one soul jane

Since Lily was in the Christmas spirit - I thought I'd share Liam in the Moz spirit...

2007-12-22T19:25:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the quality - apparently we live in a cave... Enjoy...

And yes - he dances like this whenever he hears this song... in the car, on the couch, decorating the tree... Anytime. :)

I love my tiny little Moz.

Welcome Fall!

2007-09-11T20:23:00.001-04:00

I'm so psyched that fall is well on its way!! Today it never got above 68 degrees - and even though it rained most of the day, I'm okay with that!! 68 degrees RULES!

So since the only reason people come to this blog is to see new pics of Liam - I must provide:

Cocking his head - I love this picture. He looks very thoughtful. This was probably during one of his "DANCES" - he loves music. We play Barenaked Ladies & Weezer for him and he shakes his bum.

Getting ready to go in the "bathtub" - our pool in the backyard. He loves it! And we do too - nice and refreshing for the whole family!

Bad Ass Biker

My little swing kid.

And now - since reading my husband's blog actually got me to post a new blog - I must embed my own Weezer video - Matt Sharp is really cute here - very emo.

Love you all!!

The next step in adulthood...

2007-07-01T21:55:00.001-04:00

Check out my husband's blog for pictures of our new house!! Yeah soul-crushing debt! :)

The 2nd Birthday!

2007-06-24T18:44:00.000-04:00

Liam celebrated his second birthday in style on June 16th. He had Elmo balloons and daddy decorated the living room for him, while he napped. It was very exciting. He got to play with his friends Emma, Nicholas, Lindsey, Lucas & Connor and got to look at baby Gewel!! He got lots of great gifts, too! Here are some photos for your enjoyment!!

Unsure about the balloon...

The sheer excitement of balloons!

Liam eating cake!

Liam opening presents with mommy!

Liam loves WRAPPING PAPER!!!

The morning after - let's relax with some crackers and juice! Go Sox!

Winning is a beautiful thing...

2007-05-31T13:52:00.000-04:00

Poor Yankee Fans... New York sucks as much as Tampa Bay!!!!!!

And yes... I do know that I'm calling down the thunder.

The month of May!

2007-05-31T13:30:00.001-04:00

On Bill's birthday morning (April 30th for those of you playing along at home) - we went to the Children's Museum in Providence, RI (for those of you googling). Liam had such a fun time! We were the only people there for the first 30 minutes, so Liam got to go nuts and run around like an insane person.

I've also got pictures from the Roger Williams Park Zoo, where we went last Friday (5/25) - Liam got to see elephants and gibbons and camels - it was so fun!

So in no particular order, here are some photos for your enjoyment:

Liam looking at the fishies at the Children's Museum.

The Littlest Jedi Master on Memorial Day
Liam seems unimpressed with the elephants, but he was pretty into it, trust me!

On the slide in the Children's Museum

Pretending to be a ship's captain in the Children's Museum

Running wildly through the Children's Museum

Hanging out - eatin' some Cracklin Oat Bran - watchin' some Elmo's Potty Time

The human kaleidescope!

Liam & Emma at Bill's birthday party

Proof of gravity at the Children's Museum

Reading an Elmo book on his 23rd month birthday

Laurie Berkner & The Wickford Walk

2007-04-14T11:23:00.000-04:00

So last weekend, we all went to see Laurie Berkner in Boston. A little background:

Liam loves Laurie Berkner. If you haven't heard her music and you have a child under the age of six, you are a bad parent. She rules! She's on Jack's Big Music Show all the time now and she's super bouncy and fun. Liam loves Laurie Berkner. She has an effect not unlike baby heroin. He will sit and stare at the TV for upwards of 20 minutes when she is on screen. So needless to say, I had to buy the tickets for him.

BUT! He got a cold on Thursday, and then Bill got a cold on Friday and I got a cold on Friday night, so Saturday morning was pretty miserable, not to mention BOSTON GOT COLD on Saturday... See... I'm clever.

But we walked around Boston for a few hours before the show. They wouldn't let us take flash photography, so my pictures looked like they were taken in a coal mine - so I've updated them with the help of PICASA (woo!). But they're still pretty bad...

Then this morning, since it was actually SUNNY and not in the 30s, we decided to go for a walk in Wickford and be tourists in our own neighborhood.

We had a fun time exploring houses that were built before this was even called AMERICA. It's so awesome. Now Bill and I are going to be looking at a few houses this afternoon - should be interesting!! House hunting is NOT FUN in RI, since with our combined salary we can basically afford a shack, but we'll make the shack look nice! :)

Sorry, I'm a lax mom

2007-03-25T11:59:00.000-04:00

So, rather than going into this long spiel, which ends up inevitably making me want to not post a blog, I'll just post a bunch of photos and give you some insight into Liam's current life that way!!

This picture is from this morning - Liam took to having the laundry basket be put on his head and trying to wander around our bedroom. I think he's going to be a spaceman!!

Liam LOVES to brush his teeth, now that we've given him his own tooth brush. So this is mommy & Liam being silly before bed, while Liam brushes his teeth.

Liam also enjoys taking all of the books off of our bookshelf and handing them to us one by one - here he hands me a Penguin 60 Classic!

Don't let that smile fool you - he's a devil in disguise!! Just kidding!

Grandma Grandma got Liam his very own couch, so he likes to occasionally RELAX on it.

Here, Liam wears Daddy's pass from the New York Comic Con. I thought it was going to become Liam's "tie."

Liam watching "The Muppet Movie" on his couch.

Liam with his crazy hair after a bath.

Liam being cute, drinking his milk!!

What a cutie pie!!

Sorry for the lax posting... You know - we're busy! But at least you can see Liam before he turns two! :) Hopefully I can get back in the swing of actually posting pictures sooner rather than later - but at least you do get to see how darned cute Liam is!!

Liam is 19.5 months old!

2007-01-30T19:36:00.000-05:00

And now you can tell that it's just not as amazing when he learns how to do things, even though they SHOULD be even more amazing now... But oh well.

Liam has learned how to say SEVERAL words, including "show" (for Jack's Big Music Show), "toes," "snow," "door," "up," "down," "bye bye," "car," "go," and "cold!" He says a lot of other things too, but I just can't think of them at the moment. He loves to watch "The Muppet Movie" and when we watched it on Sunday night, and I paused it right before the gang meets Gonzo, Liam went up to the TV and started going "bock, bock, bock." FOR THE CHICKEN! He's a genius! The next TV geek, I'm telling ya!!

Enjoy some photos!

This is officially the most recent picture - since I took it about an hour ago! He was running back to the couch to watch his Rachael (which he did say once!) and eat some cheese!

Liam now has a fondness for markers - we got him the kind that only write on certain paper, so that we can eventually move out of our house without having to pay full price for it.

Liam in his natural habitat (and anyone who said, "a Studebaker" - you get extra points) - but no... Playing with his legos and eating a sandwich.

Liam's new fun game is to take the letters from the puzzle Aunt Kathy got him and put them in the drawer of the hutch one by one. He enjoys it immensely!

AND NOW! WITHOUT FURTHER ADO - Liam's myspace photos, should he get a myspace account at the age of 20 months! I think the second one is more emo, but he looks so much like Bill in the first one!!

Merry Christmas! Finally!

2006-12-31T16:07:00.000-05:00

So now that I'm finally back home and somewhat rested, I can finally begin the Christmas blogging. This is in no particular order, since apparently, my computer did not save the pictures in any real order. Also - I hate blogger. I started this post earlier today, tried to grab another webpage and firefox shut down on me (I'm still blaming blogger). So I lost the 30 million pictures that I had already downloaded, which takes a zillion years on blogger. Boo. Wah. I'm tired. Where's blankie??

Here's a picture of Lily in her Dora tent. This tent is freakin' huge! Like bigger than an apartment in NYC, at least!! You should check out Lily's blog, since she's freakin' genius! Bill and I watched "Spellbound" last night and we're convinced that Lily is the next National Spelling Bee Champion, sans the awkward social issues.

This is Lily playing "Tickle tickle" with Liam. Liam loved every minute of it! He loved playing with Lily, because she's his own size!! He has even started saying "Bye Bye" and "Night Night" just since we saw her on Wednesday! She's such a good influence on him!

This is BY FAR my favorite picture of Liam at Christmas! We got him this little wooden ladybug that is on a spring that jumps up and down when you pull on her. He absolutely loved it, but has since been knocked on the head probably 2 or 3 times (and we've only been home since Thursday!!). He's such a drama king!! :)

The look on his face is precious! He's like - hmm... I see all of these new toys, but how do I get back to my farm? And what's with the freakin' bow, daddy?? Liam was not really all about the presents. He opened a couple, but whenever there was a lot of noise and a lot of action, he pretty much walked into a different room. Since my dad watches him by himself and he's never in a room with more than four adults, I don't think that he likes being around a lot of people. But that's quite alright with me!

Liam playing with his Elmo toolbench - Santa dropped it off at Grandma Grandma's house by accident, but they made sure that it got over to Liam!

Liam possibly singing?? on the couch on Christmas morning. He's a big boy now and likes to have his food not all cut up, but whole, and put on a plate, thank you very much. He will then bring the plate to the couch or table to eat. What a sweetheart! Here, he's eating lemon poppy seed bread and actually liking it! I think I'm going to have to start making carrot or zucchini bread, just to get some veggies into him!

All of Santa's presents under the tree!

Liam playing with Aunt Rose's toy on Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Degnan's house. Liam LOVED this toy. It has a puzzle AND a door! He was in heaven!

Photographic proof that Liam can open presents. He just chooses not to most of the time.

I though this picture was so sweet. If you look closely, you can see that Liam is holding Grandpa's hand. Grandpa's not doing so great and I think Liam is really keen in knowing that sometimes, a person just likes to have their hand held. And Bill is a supreme photographer for capturing this moment. Thanks, honey!

The first photographic proof that my grandparents do in fact have FOUR great grandchildren! We've never successfully gotten a picture of all of them together at once! Donna's kids are such hams!! Whereas Liam and Connor want nothing to do with the camera. Also, Liam was on the verge of a nap-neglected nervous breakdown.

Lucas and his gangsta hat. :)

Lindsey playing with her Happy Feet Mumbles doll. It's really fun!!

Liam and I hanging out in Grandpa's room. It was really noisy in the living room, so we took a moment to have some quiet time.

Liam playing with tissue paper on Christmas Eve Eve. Jill came over with her dad and Lise to open gifts. It was quite fun! Again the amazing photography of Bill!!

Liam on his 18 month birthday. What a cutie!

Liam crawling up the stairs to visit Lindsey - his other favorite person!

America's Next Top Model - Lindsey!

Lindsey was playing Santa Claus and never to give up the chance to sit on Santa's lap, Bill jumped right on.

Lindsey & Connor playing Santa Claus - Liam running off to be by himself! :)

Lucas eating a peanut butter ball. YUMMY!!!

Lindsey playing in the Thomas the Tank Engine tent that my mom bought Connor for Christmas.

I love this picture! Liam's smiling and my dad's smiling and laughing at him! Liam likes playing jail! Let's not hope it's any type of FORESHADOWING! Like in Back to the Future... "you better get used to those bars..."

Thank you for checking in to my family blog about Christmas. I scrapbooked all of my Christmas photos. I wish that I could scan in the pages and post them, but I don't think that my scanner can handle 12x12 pages - only the 8.5x11. Oh well.

Have a wonderful New Years. Due to a pending cold and forecasted craptastic weather, our New Years Eve will consist of watching XMen 3 and going to bed. But it's actually become something of a tradition to watch XMen on New Years Eve, so I'm just going to go with it. So yeah - Happy New Year and be safe!

The Man

2006-12-22T12:04:00.000-05:00

Oh - and for those of you who have jumped from Blogger back to Yahoo 360... Damn the man!

I can no longer view that site at work, as it is considered a personal web site. Yup. But maybe someday Jim will post about how to perform a multi-layer vlookup in Excel that will help me to set up Macros on my files. You're making me miss out on that non-existent opportunity, Citizens!

So farewell my bloggy friends. If you ever choose come back to Blogger, let me know. Maybe Citizens will still let me look at them then!!

We've got 'em in wee, not so wee and friggin' HUGE!

2006-12-22T12:01:00.000-05:00

Liam's 18 month check up was today. We'll take the "Friggin' HUGE" for 800, Alex.

He's 35 inches tall - 100th percentile - meaning, he's the tallest 18 month old boy our doctor sees.

He's 28.10 lbs - 85th percentile.

So he's tall and thin. Like his daddy. And Jake Gyllenhaal. Coincidence? I think not. :)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a "see you in Maine next week!"

A Very Christmassy Post

2006-12-20T08:34:00.000-05:00

Since I have been completely non existent on the blog front as of late (I have a new job, what do you want from me??), I figured that I would post a new blog with all of the pictures from the past three or four weeks.

BTW: Liam turned 18 months! Big boy!!!!

This was from the Festival of Trees that we had at the Providence Convention Center. My advice - Don't go. It's expensive and doesn't have that much to do. And please note how we're not wearing coats - It's been SO WARM lately. Not like Christmas at all. Also notice how Liam looks like he's screaming - that's because he is.

Also at Le Festival du Trees - Liam LOVED the carosel, even though this photo would beg otherwise. He would go "whee!" and "Wow!" when we were going around. Emma liked it too!

Liam looking up at the Christmas tree. I needed a somewhat artsy photo.
Liam putting the first ornament on the tree. Now, can you tell that this is a fake tree? I think it's awesome. I was completely ANTI-fake tree, but decided to go for, since I figured that Liam would alternate between knocking over a real tree (and thereby spilling water everywhere) and eating the needles. So far, Liam just occassionally stares at the tree (it's pretty!) or goes up and rings a bell - one of the ornaments we put specifically at Liam level, so that he could entertain himself.

Liam has issues with food - much like his mother. We figured that if we made spaghetti fun, he might be more willing to eat it. No go, but he did think that it was hilarious when we threw it on his head!

Liam is distinctly anti-Santa when it comes to sitting on laps, but if you ask him "What does Santa say?" he will sometimes response with "ho!" Don't question the fact that it sounds an awful lot like his response to what a dog and/or monkey says.

This was at the Citizens children's Christmas party. He was absolutely INSANE the entire time that we were there. My mom had to wait in line for approximately FOREVER (almost two hours) to see Santa and Liam RAN around Rhodes on the Pawtuxet the entire time. He also discovered and affinity for climbing stairs that I can give or take. I had to keep him from getting to the top of the stairs, where there was a balcony, so that I could help him live til his 18 month birthday. We survived. Barely.

This is Liam resting after running around Rhodes constantly for two hours. He ate cheese "cheeeez!" and juice "juuuus!" Really, he is my son. He likes bread, cheese, grilled cheese, milk, juice, water, crackers, bananas, and waffles. Other than that, he pretty much wrinkles his nose at food. But he's my son - so what are you going to do??

I'll post again after Christmas, once I get more fun photos. I want to wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! And hopefully I'll see most of the people that actually read this blog very soon!! Except Iris - but I'll see you in May!

Thanksgiving - The Video

2006-11-23T16:51:00.000-05:00

Or check it out on Jumpcut!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-23T16:36:00.000-05:00

First things first - Happy 17 month birthday to Liam (11/16)! You will see him in his PJs first thing in the morning on his day! Doesn't he look like Connor???

Then I needed to include his new favorite hobby, which is to put blankie on his head and walk around like Sheik Abudahbi. But cute.

FINALLY - Here are the Thanksgiving Pictures!

Mom, resting after a VERY long Thanksgiving Day at Grandma & Grandpa's!

CUTE Lindsey picture! But what other kind are there???

The Doughty Clan, courtesy of Donna. I'm torn between using this picture or a picture a little further down for our Christmas card. I'll have to see how they print out.

The Bouthiette Family!

Lucas & Liam playing with a fire truck.

Lucas is such a little Carl!

Liam & Papa.

The other potential Christmas Card photo op. He looks like such a little BOY here!!

I'll be posting a video of Lindsey entertaining Liam a little later, once it finishes uploading. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble!!

Happy Halloween!

2006-11-01T09:39:00.000-05:00

Come see all my Halloween Pictures!

For Aunt Kathy

2006-10-23T08:25:00.000-04:00

We went to Grandma's house yesterday and Rose brought Lindsey and Lucas, so Liam got to play with his cousins. They did really well - no broken bones or anything! Here's some highlights!

Liam & Mommy. Lindsey took this picture. Liam hadn't taken his afternoon nap!
Liam loves opening and closing doors. He takes so much pleasure from the simple act, it's hard to stop him!
Lindsey & Lucas!
Lucas!
The kids! When I said that I was going to take a picture, Lucas immediately raised both of his arms over his head and held them until I actually took the picture. It looks like Donna has two hams!

Better Late Than Never

2006-10-20T13:30:00.000-04:00

My take on this season’s fall lineup – these are the actual shows that I TIVO (well, DVR, but let’s not get into semantics):

Sunday:

The Amazing Race – LOVE IT! But I always do. I have a begrudging respect and sense of adoration for the Kansas coalminers with the really bad teeth. They’re amusing, with their complete and total lack of worldliness! And Phil’s a hottie – though I’m upset that he’s losing his accent.

Monday:

How I Met Your Mother – This show is still good, but not as great as last season. I don’t really care that Lily and Marshall broke up – I just want Barney to say something stupid. It’s a really great late-20s show. However, I truly believe that if you are not in your late 20s, you won’t be able to relate to it and the amusement of two guys going to an Alanis Morrisette concert.

The Class – BALEETED FROM TIVO! This show sucks. BORING!

Heroes – I’m in the midst of liking it. Like my husband, I wish that they would have more Hiro and less wide open brains. And who knew? Ali Larter can actually act!!

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – I love this show. Considering that I wasn’t even going to watch it, but did on a lark since Bill wanted to, I’m hugely impressed. I hate Harriet – she’s ugly and boring and too conservative, but that’s okay. And I’m not “in love” with any of the characters, but the writing is just so good. I truly recommend it.

Tuesday:

Gilmore Girls – Unlike Annie, I’m not in love with this show. However, I continue to watch it, because I have since season one. My DVR decided to casually forget to start taping the first episode (we’ve had words since), so I never really found out what happened with Loralei and Christopher and Luke. I actually like Logan as a character and wish that we could see more of him (emotionally and physically!!) and I’m interested in the pregnancy aspect with Lane.

Bones – I LOVE THIS SHOW. David Boreanz is a sexy mofo. And the sexual tension between him and Bones is so wonderful. As I stated to my husband, I don’t care who he has sex with, as long as he’s getting some!

Wednesday:

America’s Next Top Model – Or as I refer to it, crack. I’m addicted to the drama on this show. Tyra Banks seems so incredibly fake in her sincerity and the girls are just mindless drones. It’s wonderful. But I am sad that they kicked off the cute girl with the short hair so early. She was my Kim for this season!!

Lost – I keep telling myself to stop watching. I can literally go weeks without tuning into an episode that I have on my DVR, but for some reason, I won’t delete the show from my record listing. If they don’t explain what the frig is going on pretty soon, I plan on boycotting. Are you with me???

CSI: NY – Not as good as it’s big papa CSI, but not as drunk as Uncle CSI:Miami. I like the budding romance between the girl and the guy with the glasses who talks about “blue fibahs.” Gary Sinise is really good as the new Grissom, but still no Grissom. And there’s no real tension between any of the characters, so it can be kind of boring. It’s like they’re on a set or something. J

Project Runway – RIP. I am really happy that Jeffrey won. He was an ass, but he is REALLY talented. Though not as much as the first season guy, Jay. Some of the clothes that he made, I would actually want to wear – the first season guy, Jay, I mean – and that’s saying something, considering that I have absolutely no fashion sense.

Thursday:

Survivor – Again, bored. I liked the idea that they were dividing by races and it’s going along just as I thought – the whites and Asians remaining in power. It’s like a really bad joke.

CSI – I love this show, but I hate Marg Helgenberger. Her character is so one-sided. And her name is Marg. Boo. I want them to give George Eeds more face time! He’s sexy too!

Grey’s Anatomy – This show is really losing me as a viewer. It’s killing me that doctors can be SO DUMB. The main chick, she needs to be put into rehab for her sexual proclivity and need to drown her sorrows in alcohol. I’m glad that none of these people will ever get near me with a scalpel.

Real World Road Rules Challenge – I still think I’m 15. And this has the same appeal as ANTM. Really dumb people, doing really stupid things for money. As my husband says – GET A JOB!

Friday:

Doctor Who – Bill got me to watch this by some form of voodoo magic. I was madly in love with Christopher Eccelston, though I think that the chick who plays Rose is unbelievably annoying. Then they went and “killed off” that doctor and regenerated into the new doctor. I was not really feeling him, but then he put on his glasses. Now I’m okay with the show.

Numbers – Again, this is just a show to watch. Not in love. Could stop if I wanted to. It’s really just something to watch on Sunday when Liam is napping.

So far – so eh this season. Besides my existing LOVE for CSI, the Amazing Race and Bones, nothing much has piqued my interest, except Studio 60 and I hear that’s not doing too well in the ratings. The OC starts soon, which will be fun (hopefully now that bitchface is dead) and 24 will be on before you know it. Excitement!

Hop on the Pumpkin Express!

2006-10-09T10:42:00.000-04:00

We went to Schartner Farms in NK on Saturday to pick pumpkins. We got to go in a corn maze and play in fun cut outs and then look around at all the pumpkins. It was a beautiful day. Liam took one header into a picnic table, but other than that, all was fine and good. We got to eat fresh red fries, which were super yummy!

The fam in the Schartner Farms cut out.

Li the bee is the man. The WALKIN' man!

Li wasn't terribly impressed with the corn maze, but did love thrashing himself around when he was on our shoulders.

Li & the daddy. Ahh - Love before the glasses come flying off!

Li & a pumpkin.

The fam on the hayride over to the pumpkin patch.

Apple Picking - The Video!

2006-10-01T10:15:00.000-04:00

Check me out at Jumpcut!

Apple Picking!

2006-10-01T08:23:00.000-04:00

Bill, Jill, Liam & I went apple picking at Hill Orchard yesterday. It was so much fun! Liam was walking all over the place with Bill. We were picking and eating apples. We got to go on a hayride with two horses that were really pushy and each wanted their own way. And we've got enough apples to make 2 or 3 pies. Wonderful times!!

Yummy, ripe apples! See, I do go outdoors occasionally AND I even make Liam eat healthy things, sometimes. :)
Liam felt that it was much more fun taking apples out of the basket, rather than putting them in.
Liam walking with Daddy. As you can see, he is gangsta, with his one pant leg pushed up and the other down.
The nicest family picture so far. Thank you Jilly!!!

King Richard's Faire

2006-09-23T15:33:00.000-04:00

BEHOLD! King Liam of the Og! He will destroy you! Hazzah!

Well, as you can tell, we made our yearly pilgrimage to King Richard's Faire. Liam is now doing the walking while holding your hand thing, which is incredibly adorable. When Jill went to go get her photo taken in shackles, we held Og for her. Liam was enthralled with Og and wanted to walk with him all by himself. He's such a big boy! And he only fell on his face once!

We were going at lightning fast speeds of 1 to 2 MPH.

Please notice the man with the horns behind Bill. He was truly excited to be in the photo.

We met some very nice beer wenches at the Faire. Liam made friends with them, not even wanting to leave, after we took the photo. But just notice his eyes - what a boy!

Swingin' Liam

2006-09-07T19:49:00.000-04:00

Check me out on Jumpcut!

Liam Auf Deutsch

2006-09-07T19:31:00.000-04:00

Mommy & Daddy & Liam went to the park on Labor Day night to celebrate the end of summer. Boo bad work hours for Bill. Boo lost sunshine. Yeah fall weather!! Jeans!!!

My aunt bought Liam a cool shirt and sweatshirt from the Germany World Cup soccer thingy. It looks so cute on him, I had to take a picture! You can even kind of see his snazzy new sneaks!

Mystic Aquarium - The Video

2006-08-27T15:28:00.000-04:00

Check it out at Jumpcut!

Liam Walks! And says "Fish!" Kind of...

2006-08-27T15:03:00.000-04:00

Check it out at Jumpcut!

Liam Stands Tall

2006-08-22T20:46:00.000-04:00

This is our Gangsta Liam, who comes with a Timberland outfit and Cubbies hat, stylishly cocked to one side.

Liam is planning on becoming the Lord of the Dance!

What can I say? He's got a groove! And look at him standing all by himself!!!

This is Bill's artsy photo (though I do love it!!). Liam LOVES to play with his Animal Farm!

FINALLY!

2006-08-14T16:40:00.000-04:00

Here are some new pictures of Liam from this weekend. It turned out that Bill magically went from having a two-day weekend, to a cool three-day weekend, to a faboo four-day weekend, so we were able to spend 3 1/2 days together as a family! We went for a walk in Wickford, we had a cookout with friends and went to the Mystic Aquarium! I'm not going to post all of the pictures here, but you can link to them here: DOUGHTYLAND FLICKR ACCOUNT!

Check them out and let us know what you think!

New-ish Picture of Liam

2006-08-08T20:57:00.000-04:00

OR MAYBE NOT! Damned Blogger isn't allowing me to post any pictures. Jerks!

We're finally having baby day this weekend, so I'll try to remember my camera and take lots of new pictures of the Li.

The Chicago Land Busy People Band!

2006-08-07T09:59:00.000-04:00

I'm still too tired from our weekend jaunt to Chicago to go into much detail, thankfully my husband is verbose.

Yes - I am a bad mom. I haven't posted any new picture of the Li in a while. But I actually haven't taken many photos lately, either. So I guess that just makes me even worse of a mom. Oh well. Li Li (as I've taken to calling him) is getting bigger and bigger every day, except for Thursday, in which he lost a great deal of intestinal (sp???) girth, when he threw up 6 times in 30 minutes. But then he was fine. It was weird. The doctor thinks it was a bug, but he literally was FINE not two hours after the ordeal. Eating saltines (a new food LOVE for Liam) and drinking some Pedialyte. It's weird. He still isn't walking on his own, but he'll stand up and hover, until he realizes that he's not holding on to anything, when he promptly falls on his bottom. He's cute.

Hubby has posted some new photos from our Chicago trip this weekend on our Flickr account. You can check them out there.

Chicago was fun, but tiring. I can barely keep my eyes open as it is, let alone with less than six hours of sleep on Saturday night. And United can kiss my bottom - what with our unplanned 4 1/2 hour delay in PVD. Who wants to sit in TF Green for 5 - 6 hours??? There's literally NOTHING to do. Except read. Which is what I did. I started and finished "Idiot Girl's Adventure Guide" in about 5 hours. I laughed my ass off throughout the entire book - thank you Annie! You thought three and a half years into the future to purchase this book for my bridal shower, knowing that I would need something to cheer me up during my delay. You're a sage.

I also finished "The Drowning Tree" last week and am starting "jPod." Not 100% into it yet (and it's hardcover, the mark of the devil), so I haven't really gotten very far. So now I've read about 234095872082 books in two or so months. Or really - 5 or 6.

Let's see:

The Girls Guide to Hunting & Fishing
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Magical Thinking
The Devil Wears Prada
The Drowning Tree
Idiot Girls Adventure Guide

So 6. In about 2 months... Not too bad for a mommy!

So then I could technically read 18 - 20 books over a six month period. Yeah, literacy!

Anyway - I'll post some pictures later.

Bad mommy!

The Vacation

2006-07-13T21:40:00.000-04:00

We're back! We had a very nice vacation in Sebago Lake, Jay and Bangor, ME. We got to swim in the freezing cold lake, see Lily in her first parade (what a big girl, Jeff!), and hang out with the in-laws. It was a good time!

Now for the photos:

How cute am I? No, really... How cute? Like massively cute or just a little cute? Massively cute? I thought so.

Liam was unimpressed with the July 4th parade.

Yeah! Daddy & Liam in Sebago Lake!

Atticus!

2006-07-13T21:37:00.000-04:00

You're To Kill a Mockingbird!

by Harper Lee

Perceived as a revolutionary and groundbreaking person, you have
changed the minds of many people. While questioning the authority around you, you've
also taken a significant amount of flack. But you've had the admirable guts to
persevere. There's a weird guy in the neighborhood using dubious means to protect you,
but you're pretty sure it's worth it in the end. In the end, it remains unclear to you
whether finches and mockingbirds get along in real life.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Just one more eensy - teensy blog...

2006-06-27T09:57:00.000-04:00

So I've been a reading fool! It's so nice to actually have time to read fiction!

I finished "Girls Guide to Hunting & Fishing." It was okay - I'm not a big fan of short stories, so if this had been one complete story, I think I would have enjoyed it more. Definitely chick fic.

I also finished "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime." I was seriously disturbed by this book. It's about an austistic? boy in England who is trying to solve the murder of his next door neighbors dog and ends up finding out that all this other awful stuff is happening and he doesn't know how to deal. It's always disturbing to me to read about kids who have disorders, because I'm so afraid that Liam could get some awful disorder and I would be so sad. So yeah - not exactly the book that I was expecting.

I started reading "Magical Thinking," since I've read all of Augusten Burrough's other books and everyone else was reading it, so why shouldn't I? So far, so Augusten. I didn't have to read the short story about the rat in his apartment, since he read that to us at his book speechy thing at Bryant. And I woke up inexplicably at 10:00 PM last night and couldn't sleep, so I decided to read another one of the short stories (I know I said that I didn't like short stories, but somehow it works here) and it just so happened to be the story about the housekeeper. Now for those of you who have read the book, I hope you're chuckling. I seriously doubt that I will be able to read anything in this book that will be funnier and more entertaining. I was almost in hysterics by the end of the chapter (well, hysterics for me at 10:30 PM). Ha! Pennies!

Vacation is coming!! I can't wait to read more books - I just hope that Liam gives us a chance to play in the lake/pool and read and relax! I may just need a vacation from my vacation!

Liam is currently trying to attack the laptop

2006-06-25T18:28:00.000-04:00

So this is going to be quick!

Liam went to the doctor's on Tuesday for his one-year appt - He is 31.5 inches long (90th percentile) and 24.4 lbs (75th percentile), which roughly means that he's tall and thin like his daddy.
Liam has learned how to wave and it's unbelievably adorable!
Grandpa asked Liam to play him a song on his piano today and HE DID! Liam is a genius.
We're going on vacation, so I will be having a blog-a-cation (like my hubby) for a while.

Talk to you later!

Love to all!

Liam's First Birthday ... A Sampler of Photos

2006-06-18T08:40:00.000-04:00

I'll put a more detailed post together when I have time, but here is a quick sampler of Liam's First Birthday!

Twice in a week – it’s a miracle!

2006-06-13T15:31:00.000-04:00

I just downloaded the blogger for Word add-in… So we’ll see how well this works. - UPDATE - it doesn't... Well... It will let you do just words, but no pictures. And what is an Erin post without pictures of my little guy!!??!! So it sucks. Boo. Bill and I went for a picnic and walk with Liam on Sunday night. Liam got to go on the swings and slide. He had a great time:

Liam and Bill went for a whirl on the slide.

Liam LOVED it!

This is my new favorite picture. Liam absolutely LOVES the swings! What a cutie!!

Friday is Liam’s birthday – I may just have to do a Liam retrospective! :)

Grand Master PMP

2006-06-09T10:24:00.000-04:00

That's my new nickname, now that I've passed my PMP!!! That's Project Management Professional exam for those of you NOT in the know! So that means that I get to (eventually) take on bigger projects AND wear platforms with goldfish in them! You know, because I'm a PiMP! And that bassist from NFG has got nothing on me! I'm a true PiMP!

Ahhh... That is the sound of a woman getting ready for summer. Not even getting ready for summer - being fully in summer. The only thing that could make this summer better, what with the Liam turning 1 next week, me not having to study for any more exams, and Bill being his wonderful self, is if I actually had the summer off... But that ain't gonna happen. Oh well!

I started reading "The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing." It's so enjoyable reading something that you don't immediately want to set on fire. It's actually a good book. I'm hoping to read 10 - 20 books for the remainder of the year. And knit a gazillion scarves and potentially one sweater. I have my limits.

Here are some FUNNNNNNNNNNN pictures of Liam (Super Swell Dance Party - Wahoo!):

This picture makes me nervous - like he's getting ready to do something awfully mischevious.

But he's still so cute!!

Liam is a bit obsessed with the telly. In particular, Rachel Ray (he enjoys touching her face and boobs. Such a boy!) and Elmo. He likes to go up to the TV, stand up and proceed to kiss and fondle the TV set. We've tried to stop him, but it's just so cute. The second picture is of him watching Ribs. He's so his father's son!

Liam is too cute. My new nickname for him is Jack - as in Jack-o-Lantern, since his teeth are so funny and jagged. He's such a cutie. The above photos were taken with NO input from mommy - no raspberries, no smiling, no nothing. He was just happy and smily before bed.

I LOVE MY ELMO!

I just wish he felt the same way about Grover.

Wow... It's been a REALLY long time

2006-06-05T20:11:00.000-04:00

Sorry about that. Like I said in my last post - I've been busy. I take my PMP exam tomorrow, so this will be short as well. I'm continuing to plan Liam's birthday party - though as per usual, the only people to actually respond are Pam and Jill. Hey, rest of my family and friends, are you planning on attending the festivities? If yes, please let me know? Like soon??

This will be the photo on his 1 year birthday cake! How cute is he???

Liam is big! And tall! Bill put him in this outfit on Saturday and he looked absolutely adorable!

Bah - hopefully I'll become a PMP tomorrow (and then everyone has to start calling me the PiMP Mommy) and then I will be in a better mood. Til then... WATCH XMEN 3!! IT RULES!

So... How ya been?

2006-05-21T19:47:00.000-04:00

The past two to three weeks have been a blur. I'm in the process of studying for my PMP (Project Management Professional) exam, which will take place on June 6th (wish me good luck!!), planning Liam's first birthday (June 17th - invitations should be out this week!), planning our interim trip to Maine for Memorial Day (yeah Jeff & Jube cookout!), helping out with Lise's 50th birthday party (which has since passed, so I'm allowed to talk about it) and moving Jill to her new apartment. And oh yeah... Being a mom and stuff. So I've been a tad bit insane lately. Hopefully in early to mid June, I should become a normal person again. I'm looking forward to that. And to the fact that I don't have to work a full week until mid July!!! That RULES! I'd go into the logistics, but it would be confusing and interesting for very few people (maybe Jim... I'm still not exactly sure how his mind works.) other than me.

Oh yes - and I have changed the name of my blog from "Sic Transit Gloria" to "one soul jane." If you get it, you get it.

So! Here are some new photos of the Lee Bee.

Up up & away! You can even see how Liam is getting really good at trying to stand all by himself. My big guy!!

Ponderous Liam...

Yes, Liam loves VHS. He's retro and doesn't even realize it. That's how cool our kid is.

This is Liam with a cut-out of Lise's head, which we used at her 50th birthday party. He really thought that it was funny to see Lise and be able to eat her head!

This is Liam & Daddy at Lise's 50th Birthday party.

Handicapped Blogger?

2006-05-05T07:40:00.000-04:00

So I was reading Jim's post about amusing Southern "special folk," and as I was posting my comment, I saw that there is a handicapped sign next to where you're supposed to "verify" that you're not a robot through the word verification. I was curious, as it was not special parking or a wheelchair ramp, so I didn't quite understand why there was a handicapped sign next to it. I decided to click on it and saw that there was some inexplicable "dot" that came up under the word verification cell. Then there was a voice. It spouted numbers like a character from "Lost." I'm intrigued. Anyone know what this handicapped button is for, as I would like to think that it magically turns your computer into a handicapped van, full with the wheelchair lift. Anyway... Please feel free to enlighten me.

Soundtrack

2006-05-01T15:10:00.000-04:00

I swiped this from Jim, who apparently took it from Dan, who stole it from Fannie.

Soundtrack of my life

Put your music player on shuffle.
Press forward for each question.
Use the song title as the answer to the question even if they don't make sense.NO CHEATING!!

How am I feeling today?
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da – The Beatles (Actually, that’s pretty accurate!)

Will I get far in life?
The Arrest – Jesus Christ Superstar (How did I know that putting JCS on my ipod would come back to haunt me!!)

How do my friends see me?
Divorce Song – Liz Phair (HUH?)

Where will I get married?
That Thing You Do – New Found Glory (Again with the HUH?)

What is my best friend's theme song?
Dangerous – Frente! (Pretty funny…)

What is the story of my life?
The Act We Act - Sugar

What was high school like?
Oh Yoko – John Lennon (Kind of…)

How can I get ahead in life?
Still We Let It Choke Us – Piebald (So I’m guessing that I’m NOT getting ahead in life…)

What is the best thing about me?
Redundant – Green Day (Wow, that is so true! The only better song title would have been “She’s On Time” by BNL!)

What is today going to be like?
Jane – Ben Folds

What is in store for this weekend?
What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love & Understanding – Elvis Costello (War is over!!)

What song describes my parents?
Shower the People – James Taylor (I couldn’t agree more! I was actually going to use this as the father/daughter dance song at my wedding!)

To describe my grandparents?
I Changed My Name – Sugarcult (Funny… Wow… It’s so close to true!)

How is my life going?
I Really Love to Dance – Laurie Berkner (I’ve got A LOT of kids songs on my iPod)

What song will they play at my funeral?
Happy Phantom – Tori Amos (I’m going to need to drown myself in barbiturates in order for this song to apply…)

How does the world see me?
Holiday Road - Bunnygrunt

Will I have a happy life?
Wave of Mutilation – Pixies (HMMMMMM)

What do my friends really think of me?
H.R. Pufnstuf – The Murmurs (Really? I’m actually the one who DOESN’T do drugs!)

Do people secretly lust after me?
Sunday Night Waterworks – The Gaze (I’ll take that as a yes)

How can I make myself happy?
Somebody Kill Me – From the Wedding Singer Soundtrack (FUNNY!)

What should I do with my life?
Futures – Jimmy Eat World (Yup… But what about my future??)

Will I ever have children?
Calm Before the Storm – Fall Out Boy (No, actually I’m in the midst of a hurricane!)

Birthday - 30th Style - Friday, Saturday & Sunday Part 2

2006-05-01T11:08:00.000-04:00

More Birthday fun!

Bill and Liam and I went to the Paw Sox game on Friday night. We had a really good time! Liam enjoyed himself. He didn't really care much about the game, per se, but he really enjoyed looking at people... and trying to steal food from the kid sitting next to me. He only puked on Bill's arm once, so that was good! :)

Bill, Liam and Paws.
Liam BLATANTLY stealing food from Emma's tray at the cookout on Saturday.
A very artsy-fartsy shot of Liam - sitting in front of the Runaway Bunny exhibit at RISD.
Liam loves my coupon book. Like is obsessed with it. This photo should be a tell all. I plan on bringing it out in time for proms, weddings, births...

Birthday - 30th Style - Sunday - Part 1

2006-05-01T10:39:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was Bill's 30th birthday! Happy Birthday, Honey! We had a great time, which you will soon see in a series of photos, as I'm not so good with the words... I've had to separate this into several different parts, as Blogger doesn't like when I put too many pictures in one post - booger.

Here is what we did on Sunday - We visited the RISD Art Museum, as they were having an exhibit on "Goodnight Moon," which is the book that we read to Liam every night before bed. Liam seemed to like it and I was happy that it was actually kid friendly, in that Liam was allowed to get out of his carriage and crawl around and read books and play with toys. He had a great time visiting with two teens, who were also at the exhibit. Bill and I have determined that Liam likes to stare at people who don't look like him - ie: the kid at the exhibit had weird hair (all pointy and dreadlocky), he stared at two boys at the Paw Sox game (see photos in Birthday - 30th Sytle - Saturday), as they were Asian and black, he likes to look at wrinkly people and all kinds of stuff. He's just interested in people who don't look like the people that he sees everyday. Dear God - Is Liam actually going to be (I can't even say it) accepting of people?? Never... :)

Liam in front of the Goodnight Moon diarama of sorts.

Liam & I in front of the diarama.

Bill and Liam in front of the diarama.

Liam with a toy straw hat and gardening can. Toys that they provided at the exhibit. So cool!

Liam & Bill at Bugaboo Creek, where Bill actually allowed people to sing to him on his birthday! Big step.

Liam in the beret in the Art Dog section of the exhibit. I thought he looked like Caiaphas from Jesus Christ Superstar. Bill thought I was being weird. Liam just hated the hat.

Liam & Bill in front of the Art Dog painting.

I am "Lost"

2006-04-18T15:55:00.000-04:00

So, to hop on everyone's bandwagon, I also tried out the Myheritage.com website.

Here are my results:

1. Evangeline Lilly
2. Sharon Stone (boo)
3. Keanu Reeves
4. Billy Idol (HUH?) - but then again, it did state that Liam was similar to Che Guevara
5. Yael Bar Zohar (?)
6. Dalida (?)
7. Gwyneth Paltrow
8. Rachel Weisz
9. Renee Zelleweger
10. Mira Sorvino

Not too bad of a list, especially since 1 and 8 are on my husband's list!

Easter

2006-04-17T14:22:00.000-04:00

Liam had a great Easter! He got a new Beta fishy named Youkilis. He got the "Baby Neptune" DVD. He got to hang out with his cousins. And he turned 10 months old!

Lucas, Lindsey & Liam - did you see the trend?

Liam with his huge Easter Bunny. And his rings... He's never far from his rings!

Liam went to see the Easter Bunny at my mom's work. He wasn't scared (even though he looks scared in this picture). He was just kind of bored. :)

So! We are hoping to potentially move soon. Therefore, Annie & Jeremy should take a trip down to RI to potentially take in some good free booking. There will be many CDs, DVDs and books to be sold/donated/disposed of, as the new house cannot help but be smaller than our current home. More updates as they come. :)

And yeah! The Red Sox won today! On a walk-off homer! Good going Loretta & Youk!

Sorry - My dog ate my digital camera

2006-04-08T16:18:00.000-04:00

Not really... As I don't have a dog, but I just haven't posted in a while, because all of my new photos are on my home computer, which I never use. But I am now. So I guess I'm a liar.

Liam went for his 9 month doctor visit on 3/31 and... ta da!

Weight - 22.3 lbs - 75th percentile
Height - 30 inches - 95th percentile

Translation - The kid is huge!

Here are some new photos:

Bill and I have been trying to take Liam on walks every nice day that we can. This was from last Saturday, when we walked around East Greenwich.

Bill and Liam went for a walk in Wickford last Friday. Liam looks very ponderous here.

Liam in his bouncy bouncy bouncy chair.

new car photos and an ipod song list and bitching

2006-03-25T17:51:00.000-05:00

Here's the new car - the lights aren't actually on, which kind of makes the photos creepy. :)

This is an ipod song list from 3/4/06, but I was compelled to follow in Bill and Andy's footsteps and provide it to you:

Once In A Lifetime - Talking Heads
What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love & Understanding - Elvis Costello
Free Man In Paris - Joni Mitchell
(Don't Go Back To) Rockville - REM
Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon - Urge Overkill
Rockin Stroll - Lemonheads
Tessie - Dropkick Murphys
Dance, Dance - Fall Out Boy
Off the Wagon - Get Up Kids
Hit Or Miss - New Found Glory
Holly Hox, Forget Me Nots - Saves the Day
Song for the Dumped - Ben Folds Five
Portsmouth - 6 going on 7
Lola - The Kinks
Understand In A Car Crash - Thursday
The D in Detroit - The Anniversary
Fire Door - Ani Di Franco
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
Romeo in Black Jeans - Michael Penn
Your Favorite Thing - Sugar
The Authority Song - Jimmy Eat World
Guernica - Brand New
100% Good - Piebald
Bitte Ein Kuss - onelinedrawing
Late At Night - Buffalo Tom
The Sound of Settling - Death Cab For Cutie
Green Light - Jeremy Toback
Leave the Biker - Fountains of Wayne
Ana Ng - They Might Be Giants
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
Sellout - Juliana Hatfield
Fast Girls - Sarge
Back and To the Left - Texas Is the Reason
Panic - The Smiths
Tear In Your Hand - Tori Amos
Two Step - Dave Mathews Band
I Really Love to Dance - Laurie Berkner

Here's the bitching piece... People are insane. I don't quite get humans (especially those with xx chromosomes). I think I'm going to transport Bill, Liam, Jill and my parents to a foreign planet where weird humans don't exist and we can all live happily ever after. I'm seriously starting to think that recluses like JD Salinger have got the right idea. At least they don't have to deal with the bullshit that humans deal out on a daily basis.

Alright, enough bitching... Gotta check on my babes!

St. Paddy's Day

2006-03-20T15:52:00.000-05:00

Unlike some people, I like St. Paddy's Day. In fact, I love the Irish! Irish people are great! Perfect, in fact! Yeah, Irish people!

Enough of that... Bill and Liam and I went out to dinner with Jill, Pam, Brian and Emma at Gregg's. Wow... Lots of names! Bill and Brian had corned beef and cabbage like good boys. I ate chicken, as corned beef just sounds gross, let alone is gross!

Liam was cute. He kept screaming, because he gets excited, and Emma kept crying, because she gets scared of Liam. It's a cute cycle.

Here are some cute pictures:

Liam on St. Paddy's Day morning - He's just so excited to be Irish!

This is Emma playing with a crayon for the first time. She did really well!

If you ever want to entertain my child, give him a balloon. He will laugh for hours!

In other news... I got a new car. Like for real. My RAV kind of died-ish. I brought it to get serviced and they told me that it would be $2,600, so I said screw. We bought a new 2006 Toyota Matrix, from another dealer (screw Tarbox). It was a good deal. I'm happy. I'll take pictures and put them up on my blog sometime this week. It's shiny.

Me & My New Jacket

2006-03-16T13:11:00.000-05:00

Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa Doughty! I love my new jacket!

The Life Cycle of a Shoe

2006-03-16T13:02:00.000-05:00

First, we wear the shoes.

Then we look at the shoes. They do look tasty!

Then we taste the shoes. My! They are tasty!

Then we play. It's an exciting life cycle!

From Sunday, 3/12/06.

Liam's 9 Month Birthday

2006-03-16T12:33:00.000-05:00

Yeah! It's Liam's 9 Month Birthday! It's so cool that he's been out in the world as long as he was in my tummy!

Here are some cute pictures for the fam:

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love vegetables. Liam has become interested in eating table food, so please enjoy the introduction to baby carrots, which took place on Sunday.

Umm... I'm not too sure about these things mommy...

Yeah... I'm going to have to say "no..." Thanks, though.

Well, maybe... I mean, they are my size. That's kind of cool.

Yeah! I think I pooped!

These pictures are from today - his 9 month birthday!

Liam and Grandma on his 9 month birthday!

Life can be so hard... I mean... What with keeping up with the yacht...

And the golf outings. I'm exhausted!

I'm adorable... What can I say? This is my "I'm trying not to smile, but you're goofy" smile.

Huh?

2006-03-15T11:38:00.000-05:00

Perhaps Nickelodean should review their choice of MC for the Kids Choice Awards...

I will be attempting to post newer photos of Liam tomorrow, since it's going to be his 9 month birthday - HOLY CRAP!

Other than that... Working... Sleeping... Watching disgusting amounts of television (damn you, Sopranos)... Playing with Liam... Not seeing my husband (damn you, CPL).

In better news, apparently Lily enjoys dancing with a photo of Bill. That was cute!

I enjoy #7

2006-03-08T14:28:00.000-05:00

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Erin!
Snow White's coffin was made of Erin.
Never store Erin at room temperature!
South Australia was the first place to allow Erin to stand for parliament.
If the Sun were the size of a beach ball then Jupiter would be the size of a golf ball and Erin would be as small as a pea.
In the Great Seal of the United States the eagle grasps 13 arrows and Erin!
Four-fifths of the surface of Erin is covered in water!
The patron saint of Erin is Saint Eugenie!
In Japan, Erin can only be prepared by chefs specially trained and certified by the government.
Erin was originally called Cheerioats.
Over 46,000 pieces of Erin float on every square mile of ocean.
http://thesurrealist.co.uk/trivia.pl " method="get" style="background-color:#5F5F42;color:#CFCF95;padding:4px;text-align:center">I am interested in - do tell me about

My 5 Favorite Movies

2006-03-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

As I was reading my husband's blog, I saw that he listed his top 10 (+20) favorite movies. Unlike him, I cannot select 30, let alone 10 movies... I tried. Movies take too long to watch. I have no patience... That kind of thing. So...

Top 5 - in no particular order - I enjoy them all:

1. Clue
2. About A Boy
3. The Princess Bride
4. Donnie Darko
5. Office Space/Amelie

I'm allowing a tie in 5th place, because I really want Amelie to be in there.

Top 10 TV shows!

1. The Amazing Race
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Red Sox Baseball - TESSIE!!
4. Survivor
5. The Real World - I'm such a sucker for crappy fake melodrama! I love 'em all... Road Rules, The Gauntlet, The Inferno. I just can't quit you MTV!
6. CSI - LV and NY... No Miami. I'm not into the Latino heat.
7. 24
8. America's Next Top Model - ANTM for those cool people out there
9. How I Met Your Mother
10. Bones

2nd 10 TV shows...

1. Globe Trekker 2. The OC
3. My Name is Earl
4. The Daily Show
5. The Soup
6. Best Week Ever
7. Jack's Big Music Show
8. Numbers
9. Gilmore Girls
10. Dawson's Creek

3rd 10 TV Shows...

1. King of Queens
2. Degrassi Jr. High
3. American Idol - I can't put this into the first two tiers, because it requires such committment.
4. Six Feet Under - pre David going crazy with the crackhead guy
5. The Sopranos
6. My So Called Life
7. Everyday Italian
8. $40 a Day - against my better judgement
9. Arrested Development
10. Freaks and Geeks (RIP)

Some cute ass pictures!

2006-03-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

I've made up captions, for what I think Liam may be thinking...

Liam: "I'm so excited to be wearing my radicool dinosaur Hugh Hefner pjs!"

Liam: "Yeah, Food!"

Liam: "I'm so cute in my dino hef pjs. All the chicks are gonna dig me!"

Liam: "Hey, I'm in a laundry basket! How did I end up here? Wait a second, this is kind of fun!"

I have all of these cute pictures of Liam...

2006-03-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

On my computer at home. D'oh!

Oh well... I never get a chance to actually do anything on my computer at home, so I figured that I should at least stop into the blog and say "hi."

Hi.

We're all still alive. Liam is adorable! We went to Wrentham outlets on Saturday and he was such a happy smiley baby and even when he got tired, he just fell asleep in his stroller for a few minutes to get himself to be happy again. I have the cutest picture of him, but again, on my computer at home. That night we went over to Jill's dad's house for her birthday. We hung out with Emma, who is so cute! Apparently she isn't used to loud noises, and when Liam gets excited, he screams - so that was a recipe for disaster. Emma's crawling over to where Liam is sitting and Liam goes for her hand and screams. Emma immediately pouts the lip and starts wailing. Liam looks at her, like, "What did I do?" Such a man... Never thinking that anything is his fault. :)

But by the end of the night and the many breakdowns - Emma was pretty cool with Liam. Instead of crying when Liam would scream with glee, she would just look at him, like, "Could you please keep it down?" You would think that Brian was the librarian! :)

Oh! And I'm so excited! The Amazing Race started back up again!! I was talking to my boss yesterday, before I actually watched the show (thank god for DVR), and he said that there was a couple on the show that reminded him of Bill and I. I was a bit skeptical, so I went on the web to see who he might be talking about. I was offended at first, until I actually watched the show. Lori and Dave are essentially the still dating version of Bill and I - personality, if not looks wise. Lori looks more like Annie and Dave is Bill if he plowed his way through a Dunkin' Donuts inventory. But still! They are so cute and describe themselves as the biggest nerds on the planet! If that's not Bill and I, I don't know who we are! We are nerds! And dorks! And we love each other! We are Lori and Dave! So I wasn't as offended by the end of the show and you know that I will be rooting for them throughout the competition!! Oh and the "Double D's" need to go... Jeez... I hate pink.

But yeah... Once I get a chance to post some of the uber cute pics of Liam from this past weekend, I will. And this Sunday is Emma's birthday, so we should have another fun/strange outing of shouting with glee and crying breakdowns!

10 Years Ago Quiz

2006-02-15T08:13:00.000-05:00

Stolen from Annie via Jim:

———-10 YEARS AGO———-

How old were you? 17

Where did you go to school? North Kingstown High School

Where did you work? Brooks Pharmacy

Where did you live? North Kingstown, RI

Where did you hang out? With my friends, usually at Shannon’s house.

How was your hair style? Long and curly, I think!

Did you wear braces? No.

Did you wear glasses? Yes, but usually I wore contacts

Who was your best friend? Shannon

Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend? I was ugly and alone. :)

Who was your celebrity crush? Billy Corgan?

Did you have more guy friends or girl? Guys.

Who was your regular-person crush? Probably Josh.

How many piercings did you have? I think 7 earrings in each ear.

How many tattoos did you have? None.

Who were your favorite bands? Smashing Pumpkins…

What was your biggest fear? Being alone for the rest of my life.

Your fav. color? Green.

Had you smoked a cigarette yet? Yeah, but not regularly.

Had you gotten drunk or high yet? I don’t know… I think so, but I don’t remember.

Had you driven yet? Yes! I had the spaceship car!

**** 5 YEARS AGO ****

How old were you? 22

Where did you go to school? I didn’t. I just finished school at UMO.

Where did you work? Citizens Bank

Where did you live? East Greenwich, RI

Where did you hang out? At my house with my boyfriend!!! (weird)

How was your hair style? Shorter and curly

Did you wear braces? No.

Did you wear glasses? Yes. And Contacts.

Who was your best friend? Bill and Jill

Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend? Bill

Who was your celebrity crush? Man… I need my old copy of the list… Um… It was pre Jake Gyllenhaal… I’m going to go with Jason Lee.

Did you have more guy friends or girl? I had two friends… Bill and Jill. So 1 of each.

Who was your regular-person crush? I didn’t have one.

How many piercings did you have? Um… I would say closer to 3 holes in each ear… I took out the eyebrow ring six months earlier.

How many tattoos did you have? None.

Who were your favorite bands? Probably Piebald and Saves the Day – but I was going through my “I’m an adult” and adults don’t listen to punk rock phase.

What was your biggest fear? Probably debt.

Favorite color? I’m going to go with green again.

Had you smoked a cigarette yet? Well, I did when I was in high school a couple of times, but nothing since then.

Had you gotten drunk or high yet? Yeah, but not regularly… I loathe alcohol.

Had you driven yet? Yes!

——————-LETS SEE WHAT YOU ARE NOW !!!!!————

How old are you? 27

Where do you go to school? Um… I’m going to Bryant University to get my Project Management degree. And I just finished going to University of Phoenix online for my Masters! I did a whole lot of schooling in those five years!

Where do you work? Citizens Bank

Where do you live? East Greenwich, RI

Where do you hang out? My house with my husband and child!

How is your hair style? Medium and curly

Do you wear glasses? Yes. I gave up on the contacts during my pregnancy.

Who is your best friend? Bill and Jill

Do you have more guy friends or girl? Again with the only two friends thing… Well and my parents (I’m such a dork) – so again 50/50. Well... And my little guy. So I guess that tips in the favor of guys.

Who is your boyfriend/girlfriend? Bill - husband

Who is your regular-person crush? Don’t have one.

Who is your celebrity crush? Jake Gyllenhaal. YUM!

How many tattoos do you have? None.

How many piercings do you have? Two holes in each ear.

Who are your favorite bands? Lemonheads, Piebald, Saves the Day, Sarge…

What is your biggest fear? That I’m going to suck at being a parent.

Have you driven yet? Yup… I’m not a quail-tard.

Fav. color now? I’ll go with blue or yellow.

You say blizzard...

2006-02-12T15:45:00.000-05:00

I say, hey it's cool that my husband doesn't have to work!!

Liam got to experience his first snow today!

He was a little wary - like all good New Englanders. We went outside for a few minutes and he got to hang out with his mommy and daddy in the snow. He touched the snow, with his gloved hand DCYF! He just kind of looked at us like, and? I think that if he can't eat it, he's not interested.

Update: We're famous!

There is absolutely nothing happening right now...

2006-02-03T12:23:00.000-05:00

Which is why I haven't written in a very long time. I just found that I can simulcast the noon news on the web, which is kind of cool. Except that the news is just all about bad things happening, which isn't cool.

I'm involved in my class reunion. Not sure if I posted that before. It's good. I haven't been as terrified of people as I thought that I would be. That's a good thing.

Liam is rolling over constantly! Last night, he was swimming on the floor, while Jill and I were watching "Groundhog Day." It was cute. He was trying so hard to move.

Everytime we go to check on Liam in his bedroom, he's always on his stomach. We roll him over, but I think that he just rolls right back over. Is that a bad thing? I'm just so worried about SIDS. But if he's more comfortable on his stomach, than that's just the way it's gonna be.

Other than that - not too much to report. Still working - still going to my project management classes - still loving the boy!

Check out Bill's blog - you will not believe this chick, who emailed his myspace site. What a snot.

Love to all!

Liam the Huge!

2006-01-25T11:15:00.000-05:00

So Liam is getting so big now! This past Sunday I put him in a cute outfit that I had gotten him from Babies R Us. It is a 12 month outfit - and the onesie was so tight! I felt bad putting it on him, but I wanted to make sure he wore the outfit at least once!!

Here he is laughing at my mother, who keeps saying "Ma ma!" to him. He thought it was absolutely hilarious.

Liam has his dad's sense of humor. I was opening my car registration the other night and it had those tabs that you have to tear off, like on a paycheck, and Liam starts looking over at me and laughing hysterically! I'm like, okay. Apparently this is the funniest thing in the world to him. And last night, I was holding a piece of paper that I got in the mail, while I was holding Liam, and he started to grab for the paper, but could only really bat at it, so he started laughing at that! Weird kid. :)

As you can see, Liam is not a fan of socks and drools like a madman! But his little train outfit was so cute!

Okay - I was just in the middle of sending out an email for work and forgot about it, though I had already sent it, and saw it sitting on my computer, waiting to be sent. MOMMY BRAIN IN FULL EFFECT!

Crimeny!

2006-01-18T13:30:00.000-05:00

Not sure if I spelled that right.

Remember when I used to post blogs on a somewhat regular basis?? Yeah... Me neither.

Sorry! Liam is 7 months and 2 days old! I should have posted something on Monday, but I'm too lazy. I even have wireless in my house, but I can't be bothered to attempt to power up my laptop some days. And then finding the cord to transfer photos from my digital camera? It's like asking me to climb Mt. Everest! It is ALL THE WAY IN THE BACK ROOM! Are you kidding? I'm watching my stories.

Anyway - what's new?

Liam now has TWO teeth! He likes to chomp on his cheerios and kind of talk while he's eating. It's cute though. He'll go "a la la la ma da la a la" while chomping on his cheerio. And then he'll usually sigh really loudly. It's so funny!

Liam is crawling. Backwards. Kind of. It's cute! We'll put him on his tummy and he'll push himself back. He'll even tuck his legs under him, so it looks like his going to push himself forward, but no... He pushes himself backwards.

Liam is sitting up like a champ! He hasn't fallen over in a while. It helps that we keep the Boppy behind him most of the time, but still. He's doing really well.

Liam love to laugh! I was buzzing the other morning at him and he was absolutely cracking up. I think he's going to have his fathers sense of humor!

I had to take him for his flu shot booster on Tuesday and he was 20.6 lbs with his clothes on.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Grandma got me a new hat! It was $1.97 at babygap. I love deals!

Liam loves his exersaucer! He'll sit for a long time just rolling the blue dial above and looking off into the distance. It's like he's bored. It's adorable.

Below are some cute pictures of Bill reading to Liam. They were reading "Dinosaur's Binkit." Liam LOVED this book. It looks like he's screaming, but he's not. He's just so excited!

Blogless and beautiful!

2006-01-12T16:11:00.000-05:00

Sorry! I've been a crazy woman lately! I was in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday for a meeting with work - didn't actually get into Downtown Chicago, but oh well. Maybe next time (opening day for the CUBS???). When I was in the airport at O'Hare, I connected up to my Yahoo account, since there's been more discussion with the whole 10 year class reunion for North Kingstown - holy crap! There was like a billion emails flying back and forth and if you know me at all - I cannot stand inefficiency!! Or carnies... But that's a different story! So I volunteered myself (sucker!) to help out and I really struggle not to take over the whole thing - "Does not work well with others." But at least I've had a chance to kind of meet up with people from high school that I actually want to get in touch with and it's kind of like a scavenger hunt (I LOVE me some scavenger hunts!) trying to find other classmates.

But I'm looking forward to the long weekend - spending a whole lot of time with my hubby and my baby. Liam's getting so big! He's going to be 7 months old on Monday! Craziness! Here's a cute picture of the baby and Bill from this morning:

Oh well - hopefully I'll be able to post some more things this weekend - sorry I've been so lax!

Just a quick note

2006-01-05T08:11:00.000-05:00

Liam's eating Cheerios! I can't believe it. He has a tooth and he's eating Cheerios. Just 6 1/2 months ago, he was still in my stomach! It's amazing how big babies get in such a short span of time. I'm so proud of him! We got a jumper from Donna for him to play in, but he still doesn't quite understand... He just kind of stands there really rigid and look at you. Oh well... Another thing for him to learn!

Here are some pictures from New Years for you to enjoy!

Mommy likes playing with Picasa!

Liam... What are you looking at??

Happy New Year!

2006-01-02T18:56:00.000-05:00

Hello! And welcome to 2006. It's very similar to 2005. Just with a different number on the end.

Many things have happened over the past couple of weeks. Here's a quick rundown:

Liam got his first tooth! I nearly died when we felt it. My little boy is becoming a man!
We celebrated Liam's first Christmas. He was such a good boy too! You can visit my husband's blog Trusty Plinko Stick for a rundown on the car ride experience.
Bill and I decided to sleep through New Years Eve. Why bother staying up? We would just be totally exhausted and dealing with a 6 month old teething infant would not be so fun.
I finished Season 4 of "24" - Oh my God... It's just so good!
We got Liam a jumper, so that he can enjoy his jumping safely! Thanks, Donna!
Liam met his Mainer cousins and got himself an international girlfriend. Her name is Sherry and she's from Taiwan. Theirs is a forbidden love. :-)
We started Liam on some apple juice (not so much) and cheerios (really not so much).
We got to see our friends! Dear God! We got to see our friends! It was very fun. We miss having people around. And it's weird that we have to go to Jay, ME to see a bunch of people! It's like the middle of nowhere! Just check it out on a map!

Since I'm a lady of few words (and Liam wants to eat), I've decided to end this blog with a bunch of cute photos from the Christmas events.

I'm a present!

Yummy, old school toy!

I love George!

Yummy, wrapping paper!

I'm completely adorable. What can I say?

I don't believe you mommy... Who's this Santa guy?

Anybody seen Tim Simons?

2005-12-20T09:44:00.000-05:00

I found him!

Liam's so adorable! He's becoming cuter and cuter each day. He is starting to do this thing at night, right when we're changing him for bed, where he'll start kicking and acting like he's running or dancing on his changing table and he'll just squeal in delight! It's absolutely adorable! It kills me every time! He's sitting up on his own really well, too! I had him sitting up last night, with a blanket behind him, just in case he fell, and was tickling him and he'd laugh and laugh and laugh. He's the most adorable child ever. In my humble opinion.

We went to LaSalette on Saturday with Jill, Pam, Brian & Emma. Emma seemed to enjoy the lights more than Liam. He was a bit cranky, but not too bad. I don't blame him, though. It was a different environment, cold, and a little blah. And we kept him up too late. But it's all good. He got his revenge by waking up at 6:10 AM on Sunday, when he knew that mommy had to drive to NJ on Sunday afternoon. Not fun. Was very tired!

Went to NJ on Sunday, so that I could do inventory at one of our warehouses on Monday morning. I stayed at my aunt's house, which was really nice. I got to see my cousins and went out to dinner with my cousin Kelly. We got to catch up, which is nice, since I won't see her at Christmastime. I should get down there more often, but with a baby, it's so hard!

Mom and I make our traditional Christmas cookies tonight. We'll probably make 300 - 500 tonight and then another bunch on Friday for Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house and the day after Christmas at my in-laws. It should be tiring, since we won't be starting our cookie making until 5:00 PM. I will be sufficiently dead on Wednesday. But my end of year vacation starts on THURSDAY!! Yeah! No more work from Dec 22 - Jan 3! Not that's going to be particularly restful, since we're going up to Maine for four of the days, but it will be great to spend so much time as a family, since Bill has Dec 23 - Jan 3 off. So nice!

I will definitely try to post again before Christmas, but if not, have a very merry (happy!!) Christmas and we'll catch you in the New Year!

The Fastest Six Months in Recorded History!

2005-12-16T21:25:00.000-05:00

Look at him... completely buried in a book, just like his daddy.

Anyway, hi folks! Erin's husband Bill here. Erin went to bed super early tonight, so she wanted me to go on her blog and write an entry commemorating the fact that today is Liam's six month birthday.

Six months. Wow. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. It's really amazing. But even more amazing is how far we've all come in that time. Six months ago, they handed us this wrinkled, wiggly little guy and basically said "hey, here ya go, don't screw up!" You'd think a major life upheaval like that would come with instructions or something, but no, you'd be wrong. The early days were manic, frightening, and very, very tiring. Any first-time parent who tells you differently is lying. But gradually, we got used to him, and he got used to us, and now the whole parenthood thing is just another part of our everyday lives. An amazing and blessed part, but still... this is what we do now, it's just another aspect of life. But - and I can only speak for myself here, though I'm sure Erin does this, too - every now and then, it all still takes me by surprise, the daily reality of it all slips away, and I just have to say to myself, "wow." And I hope I never lose the "wow-ness" of this whole parent/child thing, because even if it does just make up another aspect of your life, it's still a pretty miraculous happening when all's said and done.

Okay, enough philosophizing; as Erin can attest, I'm tend to get a bit sentimental. Today wasn't only Liam's six month birthday, but also his six month doctor's appointment, so here's the tale of the tape on that. The boy weighs in at 19.6 pounds and is 28 inches long, putting him in the 90th percentile of kids his age for height and weight (meaning 10 percent or fewer children his own age are any bigger). I don't remember the exact head measurement, but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 centimeters; considering the size of the rest of him, this is a little smallish, which I'm hoping means that maybe he won the genetic lottery and didn't inherit my enormous noggin. But still, all around, he's a big kid. As big as a lot of 1 year olds, in fact. Though it's not like he's fat, either... he's just a big boy. There's a lot of height on both sides of the family. And as one of my aunts likes to remind me - entirely too often, in fact - I was the biggest baby she ever saw, so genetically speaking, Liam comes by it naturally enough.

So happy half birthday, Liam. Mommy and Daddy love you very much, always and forever.

And thanks for reading, folks! Erin will be back with the next entry, and she'll most likely spend a lot less time waxing philosophical than I just did. She's good like that.

Jill & Her God Babies

2005-12-12T09:34:00.000-05:00

So Jill, the pagan/catholic/witchy/religious/faithful best friend, has three God babies now! We went to Emma's baptism yesterday, which was really fun! Liam was such a good boy. No breakdowns! He hung out at the church and played with Dino. He kept tapping Jill's Dad and Lise on the backs, like he wanted to play. He's so cute! Then he fell asleep for a while (I don't blame him!), and then we went over to the Pump House for the reception. He had some lunch and then took a little nap. Emma was so cute in her heirloom baptismal outfit. Apparently, though, she had to basically be stuffed in it, since she's so big! But I think that Liam is going to end up being huge, as of Friday. We go for his 6 month visit on Friday and I swear... I think he's going to be over 18 lbs. He's huge! Emma's 21 lbs and she's only 9 months old! :-) I love chubby babies!

Less than two weeks til Christmas! Yeah! We're going up to Maine for Christmas, and hope to visit some friends that we haven't seen in, well, at least a year! It should be a fun, if not incredibly stressful, time.

Skip this one if you're on dial up, because it's "A Very Christmassy Liam"

2005-12-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

Liam, Lindsey & Lucas at Lindsey & Lucas's combined birthday party on Sunday. They're so cute together!

Our tree!

Damn Mrs. Claus. Screwing up Liam's first photo with Santa! Oh well. At least he isn't freaking out!

Liam can kind of sit up on his own now and this is him being very proud of himself!

Happy Christmas!

2005-12-05T10:49:00.000-05:00

The British are so cute with their "Happy Christmas" instead of "Merry Christmas!"

Well, I survived yesterday. My mom and I went to the Citizens Bank Children's Christmas party in the early afternoon. Liam got to see Santa and he didn't even cry. He actually held Mrs. Claus' finger! Like he does with the fam! He cried a little bit while we were waiting in line (for like 30 - 45 minutes... poor planning, Citizens!) to see Santa, but right before we went up on stage, the woman standing next to us had a reindeer ears headband on and Liam was completely mystified by how they worked. He just stared at her for like five minutes before we got on stage. So he was chill once he sat down with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

He got a cute toy - a little ball that has a mirror and balls rolling around inside of it. He thought it was cool, but totally just wanted to hang with Dino. After we fed him at the party, we drove over to Coventry for my cousins' birthday party. It was Lucas' 1st birthday party and Lindsey's 6th birthday party. They are SUCH good kids. Lucas was standing up and even walking a little bit on his own. By Christmas, I'm sure he'll be walking all around the living room! Lindsey was adorable. She's so good natured! I've got pictures of the Lindsey holding Lucas and my mom holding Liam, but they're at home, so I'll have to post tomorrow, when I'm trapped inside, due to the obnoxious amount of snow we're supposed to get. My rule stands. If the flakes fly, I don't come into work. I have a cable modem and wireless networking, so I stay home and chill.

Bill and I took this picture on Saturday when we were putting up the tree. Liam was in his swing and Bill was singing to him and he was just smiling!! So we're going to use it for our Christmas cards, which I've already stamped and gotten completely ready, except for the photo. So I'm going to Wal Mart at lunch to try and get a bunch of pictures printed down, so that I can finish putting the pictures together while I'm snowed in tomorrow night.

Isn't he the most adorable child ever!!! I'll also post pictures of my tree tomorrow too! It's so cute. Oh yeah! And Liam (5 1/2 months old) is ALREADY bigger than Lucas (1 year and some change). It's so funny! I went to pick up Lucas, to have him sit on Lindsey for the picture taking time, and I almost threw him through the ceiling, since I was expecting him to be so heavy! He weighs about 17 or 18 lbs. Liam probably already weighs 18+ lbs. We're going for his 6 month visit on 12/16, so I'll be able to CONFIRM how much he weighs, but he's a tubba. But he's not, like, a fat baby. He's just big-boned. I don't want to give him a complex. But Bill was a tubba baby too! I saw a picture of him when he was a few months old and he looked like he weighed about 40 lbs. Now I know this isn't true, but he was a HUGE baby.

More tomorrow!

Videos of Liam

2005-11-29T10:34:00.000-05:00

Check out my cute kid (and husband), laughing their arses off over the weekend.

Or Liam & my dad hanging out on my birthday.

Or more Liam & Bill laughing over the weekend.

This post is actually about Thanksgiving!

2005-11-29T10:06:00.000-05:00

This is Liam on Thanksgiving. He was kind of pooped by this point. He wanted to eat before we went over to my Aunt's for Thanksgiving, so we fed him the requisite (how the hell do you spell that word??) sweet potatoes and peas (along with the rice and oatmeal cereal), so that he could feel a part of the celebration.

All in all, Thanksgiving was fun. We ate lots of good food and spent time with the fam, which is always important. Bill and I hung out with Liam in the morning and let him play in his Exersaucer (he loves to poop in his Exersaucer) and just relaxed. Bill and I both had Wed - Sat off and I had Sunday and Monday, as well. It was so nice to have some time to relax. Only 15 more working days until my Christmas vacation! I think I can make it!

Happy Thanksgiving! Eat Lemonheads!

2005-11-26T10:47:00.000-05:00

So I just discovered that MTV is good for something. I know, I know. It's certainly not music videos or songs by white people, but it has a little something I like to call mtv.com. Yeah! mtv.com actually shows music videos! By white people! Like Juliana Hatfield and The Lemonheads. It's not all bumpin' and grindin' and crunkin' and dunkin'. And whatever. Do you all remember when white people used to make music. It was 1994, I believe.

So yeah... And The Lemonheads have some big celebs in their videos! Angelina Jolie and Amy Smart are in "It's About Time." Chloe Sevigny is in "Big Gay Heart."

I really would like a Lemonheads DVD to come out with all of their videos. I'm on a Lemonheads kick lately!

I think that Evan Dando rules. It's just too bad that he was/is (?) such a druggie. He had such a sweet voice and a cute country-type sound to him, that is refreshing in some of the hard-grungy type music of the day. I like to think that he and Juliana were truly meant for each other, in a sort of poetic Romeo & Juliet, destined for bad things type of way, but all in all, lovers in a dangerous time, type of thing.

Off to watch more videos! Come see!

If you like Sarge - Comment me!

2005-11-22T13:38:00.000-05:00

I was looking at my counter stats (I'm now mildly obsessed) and I saw that someone found my site through asking for lyrics to "I Took You Driving" by Sarge. Well - I love Sarge! And no one has ever HEARD of Sarge... So please - comment me, if you have heard of Sarge and indeed, enjoy their music. I'm sad they're no longer around. All of the good things go away - Like "Covington Cross" and "Swan's Crossing." Damn it.

I would really like Juliana Hatfield to become my friend

2005-11-22T13:18:00.000-05:00

I am so impressed with Juliana Hatfield. She's got to be the most talented singer/songwriter/guitarist/rockin' chick ever. Screw Janis Joplin and all these other drugged out people who "died before their prime." No... Try killed themselves with drugs and were always losers (ie. Kurt Cobain - loser).

But not Jules. I love her. She has the cutest little voice that just reminds you of a little girl asking for candy and holding her dad's hand. But she's also ferocious when she wants to be. And timid. And confused. Above all else, she's human. She has never come across as anything but herself.

I've seen her live numerous times. From 1994 through 2004. She did a Newbury Comics in-store performance, where I got to meet her. I was shell shocked. She is my idol. I couldn't speak. Luckily, I had Bill there with me (Jules is partly the reason why we even became friends in the first place) and he helped me gush that she had been my most FAVORITE singer ever since I was 16. I was totally star struck. We took pictures of her and her dog. We went to see her at T T the Bear (I think) in Cambridge two (?) years ago and she walked right past me. She's sooo thin. Like a china doll. A tall china doll. I want to feed her hamburgers and give her a hug. Bill and I used "Might Be In Love" as our wedding song. I want to sit down with her and find out about her life. I want to know who she loves and what she hates and how she comes up with the hooks and swings in her songs.

Juliana, if you're out there. I'm a good person and I think you are a good person and I think we should be friends. You're beautiful.

The cup smelleth like pee

2005-11-21T14:46:00.000-05:00

My water bottle smells like urine. It's making me kind of nervous, so I'm not drinking out of it today. I left it at work all weekend. You never know with these crazy banker types.

So we went over to Pam & Brian's on Saturday night for dinner. It was an enjoyable time, save my complete and total allergic reaction to their cats. I don't know what it is. With cats I'll usually have a slight reaction... An a-choo here, an a-choo there, nothing too bad. With their cats, I have a complete sinus breakdown from the minute I step in their house to the minute I leave, gasping for air and needing to go home and go right to bed. But it was still very enjoyable. Emma is 3 1/2 months older than Liam and they are SO ADORABLE together. Here are some photos for your visual enjoyment!

Emma was very interested in Liam's Dino toy. Yes, this is the infamous Dino! Liam loves Dino!

Emma is a very aggressive little girl and immediately took Dino - Liam kind of looked up at me like, "mommy?" But they ended up sharing very well.

Liam & Emma are such good friends! Emma likes to hold Liam's hand.

Happy Un-birthday to Liam!

2005-11-17T08:29:00.000-05:00

I'm not terribly creative with my blog titles. I guess I could call the blog something completely random, like "Feuding coffee cups" or "The crosses on a calendar," but that's all I can think of when I look at my desk. I'm not terribly creative anymore. I used to be. I used to write poetry (really really BAD poetry) all the time and little short stories and make up scenes in my mind, but I've turned unbearably analytical. Give me an Excel document with a bunch of data and let me go to town. I'll turn it into a Pivot table faster than you can say "what the hell is a Pivot table?"

Anyway! It was Liam's five-month birthday yesterday. I was busy with work related items yesterday during the day and got to take a bunch of pictures of him last night, so here are some updated Liam photos for your pleasure!

Liam was just maxin' and relaxin' in his pack 'n' play when I got home from work.

Dad found it incredibly entertaining to take a photo of Liam trying to "eat" from a big ladel (ladle?) spoon. Liam is adorable.

This is Liam sticking his tongue out, while I'm trying to take a nice photo of him. I'm getting stressed, because I am making our Christmas cards this year and I want to take a nice photo of Liam to put on the front of the card and he HATES the camera. Like ridiculous. Either that, or he's watched too much ANTM with me and is instead trying to feign indifference in the hopes of becoming America's Next Top Model.

I find this photo to be completely adorable, except for the devil eyes. Oh well. My son is Damian. But at least he's a cute Damian!

Best Friends!

2005-11-15T10:32:00.000-05:00

Yeah! It's my dad and Liam on my birthday. We had just given him a bath and I put him in his hippo outfit. It's so cute! Liam's been doing so well. He loves to eat! He's had rice and oatmeal and now we've introduced applesauce and sweet potatoes and now we're starting him on bananas. It will be peas next week! I think he's going to lose his mind on Thanksgiving... All of these people eating food and he can't take part!! I'll have to bring extra baby food with me, just so he doesn't freak! He just stares at you, if you're eating. He absolutely loves to watch people eat. He's so cute!

Happy Un-birthday to me!

2005-11-14T09:22:00.000-05:00

Yeah! Yesterday was my birthday, but since I never have the inclination to play on my computer at home (nevermind trying to find the time to put the baby in the exersaucer and NOT have him flip out when I leave the room for 5 seconds to check my email), so I had to wait til I got to work.

My birthday started off rather wretched, but have no fear, it got better.

I went to North Conway on Friday with my mom to do a bunch of Christmas shopping. We stayed over Friday night and took MAJOR advantage of the sales tax free shopping. Wow... My mom has a Volvo with a HUGE trunk and large backseat and it was COMPLETELY FILLED with Christmas presents. So we came home on Saturday afternoon, so that we could celebrate my birthday that night, since Bill has to work on Sundays.

So we left North Conway at around 12:07 (I'm particular) and were making great time down 16 heading home. Then we got past Ossipee and we see a few cars stopped and a little further up, an ambulance. Okay - people are gawking. I'm from RI, I realize this happens. No... They had STOPPED TRAFFIC on the ONLY ROAD TO AND FROM NORTH CONWAY on a HOLIDAY WEEKEND, because there was a three car accident in the ditch. Apparently there was also some glass in the road. So we sat... and sat... and sat... and sat... in the car... for... an... HOUR! What the Christ? Seriously people. I've seen tractor trailers flip over on 195 and spew gas all over the road and I still got by in like 15 minutes! What... Did they have Michael Brown managing this accident? Good Job, Brownie! So I walked up a bit to see the accident, as did many other people, and apparently they had cleared a way, but still weren't allowing any cars. My efficient nature was severely punished that day. So after sitting for an hour, we finally got moving again.

So we finally got back to RI around 5 and we met Bill and Liam at my parent's house. We had a nice dinner, take-out from Gregg's, with The Giving Cake for dessert. Then we got home. Well... It was a bit chilly - no Maine/New Hampshire butt-ass freezing, but still... pretty chilly. So I went to turn up the heat. I got changed, fed the baby, watched some ANTM, and an hour later, as I'm getting ready to go to bed, I look at my clock, which has a thermometer, and it says 59. It was 59 degrees in my house? I have a newborn! This can't be! So I look at the thermostat and I had put it up to 68 and it was still around 60. Not good.

So Bill went downstairs and re-booted the furnace. It made some horrible noises, came on for a minute and then turned off again. Shit. So I went down - handy-girl that I am (NOT), pushed the reboot button, heard the horrible noises, accompanied by a PLUME of WHITE SMOKE out of our furnace and panicked. My child is going to freeze to death tonight, the house is going to catch on fire, there are lima beans under my fingernails... You know. My normal panic attack. So I'm freaking out and I'm pissed off, because I just want to sleep and enjoy my night before my birthday.

So we give up and I go to put a blanket and hat on the baby and he's nice and snuggled and warm, so I really don't have that much to worry about, but I still do. I wake up at 6:30 in the morning and it's 54 degrees in my room, according to my clock. Jesus. So I call my dad and he comes over to tell us we're screwed. Thanks, Dad. So Bill calls the landlord. I don't call the landlord. I hate the landlord. He tells us that he's on his way out, but we should call Charles o'Moron, the ass who (ha... I wrote whole at first) first installed the furnace. So Bill calls Charles o'Moron and we get his answering machine, which again, sends me into a panic and I put Liam into a winter suit, so that he resembled the little boy in "A Christmas Story" and was supremely unhappy about it. So I got my stuff together and went over to my parents with Liam, after Charles o'Moron finally called back to let us know that he would be over in "about an hour." Bill stayed at the house to play the role of concerned father figure. I don't play that role well.

So Charles o'Moron found that the oil filter was all shitted out and it should be cleaned once a year. Did you all know that??? Apparently it blocked all of the oil from actually getting to the furnace, which was what was causing us to have to re-boot the house every five minutes.

So I had a very stressful birthday morning. Then Jill came by and took me to see "Jarhead" and have lunch at Smokey Bones. "Jarhead" was VERY GOOD. Not just because Jake Gyllenhaal is a god among men, but because the acting was phenomenal and the story was intriguing. It is certainly a movie that will spark discussion... Discussion such as... "When did this movie take place?" "Was it 1990 or three days ago?" "I forget... Who is our enemy now?"

Then I spent more time with the boy at my parent's house. I was bloody tired and had to get into work a butt-ass o'clock this morning to do an upgrade, so I went to be early after watching "Reunion." Damn, that's a good show!

Wow... This is probably the longest post EVER in the history of blogs. I'm sorry.

Angry & Unrepresented

2005-11-10T09:05:00.000-05:00

Okay - I'm officially angry at these terrorist assholes.

Yesterday was my anniversary, as stated in the previous blog. Bill and I have been happily married for two years. So I go to my dad's yesterday after work to pick up the boy and I see that there's a whole bunch of bombs that went off in Jordan. I don't really think all that much of it... See, I'm of the opinion that that whole region is screwed and I'm never surprised when bad things happen.

But yesterday was different. The bomb went off at this couple's wedding. They have the same anniversary as me. And during their wedding/reception, the bomber came in and killed their fathers. That pisses me off. I have no problem with these psycho assholes killing themselves, but don't take innocent lives. These dads were just trying to enjoy their son and daughter's wedding and they are viciously murdered. I'm pissed.

I can't imagine if that had happened at my wedding. What would I do without my dad? And Bill without his dad? My dad is one of my best friends??? And my son's best friend! I'm pissed.

I think that public castration is a good form of punishment for these assholes.

I'm angry and unrepresented.

Grrr.

It's My Anniversary!

2005-11-09T15:53:00.000-05:00

Yeah for Bill and I! We've made it! Two years and counting! I must say, this has certainly been the best two years of my life. I married my best friend and we have the most wonderful child in the whole wide world. It's pretty great. I'm just sad that I don't get to go to Iceland and Scotland every year!

And on that note (not really)...

You are Mike Teavee! There is nothing that can
match your logic; at least, you think so. While
you may have higher grades or have more book
smarts then others, you shouldn't think that
your better then others. Also, try to use that
brain of yours on something other then
electronics. "Why don't you try simply
reading a book? Or do you just stop there to
look?"

What Child of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I find this quiz suspect.

2005-11-08T11:58:00.000-05:00

You're Spike! You're definately one foxy
beast!You're smart, but you're too impulsive.
Try and think things through.You're really
lovable and just... neat!

Which Angel character matches your personality?
brought to you by http://quizilla.com

Some of my favorite lyrics

2005-11-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

So I just downloaded three Lemonheads CDs onto my iPod and started listening to them. The song "The Outdoor Type" has one of my new favorite song lyrics, so I figured that I would post a few of my other favorites as well:

The Lemonheads - "The Outdoor Type" - I can’t go away with you on a rock climbing weekend. What if something was on tv and it’s never shown again.

Sarge - "I Took You Driving" - I'm just so sick of boys in bands with all these egos out of hand. Sure as hell not gonna sit around and wait. If he wants some girl to understand, turn adoration on demand, I think it's time he starts looking some other place. - Where was this when I was in college????

onelinedrawaing - "Bitte Ein Kuss" - It's time for a bit of in the bed disco.

Juliana Hatfield - "Forever Baby" - I hold him like a loaded gun, I know he might go off with anyone.

The Lemonheads - "Alison's Starting To Happen" - She is the puzzle piece behind the couch, which makes the sky complete.

More to come... Any favorite lyrics of yours???

The Ride In iPod Playlist

2005-11-03T16:29:00.000-05:00

So I thought that it might be interesting for all you bloggyverse people to know what I listen to on the ride in to HELL (East Providence, RI) every morning. It's not that I hate my job, I just hate the location of it. Bloody Washington Bridge!

The Sound of Settling - Death Cab for Cutie
Bitte Ein Kuss - onelinedrawing
I Took You Driving - Sarge
Beverly Hills - Weezer
I Wonder Why the Wonder Falls - Andy Partridge
Alex Chilton - The Replacements
All For Swinging You Around - The New Pornographers
Am I Wrong - Lovespitlove

This is the point when I normally get to work, so this second part is technically "The Ride Back"

Best Imitation of Myself - Ben Folds
Back and To The Left - Texas Is the Reason
If I Can't Change Your Mind - Sugar
Green Light - Jeremy Toback
Guernica - Brand New
Movies - Alien Ant Farm
Alec Eiffel - The Get Up Kids
Wave of Mutilation - The Pixies

I just need to add "Sugar, We're Going Down" by Fall Out Boy and I think it will be perfect!

I hope you have enjoyed this installment of Erin's iPod playlist... Brought to you by the letter I and the number 4.

Halloween with Liam!

2005-11-01T20:26:00.000-05:00

So Halloween was fun. Bill had the day off (in exchange for working on Columbus Day), so I left work early and came home to have lunch and watch "The Great Pumpkin" (or as the kids pronounce it, punkin) with my "baby" and my baby. Then we got Liam dressed and went back up to my work to show him off to my colleagues. Now, did I mention that I LOATHE the location where I work. It took us 45 minutes to get there, at 2 PM... No one should be on the road at 2 PM. Then on the way from my work to Bill's work, Liam started freaking out, because he was hungry, so Bill hopped out of the car and fed Liam in the back seat, while I navigated the back roads of Providence. Then we visited Bill's colleagues and then went to my parents house. Liam was amazingly good throughout the day. We went over to my best friend's dad's house at night, to visit with her family. Jill's sister Pam has a daughter, Emma, that is about 3 1/2 months older than Liam, and she was so cute. She dressed up as a flower and HATED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. She cried and she cried! I've got cute pictures to prove it!

Liam and I before we started our Halloween festivities.

Grrr... I'm a dinosaur. I'm going to eat you!

Liam and Bill hanging out at my parents house.

Liam eating Dino.

Emma having a nervous breakdown and Liam not caring. He's such a boy... :-)

Getting ready for bed that night.

Bizzare, but I'm bored...

2005-11-01T17:09:00.000-05:00

You're The Enter Key!You're the grounded, focused one. You have goals
that you always strive for, and you aren't
afraid of a little self-discipline. You're a
true friend who values loyalty. Just try to
loosen up a bit.

What computer key are you?
brought to you by
Quizilla

What Essential Indie Rock Album Are You?

2005-10-29T10:24:00.000-04:00

You are Belle & Sebastians If Youre Feeling
Sinister.

What essential indie rock album are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

This is kind of neat, since I really enjoy Belle & Sebastian and Bill and I were just listening to this on my iPod in the car last night!

The Exersaucer!

2005-10-26T07:49:00.000-04:00

We got Liam an Exersaucer (well, Baby Einstein stationary entertainer... bah) last weekend for him to play in. Take a look at what a big boy he is!

His feet just barely touch the bottom on the lowest setting, but he's still a big boy. At his four-month check up he was 16.3 lbs (75th percentile) and 26 3/4 inches long (97th percentile). He's long and lean, just like his daddy!

Aww, he's playing with the sun. He really liked the sun. He kept laughing at it, since it has a rattle inside.

Now he's declared war on the sun! I will kill thee! Never surrender! Attica!

Anyway - he's doing really well. He's such a cutie! He loves hanging out with my dad during the day. I watched him eat his cereal with my dad this morning and it's amazing. He'll eat the cereal and then look at my dad and open his mouth, like "gimme more!" And if you pause to, say, clean off his face, he FREAKS! He's like "no! I want more cereal now!!" Ahhh... A boy with no patience. Just like his mommy!

Cereal!

2005-10-25T20:35:00.000-04:00

So, we gave Liam cereal for the first time this weekend. Here is a visual story of his first meal.

"Um, Mommy. This stuff is kinda gross. Can't we just go back to the bottle??"

"Well, I kinda like the spoon! This isn't so bad!"

"Hey, now that I'm a big boy, do I get to stay out late at night and party?"

"Nevermind! I stick to my first assertion. This stuff sucks!"

"Ahh... Much better."

He's done much better with the cereal. Apparently the trick is to basically shove it down his gullet as fast as you can. He's up to around 2 Tbsp of rice cereal twice a day and my dad loves feeding him. More to come soon! I'll put together a new post tomorrow about his first time in his Exersaucer!

Fallish Weather

2005-10-24T09:23:00.000-04:00

I love fall. Plain and simple. I could honestly have just finished my blog with the first sentence. I love the crisp breezes, the leaves (not raking them, though), the sweater weather, the jeans. The only remorse I have regarding fall is the fact that I really shouldn't wear my Crocs anymore. That probably won't stop me from wearing them, but I really shouldn't. I love them.

Next week is Halloween. Liam's going to dress up as a dinosaur. He's going to be so cute! Bill and I will be boring parents, but I'm okay with that. I'm too tired to think about Halloween costumes. My mom bought a new car this weekend. Very fancy schmancy. I did a bunch of chores and errands on Sunday, while my dad watched the baby. It was nice to actually feel like I was getting things done. I started my Christmas shopping and like everything else, I became obsessed with finishing what I started, immediately. I got stuff for Emma and Lily (my friend's babies), Lucas (my cousin's baby), Pam & Brian (my best friend's siter & brother-in-law), Bill... It was wonderful. Stop me before I shop again.

Apple Picking

2005-10-17T11:47:00.000-04:00

Yeah! Liam is 4 months old! So to celebrate, we went apple picking with Auntie Jill. Wow. Never go apple picking with your 4 month old without husband/baby-daddy back up. It's hard. You can't pick up your son, a pumpkin, a bottle and his Nuk at the same time. It's just not physically possible. I also suggest going on a day when there hasn't been flood warnings and 50 mile an hour winds possible.

But regardless. It was a fun day. Here are some of the highlights!

I am tempting Liam with a refreshing apple treat! He wants none of it.

This was taken moments before a complete Liam breakdown, in which he decided, in no uncertain terms, that he wanted his bottle NOW!

Here is Bill and Liam at Bryant, when we went to visit Bill after the apple picking debacle.

So... All in all, it wasn't the worst day in history. It was just really stressful to have Liam in the front-pack, which he doesn't really enjoy to begin with, and have him be hungry and have to feed him whilst sitting on a bale of hay and taking a hayride. Then to be around really annoyingn families who are also apple picking, but have 2349782049857230498 kids with them. So I think that it would have been much more enjoyable if Bill had been able to come with us. But oh well.

Liam stomp puny Spider-Man & Dino!

2005-10-12T19:48:00.000-04:00

I WILL KICK YOUR ASS, SPIDEY!

YOU TOO, DINO! DON'T THINK I'VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU!

This actually IS a good band name!

2005-10-12T08:01:00.000-04:00

Your Band Name is:

The Crispy Geishas

Band Name Generator

My kid is a punk rocker

2005-10-12T07:33:00.000-04:00

Look at him throwing the devil sign. He's punk as f*** in his "I love big hugs" sleeper. What up!

I made myself laugh again. It's like crapping the futon, thinking about my beautiful little boy as a punk rocker.

So yeah... We had a nice long weekend, though it was not long enough, even with having Friday as my "not really working" day. I worked out with my boss to work four days a week at ten hours per day, so that I can stay home on Friday. Bill and I bought a new computer on Monday! It's beautiful. We still have to name it. And I put it all together myself. It helps that computers are basically prepared so that they are out of the box onto the internet in two seconds. But still. Me! I did it myself! Then I put together the wireless network for the house. And it works! Kind of. I can get onto my work outlook on my laptop, but then it keeps dropping the connection. But I don't think it's me. I think that they did something funky on my laptop to not let me access the VPN client via wireless network. So I've got to call my helpdesk and find out what I've got to do. I'm annoyed by this.

Wow. So I was just going to write, "so yeah..." And looked up and I had just written that in my last paragraph. I guess "so yeah..." is the blog version of "like." Oh well.

So I've gotten into reading other people's blogs (I don't know if there was supposed to be an apostrophe on the "people's blogs" thing... Bill, Annie??) and since I have no idea how to post that sidebar thing (BILL!!), I'll just namedrop them here.

My hubby - Trusty Plinko Stick
Jocelyn - Desperately Seeking Sanity
Annie - senselessness
Dan - The Jimmy Gatz Conspiracy
Jim - Jim doesn't have a name to his blog (that I can see), so I'll just call it Jimville

Look at me, breaking out the hyperlinks. I rule!

So go visit them - especially Jim's - at least he writes everyday! Gives me something to do when I first get to work and am annoyed that I am in fact at work!

Let's Try This Again... Go Sox!

2005-10-07T15:55:00.000-04:00

Alright... I understand that the Red Sox are playing a very good team in the White Sox, but come on. Let's get it going, guys! They come on in five minutes, so I'm hoping to sit with my hubby and baby and watch the game. We'll see how that goes.

My work email keeps shitting the bed (or as Dan would probably put it, crapping the futon) (that made me chuckle), so I haven't been able to check my email since like 10:30 am. Oh well. Citizens will go one with out me.

I'm going to use that... Crapping the futon. That's really funny.

Per usual, here's a cute new picture of the boy:

Go Sox!

2005-10-03T16:19:00.000-04:00

I put Liam in his Red Sox outfit yesterday and they clinched the AL wild card spot! Go Sox!

So, like I said to my parents yesterday, it's like Groundhog Day for the Sox. The Indians choked, so we get another month of baseball.

This is scary true...

2005-09-29T21:22:00.000-04:00

Your Birthdate: November 13

Being born on the 13th day of the month should help make you a better manager and organizer, but it may also give you a tendency to dominate people a bit.
You may be more responsible and self-disciplined than you realize.
Sincere and honest, you are a serious, hard working individual.

Your feeling are likely to seem somewhat repressed at times.
You are apt to be much more practical, rational, and conscious of details.
Your intolerance and insistence on complete accuracy can be irritating to some.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

The baby's first cold

2005-09-29T09:31:00.000-04:00

I can honestly say that hearing my baby cough and sneeze is the most horrible sound I've ever heard. He's got his first cold. My dad scared the life out of me on Tuesday when he called me to tell me Liam was sick. I called the doctor and they told me to get him a decongestant and some saline drops. He's just so miserable sounding. He can't sleep in his crib, because he's too stuffed up and he won't breathe through his mouth. So I've had him sleep in his car seat on the floor in our bedroom. That way, if he has a problem breathing, I'm right next to him and can help him. Other than not being able to breathe, though, he seems fine. We brought him to the doctor's and had to sit on the "sick kids" side, which freaked Bill out. She said that his lungs sound good, so it's just the same cold/sickness that literally everyone I know has.

I went back to the doctor's yesterday and she put me on a different anti-biotic. I still have a wicked ear infection and can't completely hear out of my left ear. The whole family is just a mess.

Oh well... Only 7 or so more hours and then I can go home and spend the next three days with my little buddy and my big buddy. :-)

It's time for a bit of in the bed disco....

2005-09-27T12:25:00.000-04:00

Yes, the title is obscure and has nothing to do with baptism, but I'm currently obsessed with the song "Bitte Ein Kuss" by Onelinedrawing.

We did it! We made it through! Liam was baptised and didn't even scream!

Liam woke up at around 7:00 AM on Sunday and was in a really good mood, even though he had the stinkiest poop diaper I think I've ever smelled. It was truly gross. So I made the decision to leave him in comfy clothes that he could poop all over until about 10 minutes before we had to leave for the church.

He was such a good boy in the morning! He was all smiley and able to sit up all by himself. It's so cliche, but he's growing up so quickly!

So we got him ready for the church and he promptly fell asleep in the car. He slept for the first part of the ceremony and then once we got him out of his car seat, he realized that he was, in fact, hot as hell and got really fussy. So I tried to take off his little jacket and his slippers, to make it a bit more comfortable for him, but it was still warm in the church. The priest baptised him and he actually didn't cry at all!

I think he actually felt relieved, since the water was probably cool for him.

So after the church, we had approximately 35 people back at our house for a celebration of Liam. He got fussy, so Bill and I hung out with him in his room for part of it, just to make him feel more comfortable. We got a beautiful cake from Scrumptions.

And even with the multitudes of different people, no one got into a fist fight or anything! The Red Sox won (yeah!!) and Liam fell asleep around 7:30 PM. All in all, it was actually a really great day.

However, I am still sick. I still can't hear out of my left ear, so I think I'm going to have to call the doctor again soon. It's all messed up.

BTW:

The baby is doing so well with tummy time. Look at him... He's the most adorable child ever!

Mommy & Liam

2005-09-23T09:04:00.000-04:00

Welp, I am truly sick. I totally feel for those moms who get sick soon after their baby is born, since it totally sucks. I was pretty healthy throughout my pregnancy, so actually getting sick is new for me. I didn't mind throwing up every morning of my pregnancy, since I knew that I would almost immediately feel better after I did it. But now... I have an ear infection, I've already gone through a box of tissues and roll of toilet paper in just one day, I can't hear anything, my head is totally blocked and I have 35 people coming to my house on Sunday. Can you spell stress? I can. It's spelled B-A-P-T-I-S-M!

But at least I have my beautiful Liam and my wonderful Bill! Here's a picture of Liam looking up at mommy with those Stewey eyes... Saying "what the hell is wrong with you mommy???"

This was pre-death-flu-infection-cold-misery.

I wish that I could just let things go. Allow myself to have a normal party with mismatched plates and plasticware. Not have 17 appetizers to go along with the 72 sandwiches I ordered for the 35 people who will be attending the baptism. I swear... This is bordering on wedding size. Bill is being amazing with cleaning up the house for me. After I get home from work, I'm exhausted and I've got the baby and he likes to be played with, so I can't just let him wail in his gym, while I clean the bathroom. So Bill has been doing so much around the house to get it ready for crazy company. And that is very cool. It's takes a lot of pressure off of me.

I'm just looking forward to 2:00 PM today, when I can get out of work, got to the bank, go to physical therapy and then start the rest of the baptism errands, including, but not limited to, picking up the chairs from the rental place, going to the market, going to Dunkin' Donuts to get coffee, cleaning up the rest of the house, sleeping, getting up on Saturday to start getting the platters ready, pick up the deli sandwiches from Gregg's, pick up the cake, pick up the balloons, pick up the edible arrangement, say hello to in-laws, as they are coming on Saturday afternoon, go out to dinner with my parents and in-laws and stress about what else needs to be done. Ehhhhh.... Yucko. But then there's always Monday. And hey, stop by my house. I'll probably have 71342035982034820475 sandwiches left over!

The Impending Baptism

2005-09-21T11:56:00.000-04:00

You would not think that having a baptism for your one perfect, wonderful, beautiful child would be horrible. In that case, you would be wrong.

I am on the fast track to having 34+ people at my small house on Sunday, which will include my parents, my aunts and uncles, cousins, in-laws, friends, family, countrymen... Lend me your ears...

And I think I have an ear infection. Not fun.

Did I mention that I have a three-month old? And just in case you are not a parent, three-month-olds take up A LOT of time. Time that could be spent scrubbing toilets and buying groceries. I'm stressed.

But I do have one thing to look forward to. Monday...

This is what my son thinks about the baptism:

Hopefully I make it through the week...