Welcome Baby Boy Rowan

Hooray!!!
Oisin Thomas Rowan was born yesterday, June 24, 2008 at 7:58am
He is 10lbs 4oz.
Emelyn has a new baby brother. She will call him Peanut (we've already been told).

Meghan and Tom have a new son, their second child. They are all in Ireland so I have no pictures or any other details, but I'm hoping that some will be sent along very soon.

Matt, Kris and Will are there visiting and they were sent with very strict instructions to take LOTS of photos both of Will's adventures in Ireland- as well as the pictures of his new baby cousin. Cross your fingers for me ;)

edited to add pictures of the cute little man:

busy busy busy

i know... life's always busy right? well these past couple weeks definitely take the cake

packing packing and more packing

after 18 months of cleaning out junk, sorting through memories, knocking down sheetrock, building new walls, installing all manner of appliances, fixtures and other necessities... after all the stress, the long days, the move in day is finally ALMOST HERE

three days and counting

thursday should be our first night sleeping in our nice new comfy cozy bed in our brand new bedroom, freshly painted and ready to welcome us home.

until there, we're still here

this is what it looks like -->

tonight

getting ready for the big furniture move tomorrow

(the apt furniture is going to jeff & melissa and mom & dad)

and this is more of what we have to look forward to.......

the new stones in the fireplace (do you call it that when its a stove and not an actual fireplace? i dunno... anyways, you get the idea)

dan built this this weekend

isn't it great!!

the new wood burning stove should be delivered soon

i forget when

that pipe will come out

and be replaced with something new, i'm sure...

again not sure on the details

but the stove is nice

shiny and black

and supposedly easy to use

i like that :)

and the bathroom... isn't this inviting?

that bathtub peeking out of the left corner there is calling me!

we did take a little bit of a break this weekend...

saturday night we went to see Dave's band at Christopher's pub in Raynham. they did really well!! i even enjoyed the music and they don't exactly play stuff i'd normally listen to! we had a great time hanging out with him. nice to have some one-on-one time with dave :)

sunday afternoon we went to my cousin jen's graduation party. she's out of high school and on her way to bridgewater state next year... man we're all getting old!!! we had a great time at Auntie Linda's house ;) fun to have some Litchfields and un-official Litchfields at the Natale family parties :) :)

and i got some quality time with Riley.

she's getting big

chubby little legs

cute little face

she can smile a bit more now

and loves kisses :)

i think she's sizing me up

love you baby girl!!

"on the side"

i'm a picky eater
everyone knows that
then add in the 'trying to be healthy' thing
and getting stuff on the side is very much part of my norm
i like the ability to add just what i want
that control

well all that changed yesterday morning.
i went to Coffee Central for breakfast
i splurged and got a multigrain bagel with cream cheese
the worker said "cream cheese on the side"
i was tired
not wanting to think
so i said "yeah sure"
{usually cream cheese IS something i just have them put on}

so i get a bag with
my bagel
2 packets of cream cheese
and a plastic knife

what a waste!!!
if i hadn't gotten it on the side
the cream cheese would have come from the ginormous tub they get it in= less plastic waste
and i wouldn't have needed that plastic knife= yet more plastic waste

next time, they can put it right on there...
if its dine-in and washable stuff, i'll still be getting a lot of things on the side, but not on the go...

to me, this is what going green is all about.
not always life altering changes
but thinking about what we consume, why, and how often

so that's my green tip for the day :)

happy father's day

sunday was father's day

a rainy, cool, damp day

which meant only 3 holes of golf at ritter country club {for Dad and Jeff}

true meaning of a rain check, i suppose

so instead we went to dinner at

the outback

{{mom, dad, jeff, melissa, riley, gram and me}}

riley's getting soo big

much more alert and smiley (even if it is gas sometimes)

look at the chubby little legs

and her special father's day sock

i heart dad

she also hearts grammy!

look at her cute little face

very aware of what's going on :)

dad and me

dad and the 'kids'

jeff and riley

on jeff's first father's day as a dad

saturday with willy

to make up for the

lack of tuesday pictures
here's some of willy from

saturday
after his nap, he was ready to play!!

the big toothy grin!

these smiles where he scrunches up his cheeks just crack me up!!

the more serious side

which i think only happens when his mouth gets tired from all that smiling!

and here's my favorite birthday card of all times

kris and will made this for me

with his foot prints from when he was 6 weeks old!

how cool and crafty and special!!?

matt and kris also gave me an

ipod nano for my birthday

talk about the best friends

a girl could ask for!

so sweet and generous

thank you guys sooo much!

you know i'll truly enjoy it :)

you're the best

i love you all very much

furniture photos with our very own 'vanna'

drumroll please
the furniture has arrived
jordan's delivered and built our furniture on saturday!!!
i was babysitting will while matt & kris were at the dance recital
so he was the first besides dan and me to see the new space ;)
fortunately he's darn cute and he was wearing an outfit that not only had planes on it {which his grandfather would have love}, but conveniently he matches the color scheme in most of the house. thanks kris. fabulous planning ;)

the livingroom

microfiber sectional

two electric recliners on the left

sleep sofa on the right

matching ottoman

{curtains just don't match.. need to keep looking. oh well. without the fabric swatch it was a good attempt}

view from the future site of the new wood stove

entertainment center just begging for some company {which is waiting in the closet, for someone to help dan lift it into place}

the ottoman that we've been drooling over at Shawn & Ellen's for over a year now

then we searched frantically for a sofa that had recliners and somehow were able to STILL match the ottoman

that's fate!

removable tray

easy enough for a child :)

yes, the couch and ottoman are well spaced

enough room to walk

willy approved

the bedroom

and our very big bed!!

its way bigger than it looked in the store

pretty sure its...

partly the bed, partly the very big cushy comfy mattress we chose, and the size of the room

one thing's for sure. its wicked comfy!

willy definitely approved!!

so

much

fun

{{{{time out for a little bit of play time}}}}

sunday morning we made the bed with the bedding we could find (from storage in the basement)... there are sham ssomewhere, and some more pillows to be purchased, but its a start

under the quilt are the new organic sheets i found on sale at target!

hoping they work out well.

dan seems to be getting into the Green thing too.... today our convo went something like

me: "these sheets are organic"

dan: "oh yeah? are they made of carrots or something?"

me: "no, cotton (implied: duh) but they're natural. no pesticides"

dan: "oh good. i don't like pesicides on my skin."

EXACTLY! :)

the bedside tables are old singer sewing machines which dan fixed up and added a top to (drawers to go under the shelf are coming soon)

don't they look great?!!!

and the tv!!! not all wired up yet, but going to be great!

had to take a few minutes to put my feet up ;)

the spare bedroom

the bed has arrived

the mattress is still at the apartment

so not much more to show in here for a couple weeks

look at all the drawers!!!

i swear nothing excites me

more than storage

i am giddy just thinking of the possibilities

view from the hallway door

light green curtains match the quilt set i found.

green and yellow

still need to make sure i absolutely love it

we'll see. either way, it beats the plastic on the windows!! :)

the closet

home to everything that was formerly in a room where furniture was being delivered

new, slimline non-slip hangers were delivered

storage, organization and style

seriously! wicked excited

can

barely

stand

it

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ooohhh oooohhh

in those pottery barn bags on the floor

are new, organic towels

that i got on sale!!!

----------->

one more addition to the laundry room

this cabinet houses the fold-out ironing board i've been clamoring for

dan found this one, that fits between the studs!

so perfect

far less obtrusive than we pictured

its on the wall the borders the bedroom

right across from

the washer and dryer

so as you can see, its coming along!!!

we've got a little more than 2 weeks to pack up the apartment and get everything out of here

which frankly is freaking me out a little, but so far so good. i've been packing here and there, and its adding up fast... and now with the house looking sooo good and soo inviting, there's all the more incentive to get moved :)

wish us luck.

almost the weekend

finally friday
with a busy, fun, chaotic, exciting weekend ahead



today
washing floors
in the spare room, closet & bathroom
& making sure we're ready for the furniture delivery tomorrow {eeek!! :) }



then spending the evening with our favorite set of twins
Elaine and Erika
as they celebrate their birthday
friday the 13th {think spoooky music}


saturday

its going to be a whirlwind day

need to find out what time i have to be at matt & krissy's

for my longest stint at babysitting my favorite little munchkin

---------------->

when he wakes up from his nap

we'll head to scituate for the day

at some point, probably early afternoon, my friend laura will arrive

she's been fully briefed on the activities of the day and is willing to jump right in with me!

we'll go see the house, maybe even the furniture, depending on what time that's delivered

then head to the Dauphinee's for Amanda's high school graduation party.

will have willy back home and in bed around 9p and then laura and i can do some catching up before she leaves on sunday

sunday

father's day

going to Cameron's for brunch with the fam

my brother's a dad for the first time this year

so is matt!

a lot can change in a year!!!

hope you boys all enjoy your day. i love you all.

more to come, photos of our fun and exciting saturday

new furniture

a clean house (i swear i will banish ALL of the sawdust if it takes every last bit of energy i have)

a graduated amanda

willy and litchfield clan

so many fun things.

have a great weekend :)

us and them

some highlights

from tuesday night's

Red Sox game

{thanks to Mom. it was sooo hot I wasn't motivated to take the camera out much...

pictures of us in all our sweatiness? no thanks... but these aren't too bad!}

[US]

dad wearing the World Series Ring

talk about HUGE

kim and me

yeah, we've looked better

but hey it was about 100 degrees

and the trains weren't moving

so we walked from Copley to Fenway

we should have looked WAY worse than this!!!

my turn for the bling

mom bought me a raffle ticket

to win one

cross your fingers ;)

[THEM]

i should mention that the whole reason mom got her fancy camera was

"to take pictures of the Red Sox's butts"

that's literally what she told the employee at the store who was trying

to gauge her photography needs

admittedly there are plenty of us who do enjoy this though, so for your viewing pleasure

Kevin Youkilis

also (fondly) known as

YOOOOOOOUK!!!!!

Triple play:

Mike Lowell

Josh Beckett

Jason Varitek

ok, for good measure we got some 'fronts' in too

Jacoby Ellsbury

(mmmmmm)

and last but not least

Coco Crisp

at least you can't tell how

sweaty they are

i'm sure they were far

more miserable than us

birthday update

its been a great morning already!

I came back from a hectic morning of meetings to find these gorgeous flowers on my desk.

Thanks Dan! I love you!

one thing i forgot to mention. i think i gave myself the best birthday present EVER today... or at least i realized it this morning. i finally fit into these denim capris from Express... i know this must sound completely trivial and random, but it will make sense to the Marist girls- at least jessica and laura.

jessica and i shared these capris. she bought them... but we both adored them. they fit sooo well and were just so flattering. we'd fight over who got to wear them to the frat parties on the weekend. and then sadly they no longer fit. i'm not sure when or how { i'm sure there was too much beer and junk food in that equation, but alas they were too snug} neither of us could part with them. somehow they ended up with me after college. they've moved with me from mom's house, to the north end, then to weymouth. and in a fit of inspiration i checked my bins this morning (after three days of wearing last summer's capris and pulling them up constantly so as not to expose the world to my underwear... which is quite exhausting after awhile... and tempting to leave as is when its soooo hot. i digress). and there in the very bottom bin, were the denim capris.

i held my breath as i tried them on. success! they fit!!! BE FIT did its job. its taken a long time, but those pants fit again. its a really really good day!

happy birthday to me!!! :) :)

the big 2-8

28 years old
i know in the grand scheme its still young
but it sounds old!
oh well!
life's good, i'm happy
and i'm attending my 2nd red sox game in 3 days tonight :)



sunday mom called to say terri and doug had red sox tickets they couldn't use and did i want to go with her
it was about 99 degrees and humid
and well, watching the sox sounded more appealing than washing floors (my original plan for sunday) so i said SURE!!!







we had a blast
as usual

mom made friends with the father and son next to us

we had grape seltzer spurted all over us thanks to the people behind us (but despite the stickiness- it was nice and cold so that was actually a relief!!)

we used the spray bottle mom packed to cool us off, though we still sweat the whole time!


we sang
sweet caroline
god bless america
take me out to the ballgame

and when these pictures were taken, at the end of the game
we were belting out
love that dirty water

yeah,
boston you're my home!



even better,
the sox won!
JD Drew made some great saves out in center field and then hit a homerun to put us up 2-1 which was the final score.

go sox!

{thanks terri and doug for the tickets! we had a blast}





sunday night we had a cookout at mom's
to beat the heat
swimming in the pool
got some lovely gifts from mom and dad and from gram
{thank you so much. i love you}

last night i went to the gym with kim
got a great bicep & tricep workout in

then i met dan at BJs
the tv he wanted was in stock
and on sale!!! so we made a date
in the end we didn't get that tv
(60" rear projection)
i'm sure it was a fluke or someone messing with the settings
but the picture looked terrible
so we ended up with this for the livingroom
and this for the bedroom
really fun.
we brought them to the house
to hang out in matt's room with the old tv set

then it was time for dinner
dan's treat since it was almost my birthday
and since i just put almost $6k on my credit card
(hello sony points!!!!)
and well, since he always pays ;)
it was my pick
the 99
LOL
big night out!
we had a blast, joking around
about my outrageous birthday celebrations
and speculating what dan will find for a gift...
can't find the words, but it was a fantastic night out

so tonight is the Red Sox game
with mom, dad, jeff, melissa and my friend kim

in other news: furniture is being delivered on Saturday!!!!
same day that i'm babysitting for will and going to amanda's graduation party. its going to be a great weekend! look forward to pictures of the sox, the new furniture, little man will and adventures at the dauphinees next week! :)