Monthly Archives: June 2010

Date Night

28 Monday Jun 2010

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Friday night, Jenn and I had our first date night post Nolin. Our next door neighbors agreed to watch Nolin for a few hours and we made our way out.

So what are young and fun new parents like us to do during their brief escape from responsibility?

  1. We could go to a nice romantic dinner for two.
  2. We could go see a movie (although trying to agree on a movie can sometimes prove more difficult than watching after a 5 week old).
  3. Maybe we could act like we are 24 again and head downtown for a wild and crazy night.

We chose option 4…go to a political dinner for local government officials and individuals who had served on different boards and commissions during the year.  Oh my God…it has finally happened…I have turned into my father.  They talk about this happening, but you never actually think it will.  It is safe to say that I spent the better part of my angst ridden youth (there really wasn’t too much angst, but I tried) rebelling and trying to be different and here it is…I am now my dad.  Well I didn’t see that one coming. 

Anyway, we arrived at the dinner and immediately just started laughing  at the comedy that was surrounding our night.  Our good friend George and his wife Sandra showed up a little later so we felt a little less out-of-place.  We found ourselves placed at a table with two other residents who had served on various boards and commissions. the deputy mayor and the man who will most likely be our next mayor.

As the night went on, the conversations got more comfortable as we discovered that the deputy mayor had become a grandparent for the 2nd time just four weeks ago, serves on the board for Boys Town, and organization we volunteer with on Sunday nights through Stepping Onward, oh yeah and owned Tijuana Flats the place I have been singing at for the past few years.  Although we are regulars there, I had never met him before.

Jenn’s motherly guilt about leaving Nolin with our neighbors quickly came over her, so she left before they handed out the certificates of service to go pick Nolin up.  There may have also been some natural guilt because Nolin’s witching hours typically starts around 8:45, and we didn’t want our neighbors to never offer to babysit again.  I got a ride home from George and Sandra, and then Jenn and I concluded our date night watching a movie with Nolin and Pancake…all in all I would say it was a pretty successful date night.

Welcome to Nolin’s Crib

24 Thursday Jun 2010

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Nolin's Crib

Today was a big day…we started getting Nolin’s room ready.  As adoptive parents, one of the things they tell you that you should not do, is get a nursery ready before you bring the child home because of the chance that the adoption does not go through.  So here it is almost 5 weeks later, and Nolin’s crib and dresser were delivered today.

Jenn and I have lived the less is more lifestyle pretty successfully, but now that Axelle has moved back to France, we felt like it may actually be time to start getting Nolin’s bachelor pad ready.

They came today at lunch and delivered Nolin’s crib and dresser, and set everything up for us.  After he finished he walked Jenn and I through how to operate the crib…yes you need instructions now because this is truly functional furniture.  While we were busy trying to make sure we knew what we were doing, Pancake was walking around and underneath the crib to ensure that the delivery man knew what he was doing.  Once he felt satisfied that the crib was put together to his satisfaction, he made his way out and gave Jenn and I the look to say I approve.

Cribs today aren’t the ones I remember from being a kid, these are high-tech sleeping devices.  This crib transforms from a crib, to a toddler bed, to a day bed, to a full size bed.  Nolin I hope you still think your parents have good taste when you are 18 because this is called a Crib 4 Life and that is exactly what it is…so enjoy.

Once we get back from our trip, we will finish decorating his room, but I don’t know that we have any major plans to move too quickly because he will probably still be sleeping in our room for a while longer…my fear is that when we do finally move him into his room, I will end up a lot like this dad. 

Well its pretty crazy to think that Nolin is almost old enough to have real big boy furniture and move into his own room…pretty soon he’ll be dating, driving cars, going to college, getting married and I’ll be wondering where the time went.  But for now, Welcome to Nolin’s Crib.

The Story of Pancake

23 Wednesday Jun 2010

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At The Beach

As I mentioned previously (The Legend of Toonces The Cat), I am a dog person and I always have been.  But I have never been a small dog person…that is until I met the infamous Pancake. 

It was February 12, 2010 when I received a call from Jenn at work.  As she had entered a class room to prepare for a teacher parent conference, she heard whimpering in the corner and they found a small, wet, muddy dog that had been hit by a car and looked as if his leg was broken.  A parent took the dog to the vet, and found that besides a hurt leg (which would heal on its own), the dog was healthy and in good spirits just a little hungry. 

Pancake and I in Key West

That is when I got the call.  She told me the story and asked if we could take care of him while they looked for the owner.  She decided to pull at my heartstrings and told me it looked like my childhood dog Fergie (an English Springer Spaniel).  So I caved, and told her do whatever you like…and that night I moved from #1 to #2 (this will be a trend as our family grows). 

Now I know what you are thinking, who in the hell names their dog Pancake? Jenn, Axelle and I all picked names.  Jenn named him Saint (after the school where she found him), I named him Party, and Axelle named him Pancake (after her favorite American food).  So it was settled Saint Party Pancake it is (SPP for short).  Now I know what you are thinking, who in the hell names their dog Saint Party Pancake?  Exactly we shortened it to Pancake and it seems to fit him like a glove. 

Pancake Navigating the Waters

We have had so many adventures with Pancake and he has found a place in our hearts (and laps and bed).  My favorite being the time my sister came to visit.  She had just been around another dog, and Pancake decided to try to get “friendly” with her arm.  Jenn & I were shocked because he had never done this before.  Then all of the sudden I think Jenn got jealous and she held out her arm and kept calling to Pancake.  At the time he didn’t find Jenn quite as inviting.  

He is a Pekingese and therefore is bred to protect emperors.  He has chosen Jenn & Nolin as the ones he will protect.  Therefore when they are sitting on the couch he needs to be by them, and can start giving off his Gremlin growl if he thinks you are trying to attack them. 

Now for the hard part…as parents of a newborn, Jenn & I have to decide if Pancake may become a liability and present a potential danger to Nolin.  He has shown a few signs of  jealousy the last few days and we fear that in his need to protect, Nolin could get hurt unintentionally.  Pancake helped to fill a void for both Jenn & I for a long time and has been a great part of our family.  I hope it may be able to remain that way, but if not I felt like his story deserved to be told… 

Watching the Sunset

The Beginning Is The End

22 Tuesday Jun 2010

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Our Day in Jamestown

The Beginning Is The End…

As is in life for one chapter to begin, another story must end.  Today marks the day that we have to say goodbye to Axelle who has been a part of our family for the past 10 months.  The experience has been made even more meaningful to Jenn and I because she has been such a significant part of our journey to Nolin.

At the beginning, Jenn & I thought maybe it would be more ideal if we could match with a birth parent sometime towards the end of the summer.  That would give the two of us some time to enjoy the ability to be free-spirited and have no major responsibilities, but also allow us to start our family soon.  As Nolin’s arrival came closer, we figured out that this is the way it was supposed to be.  It has created a unique bond for our family as Nolin will always have an older sister and Axelle (an only child) will always have a younger brother.

Our last trip to Disney

I must admit, I am not very good with goodbyes and will miss Axelle dearly.  It has been fun to have her be a part of our lives, have the ability to teach her & introduce her to new experiences, and to learn from her.  I will say that some of my fondest memories will be when the TV was off and we weren’t watching Gossip Girl or One Tree Hill (one of the downfalls to only having one TV in the house and a teenage girl), but instead sitting in the kitchen and talking about news events, politics, fashion (or lack thereof), teenage love, etc. and getting feedback from a teenager as well as someone outside of our country.  I will miss those moments.

I will also miss having someone who laughs at all my jokes (even the few that aren’t all that funny…although it is very rare that my comedic timing is off) and believes 95% of the BS that comes out of my mouth.  I still have a little time before Nolin will be able to fill that role. A few of my favorites:

  1. Vegetable Week:  For a teenager who won’t even attempt to eat a vegetable, nothing could be worse than an entire week in the U.S. when restaurants, grocery stores and households sell and serve nothing but vegetables.  Axelle’s panicked look as she tried to figure out how she would eat anything for an entire week was priceless.
  2. Invictus’ Alternate Ending:  Axelle really wanted to see the Morgan Freeman movie Invictus, until I told her I heard it was really good and stayed true to the story until the ending when Aliens attacked the soccer stadium in the final match and killed everyone.  She immediately exclaimed…That is so stupid, I’m not going to see that movie then.
  3. The Thanksgiving Tradition:  For Thanksgiving it is customary for the host family to dress like Indians and the guests to dress like Pilgrims.  They eat together and after dinner is over, the Pilgrims chase the Indians out of the house and take it over.  She played along with this and we had a very interesting Thanksgiving celebration.

This year has definitely been a crazy one for the O’Brien household.  We started off with a temporary stray cat and ended with a 16-year-old, a dog and a new born all within 10 months. ..talk about turning your world upside down!  We could not have asked for a better experience and I often have to ask myself what we did to be so lucky.

So now it is time for Axelle to head back to France, graduate high school, fall in & out and in & out and in & out of love, go to law school and most importantly experience life.  I hope that we played a small part in the person that she will become and I can’t wait to watch the rest of her story unfold.  While this is the end to this particular chapter, it is hopefully only the beginning of a life long friendship…

At the Magic Game

Father’s Day

20 Sunday Jun 2010

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The O Boys

Today marks my very first father’s day, and I have to say I have been taking it all in and enjoying every minute of it.   Most importantly, I guess for the first time it has given me an opportunity to really look back at my own relationship with my father and reflect on all of the lessons he taught me.  As the Deacon said in church this morning, some of it is good, and some of it is bad, but I wouldn’t change it for a second. 

  1. My father taught me, there is only one rule in life…you know what the rules are and if you break them, then you should be prepared for the consequences.  This always made me feel like an adult, until I broke one of those rules and then I always felt like he should have outlined them a little better before hand.
  2. My father taught me how to learn.  Although I dreaded having him help me with my homework because he would not give me the answers but instead spend an extra hour or two making sure I understood the mistakes that had been made, it has made everything else I have done in life easier.  I have always thought his calling was to be a teacher. 
  3. My father taught me that a hug will teach a lesson much better than scolding or a spanking…whenever me and my brother or sister would fight (and I say me and my brother or sister because I was always somehow involved in the hugs) my dad would make us hug for several minutes in the most public place available to prove that we really did love each other. Not only did this teach me that fighting wasn’t worth the embarrassment that came along with it, I honestly believe that it allowed me to have good relationships with my siblings later in life.
  4. My father taught me to throw a baseball, catch a football and shoot a basketball and also how to still get excited even though it has to make you cringe every time your kid steps out onto the basketball court.
  5. My father taught me how to drive a stick shift…the lesson here was that patience is key when raising kids.
  6. My father taught me that long red hair and carrying around an extra 50 lbs maybe grunge, but like all fads it isn’t really all that cool…ok, actually, I learned that one the hard way.
  7. My father taught me that while style and fashion are important, one may never want to go hiking in dress slacks and Italian loafers…actually I think he learned that one the hard way.
  8. My father taught me that actions go a lot further than words and that the legacy that you leave behind will hopefully be the summation of a life filled with  positive actions.
  9. My father taught me that the art of debate was just in developing sound reasoning for your argument but no matter what, he would always find some way to be right.
  10. My father taught me that I will never truly know what love is until I had a child of my own…and like everything else he taught me, he was right.

Thanks Dad for everything…I hope I’ve done you proud!

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