 6 weeks pregnant! Yep, most of you already know but baby Madden #2 is coming this Christmas. I am 'broody' as they say here and can't wait to hold our little baby boy or girl... who knows. We like a surprise! I am most nervous about the sleep deprivation, and lately have been quite sentimental about my alone time with Méabh. She is such a great little companion to me, and I sometimes feel that I will miss the simple days with just the two of us. Oh, and being able to completely relax for 2 hours every day when she naps-- yes, I'll miss that too! But I'm sure my heart will explode with another baby in the house and I think it will be great for Méabh to have some company-- she's a socialite!
Méabh with Caio, my friend Tulita's son! He is her first real 'friend' and they are so cute together. Tulita is from Brazil, hence Caio's great tan :)
Méabh LOVES the park... it is pretty much impossible to walk by one without her writhing to get out of the stroller!
Do you like our 'summer' clothes?! This day was unusually chilly! Overall the past couple of weeks have been nice-- I mean, I'm not wearing shorts or anything but if I don't need a sweatshirt then things are good!
at our local library... I love taking her here, I only discovered it a few months ago. It will be great when the winter weather sets in!
last week we had some sunny days and I was in heaven!
Méabh still comes to crossfit with me and makes sure she gets a workout in after too :)
I took this photo a day after that chilly one!! Just goes to show how quickly the weather can change here.
Well, I don't think I'm even going to tackle uploading photos from CA right now as it's going on 10 pm. We will just have to play catch up as we go! Sorry this post is so brief, will write more later but just felt the need to check in and let you all know we are here :)
Well, it is Thursday afternoon and I'm going to see how far I get with this while Méabh plays with her toys... Peter Rabbit is on in the background so maybe that will help?!
Let me start off with a story. Yesterday was the first morning I was able to make eggs for breakfast, wash my dishes in the sink, and have my coffee pot and kettle all in one place. We were ecstatic! "We're nearly there!" is what we were thinking. I even snapped a couple of photos to mark this big step in progress:
no bar stools yet and still need some of our lighting... plus no floors. But appliances in!
Niall a happy man to get his eggs again
So, continuing on... last night Niall was at our homegroup while I stayed home with Méabh (we switch off going every week). I got her to bed, cleaned up our dinner dishes, and took a shower. I was about to go relax downstairs when I noticed a leak coming out of the part of the shower nozzle that is attached to the wall... not just a trickle, but a pretty steady stream of water. Oh dear. I tried turning it on and off again but no such luck. I went down to the kitchen to get my phone and call Niall... as I entered the new dining area I knew immediately something was very wrong! It sounded like our ceiling was filling up with water, and already the damp was showing through different parts of the ceiling and dripping down the walls (ruining our fresh paint job that we spent hours on a couple of weekends ago-- noooooooo!). I panicked a little, called Niall, and turned the main water line off. To make a long story short, Niall rushed home and called our builder who was here this morning ripping apart our upstairs bathroom. Our plumber is coming later this afternoon to hopefully fix the problem... burst pipe I think? I'll get more details later I guess!
*sigh*
Just when we thought we were almost there!! So no running water since last night. On a brighter note, we thought the earliest date we could get for our floor to go down was May 9th but we were just informed today that we are now getting them this coming Tuesday (the 3rd) instead. Hooray! Méabh is a giant dirtball by the end of the day after crawling/walking/falling around the dusty concrete. So I am very anxious to get our floor down.
Okay, here's a few more photos...
a few weeks ago after the units went in
My hero who has organized everything and put up with me analyzing every decision :)
it was freezing in there but I think this was the first morning we sat at the table!
I spent a few hours over the weekend clearing out our office, which has mainly been used for storage and a substitute kitchen for the past 3 months:
I'm happy to say it does not look like this anymore!
we put our old kitchen units in our office after they were ripped out-- this was our 'kitchen!'
A little over a week ago Méabh started walking! She's a little unstable but doing great. Thank goodness she only started now... just when we're about to get our floors in. She planned it well for us!
she loves 'bunny' and gives him lots of pats on the back :)
you can always tell where Méabh has been...
she loves the light switches too!
Poor kid-- we have spent soooo much time the last few months just 'playing' upstairs. Mostly trying to stay out of the builders' way and away from all of the noise. She's been a trooper, watched more TV than I'd like to admit, and kept a smile on her face at times when Niall and I have felt like crying. She has her 'spicy' moments but overall she is a great little sidekick to have around :)
I think this was taken the weekend Niall and I had loads of painting to do. She was stuck there for quite some time :(
neighbourhood watch!
Overall it's been an emotionally and physically draining process, but we're getting there! Last night's drama was a disappointing setback but ah well; what can you do?! We're very excited that the finish line is at least in sight. In other ways, life is good and the Madden clan is busy. Perhaps our next update can focus on our daily happenings rather than this dang kitchen!
I'll end with a prayer request: SUN!!! It snowed loads here this morning and yesterday there was hail the size of marbles. I even took a picture from my office window because I thought it was funny that I had my bedding hanging on the line while it was zero degrees out...
the photo doesn't do it justice... there was a lot of hail!
Well after a lovely week down in Naas with the Maddens I thought I'd pop in and say hello!
Quick update: renovation work is going well! We have 2 weeks down now and boy, not having a kitchen sure does change our day to day routine. Our builder David says they are on schedule so far-- we are hoping to have our space back by April. Niall has a mandatory week off work over Easter and we've no holidays planned (sniffle sniffle) ;) so hopefully we'll be able to paint and do some final DIY touches then. The first week was rough-- the drilling was sooo loud so Méabh couldn't nap in the house and there was crap everywhere. We tried to stay out most of the day but it's not easy with a one year old, especially when it's freezing and wet out.
So, the window on the right is where our old kitchen was. The extension to the left was already there but it was a 'utility room' (common in big country houses here). So, our kitchen is going to be where the utility room was while the old kitchen space will be where our dining table goes. The builders cut out a big window (the one on the left) where my sink will be!
kitchen sink window from the inside
there is currently no roof-- that's going on next Tuesday we hope!
So, after that first week we ran to mum and dad for cover! We drove down to Kildare last Friday evening. It 'lashed' rain the whole weekend so we had a very mellow, relaxing time sipping Nespressos and sitting by the fire. Niall headed back up to Belfast at 6 am Monday morning to make it into work while I stayed with the in-laws to avoid reality for a few days!
Méabh loves her book 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'
helping Grandad with the fry... mmmmmm bacon!!
snoozin'
learning the importance of staying on top of housework duties
I loved being in Naas. It felt like a mini holiday and I couldn't be more grateful for my in-laws and lovely sister in law. It's good to be in Belfast with Niall again though and we have a few things to do this weekend so hopefully it will be a productive one. I'm planning on sticking it out next week-- living off of toast and microwaved eggs-- and then we may go to Naas again next Friday. It's Mother's Day here March 6th so that's a good excuse to crash the Madden house again and raid the Nespresso machine :)
Well, it's Friday night and I don't want to blog the evening away so I'll finish with a few photos of our Méabhy girl! Lots of love to you all.
That title ended up being more cryptic and polysemic than I first realised. Allow me to explain: 1) We are actually physically home now after spending our Christmas in California.
In a funny way, I think this was one of my favourite trips (I've been 17 times now so I'm allowed to say 'one of'). Perhaps it was because expectations were low - heck, in November we hadn't even thought about going home so just to be there was great! But even when we had decided we figured it would just be a few weeks of hanging out. And that's exactly what it was.
On previous trips I've driven convertibles up highway 1, been to theme parks and football games, experienced the thrill (and sometimes disappointment) of the romantic chase, rode motorbikes, taken side trips to SF, SD, LV, and even right across the country! There was something really nice about just going, and knowing our time would be spent enjoying Méabh's first Christmas with family! Erin and I are both very aware that to have two fully functioning, happy, healthy families to spend our time with is rare.
What a happy trio! I think I know who's happiest though!!!
Méabh loved Hank - too bad she wasn't old enough to walk him
And Gracey
Jon's local
Classic
Maple Bacon Donut? You yanks! You continue to surprise me.
Karen can't be trusted with Méabh alone
Neither can I - and the two of us? Disaster!
Filling her to the brim
I took my first flying lesson - I guess we did more than hangout
Erin caught up with friends
My daughter grew up too quick
Not old enough to blow her own nose though Thanks for the snot sucker, Stephens
Mark and I discuss his finest selection of dirtbag stocks Truly the best in eliminating wealth
And of course: the myth, the man, and the mountain
The beasts and a pretty cool view
Every time I've climbed Gibraltar I've followed it with an accompanying blog post. In fact, my three previous Gibraltar blogs are the most viewed on our site. You guys really like them. Well I finally conquered the mountain (unharmed) but I can't quite find the words to say. But....
A picture paints a thousand words!
I'm not even going to apologise for that picture. Hopefully you will understand given what this stupid road has put me through.
The climb earned me an Agaves Burrito - glorious!
Méabh wasn't too amped on the sand, see below (she's more Irish than I thought)
Back to the title:
2) It's hard to call this place sweet in what is surely the most challenging time of the year for the Irish.
Storm after storm. Freezing weather. Eternal darkness. And in the absence of dark, no light, only greyness. It's hard to wonder that mankind ever decided to settle this island. Most sane folk would've shored up, then moved on.
But there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes, right Karen?
So let's brave it!
3) Our physical home is not sweet either, though it has seen sweeter days.
After a long wait, our building work is about to begin! Our house wasn't perfect, but it was mildly functional. Now as I prepare for the building work to begin it is becoming even less functional.
This was our utility room when we moved in
Recently dad and I have got our hands on it
And did this to it
Méabh and mum admired our handy work
And now it looks like this
4) This may be home for much longer anyway!
When a company's stock drops 97% in 10 years you'd think twice about starting your career there. The only thing worse would be already having a career there...
Making history, but not the right kind!
What does all this mean for us? Well at the minute, nothing. The company's doors are still open, the lights are still on, and I still love my job. Erin and I don't want our hand to be forced - we're quite settled in Belfast for now. But in the blink of an eye it could all end, and that would mean the end of the road for our time in Ireland. California may beckon, or they may be a stop gap in Sweden while we wait for the right opportunity, but we'll think hard about that only if it happens. So hurry up and visit!
Ok, I'll not end on a sombre note. Méabh also turned one since our last blog post!
