Helsea Gain

Another trip to Park Plaza Hospital on Saturday night, February 23rd.   The big girls were dropped off with Janey and H once again. Since it was the weekend Dr. Joe Ed McLemore was pinch hitting for Dr. Woodward. He was a tall man with big cowboy boots and an expectation that every experienced cow should be able to drop a calf on her own.  Now Cherry and I may have been a little lax about the breathing exercises since we had been there and done that.  All of this has left Cherry with only one memory of Chelsea's birth:

                        PAIN!

Chelsea made her debut Sunday morning, February 24th, at 12:44AM.  We named her Chelsea (inspired by On Golden Pond) Jane (after her grandmother Martha Jane).  Chelsea was a pretty baby and had beautiful blond hair with a hint of red.  Cherry had realized her fear that my offspring may have the red hair I was born with.  Chelsea has gone from strawberry blonde to red although a much prettier color than her Dad.  Chelsea has since embraced being Dad's clone right down to her fake mustache collection. 

Dad was pretty busy playing Mr. Mom and taking care of the big girls so this birth seems like a blur.  It is hard for a Dad to keep up with a Mom's schedule. 

Chelsea grew up under the influence of her big sisters who always convinced her to take the blame for things since she was too young to get in serious trouble.  She called herself Helsea Gain since she had trouble with her name.  When she was young she was a great sister to Charlie as she enjoyed playing with Star Wars action figures.  Her Dad tried to make her a star basketball player because she was tall, but she just was not mean enough to play in the paint.

Chelsea has always been fun to be around.  She should always be asked to sing Hakuna Matata from The Lion King and The Cow Jumped over the Moon from Rent because she is quite good at it.  Chelsea is courageous because she seeks adventure in places like India and chooses to live in high cost and crowded California.  Most of all she seems to have a knack for falling into nettles.  See Kelly's blog to get the full account of that episode.  Now she knows the PAIN her Mom suffered through to bring her into the world.

Chelsea, I started this blog on your birthday but time ran over to the 25th before I finished.  I hope you had a great birthday and look forward to hearing more about your adventures.

Maybe not a power forward after all, maybe LPGA Tour!

TJ's Homecoming

"With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

TJ and Mackenzie Grace moved to Ireland to live with the Irish Taruns in May 2009.  Although TJ enjoyed his time with his family and had a chance to visit the parks in Dublin and the wilds of Wicklow, in the end he fought allergies and ear infections and some other health issues.  He has been wearing a cone most of his days  to keep him from scratching, and sleeping most of the day.

TJ's grandparents took him to the vet and on walks in Ireland and agreed to put him on the plane home with Cherry.  TJ was looking forward to leaving cold Ireland behind!

Before he left he wanted a good bye party with his family and friends including Siobhan, Sarah, and David.  However, it looks like Harris stole the show.

TJ went to the airport with his newest bestest buddy, Harris.  He made it safely to Powderhorn where he is getting the best care.  He met Luc and Bucky and is improving daily.  Bonnie, Champ and Jac joined the welcome home party on Valentine's Day.  Cherry is now one busy dog wrangler!

Spacey Kacie Colleen the Space Queen

Twenty eight years ago today Cherry and I drove early in the morning to Janey and H’s home and dropped off two year old Kelly, wearing her pink “Big Sister” shirt with her grandparents. We were prepared for this Valentine’s Day as we had taken the refresher Lamaze course and we had an uneventful trip to Park Plaza Hospital where Kacie was born at 11:01 AM. She was a 7-11 baby – not born at a convenience store – but weighed in at seven pounds and eleven ounces.






In the good old days we did not know if we were going to have a boy or a girl ahead of time so we were prepared with a name for each. We liked the initials TRW and a boy would have been Travis Ryan Windlinger. Subliminally influenced by the commercial for TRW, “a company today for the world tomorrow” I suppose.






Instead we got the best Valentine’s Day gift ever. Kacie Colleen was a beautiful baby girl with bright blue eyes. We liked the fact that her initials and first name were the same, but Cherry remembers that we thought it might be a little too cute so we did not name her for three days. Her grandfather, H aka HB, nicknamed her Albuquerque after those wide open eyes that reminded him of an owl. My nickname came for her later as she was a little shy and needed a little extra encouragement when she was young.

I liked to give Cherry roses back then for a job well done. At that time I remarked that I should give Kacie roses every year on her birthday equal in number to her age. This some how became a contract which causes questions like “Where are my roses?” when I miss a year. Thank goodness for Costco and their reasonable prices. Kacie, you have 28 roses waiting for you at my house.

And on order is the children's book pictured above.  It was published in your birth year -1983.

Kacie, thanks for being such a great daughter who looks after her parents when needed. We love watching you grow as a person and seeing what you do with your talent and hard work. Happy Birthday and Valentine's Day!   

Love, Dad.

Cheers to Harris!

No trip to Dublin would be complete without a pint of Guinness. Harris' birth has already been celebrated with Jameson Irish Whiskey and a good Cuban cigar. Harris had put up with the heel prick from the public health nurse on Monday and has been a very good boy. I thought he deserved a toast so Cherry and I departed on the LUAS for Temple Bar.




The Temple Bar has been serving Irish beer and whiskey for over 160 years and is crowded with students from Trinity, locals, and world travelers dancing and singing along to the live music.




The band was playing the ballad to the famous fish monger, Molly Malone, who is immortalized with her statue on Grafton Street. Their music energized the dancers as they performed with fiddle, guitar, flute, and uillean pipes.






Cheers, Harris!




Epilogue: Harris is now 2-0 as a Longhorn Fan. He cheered the Longhorn basketball team to a twenty point victory over Texas A&M in their house Monday night. The Aggie coach is now joining Harris in predicting a Final Four appearance for the Horns. Harris says welcome to my bandwagon!


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Location:Dublin

Grand-parenting

Good grand-parenting is probably something you learn on the job although your own grandparents are your first reference point. For now we wanted to be useful, assuming some of the chores that need to be done, and allow the new mother to get some rest and have some quality time with her baby.

Yesterday there was grocery shopping, fixing meals, and rocking the baby. Today had more of the same but we also had a chance to walk the neighborhood while we dropped and picked up the dogs from the vet and groomer.




TJ went to the vet in Ranelagh which is a nice little town devoid of the franchises that litter the American landscape. There is a lot of concrete and little grass. The city is serious about cleaning up after your dog.




The veterinary clinic is crowded and first in line gets the first appointment. We arrived fifteen minutes before opening and we were the first customers. The Irish have a sense of humor as evidenced by this picture hanging at te clinic.




TJ needed to spend the day so we stopped for coffee and hot chocolate. We saw this quiet neighborhood bar on the way back to the apartment. Kelly and Richard said it was frequented by a group of older people who looked at them like they did not belong there.





Later we passed a small Italian restaurant. Don't tell lies.



You can see the Ranelagh Luas elevated station in the background behind the sign. Under the station there is an arch entrance to a one hectare garden. This duck was low on water and had lost his flock.



Later on we picked up Mackenzie Grace from the groomer. Kelly, Richard,and Harris strolled over earlier that morning. When we arrived we were greeted by a Springer Spaniel who repeatedly sprang to the top of a half door, sprang down, greeted us, and sprang back up and over. Possibly the most agile dog I have met. They were working on this St. Bernard while we were there.



And in case you forgot, St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner.





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Location:Dublin

Dippin your Longhorn before the Big Game

"Every man has the right to a Saturday night bath"
Lyndon Banes Johnson






Harris was all dressed up in his burnt orange longhorn towel complete with horns for his first bath. His outfit was courtesy of Rachel. If you heard his complaining you would have thought he had to jump in the vat like his fellow longhorn. His bath started with sterilized water prepared by his Dad.





No more tears Johnson Baby Shampoo!





Baby, it's cold outside!






Don't get water in mine eyes! (inside joke)





I want the tapes in that video camera. You're not showing that to anybody.





OK, I feel better now!





Let's watch my first Longhorn game. Texas vs Missouri





Texas blowout Over Missouri 71-58. Hey I'm 1-0 as a Longhorn fan! Duke lost so maybe this is our year. I am thinking Final Four. Yawn.....Sweet Dreams!


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Location:Dublin

Homecoming - Part 3 of 3

Richard opened up the humidor of Cuban cigars and Jameson Irish Whiskey and the men celebrated a son's birth in traditional fashion although we were required to do so on the cold patio.





Welcome home Harris!





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Location:Harris