You better watch out, you better not cry!

You know, when I ended the last post by saying I'd update with any additions to our Christmas agenda, I was really referring to things like "Oh yeah, forgot to mention we're stopping to visit some of Jesse's cousins in NJ on the way to CT over the weekend" or something along those lines. What I did not foresee was a complete reworking of our ENTIRE Christmas agenda.

Many of you have already seen some posts on Facebook, but for those who have been living under a rock for the past two years and have no idea what Facebook is, I'll update you as well. We spent Christmas morning in the ER. Don't worry, the baby is fine. Jesse, on the other hand, woke up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve with some pretty severe eye pain. Having had a corneal abrasion over the summer, we figured it was the same thing acting up again. Why? Who knows...but it hurt like heck, at least as far as I could tell. Being the trooper that he is (read: typical guy), he opted to try to sleep it out.

Flash forward, to 3 a.m. The pain was getting worse, to the point where I woke up to Jesse rocking at the end of the bed and trying not to claw out his own eye. It was time to call the opthalmologist...only trouble was it was bleeping Christmas Eve. We left a voicemail on what seemed to be the emergency line, and hung up. The next few hours consisted of much tossing and turning and very little sleep. We got up around 7:30, called the doctor again and left another voicemail. Thinking it unlikely we would get a response any time soon (it was Christmas morning, after all), we opted to just head to the ER. At the very least, they could call in a doctor to see Jesse if they felt it was necessary.

Eily was great while we hung out in the waiting room. Cooing and giggling the whole time. One old guy thought she was so cute, he took her picture, which she just loved. Two hours later, and a complete flushing out of his eye with a liter of....something, we were sent home with the instructions to see the specialist as soon as possible. If only it were so easy. We couldn't' even get a call back from their emergency line. Instead of stressing, we went home and had Eily's first Christmas morning opening presents (wrapping paper was the biggest hit...I should have just wrapped a bunch of wrapping paper in a wad and let her go to town). We still made our appearance at the Nog At Noon celebration with our friend Nathan. But by the afternoon, Jesse was beat and in a lot of pain. We headed home, where he promptly collapsed into bed in misery and fell asleep. When he finally woke, we had a lovely dinner of steamed clams and shrimp cocktail...in the dark. The lights hurt his eyes too much, so we kept the mood lighting to a maximum. Trying hard to keep his eyes closed, he was like a blind person, feeling around the table for everything. I'm just glad we opted for finger foods instead of filet. An accidentally amputated finger wasn't really something I felt like adding to the list.

I'll skip the details of getting in contact with the opthalmologist, but needless to say, she couldn't see us until late this evening. Strike #1 in the weekend plans. The drive to CT takes approximately 4.5 hours, so leaving anytime past 3 in the afternoon is pointless. We opted to postpone departure until tomorrow morning. The nice part about this is the opportunity we were afforded to spend a little bit longer at Jesse's cousin Steve's house. We saw family we haven't seen in years, and everyone just adored Eily (who was good as gold the whole time).

We got to the doctor's office around 7:30 tonight, and, in a nutshell, the cornea is scratched again. No idea how it happened, but this time it's really bad. She was surprised Jesse wasn't complaining a lot more (he's a tough guy). And here comes Strike #2: the abrasion is severe enough to warrant her seeing him every day for the next few days. Apparently the risk of infection is pretty severe with one this size, and there's no sense in risking it by letting it go unattended. So that means she needs to see him tomorrow, which in turn means departure time gets pushed back further.

After leaving the office with my boyfriend pirate with a sweet eye patch, Jesse and I talked about the pros and cons of driving to CT with all that's going on. The doctor appointment tomorrow morning was scheduled for 7:30 a.m., but it's located an hour in the complete opposite direction from our intended travel route. Coupling that with the fact that Jesse really felt miserable again today after spending time out of his cave trying to be social, we decided that maybe it would just be best to stay home. Strike #3. You're out!

So here I sit, 11p.m. the night after Christmas, updating you all on what could have been a pretty crappy Christmas. In all honesty, we've really made the most of it. Eily had fun, we took some super cute videos of her (to be posted after editing), and we got to see at least a few of the people on our list. I'm still not sure what Jesse did to make Santa CLAWS so angry, and I'm not sure I want to know. We have a few theories, but in the interest of keeping this blog family-friendly, I'll politely keep them to myself.

For those who look forward to Santa's visit each year, I hope he treated you all a lot better than poor Jesse.

Traditions Old & New

Christmas is the ninja of all holidays. Or at least it is in our house. One minute I'm peacefully going about my business, half-heartedly thinking about gifts, a tree, mailing cards, etc. The next minute BLAM! I've got 48 hours in which to complete my shopping, wrap the presents, ship them out to those who live far away...forget the tree, no room in the house anyway. We'd have to leave it on the porch.

Okay, so it wasn't quite that bad this year. One of the fringe benefits of staying home with Eily has been having the time to prepare for things like Christmas without feeling like I'm in a race I'll never win. I finished purchasing and wrapping gifts over the weekend, cards were sent out in time to reach everyone BEFORE Christmas, and I've already gathered the ingredients for Christmas breakfast. I was serious about the tree, though. There's just no room.

One of our favorite holiday traditions since moving to Pennsylvania (gasp!) 4.5 years ago is joining the Hartman/Shilliday family for their annual Cookie Swap. Don't let that cutesie little name fool you. Sure, everyone joins in to decorate and bake a huge batch of roll-out sugar cookies. But in truth, this is an all-out, every-man-for-himself cookie baking competition. The mission: Choose your cookie, then bake a dozen for each of the families competing, along with an extra batch for the competition itself. On competition day, your cookie is entered in three categories: best looking, best "newcomer" OR "back to basics" cookie, and best tasting (grand prize). On average, about 9-10 families partake in the event. That's a heck of a lot of cookies!
(As a side note, don't make the mistake I made one year in choosing to make a sandwich cookie of any kind - I didn't think about the fact that I had doubled my work until I was halfway through baking. The cookies weren't finished until 4 a.m. the morning of competition. Lesson learned!)

I have absolutely no bragging rights when it comes to this competition, as I have yet to win in any of the categories. But when you're competing against people who begin training for the event in January by testing every last one of Martha Stewart's cookie recipes, there's going to be some real contenders. Needless to say, we always come home with some very yummy loot.

This year was Eily's first Cookie Day. While she did nothing to really help (other than sleep long enough to give me time to bake my cookies the night before), I think she still had a good time. She was more excited about playing with pals Liam and Mia than the cookies, though. This ended up being a good thing since Jesse and I ran away with Nic and Andy that evening to go see New Moon . (Please keep all comments to yourself. We are well aware that the Twilight saga is not "high art.") Debbie and Gary were nice enough to babysit the kids for us, and even snapped a few pictures on my camera while we were gone.




Eily: What the heck is this thing??
Liam: I'm not sure, but let me hold your binky while you figure it out.




Liam: Just taking a pit stop between play times.
Gary: When are these kids going to bed? I'm pooped!
Debbie: Aw, the baby fell asleep in my arms.
Eily: Sweet! If I just pretend I'm sleeping, maybe she won't put me down in the pack & play!




Gary: Seriously....when are the kids going to bed?


The rest of our usual Christmas traditions won't happen until this coming weekend, when we go to visit my family in CT. My niece's birthday is the 28th, and we always stick around to celebrate with her. I've already been informed that she is having a princess-themed birthday party. Guess I need to dig out my tiara.

As for new traditions, we're going to make things up as we go along. Christmas Eve will be spent here at the house. We're going to order Chinese food for dinner and maybe sit around watching movies together. After doing presents and breakfast (I'm thinking chocolate chip pancakes...mmmmm!) on Christmas morning, we'll head over to the Nog at Noon celebration hosted by our friend Nathan's aunt, Carol. We attended this event on our very first Christmas in PA, when we were too poor to travel home to see either of our families, and it was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again as we haven't been back since that year. Next week we'll be heading down to Virginia for the annual New Year's at Nic & Andy's place, giving Eily the chance to hang out with her main squeeze, Liam, for a few days.

That's the plan anyway...check back soon for any corrections to the agenda! I'll leave you all with a pic of the Christmas elf staying with us this year:

Odds & Ends

Hello once again. We're going to skip over the usual introduction of "I'm lame. I don't post enough. So busy. Blah, blah, blah." By now, you should all just expect a very long wait between posts. Instead, we're going to dive right in and discover just what's been going on around here for the past (eek!) 3 weeks. (Here's where I let you in on a little secret. I can barely remember what happened yesterday, so the only way to accurately recall anything is to dig through the past three week's worth of photos on the camera. Thank the stars for digital technology!) Is everyone ready? Well then, put your safety belts on and get ready for the adventure.

3...2...1.... Lift off!!



So, a few days before my last post, we traveled out to Cherry Hill to hang with the adopted family (the Hartman/Arcani/Shilliday clan) for a little Nic & Julie birthday fun. What better way to feed an army of people than to serve up some awesome Mexican food (thanks Debbie!)? Still a better question, what better way to enjoy a Mexican meal than to pop open a bottle of Mezcal? The trouble with such ideas, however, is the sudden need to prove one's masculinity in front of a crowd. Not mine, of course. I'm man enough without needing to prove it. Umm....anyway, moving on.

Jesse, Andy, and Andy's dad Jim decided to prove themselves by eating the Mezcal worm. First of all, let me tell you - that sucker was huge! Second, it had a strange, almost armor-like shell. And third, after chopping it into thirds, the guys were told they actually had to chew it. Sounds like fun, right? Jesse's face describes the experience better than any words in my lexicon, so I'll let that speak for me.

Meanwhile, Eily was practicing her plant whisperer skills. This girl seriously has a vegetation obsession. I think she gets it from her Grandma Mary, who possesses the most powerful green thumb in the world. Eily needs a little work, though. Currently her only abilities are grabbing, smooshing, and attempting to eat any plant she sees. Sure, it's an effective means of heavy pruning, but I'm thinking a more gentle approach should be cultivated in our future little gardener.



Back on the home front the following week, I decided the time had come to tackle the next project on our never-ending list of home renovations. The kitchen. (Gulp.) Daunting though it seemed, I somehow managed to empty our kitchen of all its contents and relocate everything to the dining room. Here's the proof:



Now, I know. It looks a bit "busy." But when you consider everything from our kitchen short of the stove and kitchen sink made it into this room, I say it's pretty darn impressive. (Note, the refrigerator is, of course, not in the dining room either, but since it doesn't reside in the kitchen to begin with, it doesn't count.) Next step? Rip up the ugly linoleum floor and refinish the hardwood underneath. Then onto the fun demo - tearing out the existing cabinetry! Oh, how I love a project!

Alright, this brings us to the week of Thanksgiving. (Look, I know the post is long, but seriously, there's a lot to talk about! Go refill your coffee cup, grab a snack, and get back here to finish the story. You know you want to.) Two big milestones were reached this week. First, Eily rolled over from back to belly. Of course, I don't have any video or pictures because she insisted on only doing it when I wasn't looking. I could literally be sitting right next to her on the floor watching and waiting without so much as an attempt on her part, but as soon as I turned my head for a couple of seconds, she would roll. This put her in the much abhorred position of being on her tummy, however, so she would promptly flip right back over again onto her back.

The second big milestone is really a two-parter. At the beginning of November, at 4 months old, we began feeding Eily rice cereal. Her introduction to solids was due in part to her constant interest in my and Jesse's plates of food whenever we ate. The cereal satiated her desire to eat big people food for a time, but being the genius my daughter is, she soon figured out that her cereal was not something Daddy or I would ever willingly put into our own mouths. So on Thanksgiving, we introduced her to the world of vegetables. Or butternut squash, at least. She couldn't get enough! We somehow missed out on getting a photo of the experience (read: we are the worst parents ever), but here's a picture of the little miss in her super cute Thanksgiving outfit (thanks Nic!).



Yes, I know, she's flashing us. It's quite obvious she's Jesse's daughter. Sigh....

The next night was my (gasp!) ten year high school reunion. We had a really good turnout, but I was surprised when Jesse (who had a great time, go figure) befriended a guy named Jeremy, whom I never really spent much time hanging out with back in the day. When you graduate in a class of 99 people, it's pretty hard not to know everyone, but seriously, it was like these two had grown up together and I was the outsider. Ah well, at least I didn't have to feel bad about dragging him to the reunion. I enjoyed catching up with everyone - most of whom I lost touch with after high school because, let's face it, I'm really bad about that sort of thing. More importantly, however, Eily survived her first babysitting experience with Grampy and Mémère. Apparently, she decided since she was old enough to be left with others, she was also big enough to hold her own bottle. Kathy sent me this photo with the tagline, "I'd rather do it myself."



That brings us to the last week or so. This past weekend we found a great way to spend the Sunday together as a family. Baby Loves Disco! Originally, I found the event on the calendar for a mother's group I just joined. I didn't end up meeting anyone from the group while we were there, though. Still, it wasn't a total wash. Tons of people showed up, and Eily even made a little friend named Rosie. They had a lot to talk about, as you can see.



Daddy enjoyed getting out and dancing with the wee lass, too.



And finally on the list of things to tell you all about: Baby Story Hour at the Yardley Library. Not exactly an earth-shattering, life-changing event, but we went for the first time yesterday morning and Eily loved it. I've been thinking lately that we need to get out of the house more and spend some time near other little kids so Eily can get some socialization, and after yesterday I'm only more convinced of this. She loved the stories, which were geared towards kids her age through maybe two years. But more so, she had a great time watching the slightly older kids - one year to about 18 months - walking, clapping, and talking. She couldn't take her eyes off of them! I think this is just the kind of thing she needs, since at home she only has me to talk to (boring!).

The nice part was that they gave everyone there a copy of last year's One Book, Every Young Child story, entitled "If You Were a Penguin." When Daddy got home last night, he sat and read it again with Eily, which she greatly enjoyed.



And that brings us to this morning. Eily had a miserable night, mostly due to the stupid tooth/teeth she's getting that have yet to actually make an appearance. I really hope by my next blog they'll be here because she is very cranky about the whole process. BUT, she's learned how to give hugs recently, and she does it every time we pick her up, so she's still pretty darn cute despite the grumpy moments when she's aboard the Fuss Bus. Kisses aren't far away either, I'm thinking, since her new trick is to press her open mouth on my cheek and suck with all her might. Kind of like the "kiss of the algae eater" - a little wet and slimy but I'll take it!

Until next time, here's one last shot of our little half-pint, taken last night while hanging out with Daddy. (Pardon the avocado she somehow managed to get on her sweater despite wearing the biggest bib ever.)

Sing-a-long with Eily

In the interest of entertaining those of you who have told me how much you enjoy the blog, I offer you the following sing-a-long video. This little girl is destined for stardom! (Pardon the poor quality - this was taken with our regular camera, not the snazzy video camera.)

Oh, and P.S. - if you happen to be watching this at work (not that any of you would ever be so irresponsible, of course), you may want to turn the sound down a bit. Her voice...well, let's just say it carries.

Alright, I'll admit it...

...I am officially the WORST blogger in the entire history of blogging - which is what, 10 years maybe? (Ok, I was nerdy enough to wiki that. Dang I'm good! 10 years it is. But I digress...)

Right, where was I? Oh yes, I am a bad blogger. It's been well over a month since our trip to Maine, and guess what? None of you have any idea how the trip ended! This wouldn't be so bad had I not left you with this cliffhanger at the end of my last entry:

And here is where I leave you for now. Coming up in the next blog: Do we make it through the wilderness of Maine to Bangor? Does Eily survive her first climbing trip? And what happens when a recently fed Eily is played with by Curtis? Tune in next time to find out!

Even Eily has been waiting to hear the conclusion. See?

Her face is actually frozen like this now. We're going to have it checked out at her next doctor visit if this post doesn't put her eyeballs back in their sockets where they belong.

In the meantime, I feel just awful thinking about the anxiety you've all experienced while waiting for the answers to these burning questions. Well, here it is folks. Resolution for your wearily waiting winds...er, minds.

We made it to Bangor. Eily survived her first climbing trip without so much as a tumble (being bundled like a yeti and carried by Mommy the whole time helped), and Eily threw up all over Curtis's grandparents' carpet when he tossed her around after she had just eaten.

There, I feel better. Okay, moving on!****

So, what's been happening in the month since Maine? I wish I knew. This month has flown by faster than the first three since Eily arrived. Mommy brain apparently doesn't disappear after giving birth, and I am left contemplating the wall behind the computer as I ponder just what we've been up to.




Here's the webcam pic to prove it.






(Okay, lay off the comments about my hair, would you? Sorry I didn't have time to get all gussied up. I'm quite obviously a very busy mom working from home and not expecting visitors...or web stalkers. Cut me some slack already!)

After several minutes with the above look of consternation written across my face, I've come to the conclusion that my memory only holds information for two weeks, so let's start at Halloween and go from there. In the interest of time, we'll make it a pictoral representation.

Eily meets Holly for the first time. (Technically this was the week before Halloween, but who's counting? Obviously not me!)

Eily dressed as a chicken for Halloween. This is one of two photos we have of her in the costume, which was quickly discarded moments later in favor of a happy baby.

And here she is celebrating Halloween by making the rounds to see the family.

First stop: Noni and Nono's house.



Second stop: Grandma and Grandpa Cote's house.



Last stop: Auntie Debbie's where we met up with Nana.



Then it was off to Grampy's to get ready for bed.



And finally, we have this past weekend, where Eily spent some time in Delaware at the World Punkin Chunkin contest. Our office has a team, and this was our second year competing. I've included a video of Saturday's throw, which passed our goal of launching a pumpkin 500 feet - we got 572! We did even better the next day throwing 616 feet and placed 6th overall in the Adult Human Power category.







****This is not to say that the details of our trip aren't worth remembering. But a lot of stuff has happened since then! Gotta keep moving here or I'll be playing catch up for 2 years at this rate!

Eily's 2009 World Tour (Part 1)

Okay, perhaps the title is a bit hyperbolic. Eily didn't exactly tour the "world," but I think the northern half of the eastern seaboard is pretty darn close when you're only three and a half months old! So here it is, the post you've all been waiting for (though I hope you weren't holding your breaths in the process).

We embarked upon our adventure on Friday, October 9. Eily, as usual, was a perfect traveler. Unfortunately, traffic held us up a bit. We made a quick stop in Stafford to introduce Eily to her Great-great-auntie Ellie before zipping up to Ashford to spend the night at Dad & Kathy's. This gave Eily a break from the carseat and Jesse a break from driving. (Side note - I LOVE the Honda Fit, but the rear-facing infant carseat takes up a ton of space in there. As a result, the passenger seat remains in what I like to call the "Look, I can lick the windshield!" position. Needless to say, I'm the lucky one who gets to sit there all of the time. On a positive note, I never have to drive when the three of us travel. Score!)

Saturday morning found us waking at an obscene hour, something I'm sure Kathy agrees to. But hey, we had an 11 a.m. wedding to get to in Maine (or should I say, northern New Hampshire?). Contrary to popular belief, some new parents can and do make it places on time, and we wanted to make sure that was known. We arrived in plenty of time and had a heel-clicking good time at the nuptials of Rich & Amy, where Eily made her rounds on the dance floor and flirted with her future husband, Liam. The day's highlight? I'll have to say it was the surprise of hearing Enter the Haggis piping through the speakers and the immediate storm of dancers hitting the floor, whether they knew the song or not. Rich & Amy, you guys rock!

Now, those of you who know my track record for weddings, you're probably asking, "Where's the picture of Jessa catching the bouquet and the picture of Jesse's face looking on in horror?" Well, I'll admit it. I didn't partake in the bouquet toss. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed marching out on the floor and sticking with tradition. But the life of a mother is not always conducive to keeping some traditions alive. Sure enough, Eily decided just minutes before the bouquet toss that it was time to eat. Nicole even ran into the ladies' sitting room to tell me to get out there. Something about catching the bouquet with Eily latched on just didn't seem right to me, though, so I stayed put. (I wonder now, however, would anyone have fought me for it? Probably not!)

The crazy fun of the wedding was followed up by an after party at the home of Amy's parents. This would have been tons of fun, had Eily not decided it was suddenly tantrum time. I spent the majority of the time there trying to convince her to go to sleep. Apparently, I'm not very convincing. She decided crying was a better idea, so we left early and made it back to the hotel by 9p.m., along with our roommates for the night: Nicole, Andy, and Liam (who quickly became the source of Jesse and Andy's entertainment, as you can see here).




So here's a riddle for you: What do you get when you cross two sets of parents and two babies with a long day of partying?

Any guesses?

Okay, I'll tell you. You get six people in bed before 10p.m. On a Saturday night. At least we had the decency to recognize the fact at the time and admit to our complete and utter lameness. We made up for this the following day, however, with a trip into Ogunquit where we walked the Marginal Way.

(And here's the spot in the blog where a
picture should be, but for some reason,
I don't see one in the folder Jesse created
for our pictures from this trip. Grrr!!!)

After parting ways with the Shillidays, it was back in the car to make the trek north to Bangor. But not without a pit stop in Freeport for some shopping, of course!

And here is where I leave you for now. Coming up in the next blog: Do we make it through the wilderness of Maine to Bangor? Does Eily survive her first climbing trip? And what happens when a recently fed Eily is played with by Curtis? Tune in next time to find out!

You know you're a mom when...

...your entire week is spent thinking about baby poop. The frequency. The consistency. The color. The inspection of. (Ok, that last one is probably TMI for you non-mommies out there.)

I know, I know, I have an entire week long vacation I still need to post about. But honestly, how can I begin to focus on that when this past week+ has been consumed by the all-too-worrisome topic of baby poop? I didn't realize this until I found myself googling "yarn fuzz in baby poop" a few minutes ago. It's not the first time I've googled a term ending with the words "baby poop" either, and something tells me it won't be the last. (Why was I researching "yarn fuzz in baby poop" you might ask? I'm pretty sure it's self-explanatory, but just in case you haven't quite boarded the Obvious Bus, I'll tell you. Eily had a strand of what appeared to be hair in her poo this morning, but upon further inspection it was a thin strand of yarn I'm fairly certain she swallowed while chewing on a fuzzy yarn blanket of hers.)

The yarn isn't the main concern regarding her bowels, however. What has me constantly pondering the poo is the fact that she's formed the habit of only going once every 7-8 days. I know, it's completely normal, especially for a breastfed baby. But still, I'm a mom. I worry about everything, poop included.

So, now that she's gone again and I've discovered, via the magic of the Google search, that my child is not the first in the world to pass non-food items through her digestive tract, I can begin pulling together pictures from our vacation in Maine and preparing a post. I can't guarantee to have it up by the weekend, but it will be here soon.

(Sorry if this one was a little too "graphic" for you non-parents. I won't apologize to parents. They know exactly where I'm coming from. You should all just be thankful I refrained from including any pictures this time around!)

Northern Exposure

Howdy all! I realize I haven't posted anything in almost two weeks, but my bag o' excuses is plenty full. Just a random sampling:

• Jesse's folks visited last weekend, followed up by a visit from Kitty and Garrett (and Baby Wilkin, too!).
• Work work work work work all week long.
• All the world's a stage, and someone's got to assistant direct! Spent two nights at the theater to work on "Inspecting Carol".
• Work some more.
• Packing, laundry, random house responsibilities.
• Did I mention work? Oh, and trying to get the stupid time sheet program to work on my computer before leaving for vacation.

Okay, that's enough excuses. As you can see, we've been busy. And it's only getting crazier from there. We hit the road on Friday and headed north to CT where we had a "layover" before continuing on to Maine Saturday morning. After an awesome time hanging with Nic & Andy & Liam at Rich & Amy's uber fun wedding, we headed even further north yesterday. We are now in Bangor introducing Eily to Jesse's childhood home and friends. Be on the lookout for lots of pictures/videos/good stories when we get back next week. Until then:

Deuces! We're out!

Happy 3 months

Today is officially Eily's 3 month birthday. For fear of sounding trite, I have to ask: Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday we brought her home. Somehow, between the diaper changes, feedings, and naps, she's grown up. Okay, not exactly grown up. But while she napped today, I cleaned out all of her 0-3 month clothing (*sniffle*) and washed all of her 3-6 month gear. Since we really only plan on having one baby, I was a bit sad seeing these things getting packed away. On the plus side, however, it's like she has a whole new wardrobe. Thank goodness for living vicariously through her for the time being. After all, the last thing I want to do is buy a new wardrobe until I have lost all of the baby weight (12 more pounds to go!).

In honor of this day, I'd like to take a minute to bring everyone up to speed with Eily's developments thus far:

- She hates tummy time. This means no rolling over from belly to back at this point. Not really a development, I guess, but it may be important for future reference when you all start asking if she's crawling yet and I say no. Don't ask me why not. Just accept the fact that my child hates laying on her stomach (which makes me question if she's really mine at all - it's the only way I can sleep).

- Neck control is a no-brainer. This girl has been holding that noggin up since day one. She can even hold it up while on her tummy. But wait. Why do that when burying her face and crying as if she's enduring some sort of extreme torture is so much more fun? Here's a rare pic of her smiling on her tummy, taken today:

- Standing is her pass-time of choice. My guns are proof. This is how we spend a good portion of the day.

- She's started giggling, but she's a tough audience. Want to really get her going? Stick me in a room full of dust so I start sneezing. She thinks that's pretty darn funny. The bigger the sneeze, the longer and harder she laughs. Don't try to fake her out, though. My kid is no dummy. She can tell a fake sneeze from the real deal any day.

- She's most "talkative" just before she falls asleep. I have a hard time stifling my laughter as she babbles and grunts with a big grin behind her paci and drooping eyelids.

- Rollng onto her side is her latest trick, but she's not really in any rush to go any further (see the "tummy time" item).

Those are all I can think of at the moment. I must admit, my brain is a bit fuzzy as I fight some severely allergy-induced blocked sinuses. I've probably forgot something here, but to make up for it I'll leave you with her birthday pictures from her first three months:

Month 1:

I'll admit, we almost forgot to take a pic that day. This was just before going to sleep that night.

Month 2:

Hanging out on the front porch.

Month 3:

Taken tonight during tubby time - her favorite time of the day!

Tradition!

Once again, another September has arrived after an all-too fleeting summer. Crisp mornings are a sign of things to come - the changing leaves, the short-lived sunlight, the first drops of snow. Well I say to Nature, "Hold up already, we have far too many things to do first!"

That's right, it is officially fall, and that means a chance to actually enjoy the outdoors without sweating out every ounce of water I drank for the day. (And let me tell you, when you're breastfeeding that is a lot of water!) More importantly, though, are the traditions fall brings along for its windy ride. And in true Jesse and Jessa fashion, we kicked this season off right by attending the Irish 2000 festival (aka Celtic festival nerd heaven) in upstate NY. Longtime friends and family will understand, but for those who don't know: This event is the reason Jesse and I ever even met in the first place. Let's return to that fateful day five years ago for a little walk down memory lane, shall we?

(Cue dreamy harp music and fog machine.)

September, 2004. I was living back in CT after leaving the Albany area, but I returned for a weekend visit to attend Irish 2000, or i2K as the regulars call it. Early in the day, I saw this guy dancing during one of the sets. He looked very familiar, but I just couldn't place where I knew him from. Seeing a girl with him and really not knowing where I knew him from, I opted not to approach him. Flash forward several weeks to the beginning of October. Having decided I missed the Capital Region far too much, I had returned for good and resumed my part time job at Professor Java's. Imagine my surprise when the same young man I had seen at the festival showed up for coffee one day! Here's where things get fun.

His version: Jessa said "Hi, I saw you at Irish fest didn't I?" Therefore, she was totally hitting on me.

My version: I finally realized why he had looked so familiar at the festival - he was a regular at the cafe. I mentioned that I had seen him there and introduced myself. Before he left, he totally hit on me and said (this is VERBATIM because I will never forget how corny it was), "If you see me at another show, you should save me a dance."

But I digress. My point is, if I hadn't seen him out of context at the festival, I probably wouldn't have initiated much of a conversation with him at the cafe weeks later. Every time he came in after that, we chatted about our favorite Celtic bands. He eventually convinced me to go to a Black 47 show with him in November, and the rest is history.

(Dreamy harp music and wavy image transporting us back to the present.)

Here we are, five years later and we haven't missed an i2K yet! Even having a new baby can't stop us. In fact, she enjoyed the festival as much as we did. Of course, being the uber cool yet responsible parents that we are, we made sure her little ears were protected from the noise of acts like Hair of the Dog and Enter the Haggis.















Here are a few more pics of the fun we had with some of our favorite people:



























































Of course, being the dynamic duo trio that we are, we didn't stop there. We followed up the festival with a trip down to CT for my grandmother's 80th birthday! It was a marathon weekend for sure, but Eily did great. Good thing, too. With parents like us, life is going to be one adventure after another!

Finally!

Well, our little Eily-bell was officially 12 weeks old on Tuesday, and I thought it would be a good time to get this blog started! I'm probably going to end up spending the next few days trying to "pimp" out the look of the blog before I really get rolling with the posts. In the meantime, let's get cracking with the videos. I'll leave you with the very first from the minutes following Eily's birth. (Don't worry, it's G-rated. I said "following", not during!)