Barking Mad

I Give Up! ***Updated w/ the rest of the Photographs***

...trying to take "posed" photos of my girls. 

Give me a lighthouse, an old chapel, a delapidated fishing shack along a rocky coastline....but I beg you, DO NOT MAKE ME TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OF SOMETHING THE MOVES AND BREATHS!!!!!!!

Simply put, they don't hold still...

They look in two different directions...

They decide they'd rather count little piggies...

They make faces at each other....

And only occasionally can I get them to look at me, at the same time, in the same direction...

Even Gaby attempted to cooperate...

But no matter how much crap I put them through to try and get a nice photo, they still love each other...

Of course when I asked Meg if she was game for a few more photos, this was the response I got...

Shortly thereafter, the Little Imp's bath, I thought I'd see if she were game for a few more big smiles?  Um, don't think so judging by the response I got...

Even Gracie was not too thrilled about having her photo taken...

People always wonder why I laugh maniacally when they ask me if I take family and/or children's photos...Yeah right!!!!!

Why Does the Internet Give Some People a False Sense of Bravado?

I am not necessarily a stranger to message boards on the internet.  By the same token the ones I have frequented in the past were usually topic specific, i.e.; immigration and pregnancy and parenting. From time to time I'll visit a few photography boards but nothing with any regularity.   Gareth and I were both active members of one specific immigration resource message board whose name I won't bother to mention. 

We eventually moved on from our own immigration journey and also became tired of the drama which seems to the norm for that place. Part of that I think was due to the stress that the immigration process places on those going through it.  It was probably one of the most stressful times of our early marriage.   Looking back, my feeling is that if you can manage to make it through the hoops that USCIS sets up for you and then assimilate to life here in the states, you can pretty much get through anything.   But I think the entire ordeal makes people stupid sometimes, especially those who wanted to use the immigration board as a place to not only vent, but belittle and antagonize others. 

When I found out I was pregnant with Gaby I joined another message board with individual due-date clubs and other forums tailored to things like breastfeeding support, attachment parenting information and support, cloth diapering and so on and so forth.  I think that board, Pregnancy Weekly, has now morphed into a huge message board community with subsets upon subsets of forums.   It covers pretty much the gamut of pregnancy, childbirth and parenting.  It's also got other useful resources for expecting parents.  It's topic-heavy but if you're looking for a specific forum for information, chances are Pregnancy Weekly has a group tailored to that need.  Don't mistake this as an ad for PW...it's not.  There was a reason I left the board as did pretty much the entire January 2006 birth club.   Downtime was a huge issue, over moderation, lack of certain freedoms we'd previously enjoyed and when they retooled the site it became very antiseptic and cold.  So most of us (from my due date club) moved on to another board.

It goes without saying, you get a bunch of pregnant, hormonal women together and it's inevitable that there are going to be flare ups, personality clashes and the occasional cat-fight.  I was by no means immune but I'd like to think I maintained some semblance of maturity and level-headedness. Although I'm sure there are some who would disagree, probably reading this right now.   By all means, please feel free to leave me an anonymous comment if you disagree.  Just be prepared to be able to backup whatever you say.  I'm open to intelligent debate that's supported with reason and logic, not to mention integrity.

I'm Going to Regret Being Up This Late Tomorrow Morning

It's been a long but very interesting, and amusing evening.

Meg seems to be adjusting well to Maine so far.  Sure, she's homesick,  but that's to be expected.  It's not been as bad as I thought it would be though and for that I am grateful.   She's finally meeting people (oh but wait my pretties, she's met one in particular) and getting more familiar with the area and has been submitting job applications left and right.    And she and I have been having a lot of fun.  Often times I think Gareth is the one having all of the fun though as Meg and I tend to provide endless hours of entertainment for him.   At least with Meg here he has a primer of sorts for when Gaby hits that age.  Not that life with a teenage female is predictable.  Rather, it's entirely the opposite.  Heck, life with a 30-something female isn't any easier I imagine.

Anyhow, Meg hung out with a certain someone this evening (I have to tell ya though, when Brandon - this certain someone came in and shook Gareth's hand and called me "ma'am" and Gareth "sir" I about choked...it was an odd feeling to be addressed that way.  This boy is all manners and courtesy though and he's a real doll! He did the same when he dropped her off and although I insisted he call me by my first name he left the house still calling me either "miss" or "ma'am") and when she got back she wanted to go on a late night burger run.  Well, this is Maine after all and the only thing open after midnight was Taco Bell.  A brand new one at that.  So we are driving up towards the window and I come to what I thought was the little order-box thingy where you place your order.  So I sat there, and sat there and sat some more just waiting for someone to greet me.  I was begining to think that whomever was working the drive-thru window was not on the ball.  And I notice that Meg is absolutely shaking with laughter and tears are rolling down her face.  She is in hysterical fits of laughter and I am at a loss as to why. 

Ok so right about then I realize that I am not waiting to talk into the drive-thru speaker thing, no - this is what I was about to speak into....

Yeah, that's right, it was a trash bin! A freakin trash bin!   But before you members of the peanut gallery throw yourself into hysterical fits of laughter, you have to admit that it kinda looks like a drive-thru speaker thing! 

It does!!!!!

The Mother of All 'Catch Up' Posts

I have no clue how long it's been since I have posted a substantial update, so here goes. 

Let's see, where did we leave off...oh yeah, a snoring hubby and cat.  Oh wait, technically I think I left off stating I was too tired to update.  Well, I am still tired, but needs must.  Well that and the fam is sending ugly threats that if I don't update and include recent pics they will send me stinky cheese! 

I think everyone knows we bought a house up in the midcoast region of Maine and we love it...all nearly 3000sq feet.  We adopted two cats and a partridge in a pear tree.  Ok so maybe we didn't really get the partridge in the pear tree but the way things are going I'd be willing to bet we have one by the holidays. At the very least, hopefully our Newfie. 

I made an unplanned trip to the ER (but then when are trips to the ER ever planned?  "Hey JimBob, I reckon I'll cut myself and head into the ER to be stitched up...but wait, let me check my calendar, nope...Sunday's no good, got the catfish tournament, and Monday's out too 'cause MayBeth gets her hair done and I need to be here to watch the rugrats, so that leaves Wednesday 'cause the Elks meetin' is Thursday night and I'll have me a right good story to tell them good ole boys down at the lodge about these here stiches!" See, life isn't like that, not mine anyhow) when I stepped on a huge piece of glass and after Gareth and I decided that we were not the greatest DIY medical team - well actually Gareth decided that after I nearly punched him in the face when he tried to remove the glass himself with a pair of tweezers - the local EMT team came out to fetch me and transport me to the ER where they yanked the piece of glass out...oh and the doctor there was able to duck and cover quickly in order to avoid being punched in the face.

Then we move on to adding another member to our family...and not of the furry variety.  Well I take that back, she tends to leave hair in the sink.  But alas, my daughter Meaghan has moved in with us.  Technically she was already a member of the family, just didn't live here.  Now she does.   Gaby is blissfully happy to have her big sister here....

So happy in fact that they dance out of sheer joy and excitement!

Gaby occasionally takes a break from the never-ending dance-a-thon to give big loves to Griffy...

In between dancing and kitty-lovin' (that sounded all kinds of wrong) Meg can be found cheesin' for the camera!

Meg and Gaby being cheesy together and sharing an Eskimo kiss...

Oh I almost forgot about  Matt and Meg, my mom and sister Amanda being here to help us move in...but alas, the pics from that are on the laptop and I can't be bothered to go all the way downstairs and get them.   I'll do that soon, I promise! 

In the meantime, here are some pics from a visit to a local beach a few weeks ago.   We all (Gareth, Gaby and I, my mom, Matt and Meg) went out to Popham for what was supposed to be a short visit so everyone could dip their toes in the ocean.  Yeah right!  We all ended up soaking wet and driving back home with sand in really uncomfortable places...especially Miss Gaby!

Looking back on this years from now Gaby will probably tell everyone she was just exfoliating at a young age!

Gaby got pretty brave this time around and actually went into the water up to her chest.  Here she is testing the waters, so to speak, with daddy before taking the big dip.

Matt and Meg however headed into the water and then realized this is the mighty cold Atlantic! Of course, on the subject of "dips in the Atlantic" one will have to ask Amanda and Meg about one of their many late night jaunts into the ocean when we were still in the house in Cape Elizabeth on the water.  Talk about a couple of DIPS! *lol*

Aside from trips to the beach the girls' next favourite thing is share ice cream, and how!

This is a great shot, I just wish Zack had been here as well.

Watching one of the US Navy's bomber's fly overhead...we live a stone's throw from BNAS - Brunswick Naval Air Station.

All in all, despite this move being the most stressful of my entire life (absolutely no exageration there), we had a really nice vist with Grammie, Auntie Amanda, Matt and Meg.   We're finally getting settled and it's nice to be able to kick back and relax for a bit...

...Who are you kidding anyhow?  Sit back and relax?!?!   Not on your life. 

Today we finally had our home visit/interview for of "Newfie Adoption."  A local breeder from Maine drove all the way down from Ellsworth to look around the house and property and ask us questions and get to know us, as Cathy Derench, the head of the New England Newfoundland Club of America's rescue operation has a few dogs coming in and we're hoping to get matched up soon.  The only concern Marget (the breeder from Ellsworth - who technically no longer breeds but still has SIX newfs at home) has is making sure we get matched with a dog where stairs aren't going to be a problem, who is good with small kids and cats.  The stairs are the main concern being that Newf's are one of the largest dog breeds and sometimes develop hip and joint problems so stairs might become an issue.  We have lots and lots of stairs.  So once Cathy get's back from holiday we'll know if we've been matched with an animal and if so, head down to Connecticut to bring home our newest fur baby.

Well wadda ya know about that boys and girls...I think we're updated.  And if that's not enough of an update, well so sorry, too bad!  My butt's gone completely numb and I need to get off of it and into bed.  Besides, Meg is chomping at the bit to get back on the computer and stay in touch with all of her "peeps" back in Washington.  Poor kid...I feel bad for her, she's bored stiff and got to be a tad lonely too.  But as she hit the ground running last week and started applying for jobs all over the place, hopefully soon she'll have something to occupy a bit more of her time and then once school starts after Labor Day I'm sure she'll be regaling us all with tales of all the friends she's made.  This is Meaghan we're talking about after all! 

Two of a Kind

Gareth is probably gonna kill me for posting pictures of him sleeping, let alone having taken them to start with, but oh well!  I thought these were too funny considering they were both pretty much in the same position and snoozing away.  Oh and BOTH of them snore!  It's like movie theatre surround sound except without the popcorn and sticky floors!