Mary got her hair cut the other day. I like it and think she looks really good. She hates it. Louis is taking advantage of this fact, as well as the fact that he just got a digital camera for his birthday.

Last night Amy and I went over to the house for dinner and after we ate we went with Mary and Steve to Kone King for ice cream. When we got back Louis had done this:


















That's a picture of Mary on 4 pieces of 8 X 11 1/2 paper...I laughed so hard I almost had sprinkles come out my nose.

For Katie

Katie,

Maeve and I had a little talk.

She understands that you have to work but she misses you and is a little sad that her godmother lives far far away.

And was only happy when I told her you'd see her next week!

Happy Birthday, Dad

Last night we celebrated Dad's birthday. No lobster this time, just the mussles, smoked salmon, and some of the best steaks I've ever had, then we had some amazing chocolate hazelnut cake (which I came out of retirement to make.)

Since we were all there we took the chance to have my aunt take a quick family picture (I don't have any of the whole family, since I was busy being in the picture, but here are a few of the Mike and Esther's families:)



















We also managed to get a few good ones of Grandma, Mimi, and their great-grandchildren:



















Then Julia had had enough formal pictures and just wanted to walk, like the big kid she is:

no talent

I hate to admit it, but last night I watched "America's Got Talent." And, uh, apparently America DOES NOT have talent. At least not that part of America. The best part? Bobby Badfingers:

And the only way I could watch him was by pretending he was really Ben Stiller and eventually the movie would get funny...

P.S. I'd advise you not to do a yahoo search for "bobby badfingers"...

Sweet Baby James

In 1998 my aunt and uncle had my youngest cousin. It took a few days, but they named him James. They asked me to be his godmother.

I was a senior in high school that year, so we lived in the same town. It was pretty easy for me to spoil him by just driving (well, having someone drive me) down the street. Then I moved to Toronto for college. I didn't get to see James as often, but I started writing him letters and mailing him stuff as a way to spoil him and make sure I was always his favorite. Nothing big, just stickers and stuff like that. He started sending letters back to me. This continued through my four years of college and the year I was in NYC, and even now that I'm back in Buffalo, I still get letters from James.

I've saved every single one of them.

I've been packing all my stuff so I can move on Sunday. Amy's been helping me, and making me throw out all the things I've saved and don't really need (expired coupons, birthday cards I bought and never used, notes I wrote myself, etc.) I've also been finding all of James' letters.

The earliest ones are just scribbles, with the actual letter written by his mom or brother or sister. Then they move onto stick figures with his name (some of the letters witten backwards). I found one that had Lucky Charms marshmallows taped to it. I LOVE Lucky Charms marshmallows. Lately they have real messages written in them, by James, in real sentences. And he's started to send me little presents. I have 2 shrinky-dink hearts, a shrinky-dink 4 leaf clover, and a macaroni necklace on the rearview mirror of my car, all sent to me by James.

So, I may not be the best godmother, in the strictest sense of the word. I haven't actually paid any attention to James' spiritual life since, well, the day he was baptized. But somehow I ended up with the best godson ever.

Friday Night

Friday night we had a Birthday/Bon Voyage/Welcome Baby party at mom and dads. What better way to celebrate Louis being born 23 years ago, Mimi being here even though now she has to go home, and Baby Maeve being almost a week old than lobster, champagne, and fire?

Julia wasn't too sure how she felt about the lobsters, but she did love playing with Nana's butter churn.

Mimi held baby Maeve while we got dinner ready...

And then we burned stuff.

Now is not the time...really.

Since Maeve was born something has been in the back of my mind, nagging me. I've been able to push it away, block it out...until last night. I stopped by to drop off some groceries and Maeve had just eatten. Lisa held her out to me and she was so small and squishy (Maeve, not Lisa) and she smelled so good. I wasn't planning on holding Maeve, I was just going to drop of the groceries and leave so Mike and Lisa could have some time with their baby, so I wasn't prepared and I hadn't really protected myself against the nag in the back of my mind...it came right up to the front and it's been there since. I want a baby.

Now, I know I don't REALLY want a baby. I mean, I like to sleep. And I don't really like to clean up poop. And I'm in school. And I have about 13 3/4 years of school left. And I have a hard time remembering to bathe myself every day. And I live in the ghetto. Where I don't like to let my dog outside alone. Unless, of course, the boys from my block are outside to watch him. But I don't think I could just be like, "Hey, Joey, can you make sure the baby doesn't crawl out of the backyard under the fence while I go inside to write in my blog and watch my stories on TV?" And I've heard Leah and Esther and Lisa talking and childbirth? Not so beautiful. You have to be really ready for that.

So, no, I don't think I really want a baby right now. I'm going to blame this craziness baby-wanting on the fact that all the parents I know (my parents, Leah and Scott, Esther and John, and now Mike and Lisa) who I've actually spent time with close up, make it seem so easy. If they weren't all such good parents, I wouldn't want a baby. I think I'll go be an aunt for a while, since I have the cutest nieces and nephews ever.

Poker, anyone?

We all went over to Maeve's house last night. The girls (read: Mary) made dinner for Lisa and the boys were going to keep Mike up all night playing poker. Dinner was great (Mary makes this great pasta dish that I can never make as good as she does...), and the boys did eventually get to the poker...

















First they had some important lessons for Baby Maeve, though...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOU!

Shortly after 4...

It's shortly after 4 and definitely time for a Maeve fix. She's home (with her parents...at least they were all home when I left...I'm assuming they wouldn't leave her home alone yet) and was eating like a champ when I left. I didn't have my camera with me, since I was planning on going to class, where I did not need a camera, and somehow ended up at Mike and Lisa's house, where I could use a camera, but Mary took pictures and I'll post them as soon as I get some. Until then, here are some more of her in the hospital:

Baby's Daddy

I went back to the hospital last night to bring Mike and Lisa some sushi. When I and put the newest pictures of Maeve on my computer, I started looking at pictures of Julia. Maybe they do kinda look alike...
















This is Julia.

















This is Maeve. I think, looking at them side by side, Maeve looks more like Mike (as opposed to Esther or John, which is probably a good thing...) This makes me realize, OH MY GOD...MIKEY HAS A BABY! I think he's going to be a great daddy.

Toby graduated from Puppy Obedience on Thursday. I'm so proud of him. And Amy...she had to take him every week while I was in school.

I saw Maeve again this morning. She's so beautiful. Her Papa couldn't be happier than when he's holding her.

And she, of course, missed him terribly when he left.

Maeve

When Julia was born I sat in the waiting room for hours and hours with the entire family, well, waiting for John to come out and say, "It's a girl."

I've been looking forward to the same thing with Mike since I found out Lisa was pregnant in November.

Friday night I cashed in my birthday present and got a room at the Sutton Place in Toronto and an amazing meal at Canoe. In the middle of dinner something made me check my phone (which was silenced.) Esther had called. Amy, jokingly, said, "I hope it isn't Lisa in labor, 'cause I'm too drunk to drive us back to Buffalo" I said it couldn't be about that because the baby wasn't due until the 16th, and they PROMISED us not to have it while we were in Toronto.

Meet Maeve Katherine Garvey, born July 8th around 3:30 am, while I was fast asleep in the Sutton Place.



She's TINY (5 lb 12 oz, 19") but absolutely perfect. I'm on my way to visit her now. I'll post more pics tonight.

Very Big Weekend

I woke up slightly hung over this morning. Why? Because yesterday was my last day of work. I thought I'd be happy about that. It turns out I was a little sad. I liked working with my dad. I liked my job as an assistant and I liked most of the people I worked with. I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with my dad, though. I loved surgeries in the morning when the patient was sedated and we could talk about whatever. Dinner the night before, hockey, baseball, Baby Julia...I'm going to miss that. But, I'll be back over Christmas break.

So, five years ago I woke up very hung over on this day, too. Why then? Because of John. When Esther met John, well, I wasn't there. In fact, I don't really remember much about John until he took her to a Sabres game against whatever team Gretzky was playing for at the time and got seats RIGHT BEHIND THE VISITORS BENCH. I think that when I decided either she needed to marry him or I would. I think everything worked out well. Five years ago yesterday they got married. From what I remember the wedding was great.

John has yet to get me that close to Wayne Gretzky, but he did have a part in making me an aunt. One year ago today!

And she's still just as beautiful:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA!