Ladies' Night

Back before I had Eamon, I always thought it would be nice to meet one or two friends with babies the same age. You know, for playdates and walks and commiserating over sleep deprivation. Little did I know that after welcoming Eamon, I'd soon have four other wonderful additions to my life in the form of my "Mom friends." We first randomly--on the street, in the park--and despite different personalities, careers and backgrounds, soon bonded over much more than babies.

To mark the rapidly-approaching one-year birthday of all of our little ones, we hit the new W hotel in the 'hood. As our husbands played Mr. Mom, we partied 'til 1 a.m. Getting up with Eamon at 7 this morning wasn't easy, to say the least, but nothing a good run and a flatbread sandwich from DuDo's couldn't cure!

Here is a (horrible-quality) picture of four of us (one of the girls was in the bathroom) taken on my phone. Fun times!

He is blessed.

We celebrated Eamon's (long overdue) baptism over the weekend. Yes, it took us 11 months to get it done, but it was well worth the wait: Not only was he able to fit into a white tux (and loafers!) but we had many family in friends in town to witness it all! I couldn't imagine a better way to mark this momentous occasion than surrounded by such a lovely group of people and am so thankful to everyone for making the trip. (And much gratitude to Erin and Mr. Flynn for providing all of the photos!)

Making the weekend even better was the beautiful weather--we were able to spend a large chunk of both days outside, including a waterfront picnic on Saturday night and a BBQ in our backyard on Sunday. Eamon loved seeing so many friendly faces and, of course, all of the attention lavished on him all weekend. And just think, in one more month, we'll be celebrating another big day--his first birthday!

Pizza in the Park

We all got together at Maxwell Park on the Hudson River for a pre-baptism pizza party. Was great to be able to relax and catch up in such a beautiful setting. Of course, Eamon loved roaming around on the grass and climbing allover his favorite playground!

Backyard BBQ

We managed to squeeze everyone in to our backyard for a post-church BBQ. Mark fired up the grill and made burgers and brats (courtesy of Speed), and we had all of the fixin's--dips, salads, and of course, Sissy's corn caserole! It will probably make an appearance at every picnic from here on out. Adding to the spread was a lovely fruit salad and cupcakes, courtesy of Mrs. Flynn, and I made a "strawberry delight", which is basically pretzels layered with whip cream and cream cheese, strawberry jello, fresh strawberries, and more whip cream. It's different--but delish!

We also bought Eamon his own pool so he could "chill". And chill he did--the water was freezing! But he took it like the tough guy he is and had a good time in there, as you can see.

Play Time

The weather of late could not be more perfect--zero humidity, warm (but not hot) temps, blue skies and sunshine--so I've been trying to take advantage by heading out as much as possible with Eamon. Today, we had a great time with our friends Owen and Crystal: A trip to Central Park for a picnic in Sheep's Meadow followed by a long stroll (with ice cream!), plus a first taste of Tim Horton's coffee (the Candian version of DuDo's, which just opened a string of shops in NYC. Pretty tasty!). Yes, we consumed a lot of calories, but we walked 'em all off!

Followed that up with a trip to the playground once back in Boken, which gave the little guys a chance to burn through some excess energy after sitting in strollers for most of the day--now that he's walking, Eamon's not a fan of such confinement.

The two boys have been friends since they were around 6 weeks old and are so cute together as "big" boys of (almost) 11 months. How sweet is that pic of the two of them?

Ride On.

Some fun pics taken by Keren over the weekend. We had such a great time!

He's walking, yes indeed...

Well, that didn't take long! Over the past few days, Eamon has gone from a few tentative steps to a full-on Frankenstein march! Here he is at the playground today, excitedly making his way from one apparatus to another. (I wish I could mute my voice because I sound ridiculous, but I don't have time to edit right now!).

I realize that two of these clips end with what looks like a major faceplant. Don't worry, Eamon is very agile and hasn't fallen on anything but his bum...so far.

Happy.

Tour de New Paltz

We had a fantastic weekend away with Keren and Landis. A while back, we made plans to go biking together, and fortunately, Bec and John were gracious enough to let us stay at Rose Lane. So we piled into our car--all four adults, one baby, and four bikes--and traveled up the road on Saturday.

It would be our first time testing out Eamon's kiddie seat, which Mark attached to his bike on Friday night. I was nervous seeing our little guy in such a delicate position, but I knew Mark would be very, very careful. And, after some initial resistance to his helmet, Eamon seemed to lap up the experience. He even managed to fall asleep during both of our rides (nearly two hours each!).

Now that Eamon's walking, swimming (sort of), and riding, I think there is definitely a triathlon in his future! How young can you start them? Just kidding!

Baby Steps

This is just a really quick clip of Eamon taking some steps. He has taken up to 9 in a row before giving up the ship and dropping down to a crawl. Not sure if that qualifies as technically walking, but he's at ease on his feet and will use them to get somewhere--or something!

He's pretty unstable in this video as it was just before bedtime when he enters what Mark calls the "drunken sailor" hour (lots of flopping around before passing out). I'll try to get some better videos up today.

Weekend recap

Another weekend, another whirlwind. Mark and I hit the road for Maryland late Thursday night and basically never stopped moving until almost midnight Sunday. This time, we made a plan and stuck to it: Grandad's lake on Friday, Farm on Saturday, Baltimore on Sunday. Of course, we had a few sidetrips thrown in, but for the most part, we managed to cover plenty of miles--and see plenty of family and friends--without letting things get too hectic. Or maybe we're just used to all of this activity that we no longer consider our packed itineraries chaotic.

Lots of pictures from the weekend below; see more by clicking on the slideshow below. Hope everyone had just as great of a 4th as we did!

4th at the Farm

We had a great time celebrating the Fourth of July at the Farm. Nothing beats a summery BBQ (complete with Uncle Joe's homemade ice cream and Sissy's cookie spoons), great weather and three under three to entertain us!It is so special to be able to relive the wonders and fun of the Farm now through the eyes of Sophie, Lucy, Eamon and all of the little ones in our family. The tractor, the barn, the pump, the badminton set...these simple things stand the test of time and remain sources of endless enjoyment, just as they did when we were small.