The newest Olympic gymnast is...

Nearly 18 weeks along now in this pregnancy and I felt the baby's first movement/kick/punch yesterday.  Plus, I think he (I'm pretty sure it's a boy, even though we don't know 100% yet) was working on gymnastics moves or Zumba moves more likely.

This evening Barry and I were lying on the sofa and the munchkin decided to work on his somersaults yet again. This time Barry was able to feel him and it totally freaked him out!  He even said he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight because it was so weird.  I suppose it is weird...to have this thing moving around inside of you.  But, I think Barry has something like this envisioned when he felt it tumbling around:



Thankfully, most of the food aversions have gone away.  Well except for curry, anything deep-fried, black bean sauce, anything made with Chinese five spice and any type of potato...yeah, still can't tolerate that.  And, with the aversions leaving so have several of my cravings...including the delicious Italian salad dressing I couldn't get enough of if you remember this post.  I am however having an unusual interest in gobbling up any type of lemon-flavored muffin or cake which is bizarre because I'm not a lover of lemon-flavored desserts normally.  I'm also having a deep and meaningful relationship with Jello Cook 'n Serve Chocolate pudding, although I can't get it in Ireland.  Lucky for me, my mom mailed me a whole bunch of the stuff yesterday so with any luck, it'll be here next week...then look out...you may not see me for a couple of days.  Hmm...just had a thought there...what about mixing in a lemon-flavored muffin into the Jello pudding?  That could be quite delicious!

The earth moves and a baby name game

Well, I missed it!  The great earthquake of 2011!  Damn!  It wouldn't be such a big deal if I were say from California, but being from West Virginia...well, we don't really get earthquakes there.  So, the fact that there was an earthquake in Virginia with tremors being felt in West Virginia is a pretty big deal...at least I think so anyway.  Turns out that the office building I used to work in was evacuated!  Oh, how exciting that would have been...woulda been good craic, eh?  (That's a bit of my Irish slang there).

Since it was such big news, there are already "In memory of the great quake" jokes and photographs floating around.  In fact, Barry emailed me one today which made me spit a little on my computer screen from laughing.  Here it is:

No, we'll never forget.  The pain that lawn chair must have faced when it was so  violently shaken to the ground.

Moving on to other earth shattering problems...picking a name for the baby!  I know we still have five months to come up with something, but at the rate we're going it will bloody well take five months!  Barry likes very normal names...think John, James, Thomas, Jane, etc.  I like something with a little flash to it, of course.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want a cooky, over-the-top celebrity name.  But, something that stands out a little bit would be nice.

So, since we're faced with this teeny dilemma, I went and bought one of those baby name books.  The one that has 40,001 baby names in it.  I guess the extra "1" really makes all the difference because 40,000 names wouldn't have been enough to look through.

Well, let me just say, after browsing through this book about 39,000 of the names are just pure shit.  They are.  I'm not talking about the ones that are foreign names, but the ones that are just purely made up. Let me share a few with you.  Here are the names and the attached definition given by the book.

Limo-- (invented) from the word limousine; sporty.  (Because we all want to name our baby after something that teenage girls lose their virginity in on prom night, right?)

Karbie--(American) energetic.  (Well, I guess you'd have to be energetic with that name because your baby will spend plenty of time running from bullies on the playground.  Oh and it makes me think of Arby's and then I start craving a roast beef sandwich.  Did I mention I'm starving?)

J-Nyl--(American) flirtatious.  (Um, What?)

Jacquet (invented)--form of Jackett. (Jackett?)

Barcie--(American) sassy.  (Makes me wanna Barfie...hehe).

Alright, that's all I'll share for now since as I mentioned there are about 39,000 of them.

If there are any Barcies, Jacquets, J-Nyls, Karbies or Limos reading this, please don't be offended and I'm sure they are lovely names on you.

Photo Wotos

Not too much going on around here...just the usual--Barry doesn't wanna find out the sex of the baby and I do so I can at least figure out what colors to buy!  Pink or Blue?

Anyway, here are some photos of a little road trip Barry and I took to Moville, Greencastle and Shroove.

A seal swimming around Greencastle Harbor.  I was tempted to throw a beach ball in the water to see if he'd bounce it off his nose, but I was fresh outta beach balls.

Ruins in Greencastle.  Perhaps the old Green Castle?

Me at a beach in Shroove.  I know it looks warm, but it was FREEZING that day!

A lighthouse in Shroove me thinks.

Dunno where this is.

American Invasion

Last week was a busy, busy week.  My friend Kimberly and her fiance Brian were in visiting!  Their first trip to Ireland and my first official American visitors.  I met them in Dublin on Monday where we stayed a few nights before going on to Galway, Athlone, Connemara National Park, Knock, Sligo, Donegal (Slieve League cliffs, Donegal Town and Killybegs), Giant's Causeway, Mussendon Temple, the Rope Bridge and of course back to Derry.  This was also my first time driving around most of the country...which, I so rocked.  I'm such a pro at this opposite side driving now.  Maybe I'll start my own driving school?

They weren't greeted by the best weather since it rained ALL week except for a few hours when we were driving the Causeway Coastal Route but we carried on, soaking wet.  My good hair days were non-existent last week.

Oh, and Fish and Chips are dead.  I imagine being stared at 24/7 by a cat didn't help their life span any.

We took more than 400 pics between us, but I won't torture you with all of them.  So, here's a select few.

Me and Kimberly outside Dublin Castle.  This was taken shortly after she walked out in front of traffic and nearly caused a bike rider to fly over his handlebars hahahahhaha. In her defense, it's hard to remember to look right first before crossing a street when you're American and used to looking the other way first.  It took me a while to get the hang of it!

Kimberly and Brian at Trinity College after taking a peek at the Book of Kells.  Have to give 'em props as they jumped straight off the airplane and went right in to touring.  I would have needed a day of sleep first.

Taken outside Auchnanore Castle outside of  Galway.

Kimberly and Brian outside Kylemore Abbey.

And there's me outside Kylemore Abbey.  Barry wasn't able to join us until we got to Derry.

Barry and Brian taking in Mussendon Temple.

Here we are at Giant's Causeway!

Barry and I in front of the rope bridge.  "It's too bad the bridge was closed, otherwise I so would have done that!" Barry says.  Um uh huh Barry sure.  He no likey heights at all.

We got lucky and saw a rainbow.  Although, no pot of gold unfortunately.

And here they are on the bus back to Dublin before I broke down in tears.  I'm all alone again...sigh.

Fish and Chips

Barry and I went to the carnival/fair last night.  Even though I can't really ride anything because I'm pregnant, we still had fun playing the games.  In particular, the hook a duck game.  Really folks, it couldn't have got any easier than this.  Basically you reach a stick into a pool full of plastic ducks and hook it through the large wire hoop extending out of the duck's head.  Since we successfully hooked a duck each (we so got skillz, word), we were each awarded these lovely prizes:

Naturally, we wondered what we were going to do with our new fish given that we have two cats.  So, we left the fair to go discover what exactly was going to happen.

Fox was psyched and confused at the same time.

Fox couldn't stop staring.

"How do I get you?" Fox asks the fish.

"I'm quite certain you are delicious." Fox says.

Before you ask, yes that is a glass salad bowl the fish are in.  It was sort of all we had to work with given we weren't planning on becoming goldfish parents.  They will have a more suitable home once we go the pet store.

Charlie could have cared less about the fish.  He was too busy doing this:

I could have popped a fish in his mouth and he wouldn't have cared.

Obviously, we couldn't leave the fish in a place where Fox would be able to get to them, so we decided we'd have to put them on top of the wardrobe and do it while he wasn't looking, which we did.  About ten minutes later, Fox's nose starting going in to overdrive until he sniffed out the new location of his new siblings!  Luckily, they are still alive as he hasn't figured out how to get on top of the wardrobe yet.  Not sure how long it will last.  Oh, and I think we've settled on naming the new pets Fish and Chips.

Since I'm talking about cats, I'll share another story.  Most people, upon telling them that I have cats, look at me as if I have three heads.  I've not run in to many people here that actually like cats.  So anyway, last night, Barry and I had Fox outside on the sidewalk.  Barry was holding him so he couldn't run.  A car pulled up and the man inside shouts out while pointing to Fox, "Where did ye get that? How much do ye want fir it?"  Barry of course says that Fox isn't for sale.  The guys continues, "Ah, come on.  I want it ti give ti me two dogs.  Huskies."  I'm not certain at this point if it's a joke.  Long story short. Turns out it wasn't. The guy seriously wanted to BUY my cat to throw to his dogs to tear to pieces!  I was disgusted!  Why would someone think of something so cruel for an innocent animal?  It actually makes me quite sad to know that this is likely not the first time the guy has thought about offering up a cat to his dogs.  Scumbag. Poor kitties.  Anyway, on that appalling note, I'll leave you for now.

Pesky aversions

So, I'm in my 13th week now and officially in my second trimester.  I thought all the crappy symptoms were supposed to go away by now, but I think they're getting worse.  Currently, I'm experienced boulder-sized acne.  SS from CAA if you're reading this, we could've used these bad boys for the boulders in Greenspace instead of the actual ones haha.  Okay, that's gross I know.  Anywho...

I've actually been quite lucky...I haven't been puking but I have had some pretty severe food aversions starting at about my 6th week.  They're still here and I'm so freakin' frustrated because I have a hard time finding something I want to eat!  AAAAAAAAA!!!  Poor Barry is frustrated, too.  Everything he wants to eat makes me want to vomit.

This should come with an attached straw.  Sorta like a Capri Sun does.

Unfortunately, a lot of things I want, I can't get here.  For example, anything from Taco Bell (making tacos at home just doesn't have the same feeling), Iced Tea (I've made my own here but its just not the same) and Jello Cook 'n Serve chocolate pudding (it has to be cook and serve because otherwise you don't get those delicious puddin' skins on top).

So much better than instant.

One thing I do have to indulge in is Italian salad dressing, American mustard, or anything with a tangy tomato sauce.  I can't get enough.  I fantasize about drinking the salad dressing straight from the bottle then refrain because Barry may think I've lost my mind.  Although, I could do it while he's at work I suppose and he'd never be the wiser...unless he reads my blog, which he does.  Oh well.

So glad I've found you here.

A current list of my aversions include (I was going to post photos here, but just the thought of even looking at a photo makes me gag): Anything with curry sauce or flavor, any type of potato, anything deep fried, chocolate candy bars, anything with black bean sauce.  This list actually changes daily which makes it super duper frustrating when trying to plan dinner.

Even though I'm complaining, its all in good fun.  After two miscarriages over the past two years, I'm grateful all is okay so far this time.

Now, let's pay tribute to Taco Bell.  Oh you delicious piece of heaven how I long to suckle at your specially seasoned teet.  Even if the rumors are true and you're not 100 % beef, I don't care.  I don't care if you're 100% rhino, I'd still love you.