Haircut

I took a photo of Eoin to send to Biz while she was recruiting down in Notre Dame last week and one look at the photo and it was clear, Eoin needed a haircut.

The before:


The after (dad's handywork!):

Eoin and Hayden

Eoin and Hayden hung out for the first time yesterday. Eoin tested out Hayden's bounce chair and other cool toys (after watching Ireland beat England in six nations rugby : -)) and he was well impressed with his new cousin.

Record snowfall but no snow days : - (

It's been easy to get distracted by all the reports of record snowfall and snow storms on the east coast (New York etc) this month and 'forget' about the weather in Chicago. Apparently New York had record snowfall in February of just under 40 inches with some east coast cities getting slightly more.

I hadn't taken much notice of the fact that Chicago has had one of it snowiest Februarys on record - a full 52 inches - and while this is about five times more than average it still only comes in at number 7 of Chicago's snowiest Februarys! I clearly must be getting used to winter over here. And even with all the snow this month we didn't get a snow day (off from work) - life just goes on!

Congrats to Brigid, Mike and Hayden Browne!

Hayden Michael Browne was born on Saturday morning (a week earlier than expected - and certainly not in our thoughts at dinner the night before with Brigid and Mike!) a fine 7lbs and 4oz and 19 inches long. We are so happy for them and Eoin is looking forward to getting up to mischief with his cousin.

Having a ball!

We were at the 7th Annual Ireland Network Ball (very swanky black tie affair) on Saturday night at the plush Drake Hotel in Chicago. Membership of the Ireland Network is geared towards Irish professionals living in the Chicago area and it has a large number of first generation Irish like myself while also some second and third generation Irish and what you might call friends of Ireland.

About 200 people attended and it's really great to connect with so many Irish people and enjoy what is culturally very much an Irish night out while also supporting a good cause. There is good banter, dancing and the odd beverage (plenty of Irish coffee doing the rounds) and those of us willing to soldier on end up in a local Irish bar for a night cap (or four) until the wee hours of the morning.

This year the guest speaker was Charlie Bird (currently working as RTE's political correspondent in Washington DC and an icon of Irish journalism for many many years). He spoke about how he has come to appreciate the importance of honesty (in the media, in how you deal with the media and in general) and also about how he has 'been lonely' in Washington these past twelve months having not been able to connect in a meaningful / personal way with people there. Two large topics, the former being perceived as partly at the heart of much of our current troubles be they social, political or economic while the latter hasn't been my experience (with certain exceptions) whether that is a Mid West versus East Coast phenomenon, to do with my connections here via Biz or purely chance I am not sure.

We had the pleasure of Charlie's company over dinner and he came across as both down to earth and sincere while he did seem to be 'on duty' for the evening and not entirely relaxed. He is about to become a grandfather and has decided that he will move back to Ireland soon and we wish him well.

Splish, splash!

Eoin went for his first swimming lesson last week. He was relaxed and enjoyed the water and even seemed like he was falling asleep at one point while he was on his back (I think it was the chlorinated water in his eyes which he tried to rub out with his wet hands, poor chap!).

Brrrr...its cold outside

Ah yes, beautiful winter time in Chicago! It actually hasn't been so bad this year - some minus 20 degree wind chill days but not much snow and even its gotten above freezing several days. We did get plenty of snow this week though - over a foot of snow in the last 36 hours - see below some pics of the snow on our street, children with their sleighs in the park and the frozen lake shore with the city in the background. The photo of Biz however is not from Chicago - that's a picture from Limerick city in Ireland over Xmas believe it or not - it was a white Xmas in Ireland this year for the first time in many many years. Eoin is happily oblivious to the winter - he isn't getting out much these days but it does give him plenty of time to practice his crawling! Stay warm!