we have an APB - I repeat, an APB

I was watching the movie "The Guard" last night.  I was amused by a scene where the main character (a cop - guard - in the West of Ireland) talks about an A.P.B., lamenting that the term isn't used any more.

I found this amusing because LBJ's brother and sister-in-law have a son (born in October) with the initials APB.  Needless to say, LBJ and I refer to him as APB, and are quite amused by this.

Anyway, APB and his parents visited Ireland earlier in the month.  The girls were thrilled to see their little cousin.  They were very sweet with him, and he seemed to enjoy the attention - until his wet diaper began to annoy him, that is.

Finally a baby for FABJ to mind / hold / bother / etc.

It takes a while to outgrow putting hands in the mouth...

On the first (full) day of their visit, a Friday, the grandparents kindly honored my request to pick up the girls, as I was scheduled to take the seminar speaker for a pint at 5pm.  But the seminar speaker cancelled his visit due to a sick child.  However, I didn't want to keep the kids from spending some quality time with their cousin, so I didn't "cancel" the pick up.  I was embarrassed to find out that APB wasn't there, as his parents took him to visit a good friend of theirs instead.  Still, I enjoyed a pint after work with colleagues.

Overall, though, everyone had an enjoyable visit.  We'll be off to England in March - day trip - for APB's christening somewhere in rural England not too far from Luton airport in London.

New addition to the family

We are proud to announce the arrival of the latest member of the family, our new ... car.  What did you think?

LBJ, ORBJ, and ... NBJ?

LBJ got a new job out in the suburbs, so commuting via public transit is not really an option, at least in the short run.  Plus, our car is 11 years old, so we knew that we'd eventually need a new car.   We wanted a car that we would grow into - a family car for the next 10 or so years.  LBJ did some research and thought that the Nissan Qashqai is a good option.  It is pretty roomy and gets surprisingly good gas mileage for a sizeable vehicle.

LBJ has been pleasantly surprised by the length of the commute - not too bad.  The new job is going well so far, although this is only week 2.

FABJ posing for the camera

As you can see, we've had lovely weather of late - lots of rain.  Had our first snow of the winter yesterday.  As usual (for Dublin), it didn't stick on the ground.  There has been lots of flooding around the country, but we've been relatively unaffected.