My boy!

Finnegan is thankful for his Auntie Carmen this Thanksgiving.



He didn't have any turkey, but Finn did enjoy a very relaxed nap on Thanksgiving!

Look who is getting more of his hair back!

"I find this photo shoot rather boring..."

A few more photos of my beautiful boy!

New Lens!

I finally purchased the lens and flash I had been saving for and wanting for about a year now. What a difference it makes--I've taken a picture of Finn's boots for comparison. The first one is my old lens and the second is taken with my new macro.


I'm also able to get some cute pictures of the wrinkles on Finn's hands and feet now...I feel a photo session in our future tomorrow to celebrate the big one month birthday of my little boy!

Parent Group

Today Finnegan and I attended our first parent group at Cooley Dickinson. He was the youngest baby there and it looked like the second smallest--he was also very well behaved.
At the end we received a list of all of the mom and baby names of those in attendance along with email and phone information. Looking down the list I had to chuckle as you'd only hear names like this in a town like Northampton--my own son's name included! Still, I really like most of them--they're so unique.
Ana-Lucia, Chloe, Ehnai, Zev, Maura, Zane, Grayson, Owen, Finnegan, Scarlet, Henry, Ella, Luella, Hazel--a very cute list. :)

Finnegan!

It took me long enough but I am finally ready to introduce all two of my readers to a blog about Finnegan. Of course, both of my readers already know all about him and one of them has even met him, but here is his online introduction nonetheless.

October 13th 2009 is a day I will never forget as my life changed forever, and it must be noted, for the better.







There was a double rainbow right when Finnegan was born and my sister was thoughtful enough to catch it on camera. The second rainbow is to the right of the brightest one, faint but you can still see it. Finnegan was born with a stork bite on, above, and under his nose. By week four just a bit of it is left on the end of his nose. :)

The blue room...not to be confused with Jane Eyre's red room, The Shining's redrum, or any of the single colored rooms of White House fame

Jon and I have put the finishing touches on the baby's room with just a few more details needed. I need to hang up these really great alphabet letters with animals on them and a painting that Corinne purchased for me and it should be all set.

Jon picked out the paint color and I really love how blue it is. It looks like the sky and it really brightens up your mood when you see it. In this picture our fabulous borrowed crib shows the blue off nicely.

Jon's mom, Martha, purchased this really great toucan that appears to be in flight when you pull the string below him. He has a huge wing span and finding just the right spot for him was a bit of a problem but he finally found a home near the door, perched high enough that only adults can reach the string for now.

I was aiming for a bird and tree theme in his room, but came up short as most of the gear I found was made for little girls--didn't want to give the kid a complex with all pink bedding. Still Tiffany made us a fun receiving blanket with birds that I adore and Corinne's Meme knitted us a beautiful green blanket that matches the curtains and the room perfectly. I was very touched as she only knits these blankets for her the babies of her grandchildren and children.

I found some great fabric by Valerie Wells that tied in the greens and blues in the room and made it into curtains. It was a bit short of what I needed and so I added a ruffle to make them long enough. I'm not thrilled about the ruffle, but I think they came out pretty nicely especially considering the fact that I didn't use a pattern.


We decided to skip the changing table and found two great bureaus instead picking a shorter one for the changing pad. We figure we can just keep the shorter one for a changing table/bureau for our next kid (should we be brave enough to do this twice) and the tall one can stay with this little boy who is soon to come. Jon also stained a bookshelf my dad made years ago and my English department as well as both of our mothers helped to fill it right up! My sister-in-law Paula also donated many a book to our cause. It also helps that Jon and I are both book nuts and saved a ridiculous amount of our own childhood books.


My mom also found these really great stuffed animals called Derangos that are ridiculously cute. They have great snouts and tails for little hands to drag around the house and they are made out of a many different textures and fabrics. We put them on the bookshelf for now next to Smoky the Bear.


My really sweet cow with a trench coat also needed a spot on the shelf with her legs crossed all ladylike.

Finishing up the room are the beautiful painting Corinne bought for us and the wonderful quilt my grandma made and then hand-embroidered pictures onto. I love all of the great shapes and images she included. I don't love that the image appears sideways despite the fact that it is right side up on my computer. Arg with technology!


Last, but certainly not least, we have the ceiling fan which seems an odd thing to post when showcasing the baby's room. However there was no ceiling light or fan in the room so the fan itself is a bit of a miracle. Jon found a woman through work that will come to your home and teach you about electricity and how to properly wire your home for different projects. You pay her for the time it takes her to teach you initially and then you have the expertise to do things on your own. After installing the ceiling fan with her help, Jon installed the outside censored flood light on his own. I was impressed and thankful for her help. They were also able to hook the ceiling light/fan up to dimmers so it is easy to have a soft light or a soft breeze in the room.

Cupcakes and a stocked freezer...

During the past week I have been trying to stock our freezer for when the baby comes. As he is now four days late I have had ample time and my grandma has definitely helped out my efforts. I've made Sheppard's pie, lasagna, very interesting cookies, and tomorrow I will make banana and zucchini breads. My grandma has made mac and cheese, lemon bread, homemade applesauce, and peanut butter cookies. Today I made cupcakes for my nieces and nephews and decorated them in Halloween fashion before delivering them.

Okay, so the freezer's stocked, my ankles have swollen and unswollen (is that a word?), I'm sort of well-rested (does anyone really sleep well while pregnant?), I have caught up on my New Yorkers, I've nearly finished recommendations for the students that have asked and I've printed the labels for our New Man American Wheat. Jon brewed beer for Horace's arrival so he could pass it out in lieu of cigars as we don't smoke. All that's left is for the baby to come...

Our house is a very, very, very fine house, but our garden is another story.

This year Jon and I both put a fair amount of effort into our garden. Scratch that. I put a small amount of effort in and Jon truly toiled and toiled. He made a special fence, he buried the fence to keep out the rabbits, he spent an afternoon tilling the soil with my brother, we planted everything together, but he finished the last minute additions after a black fly bit my chin and my right eye making me resemble Sloth from The Goonies.

After the initial set up, Jon diligently watered and weeded, put down hay to discourage more weeds, etc...you get the picture. And what do we have to show for it? My beautiful basil did nothing, the peppers never grew big enough to eat, the corn did nothing, there were maybe 7 pickling cucumbers, no onions, no potatoes, no melon, no tomatoes, etc. The only thing we were able to enjoy were some delicious grape tomatoes...we ate them like candy straight off the vine and will plant many more next year.

Here are a few pictures of the fruit (and vegetables) of our labors, including the world's smallest watermelon!

Ryan and Lyndsey's Wedding

A disclaimer before I proceed: My very expensive digital SLR has decided to become finicky about night time weddings and appropriate flash use. Translation? I couldn't get any really great indoor shots at Ryan and Lyndsey's very beautiful wedding as my flash would not cooperate. It was really frustrating, but I guess this means I can justify buying the external flash now. Below are a few of the nice pictures I was able to get outside and then a few inside pictures I borrowed from a friend. :)
The first picture is of Ocre Court at Salve Regina in Newport, Rhode Island. It's funny to think that while I was going to a public university, this was normal for students who went to Salve Regina. So pretty. This was the building Ryan and Lyndsey were married in.

The actual wedding was at Salve Regina while the reception took place at another venue a few minutes away. Here are a few more pictures of the evening:

Expired Course Waivers=Broken Heart

Today I received another course waiver for UMASS Amherst because I had a student teacher last spring. This brings my total to four course waivers, an exciting feat as I would someday like to obtain my doctorate...

However, my excitement was brought to a quick end today when I noticed (for the first time) that the course waivers have expiration dates on them. I have no idea why they would need an expiration date, but I guess it's a sure fire way to make sure they don't actually have to give away that many free classes as people will most likely forget or not notice. Add me to that list of people. I know it is 100% my fault that two of the waivers are expired, but my heart is still just as broken at the thought of two free classes down the drain. If I'd known I would have just taken them last spring.

The other two expire in the spring of 2011 so I essentially have next spring (yeah right, with a newborn at home?) or next summer. I guess I could do them next school year, but somehow I had imagined coming home after work to spend time with my future son, not to be in a classroom in Amherst. I am just really bummed out because I want the classes, it just isn't the right time for me.

I'm going to call UMASS tomorrow to see if there's anything I can do about the two that expired. I really hope they can renew at least one of them. I'd suffer through a once a week course in the spring if it meant the waiver didn't go to waste.

:(

Required reading--retch!

As a part of the AP grant our school has every teacher must attend a week of AP training each summer. To date I've attended four AP trainings and will attend my fifth in a few weeks. Not all of these trainings have been a full week...but that's still a lot of training.

For this summer's workshop we were given the names of two books and an essay that we are required to read, though I double-checked the email and it did say "have read or have knowledge of." I plan to use the latter to beg out of one of the selections. I've been reading one of the books (the one I was excited about) for about a week now and I just can't get into it. I think it's the format coupled with an overly verbose author who likes to name drop. Actually I know it's all of those things. As I try to wade through the dreaded thing, I feel massive guilt over the required reading of the AP students at my high school. But I honestly think they have been given a good selection this summer...of course, perhaps this instructor feels exactly the same way.

2nd Anniversary

Jon and I decided last year that we would make gifts for our anniversaries instead of buying them. We thought this would be a good idea for the anniversaries that weren't milestones. To decide what to create, we went with the anniversary material that each year corresponded to. For example, your first anniversary is your paper anniversary--that was easy.
Jon made me a very sweet photo book called "The Story of Us" which chronicled our lives together from 2002 to now. He wrote the whole thing in rhyming couplets and had it published on a website to create a hardcover book--very sweet. I made him a large, framed collage of our greatest moments.

This year, it was the cotton anniversary--a bit of a harder task. I made Jon the body pillow case shown above. At first, I bought the fabric because Jon loves sock monkeys and I thought I'd make something for the baby, but I realized it would be better served in making a gift for him. Still, what do you make for a man in his 30s out of sock monkey fabric? Since Jon's back surgery last year he has to use a body pillow to sleep in a certain way and so the idea was born.

Jon made me an apron with a great picture of the two of us from our trip to Ireland. He also included an Oscar Wilde quotation that I had never heard before but that we both agreed was something I would reference had I known about it. It was a really cute idea as I love to bake and could really use an apron and as he's not much of a seamstress. He even added a sweet label to the inside...