What the Heck Does Auld Lang Syne Mean Anyway?

No matter, we rung in the New Year the way we usually do - with food, friends and drink. Actually, that's pretty much how we celebrate anything... New Year's, Flag Day, Sunday mornings, etc. Frequent Mothers Goose guest stars Kelby, Cathy and Owen joined us to say goodbye to the most memorable year of our lives. 2007 will be hard to top, but with Luce now walking, babbling and generally being the life of the party (that's the Nonne in her) 2008 is off to a great start!

Ho Ho Home For the Holidays

Christmas brought a new house, lots of family, and a new mode of locomotion. Lucia walked all over the new home in the 'burbs just in time for the Seattle Leary contingent to arrive. They were very impressed by the arms-up balancing technique. Christmas also brought lots of new outfits for Lucy to wear, that were only outnumbered by gifts from LL Bean. Got fleece? ...'cause Mimi can get you some. Lucia's favorite gifts included a sleigh for sitting in (she didn't quite understand why we had to take it outside) and a toy house from Uncle Sean and Auntie Julie. There was a even a short trip to Portland to see Nonne,Papa and the cousins, eat an eggroll, and rock an accordian jam. Christmas even brought Lucia new foods, all of which she liked (of course). Auntie Julie made Lucy her first cookie, complete with holiday peppermint bark. Uncle Sean made a pitcher full of gravy because gravy boats are for suckers. And the appetizer fest on Christmas Eve was indescribable, you'll just have to come next year.
This post was brought to you by the letter B ... Uncle B that is.

So Long, Farewell...

Auf Wiedersehen, good night. Thought we'd squeeze in one last post from JP, the eve before our move to the 'burbs. While we've made great progress on the packing front, we're still down to the wire (yet here I sit, typing... typical). Anyway, this photo was taken during our newest tradition - Friday Night Pizza Party! It comes with its own theme song and dance moves, but we're still perfecting our moves, so the video will have to wait. Luce is a big fan of Fridays, and so are we.

You may not hear from us for a bit, but we'll try and get some new home posts-in. Right now, the sun has gone to bed... and I'm not even CLOSE to being done. Ack!

3 Things I Learned During the Past 7 Days...

1) Our new town (Brookline) has wild fowl running amuck. I snapped this shot on my cell phone as I was exiting the Starbucks on a very, very busy main road (like, where the Green Line passes by). Click to enlarge if you can't see anything odd...

2) One can never have enough newspaper, boxes, bubble wrap or TIME when packing.

3) Lucia can take independent steps (but still prefers to hold on to things), wave and say bye, and drink whole milk without putting up much of a fight.

I'm sure I learned more, but those are the things that stuck. Speaking of stuck, I had better get back to packing. We're doing the final walk through today and are set to close tomorrow morning (fingers crossed).

It's Turkey Lurkey Time...

Pop quiz: which weighed more this Thanksgiving - the turkey or Lucia? Close call, but Lucia won by a pound or two. We had a great time at Nonne and Papa's surrounded by family and chaos, the perfect way to spend a holiday. Although it was a brief visit, Lucia was able to cram a lot in - - she enjoyed going up and down the stairs (at all hours mind you), reading books (you can see where she gets her flair for the dramatic) and playing the piano (an original Lucia Leary Infantine composition). On the back end of the weekend, Paige and Paul stopped by Boston to pick up a landfill's worth of baby gear. That's one more load of crap we don't have to move to Brookline -thanks guys! Hope all the Mothers Goose blog readers out there had a great T-day. We sure did.

To Everything Turn, Turn, Turn...

On Saturday, Lucia Leary Infantine celebrated 363 days on the planet (her official birthday is Nov. 19). It was a lovely affair attended by members of the LLI Fan Club with various pals stopping by throughout the day to wish Luce a happy b-day. As you may know, it was an eggroll and meatball party (Lucia's favorite foods) so needless to say she was in seventh heaven... what could be better you ask? Well, all that followed by cupcakes of course! Lucia's head nearly exploded. Glad it didn't, it was a messy enough meal. I've been trying to upload videos of the day for you, but Google seems to be having server issues. I'll keep trying, because Lucia's cuteness is best observed in motion. Until then, you may enjoy her in still form here.
In other momentous news (slight hyperbole) my football team was victorious in the playoff game I missed in order to attend my daughter's first birthday party! (talk about Sophie's Choice, huh? Ok, not really... again with the hyperbole). Today the Violent Femmes (my team) took on the undefeated amazons of Foul Play. While initially we put up a good fight, in the end we were summarily trounced. Good thing we still have the Patriot's stellar season to watch. Although, tonight I'm feeling my motherhood and age and am not sure I can stay up for the game. Sad, sad, sad.

So We've Been A Little Busy Over Here...

Since last we posted, we had a lovely visit from Aunt Alison and Uncle Brendan; we attended our dear friend Paige's baby shower in Hoboken; and we purchased a house. On top of all that I've been a living out of a suitcase due to business trips and am finally recovering from the plague. Whew. Busy, busy, busy. Aunt Alison and Uncle B came during the height of my illness, so I'm pretty sure I gave it to them (sharing is caring)... nevertheless they had a nice visit with the Goose and even attended Mama Fran's football game! The following weekend we were off to the birthplace of Old Blue Eyes to revel in Paige's glowing pregnant glory. Honestly, she doesn't even look all that pregnant given her January due date! It was a quick trip due to Lucia's intolerance of the car seat during daylight hours (we drove down during her bedtime), but it's always great to catch up with Paige, her husband Paul and their respective parents. And finally, yes, we bought a house. We have been casually looking for a while now and decided to pull the trigger on a place in Brookline, MA. It's a standard issue 1950s Colonial that could use some updating, but we think it has a lot of potential and we're very excited about the possibilities. It is going to be a quick move since we're looking to get in there before Christmas, so if you don't hear from us again in a bit it's because we're in the midst of packing madness!