Miles of Smiles!

Top: Hannah, Joey, Charles
Middle - Sisters!: Helen, Sarah, and Genevieve
Bottom: Timothy, Jessica, Ceci and Harvey




















I adored this night with family. I cherish this memory!

All Together!

December 27, 2007
9 grandchildren
3 daughters
3 sons-in-law
1 grandma

missing - grandpa, son and grandson.

16 out of 19 ain't bad... actually it was such a miracle to get us all together. Joe cooked up the best ever batch of gumbo. Tim and Matthew recited poetry. Carols were sung. We even played a ridiculously fun game that involved a conducting-by-numbers whistle choir. grandpa was recovering from knee replacement and Damian and Eugene were out in California for Christmas. It was a no-tree year.

Back in Action

To our faithful blog-readers: for better or for worse we are back. Here we are catching a bite of brunch at Dean's in Manhattan. I think this is about as good a family portrait we have gotten since H was 3 months old. Lot's to tell. We are off to San Antone this Saturday to have Christmas in February with Mombo. Other big news (other than the end of the writers' strike) is that next Thursday my boot comes off, hurrah! Harvey moved up to be with the Forget-Me-Nots at daycare today. Also, today was my first day driving around to lessons (I had to teach in-house for 4 weeks) and J was off to play at the Rodeo Bar with the Western Caravan. More later....

Keeping Warm Thoughts...

I realized tonight, that our faithful blog-readers didn't get a fair dose of Texas this year. Given that we were supposed to be in SA both this week and next, I am going to treat us all to an impromptu cyber visit to the Lone Star State. This is my first time around with One True Media and I can't figure out how to do the music, so feel free to hum the Oscar Peterson tune of your choice (may he rest in peace, dear soul), I picked Bye Bye Blackbird.

I also couldn't figure out how to do the captions. Below are highlights of our Texas vacation in August 2007:

Scene 1: Lunch at Blanca's with Baby
Scene 2: Playdate with Rosemary and a trip down sepia-toned memory lane
Scene 3: Harvey practices for his next gig
Scene 4: Genevieve takes Harvey to the Childrens' Museum. Harvey bakes a pie with a little help...
Scene 5: Tasty peach pie
Scene 6: Joe's gig at the Continental with Elana and friends
Scene 7: H puts on shoes, getting ready to go home
Scene 8: Back in PA - we had a "grape" time! (sorry, bad pun, but aren't those grapes divine? I do declare that they look rather biblical)

By the way, I am on heavy doses of Percodan and Advil to manage sugery pain. This has caused cloudiness of my brain function and increased daytime sleepiness - hence the 3:30 AM posting and inability to figure out how to keep up with the latest blogger technology. PS Thanks KKH for the idea to do this. I LOVED yours!

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Is That a Toupee on Harvey's Head?

We must have taken a million fantastic pictures of these boys last week. Joe, HS and I headed to Berryville, Virginia with our dear friend Jim from NYC for 4 days over Thanksgiving. It was such a relaxing time:

- Singing
-Jamming on the Gilbranson and the Steinway at Jim's sister's house.
-Eating luscious pears, fritatas, tortilla soup, smoked turkey, sweet potatoes and the endless treats that rolled out of Mary Jane's kitchen
-freely and openly discussing politics, books, religion, health-care and all those other "can't touch this" topics
-baking pies (pumpkin and key lime)
-Watching MAD MEN our new favorite TV show on itunes in glutonous quantities
-Luxuriating in the Bathtub after a well-deserved afternoon nap while Harvey slept.... (someday I will miss his 3 hour respites)

and (drum roll) star-gazing on the sacred mountain on a shivery night while we feasted on Jenny's fab paella.

I can only begin to recount the precious memories... There is a meditative peace and tranquility that surrounds me from the moment I set foot on the ground at M and MJ's house on Church Street. There is a feeling of empowerment, love and warmth when we visit. Oh and the wagon rides through the sleepy little town!!! Funny how I started up my yoga practice on the mat again the day before we left and have found my way back... Thank you Harvey for sleeping the WHOLE RIDE OVER and the WHOLE RIDE BACK!! I owe ya one, little guy:) Berryville: the place where dreams become true. Thanks for a beautiful time, Michael and Mary Jane. Let us pamper you sometime in our not-quite-as-sleepy town of Wayne, Pa!

Good Cheer

Finally! A picture without "the boy". I have been on a massive quest lately to catalogue pictures and purge the icky ones (i.e. the ones with double chins and alien eye as Joe calls it). I stumbled upon this one from Christmas at Rosemary's in 2005 and HAD to blog it.

Oh the Fox Went Out....

Last night was so much fun. Family and friends gathered for food and singing and merriment here at the Aberwyck. Joe has been playing quite a bit of ukulele lately. Here we are with my mom singing The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night. My mother taught us the words to this when we were very young. The lyrics are a HOOT! Check out the link here. Harvey had fun too, but every now and then he decided that he had enough of the "adult" socializing and would run off to his room and play with his stuffed animals. I love that he has this little world that humors him and keeps him occupied. I wonder what he is saying? He has such animated conversations with the Learning Puppy and Paddington Bear. Later on, Harvey reappeared on the scene to get a few bites of the Chocolate Hazelnut Torte from the Piedmont. That was a big hit. He hasn't had cake since his birthday (as far as I know....he's sneaky, though). The party broke up aroun 9 or so and Joe and I settled in to watch our favorite new show The Riches on Fox.

A Little Family History

One of the stops we made coming back from Boston on Spring Break was to visit the Deshon-Allyn House in Connecticut. These were Joe's maternal ancestors who lived here. Harvey wanted to run all over the property, but there was a bit of a mud issue.

Family Photo in Boston

Thanksgiving Blessings

Harvey's 1st Birthday

The phone on the table in the middle picture is "Mombo" on the speaker phone singing Happy Birthday in Spanish. Harvey was a great host. He insisted on walking EVERYONE down the hall to the elevator.

Trottoir

French for "sidewalk". Erin was the best au pair. She took Harvey all over Fontainebleau in his stroller. He visited the formal gardens at the Chateau and munched on baguettes while perusing the outdoor market. She even bought him a cute little outfit and sun hat in the Monoprix (a store kind of like Walmart, except with fresh-baked croissants and fancy French perfume). One day they had to stroll to the Pharmacie and buy ointments and bath salts for his mosquito bites. Poor baby, he was covered from head to toe with bites. Unfortunately the French don't have mosquito nets (screens) on their windows. I thought they were supposed to be so advanced!

Locked Out

We closed the porch door behind us because the airconditioner was running and unfortunately the door locked automatically. So there we were. All of us. No cell phone. It was too funny to be true. We began to call out loud for help until our neighbor Eileen heard us and came to our rescue. Good thing we never chain the door!

Looking Back

mommy
Harvey (Cheer up little buddy!)

Godmothers, then and now

Here is mommy with her godmother.
And here is Harvey and his godmother - notice he is wearing the same dress that grandma made.

Cousins in the Grass

I wonder if Harvey has allergies like the rest of us. He seems to be doing quite well here in the grass with Peggy, but mom is all stuffed up with a massive headache and PND. It is the first time that I have felt the urge to seriously reach for Sudafed. Fortunately, I found a website with some pretty decent answers about drug levels in breastmilk. The good news is that Harvey is old enough and there is little worry of having adequate milk supply at this point in time.

Another Auntie Pic

It's another "awwww" so cute pic . We'll be back to San Antone in Aug. Harvey will probably be running around by then!

Hungry Baby

The book he is eating in the photo was sent from Aunt Rosemary in San Antonio. She and Barbara get the award for having more "baby bait" than anyone else I know. These women adore having babies around and have cribs and toys and books and music and just about anything else that could entice infants AND parents to frequent their homes. What a treat!!!!

Meanwhile our little muncher is eating solid foods three times a day. He also goes through 3 bibs and three onesies a day and requires a hose-down after each feeding! The pediatrician told us to introduce one new food every three days or so. So far we (yes, Joe and I are sampling HS's goodies) have had (in chronological order)
Rice Cereal
Pears
Peas
Sweet Potatoes
Bananas
Oatmeal Cereal
Harvey has managed to chew up lots of other paper goods: catalogues, brochures for Fontainebleau, Business Cards and other items that he is able to grab from my clutches. He is very quick and very strong. Fortunately he doesn't cry when I take anything away from him.(YET!)

Texas Trio

Harvey didn't like the sun in his eyes. Notice the Kerr ancestor engraved on the Alamo Monument

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

Harvey is now in San Antonio. It is so warm that he doesn't need to wear footed sleepers - a onesie will do! He was remarkably good for the airplane rides. He hardly ever cried or needed a diaper change. He sucked his binky the whole time. He was the envy of all of the other parents toting trying tots! Yesterday he met Aunt Teresa and Aunt Genevieve - that puts the Aunt Count at 6. He slept for 5 hours in the pack-n-play that Aunt Chita bought for him, woke up at 3 AM, nursed, and proceeded to "talk" to himself. It was the funniest thing - it sounded like he was speaking in about 27 different languages. Finally he went to sleep. Tonight we did a four step Cradle Cap removal process to get him all gussied up for dinner at Rosemary and Jimmy's. Tomorrow is his 3 month birthday. He is 12 pounds and 3 ounces. Happy Birthday Pooka!