DOCTOR'S REPORT!

at 5 months, Fintan Reilly is ...

27 inches length

18 lbs. 8 oz. weight

"reading ahead" in his development
(advanced behavior/skills)

cute and happy as a gawd-dang button!

He got his 4 booster shots (same as the ones we got last time) and this time it gave him a fever.

Poor Bunky!!!

He's doing better today though.

"My Longest Trip Yet" by Fintan Reilly

Sarah, my oldest younger sister, just graduated from UCSB. What fun! A car trip! So we drove up to Santa Barbara to join the family for some Finny Funtime as well as the opportunity to see Sarah getting more and more grown up. I felt kind of bad because she got a double major in four years, and somehow I thought it was five. I think because it seems like forever when you're not the one living it. Anyhoo, here are some photos from the trip.

CynDee gets her grandma fix.

Auntie Laura LOVES little babies!!!

Bob's dad, Sarah (damn she's beautiful) and CynDee.

"A little birdie told me..."
or maybe it's his good & bad Consciences.

Dad & Birdman Bob

We left at about 10:45, arrived at about 1:05, departed about 9:30, had a scenic tour of downtown SB and the nightlife, chose all the wrong streets (I was in search of a drive-thru so I could get myself something to drink), got home at about 11:20. Fin slept really well there and back, and was in great spirits the whole time. He even survived the graduation ceremony without too much fuss. At one point he completely rolled over and I was sure he was going to crawl!

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! :)

From a galaxy far, far away...

So two weekends ago my "virtual" friend, creative collaborator, and fellow geek Damien and his mum came from Bath, England, to visit us, take a tour of Hollywoodland and the surrounding areas of insigificance, and a coach tour of the Western World (ending at the Star Trek Experience in Vegas). Since it's old news I won't go into detail, but it SURE WAS FUN!

Damien and I have been friends for over a year, chatting and emailing and sharing our stories and his excellent machinima videos without ever having met in person. Damien reads Finny's blog here, and his mum has given some sage advice in trying times, like tips on getting him to fall asleep on demand. Damien is one of those rare mature gems of a young man, university age, so refreshing compared to the ballsy arrogance of our typical American young adults. (I will comment here that I believe geekdom plays a strong part in that, as geeks maybe weird and smelly but we're not usually obnoxious barfing drunkards.) Needless to say, I've always sort of felt a strong kinship with Damien, however strange that may sound.

So......... here's a photo recap of our adventure.

Damien gets the motherlode and Mum has a tiny creme brulet.


This is all of us at dinner:
Damien, Jason, Johnny, Me, Lisa, Ricky
"Mum" Marilyn is taking the picture.

It's all about Hollywood, baby!
Actually in all my life, that's the closest I've ever been to the Hollywood sign.
It still looks far away though.
And Fin was enjoying some time out of the carseat :)
The big monkey is my husband - JUST KIDDING!

A new cousin!!!

Maya Elaine Gottberg

born: June 10, 2006 @ 4:38 p.m.

weight: 6 lbs. .8 oz.

length: 19 inches

I'm a little late here, but on June 10 little Maya was born! For those of you who are related to me (or just curious) this is your new family member's current photo album online :) Reese is the baby cousin of my mom's family, and it's a joy that he and his wife Kelly could have Maya so close in age to Fintan, because the other 6 cousins are all much, much older.

W00t!

println "HELLO WORLD!";

The die-hard Leafs fan goes for a stroll.

Click to enlarge - a lot - you can print these.

OKay, we're back. Fin is playing in his gym after a half jar of applesauce and cereal, and some lovin'. We played all evening. He can sort of sit up, if he props his upper body on his legs with his hands, but usually he falls over with a big plunk and laughs. It's quite adorable. If you pull him up he prefers to go straight to standing. He really like sto stand on his massive soccer legs, but he also likes to stand on his toes with the toes curled under. Ugh! Ballet!

Such a happy boy. Isabel is always chatting with me when I come home about how everyone at the park, and her family members, and other nannies - they all think he's at least 8 months, and they all adore him because he's happy and laughing all the time. I feel so blessed to have such a good kid.

I'll try to get back into the swing of things here... sorry for the long gap in posting.

Gosh what a long break!

Sorry no posting recently. I am insanely busy.

Isabel came over Monday (the nanny) but she had a fever; Mark called me at work and I had to go home and send her away :P Of course, today I'm sick a little bit, and extremely stressed with both jobs, can't seem to accomplish anything. Isabel is better, tho... her doctor said it's not contageous, whatever her infection was. But have to watch out for the baby!

It's 2 a.m. and I have to be at work at 6 a.m. Fun fun.

I still have some videos to post, and some new pictures.

I met Maria's baby Marcello on Friday. And we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of baby cousin Maya... hopefully before Reese gets deployed again on Monday.

That's all for now... back to work!

Rangers vs. Moms... YAWN!

There's an article on LA Times web site about parents, Army Rangers, crying babies, and sleep deprivation. I just thought I'd share it.

Eat your heart out, Erik! Ranger training ain't got nothin' on being a mom! :)
.