On Saturday, we drove to Manchester-by-the-Sea to celebrate my dad's upcoming 70th birthday. We prepared (and purchased) some of my dad's favorite foods, including tourtiere, pâté, and bread pudding. And, as part of the festivities, the Olivier girls prepared a special song for the birthday boy (see below). A great time. We love you Dad/Julien/Pepere!
Come over here, Dad; this moment is for you
To celebrate your life avec un chason pour vous
‘Cause 70 years don't come everyday
So here is our chance, we won't give it away!
You might not hear the words of this song
We'll give you a handout so you can read along
Turn up your hearing aids or read our lips
Not until ninety will you need new hips!
When the snow falls,
Stack the wood high!
Grab your ice skates, Dad.
When we remember our favorite times
With you -- We don’t feel so bad.
To heck with the priesthood; “let’s do it like rabbits!”
Throw off the vestments, she'll take off her habit;
Our families say, “No!” We have no money;
But we’ve got love and a little baby!
Digging up leachfields with one pregnant Jane-y,
Car trips to Quebec, Newfoundland and Maine-y.
Weekends: drag girls to church and chop down trees.
‘Cause we’ve got love and a great family!
Going for bike rides, and walks around Swain’s Lake,
Marking up essays, “This comma’s a mis-take!”
Savory baked beans that make us fart-y
(Fart Sound) No one says, “excuse me” in this family!
When the snow falls,
Stack the wood high!
Grab your ice skates, Dad.
When we remember our favorite times
With you -- We don’t feel so bad.
Then we were older in college and travels
You hauled the boxes and fixed things with trowels
E-mails and car trips and weddings galore
Who ever thought there may even be more?
When Ryan was born, you became un vrai pepere
Tree swings, and stories and watching them play
Cole, Tavi, Owen, and Maya all came
Then Isaac and Izzi for your volleyball game
After you’re sixty, you head back to Maine
To kayak with Mom and "Doctor" your name
Up on the roof and learning Hebrew
To connect with the men your daughters ... love
When the snow falls,
Stack the wood high!
Grab your ice skates, Dad.
When we remember our favorite times
With you -- We don’t feel so bad
Now as a chaplain, you pray with the dying
Help them through their pain as they are crying.
Inmates in prison and nursing home, too
All of them there and us, we love you!
When the snow falls,
Stack the wood high!
Grab your ice skates, Dad.
When we remember our favorite times
With you -- We don’t feel so bad.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Halloween Get together
Yesterday we "celebrated fall birthdays with hard labor" (that's what I wrote in my Google calendar). It was actually a lot of fun. Josh split wood with my dad's fancy splitting machine and I drove the tractor from the woods and then stacked wood. For a little while, I stacked wood with Isaac in the carrier until everyone around me was nervous for my little guy and I went inside and came back out while my mom was with Isaac. As a family, we did a lot of work and I think my parents were pleased with what we accomplished. At the end of the day, we ate a yummy meal and sang "Happy Birthday" three times: once each for Josh, Jenn and then Owen. Each had their own cake of course.
We continued the social gatherings this morning; we went to my friend Anne's house in JP for a Halloween get together with my mom-group. Husband-attendance and baby-costumes were encouraged so Josh came and we dressed Isaac as a bear. It was fun seeing everyone and catching up. Here is a link to some amazing photos that Matt took (father of the little yellow chick).
http://picasaweb.google.com/matthew.beverly/AnneSNeilSHalloweenParty?authkey=Gv1sRgCLiZ0uW2iJGZAQ&feat=email#
After the gathering, we drove to Babies 'R' Us and bought Isaac a new car seat. Up until now, he has been sitting in an infant carrier that has two parts--a base that stays in the car and the part that Isaac sits in that can be moved in/out of the car. We even set-up the stroller so that the car seat could just snap into it. It's a great system. The problem is that he's gotten too big for that seat. When he's wearing winter clothes, we actually have a hard time snapping the closures. So today we bought a top-of-the-line chair that will accommodate him until he is 70 lbs. It also has steel reinforcements making it very safe. The big question for us right now is will we be able to put Isaac inside his new seat? We have a two-door Honda Civic and it's logistically challenging putting a child in rear-facing. Josh and I may have to face the fact that we need four doors on a car with a little baby. We'll see after we put Isaac in his new seat tomorrow.
Lastly, with all the babies his age today, Isaac picked up a new skill--sitting on his own. Watch the video below to see how he can really support himself for at least half a minute.
We continued the social gatherings this morning; we went to my friend Anne's house in JP for a Halloween get together with my mom-group. Husband-attendance and baby-costumes were encouraged so Josh came and we dressed Isaac as a bear. It was fun seeing everyone and catching up. Here is a link to some amazing photos that Matt took (father of the little yellow chick).
http://picasaweb.google.com/matthew.beverly/AnneSNeilSHalloweenParty?authkey=Gv1sRgCLiZ0uW2iJGZAQ&feat=email#
After the gathering, we drove to Babies 'R' Us and bought Isaac a new car seat. Up until now, he has been sitting in an infant carrier that has two parts--a base that stays in the car and the part that Isaac sits in that can be moved in/out of the car. We even set-up the stroller so that the car seat could just snap into it. It's a great system. The problem is that he's gotten too big for that seat. When he's wearing winter clothes, we actually have a hard time snapping the closures. So today we bought a top-of-the-line chair that will accommodate him until he is 70 lbs. It also has steel reinforcements making it very safe. The big question for us right now is will we be able to put Isaac inside his new seat? We have a two-door Honda Civic and it's logistically challenging putting a child in rear-facing. Josh and I may have to face the fact that we need four doors on a car with a little baby. We'll see after we put Isaac in his new seat tomorrow.
Lastly, with all the babies his age today, Isaac picked up a new skill--sitting on his own. Watch the video below to see how he can really support himself for at least half a minute.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Isaac joins Steelers nation
Out walking on Friday morning, Isaac and I stopped by Growing Up in Belmont--a consignment store for kid's clothes (but it's Belmont, so as their website notes, their more like a consignment boutique)--and while scanning the racks for a Halloween costume, I spotted a Pittsburgh Steeler's jersey onesie, with matching warmup pants and socks. Only 5 bucks! What a score! Isaac wore the jersey today and the Steelers beat the Browns 28-10. Coincidence? You can bet Isaac will be wearing the same jersey (unwashed) for next week's game against the Dolphins.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Leg-warmers
The other day, Isaac's cousin Izzy was wearing a typically stylish outfit (seriously, this kid always looks good) that included leopard-print leg warmers. They were super cute and so I asked Danielle about them. She waved away any mention of style and said it was to keep his legs warm and keep his socks up. Great idea! I thought for a second and said that we could make them by cutting off the feet of adult socks. I probably would have forgotten about it. Josh remembered and the very next day, he made Isaac some very cute and practical leg warmers. Here's a picture showing them off.
Isaac rolls finally on camera!
Sometime around July 4th, Isaac started rolling. It wasn't just me and Josh who witnessed it, lots of people saw it, but I just could not capture The Roll on film. Well, flash-forward to now and Isaac rolls all the time. In fact, it's now really hard to change his diaper because he's so squirmy. He's also no longer camera shy about it so I caught some great rolls with the Flip camera. Enjoy!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Train, Boston, cousins, JDRF Walk...can't miss a thing!
On Saturday, my entire family participated in the JDRF Walk in Boston. Here is a link to our fundraising page: JDRF Walk. It was a huge success--our Team Manchester-Essex (nicknamed "Team Ryan") raised over $1000. The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time. Josh and I decided to take the train into the city, but the only one we could take left Waverly Station at 8am. We were very proud of ourselves when we got to the station on time and carried our Bob stroller and all of our various bags onto the train. The thing is that Isaac usually naps around that time. We figured it would all work out. Well, the city was so exciting and there was so much to take in--sounds, sights and smells--that he didn't really nap. He started getting cranky and finally fell asleep in the Bjorn as Josh walked during the event but it didn't last long.
By the time we were celebrating the end of the walk, Isaac was really tired. The other part of the story is that his little teeth have completely emerged. I learned the hard way that when Isaac gets tired, he wants to clamp down on whatever is in his mouth. That's right--he bite me. I yelped and then was in shock when I looked down my shirt and saw a little blood on my nipple! We have a vampire on our hands! Thankfully, the pain didn't last long. After lunch, Isaac finally fell asleep in the stroller so we ended up walking to Cambridge to the MIT station and then taking the subway to Harvard and then walking to Fresh Pond. We spent the rest of the day with the S-Os and my mom. Highlight--I made a pumpkin pie from scratch--so yummy.
After such a bad-nap day, Isaac could not sleep well at all! He woke up over 6 times last night. Needless to say, Josh and I were exhausted today. My goal today was to get him back on track. We did it--great long nap in the morning followed by two naps for a total of 3-4 hours of naps.
Hopefully, all my effort to get him to sleep well today will pay off with a good night's sleep tonight. My fingers are crossed!
By the time we were celebrating the end of the walk, Isaac was really tired. The other part of the story is that his little teeth have completely emerged. I learned the hard way that when Isaac gets tired, he wants to clamp down on whatever is in his mouth. That's right--he bite me. I yelped and then was in shock when I looked down my shirt and saw a little blood on my nipple! We have a vampire on our hands! Thankfully, the pain didn't last long. After lunch, Isaac finally fell asleep in the stroller so we ended up walking to Cambridge to the MIT station and then taking the subway to Harvard and then walking to Fresh Pond. We spent the rest of the day with the S-Os and my mom. Highlight--I made a pumpkin pie from scratch--so yummy.
After such a bad-nap day, Isaac could not sleep well at all! He woke up over 6 times last night. Needless to say, Josh and I were exhausted today. My goal today was to get him back on track. We did it--great long nap in the morning followed by two naps for a total of 3-4 hours of naps.
Hopefully, all my effort to get him to sleep well today will pay off with a good night's sleep tonight. My fingers are crossed!
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