What happened to September?

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!

Mini update

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.

Nine Month Noteworthies

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!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmaaaaas!

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...

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!!

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!