A Difference of Opinion

Owen: So Tony and I were talking and he was saying that Charlene (Tony's girlfriend) got presents on Easter. And then I said, Jen totally got presents at Easter.

Jen: I remember the best Easter ever, I was in Grade 5 and I got a Michael Jackson t-shirt and the Thriller album.

Owen: So then we were saying like who gets presents at Easter? It's not exactly a gift giving holiday.

- Silence -

Jen: Eilish is for sure getting presents at Easter...

Owen: Well I don't know, maybe chocolate or something small.

Jen: I'm not talking a car but she is FOR SURE getting presents at Easter. AND Valentine's Day AND Halloween.

Owen: Don't you think we should talk about stuff like this?

Jen: Listen, have you met my family? You go ahead and give her piddly little chocolate bunnies come Easter. My family will take care of the rest.

Owen: When I was growing up...

Jen: Oh lord...

Owen: Exactly, it's a religious holiday.

Jen: And the Baby Jesus would want Eilish to have presents.

Owen: I can't win this one can I?

Jen: Nope, not even close. Good try though.

Goodnight Moon

The Scene:

Eilish is fresh from her bath, naked as a jay bird with her bath towel underneath her, lying on her change table. I’m applying lotion to her clean skin and Owen is milling around, going from room to room doing whatever it is he does when I’m not bothering him to pick up towels or feed the cat.

Jen: Eilish is totally massaging her feet.

Owen: She gets that from me, I’m always massaging myself.

Jen: Now she’s moved on to her legs. Oh….huh….um….she has discovered her…um…moon. SHE IS TOTALLY PLAYING WITH HER MOON! OK, deep breath. I don’t want he to think she’s doing anything wrong.

Owen (hiding in our bedroom): Vagina! Call it a vagina!

Jen: No way, I’m calling it a moon. Eilish, that is your moon, be careful, don’t hurt yourself. That’s right baby, that’s your moon.

Owen: VAGINA!

Jen: MOON!

Owen: VAGINA!

Eilish: Wassat?

Jen: It’s your moon lover.

Owen: Come on Jen, I really think we should call it a vagina.

Jen: Why?

Owen: You don’t want her to get made fun of when she goes to school.

Jen: First, why is she talking about her moon at school and second, I called it a cookeroonie for god’s sake and I’m relatively well adjusted.

Owen: Fine.

Jen: Fine.

{Silence}

Jen: I really gotta put her diaper on, she is freaking me out.

Words of Wisdom for Eilish When She's a Teenager

This morning on the Go Train I saw 4 teenagers making their way downtown. They were dressed like they were auditioning for Rock of Love (holla!) and I just sat there praying that when the time comes Eilish would make better decisions about her hair/make-up/wardrobe than these girls were making.

So, Eilish:

1 - Always make sure your bra fits you properly. There is nothing worse than an ill-fitting bra that gives you the appearance of 4 boobs.

2 - A tank top that comes with a bra built in is not acceptable if your boobs are bigger than a B. Given you lineage, I see no bra tanks in your future.

3 - Let's just say no to thongs right now. We can revisit when you're old enough to vote.

4 - It's best to wear make-up that gives the appearance of no make-up, so skip the lip liner or bright eye shadow. It's not cute and you may end up looking like a hooker - the truth hurts my love.

5 - Try not to touch your face during the day or pick at any pimples you might have. It leads to scars and scars are forever.

6 - If your shoes hurt when you put them on, chances are they will hurt all day so bring an extra pair just in case.

7 - During your lady days try to stay prepared. Have everything you'll need in case of an emergency with you in your purse/bag etc.

8 - Don't slouch.

9 - You are prettier than you think you are.

10 - If you're with a group of friends and they are 'acting a fool' don't feel like you have to along with them. It's fine to laugh and appreciate their foolishness but you don't want to be the person who feels like you have to outdo everyone. You don't have to be the loudest.

11 - Just because everyone's doing it, doesn't mean you have to. You don't have to be a killjoy but you also don't have to be 13 years old planning how wasted you're going to get this weekend. In my experience, peer pressure is a crock. Kids who want to drink at 13 want to drink it all and won't call you a loser if you don't. And if they do, whatev - when you're 19 these people won't even be your friends anymore.

12 - I don't care about what you want to do with your hair but if it's going to be long, it has to be clean. If it's going to be colored it should be done professionally so it's not green.

13 - Let's try and limit piercings to ears for now because the healing process of an eyebrow ring ain't cute.

14 - It's OK to be a kid once in awhile. You are going to feel some pressure to grow up fast because girls tend to mature faster than boys, but that doesn't mean you have to try and be an adult. It's hard enough being a teenager.

15 - If you keep making this face, you're going to have the same wrinkle above your nose as your Mama:

Eilish is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Somewhere along the way Eilish has picked up some interesting habits. There are some things that she does to mimic things Owen and I do and there are some things she’s picked up along the way that I can’t account for. For instance sometimes when drinking, she’ll hold water in her mouth and slowly dribble it out over her chin. She will do it over and over again. Owen and I generally don’t react when she does this, if you can count hiding my face and laughing my ass of as ‘not reacting’, but I don’t think she does it for attention. I think she likes the way that it feels, the water slowly moving its way down her chin, her neck, her shirt. Last night she added a new facet to that move by leaning against the couch and tilting her head way back as to extend the water pleasure.

If you ask her where her hands are, she just won’t show you her hands, she raises them in what can only be described as ‘jazz hands’ move and keeps her fingers splayed (?) out and in front of her face, it’s the oddest thing and I don’t know why she does it.

When she sees our cat Lucy she always lets out a high pitched ‘ooooh’ sound. Not a ‘meow’ like she does when she sees a picture of a cat but more of a mimic-y sound in a response to Lucy’s cries. She will do it sometimes to my parent’s cat but always to Lucy.

She has also started doing yoga poses limited to downward facing dog and will rest her head on the floor while her bum bobs in the air.

She no longer gives kisses unless you can prove to her you are going bye-bye unless it’s when she gives unsolicited kisses for seemingly no reason except you just happen to be there.

Even when full she will eat whatever Cheerio she comes across even if she came across it while looking under the couch.

When climbing the stairs she loses speed around step 4 where she picks up and piece of dust she can find and holds it up to show me like she can’t keep going unless these stairs have been cleaned.

She’s started splashing in the tub with such intent and fervor that she almost scares herself.

The kid is cookoo.

She loves her Poppy, but she's still cookoo.

Working Mother - is there any other kind?

Monday was hard. I was up at the ass crack of dawn and in an attempt to not wake Eilish; I dried my hair in the basement, put my make-up on in the hallway and straightened my hair in the living room. Owen was up to see me off at 7:10 when Lee Ann picked me up and E got up around 7:30. I didn’t cry until after work when Owen and Eilish picked me up at the Go Station. I ran to the car crying and hopped in the back seat with E but all she was interested in was my purse. Owen spent the day with our girl and she had a great time with him.

Tuesday was more of the same although I didn’t cry after work. Tuesday evening was very rushed because I want to hang out with Eilish until she goes to bed so after that I was doing dishes (Owen did offer to do them) and cleaning bottles. Owen spent the day with our girl and had a great - but exhausting – day. Tuesday evening I had an attack of conscience, wondering if I was doing the right thing being back at work.

Wednesday is Eilish’s first day with Liz and Owen said the hand-off went well. Liz brought Eilish a CD of nursery rhymes to listen to (guess she’s not a big Carly Simon fan?!) and filled out the form that I left so Anal Mama Jen could know when Eilish ate, slept and pooped. When I got home Wednesday Eilish climbed up on me and gave me an unsolicited smooch so Wednesday was a good day.

Thursday is when things get a little hairy at our house. I can’t leave until Owen gets home in the morning so I have to be up, showered and ready for when E wakes up but it’s nice to have breakfast with her and be the first face she sees in the morning. Liz arrives at 9:30 so Owen can go to sleep. I didn’t see Liz yesterday as Owen let her go when he woke up so it was nice to come home to my little family.

This morning I didn’t get up in time to shower when Eilish woke up so I’m sporting a pony tail and my eyebrows have bed head. My pants are too tight and I have a meeting over lunch which is pretty cruel for your first week back. Can’t wait to ‘sleep in’ tomorrow until Eilish gets up at 7:30. I remember when sleeping in meant noon!

All in all a very busy week. Eilish seems very happy and Liz has been good about filling out my forms and telling me how wonderful Eilish is. Owen seems very tired and it’s weird not seeing him as much as I did when I was off. I am slowly adjusting to being back at work but am enjoying using the bathroom without having to bring Eilish with me!

Things to Do Before Work on Monday - UPDATED

- Get pants hemmed (done March 29)

- Buy GO train ticket (found the old one - woo hoo!)

- Wrap head around the fact that I am going back to work after 13 months off (still working on it)

- Remind Nanny that Eilish is the most precious, smartest, funniest, perfect baby in the world and must be told so 40 times a day (put off until Wednesday)

- Figure out if the kids are still wearing make-up to work (yep, they sure are)

- Remember how to apply make-up (I'll get back to you)

- Stop crying about the fact that I'll be getting up even earlier now that E sleeps until 8 (this one still burns!)

- Stop worrying that Owen is going to take Eilish out in public wearing striped shirt and plaid pants (dude, I've got bigger fish to fry)

- Make chart for Nanny so that I can know what Eilish did every minute of everyday including bowel movements (done March 30)

- Sync iPod (as we speak)

- Make and freeze a lasagna (done and done)

- Remember pass key PIN (I got nothin')

- Figure out who will have the pleasure of buying me lunch on my first day back (still up for debate)

- Try not to cry (already did, tonight after dinner)

Funny Things Eilish Has Done This Week

1. Danced to 'You're So Vain' by Carly Simon
I was on a Carly Simon kick this week after reading an article about her in Vanity Fair so I popped in her Greatest Hits and went directly to #5 - You're So Vain. Eilish was standing up at the coffee table and her left leg just started moving. She does this kind of bendy thing with it to the beat of the music and ducks her body towards the table like it's a bar and she just finished an ill-advised shot of sour apple - like she's her Mama's child. I thought it was a fluke until I put it on today before Owen left work and the dancing started again. Owen plays music all the time but it's mostly very deep music so E usually just sits in his lap as they contemplate world hunger or whatever Bono is bitching about these days. But not Carly, oh no, Carly moves her.

2. Played 'Where is Eilish' with Mama & Daddy
After her bath this week, in an attempt to keep her laying on the change table as opposed to trying to catapult herself off, I put part of the towel over her face and asked 'Where's Eilish?' to which she pulled the towel off and laughed one of her laughs. She then put the towel back and as I was getting ready to ask 'Where's Eilish?' she started what could only be described as mutter to herself, like 'she's never gonna find me here', so I called Owen in and we dragged the question out to see if the muttering was a fluke, 'Where is Eilish Daddy? I swear she was just here a minute ago...is she under the bed, is she in the closet?' And she muttered the whole time. It might not be reading as funny as it was because I swear y'all, I almost peed my pants.

12 days until I go back to work...mutter, mutter.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby

From this:

To this:

And it only took a year! Thanks for the laughs, the tears and the love. Mommy & Daddy don't know what they would do without you. You are the funniest, coolest, sweetest kid we know and we are so glad that you're ours.

How about a cookie for dessert tonight?

OK, OK some ice cream instead, now stop giving me your Baby Clint Eastwood look.

Love Mama

This is the place where Eilish:

- gets dropped off while her Mama gallivants off to the States for a little (A LOT) of shopping with 2 J's and an A

- is carried around like the Queen she is for 24 hours

- shares her toast and chicken nuggets with her Poppy

- gets all dolled up to go shopping with her Nanny & Poppy to buy a new chair

- gets put in the corner in said chair after 'jawwing' at her Poppy

- climbs the stairs

- rocks her MUN shirt

- charms the pants off her Uncle Joel - literally

- plays in the empty bathtub

- has her own crib

- tires her Nanny & Poppy out so much that they are in bed shortly after she hits the sheets

- needs a few different jammies because sometimes Nanny & Poppy can't figure out the zippers

- changes clothes a few times a day if the grandparents think she's uncomfortable in her cords

- learned that whatever happens at Nanny & Poppy's stays at Nanny & Poppy's

- has to have a little rest because charming these Kennedy's is hard work

Eilish and Peas - A Love Story

Owen and I don't have very good eating habits. A lot has to do with the fact that we are on 2 completely different schedules so the nights that he's off we find ourselves eating dinner late. Add having a baby to that and there were times where we were eating dinner around 9pm, after E had been bathed/bottled/bedded. The days that he is off I try to make a nice dinner for us, more often than not a pasta concoction or a stir fry or other foods that I know Owen will like. It's not that he's overly picky, he just tends to like more homey foods such as chili or stew whereas I could eat a chicken stir fry everyday. I like stinky cheeses and he doesn't, so any dishes with goat or asiago cheese are consumed when Daddy is at work. The moral of the story is that we tend not to get our 3 balanced meals in everyday.

So Eilish comes along and I want her to be a better eater than we are so for now that means no junk for the little belly. Any crap we eat is done after she's gone to bed. It won't always be like this but I feel like she's starting off with a clean slate so why mess her up with fries and cookies and cakes (yes, she will have cake at her party, I don't want any relatives calling children's services on me!) especially when lately it's getting hard to get her to eat anything while she's teething. Side note: we have front teeth! I'll try to get a picture of them soon!

I know a lot of this is New Mommy stuff and if (giant if, oh my god I can't even think about it) we ever had another child, things might be different but for now I'm the Mom and I control what Eilish is going to eat. I figure if I'm going to be the one to clean it up (if you know what I mean) I better make sure it's somewhat healthy!

We've started introducing her to the foods we eat and she has taken a liking to pasta and chicken etc. (I made meatballs with extra lean beef and I swear she ate 2 on her own). The big thing for her is being able to feed herself and trying to get some pureed vegetables in her gullet is starting to get difficult. So while grocery shopping I came across some frozen peas and since she loves pureed peas by way of baby food, I thought I'd give them a try. Dude, she loved them and I loved watching her eat them. As an adult who only recently started enjoying cooked veggies herself, I get so much joy out of watching Eilish feed herself veggies.

And now you can too:

I Just Don't Know What to do With Myself

For the 4th day in a row, Eilish has napped for over 2 hours. This is a kid who would nap for a wopping 20 minutes and then be ready to party all night. For 3 of the 4 past nights though she has woken up crying which we are attributing to her 2 front teeth that have finally broken through. I can't think of anything worse than her being in pain with her teeth but am curious as to why it bothers her the most at 3am as opposed to 3pm.

My boss called today to remind me that I am due to return to work, like I needed reminding. He seemed to have forgotten that I had some vacation time accrued and was returning March 31 as opposed to his magical date of March 10 which immediately sent me into a panic. I have so much to do before I go back to work and needed the 21 days to procrastinate! The worry was well worth it when he called me back to let me know that when I do return I'll have 4 weeks vacation remaining for 2008 as opposed to the 3 weeks I thought I had - so that is awesome news. We are expecting some visitors over the summer, cousin Jamie and sister Carmel so hopefully I'll be able to take some days to visit with them.

Duty calls - the babes has awoken. If anyone is awake at 3am give me a call - I'll be up!

I'm Back

See this face?

This is the face of an 11 month old who:

- loves to start the clapping and if you don't clap along will look at you like, hey, why aren't you clapping? Everyone else is clapping, why aren't you clapping?

- loves her Daddy. I mean looooves her Daddy. Owen is the sun, the moon and the stars to Eilish, while I am....the maid.

- is a Lady and a lady crosses her ankles when she sits

- will throw food on the floor when she's done eating

- will throw her cup on the floor when she's done drinking

- will throw her Strawberry Shortcake, bunny, bottle and soothers 1, 2, & 3 out of her crib when she doesn't want to sleep or has frankly slept enough

- will close her eyes and shake her head when you present her with something to eat that she finds unsatisfactory

- loves blueberries

- poops whole blueberries

- says da da da all day long but ma ma ma when she's crying

- does not like getting her face washed or her bum changed

- found her belly button and loves to look at it and then yours and then kiss your belly

- kisses with her mouth open

- sleeps with one soother in her mouth and one in each hand tucked under her

- is the reason I get up in the morning and the reason Owen works so hard

- is gonna miss her Great Nanny Lane when she goes home tomorrow

We Call This One 'Twisting the Nap Away'

As I type this Eilish is upstairs napping. I'll be sure to bring the camera up when I check on her!

Christmas Card Outtakes

Why oh why did I think that a 'homemade picture' would be better than a professional one?

Owen's hand has never looked better!

The shoot was a real nail-biter.

Oooooh...stop taking my picture!

You'll have to wait and see which one we finally went with. In the meantime here's a picture to melt your heart this cold November day.

More Adventures in Sleeping Starring Eilish Connell

Replace the baby bottle with a beer bottle, and the soother with a vendor dog and you pretty much have me after a night at Sammy's back in the day.

The Late Show With Eilish Connell

Sometimes when we put Eilish down for a nap or a night's sleep, she will sit up at the end of her crib and giggle and 'talk' for a few minutes before she falls asleep. I like to think of it as her own little talk show where the guests are her mobile friends and her 2 soothers, (one for sucking and one for tapping against the one in her mouth - where did we get this kid?) and at the end of the show she bids them good night and settles in for a little snoozy.

Today when Owen put her down for her afternoon nap he heard the usual talky/giggly sounds over the monitor and when he finally heard silence he went upstairs to check on her. This is what he found:

Must of been one hell of a show!

Tuesday November 6, 2007 - 7:45pm

Jen - You know what would be good for dessert? Those 2 Bite Brownies warmed up with ice cream on top.

Owen - Why? Did we just break up with our boyfriend?

I swear, one of these days my eyes are going to roll right out of my head.

Clothes Horse

Eilish now wears size 12-18 month pants which boggles the mind seeing as she's 2 weeks short of 8 months old. Girlfriend has long legs no doubt inherited from some long lost Connell relative who worked in fields of Galway in her Tall Girl britches.

Every month or so I go through her clothing to pack away what no longer fits and truth be told I find it a little sad to pack away all her threads because they are proof our little baby is growing up.

There's her 'Spring Chicken' shirt given to her by Owen's co-workers, her 'I Won't Remember Any of This' shirt which was Owen's favorite, her Rolling Stones & Ramones shirts because that's the way she rolls and my personal favorite, her Roots track suit. I bought it at the Roots Outlet on Orfus Road for her to wear in Buchans for Come Home Year. Turns out she had to wear it a couple weeks earlier in Newfoundland and I remember her rolling around Nanny Lane's living room floor. There wasn't a lot of joy in that July visit but Eilish, in that track suit in her grandparents hometown made me smile.

Clothes may not make the girl and Lord knows Eilish would be content to roll around the floor naked as a jay bird but damn do I love dressing her! Speaking of birds, here's some pics of our little chicken on her first Halloween.

Her Boyfriend's Back and There's Gonna Be Trouble

Judes asked why I don't blog anymore and I guess I just don't have much to say these days other than: Eilish, Eilish, Eilish, Owen, Eilish, Eilish, Eilish.


At her doctor's appointment last week E weighed 19 pounds and measured in at an astonishing 28 1/2 inches.


Here are some shots of her and her BF Michael who was trying to get fresh.

Time to Baby Proof