Catching Up

I've been so busy lately that I've missed blogging some really important things.

I missed Lou's birthday.

But we celebrated in NYC with dinner at Per Se with amazing food like oysters and caviar in tapioca, and wine from the year he was born (1983.) Definetly a Birthday Meal to remember. They did not, however, bring over all the waiters to clap and sing Happy Birthday to him when they brought out dessert. He did get a candle.

I also missed Dad's birthday.

I had a great post written in my head about how great it is to work with him, how much fun we had in NYC at our conference, ending with Happy Birthday, but, I never typed it out. I was having too much fun working with him instead. So, Happy Belated Birthday, Dad.

I didn't write about the ICAT conference in NYC that I went to. Dad and I were the only ones from the office to go. There were very few people there who weren't either doctors or sales reps of some sort. It was really cool to be there, at a conference, with Dad. I mean, we've gone to the Buffalo Convention, and to the one in San Deigo, but this time I got to go into the doctor lectures and sit with Dad, not he assistant lectures where they walk about taking impressions and sterilizing instruments. It was fun. And I learned so much.

And, I got to spend lots of time babysitting my nieces and nephew.

Despite how it looks in the pictures, we didn't actually spend the entire time we were with them on the couches...and I was reading to Julia right before that picture. Amy and Maeve? I think they were watching Jimmy Neutron.

Another Birthday!

Dear Maeve,

Happy Birthday Monkey!

This past year has been wonderful, watching you grow from a tiny little thing

to a beautiful little girl who can bring a smile to anyone's face, just by looking at them!

I hope this year is your best year yet!

Love,

Aunt Cecilia

Two Years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JULIA,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Happy In The Nursery!*

Although Esther and John had alread known each other for a while, and I had already met him at least once, the first time I really remember him is when he got her tickets to see the Sabres play the Rangers...or maybe Phoenix...Or St. Louis. Wherever Gretzky was playing for at the time. Probably the Rangers. Anyway, I told her right then to marry him. I'm glad she listened to me.

Congratulations on six years of a wonderful marriage.

*Check Esther's for an explanation...

New Name

Hi! I changed around the 'Bus (in case you didn't notice...) I was feeling a little...un-PC. And you know I'm nothing if not PC. I'm not in love with this template. Or name. I've thought about a few others, but nothing really fits all of my personalities, so, if you have any ideas, or if you know how to get a tie dye background on this thing, Please let me know. Oh, and just because they're beautiful:

Not Mone...

It's Miles!!!

May 31, 2007 at 11:12 pm
8 lbs, 2 oz

Absolutely perfect.

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.