I didn't know they liked American Idol so much...

Before Julia was born I was sure she was a boy. I couldn't imagine a girl since all we had had born lately were boys. But as it got closer and closer to the day she was born I had dreams that she was a girl.

With this baby (let's call him Jesus -- the latino version, not the Son of God version -- for now), I wasn't positive. But as the pregnancy went on I became pretty sure it was a boy. I've stuck with that, just because Esther's pregnancy has been different that her pregnancy with Julia. But lately I've been having dreams that Jesus is a girl.

Most of them are just John saying, "It's a girl!" But the other night I had a crazy dream. In real life I had gotten up to go to the bathroom and realized that I had left my phone in my pants pocket, so I must have been worried about that, because in my dream I was sitting on my bed with Mary. I heard my phone vibrate signaling that I had a message, so I reached over to my table to get it, but next to it were Mike, Lisa, and Mary's (sidenote: Mary needs a blog) phones. I couldn't get the text message from John (sidenote: has a blog, but never writes on it), to open on my phone so all I could see was the part that was flashing on my screen. It said, " She went in." So I picked up Mike's phone. I could see the messages he and John were sending back and forth, and then hear their conversations (weird, I know, since I had his phone), and I heard Mike say, "You took her to the hospital?"
John said, "Yeah, she had the baby. It's a girl." I had to ask Mike to ask about the name, size, etc. John said the name was Mone.
Mike said, "You mean Mona?"
John said, "No, Mone. M-O-N-E. Like Simone, after Simon from American Idol."

Then I woke up. I'm kinda hoping Jesus is a boy.

Chicago

I'm back from Chicago! Well, I've been back for about a week, but, I've been SO busy, that' I'm just updating now. And it's mostly going to be pictures.

We had a WONDERFUL time. The Cubs beat the White Soxs:

And we were there:

We spent a lot of time shopping, but I don't have any pictures of that. And we walked around the city, went to Navy Pier, but our camera battery was dead by then because before that we went to the aquarium. It was SO cool. I'm only going to post a few pictures because we have over 100, but we couldn't use our flash so a lot of them are only recongnizable by us...This is the REALLY BIG fish outside with his crazyman dancing partner.

This crab is much bigger than it looks like in the picture...it made me hungry.

Haha, the turtle were doin' it...we took a lot of pictures of that...

The dolphin show was amazing. It made me want to become a dolphin trainer. Until I remembered that they're swimming in all that dolphin poop and pee...

I think these frogs thought they were hiding...

There was a HUGE shark tank that was really cool, until I realized it was leaking...then I didn't like it so much.

There were a lot of other cool animals, too:

I'm leaving on a Jet plane

I'm getting ready to leave for Chicago! Amy and I are going away for the weekend to see a Cubs vs Sox game and spend some time exploring the city (a city I've never been to, despite the fact that my FAVORITE OLDER BROTHER lived there for YEARS...) We'll be back Sunday afternoon. So, everyone put your life on hold until I get back, ok? Don't do anything exciting without me. Esther - I'm talking to you...hold that baby in until I get back!

To All The Mom's:

Despite the fact that today is my 26th Birthday, and I am old, and I have to go to the DMV because the licence I got when I was 16 (or 22, whatever) no longer will work for me, I made you a card:

If only I could glue glitter and macaroni on the internet...

Happy Mother's Day! I love you all!

P.S. Mom, I expect you to save this artwork just like you saved all the rest of the stuff I made you when I was little.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Uh...belatedly...

So, Amy's birthday was on May 2nd. I'm a bad friend and am just posting it. But I got her good presents, so it's OK. And we're not really celebrating until next weekend in Chicago (for a Cubs vs. White Sox game...I told you I got her good presents!) so this is really right on time!

Anyway, Happy Birthday, I hope you had great day and that this coming year is even better than last year.

P.S. Don't lose your creativity in your old age!

The Boys

Today is Aidan and Noah's birthday. Tomorrow is Sam's. I had great plans for a post that would make Leah cry about how awesome her boys are, and how much I miss them, but, I'm in the middle of proving that you can die from the common cold, so, this maybe not be that post...

Instead, I'm going to say Happy Birthday to The Boys, I hope this year is the best year of your lives.



P.S.Happy Belated Birthday to Leah! !

P.P.S. I wanted to post a cute picture of the boys, but, I could only find 1 semi-recent one of all three of them that I hadn't just posted...and it was of the back of their heads while they watched TV when I was babysitting. Not a great commentary on my babysitting skills, huh? So go look at the pictures of them at the zoo.

I Can Fly

You know in Peter Pan how Peter teaches Wendy, Michael, and John how to fly by telling them to find their happiest memory? Well, when we were little we (we as in me, Louis, Mary, and some of our cousins) would try to fly by thinking about things that make little kids happy, like a world made entirely of candy, or having Christmas every day. We never flew. I think it's because I never had the right "happy thought." I found it yesterday.

My new happy thought? The way Julia looked at me and smiled, then buried her head in her blankets and laughed when I went to get her out of her bed after her nap yesterday. Remembering that can make me fly.

The zoo

Thursday morning after class I got Amy up, bathed, and into the car with the promise of food from the zoo. She was excited because Sam, Aidan, and Noah were in town and she wanted to see them, so it wasn't hard to convince her that what her post-op foot needed was to be walked on across the poop-covered* zoo ground.

We got there just as Esther and Leah were getting ready to take the kids into the gorilla house. It was a great gorilla day. I took Julia out of the stroller and held her up to the glass window. All the sudden a gorilla jumped up to sit right on the other side of the window and scared the crap out of me. I almost dropped Julia but managed, instead, to squeeze her really tight. She thought it was cool and put her hands up on the glass. The gorilla put his hands up against hers on the other side. Then she kissed the glass and the gorilla kissed her back. It was so cool. Of course, the kids loved that, but the best part of the zoo, to them, was the playground.

There's some sort of cement statue thing (the boys were calling it a walrus, but now that I look at the pictures I think it may be an elephant), and Sam, Aidan, and Noah were sitting quietly on it, until I tried to take a picture.

Maybe if we add Julia, we'll get a good picture of all of them:

So, there may not be a perfect picture according to a real photographer, but look at how much fun the kids are having! That makes them pretty good pictures, doesn't it?

**I just imagine it as poop-covered...with all those animals,how could it not be?? But, I did eat my cheeseburger even after I dropped part of the bun on the floor, so I'm sure Amy will be fine.

Golf Leafs Golf, Part II

Maybe the Leafs can call up their friends from the Islanders and they can all golf together...

**Thanks to Esther for the picture!

GOLF LEAFS GOLF

When I was in college (the first time) I was the only Sabres fan on my floor...a floor full of Leafs fans. It was hard. So, at some point during the year, my roommate wrote GO LEAFS GO on our dry erase board on our door. I added an L and an F to both GO's so it said "GOLF LEAFS GOLF." It started an all out war. Every dry erase board on the floor had GO LEAFS GO on it, until I could fix it and add the L and F.

At that point, my hatred for the leafs was merely a normal hatred felt by any Buffalo fan. I mean, I hated them with all my heart and soul, but what Sabres fan doesn't?

Somehow, this season, I ended up going to a few of the Sabres/Leafs games in Buffalo. The Sabres won two and lost one, but it doesn't matter because we made the playoffs and they didn't ("we" as in the Sabres...I contributed quite a lot.) Each game made me hate the leafs more and more, though. All because of their fans. I'm very sorry to all of my Canadian friends, but, Leaf fans suck.

Which is why I LOVE this picture:

Haha, it makes me laugh and fills my heart with joy, mostly because I know it will piss off the fans.

YAY!!!

So, one of the very best parts of my new house is its proximity to O and the yummiest sushi in Buffalo. When I stopped to pick up some dinner tonight, look what I saw:

Now if I can just convince them to open up for breakfast...

Maeve

I'm babysitting Maeve today! She was very happy when I walked in, and even happier when I mashed up some bananas for her. She did not, however, like when I stopped shoveling the banana into her mouth to take a picture.

This is her saying, "Aunt Ceil, stop with the pics and put that banana right here."

Right now? She's asleep. And I'm jealous. I didn't think she'd sleep since she slept all morning with Aunt Mary, but, as soon as I started to read to her from my anatomy book, she passed right out.

Also, look how much she's grown:

Maeve the day she came home from the hospital...

Maeve last month.

Maybe I should get a nanny...or some restraints.

So, you know what it's like to be in a house with a toddler? I'm assuming you do. Sometimes, that's how I feel with Amy. Only she's a very smart toddler. But...she. does. not. sit. still. EVER.

Remember her broken toe? Common sense says you should not move too much on a bone in your foot that is broken. But Amy likes to move. She likes to take out the garbage and do the dishes and the laundry and clean the garage and feed the dogs (Ok, maybe she doesn't like to do those things, but she also doesn't like to wait for me to do them...). She's just incapable of sitting and doing nothing (a skill I have perfected, by the way.)

So, my point is, she has to have surgery now because her toe hasn't healed (not necessarily because she didn't stay still for three weeks like the doctor told her to), and after the surgery she has to stay off of her foot for 10 days. For real this time.

How do you keep a toddler (or Amy) still for 10 days? Does anyone have any Dora or Diego movies I can borrow?

Marshmallows.

Oh My...Leah made marshmallows with her three little boys. She is my hero.

Wanna know what I remember from marshmallow day at FCI? Sitting in the bathroom. Crying. Because I can't make marshmallows. And I was working with a grown-up (ish) boy, who also wanted to make marshmallows (he did not end up crying in the bathroom, though.)

Seriously. All of my attempts turned into a soupy, sticky, mess. Gross.

And I burned myself in the process.

Hopefully oral surgery will be better to me.

Great Picture

Quite possibly the best picture ever:

Yes, it's a little blurry, but it was taken at the Green Tie Dinner...everything was a little blurry.

200

This is my 200th post.

Fortune Cookies

So every week Amy and I get little bags with neighborhood circulars, coupons, and menus slipped into the handle of our front door. Because we technically live in North Buffalo, but right on the border with Kenmore, we get packages from both communities. The first few weeks I was so excited! Mail! Not addressed to Amy! I'd go through the bag, read everything in it, and then throw it all out. Eventually I skipped the reading part and just threw it all out on my way into the house.

But last week I opened one and saw that we had gotten a menu for a Chinese food place. Since we don't have a chinese food place yet, I kept the menu and we decided to try it out on Sautrday. So I called them.

Chinese food man: Tin tin Kitchen
Me: Hi do you deliver?
CFM: Where to?
Me: My house (I actually gave them my address...)
CFM: Call back in half an hour and we will. *hangs up.*

So I called back, and was told they were technically delivering, but it would be over an hour. Fine, bring me some food.

It was good. I'd definitely order from them again. Amy finished before I did and opened her cookie. Her fortune was something about how great her life is or whatever. Mine?

"You are about to become $8.95 poorer. ($6.95 if you had the buffet)"

Yesterday after seeing Shakira we went out for lunch. Chinese food. It was wonderful. And my fortune was a little less of a glimps into my future, and more of a warning, as they sometimes are.

"Don't spit into the wind."

Those fortune cookie people are so smart.

So, I've been trying to figure out how to write this post since about noon yesterday...almost 24 hours.

Check this out.



I SAW him yesterday. Esther let me, Louis, Mary, and my Mom go into the room with her for her ultrasound. It was the coolest thing I've ever seen. The pictures don't really do it justice. Shakira (my new nickname for my nephew, because his hips can move...) is perfect. I saw (and heard) his heart beat. I saw his belly, and his arms, legs, hands, and feet. I saw his brain, his beautiful face, and then he moved and I SAW RIGHT UP HIS NOSE! His precious precious nose.



I can't explain what it was like. My eyes got teary seeing him, and I can't wait to meet him outside of his mommy, but this short little introduction is something I'll never forget. I could have watched him all day.



Then, to make my day even better, we had sushi for dinner at Esther and John's house. Julia didn't actually eat the sushi, but she did say "rainbow roll," "love roll," and "kiss me I'm Irish."





















She's too cute.

Earlier this week Lisa called me and asked if I could go swimming with Maeve on Saturday (today.) She had to work but Maeve loves her swimming class, so I met Mike at the YMCA this morning and took Maeve into the pool. I have to say that I was nervous. For a few reasons, really (in no particular order:) (1) I wasn't sure if my bathing suit would fit (it did, barely.) (2.) I was nervous about getting Maeve into her swimmy diaper and bathing suit in a locker room the size of my bathroom. (3.) I was worried I'd drop her while we were swimming. I mean, really...she's a wiggly baby who gets slippery when she's wet.

Well, I met Mike at the Y and as we were walking in we passed Mary getting Julia out of the car. So we all went in together, and Mary and I took the girls into the locker room and got them changed. It wasn't as hard as I had imagined, and we were changed with time to play some peek-a-boo before class started.

We had a great time. The hardest part of the day? After class when the moms and kids from our class were also trying to get into dry clothes and about 800 people using the gym decided to come get changed too...I had to balance Maeve on the bench to put a dry diaper on her, and then finish getting her changed on my lap, while I was still wearing a wet bathing suit. But it was worth it. She was so much fun in the pool! She loved floating on her back to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and kicking her legs and splashing with Julia. And I didn't drop her once!

Broken Toe Pictorial

Sunday night Amy broke her toe.

This is what it looked like when I finally got her to calm down a little bit and tell me what was wrong. It's hard to tell, but it's already bruising, and, yes, the top part is definitely bent at an unnatural angle.

So we went to the ER, where they took x-rays, made us wait, and wait, and wait, then said, "It's not broken, we'll let you go home."

So we waited and waited and waited and Amy got a script for what is basically Aleve, and we went home.

And Amy's toe hurt more and more. And got bigger and bigger. And by Monday night she was miserable. So she called her podiatrist and got an appointment for this morning.

We went and waited and waited in the waiting room. And finally they called us back and looked at Amy's foot.

Her toe is still crooked, swollen, and bruising, so, they took more x-rays. So we waited and waited for the x-rays to be developed. And when they were, the doctor said, "See this little piece of bone in your toe joint? It shouldn't be there." Well, not in those words, but, close.

So now Amy has better drugs, a taped up toe, and a funny little shoe.

Cute, huh? She has to wear it for 3 weeks. And then she'll go back in for more x-rays and if the bone hasn't fused, she needs to have surgery. So if you see her, DON'T STEP ON HER FOOT!

***Yes, that's a picture of Julia on the floor behind Amy's foot in the last picture. As soon as she's allowed to play with tools again and hang pictures, it will be back on the wall.