Mooooooooooo

Maureen will be a cow this Halloween. No hidden meaning here, someone gave us a costume. We even found a small, red cowbell to hang around her neck. Should be fun. We'll post photos.

Observation

We were at a party last Saturday night celebrating the birth of Katherine, daughter of friends Christopher and Anne. Maureen was there as were several, several children, many of whom were close to her age. Maureen pretty much camped out with some kids in the endless pit of toys. Now, I don't get a chance to see Mo in action with other kids her age to often - usually she's either by herself, or with much older cousins. At daycare I just drop her off and leave before the interaction starts. We've never received complaints about her playing with others. Imagine my surprise when I saw that little Mo is a toy snatcher - and not shy about it. I was both appalled and proud. My mouth said "No", but my head said, "way to go!" How do you raise a kid who's confident, but not a jerk. Seems like a fine line to me!
I hope you've had a great Monday. It's rainy here, but this rainy-day Monday is not getting me down.

Stormy weather

We all spent a little time in the basement tonight, and expect to be back down there later this evening. We're not sure if a tornado touched down, but there were some bad winds coming through the area. The sirens were howling and the TV weathermen are still jockeying for rating points. The local news drives me crazy. Just show regular programming and cut in from time to time with the "Beep, Beep, Beep" and the robot voice of the National Weather Service. Or run a crawl at the bottom of screen. Please.
We've had problems tonight with our digital cable cutting out. I'm not sure if it's a problem only with digital, but it's been a major pain in the rump.
Maureen is upstairs right now, fast asleep, but we are at the ready to jump upstairs with Ninja-like agility to whisk her back down to the basement with us.
Normally, I've never been a Run to the Basement type of guy. I would always stand in front of the window trying to see what I could see. Now, the wife is very persuasive and it's better to go with the flow instead of rocking the boat. I just read what's been written thus far to her and she laughed about my "going with the flow."
Yes. I'm grumpy tonight.

But last night was a different story. I had three home runs and a double (resulting in a run batted in) during our dartball double header at the Bonnycastle Club. I've refined my granny-style, underhanded horseshoe approach to great effect. What does all of this have to do with Maureen? Not much.

PS: one of the Newscasters asked for us to Please stop calling in to ask for regular programming. Honey, hand me the phone!

Horse feed

Here's a photo of Kristin and Maureen at my boss' cookout last Saturday night.

Artsy!!

B-A-T-H

Word of advice: do not say the word B-A-T-H in front of Maureen unless you have the time and dedication to back your words with action. She goes into crazy convulsions when you mention the word bath, kicking her legs and squealing like a teenager about Bobby Goldsboro, or David or Shawn Cassidy, or Leif Garrett, or any one of the New Kids on the Block (they're all interchangeable.) She suffers through the first 10 minutes of actual cleaning in the tub, and then is 15 minutes of water fun. She has ducks, numbers and letters that stick to the side of the bathtub, and she likes playing with the plastic cups we use to wash her hair. We've never tried bubbles, but I'm sure she would go for that as well.


Maureen is saying "Hi" quite a bit now, only in a southern drawl - more of a "Haigh". She says it mostly when she and Kristin greet me outside when I get home from work. It's funny and heartwarming at the same time.

New Pics

Fun with the laundry

Two new teeth

Maureen has two front teeth now, way ahead of the December 25 deadline. We had to seek these teeth as Mojo was not so anxious to show them off. Kristin had to lean her backwards until she was almost upside down and we had to open our mouths in order for her to mimic us to be able to see them. She definitely does not like us putting our fingers inside her mouth to root around, but honestly, do you like that? She does, however, like when we give her Baby Orajel, though we have to be swift about the application before she sucks it up off our fingers and winds up with a numb tongue.

Her birthday party last Saturday was an absolute gas for her. I've never seen her quite as excited as she was that night. It was all family with the exception of her favorite teacher Unida and her husband John, and our friend Rachel came as well with a beautiful Mylar balloon in hand (all balloons are still standing tall!) I think Maureen was able to understand that since all these important people in her life were here together at one time, it must be for her, and it must be for a good reason. She truly amazed us by being appropriately interested in her presents, and showed great enthusiasm once she saw what was inside the pretty packages. Even the clothes. I believe what put her over the top was being in the family room with a dozen balloons being batted around in a mad frenzy. If she could construct a sentence, she would have said, "This is Awesome!"

Almost an Unhappy Birthday Party

The Traditional Chocolate Cake shot

Yes, we couldn't resist giving our baby free rein on a poor, up-suspecting chocolate cupcake tonight. She was not hesitant and went at it like a pack of wolves on a baby calf. We giggled for a very long time.

She LOVES chocolate cake!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Mo is one today. Hurray!

Countdown to the big day

Good News

Bad News

Dancing lessons

Apparently Mo and her cousin Claire have been sneaking out at night to take dancing lessons. Though we are disappointed that they had to go behind our backs, we are really astonished with the results. Go to http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/1009123 to see what they've learned.

One year ago!

Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog celebrating the life of our little girl. We have been through so much in the last year that this entry seems somewhat laughable. Thanks for reading - 6 more days until Maureen's big day!!

Posted 9-28-06 - This is an attempt to document the pending birth of our first child whom we are 99.23% sure has the name Maureen. We are not quite sure what the middle name will be, but our top three contenders remain: Josephine (named for Kristin's Grandmother, Mary Josephine, and for my father, grandfather and brother (for that matter) Joseph(s)), Elizabeth (almost everyone on Kristin's Mother's side of the family (including the men?) have Elizabeth as part of their name, including her grandmother (Ellen) Betty (short for Elizabeth), mother Karen Elizabeth, sister Kathy Elizabeth, and my sister Erin's middle name is also Elizabeth), and Caroline, named for Kristin's sister Carrie (only if born on October 3 - Carrie's birthday.) Our due date is tomorrow, Thursday, September 28; she may come this week, she may come in two weeks. We may have more of an indication after today's doctor appointment. We've had two rough nights this week. Sunday night I had the bright idea to carry out Indian Food (dot, not feather). Though we ordered medium spice, medium holds a significant heat index for non-injuns. By the time we went to bed I found myself timing Kristin's indigestion pains - they were approximately 15 minutes apart. It was good practice for me, a great deal of pain for Kristin.
Last night brought rib pains on Kristin's left side. They were so intense we had to call the doctor. We believe the baby's getting so big the cartilage in Kristin's ribs are being pushed out a bit. The pain is still there, making it hard for her to breath. It wasn't so big of a concern that we had to rush to the hospital, but she is going to the doctor today to get things checked out.
I believe we are as ready as can be expected - we have a ton of pink clothes for the little squirt. I never realized how much pink would become a part of our lives. Of course I was the one that had to know the sex of the baby. Paybacks are hell. We have her room ready to go, the color scheme is Sage Green, Navy Blue and Puke Pink (I made that name up!) We bought a funky rug to lay in front of the crib and Jezebel (the cat) has already given it a trial run and gives it two paws up. The pack and play is in our room, we have bouncy seats, a baby bjorn, excersaucers; things I never knew we needed. The only thing that is hanging over our heads is getting the baby seat base installed properly in the car, which I hear is a necessary step if you want to go home from the hospital with baby in tow. We'll get it done.
That's the set-up. Hopefully we'll keep this going. Please feel free to be a part of our blog by responding, or just check in from time to time to check on Maureen (what's her name's) progress.

Photos from Claire's B-day party

Video of the week 9/23

Bird Poop.

Maureen went to her first football game today; the disappointing loss of the Cardinals. She really liked the band when they played before the game. Once the game started though, she was on the ground playing with her toys and Cheerios. It was in the 90s and really too hot for her to be in the stands. Toward the end of the first quarter I took her under the stands to walk around in the shade. We wound up leaving during the second quarter, but I was fine watching them lose from home. Maureen hit the sack and had a two hour nap.

Kristin stayed for the whole game, and came home as red as a Red Lobster lobster. We all went to Target to get Cousin Claire a present for her party tomorrow, and now we are home chilling for the rest of the evening. Way too much excitement for one day!

TGIF

Aunt Chrissy and her friend Wayne are in town and we all had dinner a pizza joint last night. Everyone from my family was there except for Aunt Erin and future Uncle Jeff. It was Cousin Claire's actual birthday, her party is this Sunday. Maureen loves watching Claire - they had a fun game of pool, they colored, and they got to eat cheesy bread (I suspect it gave Mo stomach aches through the night.) Maureen has also taken a special liking to Aunt Mickey as well, and sat calmly in her lap for an unbelievable amount of time without any ants in her pants.
We have many plans coming up. I think we are going to take Maureen to the Cardinals game tomorrow at noon - they play Syracuse. Our back-up plan is for me to take her home when she's had enough, and Kristin will get a ride from either our friend Rachel, or her parents if need be. It will be interesting to see how long she lasts. As I mentioned, we have a birthday party this Sunday.
Right now, you can definitely see both of Mojo's teeth. She is really into Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and makes little hand gestures to the song. Especially for the "Twinkle Twinkle" and the "up above the..." parts. We are having a hard time feeding her veggies - she gravitates to the grains and some fruit. She still wants to kiss with her tongue - I guess it's ok that she goes to french kiss grandma at this stage of her life. I'll be concerned if it keeps up through high school (and so would grandma!)

Very long weekend

I am sorry to say that Maureen's great grandmother Mary Josephine died last week. She was the inspiration behind the name MAuReen Josephine. We traveled up to Akron on Thursday morning and stayed through Saturday morning. Friday was a combined visitation and funeral, and we caravan-ed to Youngstown and back for the burial. Though I never met her, it was a very sad occasion and I especially feel for Grandpa Paul. I also have great respect for him because, even through his grief, he organized the whole weekend, arranged every detail, and made everyone feel welcome and comfortable. His new nickname is "the Glue".

Maureen made it through the trip in great fashion once again. She is becoming a pro at long distance car rides, though the car seat is becoming more of a nuisance for her. She developed what the doctors call a sand paper rash over her little body on the way up to Akron, though it did not seem to bother her. We called her doctor and they told us to give her Benedryl for 24 hrs and go to a doctor if it did not clear. We went to the immediate care center up in Akron the next day and they confirmed that it was a rash, but couldn't tell us why she had it. $50, thank you very much. Anyway, it was a relief that it wasn't anything to worry about.

Though the reason for the trip was not pleasant, it was nice to see that side of the family, especially Aunt Carrie from Washington, and Uncle Dolberry and family from North Carolina. Maureen hasn't seen Aunt Carrie since Christmas 06 and if was nice for them to reconnect. Also, it was nice to see all the cousins, aunts & uncles (shout out to C-Lo!)

Saturday brought a very disappointing loss for the Cardinals at the hands of the Wildcats. What a bummer.

We didn't have a chance to take too many photos, but here are a few.

ps: Mojo's tooth #2 has popped through. There seems to be debate as to whether or not the teething caused the rash. Grandmothers say yes, doctors say no.

Movie #2

Just a test

Fun Weekend.

Maureen had her first slumber party - Aunt Erin came over to babysit while we went downtown for Kristin's 20-year reunion (thanks again Erin!) We stayed overnight at the brand new Marriott, where the event took place. Kristin had a lot of fun; I drank a lot of beer. A win-win for everyone.
Saturday night we had a wonderful dinner at friends Katie and Drew's house, in good company with friends Steve and Allie and Mark and Anessa. Discussions revealed a hilarious story about one of the above mentioned diner's antics at a party, in his or her underwear, doing the moon walk. Suffice to say, it wasn't Kristin.
Yesterday was family day - Krispy Kremes at dad's house with my family; dinner at Kristin's.

Walk the walk

Knoxville trip

We finally made it to Knoxville TN to visit Mojo's Aunt Chrissy. We got there around noon on Sunday and got home sometime after 8pm yesterday. It was a very relaxing trip. Highlights included vegging out on her couch and watching TV, eating and sleeping! We also made a trip downtown to see the World's Fair Sun Sphere, which did not have a wig shop on the ground level. Maureen had fun swimming in the neighborhood community pool - at poolside, she stood up, unassisted from a sitting position, all by herself. No pulling up on anything other than her legs. It was very exciting. Mo and Chrissy got a little bonding time as some of the photos will demonstrate.

Today Maureen is 11 months old. One more month and it's party time! Hard to believe!

Today is also back to school for Mojo. I can't wait to hear how well she did. She has changed so much since she was last there. She will be one of the big kids this year in the baby room. Once she starts walking we hope she will graduate to the next level - we have to wait for an opening though. Well - back to work. Enjoy the photos.

Mr. Tooth

Mojo definitely has a tooth. We're a bit concerned that it has arms, eyes, a mouth and dresses in Western Wear.

A day at the state fair

Note to self

Ever since my trip to Italy, near the turn of the century (it's OK to use that phrase, right?) I've been hooked on a double shot of espresso in the morning. Call it substance abuse if you may, but it's a routine and I'm a person who needs routines - not to mention the jolt. This particular routine starts with my trying to sneak down to the kitchen without making enough noise to wake Maureen; Kristin is usually stirring a bit, getting ready for her shower. I need a little peace and quiet in the morning, ten minutes is good - twenty is heaven. Back to the coffee. Espresso comes in a cylinder can and is ground up to a powdery substance, much like baby formula comes in a powdery form in a cylinder can. I put two scoops of espresso into the little filter cup for my Krups machine. Two scoops of baby formula powder makes 4 ounces of formula. You see where I'm going here. I guess I was extra groggy this morning and the synapses were not firing properly. The formula did not quite make it to the machine, but maybe there's something to this mistake. Pre-creaming your coffee? Anywho, have a good Friday and an excellent weekend.

Oh, I forgot to mention the big news from yesterday. Maureen actually said Mama. Clear as day and we have it on video to prove it. This is much more important than my coffee story. I told you already that the synapses are not firing. Ciao!

One mystery solved

Again this morning after I made the last blog entry and while Maureen was sitting in her highchair for breakfast, she broke out in "na-na-na-na-na". Originally we thought she was trying to say "mama" but it was definitely "na...". We thought it could mean grandma, but weren't sure. Finally, this morning, she was saying it and pointing in a direction of the kitchen. I went to the approximate point and picked up a banana. Bingo. She kicked her legs and gave me a look like she was thinking, "finally you big jerk", and she happily ate her banana bits.
Case closed.

Screaming

Maureen is getting good at letting out drum-piercing screams for no apparent reason, at a moment's notice. At least I can't figure out what she wants. Last night I was with her and she started saying "na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na" and then put her open hand across her collar bone, as if she was acting like a southern lady with the vapors, and let out a scream that set every dog in the neighborhood to howling. It's as if she is mimicking something.
She also threw her first tantrum on Monday evening, after her bath. She wanted to chew on the baby lotion, while we wanted to dry her off, apply the same lotion on her, and get her dressed. She let out the most pitiful cry, kicked her sausage legs and beat her little fists against the changing table. The hardest part was suppressing the laughter and treating it with stern love. WE got our way in the end because she got dry, lotioned up and dressed for bed. She soon got over her rage as well and returned to being the sweet little girl that we enjoy so much.

Video of the week #2: Shake shake shake

One of our good friends Patrick made a nice, wood-crafted rattle for Maureen, complete with her initials stamped. She really loves playing with it.

Random photos over the last couple of weeks.

Video of the week: laughing in the face of danger

Who needs precaution. I laugh at your attempt to keep me safe!

Please keep reading.

It's been kind of busy here lately. Just a quick recap of recent events:
Maureen seems to be getting a little more cranky these days. We attribute it to potential teeth cutting in, but her sleep patterns have been varied, and her schedules have changed in the last week. School has started, so Aunt Kathy and GMK are not available for watching Maureen during the day. Kristin is doing some shifting of her schedule to accommodate, and we are using Maureen's teacher a bit more for day care. Mo loves Miss U, and vice versa.
It was nice to visit with Aunt Chrissy during her week-long stay - we met up with her and GPJ at the St. Joe's picnic on Saturday. GPJ won Maureen an ELMO basketball, and I won a big pan of brownies at the cake booth - 100 was the winning number.
Friday night was date night so Maureen spent a few hours with Cousin Claire, Uncle John and Aunt Mickie. She was in heaven with all the toys at her fingertips. From what I hear, Maureen wanted to play with anything Claire was playing with at the time. She hasn't had a lot of playtime with children close to her age since the end of the Parents Day Out year, so it was nice to see her with her cousin. PDO starts in less than one month and we should back into a normal routine once again.

Update 8/9/07

We believe Maureen is done with baby food and prefers to feed herself. She goes through spurts of what she wants to eat, but for the most part she likes bananas, pretzels, bread, chicken and turkey (oh, yeah, and CHEESE). We need to start pushing veggies a little more now, but she seems to be a pretty good little eater. She is taking huge goose steps when she is being walked while holding on to some one's hands. Yesterday morning we had a picture of a bear and she was making growling noises imitating what the bear says. She spent the day at GMK and GMP's house yesterday and you could tell she had a fun and active time. They have the perfect family room for someone Mo's age, a plush carpet and plenty of room to roam with few trouble spots. The steps will be an issue in a few months. We are really thinking about her one year birthday coming up. Hard to believe in some respects.

She is starting to stir in her bed now - I have to go get her ready for the day. More to come.

Photos from "Great News" Entry

Photo 1: Erin & Jeff

Photo 2: Mojo looking for an escape route

Photo 3: Chrissy juggling children

Photo 4: Mojo, Claire & Bear

Photo 5: Cousin Claire

Great News!

Great news, Mojo’s favorite aunt (besides Aunt Kathy and Aunt Chrissy - ooops, and Carrie, Kristi & Mickey - thanks babe) got a big ol’ diamond ring from her now-fiancé Jeff. It happened Saturday morning. We were able to see the newly engaged couple a few hours later as my family participated in a special fund-raiser walk in memory of Jeff’s sister, Ethel, and for the rehabilitation lounge at a local hospital in her name. The walk also supports projects such as a pediatric rehab lectureship series and a summer pediatric day camp program. The event was very nice – they had T-shirts designed for all participants, a bike ride and a walk for all levels, chances sold for a bevy of prizes, a yummy bar-b-que lunch, and Radio Disney on hand to entertain the kids. The only slight down-side was the scorching weather, but that was not a big deal at all.
Erin and Jeff seem very happy. We had a cookout last night that was originally planned to welcome Maureen’s Aunt Chrissy – she is in town for a week on vacation – but it turned into an engagement party. I don’t think Chrissy minded sharing the spotlight. Maureen was very excited to see Cousin Claire. Right now I think the age gap is still a bit too big for them to focus their efforts on playing together, but it is not too far off in the future (Claire is almost exactly one year older than Mo.)
This week is quite busy, though we hope Aunt Chrissy will be able to babysit one evening so she can catch up with Mo, and so we can have a night out on the town. I guess I better get that nailed down. I will add some photos of the weekend later tonight.

Photo of the day.