The Vacation

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!

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...

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

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

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!

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

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

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?

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?

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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!