TWO BIG J'S, one little e

We're still here!

2011-10-01T23:14:00.000-04:00

Busy keeping up with the two year old....here's a taste of a typical evening at our house:

Is there a doctor in the house?

2011-07-12T22:55:00.002-04:00

Exam 3 of 4 for my last class of the summer begins in ten hours. I should be studying, but I'd rather indulge my inner procrastinator. Lucky you!

To illustrate my recent post about Eily's obsession with doctors, here's a picture of her taking care of Timmy the Sheep.

Yesterday was our big trip to the allergist to discuss her peanut allergy. In true Eily form, she made quite an impression at this new doctor's office. When we arrived, she climbed into a chair in the waiting room directly across from the receptionist's window and sat there quietly surveying the room through her sunglasses. Despite the efforts of the few other patients waiting there to get her attention, Eily sat stoically, her little hands in her lap. Think diva. That was her look. After two or three minutes went by, she had warmed up and hopped down to check out the selection of reading material. As inviting as Dr. Gupta's office was, I have to admit it wasn't nearly as kid-friendly as I had anticipated. The only magazines to be found were Sports Illustrated and People. Eily chose People, sat back down, and began to "read." By this point, the mom and daughter sitting next to me were bursting with laughter. When asked how old she was, I replied, "Two going on twenty." That pretty much sums up her attitude.

Surprisingly, when we were called back to Dr. Gupta's office for our consult, Eily began squirming and whining. She begged to go home and even pulled a great "I have to go potty!" to get herself out of there. I'm not sure why she got so upset. As far as appointments go, this was the easy part where I sat and relayed the history of reactions Eily has had to peanuts over the past year. Maybe she's smarter than I give her credit for and knew something else was bound to happen.

I've never been to an allergist myself. I knew they did skin tests to check for reactions to allergens, but I've never witnessed the process myself. After our consult, we went over into an exam room where I removed Eily's shirt. Because she's never been exposed to other nuts (I know, I know, peanuts aren't "nuts", but I'm paranoid!), we had to test for all of the common culprits. I was relieved at the thought of knowing for sure whether I had to ban nuts entirely from the house, so I went along with it. That's when the hard part started. For every type of nut tested, Dr. Gupta had to scratch Eily's back with a fine needle dipped in allergens. It was my unfortunate task to hold her during this. By the second one, she was screaming, "Ow, that hurts!" with tears streaming down her face. My confidence plummeted as I held her and thought how silly I was being, that this whole "allergy thing" was just in my head and I was subjecting my child to unnecessary torture.

Once the scratches were done, we had to wait ten minutes before Dr. Gupta could read the results. She left us in the exam room, where I tried in vain to calm Eily down. She was inconsolable - shrieking, crying, trying to itch her back - all the while telling me "I hurt!" At that point, I was pretty sure I was getting the Worst Mother Ever award.

Five minutes into our ten minute wait, Dr. Gupta came back to check on us and offered Eily a lollipop. For the first time since they began, I suddenly had an appreciation for the two-year old mood swings. The cries of "I hurt" were quickly replaced with an excited expression of "Ooooo!" as Eily plucked a lollipop from the basket in Dr. Gupta's hand. I opened the candy for her, and she happily smiled at Dr. Gupta and said, "Thank you." When the doctor returned at the end of our wait, Eily hopped up on the table and said, "Doctor make feel better!" just as she had in Dr. Marcus's office last week. Dr. Gupta was amazed at the transformation - not too many kids want to talk to her after that experience and I can't say I blame them, no matter how sweet she is.

In the end, I found that my mommy license would not be revoked due to hyper-paranoid behavior. The scratch test was worthwhile, as it revealed that Eily does indeed have an extreme sensitivity to peanuts. It also assuaged my fears of feeding her any other nut products, since there were no reactions for those. (Looks like I'll be acquiring a taste for almond and cashew butter in the near future.) My biggest fear as we left was that the whole experience had ruined her for doctor visits in the future. However, as we drove by Dr. Marcus's office (right next door to Dr. Gupta's building), Eily shouted, "Go Doc Marcus!" and pointed. (The kid seriously has an insane memory. How she recognizes the building from outside is beyond me.) While we didn't get a chance to stop in and see her buddy, Dr. M, I was relieved to see that she hadn't developed any lasting fear of doctor's offices from this one visit.

As you can see here, life was pretty much back to normal today. She got to hang out with her friend Ava, and we even stuck around after I got out of class so the two could enjoy some more popsicle and pool time.

She's one tough cookie, and I'm in awe of all the bravery bottled up in that little body of hers.

For those who weren't aware....

2011-07-08T15:47:00.000-04:00

Family members (on Jesse's side, anyway) probably already have this link, but I wanted to share Kiara's website with those of you who may not know her. She is Jesse's amazing talented sister and Eily's super fabulous Auntie Kiki. We're excited to have her joining us this weekend to shoot our good friends Zak & Heather's wedding. (And if I know Kiara, a few dozen pictures of the wee Smudge will probably end up being taken, as well.) If you're interested in seeing some new photos she took of Eily, as well as her prize-winning entry in a recent photo contest, check out her blog entries by clicking the link: Eily May 2011

Two Year Stats Are In!

2011-07-06T21:46:00.000-04:00

Hi all! It's been a very busy summer so far. I'm currently organizing hundreds of photos (literally) in hopes of getting a few up in the next day or two. We have lots of upcoming excitement planned, which means I need to get the old stuff posted quickly before I forget about it. While you wait to hear about all the adventures we've had since school got out at the beginning of May (ha! as if!), you might be interested in hearing how the wee one is developing, so I'll indulge you in the story of Eily's big 2 Year checkup.

We actually went to see Eily's doctor, Dr. Marcus, a few weeks ago for a minor rash that wouldn't go away. It was no big deal, but I mention it to exemplify the typical series of events that occur in the time leading up to a semi-annual checkup. We go 5 months without needing to call the doctor, then see him twice the month before the regular appointment. (In case you're worried, the rash has cleared.) Another reason I bring up this visit is to talk about a pattern I noticed developing when it came to Eily and the doctor's office. At a previous appointment in January, she became agitated when I told her we were going to the doctor, and the same thing happened with the visit for her rash last month. In an attempt to make her more comfortable before going in for a followup the next week, I decided to buy her a toy doctor kit. Little did I know how much she would like it and become obsessed with the idea that doctors help us feel better. When we went back the following week, instead of whimpering and saying, "No go doctor!" while running away from me, she immediately shouted, "See doctor! Make feel better!" Considering she said the same thing before a routine checkup yesterday when she was feeling fine, I hope I haven't created a hypochondriac like her Auntie Katie. (Love you, sis!)

Another couple of weeks have passed, and admittedly the doctor kit has lost its novelty. But when I told Eily we were going to see Dr. M yesterday, I almost burst out laughing as she yelled, "Dr. Marcus! Yay!" and ran for the door. Before we could leave, however, she grabbed her Timmy sheep and asked if we could bring him with us. I thought she was due for a vaccine, so I didn't mind her bringing a buddy to help her feel better. Eily did not, however, need moral support. She was far more concerned about Timmy, whom she thougth was in need of some TLC. In the car, she informed me that Timmy had a booboo and needed a shot. I listened to her chattering away to him in the back seat, kissing his fleecy forehead and telling him the doctor would "make feel better." Needless to say, it was a rather entertaining ride.

In the doctor's office, Eily officially graduated from the table scale they use for babies to the "stand up like a big kid" scale. Gone are the days of stretching her on a paper mat and penciling a dot for the top of her head and bottom of her feet to get a height. She stood against the wall and let the assistant, Olinda, measure her against a ruler on the wall. When she finished, Eily said she did "awesome." Olinda got quite a kick out of this, as well as Eily slapping her high five when she left us in the exam room to wait for the doctor.

When Dr. M came in, Eily insisted he listen to Timmy's heart with the stethoscope. She happily sat still while he checked her with the otoscope (ears/eyes/mouth instrument with magnification & a light for those of you who don't happen to have one in your toy doctor kits). She then repeated what she had told me in the car - Timmy needed a shot. Dr. M assured her that neither she nor Timmy were in need of any shots for this appointment. I think I have the only child in the world who was disappointed by this news.

The rest of the appointment centered on my increasing and admitted paranoia about her peanut allergy. Per the instructions of one of Dr. M's partners at her 18month checkup, we've tried to keep all peanut contaminated foods away from Eily in the hopes of her outgrowing what we hoped was just a sensitivity. Unfortunately, since that appointment, there was one instance where ~~Nicole tried to kill my child~~ * Eily ate jelly with trace amounts of peanut butter - as in, you couldn't even see any in the jelly - and had a reaction. Dr. M is pretty sure it's time to call it what it is, an allergy. We've got an appointment set up with an allergist to have the official test done and to also find out if she takes after her Nana with a shellfish allergy. If the results come back positive, Jesse and I will have to discuss following through with the agreement we made before Eily was born: to disown her if she's allergic to peanuts.**

With the exception of food allergies, though, Dr. M said Eily is looking and growing great. There's certainly no concerns about her cognitive abilities at this point, which she clearly demonstrated by talking to him during the entire appointment. As for the physical side, the official stats are:

Height: 33 inches - 25th percentile (that's more than half my height!!!!)

Weight: 26.2 lbs - 50th percentile

Head circumference: 19inches - 50th percentile

In other words, she's average weight in a short little body. Poor thing didn't stand a chance with our genes.

*Nicole did not intentionally give Eily peanut butter contaminated jelly, so she's been forgiven.

** While peanuts and peanut butter are my absolute favorite things to eat in the entire world, I'm pretty convinced I love Eily more. We probably won't make good on that pre-baby agreement.

Slipping into Spring

2011-04-29T13:49:00.023-04:00

Well, hello there, strangers! I'm feeling particularly guilty about the significant lack of posts recently. If I wait another week to put something here, there will officially be a six month gap. Unacceptable!

Unfortunately, I am in the throes of final exam week. So, rather than update you with a lengthy (and let's face it, all-too-wordy) dissertation on our current events, I'll just cut to the good stuff. I'm sure the pictures can speak for themselves. So here are the highlights for each month since my last entry. Enjoy!

NOVEMBER

Punkin Chunkin 2010: Adam from Mythbusters!

Thanksgiving at Uncle Chris & Auntie April's house.

Cousins ♥

Hanging with Noni & Nono.

DECEMBER

Fun photo shoot with Mommy (unedited)

Eily picking out the Christmas tree.

Christmas morning - the new kitchen set!

Jesse's surprise 30th birthday party:
these people came from all over the country to celebrate!

JANUARY

Eily and her BFFs - Rayleigh & Rory

All this traveling is hard work!

FEBRUARY

Eily discovers her love of cupcakes and singing "Happy Birthday To You".

What does Eily love more than shoes? Using them as wings, of course!

My 30th birthday bash. Eily still wears these tiaras around the house.

MARCH

Eily and me at the Philly Flower Show.

Babyzone buddies! My friend Melissa and her 2009 Junebug, Cora.
(Neither of the girls wanted to look at the camera for us)

APRIL

Playing in the dirt with Grampy.

Learning to play Angry Birds with Nana.

Helping Mémère relax after a long day at work.

Helping Daddy prep the deck, then helping Mommy to clean it.

The best part about spring? Warm weather = ice cream!

Windy day egg hunt.

Eily's newest friend, Keenan.

Forget the coloring, just let me eat the eggs!

Easter at the Hartman house.

Chasing bubbles should be an Olympic sport.

Wow, as I put these together, it's amazing to see how big Eily is really getting. We're quickly approaching the terrible twos around here. I kept thinking she was too young for that, but now that I've had some time to reminisce, I see she really is turning into a big kid. I'll try not to let so much time go by next time - looking at the transformation here must really feel like a blink of an eye for those of you who don't see her everyday!

Eily's first love affair...

2010-11-05T18:01:00.003-04:00

is one I highly approve of. She has taken to spending much of her free time "reading" aloud - with or without an audience. I find her sitting in corners with piles of books mounted around her while she jibber-jabbers away at mach speed. It's pretty funny, and I finally managed to catch it on video twice over the past few days.

Here's a look at her reading in her rocking chair in her room:

And now here she is in the tub. Forget all the toys and fun stuff surrounding her, she just wants to read the bath book:

Sorry they are such poor quality; they were taken on my phone.

That's all for today! (Can you believe I posted only a few days after the last one?! Don't get too used to this, it's just a fluke!)

Milestones, mayhem, and...monkeys?

2010-11-02T16:07:00.010-04:00

**Note** Jump to the post below for the first update of the day!

See this? See how diligent I am today? You get two posts for the price of one!

Alright, so we left off with Grandma Bev's big trip east to meet Eily. This brings us to the month of October. It shouldn't surprise you any that we headed north to New York (again) to hang out with good friends (again) and danced like crazy people (again). You know, I think this blog is getting kind of boring. I mean, after all, isn't this the same thing we did in September?

Oh wait, this time we were invited to join in the celebration of Holly and Charles' wedding day. These two crazy kids have been dating since before I worked at Professor Java's in Albany. (Yes, for those of you who didn't know, I used to be a super cool barista back in the day.) They are two of the sweetest people I know, and we felt so lucky to be a part of that day. Not to mention, the fact that it turned into a Javateer reunion!

Here we have the always gorgeous Holly and her proud papa.

And here I am making an ugly face that is only made worse by the fact that it follows the beautiful picture above. As you can see, Eily and Lovey were perfect wedding guests.

The wedding was fabulous, and I loved seeing so many of my old friends in one place. It only makes me miss Albany more, though. I know they say you can never go back, but what if you feel like you never really left in the first place?

*Sniffle*

Okay, moving on. The following weekend, Jesse went back to NY to do some boating with longtime pals Jim and Matt. Eily and I reveled in some girl time back home. On the 9th, she had her 15 month checkup with Dr. Shah. Here were the stats:

Height: 31 inches (that's over half my height!!)
Weight: 22lbs 6.5 oz (no wonder Daddy calls her "Lead-butt")

Everything else looked great, and developmentally she's above average at this point. What mommy doesn't like to hear news like that?

On the 20th, Grandma Mary arrived from MN for a visit. Eily loved spending time with her, and I'm sure it has something to do with Grandma's willingness to indulge her healthy appetite. We spent Saturday apple picking at Solebury Orchard and poking around Peddler's Village.

Eily doesn't like apples at all, can't you tell?

Riding in the hay on the way to the orchard!

I'm pretty sure Eily thought that all of these pumpkins should be hers.

On Sunday, we explored Grounds for Sculpture across the river in Trenton. I have to say, the park is beautiful. And I'm a little upset with us for not bringing out of town guests there sooner. There are something like 25 acres of carefully manicured landscape, with gorgeous sculptures strewn about. The best part? You can interact with a lot of them to create your own "art." Here's some of the creative stuff we saw/did. (WARNING: Some material may be inappropriate for young viewers!)

Monet's bridge

Eily loved that she was encouraged to bang on this sculpture - they even provided the sticks!

Real peacocks roam around the cafe area - Eily was able to get right up close to them.

"The Boating Party" - can you see the uninvited guest?

And here we have Jesse joining in the tribal dance with some naked ladies. Notice how "at home" he looks?

She's one frisky Grandma!

Jesse proves yet again, he is that guy. Creep.

He was particularly proud of how well he blended in with this one.

And finally, we have reached the end of the month. Normally, this would be nothing special, but this is October we're talking about. Like all good parents, Jesse and I dressed Eily up in a ridiculous costume, set her loose to beg at the doors of our neighbor's homes, then sent her to bed and ate her candy. Okay, not really. We let her eat the package of animal crackers she got from one house.

Here's our little monkey wishing you all a very happy autumn:

As an added bonus, I figured I'd throw in another cute pic of Eily climbing on the furniture:

And one more showing you her crazy hair when we take it out of the pigtails at night:

What happened to September?

2010-11-02T14:44:00.011-04:00

Oh dear, I've done it now. For the first time since starting this blog, I've gone without posting even the smallest of updates at least once during the month. Sorry October, don't take it personally. You and your friend September were just far too action-packed for me to stop and smell the ~~roses~~ mums.

No time for excuses. Let's jump right into the updates, shall we?

**Sifts through hundreds of photos to figure out what the heck we've been up to for the past two months.**

Hmmm, I think we're going to need a bigger page to fit all this stuff. Looks like we're splitting this into two posts.

So first things first, the big indoor renovations are nearing completion here on the homefront. First, we have the long-anticipated kitchen reveal. Ta-da!

Now, in case you're all wondering, the paint beneath the cabinets is not some poor attempt at modern art. For the time being, we are sans backsplash. Being ~~broke and lazy~~ frugal and efficient, we opted not to paint that area. I'm sure I'll post updates ten months after the tile backsplash has been installed.

As if all that kitchen work wasn't enough, we had new windows installed in early September.

Here are the exterior and interior views (complete with the cutest little decorative accent you've ever seen).

With all the house work winding down (notice I have not said it's actually done?), we decided the best way to celebrate was to get the heck out of Dodge! Nearly every weekend in September was spent traveling. I know, I know. "What else is new?"

Rather than giving you a blow by blow account of every little thing we've done, I'll just jot down a list and (if applicable...or rather, if accessible on my hard drive at the moment) I'll include some pics.

Sept 11-12: Celebrating Liam's (a.k.a. Eily's betrothed) birthday in Virginia.

Sept 17-18: Irish2000 (I2K) in Saratoga, NY. Andy, Liam, and Jim (Papa-Daddy) made the journey with us. We met up with my dad and stepmom, good friends Jim & Natasha & wee Rory, and Kevin & Kelsey & the very brand new Miss Rayleigh. For the first year ever, the music was more of a backdrop and not so much the main event. Not because it was unenjoyable. Rather, we learned how quickly a festival can change when everyone has a baby in tow. Still, kudos to all of us for being awesome and exposing the kids to some culture!

GAAAAHHH!! Oh, it pains me to say that I have ZERO pictures from that weekend. I'm stealing some pics from Andy's facebook page, so the photography credits go to him. (Thanks Andy!)

The whole gang, Friday night

They're harder to dance with the bigger they get!

These two were filthy by the end of the show Saturday. At least they had fun!

Ah, young love.

Alright, before you all yell at me - that last one looks much worse than it actually was. See the shoe off to the right? That's me. I saw everything from there. Eily actually had her chin on Liam's shoulder, and he kissed her cheek. Fooled you, though, didn't it?

Okay, that took up more than it's allotted space. Gotta keep moving!

Sept 24: We hit up Celtic Classic in Bethlehem, where Eily danced like a wee banshee to the tunes of Enter the Haggis. It was the new drummer, Bruce's, first show with the guys. While we certainly missed James' smiling face, we were very impressed with his replacement.

Sept 26 - Oct 1: Eily's Great-grandma Bev finally got to meet the little lass. Auntie Kiki, Grandpa Rick, and Aunt Dottie and Matt all got to spend time with Eily as well. Here are some pics from Aunt Dottie:

As you can see, our little cherub certainly knows how to enjoy her food.

And that does it for September. Somewhere in the middle of all that, Jesse managed to lose one vehicle and gain another, I somehow kept my sanity while juggling the mommy/school/work schedule, and Eily continued to become more and more like a little person. Next up: October fun and Eily's 15-month stats!

The Sounds of Fall

2010-09-10T09:59:00.007-04:00

Hello hello hello! Jesse, Eily, and I have had two weeks now to settle into our new fall routine, which means it's high time I satisfied everyone's burning questions about what our little lady is up to these days. There's a lot to report, but in the interest of time we're going to stick to the new talent I'm most interested in right now - language development!

Eily is catching onto the concept of language by leaps and bounds every day. Just this morning, she's parroted no less than five words she heard me say - diaper, thank you, locked, and a few others I can't remember at the moment. She's also become good at picking out words she knows from the middle of a sentence. So if you were to say to her, "I saw Daddy at work today," she would immediately start chanting "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" She also understands a lot more than she can say. I can tell her to close a door or ask her where her nose is, and she responds accordingly by closing the door or touching her nose. I can tell her to go get certain items, put things down, go see someone, etc. I love watching her eyes light up when she understands a request and knows how to complete the task. No matter what it is I've asked her to do, it's completion is almost always followed by a hearty round of applause for herself.

Sometimes I'm baffled by her ability to grasp some of the more abstract concepts of the words she already knows. For example, last weekend we were in the Finger Lakes of NY visiting Auntie Kiki, Uncle B, and the rest of the Kahm family. The instant Eily saw the lake, she started making the sign for water and saying "wa wa!" with much excitement. Since the time she learned the word and sign for water, she has only ever seen it in a cup or coming out of a faucet. If you think about it, a lake looks very different from either of those things, but she had no problem identifying what she was looking at without being told.

Another fun one to observe is her recognition of animals. She can look at a photo, a drawing, or even an outline of something like a dog or a cow and immediately recognize what she's looking at. With the exception of dogs and kitties, she refers to most animals by their sounds, but you can still tell that she understands what she's seeing.

Speaking of animal sounds, those are a scream. I think she's getting tired of us asking her what a cow says or what a duck says since we do it on a daily basis. But what on earth could be funnier than a one year old who refuses to say "moo" or "quack" and instead insists on imitating the actual sound the animals make? Take "quack" for example. Instead of saying "quack," she makes this gravelly "gwahgwahgwah" sound over and over again. Honestly, it sounds a lot more like a duck call than "quack quack" does. And instead of saying "woof" for a dog, she pants. That one is really funny because we never taught it to her. She just started panting every time she saw a dog, and it seems to have stuck. And I guess she's right. After all, you see dogs panting almost all the time, with only occasional barks.

One interesting thing I've noticed (and was admittedly worried about) is her resistance to make the "m" sound. But now that I'm studying speech and language pathology, I've realized it's a completely normal part of her language development. Apparently, children do not fully possess the ability to pronounce all of the different sounds of their native language until somewhere between 5-7 years old. And when they do encounter a sound they can't yet make, they tend to deal with it in a consistent manner. In Eily's case, she has a b for m substitution - her m's become b's. So most of the time she calls me "baba" instead of mama. Or if she's in a hurry, I'm just "Bab," which sounds oddly like Bob. She's starting to go "mmmmm" if she wants a kiss, and has said "mama" clearly a few times recently, so I have a feeling she'll be mastering the "m" in the near future.

And perhaps the most exciting thing of all is Eily's rekindled interest in having books read to her. I read a lot to her when she was a newborn (and had no choice). When she started developing more of her motor skills and gained mobility, though, she become completely disinterested in sitting down for a story, even at bedtime. Now, however, if I put her down for bed without a story, she immediately stands up in her crib and points across the room to her bookshelf. She'll yell at me until I pick her up and settle into the rocking chair with her on my lap. We end up reading at least three books a night, regardless of their length. She even sits still for the long ones now. During the day, she often throws books into my lap while I'm working. I'll stop and read to her until she decides she's had enough. Sometimes it's only a minute or two; other times she'll let me finish the book, then run and grab another.

I guess I'll stop before this starts getting too boring....after all, how much can one say about their daughter's small but growing vocabulary? I know I tend to geek out about this kind of thing, but honestly I find it so fascinating. So to wrap it up with something fun, I thought I'd share with you the list of words Eily is consistently saying as of today.

Hi
Daddy/Dada
ball
water
kitty/kitty cat
dog
down
Mama ("Baba")
Eily
baby
bath
eat - this is her absolute FAVORITE word...but more on that in another post
cheese
juice
wee - as in "this is fun!"

She's also mastered these signs, but tends not to say the accompanying word yet:

more
bye
please
no (head shake)
milk

And finally, here's a cute picture taken by Kiara (Auntie Kiki) this past weekend when we went apple picking. We lost count of how many apples Eily ate, but as you can see here she enjoyed every single one of them.

Sad news

2010-08-30T09:10:00.004-04:00

Many of you may remember my post a couple of months ago about Kim Shaw, my friend from the mother's forum with cervical cancer. She was a young, single mother battling for her life in the hopes she could watch her son Barrett grow. I arrived home this weekend from an internet-free week on Cape Cod to learn that Kim passed away on Friday.

To those of you who contributed to the card drive, I would like to pass along Kim's words of thanks. Tori, the girl who collected the cards and sent out the package, received this message on her Facebook page just a week before Kim's passing:

"I got the package this week!! You are such a sweet selfless woman!!!!!!!! All the others are pretty awesome too! I am shocked and blessed at who all from the BZ Club joined in! Y'all are thought of and xoxox-ed so much, Mr. Barrett appreciates this so much too ladies! God Bless and love to all you sweethearts!! Thank you for the prayers and thoughts and appreciate many more! XOXOxoxo"

As you can see, she had a very positive attitude and was grateful for the kindness of so many people, even those she had never met. I am sure those who were lucky enough to know her will miss her greatly.

While there is comfort in knowing Kim's pain is over, her 18-month old son Barrett is now left to live his life without that special love only a mother can give. I do not know details about who will receive custody of this sweet little boy, though I am sure Kim had something arranged ahead of time knowing that this was always a possible outcome. According to her obituary, an educational fund has been set up for him. If anyone is interested in making a donation, you can send it to the educational fund for Barrett Cantu at:

Wells Fargo Bank
1101 Buchanan Drive
Burnet, TX 78611

Thank you all again for the generosity and kindness you shared with Kim and Barrett.

"Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality." --Emily Dickinson

In other news, the Fall semester starts tomorrow. Believe it or not, it may mean more frequent updates from me, since I'll be glued to a computer at almost all times. Many apologies for the lack of posts this summer, but I chose to spend the time playing with Eily as much as possible. You'll be hearing all about it soon.

A Little Bonus

2010-07-14T09:52:00.002-04:00

In addition to the mini-update, I thought I'd offer you all a bonus entry today with the new Eily stats. She had her one year checkup last Friday, and aside from "She's perfect!" here's what Dr. Marcus had to say:

Height: 28.5 inches
Weight: 19lbs 7oz
Head circumference: 18.5 inches (big brains!!)

The poor kiddo screamed through the three shots she had to receive. She calmed down as soon as I picked her up, though, and she even managed to wave bye-bye to Dr. Marcus when he left at the end of the appointment. A huge smile of surprise hit his face when he saw how quickly Eily forgave him for giving her those three shots. Something tells me he doesn't get that kind of reaction from kids on a daily basis. I guess it's just further proof of how awesome our little Smudge is....not that I needed any, of course!

Mini update

2010-07-14T09:35:00.002-04:00

Hello all! As usual, I'm way behind with posting. I'm sure you're all asking, "Is Eily's big First Birthday post ready yet?" Unfortunately, all writing and blog preparation has taken a back seat lately. "What could possibly be more important than her birthday?" you ask? Well, nothing, of course! But there are only so many hours in the day, and mine have been taken up by this lengthy kitchen renovation and my summer commitments at the theater.

So here's a quick snippet of what's been going on these past couple of weeks:

- Rehearsals for the production of Woody Allen's "God," which I am directing at The Playmasters.
- Sanding, staining, and polyurethaning of the kitchen floor
- The beginnings of some cabinet building in the kitchen

It doesn't look like a very long list, but those are some very time consuming items!

And the most recent news? After over a month of near-drought conditions, the skies opened yesterday and dumped water on us for the length of the day. And after over a month of resting safely in the neighbor's garage, our unopened boxes of cabinets and appliances were suddenly sitting in huge puddles of water. Yes, you read that correctly. Some (not all, thankfully!) of our cabinets got wet. We may have to replace a few pieces, but thankfully all of the huge money items are fine. We spent the better part of yesterday evening moving everything to dry land (with the help of our awesome neighbor, Mark).

So what was the reaction to the catastrophe? In true J&J style, we kind of shrugged it off and said we'd make it work. Shortly after, the window installer with whom I had set up an appointment for an estimate stopped by and we proceeded to set up the next home improvement project. So on a day that could have been a real downer, we decided to keep the ball rolling and ordered new windows to be installed in September. Life goes on, right?

Anywho, that's a pretty good idea of how things have been going around here. I'm still working on the big birthday project to share with all of you, so bear with me just another week and it will be here.

A friend in need (updated)

2010-07-01T10:08:00.005-04:00

**UPDATE** If you would like to participate after reading this post, please email toriellen@gmail.com . The Two Big J's and little e will be out of touch for the next few days, but Tori can provide you with the address to send your cards. Thanks so much everyone! I'm so moved by your support.

I've decided to hold off on Eily's big birthday post until next week, when we are finished with traveling for at least a couple of weeks and I can devote some time to really organizing pics and videos. I promise, the wait will be well worth it!

In the meantime, I wanted to take a couple of minutes to tell you all about the mommy of one of Eily's June birthday buddies, Barrett. Barrett's mom, Kim, was diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer while she was pregnant. In fact, if it weren't for her pregnancy, the cancer may have gone unnoticed much longer than it did. Barrett was delivered via emergency c-section at 31 weeks (extremely early for those who aren't aware), in order to get Kim started on treatment for her cancer. Barrett is now a bouncing, active 14 month old, but Kim continues to fight for her life everyday. You can read about her battle in the blog she keeps with her aunt, Fight for Barre.

Recently, Kim was told that the medical center she has been going to for treatments will no longer be treating her because her tumors keep growing. Having lost her job just before her diagnosis, Kim has no medical insurance. Her options are very limited. And perhaps hardest of all, she is raising her amazing little boy on her own. Barrett's father has had very little interaction with his son since his birth, with only minimal visitation on a very irregular basis. I don't know how Kim does it, but she continues to put up a fight. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of courage and faith this young woman must possess to even get out bed each day.

I met Kim through a discussion board on BabyZone.com, an area for moms and moms-to-be to gather and discuss their experiences in parenting. (This is the same place I met Eily's favorite sitter, Casey, and her daughter, Ava.) While those of us in the June 09 Birthday Club have never met Kim in person, we all want to do something to help her to know she is not alone in her struggle. We are planning a card shower for her, and we are inviting anyone who is moved by her story to participate. The plan is to send Kim a box of cards to let her know that there are people out there thinking of her and hoping for her cancer to go into remission. Some of us plan to include gift cards to help her with the day to day costs of raising a little boy on her own while being unable to work. While I'm sure she will appreciate this generosity, I think even the cards alone will bring a big smile to her face.

If you would like to join us in brightening Kim's day and letting her know that even strangers are holding her in their thoughts and prayers, let me know. I can give you the address of Tori, the girl who is organizing the card shower, so you can send her your cards for Kim. Tori will be putting the box together and sending it to Kim on July 15. Thank you in advance for sharing any kind words you have to offer to Kim. You never know how much of an impact your actions can have on someone, even if it's something as simple as sending a card.

I've edited to add a picture of Kim and her sweet son, Barrett:

Thanks again to all of you who have already responded and to those who continue to offer support!

This Old House

2010-06-28T11:39:00.008-04:00

Howdy all! I am preparing a big birthday post for Eily, but in the interim, I wanted to offer up some progress photos of the kitchen. Jesse and I (mostly Jesse) have been working our tails off to get this room finished, and while we still have a lot of work ahead of us, the end is at least now in sight! Enjoy!

In the beginning:

These were the walls - wood paneling and wall paper over plaster walls (January).

Ripping out the cabinets and sink.

Tearing down the paneling and plaster and opening up the ceiling (January - February).

Jim helps us run brand new electrical through the entire room (March).

Zak cuts a huge hole in the side of our house! (April)

Andy helps out with the drywall (May).

After 5 months, we finally have walls again!

The giant hole is replaced by the new French door.

Freshly primed walls & ceiling (June).

Paint!

(Yes, it's orange. No, it's not quite the orange we intended. Yes, we've decided to keep it!)

Remember the refrigerator that got shoved into an old pantry by the previous owners? It's gone!

This is how the floor looked on Thursday at 5 p.m.

Floor around 6p.m.

And a side by side of the floor at 5 p.m. v. the floor at 7p.m.

All we have to do now is stain and polyurethane the floor this week so we can start building the cabinets that are currently sitting in boxes in the neighbor's garage. One of these weeks soon we'll be posting the "finished product!"

Weekend Warriors

2010-06-24T09:38:00.016-04:00

Okay, rather than focusing on the fact that Eily is only five days away from her first birthday, I'd like to play a little catch up and let you all know what we've been up to. (I'm hoping if I ignore the whole birthday thing, it can't possibly be true that she's already a year old!)

Let's start with a little game I like to call "You Know You Travel A Lot When..."

Here we go. You know you travel a lot when:
- You live out of a suitcase when you're at home.
- You can have yourself, your significant other, and the baby all packed and ready to go for a long weekend trip in under 20 minutes
- Your bags are packed and ready to go 5 days before your next trip (we've been packed since Tuesday for our trip to CT this weekend).
- The cats have learned not to come near the house on Fridays so they won't be corralled and locked inside for the entire weekend.
- You have to check your calendar before going grocery shopping to avoid over-purchasing and leaving a fridge full of food to spoil during your next trip.

And finally...
- The empty weekend on your calendar brings more doubt than relief. Surely, you must have forgotten to write down an important event, and now you have no idea where you're supposed to be!

Alright, I think you get the picture. Rather than wasting your time with lengthy descriptions of the past month+, I offer you this picto-blog of our exploits. We're digging back to the beginning of May to cover some of the items I've been meaning to get to but just haven't found the time.

May 9 Mother's Day
Eily and I spent the day together at the SGK Race for the Cure in Philly with my friend Ashley and her boyfriend, Kevin and her cousin, JoAnn. We woke at 4 a.m. to catch the train. You can read more about the day (including how Ashley and Kevin missed the train) in Ashley's blog.

Team Save Our Ta-Tas

Ashley and Kevin practicing for parenthood - apparently Eily made such an impression that Kevin has requested they have no less than 15 little girls.

May 14-16 Washington, D.C.
In honor of Little Jenn Zuba's visit from the West Coast, we made the trip south for a quick weekend visit.

Riding the Metro (and wearing Liam's authentic Irish cap)

Eily's first trip to the Zoo

Conversing with a meerkat

Jesse was a wee bit frightened by the prospect of running into this guy.

I had no idea flamingos make the same sound as geese!

Jenn meets Eily

Liam goes in for a tackle!

May 23 Meeting Ada!
Ada just returned recently from a year in New Zealand and stopped by to meet the wee lass.

Eily was very excited by the balloon Ada brought for her

May 27 A visit from Grandpa Rick
While passing through on business, Grandpa stopped by and bought Eily her first spaghetti supper

May 30 LBI
Our friends Justin and Alyssa invited us to spend a day at her parents' shore house.

Eily's first swim!

June 4-8 Minnesota trip
Eily took her first plane ride and headed west to meet the Robinette side of the family (and to pay Grandma a long overdue visit).

Underwater Adventure with a fellow BabyZone Junebug (Rosalynn) and her mommy (Jen) and big brother (Brady - who didn't want to join us for the picture).

Hanging out with Grandma Mary.

Too squirmy to sit for a picture with Auntie Kiki.

June 11-13 Back to D.C.!
This time Nathan was our excuse to shack up at the Shilliday house again.

Playing with her BFF Liam.

Hey, what app is that? Sweet, I'll have to download it too!

June 18-20 Saratoga, NY
We headed north to meet Eily's newest friend - Rory!

Introducing Rory Evangeline Adams - isn't she sweet!

Eily's first parade in downtown 'Toga.

Kelsey and Kevin getting some practice

Jim: The Ultimate Baby Daddy

June 22

We have pig tails!

June 24 Part I of Auntie Kiki's gift for Eily

Handmade onesies made just for Eily!

Check out the backs of these two!

As you can see, life is crazy around here! We've traveled every weekend since Memorial Day, and the trend hasn't stopped despite all the other things we have going on here at home. This weekend we'll be hitting our first Celtic festival of the year, then driving up to CT to celebrate Eily's birthday with my family. Jesse and I will both be getting tattoos on Saturday in honor of our big girl while she spends some time with Nana and Auntie Katie (and James and Victoria, too!). Then next week it's off to Virginia/West Virginia to do some 4th of July camping with the Shillidays and Rich & Amy.

Stay tuned for updates on Eily's birthday party and first camping trip, as well as kitchen updates as we near completion!

"The Future of (My Daughter's) Food"

2010-06-01T09:46:00.004-04:00

Last night, my protective bubble of ignorance burst. At the end of a long day, I popped in my most recent Netflix rental, a documentary film from 2004 called The Future of Food. Here I was, a few scant hours after returning home from a grocery shopping trip, and I was confronted by my own nescience of just what, exactly, I place in my shopping cart each week. Admittedly, I know very little about food. Sure, I can cook, and I know that buying organic is all the rage these days. I thought I even had a handle on what was so great about organic food - no poisonous pesticides touching the crops that would eventually end up on my dinner table. After viewing this film, however, I am horrified by what I now know I didn't know (you follow?). Outraged would be another good word for how I feel.

But before I go on, I'm sure you're all wondering: What does this have to do with Eily? After all, I know that's why you're all here. If you give me a few minutes of your time, I hope to make it clear just how important the topic of this post is for Eily and all future generations of children in the United States. After all, the use of GMOs and the biotech firms who patent them negatively impact not only our health, but also the environment, the economy, and quite possibly the future of food as we know it.

*~~Climbs up on soapbox~~*

I just spent the better part of two hours composing a diatribe detailing my outrage at industrialized agriculture in America. I've since scrapped all that work, as I think it started getting long (and rather preachy). Quite honestly, everything I have to say is in the film. So instead, I invite you to visit the website or view the film in its entirety**:

The Future of Food Free Documentary from Deborah Koons Garcia on Vimeo.

Yes, it's long. If you decided not to watch it right now, please consider giving it a chance when you have some time. For those of you who can't stand "hippies" or think that "global warming" is a figment of our imagination, I promise you will still find value in this documentary. Whether or not your eating or purchasing habits change, you will become an educated consumer of food. To expand on the old adage, nothing in this world is more powerful than knowledge.

Now for those of you who are scratching your heads and saying, "Well, duh, Jessa, where have you been?", I freely admit I haven't paid nearly as much attention to what I use to fuel my body as I should have. While I am accustomed to shrugging off nutritional concerns for myself, I realize I'm now responsible for someone else's health. I can't sit idly by and remain ignorant of the potential harm GMOs can have on both my daughter's health and the fate of the world in which she is growing up.

So while it will take some effort and research on my part, I have come to the conclusion that I need to be more cognizant of what I purchase each week. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to get all crazy Level 5 Vegan or anything. I love food far too much to go giving up whole sections of my diet. But instead of looking to save the almighty dollar and time by shopping at the big box stores, I will look to save money and support local farmers by buying fresh, local produce whenever I can. As often as possible, I will purchase foods that are specifically labeled as "GMO free," since simply buying food labeled "organic" or "natural" does not necessarily mean it's harmless. All in all, I know it's probably not feasible or cost effective for us to buy entirely local all the time, but the least I can hope to do is be more aware of what we're eating.

I still have a lot of learning to do, but I hope that even these baby steps will improve our small family's impact on the planet and our health. If anyone has advice, information, book/film recommendations to share on this topic, please feel free to educate me!

**As an additional disclaimer, I realize that documentaries like this tend to be very biased, and I do take it all with the proverbial grain of salt. Still, even just one or two of the film's arguments are enough for me to want to change some of our habits.

You asked....

2010-05-25T18:38:00.003-04:00

....we delivered. Enjoy!

Look what I can do! from Jessa Pelizari on Vimeo.

Bye Bye Baby

2010-05-18T08:50:00.008-04:00

I think the most amazing thing about being a parent (and forgive me for getting a little cliché here), is watching Eily blossom from this defenseless, immobile, generally unaware puddle of pudgy cuteness into a brave, toddling, curious individual, complete with her own unique personality. These days, it seems she progresses closer and closer to a "big kid" at the speed of light. Case in point: yesterday morning. I set her down on her feet on the living room floor, and out of the blue she walks five steps. As if this was no big deal at all. As if she'd been doing it for years. Only after Jesse and I began shouting "Yay!" and clapping did she turn to look at us with a huge grin on her face, realizing she'd done something special.

Okay, so maybe we're falling into the typical parent trap, oooing and ahhhing over ever tiny accomplishment. After all, it's not like she just discovered the cure for cancer or anything. But honestly, spending every day living life through her eyes has made me realize just how many things most of us take for granted - like the power to support our own weight under our legs and walk across a room without toppling over. Again, falling into the pit of cliché, it's like discovering the world all over again.

What surprises me even more, however, is the tremendous leaps of faith she is willing to take as she navigates her way from unsteadily standing and letting go to lifting a foot and taking a step forward. She knows she's going to fall. You can see it on her face, no real surprise as she loses her balance and her knees buckle beneath her. And just as soon as she is down, she clambers back up again. Rinse, lather, repeat. I look at her and realize she is the perfect example of perseverance. There's a lot to be learned from our little pint-sized powerhouse.

So, with all her determination focused on mastering the fine art of walking, one would think Eily had filled her new skill quota for the day. But just to be sure she'd sent the message home that she is no longer a "little baby," she pointed out that she can say her name. It's not crystal clear, and usually comes out more like "EYE-EE!" (yes, complete with exclamation point), but she says it nonetheless.

Now I know, this is a bit of a stretch. Maybe it's just a new sound she likes to make. Maybe she just hears us say it a lot and wants to mimic, not really knowing that "Eily" is the word to use when talking about herself. We weren't sure either, so we tested the theory. When we held up a mirror, she would point and say her name. Then she saw a picture of herself and said it. I pointed at Jesse, and she said "Daddy." Pointed at her reflection or her picture again, and she said her name. Pointed at one of the cats and heard her excited whisper of "Ti-Ta" (Kitty Kat). After playing this game for a while, Jesse and I have agreed she really does recognize her name as a label for herself.

At first, I was blown away by this. The more I think about it, though, it's around age one that kids begin to apply labels to the world around them and then try to communicate using their new vocabulary. So while she's a little ahead of schedule, it makes sense that she's suddenly become so communicative. In addition to this most recent lexical entry, she signs for "milk" without hesitation and understands what it means if I sign it to her first. She made the sign for "more" for the first time that I could recognize yesterday and beamed when she got exactly what she asked for. She will wave, unprompted by me or Jesse, whenever anyone enters or leaves a room. I can practically see all the little synapses in her brain firing away with every new connection she makes. This is something I find absolutely fascinating; the power of the human brain to make the leap from simply experiencing the world to communicating ideas about the world through language.

I'll stop before I totally geek out about the whole thing (but really, it is SO cool). Suffice it to say that I am totally amazed and, I'll admit a little sad, by how grown up Eily is getting. But along with the bittersweet thought that my baby is getting big comes the excitement of being able to share the world with her and watching the light in her eyes as understanding replaces her confusion about this mysterious big world she's found herself in.

And now, as a reward for reading through all of this, here's a video of Eily saying her name this morning:

The Early Tastes of Summer

2010-05-08T14:15:00.006-04:00

It's official - after taking my last final at 8 a.m. Thursday morning (yuck), the semester is finally over!

Kicking off the summer in proper fashion, Eily and I celebrated that afternoon with a trip to Brownsburg Park in New Hope for a picnic, followed up by a quick jaunt on the Stockton-Lambertville section of the D&R Canal Towpath in NJ.

Eily has become quite a fan of parks as of late. The park in New Hope has a brand new play area for her to enjoy. But before playing, her mean mommy made her eat some lunch.

You'll notice she's no longer eating mashed up homemade baby food. Despite a serious lack of teeth, our little gourmand has no trouble enjoying chopped carrots and sweet peas these days. Of course, allowing her to get her hands on her own food brings a new enjoyment all in itself. The one-sided food fight:

Thankfully, Eily doesn't get too bent out of shape over a little cat hair in her food. She managed to gobble down most of what landed on the blanket. The rest we donated to the birds circling overhead on that clear, breezy afternoon.

Trips like this will be many, since my boss has agreed to allow me to keep the same work schedule over the summer that I had during the semester. This means Eily and I get Tuesdays and Thursdays to go on all sorts of adventures together. It also gives us Friday afternoons to do as we please. So yesterday we hit up the local produce market to get the ingredients for a yummy Black Bean and Pepper Salad.

Eily loves the produce market. The guys who stock the rows of produce bins always laugh at the big smiles and waves she has for them. Much to my dismay, she is perfecting the art of flirting at a very young age. In addition to providing a venue to practice her feminine wiles, the market also has a decent record for playing lots of 80's pop music while we shop. Lacking the self-control to keep myself from dancing whenever the upbeat tunes carry through the air, Eily is usually witness to some bad moves on my part and a lot of shopping cart swerving as we bop to the beat. Her squeals of delight do nothing to discourage me from making a spectacle of myself, either.

You can see for yourself just how happy she gets as we wander through the aisles of unfamiliar foreign goods (of which I have become quite a fan).

A special note about the above picture: This adorable shopping cart cover was handmade by Eily's Great-grandma Bev. This was its maiden voyage, which I promised to document. Eily says thanks and she loves it Grandma Bev!

The salad for which we purchased the ingredients on the trip turned out great. And while Eily is still too young to enjoy the bell peppers, she noshed the dressing-drenched black beans for dinner last night and was pleasantly surprised by all the new flavors they offered. With lots of leftovers, she had the same for lunch today. Hers is a "special" version of the salad, as can be noted in this video:

This salad is so good, I think I'll finish this post by leaving you with the recipe. (The cheese and cheerios you see in the video are optional and not included here in the original.)

6 cups of cooked or canned black beans

1 each of red, yellow, orange,and green bell peppers seeded and finely chopped

Dressing: ½ cup fresh lemon juice, ½ cup olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp powdered or finely diced fresh garlic, 1tsp sugar, 1-2 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp prepared mustard

Mix dressing ingredients together with wire whisk and pour over black beans and peppers. Toss until evenly coated.

This may be the first of many recipes I share over the summer, especially with the new kitchen getting closer and closer to completion!

For now, Eily and I are headed out to Scudders Falls to watch Jesse compete in the second annual Throwdown Hoedown kayaking competition. Stay tuned to find out if Jesse will defend his title as one of the top 3 all around paddlers on the water!

Almost there...

2010-05-05T17:03:00.003-04:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are all still alive and well. My last final is tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. Look for much more frequent posting after that! (Until my summer course starts at the end of May, that is.)

In honor of my impending ~~liberation~~ free time, I hope to celebrate by reading as many books as I possibly can that meet all of the following criteria:

- No summaries, reviews, or test questions at the end of every chapter
- No pictures. None. My imagination has practically atrophied from lack of use while reading lately.
- Must make me cry. (Not a particularly difficult aspiration for any book these days. Heck, I cried over the trailer for Babies the first time I saw it.)

So far on my reading list:
1) Finish Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice

2) Finish Mark Spitz's new biography on David Bowie (pictures in this one will be completely forgiven and happily consumed by my greedy eyes!).

3) Several books by Jodi Picoult , whom I both adore and simultaneously hate. Honestly, the woman is amazing. I swear she laces the pages of her books with crack or something. I can't put one down once I've started reading. On the other hand, I often feel a little guilty for getting swept up in these sort of "ripped from the headlines" kinds of stories. Oh well. We all have our vices.

If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears (and eyes)!

The rest of my summer time will be spent trying to alleviate the mother guilt I feel for having spent countless hours making Eily play by herself while I study and/or work. Trips to the zoo, art museum, beach, historical sites in the area, etc. are already on the agenda to help me feel less like a bad mommy. If anyone has any ideas for an almost-walking one year old to enjoy in the area, feel free to suggest away! And by all means, invite yourself on some of our outings. This goes for those of you with or without kiddos!

Alright, back to the grind I go. This is the only final I'm not really looking forward to, mainly because I actually have to study for it. Boo!

National Infertility Awareness Week

2010-04-26T10:29:00.005-04:00

While I know I'm long overdue for an update, I'm in the midst of final projects, papers, and exams at school. This has rendered me pretty useless in the blogging department. But I feel the need to crawl out of my cave today with a very different kind of post.

Normally, I try to keep this place filled with funny stories about my experiences as a first time parent. With the intense joy that comes with the title of "mommy," however, I realize that a similar well of sadness exists for many couples in America who are faced with the possibility that they will never have children or will need to spend tens of thousands of dollars in even trying to build a family. Perhaps this realization hits harder for me because I know one such couple. Our good friends Larry and Keiko found out last year that Keiko suffers from premature ovarian failure. She is only 27 years old, and already she has been told she will most likely never be able to carry her own children. You can read more about their experience in her blog, Hannah Wept, Sarah Laughed .

I would ask that you watch this video she and Larry made from her most recent post entitled "What IF". For those of you with children, try to put yourself in this young woman's shoes. She is no different than any of us, yet the stigma that comes with the diagnosis of infertility raises many questions of self-worth and what it means to be a "woman."

What IF? A Portrait of Infertility from Keiko Zoll on Vimeo.

I invite you to take it one step further. Share this video with everyone you know. Post it on your Facebook status, Twitter update, or (if you're a total techno-geek) your Google Buzz.

As Keiko discusses many times in her blog, there is a shame that comes with infertility. Often, even an IF couple's closest friends are unaware of the couple's fight to build a family. By passing this video on to everyone you know, you may be helping the people in your life who secretly struggle with this diagnosis on a daily basis. Let them know it's okay to show their faces, to admit to the world that they can't have children the "old fashioned way," and that they have a support system of friends and family who don't think any less of them because of this. While none of us can change the diagnosis, we can help by promoting awareness for their cause and by making attempts to at least understand the wide range of emotional ups and downs that come with it.

I feel the need to quote the old adage, "Knowledge is power." By educating yourself about this struggle that affects one out of every 8 couples in the U.S., you can empower yourself to be a better listener, a better friend, and a better source of support for these couples when they need it most.

Larry and Keiko - we love you. We know that you will someday be the most amazing parents. And no matter how your children come into your lives, they will be the luckiest, most cherished little people in this world.

Nine Month Noteworthies

2010-04-04T00:06:00.007-04:00

Howdy y'all! Let's kick this post off with a big shout out to Mother Nature for doing such a fine job this week. After yet another weekend drowned in rain (and a damp basement floor), the skies cleared on Wednesday and by yesterday, temperatures were hovering close to 80 degrees. With similar sunshine and slightly cooler temperatures a couple of weeks ago, we've really been taking advantage of the added daylight and getting outside as much as possible. Here's a picture of Eily riding in style during one of our jaunts out to Tyler.

The picture needs a little explanation to be completely appreciated. First, the arm perched up on the side there. Yeah, that's where she "rests" it while she's riding in the stroller. Next we have the fully extended legs. You can't quite see the one reaching out in front of her, but she hardly ever rests it on the little footrest, even though she can reach. Finally, we have the cupholder-turned-footrest off to the left of the photo. Normally, this tray would flip up and snap in place in front of her, but because she's so short the only thing it succeeds in doing is blocking her view. So we let it hang to the side. Eily is innovative enough to have noticed the advantage this poses by using it as a place to stretch and rest her foot on. So not only is this a funny snapshot from a moment during our walk, this is also how she looked during ALL of the moments of our walk. We got many chuckles from passersby that day.

But I digress. We have many important things to discuss today! And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

(drumroll)

....Eily had her 9 month well baby appointment on Friday! That's right folks, believe or not our little sprout hit nine months on Tuesday. As Jesse put it, "She's now been on the outside for as long as she was on the inside." (Now, now, all you ladies who've done this before, let's not get technical on him and tell him you're really pregnant for ten months. Oh, and then add ten more days on top of that since she decided to stick around that much longer before being born.) I'm not sure about other moms out there, but I love these regular appointments. Eily's quite a ham and loves to "show off" at the doctor's office, babbling and flirting with anyone who looks at her. The staff is great, I've never waited more than five minutes from the time we sign in to the time we're brought into the exam room, and our two pediatricians are absolutely phenomenal. Even the vaccination at the end of each visit doesn't cause too much drama for Eily. She's turning out to be one tough little chica...but more on that later.

First, let's get our stats in order here. The official weights and measures (with comparison to 6 month stats from January in parentheses) are:

Height: 26.5" (+1.25")
Weight: 17lbs 5.5oz (+ 4lbs 3oz) (+2lbs 3oz since Feb weight check)
Head Circumference: 17.5" (+1")

The pediatrician was very happy with her growth, particularly since she's on the upward swing and getting close to the 25th percentile for weight again. She's at the 25th percentile for height, as well, but her head is slightly above average at just over the 50th percentile. No concerns there, she just needs all that space for that big brain she's developing!

In other news on the Eily front, we officially have forward momentum. She started crawling forward two weeks ago and has not looked back since. This has made my friend Casey's job much harder on Tuesdays and Thursdays, since her little girl Ava is all over the place as well. Casey, you get a shout out for chasing after the two of them at once!

Along with the crawling has come some creative corralling of our little quadruped. I particularly like laundry day now since it offers me two laundry baskets full of clean clothes that I can strategically place at opposite ends of the living room to keep her from escaping. Add a giant IKEA bag full of toys, the couch, the futon, and her exersaucer, and there you are - instant baby ~~cage~~ play yard.

The only trouble is, in the two weeks since she started crawling, she's gotten better. These days she likes to crawl through the bottom of her exersaucer or push the baskets out of the way. Thankfully, Nic has very generously offered up Liam's play yard for our use. We'll be picking it up tomorrow when we see the Shillidays at the annual Easter Egg ~~Brawl~~ Hunt hosted by Debbie and Gary. (That entire day is going to warrant it's own post...be on the lookout!)

Okay, it's almost 1 a.m. and I am rambling here. I'm going to wrap things up for now by mentioning a few quick updates and then leaving you with two videos. First, Jesse successfully installed the plumbing for the kitchen on his own last week. Nic's dad, Bud (shout out to Bud, woot!), moved the gas line for us a couple of weeks ago; so we were all set for the inspector to come look at all the rough work on Thursday. Long story short, we passed with flying colors and can officially move on to the insulation/drywall stage. After Jesse cuts a giant hole in the side of the house for the new door, that is.

Second quickie: I'm still very much interested in pursuing communicative disorders (fancy title for the speech therapy degree) at school and will be meeting with an advisor this Thursday to start planning out my courses. The only hard part is that the major is restrictive, meaning I have to take a bunch of core classes before even being accepted into the major. Kind of a PITA, but I'm willing to deal with it. I don't have any worries that I won't be accepted, so it's not like the courses will be a waste of time.

And third: the race is over. Eily is babbling all the time these days. She says many many things, including: yaya, baba, lala, blabla (very impressive), and *sigh* dada. That's it. No mama. Not even a "muh". Nothing. I try to console myself by saying she's saving the best for last.

Okay, I'm done blabbing away. It's even worse when I'm tired, making my writing this at one in the morning particularly dangerous. Anywho, here are the two promised videos given as your reward for suffering through all of this. I think you'll like these, although the first is a bit long (7 mins). I blame the cameraman, aka Jesse.

And this one I took today when Jesse fell asleep on the futon this afternoon. I turned around and saw Eily doing this and thought it was hilarious. Enjoy and have a Happy Easter/Happy Passover/Happy Spring Sunday tomorrow!

And now for something completely different...

2010-03-21T12:45:00.005-04:00

On a completely unrelated note to the usual posts you find here, I thought I would share some big news in my academic pursuits. (I didn't want to clutter up the Eily update with this rambling.)

So here it is:

I recently told Jesse about my plans to change majors. Okay, before I get blasted here, let me explain. I am currently an Anthropology major. (For those who aren't quite sure what this means, it is, in simple terms "the study of humans.") My real passion, however, was to pursue the specialized field of Linguistic Anthropology. Unfortunately, West Chester has a fantastic department for all of the branches of Anthropology except Linguistic. In truth, the program there is pretty non-existent. Not to mention, a degree in the humanities, no matter how advanced (think PhD here) does little to guarantee me steady employment after graduation. With the current job market, the odds of landing a gig in academia are on par with me running into David Bowie on the street in NYC. Not completely impossible, but very improbable.

I started thinking about what a background in linguistics could be used for in the real world, and that's when lightening struck. Speech Pathology. Think of the speech therapists in schools who assist children with impediments like a lisp. Speech pathology covers not only this arena, but a much wider and varied set of individuals and impediments, as well. I could assist people who have had strokes, or children born with cleft palates. I could work in a school system or a hospital, or even a private practice. No matter what path I choose, I could be making a significant impact on the quality of life for many people. How do you ignore the reward potential in something like that?

After a bit of research, I found out two very important things. 1) Speech Pathology is highly specialized and very few universities in the U.S. have SP programs. 2) West Chester DOES have both undergraduate and graduate SP programs.

Taking both of these into account, I feel like it's just meant to be. I wouldn't have to transfer schools and could still make good use of the scholarship I have to attend WCU. I may have to extend my schooling by a semester or two to accommodate the classes I hadn't anticipated needing, but I think it is a worthwhile sacrifice to pursue something my heart is telling me to do.

So that's my BIG news. I'm really excited about the prospect of doing something to help others and just had to share.

Video madness!

2010-03-21T11:45:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure about the rest of you, but here in PA the sun shines brilliantly and the smell of spring tickles my nostrils every time I open the door to let one of the three cats in or out. This happens an average of seventy-five times a day, giving me plenty of opportunity to observe the effects of the sun's crossing of the equator at 2:35 a.m. EST yesterday. Welcome Spring!

Eily is already in love with the new weather patterns. We've journeyed outside for several hours everyday this past week with destinations like the swings at the local park, trail walks at Tyler State Park, and a lovely 5 mile hike along the Delaware River Canal tow path yesterday. Jesse is ready for kayaking season as well, basking in the high waters that came on last week after all the rain. As I type, he's out paddling in his yellow kayak along the Tohickon Creek. I'm hoping to get out and enjoy the sun before the rain hits again tomorrow - as soon as Eily wakes up, we'll probably hit the tow path again.

Since it's so beautiful out there, I'm sure you can't blame me for wanting to get away from this computer as quickly as possible. So instead of a bunch of babbling from me, I'll leave you with four fun videos instead. (None of these are the promised video from last week - for some reason YouTube is having an issue with that particular one. I hope these make up for it!)

First things first - I can officially remove the "World's Worst Mommy" crown for the time being. I caught Eily on video pulling herself up on the coffee table:

And here she is after learning to pull up in her crib (much to my distress!):

This was taken a few minutes later, after I lowered her mattress considerably. So much for making it impossible for her to stand.

And the last one is just to show you E's personality. (Pardon the glaring typo in the video title. I tried to edit, but it's not sticking.) She LOVES to play this game:

I hope these were as enjoyable to watch as they were to film. Happy Spring everyone!

Rainy Saturday**

2010-03-13T14:17:00.007-05:00

**Note - this post WAS written on Saturday afternoon. However, the power went out in the middle of my composition, and was not back before we left for an overnight adventure at the Hartman house. I won't even begin to get into the chaos we came home to last night, after the power had been restored...let's just say we've had to turn off 4 different circuits in our electric panel in the basement. I'll post more about that as soon as we have some clarification as to what's happening there.

Here I sit on a rainy Saturday, feeling a little unmotivated to do much of anything. Which is bad. Very bad. I haven't posted in over a month (tsk! tsk!), and there is certainly plenty to talk about. The trouble is, this is the end of my Spring Break, and boy did I need every second of it! Before things go from relatively calm back to the oh-my-god-there's-not-enough-time-in-the-day-or-days-in-the-week insanity that is my life, I should really fill you all in on how things are going around here. *Big sigh* So here goes...

First and foremost, let's have our Eily update, shall we? (That way those of you who have no interest in the Big J's can hurry this up and move on with your day without having to stop to read a novel. And don't bother with, That's not me. I am just as interested in the Big J's as I am in little E. We're used to being second-rate entertainment compared to her, so there's no need to try to make us feel better. We accepted the truth long ago.)

As I began pulling together my list of items to include in today's post - believe it or not, there is a method to my ramblings - I had right at the top: "Eily is almost crawling and trying to pull herself up." As of yesterday, however, I've had to amend that. While she still isn't crawling, she is indeed pulling herself up to a stand. Great. Just when I thought it was bad enough keeping up with her backwards belly scoot, I've suddenly become "Paranoid Mommy Extraordinaire", feeling the need to be by her side every waking second as she attempts to scale the furniture. Not that I'm unhappy to see her reach such an important milestone, of course. It's just...well...life is about to get a lot more challenging. Let's face it, keeping an eye on a relatively immobile baby while trying to get some work done is nothing compared to keeping tabs on one that suddenly knows how to get to the dvd player and push enough buttons to successfully lock the damn thing and make it impossible for mommy to get it to play properly ever again. Kids and technology - I tell you, it's scary. She could probably defrag my computer already....whatever that means.

Anyway, that's the big news. She pulled herself up no less than five times yesterday. You'd think I'd have captured it on video at least once, right? Well, much like her first solid food, I've managed to miss out on the opportunity every time. Now just where did I put my "Worst Mommy in the World" crown? I know it's here somewhere....
Fear not! While I don't have video proof of her actually pulling up, I do have some footage from earlier in the week when she was weight training for the big event by pulling her exersaucer around. In case you're wondering, it weighs 300 pounds.

And while this next clip was taken before the fated "pull-to-stand," it demonstrates how ready she is to start cruising. (It's also proof that she does, in fact, cry every now and then. I know some of you don't believe it, but it's true. She can't be perfect all of the time.)

Moving further back in our time warp to last week, we had a much anticipated visit from Auntie Kiki. I, for one, wish she would just move here and become our live-in nanny. I had a lot less mommy-guilt knowing Eily had someone to play with while I worked. Not to mention, Kiara makes a mean dinner. She didn't let the hot plate and microwave scare her off; somehow, she still managed to whip together a gourmet meal for us every night. Oh, and did I also mention that I didn't do the dishes once while she was here? Not that I didn't protest and try to convince her to let me do them. I have to admit, though, having a week off from bending over the tub was pretty darn nice. So for that, Kiara, I owe you many many thanks!!

The day Kiara left was also the day our friend Jim came over to help Jesse put the new electrical wiring in the kitchen. He essentially saved us $5000 - since this is what it would have cost to pay a professional to do the job. Instead, we spent $500 on supplies plus a few bucks for beer and pizza. Not a bad deal if you ask me. So here's a combined video of the work done in the kitchen and Eily saying goodbye to Auntie Kiki after spending the week together.

The video only shows about half of the work the guys did that day. Jim and Jesse spent from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. rewiring the entire kitchen, putting in the recessed lighting units, and connecting everything to the circuit box in the basement. Jim told us to expect the electrical underwriter to be nit-picky and give us a bunch of stuff to fix, but when he showed up here on Wednesday, he gave us the all clear to move forward. Look out plumbing, here we come!

In all honesty, that's pretty much all the excitement I have to share this time around. The month of February was mostly filled with lots of snow, schoolwork, and a trip to CT for my nephew's first birthday. (Guess who forgot to bring her camera for the big event? You guessed it! I'll take that "World's Worst Auntie" crown and put it on top of my "World's Worst Mommy" one. Thanks!)

Oh, but how could I forget - there was one exceptionally note-worthy event in February. You should all sit down for this. Are you sitting? Okay, here goes.

Jesse. Remembered. My. Birthday.

I know, I can't believe it either! No, actually I can. Between the crap I gave him for fogetting last year and just about every one of our friends giving him reminders, there was no way he could forget this time around. In his defense, everyone told me that when they reminded him about the big day, he already had plans. So really, he remembered on his own. I was treated to a yummy (and rather swanky) brunch at a nearby inn, followed by a manicure and full-body massage at a local spa. Can you say pampered? It was a great birthday, and he has hereby been absolved of his past forgetfulness.

I have a few other things to share here, though there's not much of a story behind them. So let's just call this the hodge-podge collage of pictures from the past month, starting with "Funny Things We Do To Eily's Hair."

We like to call this one "Medusa"

Here's her faux hawk

And this is what I mean by having to chase her around when she backward scoots on her belly. She ends up stuck underneath the furniture and even, as in this case, her toys.

And last but not least, here's a video we took last night while hanging out after her bath. There's really nothing too exciting about it, but it gives a pretty good idea of what a regular old night is like at our house. (I know you're all dying to know what that's like, right?)****

****I'll have to give you all a rain check on this one. (Haha, get it? Rain Check?! Because our power went out due to the "rain." Laugh, or I will never ever come back and post the video you're all missing out on.) I'll be sure to put it up as soon as we can get things squared away with the desktop, where the video is currently stored.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmaaaaas!

2010-02-11T09:51:00.007-05:00

Oh, wait...it's February.

So, unless you live in a cave somewhere, you've probably heard about all the snow that's blasted the Mid-Atlantic region over the past week. Some of you lucky readers may even have felt its frigid wrath. Those of you in New England who somehow managed to escape the snow TWICE....I'm not speaking to you for the time being. (Insert angry emoticon with his tongue sticking out.) I know, I know. I grew up in New England, lived in upstate NY for 5 years and even yearn to return to the Capital Region someday. But I must admit, in the nearly 5 years since we moved to Pennsylvania, I've become soft. One big snowfall per winter, with the average accumulation of no more than 6 inches, has become my norm. Like most humans, I want answers when unexplained phenomena such as this occur. I crave a reason for all of this crazy weather. To put my mind at ease, I've decided the blame rests fully on Punxsutawney Phil's ~~shoulders~~ shadow. Stupid rodent....

I plan to inundate you all with videos in today's post since we've actually taken and downloaded quite a few in the past couple of weeks. In honor of the weather, the first clip I'll share with you was taken yesterday evening, as the very wet and heavy snow literally poured down on us.

Alright, I feel I've whined and complained enough. Let's move onto something a bit less depressing. It's time to cheer up by reminiscing about the recent visit of Jesse's sister Kiara (aka Auntie Kiki) and her boyfriend Brendan (Uncle B). Since everyone is so spread out, we weren't able to celebrate Christmas with these kids until the last weekend of January. They made the trip down from Rochester and showered Eily with her third round of Christmas presents. Auntie Kiki went a little overboard, but Eily didn't seem to mind. Here's the bag of gifts she received...I would estimate it to be approximately three times the size of Eily.

The weekend was action-packed, complete with a trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
where we witnessed some pretty interesting sights. Eily particularly enjoyed a temporary installation in the Modern section called Days by Bruce Nauman. This was a sound installation in which you walk the length of a large room and listen to different recordings of various people reciting the days of the week out of order and at various pitches, volumes and speeds. The cacophonous din begins to blend into a rhythmic drone as you process the lenght of the hall. Eily started yelling in the middle of the room, adding her own bit of music to the piece (an addition I think only enhanced it, to be honest).

She was also very interested in the Philagrafika installation - especially the animated video by Tabaimo in which a large hand arranges furniture in a dollhouse that eventually becomes overrun by an octopus, falls apart, and reveals human organs beneath its exterior. This may be a bit too "out there" for some, but Eily found the whole thing highly entertaining. Our viewing was accompanied by shrieks and squeals of delight from our little critic.

Another one of Eily's recently achieved milestones is her recognition of visually amusing events. In other words, we don't have to tickle her anymore to get her to laugh. If she sees something funny, she'll let you know what she thinks. Witness her amusement here as she watched Fionn playing with the plastic ring from the top of a water jug.

I just cannot get enough of that laugh. She laughs so much now, about everything. I don't care what kind of day you're having - if you hear that little giggle of hers, it makes everything seem right with the world.

Another milestone we've failed to adequately capture on video is her newfound verbal skill. She woke up this past Saturday morning and decided to start shouting: "Yahyahyahyahbahdahyahyah!" for the rest of the day. This new ability is pretty exciting for her. In fact, she refuses to fall asleep at nap time because she would much rather talk to herself.

Speaking of naps, Eily has taken to falling asleep on her stomach - much to my fear. The nervous mother in me totally comes out when I walk into her room and see her like this:

I asked the pediatrician what I could do to get her to stop this, but he has assured me (on two occasions now) that if she can roll into this position, she can roll out of it. In other words, stop being a nervous mom.

Which reminds me, I totally forgot to update you all on her weight check! If you remember my Mini Me post from last month, Eily was considerably smaller than most babies her age. After making the switch to formula and upping her solid food intake a bit, she managed to gain two whole pounds in one month! That's more than the previous 3 months weight gain combined! Here's a recent pic of her exploration with food. The blueberries were a hit, though they were a bit on the messy side. She even managed to give herself a blueberry fu manchu.

Her pediatrician was very happy with her progress and has absolutely no concerns about her growth now. She's also pushing herself up onto her arms a lot these days and appears to want to get up onto her knees as well. Perhaps she will crawl someday after all?

Okay, you're probably wondering when this one's going to end. But seriously, I don't update all that often these days, so this one has to carry you through until I find time in March to write again. Besides, I've only got the kitchen update, and then I'm calling it a day.

So here it is. The video pretty much speaks for itself, but here's a quick rundown of our progress. Jesse has a friend named Jesse (making it very confusing when the three of us are in the same room) who is a contractor. He offered to take a look at our plans and gave Jesse (mine) some great advice on how to proceed. We've officially obtained a building and plumbing permit for the work, which thankfully does not need to be done by any licensed individuals. It all just needs to pass inspection before we finish everything. This video contains yet another interesting (but good) find.

And here are a couple of photos with all of the plaster from the walls and ceiling removed.

Finally, here's one last video for you to enjoy. Eily has started making this silly face where she smooshes her lips together and breathes really fast in and out of her nose. It's hilarious to watch, and I got her doing it on video this morning. (Be sure to give a listen to David Bowie in the background. Eily already loves him almost as much as I do.)

Alright, I think it's time to call it quits for this post. I've exhausted everyone, including poor Eily.

A special treat...

2010-01-27T11:52:00.004-05:00

Here's a little something to help you get over the hump today.

Eily spent some time in the jumperoo at Casey and Ava's house last week and was eager to share her new talent with us here at home. We took this video a couple of nights ago as she bounced in her doorway jumper. (Pardon the clutter....the house is very much under construction right now!)

In addition, here's a look at some of the work going on in the kitchen at the moment. Oh, and remember that second layer of linoleum I showed you last week? Well guess what? Jesse found a THIRD layer (featured in this video). These people were seriously linoleum happy freaks.

Here's a look at what was hiding beneath all that disgusting flooring:

Believe it or not, the wood is in decent condition and totally worth refinishing. This is great for two reasons. 1) I was hoping for hardwood throughout the house. 2) It will be sooooooo much cheaper than tiling!

It's back to work for me now. There's lots to do before Auntie Kiki and Uncle Brendan visit this weekend! Eily is very excited about this, as you can see:

It's Friday, I'm in Love!!

2010-01-22T12:30:00.010-05:00

Sorry...just a little Cure playing on my internal stereo. Ahem...down to business.

This week marked my triumphant return to the classroom. Despite the long commute (1+ hour each way), I've found West Chester University to be a good fit for me. The professors I've encountered so far are, for lack of a better term, crazy. In case you don't know me that well, I like crazy. I love walking into a classroom and not knowing what to expect. Take my sociology professor, for example. Dr. Wadley (second in the list...yes, the one that could easily pass for a GQ model) entered our class the first day and never once handed out a syllabus. Instead, we had an intriguing, in-depth discussion on why we all assumed he was our professor when none of us had seen him before. For all we knew, he could have been some crazy guy from the street who just happened to walk into our class and start talking. Within minutes, he took us out of the classroom to the student union and asked us to write down 25 assumptions we made about whatever we saw around us. Then we were free to go. Ummmm, right. So this told me zilch about the course or what I should expect from it. I loved that first class. It left me with so many questions.

Anyway, this is but one example of the eccentricity I have already experienced. Another professor, Dr. Passwaters (fifth one down....the third on the list, Dr. Nicastro is my Theology & Science professor), sounds and even looks a bit like Andy Rooney. He has a very dry sense of humor...but I guess you would need to when you're teaching a physics course on the structure of the universe. Then there's my linguistics professor, Dr. Aronow (I can't seem to find a pic of her anywhere). Our first two classes have been far more interesting than the first time I took linguistics at UCONN many years ago. Instead of jumping in with the very convoluted rules of language acquisition, she showed us one of my favorite NOVA specials about the little girl, Genie, who never learned to talk due to extreme social isolation and abuse. I had seen the special years ago, but it was much harder to watch being on the opposite side of parenthood now. Aside from the heartbreaking aspect of the documentary, however, our viewing instilled in me an intense desire to really take the whole study of language acquisition (and therefore, this course) seriously.

Okay, so enough of the dry, scholarly nerd speak. Let's move on to the stuff you've all been waiting for: Eily updates!

Eily spent her first two full days away from me while I was at school this week. My friend Casey, whom I met online while I was pregnant, graciously agreed to watch her for me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The exciting part about this, aside from avoiding day care germs, is that Eily has a playmate - Ava. Although Ava was born ten weeks premature, her adjusted age is close to Eily's, which means they are hitting the same milestones at roughly the same time. If you're interested in seeing some pics of the two of them together, check out Casey's most recent blog entry.

As a follow-up to my last post, I will mention that we did switch Eily to formula full time, and the change has been quite noticeable. I think in the past three weeks she's gained over a pound! Pretty amazing when you consider she gained barely half of that over two months before. I won't have an official weight until Feb 5th, but I'm sure the pediatrician will be happy with what he sees.

Next on the list (sorry, it's another long one this week): KITCHEN DEMOLITION HAS BEGUN!!!! To be honest, that sentence doesn't do justice to the state of our kitchen at the moment. In fact, according to housing codes, our house doesn't have a kitchen anymore. The sink and stove have been removed, therefore demoting the kitchen to just another room. Let's take a look at some before and after pics, shall we?

Here we have the sink/cabinets...

And here we have the empty shell they left behind...

The disgustingly stained/scratched linoleum floor (complete with Fionn chasing the paper I was using to pack up the dishes)...

And half of it removed. (I did this in a fit of anger a few weeks ago. Thankfully it needed to be done anyway.)

Notice the layer of linoleum that was beneath the cabinets and subfloor...yes, we have two layers of linoleum and subflooring to rip up. Lucky us.

In case you can't tell, that is genuine faux stone linoleum...which is a fancy way of saying really ugly.

The stove is gone...

And the ugly ceiling tiles are gone as well...

Jesse's been a very busy boy. The next step? Get some professionals in here to look at the electrical, plumbing, and gas lines before we redo the floor. In case you're curious, here's a look at what the kitchen should look like when we're done (minus the crazy green walls):

Until then, I'm stuck cooking dinner on a hot plate and doing dishes in the bath tub. Good times.

Right, I've probably missed something major here, but I think I've taken up all the attention span I can with this one post. Tune in next time for...I can't even begin to imagine what. I'm sure it will be interesting though!

Mini me

2010-01-08T10:29:00.008-05:00

Eily turned 6 months old on December 30 (where the heck has the time gone?!), so I couldn't wait to go to her well-baby visit at the pediatrician to get her updated stats. I know she's tiny - still very comfortably fitting into 3-6 month clothing with room to grow - and I wasn't expecting a huge increase in her weight, but even I was surprised at how little she actually gained in the two months since her last appointment. Here is a comparison of her stats from the two checkups:

4 month checkup - Oct 27, 2009
Height - 24.5 inches
Weight - 12lbs 8.5oz
Head circumference - 15.75 inches

6 month checkup - Jan 5, 2010
Height - 25.25 inches (.75 inch growth)
Weight - 13lbs 3.5 oz (11oz growth)
Head circumference - 16.5 inches (.75 inch growth)

In short, she is a teeny little peanut, in the 50th percentile for height and only the 5th percentile for weight. Head circumference is right on target. Despite the doc's concern about her low weight, I'm pretty certain she's healthy and has very fortunately inherited my fast metabolism. I was once told my metabolism is "like a hummingbird on speed." That should give you a pretty good idea of what I mean by fast.

Just for a visual example of her size, here's a pic of Eily sitting next to our cat, Smokey. At 6 months old, she's still the smaller of the two!

I told the pedi how much this pint-size powerhouse can pack away in one sitting, but he has encouraged me to feed her even more to see if she will gain more weight. So now we're letting her eat until she visibly shows me she is full. I kid you not when I say this child can eat the same amount of food as me in one sitting...and she does it three times a day (in addition to nursing 5-6 times)! Where on earth does she fit it all? It's obvious she eats more food than the size of her stomach at this point. I'm convinced one of her legs is hollow, and she packs all the extra food away in there.

I say I'm not overly concerned about her large appetite/slow growth for a few reasons. First, I have compared her weight gain at each visit with my own as recorded by my mom in my baby book. Eily and I have almost identical weights so far. At a year old, I was perfectly healthy but weighed only 16lbs. This leads me to believe that her size is simply part of her genetic makeup. Second, as I said, she is hitting all of her milestones right on cue. This would be a great time for me to update you on those! So, in no particular order, here are some of Eily's newest parlor tricks:

- Sitting up unsupported for long periods of time (1+ hours)
- Feeding herself cheerios, puffies, and small chunks of banana
- Rolling over very easily now...though she still prefers to be on her back if she's laying down
- A lot more screechy yelling, especially if one of the cats happens to be in sight...not quite babbling with consonants just yet
- Easily transitioning items from one hand to the other, reaching, grabbing, visibly cluing me in to whatever it is she wants (i.e. toys, food, etc)
- Laughing at things that are actually funny (i.e. the Baby Einstein puppets when she watches them on TV)
- Hugs and kisses - these are the best! She is such a little snuggler, and nothing is better than the feeling of her wrapping her arms around my neck as soon as I pick her up or sucking on my cheek to imitate me after I give her kisses.

See? No need to worry. She's a strong, developmentally on target little thing, even if she is small.

While looking at my own baby stats recently, I made an interesting discovery. I stumbled across some pictures of myself at around 3-6 months old, and guess what? I can finally say that Eily resembles me when I was a baby! She still has a lot of Jesse's qualities, but I think you're starting to see a lot more of me in there as well. Here's a side-by-side comparison. Judge for yourselves.

Thoughts? Opinions?

On another (possibly TMI) note, I've made the difficult decision that it may be time to wean Eily and switch to formula. While I'm sure she's healthy, I do have some doubts about my milk supply. Couple that with the fact that I start school again in two weeks and will have no time to pump between classes, and I think my supply is going to get even lower. In the best interest of helping her gain some weight, I think it's time to make the switch. It's sooner than I would have liked - I was hoping to make it to a year - but I feel like we made a pretty good run of it. I'm a little sad about the idea, but I'm trying not to let myself feel like a failure - six(+) months is still a good length of time to nurse, and I was surprised I even made it this long!

Well, that's the update for now. The posts may start to come less frequently when school starts. I'm enrolled full-time to keep my scholarship, and I'll still be working part-time from home. That leaves just enough time to interact with Eily, pushing this blog to the back burner, at least for the spring. I'll try to update as much as I can, but please be forgiving if the wait is a bit longer than normal!

And what shall I leave you with today? How about a video we took of Eily laughing up a storm a couple of nights ago. Her laugh is the best! Enjoy!

You better watch out, you better not cry!

2009-12-26T22:36:00.004-05:00

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

2009-12-23T10:08:00.006-05:00

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

2009-12-09T09:25:00.008-05:00

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

2009-11-17T14:05:00.003-05:00

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...

2009-11-11T15:39:00.011-05:00

...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)

2009-10-29T12:16:00.008-04:00

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...

2009-10-22T11:44:00.005-04:00

...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

2009-10-12T08:55:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-30T22:22:00.013-04:00

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!

2009-09-25T09:11:00.017-04:00

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!

2009-09-24T18:29:00.001-04:00

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!)